Methods and apparatuses to access advertisements through voice over internet protocol (VoIP) applications
View Patent ↗Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) terminals with integrated user interface for accessing and/or managing advertisements that provide telephonic contact information. In one embodiment, a method includes: receiving a user input in a user interface of a VoIP telephonic apparatus to specify one or more search terms; submitting the one or more search terms from the telephonic apparatus to a server; receiving one or more advertisements containing one or more references to telephonic contact information as a result of a search performed using the one or more search terms; displaying the one or more advertisements in the user interface of the VoIP telephonic apparatus; receiving a user indication in the user interface of the VoIP telephonic apparatus to call an advertiser of the one or more advertisements; and initiating a telephonic call to the advertiser according to the one or more advertisements using the VoIP telephonic apparatus.
1. A telephonic apparatus, comprising:
a user interface configured to display an advertisement received from a connection server;
wherein the telephonic apparatus is configured to:
retrieve, in response to a request from a user of the telephonic apparatus, a current version of the advertisement from the connection server, wherein the advertisement includes one or more of an identifier for the advertisement and an identifier for an advertiser of the advertisement, and wherein the advertisement does not contain any telephonic contact information for the advertiser;
display the advertisement via the user interface;
receive, via the user interface, a request from the user of the telephonic apparatus to call the advertiser of the advertisement; and
initiate, in response to the request, a voice over internet protocol call to the advertiser of the advertisement by transmitting, to the connection server, telephonic contact information for the telephonic apparatus along with the identifier of the advertiser or the identifier of the advertisement.
2. The telephonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the telephonic apparatus is one of:
a wireless mobile phone;
a cellular phone;
a voice over internet protocol phone;
a Bluetooth phone;
a universal serial bus phone;
a personal digital assistant; and
a handheld computer.
3. The telephonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement is displayed in response to at least one search term submitted from the user interface to search one of yellow page information and a listing of services provided over a telephonic connection.
4. The telephonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the telephonic apparatus communicates with the connection server through an application program interface of the connection server to retrieve the advertisement and to retrieve updated information for the advertisement.
5. A method, comprising:
displaying, via a user interface of a telephonic apparatus, an advertisement received from a connection server;
retrieving, via the telephonic apparatus and in response to a request from a user of the telephonic apparatus, a current version of the advertisement from the connection server, wherein the advertisement includes one or more of an identifier for the advertisement and an identifier for an advertiser of the advertisement, and wherein the advertisement does not contain any telephonic contact information for the advertiser;
receiving, via the user interface, a request from the user of the telephonic apparatus to call the advertiser of the advertisement; and
initiating, via the telephonic apparatus and in response to the request, a voice over internet protocol call to the advertiser of the advertisement by transmitting, to the connection server, telephonic contact information for the telephonic apparatus along with the identifier of the advertiser or the identifier of the advertisement.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
retrieving, via the telephonic apparatus, the current version of the advertisement from the connection server in response to contact information of the advertiser of the advertisement being requested by the user of the telephonic apparatus.
7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
transmitting, via the telephonic apparatus, information about the voice over internet protocol call with the advertiser to a remote server after a successful connection between the telephonic apparatus and the advertiser.
8. A tangible non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a telephonic apparatus, cause the telephonic apparatus to:
retrieve, in response to a request from a user of the telephonic apparatus, a current version of an advertisement from a connection server, wherein the advertisement includes one or more of an identifier for the advertisement and an identifier for an advertiser of the advertisement, and wherein the advertisement does not contain any telephonic contact information for the advertiser;
display the advertisement via a user interface of the telephonic apparatus;
initiate, via the telephonic apparatus, a voice over internet protocol call to the advertiser of the advertisement by transmitting, to the connection server, telephonic contact information for the telephonic apparatus along with the identifier of the advertiser or the identifier of the advertisement.
9. The telephonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein displaying the advertisement includes displaying a selectable icon via the user interface, and wherein the user makes the request to call the advertiser by selecting the icon.
10. The method of claim 5 , wherein displaying the advertisement includes displaying a selectable icon via the user interface, and wherein the user makes the request to call the advertiser by selecting the icon.
11. The computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein displaying the advertisement includes displaying a selectable icon via the user interface, and wherein the user makes the request to call the advertiser by selecting the icon.
12. The telephonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the telephonic apparatus is further configured to display, via the user interface and during the call between the user and the advertiser, a duration of the call, a logo for the advertiser, and a per-minute price charged to the user.
13. The method of claim 5 , further comprising displaying, via the user interface of the telephonic apparatus and during the call between the user and the advertiser, a duration of the call, a logo for the advertiser, and a per-minute price charged to the user.
14. The computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the medium further stores instructions to cause the telephonic apparatus to display, via the user interface of the telephonic apparatus and during the call between the user and the advertiser, a duration of the call, a logo for the advertiser, and a per-minute price charged to the user.
15. The telephonic apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the telephonic apparatus is further configured to display, via the user interface and during the call between the user and the advertiser, a balance of an account used to pay for the per-minute charges for the call between the user and the advertiser.
16. The method of claim 5 , further comprising displaying, via the user interface and during the call between the user and the advertiser, a balance of an account used to pay for the per-minute charges for the call between the user and the advertiser.
17. The computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the medium further stores instructions to cause the telephonic apparatus to display, via the user interface and during the call between the user and the advertiser, a balance of an account used to pay for the per-minute charges for the call between the user and the advertiser.
18. The telephonic apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement is presented on behalf of a group of advertisers, and wherein the telephonic apparatus is further configured to present the user, after the user initiates the call and via the user interface, an option to select one of the advertisers from the group of advertisers that the user wishes to call.
19. The method of claim 5 , wherein the advertisement is presented on behalf of a group of advertisers, and wherein the method further includes presenting the user, after the user initiates the call and via the user interface, an option to select one of the advertisers from the group of advertisers that the user wishes to call.
20. The computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the advertisement is presented on behalf of a group of advertisers, and wherein the medium further stores instructions to cause the telephonic apparatus to present the user, after the user initiates the call and via the user interface, an option to select one of the advertisers from the group of advertisers that the user wishes to call.