Patent Publication Number: US-9426189-B2

Title: Internet telephony with interactive information

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/779,018, filed Feb. 27, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,019,955, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/830,639, filed Jul. 6, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,406,224, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/945,297, filed Sep. 20, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,782,840, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/625,612, filed Jul. 26, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,829,233, all of which are herein incorporated by reference their entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to a technique for providing a caller initiating an Internet-telephony call with additional information during the course of the call. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     The proliferation of large-scale inter-connected computer networks, such as the Internet, as well as advances in the field of speech digitization, has made Internet telephony a reality. Indeed, various telecommunications services providers such as AT&amp;T currently offer Internet telephony service. While present-day Internet telephony service usually does not afford the same quality as traditional plain old telephone service, most service providers that offer Internet telephony do so at a lower cost to the subscriber. For many subscribers, the relatively low cost of Internet telephony service makes it very attractive for many types of calls. 
     Many subscribers of Internet telephony service initiate telephone calls over the Internet via a personal computer. In connection with making such calls, the provider of the Internet telephony service may provide the Internet telephony subscriber with advertising, in the form of a banner ad or the like, at the choosing of the service provider, but unrelated to the call itself. Indeed, Internet Service Providers (ISP) that provides subscribers with access to the Internet generally often provide their subscribers with advertising chosen by the ISP. Since all subscribers receive the advertising provided by Internet telephony providers and ISPs, the advertising will often reach those who have no interest in the particular good or service being advertised. Consequently, such indiscriminant advertising has limited effectiveness. 
     There currently exist techniques in voice telephony for providing targeted advertising to a calling party. U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,007, issued on May 18, 1989, in the name of Patrick Marino et al. and assigned to AT&amp;T, discloses a technique for affording reduced rate long distance service to a calling party in exchange for the calling party receiving an advertising message. During the call set-up, the calling party receives an advertising message selected in accordance with one or more factors such as the originating number of the calling party, as determined from Automatic Number Identification (ANI). In this way, the advertising provided to a caller can be restricted. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,628, issued on Jul. 4, 2000, in the name of Francois Sawyer, discloses a technique for providing targeted advertising to callers during a video conference call. Upon receipt of a video call in a telecommunications network, an ingress switch receiving the call will query a centralized database to retrieve an advertising message in accordance with the caller&#39;s preference. The caller then receives such advertisements in a portion of the caller&#39;s video screen. The called party may also receive advertisements. Both the calling and called parties may select among different advertisements for viewing. Once the either party has selected an advertisement, each may select a more detailed advertisement for joint viewing. 
     While these approaches do afford a calling party the ability obtain selective advertising, such approaches suffer from the disadvantage that they do not allow the called party to make content specifically available to the calling party at the discretion of the called party. Thus, there is need for a method for allowing the called party to make available (i.e., to “push”) content to the calling party at the discretion of the called party. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Briefly, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for enabling a calling party placing an Internet telephony call to selectively receive content information during the course of the call at the discretion of the called party, the calling party, or a combination of both. The method commences upon receipt at an Internet Telephony Service Provider of a calling party number and a dialed number from a calling party initiating an Internet telephone call. Following receipt of the calling party number and dialed number, the Internet telephony provider serves to set-up the Internet telephony call. In the course of setting up the call, the Internet Telephony Service Provider determines what targeted information (e.g., advertising, topical information, regional-specific information, caller authentication, streaming video feed) to provide to the calling party in accordance with a match with at least the dialed number, and more preferably, in accordance with a match between a combination of the dialed number and the called party number. Thereafter, the Internet Telephony Service Provider makes such targeted information available to the calling party, typically in the form of one or more Universal Resource Locators (URLs) which the calling party may access at their discretion. As needed, the Internet Telephony Service Provider may update the content provided to the calling party during the course of the call. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a block schematic diagram of a network architecture for providing Internet telephony Service in accordance with the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating the steps of the method of the invention for providing an Internet telephony caller with targeted information; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates in tabular form a portion of the contents of a calling party number database comprising part of the network architecture of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates in tabular form a portion of the contents of a dialed number database comprising part of the network architecture of  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 5  illustrates in tabular form a portion of the contents of a default database comprising part of the network architecture of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a network architecture  10  for providing Internet telephony service, together with selected content information to one of a plurality of callers  12 ,  14  and  16  initiating an Internet telephone call. At the heart of the architecture  10  is an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP) server  18  operated by provider of Internet Telephony service such as AT&amp;T. The server  18  enjoys links to an ITSP calling party number (CPN) database  20 , an ITSP dialed number (DN) database  22  and a ITSP default database  24 , described in greater detail in  FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 , respectively. 
     A network  26  connects the ITSP server  18  to each of the subscribers  12 ,  14  and  16 . The network  26  may include the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a wireless network, a data network, a cable television network or a combination of any or all of them. Associated with the network  26  is a dialed number server (DNS)  28  that provides a mapping between Domain names and IP Addresses as defined in IETF RFC 1034 and 1035. 
     While not critical to the invention, the subscribers  12 ,  14 , and  16  may access the ITSP server  18  to commence an Internet telephone call in different ways. For example, the subscriber  12  may employ a conventional personal computer  30  with a modem (not shown), together with a speaker/microphone  32 . Alternatively, the subscriber  14  may use a telephone set  34  coupled to the network  26  via a broadband telephony interface (BTI)  36 . Note that the BTI  36  could also couple a personal computer  38  at the premises of the subscriber  14  to the network  26  as well. The subscriber  16  may access the network  26  from a telephone  40  via the combination of a multimedia terminal adapter  42  and a cable modem  44 . The cable modem  44  may also connect a personal computer  46  at the premises of the subscriber  16  to the network  26 . The telephone number of the originating caller, hereinafter referred to as the calling party number (CPN) is passed to server  18  by the client software application on  30 ,  36 , and  44 . As explained in detail below, the ITSP server  18  makes use of the CPN to determine what information to provide to the calling party in accordance with the invention. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a flow chart of the steps executed by the ITSP server  18  of  FIG. 1  to provide selected information to one or more of the subscribers  12 ,  14 , and  16  of  FIG. 1  in connection with an Internet telephony call in accordance with the invention. The ITSP server  18  enters the method upon execution of step  100  of  FIG. 2  and thereafter awaits an Internet telephone call which, one or more of the subscribers  12 ,  14  and  16  of  FIG. 1  typically initiate by dialing a destination (dialed number) during step  102 . The dialed number entered by the subscriber initiating the Internet telephony call is received by the ITSP server  18  of  FIG. 1  during step  104 , along the CPN, as provided by the DNS  28  of  FIG. 1 . 
     Upon receipt of the CPN and DN associated with the Internet telephony call initiated by a subscriber, the ITSP server  18  begins setting up the call during step  106  of  FIG. 2 . In other words, the ITSP server  18  establishes the links needed to complete the call by a calling subscriber. In connection with setting up the call, the ITSP server  18  determines what if any targeted visual information or content, typically, although not necessarily advertising, to provide to the calling party during step  108  of  FIG. 2 . As discussed in greater detail in connection with  FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 , the ITSP server  18  determines the targeted information to provide to the calling party in accordance with at a match of at least the DN, and typically, in accordance with a match between both the CPN and DN using the databases  20 ,  22 , and  24  of  FIG. 1 . 
     Having determined what information to provide to the calling party during step  108 , the ITSP server  18  provides or “pushes” the content to the calling party, typically by providing the URL of the content to the subscriber during step  110 . The targeted visual content appears on the calling party&#39;s display device during step  112  so that the caller can view that information at his/her discretion. The calling party&#39;s display device could include a display monitor (not shown) associated with a personal computer, a television set, an internal LCD or LED read out associated with a telephone, or a peripheral display device, such as a Personal Data Assistant. During the course of the call, the ITSP server  18  of  FIG. 1  may update or refresh the content, either automatically, or by attendant control during step  114  of  FIG. 2 . As an example of the latter scenario, an attendant associated with the called party may update the targeted information in response to a request made by the calling party for additional information during the course of the call. When the calling party terminates the call, the process ends (step  116 ). 
     The ITSP server  18  determines what targeted information to provide to the calling party by searching the CPN, DN and Default databases  20 ,  22  and  24 , respectively. Although three separate databases  20 ,  22  and  24  are illustrated in  FIG. 1 , a single database could contain the information. As depicted in  FIG. 3 , the CPN database  20  comprises a table  200  listing a plurality of CPN blocks  202 , each block containing the telephone number of a subscriber that subscribes to Internet telephony service from the ITSP server  18  of  FIG. 1 . Associated with each of the CPN blocks  202  is a corresponding one of content blocks  204 . Each content block  204  associated with a corresponding CPN block  202  includes one or more URLs that each provide a link to content targeted information (e.g., advertising) for access by the subscriber associated with the particular CPN. Thus, for example, the CPN 732-420-0000 has three separate URLs associated with this number, namely www.mtv.com/advertise, www.vias.com/adv/#33, and www.hotbot.com/message. 
     There are various mechanisms for selecting the particular URLs associated with each CPN. For example, each subscriber could identify his/her favorite URLs to the Internet Telephony Service Provider that maligning the ITSP  18 . To the extent that a caller has identified to a web site a willingness to have the caller&#39;s telephone number linked to that site, then the web site could provide the ITSP server  18  with such information. 
     Each content block  204  is associated with a corresponding one of priority blocks  206 . Each priority block  206  has a priority value corresponding to the URLs within the associated content block. Thus for example, the URLs www.mtv.com/advertise, www.vias.com/adv/#33, and www.hotbot.com/message within a first content block  204  have priorities 0.7, 0.3 and 0.6, respectively, as specified by the corresponding priority block  206 . The priority associated with each URL defines the priority by which the ITSP server  18  of  FIG. 1  selects the URL to “push” to the particular CPN. Thus, the URL having the higher priority is selected before a URL having a lower priority. Note that some CPNs may only have a single associated URL in which case, the priority associated with that URL is 1. 
     Each content block  204  has a corresponding one of next content indexes  208  associated therewith. Each next content index  208  comprises a pointer that points to a particular URL within the corresponding content block. In some instances, a calling party may prefer to have the ITSP server  18  of  FIG. 1  loop through the URLs. The next content index tracks which of the URLs is currently identified to facilitate such looping. 
       FIG. 4  depicts a tabular view of the CPN database  22  of  FIG. 1 . Like the CPN database  20  of  FIG. 3 , the DN database  22  is depicted in  FIG. 4 . as a table  300  that includes a plurality of DN blocks  302 , each DN block containing the number of a called party that wishes to provide selectable content to a calling party in accordance with the invention. Thus, for example, the first of the DN blocks  302  contains the telephone number 800-HILTON1, associated with the Hilton Hotel Chain. 
     In practice, the ITSP server  18  will populate each of the DN blocks  302  with the DN of each entity that wishes to provide content to Internet telephony callers. The Internet Telephony Service Provider could charge a fee for this service in several different ways. For example, the Internet Telephony Service Provider could charge a flat monthly rate, or a graduated rate based on the number of URLs listed for each DN. In place of, or in addition to a monthly fee, the Internet Telephony Service Provider could charge a certain fee each time the ITSP server  18  provides content to a called party. 
     Associated with each of the DN blocks  302  is a corresponding one of content blocks  304 , each content block containing at least one URL that directs the calling party to content associated with the called party. Thus, for example, the content block  304  associated with the DN block containing the dialed number 800-HILTON1 may contain the URL www.hilton.com/bestbuys?customer=‘CPN’, where ‘CPN’ represents the actual subscriber&#39;s CPN (this allows the content to be tailed to the individual subscriber). Each content block  304  has an associated priority block  306  that contains the priority related with the content contained in that content block. Thus, for example, the content block  304  containing the URL www.hilton.com/bestbuys?customer=‘CPN’ has a priority of 1.0. Other content blocks may have the same or different priorities. The priority associated with each URL in a particular content block  304  determines in what priority the ITSP server  18  provides the URL to the calling party. 
       FIG. 5  depicts a tabular view of the default database  24  of  FIG. 1 . As described below, the default database  24  allows the ITSP server  18  of  FIG. 1  to select targeted information that matches a range of DNs or CPNs using wildcards (e.g.*). The default database of  FIG. 5  appears as a table  400  that includes a plurality of match blocks  402 . Each match block  402  contains a particular matching criterion. For example, the first match block  402  contains the matching criterion “DN=303*”. When ITSP  18  of  FIG. 1  receives a dialed number that includes the area code  303 , then there is a match with the contents of the first match block  402 . The other match blocks  402  contain different matching criterion. Associated with each match blocks  402  is a corresponding one of content blocks  404 . Each content block  404  contains at least one URL that the ITSP server  18  of  FIG. 1  provides to the calling party whose criteria (i.e., DN and/or CPN) matches the contents of the corresponding match block. Thus, for example, for an Internet telephony call whose dialed number contains the area code “303”, the associated content block will contain content associated with that area code, such as the URL www.denver.com/welcome. Each content block  404  has an associated priority block  406  that contains the priority linked with the content in that content block. Thus, for example, the content block  404  containing the URL www.denver.com/welcome has a priority of 0.1. Other content blocks may have the same of different priorities. The priority in each priority block  404  determines in what priority the ITSP server  18  of  FIG. 1  makes the content (i.e., the URL) available. 
     In operation, when the ITSP server  18  of  FIG. 1  receives the CPN and DN in connection with an Internet telephony call, the server searches each of the CPN, DN and default databases  20 ,  22  and  24 , respectively. Upon finding a match in any of the databases, the ITSP server  18  will then provide (push) the corresponding content to the calling party. This content may be directly provided to the calling or the calling party may be given the option to chose to receive the content (by “clicking” on the URL) at his/her discretion. In case a possible conflict arises between the matches returned by the databases, the ITSP server  18  will provide the content having the highest priority. 
     The foregoing describes a technique for providing an Internet Telephony caller with interactive content. 
     The above-described embodiments merely illustrate the principles of the invention. Those skilled in the art may make various modifications and changes that will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.