Abstract:
A method for delivering contact information to consumers comprises sending contact information to an advertisement receiver and storing contact information therein. Upon user request, or automatically, the advertisement receiver forwards the contact information to the user&#39;s mobile terminal, such that the user may select the contact information and initiate contact therefrom through the mobile terminal.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a method for assisting mobile terminals in securing contact information from an advertisement.  
           [0002]    Radios and televisions broadcast many advertisements that include telephone numbers, uniform resource locators (URL), e-mail addresses, or the like, with which to contact an entity about the content of the advertisement. In most instances, the individual hearing and/or seeing the advertisement must hasten to grab a pad of paper and a writing instrument with which to scribble down the contact information. While phone numbers are relatively easy to capture in this fashion, the proliferation of toll free numbers, such as 800, 888, 866, 855, and 877, sometimes makes it difficult for an individual to capture properly the desired contact information. This situation is exacerbated with the addition of e-mail addresses and URLs, as such contact information frequently comprises backslashes, colons, and numerous other odd characters. Memory or transcription errors cut into the efficaciousness of the advertisements as people are unable to contact the advertisers. Further, users may transpose digits when dialing or introduce other errors that preclude the connection between the user and the entity behind the advertisement.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    The present invention comprises a wireless technique by which contact information may be sent to a mobile terminal from which the user may then select the contact information and initiate contact. Specifically, concurrent with, or prior to, the broadcast of the advertisement with the contact information, a buffer associated with the advertisement receiver is filled with desired contact information. The contact information may then be sent to the mobile terminal wirelessly, such as through a Bluetooth module, from the advertisement receiver. A user may then use the mobile terminal to highlight or otherwise select the contact information and initiate contact through the mobile terminal with the person or source for which the contact information has been provided. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0004]    [0004]FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic drawing of an advertisement being broadcast from a broadcaster to an advertisement receiver;  
         [0005]    [0005]FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic drawing of a broadcast receiver wirelessly communicating with a mobile terminal;  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram illustrating functional components of the advertisement receiver; and  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart demonstrating the steps associated with the present methodology. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]    The present invention is adapted to convey contact information to a user&#39;s mobile terminal from an advertisement that the user may see and/or hear. For further explanation, reference is made to the drawings, specifically FIG. 1 where an exemplary broadcast system  10  comprises a broadcaster  12  and an advertisement receiver  20 .  
         [0009]    Broadcaster  12  comprises a broadcaster antenna  14  and, optionally, a satellite  16 . Electromagnetic radiation, bearing a communication signal, is sent from broadcaster antenna  14  to receiver antenna  18 , potentially through satellite  16  or via other conventional means. For example, receiver antenna  18  could be a pair of “rabbit ears” and broadcaster antenna  14  could be a conventional television or radio tower.  
         [0010]    Receiver antenna  18  connects to advertisement receiver  20 , which may be a conventional receiver designed to operate at a conventional frequency. A typical radio receiver would operate in the AM and FM bands. A conventional television antenna would operate in the UHF and VHF bands. Alternatively, a satellite antenna would operate according to the appropriate standards for such companies as the DISH NETWORK and DIRECT TV. Please note that the term “broadcast” as used herein includes over the air transmissions, cable transmissions, fiber optics transmissions, and the like. The term “broadcast” is used for convenience and is not intended to be limiting.  
         [0011]    Advertisement receiver  20  may be secured to an entertainment device, such as television  22 . Note that it is possible that advertisement receiver  20  is incorporated into the entertainment device without departing from the scope of the present invention. Further, in the exemplary embodiment, the entertainment device is a television  22 ; however, as noted above, in other embodiments, the entertainment device could comprise a radio with AM/FM reception capabilities or some other receiver.  
         [0012]    In an exemplary embodiment, television  22  is positioned approximate couch  24 , with user  26  sitting thereupon. User  26  may possess a mobile terminal  28 . Mobile terminal  28  may comprise a cellular radiotelephone with or without a multi-line display; a Personal Communications System (PCS) terminal that may combine a cellular radiotelephone with data processing, facsimile and data communications capabilities; a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) that may include a radiotelephone, pager, Internet/intranet access, Web browser, organizer, calendar and/or a global positioning system (GPS) receiver; and a conventional laptop and/or palmtop receiver or other appliance that includes a radiotelephone transceiver. Mobile terminals  28  may also be referred to as “pervasive computing” devices.  
         [0013]    Mobile terminal  28  may use any number of conventional mobile terminal standards, such as TIA/EIA-136, Digital Advance Mobile Phone Service (D-AMPS), European Total Access Communication System (ETACS), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), Pacific Digital Cellular (PDC), and the like, the standards and documentation of which are herein incorporated by reference.  
         [0014]    Against this backdrop of hardware, advertisement receiver  20  receives information from broadcaster  12 , including advertisements that are output to the user  26  by audio and/or visual signals. Included in some or all of these advertisements may be contact information that is recited or displayed to the user  26 . For example, a television advertisement may include a phone number displayed across the bottom of the screen of the television  22 , along with verbal exhortations to the user  26  to make the phone call to contact the entity behind the advertisement currently being broadcast. As another example, a radio may verbally recite a phone number that an individual may wish to call to take advantage of a special promotion or deal associated with a particular advertisement.  
         [0015]    The term “advertisement” as used herein includes conventional advertisements such as are commonly seen or heard on radios and televisions, as well as promotions such as are common on radios. For example, a typical radio station may include a promotion such as the ninth caller at 1-800-555-WERC will receive a free phone. While not a true advertisement per se, such a promotion fits within the definition of advertisement for the purpose of the present invention. The choice of the word “advertisement” is for convenience and is not intended to be strictly limiting.  
         [0016]    In the past, if the user  26  wanted to use the contact information from the advertisement, the user  26  had to enter the phone number or other contact information manually into the mobile terminal  28 . The present invention helps alleviate errors that may be introduced through manual error or the like. Likewise, the present invention may save time over the traditional methods of contact information entry.  
         [0017]    As illustrated in FIG. 2, advertisement receiver  20  may wirelessly communicate with mobile terminal  28  and pass along contact information to mobile terminal  28  such that user  26  may automatically initiate contact with the entity behind the advertisement. This is made possible through modifications to the advertisement receiver  20  as illustrated in FIG. 3. Specifically, advertisement receiver  20  may comprise a receiver antenna  18 , a processor  30 , output  32 , memory  34  with buffer  36 , and a Bluetooth module  38 .  
         [0018]    Processor  30  may be a microprocessor such as an INTEL PENTIUM  4  or the like and include a digital signal processor and other circuitry as is well understood to process signals coming in from receiver antenna  18 .  
         [0019]    Output  32  may comprise an output to a television screen, audio speakers, both, or the like. In an exemplary embodiment, output  32  is a cable that plugs into the back of a television  22  and conveys audio and video information to the television  22 . Where the advertisement receiver  20  is incorporated into the entertainment device, output  32  may comprise the outputs of the entertainment device such as display, speakers, or the like.  
         [0020]    Memory  34  may be RAM, a floppy disk, a R/W CD, EEPROM, or the like. Specifically, memory  34  includes a buffer  36  which selectively stores contact information received from broadcaster  12  and extracted from the normal broadcast signal.  
         [0021]    Bluetooth module  38  may be a conventional Bluetooth module and is dictated by the appropriate Bluetooth standards, details of which may be found at www.bluetooth.com. Note that while Bluetooth technology is used, in the exemplary embodiment to effectuate the transfer of information from the advertisement receiver  20  to the mobile terminal  28 , other wireless technology may also be used, including infrared, radio frequency, microwave, or the like.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 4 illustrates the methodology of the present invention in flow chart format. Specifically, an entity creates an advertisement with contact information associated therewith (block  100 ). This entity may be an advertising agency, a business entity, or the like. Further, the term contact information as used herein includes telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, URLs, and the like. This advertisement is passed to a broadcaster (block  102 ). As noted elsewhere, the broadcaster may be a radio station, a television station, or the like, as is well understood.  
         [0023]    At some point in the future, the advertisement is broadcast (block  104 ). As noted elsewhere, this broadcast may be over the air, through a satellite, over a cable or other wire-based medium, or the like, as needed or desired. The contact information may be concurrently broadcast with the advertisement through a number of conventional and unconventional mechanisms. In a television signal, the contact information may be broadcast in the retrace frame in a fashion comparable to closed captioning or second audio channels. In radio broadcast, vestigial sidebands may be used to contain the contact information. Alternatively, the contact information may be embedded into the signal proper through conventional encoding mechanisms.  
         [0024]    Advertisement receiver  20  receives the advertisement through a conventional means (block  106 ) and extracts the contact information therefrom. In one embodiment, the contact information is extracted concurrently with the receipt of the advertisement and stored in buffer  36 . In an alternate embodiment, the broadcaster may periodically send a look-up table comprising channels, times, advertisement indexes, and contact information. When an advertisement is received, the advertisement receiver  20  may reference the look-up table through an appropriate index and retrieve the appropriate contact information for storage in buffer  36 . Alternatively, the contact information is retrieved only at the request of the user  26 .  
         [0025]    User  26  may see or hear the advertisement (block  108 ), depending on the nature of the advertisement and whether it is an audio and/or visual advertisement. User  26  may decide that the advertisement has piqued their interest and wishes to learn more about the subject matter of the advertisement.  
         [0026]    The contact information is sent to the mobile terminal (block  110 ). In a first embodiment, user  26  actuates a command on the mobile terminal  28 , which in turn actuates the Bluetooth module within the mobile terminal  28  so as to communicate with the Bluetooth module  38  within the advertisement receiver  20 . The advertisement receiver  20  may then reference the look-up table and/or the buffer  36  to secure the contact information requested. The advertisement receiver  20  may then send the contact information to the mobile terminal  28  via the Bluetooth module  36  or other wireless communication link as is needed or desired.  
         [0027]    Upon receipt of the information, thus user  26  may select the contact information (block  112 ) such as through a drop-down menu, an icon, or other conventional operating system command structure. After selection, contact may be made (block  114 ) between the user  26  and the entity that created the advertisement. From this contact, the user  26  may elicit more information from the entity, query the entity, or begin a sales transaction. As would be expected, the contact may be made through the appropriate contact information whether it be a phone number, e-mail address, URL, or other information provided.  
         [0028]    In an alternate embodiment, the advertisement is not broadcast by a broadcaster  12  per se, but rather may be resident in a local transceiver positioned proximate a store, such as in a mall. Thus, when a user  26  walks past the advertisement receiver  20  in the mall, the user  26  may actuate the mobile terminal  28  to secure contact information from the store in the mall for later use.  
         [0029]    In still another alternate embodiment, instead of user  26  actuated retrieval of the contact information from the advertisement receiver  20 , the advertisement receiver  20  may push the contact information to the mobile terminal  28 . Thus, as each advertisement was aired, or each advertisement receiver  20  was passed, the advertisement receiver  20  would initiate contact with the mobile terminal  28  and deliver the contact information thereto.  
         [0030]    In still another alternate embodiment, the user  26  may select between automatic reception of contact information and user-instigated retrieval of contact information.  
         [0031]    In yet another embodiment, closely related to the look-up table embodiment, a user  26  may request information about an advertisement that is not presently being aired on the entertainment device. Thus, for example, after an episode of MASH in which an automobile advertisement was aired, the user  26  could actuate a command on the mobile terminal  28  that references the look up table and extracts the contact information for the automobile advertisement. The user  26  may scroll through a menu or the like to find the appropriate advertisement, or may enter a time at which the advertisement was run, or other index mechanism as needed or desired so as to find the desired advertisement and contact information.  
         [0032]    In general, mobile terminal  28  may be similar to a conventional mobile terminal but with modifications to software that allows the user  26  to receive, store, and select the contact information.  
         [0033]    The present invention may, of course, be carried out in other specific ways than those herein set forth without departing from the scope and essential characteristics of the invention. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.