Internet telephony with interactive information
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P.
InventorChristopher P. Gilboy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A subscriber (12, 14, 16) initiating an Internet telephony call may receive specific content targeted to that subscriber in accordance with a match between at least one of the dialed number and the calling party number. Upon receipt of the subscriber's Internet telephony call, an Internet Telephony Service Provider server (18) searches each of a dialed number database, a calling party number database and a default database to establish a match between the calling party number, the dialed number or a range of either numbers. Upon finding a match, the Internet Telephony Service Provider server retrieves corresponding content, typically in the form of a URL that links to an associated web site, to provide to the subscriber who may elect to retrieve that information at the subscriber's discretion.
Claims20
A method for presenting a calling party with targeted information, the method comprising:
- transmitting, by a calling party device, a calling party number and a dialed number to an internet telephony service provider, wherein the dialed number is associated with a called party;
- receiving, by the calling party device, the targeted information from the internet telephony service provider, wherein the targeted information is based on the dialed number, wherein the targeted information is transmitted from the internet telephony service provider based on a discretion of the called party;
- and
- displaying, by the calling party device, the targeted information.
An apparatus for presenting a calling party with targeted information, the apparatus comprising:
- a display;
- a processor;
- and
- a memory storing computer program instructions which, when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
- transmitting a calling party number and a dialed number to an internet telephony service provider, wherein the dialed number is associated with a called party;
- receiving the targeted information from the internet telephony service provider based on the dialed number, wherein the targeted information is transmitted from the internet telephony service provider based on a discretion of the called party;
- and
- displaying the targeted information via the display.
A method for transmitting to a calling party targeted information, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a called party device associated with a dialed number, a call from a calling party device;
- receiving, by the called party device, an input from a user associated with the called party device indicating that the targeted information is to be transmitted to the calling party device based on a discretion of the called party, wherein the targeted information is based on the dialed number;
- and
- transmitting, by the called party device, the targeted information to the calling party.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.