Systems and methods to provide connections via callback acceptance cross-reference to related applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10089658-B2
Application number	US-201715616147-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 7, 2017
Priority date	Apr 9, 2007
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods to selectively block calls from reaching destinations based on an input received from a callback connection. One embodiment includes a web server to receive a selection of an advertisement from an customer and to obtain a communication reference from the customer in response to the selection; a session border controller to interface with a packet switched network; and one or more telecommunication servers coupled to the session border controller and the web server, the one or more telecommunication servers to establish a connection for real time communications using the communication reference, to initiate a connection for real time communications with an advertiser of the advertisement after receiving an indication of acceptance of the connection established using the communication reference; where the advertiser is charged an advertisement fee in response to establishing a connection for real time communications between the advertiser and the customer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
tracking, via a server system, communication activities attributed to a customer, and storing call activity data about the tracked communication activities in a memory device of the server system;
transmitting, via the server system, a first advertisement of an advertiser to an end-user device;
responsive to receiving an indication of a selection corresponding to the first advertisement, obtaining, via the server system, a reference associated with the customer, the reference is utilized to retrieve, from the memory device, the call activity data about the communication activities attributed to the customer;
analyzing, via the server system, the call activity data about the communication activities attributed to the customer, and determining whether a set of one or more conditions is satisfied based at least in part on the call activity data;
consequent to a determination that the set of one or more conditions is not satisfied by determining that a predetermined number of calls from the customer to the advertiser during a predetermined time period is below a predetermined threshold, establishing, via the server system, real-time communications by connecting a telephone call between the end-user device of the customer and a first communication device of the advertiser; and
performing, via the server system, a blocking action directed to the customer by blocking another telephone call from the end-user device of the customer to the first communication device of the advertiser in response to determining that the predetermined number of calls from the customer to the advertiser exceeds the predetermined threshold during the predetermined time period.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference comprises one or more of an Internet protocol address, a telephone number, a voice over Internet protocol user identifier, a session initiation protocol uniform resource identifier, an email address, another user identifier, an instant messaging user identifier, credit card information, and/or a digital certificate.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of one or more conditions comprises:
a threshold number of initiations of communications;
a time period during which the selection corresponding to the first advertisement is received;
a usage pattern;
a set of one or more communicatees; and/or
a category of communicatees.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blocking action directed to the customer in accordance with a blocking rule comprises:
transmitting, via the server system, a first prompt to the end-user device of the customer to prompt input by the customer responsive to the first prompt.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the blocking action directed to the customer in accordance with the blocking rule comprises:
verifying, via the server system, the input by the customer responsive to the first prompt; and
consequent to the verifying, facilitating, via the server system, a connection for real-time communications between the end-user device of the customer and the first communication device of the advertiser.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
decreasing, via the server system, a first block level, associated with the blocking rule, assigned to the customer to a second block level that is associated with a second blocking rule specifying a second blocking action directed to the customer, after a predetermined number of communications corresponding to the customer have been verified by the server system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blocking action directed to the customer in accordance with the blocking rule comprises:
blocking, via the server system, an advertisement selection by the customer that is subsequent to the selection corresponding to the first advertisement.

8. One or more non-transitory, processor-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by a server system, cause the server system to:
track communication activities attributed to a customer, and storing call activity data about the tracked communication activities in a memory device of the server system;
transmit a first advertisement of an advertiser to an end-user device;
responsive to receiving an indication of a selection corresponding to the first advertisement, obtain a reference associated with the customer, the reference is utilized to retrieve, from the memory device, the call activity data about the communication activities attributed to the customer;
analyze the call activity data about the communication activities attributed to the customer, and determine whether a set of one or more conditions is satisfied based at least in part on the call activity data;
consequent to a determination that the set of one or more conditions is not satisfied by determining that a predetermined number of calls from the customer to the advertiser during a predetermined time period is below a predetermined threshold, establish real-time communications by connecting a telephone call between the end-user device of the customer and a first communication device of the advertiser; and
perform the blocking action directed to the customer by blocking another telephone call from the end-user device of the customer to the first communication device of the advertiser in response to determining that the predetermined number of calls from the customer to the advertiser exceeds the predetermined threshold during the predetermined time period.

9. The one or more non-transitory, processor-readable media of claim 8 , wherein the reference comprises one or more of an Internet protocol address, a telephone number, a voice over Internet protocol user identifier, a session initiation protocol uniform resource identifier, an email address, another user identifier, an instant messaging user identifier, credit card information, and/or a digital certificate.

10. The one or more non-transitory, processor-readable media of claim 8 , wherein the set of one or more conditions comprises:
a threshold number of initiations of communications;
a time period during which the selection corresponding to the first advertisement is received;
a usage pattern;
a set of one or more communicatees; and/or
a category of communicatees.

11. The one or more non-transitory, processor-readable media of claim 8 , wherein the blocking action directed to the customer in accordance with the blocking rule comprises:
transmitting, via the server system, a first prompt to the end-user device of the customer to prompt input by the customer responsive to the first prompt.

12. The one or more non-transitory, processor-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the blocking action directed to the customer in accordance with the blocking rule comprises:
verifying, via the server system, the input by the customer responsive to the first prompt; and
consequent to the verifying, facilitating, via the server system, a connection for real-time communications between the end-user device of the customer and the first communication device of the advertiser.

13. The one or more non-transitory, processor-readable media of claim 12 , wherein the instructions further cause the server system to:
decrease a first block level, associated with the blocking rule, assigned to the customer to a second block level that is associated with a second blocking rule specifying a second blocking action directed to the customer, after a predetermined number of communications corresponding to the customer have been verified by the server system.

14. The one or more non-transitory, processor-readable media of claim 8 , wherein the blocking action directe

Assignees

• Yellowpages Com Llc

Inventors

• Altberg Ebbe
• Faber Scott
• Hirson Ron
• Manca Paul G
• Van Der Linden Sean
• Yang Virginia Hong-Jia

Classifications

• H04M2215/0192

  Sponsored, subsidised calls via advertising, e.g. calling cards with ads or connecting to special ads, free calling time by purchasing goods · CPC title

• H04M15/858

  Request users acknowledgement prior to use · CPC title

• H04M15/08

  Metering calls to called party {, i.e. B-party charged for the communication} · CPC title

• G06Q30/0273

  Determination of fees for advertising · CPC title

• G06Q30/0277

  Online advertisement · CPC title