Granted Patent B2

US 7,698,183 · App. 10/465,770 · Granted Apr 13, 2010

Abstract

Claims (67)

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a computer and from an information provider, a first price bid for priority of presenting the information provider, and a second price to charge users for services of the information provider, the first price bid to be paid by the information provider for being prioritized in presentation in response to a qualified selection of the information provider from presentations prioritized at least based on the first price bid;

receiving from a user a first request for a type of information provider;

identifying a set of identified information providers that satisfy the first request;

prioritizing, using the computer, the set of identified information providers in accordance with at least the first price bid for priority of presenting the information provider and in accordance with availability of the set of identified information providers, to generate a prioritized set of information providers;

providing the prioritized set of information providers for presentation to the user;

receiving a second request from the user to select the information provider as a selected information provider from the prioritized set of information providers;

in response to the second request, providing a connection for real time communications between the user and the selected information provider;

in response to the second request determining whether to charge the selected information provider according to the first price bid based on determining whether the second request is a qualified selection; and

monitoring a length of time of the connection, to charge the user according to the second price of the selected information provider.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving of the first request for a type of information provider includes receiving the first request in a form of at least one search term submitted by the user from a website interface; and

the providing the prioritized set of information providers includes providing the prioritized set from a database of information providers.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of identified information providers are further prioritized according to at least one of: rating, relevancy, experience, and the rate of consultation fee.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the rating is based on at least one of: a peer rating, an independent auditor rating, and a user rating.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected information provider is charged according to the first price bid upon being connected to the user for real time communications.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the second request is determined to be a qualified selection only if the user has a credit account with an information provider search engine.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the second request is subsequently determined to be a qualified selection after the user establishes a credit account with an information provider search engine within a predetermined period of time after selecting the selected information provider.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the second request is determined to be not a qualified selection if the user had communication with the selected information provider within a predetermined period of time prior to the second request.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the second request is determined to be not a qualified selection if the user had a predetermined number of qualified selections of information providers within a predetermined period of time prior to the second request.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second request is determined to be not a qualified selection if the user had a predetermined number of qualified selections of the selected information provider within a predetermined period of time prior to the second request.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying further includes selecting information providers that have a predetermined level of feedback.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying further includes selecting information providers that have a web page of a predetermined level of quality.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising charging the set of identified information providers according to price bids of the set of identified information providers upon displaying the set of identified information providers.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prioritized set of information providers are displayed as web page links, each of the web page links being an address for detailed information describing an associated information provider.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the connection for real time communications comprises:

retrieving contact information from the user requesting the selected information provider;

contacting the selected information provider and the user separately;

connecting the user to the selected information provider while maintaining security of the retrieved contact information.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a user interface to the set of identified information providers for modifying and viewing price bids of the set of identified information providers.

17. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a request for a type of information provider;

retrieving information provider information that includes a price bid for priority of presenting an information provider, an availability status, and an information provider identifier for each of a set of identified information providers that satisfy the request, the price bid to be paid by the information provider in response to a qualified selection of the information provider selected from a presentation of the information provider prioritized according to the price bid;

prioritizing the information provider information according to the price bid and the availability status indicated for each of the set of identified information providers using a computer to generate a prioritized set of information provider information;

listing the prioritized set of information provider information on a web page that provides a user interface for initiation of real time communications with the set of identified information providers; and

in response to a user selection of a selected information provider from the set of identified information providers, determining whether to charge the selected information provider the price bid based on whether the user selection is a qualified selection.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the request for a type of information provider includes at least one search term entered into an information provider search engine.

19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

receiving a selection for the selected information provider selected from the set of identified information providers listed on the web page;

retrieving contact information from the user requesting the selected information provider;

contacting the selected information provider and the user separately; and

connecting the user to the selected information provider while maintaining security of the contact information retrieved from the user.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising charging the selected information provider the bid price associated with the selected information provider after receiving the selection of the selected information provider.

21. A computer implemented method, comprising:

retrieving a set of information provider identifiers that satisfy a request for a type of information provider, the request being received from a user over the Internet;

ranking, by a computer, the set of information provider identifiers according to a price bid for priority of presenting an information provider and according to availability status;

generating at least one file to display the set of information provider identifiers;

transmitting the at least one file from the computer to the user;

in response to a user selection of the information provider as a selected information provider identified by one of the set of information provider identifiers, providing a connection for real time communications between the user and the selected information provider and determining whether the user selection is a qualified selection based on at least one pre-specified criterion; and

charging the selected information provider according to the price bid for priority in the ranking of the set of information provider identifiers, in response to a determination that the user selection is a qualified selection.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the set of information provider identifiers is a set of links to web pages corresponding to a set of identified information providers.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the providing the connection for real time communications comprises:

retrieving contact information from the user; and

contacting the selected information provider and the user separately to connect the user to the selected information provider.

24. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

in response to receiving from a user a first request for a type of information provider, identifying a set of identified information providers that satisfy the first request;

prioritizing the set of identified information providers in accordance with at least a price bid and availability of the set of identified information providers to generate a prioritized set of information providers, the price bid to be paid by an information provider in response to a qualified selection of the information provider;

providing the prioritized set of information providers for display to the user;

providing a connection for real time communications between the user and a selected information provider selected from the prioritized set of information providers in response to a second request from the user;

in response to a user selection of the selected information provider from the prioritized set of information providers, determining whether to charge the selected information provider according to the price bid based on whether the user selection is a qualified selection; and

monitoring a length of time of the connection, to charge the user according to a rate of the selected information provider.

25. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

retrieving a set of information provider identifiers that satisfy a request for a type of information provider, the request being received from a user over the Internet;

ranking the set of information provider identifiers according to price bid and availability status;

generating at least one file to display the set of information provider identifiers;

transmitting the at least one file to the user;

in response to a user selection of a selected information provider identified by one of the set of information provider identifiers, providing a connection for real time communications between the user and the selected information provider and determining whether the user selection is a qualified selection based on at least one pre-specified criterion; and

charging the selected information provider according to the price bid in response to a determination that the user selection is a qualified selection.

Assignments (36)