Systems and methods to provide information and connect people for real time communications
View Patent ↗Methods and apparatuses to provide communication connections at a cost reduced via advertising. One embodiment includes: receiving a request from a first user over a data communication network; response to the request, initiating a first telephonic connection to the first user and a second telephonic connection to a second user to provide a telephonic connection between the first and second users; presenting an advertisement to at least one of the first and second users; and reducing a communication fee for the telephonic connection between the first and second users using a portion of an advertisement fee charged for the advertisement.
1. A method, comprising:
receiving, via a connection server, a request from a first user over a data communication network to make a requested telephonic connection between the first user and a second user;
in response to the request from the first user establishing, via the connection server, a first telephonic connection between the connection server and the first user and a second telephonic connection between the connection server and the second user;
receiving, from the first user, a selection indicating that the first user wishes to receive an advertisement in conjunction with the requested telephonic connection;
in response to the selection from the first user to receive the advertisement, presenting, via the connection server, the advertisement to the first user utilizing the first telephonic connection;
bridging, via the connection server, the first telephonic connection and the second telephonic connection to provide the requested telephonic connection;
receiving, via the connection server, a selection from the first user indicating that the advertisement is to be presented to the second user via the second telephonic connection; and
reducing a communication fee for the requested telephonic connection between the first user and the second user using a portion of an advertisement fee charged to an advertiser for presenting the advertisement.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement is presented to the first user using the first telephonic connection prior to completing the requested telephonic connection between the first user and the second user.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement is presented to the second user using the second telephonic connection prior to completing the requested telephonic connection between the first user and the second user.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement is presented to the at least one of the first user and the second user after the first user and the second user end the requested telephonic connection.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining a keyword from a telephonic conversation during the requested telephonic connection; and
selecting the advertisement based on the keyword.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
providing an option to connect the at least one of the first user and the second user to an advertiser of the advertisement.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
charging an advertisement fee according to a bid price of the advertiser in response to connecting the at least one of the first user and the second user to the advertiser.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning a call button to the first user, wherein the request is generated in response to the first user selecting the call button; and
maintaining an account of the first user to charge the first user communication fees for telephonic connections established via the call button.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the request is received from a user terminal of the first user; and the method further comprises:
authenticating, via the computing device, the first user to associate the user terminal with the call button.
10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
in response to the request, determining a telephonic reference of the first user to initiate the first telephonic connection to the first user based on a reference embedded in the call button.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the communication fees comprise one of fees for long distance calls and fees for international calls.
12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
presenting the call button to the first user, the call button including a user interface to accept a telephonic reference of the second user to initiate the second telephonic connection to the second user.
13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
storing information to associate the call button with a telephonic reference of the first user to initiate the first telephonic connection and a telephonic reference of the second user to initiate the second telephonic connection; and
in response to the request, determining the telephonic reference of the first user and the telephonic reference of the second user based on a reference embedded in the call button and the stored information.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning a call button to the second user, wherein the request is generated in response to the first user selecting the call button; and
in response to the request, authenticating the first user to initiate the first and second telephonic connections to provide the telephonic connection between the first user and the second user.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
presenting the call button to the first user;
responsive to the first user selecting the call button, presenting a user interface to authenticate the first user to determine a telephonic reference of the first user to initiate the first telephonic connection and to receive a telephonic reference of the second user to initiate the second telephonic connection to the second user.
16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to the request, initiating a third telephonic connection to a third user to provide a telephonic connection among the first user, the second user and the third user.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user further indicates whether the first user and the second user receive the same advertisement or different advertisements.
18. A tangible non-transitory machine readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a connection server, cause the connection server to:
receive a request from a first user over a data communication network to make a requested telephonic connection between the first user and a second user;
in response to the request from the first user, establish a first telephonic connection between the connection server and the first user and a second telephonic connection between the connection server and the second user;
receive, from the first user, a selection indicating that the first user wishes to receive an advertisement in conjunction with the requested telephonic connection;
in response to the selection from the first user to receive the advertisement, present the advertisement to the first user utilizing the first telephonic connection;
bridge the first telephonic connection and the second telephonic connection to provide the requested telephonic connection;
receive a selection from the first user indicating that the advertisement is to be presented to the second user via the second telephonic connection; and
reduce a communication fee for the requested telephonic connection between the first user and the second user using a portion of an advertisement fee charged to an advertiser for presenting the advertisement.
19. A connection server, comprising:
a processor; and
memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the connection server to:
receive a request from a first user to make a requested telephonic connection between the first user and a second user; and
in response to the request from the first user, establish a first telephonic connection between the connection server and the first user and a second telephonic connection between the connection server and the second user;
receive, from the first user, a selection indicating that the first user wishes to receive an advertisement in conjunction with the requested telephonic connection;
in response to a selection from the first user to receive the advertisement, present the advertisement to the first user utilizing the first telephonic connection;
receive a selection from the first user indicating that the advertisement is to be presented to the second user via the second telephonic connection; and
reduce a communication fee for the requested telephonic connection between the first user and the second user using a portion of an advertisement fee charged to an advertiser for presenting the advertisement.