Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The invention is related to telephony systems. More specifically, the invention is related to systems and methods for delivering a targeted message to a calling party. 
         [0002]    A customer may call a business, for example, to place an order or inquire about a product or service. However, generally, the business may have very little information about the customer prior to receiving the call. Likewise, the business may not have procedures to follow up with the customer in order to maintain and manage a relationship with the customer. 
         [0003]    In order to efficiently develop and manage customer relationships, it would be advantageous for businesses to have the ability to send tailored messages to their customers. More specifically, when a business receives a communication from a customer such as a call, it would be advantageous if the business had access to information about the calling customer so as to be able to select and send a message tailored to the preferences of the customer. 
         [0004]    Thus, there is a need for systems and methods which can analyze incoming calls or other communications and determine an appropriate message specific to the called party to send to the calling party that is targeted to the calling party. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    In one exemplary embodiment, a method performed by a telephony system for delivering a targeted message from a called party to a calling party is disclosed. The method includes receiving a communication directed to the called party through a provider network and accessing a contact history associated with the calling party. The method further includes selecting, based at least in part upon the contact history, a targeted message associated with the called party and providing the targeted message to the calling party. 
         [0006]    In another exemplary embodiment, a telephony system for delivering a targeted message from a called party to a calling party is disclosed. The system includes a provider network for receiving a communication directed to the calling party from a calling party. The provider network is communicatively connected to both the calling party and the called party. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage mediums contain a contact history database and a targeted messages database. A processing unit on the provider network accesses and analyzes information associated with the calling party in the contact history database to select a targeted message associated with the called party from the targeted messages database. The processing instructs the provider network to provide the targeted message to the calling party. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of a communications environment including various elements which are associated with a system for delivering a targeted message to a calling party in accordance with the invention; 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is an illustration of a block diagram in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention of elements that form part of a system on a provider network; and 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating steps of a method for delivering a targeted message to a calling party. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0010]    The following detailed description of preferred embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate specific embodiments of the invention. Other embodiments having different structures and operations do not depart from the scope of the present invention. 
         [0011]    As illustrated in an exemplary embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 , a block diagram  100  representing a communication environment for delivering a targeted message to a calling party is provided. A communication such as a call from a caller client device  101  is connected to the called party  105  through a provider network  103 . The caller client device  101  includes but is not limited to telephones calling via a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or connected over a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network, cell phones or other devices that can send and receive calls on a telephony network. The called party  105  may be, for example, a retail business which may receive calls, orders or in-person visits from potential and existing customers. The provider network  103  is in communication with database  102  which contains a contact history of the calling party and database  104  which contains targeted messages associated with called party  105 . 
         [0012]    In one exemplary embodiment the call may be in a communication medium other than a voice or audio call. The communication medium may include text, email or video, for example. 
         [0013]    The invention is sometimes disclosed with reference to advertising. However, its principles are applicable to many forms of communication where information directed to a customer or contact can be personalized or targeted, e.g., a community of church members or a school group. In such groups, a common denominator of mutual interest provides sufficient incentive to focus the content presented to the group. 
         [0014]    Databases  102  and  104  reside on computer-readable medium, which may be one or more of readily available memory such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), floppy disk, hard disk, flash memory or any other form of digital storage, local or remote, and is preferably of non-volatile nature. 
         [0015]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , elements of a provider network  200  are shown, including a processing unit  202  that may be used to provide various functions of the provider network including the methods discussed herein. The provider network  200  may contain multiple processing units, databases and other elements and  FIG. 2  is presented only as an illustration of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0016]    Processing unit  202  is in communication with a contact history database  102  and a targeted message database  104  which may store and modify messages to be sent to the calling party. The contact history database  102  and the targeted messages database  104  may, but need not, reside on the provider network and optionally may be remotely accessible. 
         [0017]    The processing unit  202  shown may be one of any form of a general purpose computer processor used in processing data in a provider network. The processing unit  202  comprises a central processing unit (CPU)  204 , and support circuits  203  for the CPU  204  and memory  201 . The processing unit  202  also includes provisions for connecting the processing unit  202  to customer equipment, to service provider equipment and IP network or gateways, as well as possibly one or more input/output devices (not shown) for accessing the processing unit and/or performing ancillary or administrative functions related thereto. 
         [0018]    The support circuits  203  and the CPU  204  for supporting the processing unit  202  are connected in a conventional manner. These circuits include cache, power supplies, clock circuits, input/output circuitry and subsystems, and the like. 
         [0019]    The contact history may include, for example, information about the calling party collected from or provided by third-party sources such as social media platforms; information regarding whether the calling party has called the business before; prior activity of the calling party, including internet usage history (whether on the called party&#39;s website or otherwise); current activity of the calling party, including mobile application usage; capabilities of the calling party&#39;s device; the geographic location of the caller; and the communication medium (e.g., video calling, audio calling) being used by the caller. The contact history may also include a history of calls that the caller has made to competitors of called party  105 . The contact history may contain activity data associated with the caller gathered across multiple devices, platforms and networks. This activity data may include but is not limited to internet access history, music, videos, games, texting and chatting. Moreover, location can be tracked by a global positioning system (GPS), cell tower proximity or triangulation, or WiFi hot spot proximity based on the caller client device, laptop computer or other devices. In addition, current activity may be included in the contact history from an event calendar. A caller may maintain appointments and events in an electronic calendar. Appointments and events may include for example, sports events, doctor appointments, holidays and the like. 
         [0020]    A computer program or software routine  210  when executed by the CPU  204 , causes the processing unit  202  to perform processes of the disclosed embodiments, and is generally stored in a memory or computer-readable medium, which may be one or more of readily available memory such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), floppy disk, hard disk, flash memory or any other form of digital storage, local or remote, and is preferably of non-volatile nature. Also, the software routines could also be stored remotely from the CPU  204 . For example, the software could be resident on servers and memory devices that are located remotely from the CPU  204 , but which are accessible to the CPU  204  via a data network connection. 
         [0021]    The computer program or software routine  210 , when executed by the CPU  204 , transforms the general purpose computer into a specific purpose computer that performs one or more functions of the methods and systems of the disclosed embodiments. Although the processes of the disclosed embodiments may be discussed as being implemented as a software routine, some of the method steps that are disclosed therein may be performed in hardware as well as by a processor running software. As such, the embodiments may be implemented in software as executed upon a computer system, in hardware as an application specific integrated circuit or other type of hardware implementation, or a combination of software and hardware. The software routine of the disclosed embodiments is capable of being executed on any computer operating system, and is capable of being performed using any CPU architecture. 
         [0022]      FIG. 3  depicts a flowchart illustrating steps of a method of delivering targeted messages from a called party to a calling party. In one embodiment of the invention, a call directed to the called party  105  is initiated at step S 301  and is received at provider network  103  at step S 302 . When the call is received (S 302 ) at the provider network  103 , the processing unit  202  identifies the caller at step S 303  by the caller phone number or other identifying credentials. The processing unit  202  accesses the caller contact history from contact history database  102  at step S 304 . At step S 305  the processing unit  202  selects an appropriate message from targeted messages database  104  associated with the called party and based on the contact history. The processing unit  202  instructs the provider network  103  to transmit the appropriate message to the caller client device  101  at step S 306 . The message transmission S 306  may occur during the call, before the communication is requested or following the termination of the call. The message is sent (S 306 ) to the caller client device  101  from the provider network  200  in an appropriate communication medium in return. The return communication medium may include still images, audio, video and text. 
         [0023]    In some instances, the information or message sent is delivered to the called party as text. This typically means causing the text to be displayed to the called party on a display screen of the caller client device. In other instances, the information or message could comprise an audio or a video recording. 
         [0024]    In other embodiments, the information or message from the business to the caller may be in the form of a coupon to attract new customers. 
         [0025]    In yet other embodiments, the message may be tailored to preferences determined from a customer profile that will alert the caller to a special or product that is appropriate to the customer preferences based on the customer profile. 
         [0026]    In another embodiment, the message may be targeted to a product or service of the business that is related to products or services the customer has inquired about from a competitor business. For example, if a customer has an interest in a product category of a competitor in an illustrative embodiment, the system and method can select and send a message in the same product category from the called business. 
         [0027]    In other embodiments the call to the business may be in a form other than a voice or audio call. The call may include text, email or video, for example. 
         [0028]    The method described above with reference to  FIG. 3  is performed transparent to the caller and without interfering with the communication between the customer  101  and business  105 . 
         [0029]    The above described system and method may be any telephony device including IP telephony devices and certain devices that are not traditionally used as telephony devices may act as telephony devices once they are configured with appropriate client software. Thus, some devices that would not normally be considered telephony devices may become telephony devices or IP telephony devices once they are running appropriate software. One example would be a desktop or a laptop computer that is running software that can interact with an IP telephony system over a data network to conduct telephone calls. Another example would be a portable computing device, such as an Apple iPod Touch™, which includes a speaker and a microphone. A software application loaded onto an Apple iPod Touch™ can be run so that the Apple iPod Touch™ can interact with an IP telephony system to conduct a telephone call. 
         [0030]    The descriptions herein also refer to telephony communications and telephony activity. These terms are intended to encompass all types of telephone communications, regardless of whether all or a portion of the communications are carried in an analog or digital format. Telephony communications could include audio or video telephone calls, facsimile transmissions, text messages, SMS messages, MMS messages, video messages, and all other types of telephony and data communications sent by or received by a user. These terms are also intended to encompass data communications that are conveyed through a PSTN or VOIP telephony system. In other words, these terms are intended to encompass any communications whatsoever, in any format, which traverse all or a portion of a communications network or telephony network. 
         [0031]    In the methods and systems described herein, references are made to calls between a customer and a business. Although the term “call” is used in this description, the systems and methods described herein could also be used to connect two parties to other forms of telephony communications. Thus, the references to a “call” are in no way to be considered limiting. 
         [0032]    The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. 
         [0033]    While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Technology Category: h