US 7,890,345 B2Granted

Establishment of a telephone based engagement

AssigneeAmerican Well Corporation

InventorRoy Schoenberg

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Abstract

In general, in one aspect, a computer-implemented method for establishing multiple communication channels between a service provider and a consumer includes establishing a text based communication between the consumer and the service provider over the Internet. The method also includes receiving, at a central system, a first telephone number provided by the consumer via a first user interface and a second telephone number provided by the service provider via a second user interface. The method also includes calling, from the central system, the first telephone number and the second telephone number and bridging the calls between the central system and the first telephone number and the central system and the second telephone number to establish a communication channel between the service provider and the consumer.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:

establishing, by a computer, a first communication channel as a real-time, text-based communication between a consumer and a service provider;
and subsequent to establishing the first channel,
establishing a second, different voice-based communication channel between the service provider and the consumer, by:
receiving, at a central computer based system, a first telephone number provided by the consumer via a first user interface and a second telephone number provided by the service provider via a second user interface;
calling, from the central computer based system, the first telephone number to establish a call between the central system and the first telephone number;
calling, from the central computer based system, the second telephone number to establish a call between the central system and the second telephone number;
and
bridging the calls between the central system and the first telephone number and the central system and the second telephone number to establish the second, different voice-based communication channel between the service provider and the consumer.

5 more elements

A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

establish a first communication channel as a text-based communication between a consumer and a service provider;
establish a second, different voice-based communication channel between the service provider and the consumer, by instructions to:
receive, at a central system, a first telephone number provided by the consumer via a first user interface and a second telephone number provided by the service provider via a second user interface;
call, from the central computer based system, the first telephone number to establish a call between the central system and the first telephone number;
call, from the central computer based system, the second telephone number to establish a call between the central system and the second telephone number;
and
bridge the calls between the central system and the first telephone number and the central system and the second telephone number to establish the second, different voice-based communication channel between the service provider and the consumer.

4 more elements

An apparatus comprising:

a processor;
and
a computer program product residing on a computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing the processor to:
establish a first communication channel as a text-based communication between a consumer and a service provider;
establish a second, different voice-based communication channel between the service provider and the consumer, by instructions to:
receive, at a central system, a first telephone number provided by the consumer via a first user interface and a second telephone number provided by the service provider via a second user interface;
call, from the central computer based system, the first telephone number to establish a call between the central system and the first telephone number;
call, from the central computer based system, the second telephone number to establish a call between the central system and the second telephone number;
and
bridge the calls between the central system and the first telephone number and the central system and the second telephone number to establish the second, different voice-based communication channel between the service provider and the consumer.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.