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AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsEric Horvitz, Xuedong Huang, Kamal Jain, Milind Vasudeo Mahajan
Estimating the term…
Mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones, may be capable of recommending to a user various providers of one or more solicited services, e.g., by identifying a user location and identifying providers near the user location that provide the services, and by initiating a call between the user and a selected provider. However, the equipment and service costs of such devices may be prohibitive, particularly for mid-range mobile communication devices that may appeal to cost-conscious users. The prohibitive costs may be diminished by redirecting part or all of the cost of providing the recommendation service from the providers, e.g., by charging the provider a service cost upon initiating a call from the user to the provider, or upon representing the provider in a provider database. In one such embodiment, all service costs may be borne by providers, providing to the user a free recommendation service via the mobile communication device.
A method of connecting a user of a mobile communication device with at least one provider of a service solicited by the user, the mobile communication device having a processor and access to a provider database identifying, for respective providers, at least one service provided by the provider, the mobile communication device coupled with a service cost, the method comprising:
A computer-readable memory device comprising a system interfacing with a mobile communication device having access to a provider database identifying, for respective providers, at least one service provided by the provider, the mobile communication device coupled with a service cost, the system configured to connect a user of the mobile communication device with at least one provider of a service solicited by the user, the system comprising:
A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed on a processor of a mobile communication device comprising a mobile phone having coupled a metered data plan and having a display, a geolocation component, and access to a provider database comprising at least one advertisement of at least one service offered by at least one provider, connect a user of the mobile communication device with at least one provider of a service solicited by the user by:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.