Patent ID: 6263054
Filing Date: 2001-07-17
Classification: G06Q,G07F,H04M

Abstract:
A method of increasing or maintaining usage of a selected telephone company's lines, which includes the steps:a) establishing a lottery fund, and an associated lottery fund telephone number,b) providing a protocol by which a telephone user becomes eligible to win funds in said lottery fund, wherein the following steps are provided:i) the user uses the telephone company's line or line segment, or connections to make a call to said associated fund telephone number,ii) the user's identifier is provided and communicated to the telephone company or to the lottery fund, andc) selecting at least one user identifier from a group of such communicated identifiers, which identifies a winner of funds in the lottery fund,d) monitoring incoming calls to said associated fund telephone number to determine whether or not they are incoming on said selected telephone company's line or line segment or connections,e) and effectively blocking usage for the lottery of calls incoming on lines other than said telephone company's line or line segment or connections, thereby excluding access to the lottery of calls on said other lines.