Software program and method for offering promotions on a phone
AssigneeBeVocal, Inc.
InventorKevin M. Stone
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention includes a method and software application for providing a promotion to a user on a phone. The software application resides on a user's phone and “listens” for phone numbers dialed by a user. In response to the user dialing a phone number, the software determines whether a promotion or an offer for a promotion should be provided to the user. In response to determining to play or offer to play a promotion to the user, the software application on the phone effectively “intercepts” the call and plays to the user either a promotion or an offer to hear about a promotion prior to placing an outbound voice call. The software application may retrieve the promotion from local memory or may connect with a remote server to download an applicable promotion.
Claims56
A method for offering a promotion to a user that has dialed a phone number on a phone, the method comprising:
- listening for phone numbers dialed by a user on the phone;
- in response to the user dialing a phone number, performing the following:
- providing the user with an option to receive a promotion, where the option is provided prior to placing an outbound voice call;
- in response to the user accepting the option, providing the user with the promotion;
- and
- in response to the user not responding to the option, placing a call to the dialed phone number.
A method for offering a promotion to a user that has dialed a phone number on a phone, the method comprising:
- listening for phone numbers dialed by a user on the phone;
- in response to the user dialing a phone number, determining whether or not to offer a promotion to the user;
- in response to determining to offer a promotion to the user, performing the following:
- providing the user with an option to receive a promotion, where the option is provided prior to placing an outbound voice call;
- in response to the user accepting the option, providing the user with the promotion;
- and
- in response to the user not responding to the option, placing a call to the dialed phone number.
A method for offering a promotion to a user that has dialed a phone number on a phone, the method comprising:
- listening for phone numbers dialed by a user on the phone;
- in response to the user dialing a phone number, determining whether or not to offer a promotion to the user;
- in response to determining to offer a promotion to the user, performing the following:
- providing the user with a choice to either continue with the call or to first receive information about the promotion, where the choice is provided prior to placing an outbound voice call;
- in response to the user selecting to receive information about the promotion, providing the user with information about the promotion;
- and
- in response to the user selecting to continue with the call, placing a call to the dialed phone number.
A software program embodied on a computer-readable medium and comprising code that, when executed by a processor on a phone, enables the phone to perform the following method:
- listening for phone numbers dialed by a user on the phone;
- in response to the user dialing a phone number, determining whether or not to offer a promotion to a user;
- in response to determining to offer a promotion to the user, performing the following:
- providing the user with an option to receive information about the promotion, where the option is provided prior to placing an outbound voice call;
- in response to the user accepting the option, providing the user with information about the promotion;
- and
- in response to the user not responding to the option, placing a call to the dialed phone number.
A software program embodied on a computer-readable medium and comprising code that, when executed by a processor on a phone, enables the phone to perform the following method:
- listening for phone numbers dialed by a user on the phone;
- in response to the user dialing a phone number, determining whether or not to offer a promotion to the user;
- in response to determining to offer a promotion to the user, performing the following:
- providing the user with a choice to either continue with the call or to first receive information about the promotion, where the choice is provided prior to placing an outbound voice call;
- in response to the user selecting to receive information about the promotion, providing the user with information about the promotion;
- and
- in response to the user selecting to continue with the call, placing a call to the dialed phone number.
A method for offering a promotion to a user that has dialed a phone number on a phone, the method comprising:
- listening for phone numbers dialed by a user on the phone;
- in response to the user dialing a phone number, determining whether or not to offer a promotion to the user;
- in response to determining to offer a promotion to the user, performing the following:
- providing the user with an option for an action related to the promotion, where the option is provided prior to placing an outbound voice call;
- in response to the user accepting the option, performing the action related to the promotion;
- and
- in response to the user not responding to the option, placing a call to the dialed phone number.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.