Enhanced directory assistance services in a telecommunications network
View Patent ↗Directory assistance provides telephone number look up services to callers based on the business or caller name as listed in a telephone directory. As such, directory assistance in the prior art provides a value-added service to telephone users and an expense that must be charged back to telephone subscribers or absorbed by telephone carriers. The present invention provides a method and system whereby directory assistance is enhanced to deliver a targeted advertising service to telephone listing owners and advertisers. The enhanced directory assistance (EDA) service of the present invention becomes an additional revenue source for carriers. The present invention also provides a method and system for dynamically ordering these directory listings and tracking subsequent telephone referrals.
1. A method for maintaining a dynamically controlled index for a telephone directory assistance system comprising:
receiving from an advertiser via a communication interface an advertiser-generated refresh request; and
using a processor to update based on data comprising the advertiser-generated refresh request one or both of:
a listing associated with the advertiser and
one or more of a keyword index, a localization index, and a position control index;
wherein the keyword index, the localization index, and the position control index are used to respond to telephone directory service requests, including by controlling what listings are selected for response, and the order in which they are returned for response, and
wherein the advertiser-generated refresh request enables the advertiser to control dynamically whether a listing associated with the advertiser is included in telephone directory service requests, and in what position the associated listing is returned in the request.
2. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the advertiser-generated refresh request comprises a local data refresh query to update local cached results for telephone directory service requests.
3. A method as recited in claim 2 , wherein updating local cached results enables the advertiser to ensure that a listing associated with the advertiser is in a favorable order returned for response, by updating the local cache for telephone directory service requests to comprise recent changes.
4. A method as recited in claim 2 , wherein updating local cached results enables the advertiser to ensure that a listing associated with the advertiser is included in what listings are selected for response, by updating the local cache for telephone directory service requests to comprise recent changes.
5. A method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the local data refresh query comprises keywords and refresh cycle time parameters.
6. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein a keyword within the keyword index is provided by the advertiser.
7. A method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising applying a filter to a listings database used to respond to telephone directory service requests, in part to reduce response time for telephone directory service requests.
8. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the advertiser-generated refresh request comprises a position control refresh message.
9. A method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the advertiser-generated refresh request comprises a position control refresh message, comprising a keyword parameter and instructions used to refresh one or more indexes.
10. A system for maintaining a dynamically controlled index for a telephone directory assistance system comprising:
a processor configured to:
receive from an advertiser via a communication interface an advertiser-generated refresh request; and
update based on data comprising the advertiser-generated refresh request one or both of:
a listing associated with the advertiser and
one or more of a keyword index, a localization index, and a position control index;
wherein the keyword index, the localization index, and the position control index are used to respond to telephone directory service requests, including by controlling what listings are selected for response, and the order in which they are returned for response, and
wherein the advertiser-generated refresh request enables the advertiser to control dynamically whether a listing associated with the advertiser is included in telephone directory service requests, and in what position the associated listing is returned in the request;
the communication interface coupled to the processor; and
a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.
11. A system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the advertiser-generated refresh request comprises a local data refresh query to update local cached results for telephone directory service requests.
12. A system as recited in claim 11 , wherein updating local cached results enables the advertiser to ensure that a listing associated with the advertiser is in a favorable order returned for response, by updating the local cache for telephone directory service requests to comprise recent changes.
13. A system as recited in claim 11 , wherein updating local cached results enables the advertiser to ensure that a listing associated with the advertiser is included in what listings are selected for response, by updating the local cache for telephone directory service requests to comprise recent changes.
14. A system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the local data refresh query comprises keywords and refresh cycle time parameters.
15. A system as recited in claim 10 , wherein a keyword within the keyword index is provided by the advertiser.
16. A system as recited in claim 10 , further comprising applying a filter to a listings database used to respond to telephone directory service requests, in part to reduce response time for telephone directory service requests.
17. A system as recited in claim 10 , wherein the advertiser-generated refresh request comprises a position control refresh message.