Method and apparatus for content presentation in association with a telephone call
A method and apparatus are provided for presenting multimedia content to caller and/or a called party in association with a telephone call. Content may be presented pre-ring (before the called party's telephone rings), in-call and/or post-call. Content presented to a party may be related to another party participating in the call or may be related to a third party (e.g., an advertiser that paid for the ability to have its content presented). Presented content may be actuable, and allow a caller to change the destination of a call, take advantage of an offer presented to him, redeem a coupon, schedule or queue a subsequent call, etc. To find a desired destination party, a caller may initiate a manual or automatic search of his local contacts (on his telephone) and/or a central or global directory or contact list. Calls to or from certain parties or numbers may be screened or filtered.
1. A method of screening calls placed to a communication device and presenting content on the communication device, the method comprising:
receiving electronic notification of a call being initiated to the communication device from an originating party;
identifying the originating party;
determining whether the call should be cancelled;
if the call is not cancelled:
querying the communication device to determine if the communication device stores preferred content to be presented to the originating party;
if the communication device stores preferred content to be presented to the originating party, retrieving the preferred content and forwarding the preferred content toward the originating party;
identifying content to be presented on the communication device in association with the call; and
instructing the communication device to present the identified content;
receiving from the communication device notification of an operator's activation of a first control within the identified content; and
in response to notification of activation of the first control, adding the originating party to a list of undesirable callers.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the originating party is identified by a telephone number from which the call was placed.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the originating party is identified by a name associated with a telephone number from which the call was placed.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining whether the call should be cancelled comprises:
searching the list of undesirable callers for the originating party.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the list of undesirable callers includes one or more telemarketers.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the list of undesirable callers includes one or more originators of spam.
7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the list of undesirable callers includes one or more parties an operator of the communication device has identified as undesirable callers.
8. The method of claim 4 , wherein said determining whether the call should be cancelled further comprises:
if the list comprises the originating party, cancelling the call.
9. The method of claim 4 , wherein said determining whether the call should be cancelled further comprises:
if the list comprises the originating party:
before the communication device rings, notifying an operator of the communication device that the originating party is an undesirable caller; and
querying the operator whether the call should be cancelled.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising, if the list comprises the originating party:
delaying ringing of the call at the communication device until the operator answers said query.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said identifying content to be presented comprises:
eliciting content from a third party that has paid a fee to have the content presented on the communication device.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said identifying content to be presented comprises:
receiving content from the originating party that the originating party desires to have presented to an operator of the communication device.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identified content includes a query as to whether the originating party is an undesirable caller.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identified content is presented on the communication device after the call is connected to the communication device.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of screening calls placed to a communication device and presenting content on the communication device, the method comprising:
receiving electronic notification of a call being initiated to the communication device from an originating party;
identifying the originating party;
determining whether the call should be cancelled;
if the call is not cancelled:
querying the communication device to determine if the communication device stores preferred content to be presented to the originating party;
if the communication device stores preferred content to be presented to the originating party, retrieving the preferred content and forwarding the preferred content toward the originating party;
identifying content to be presented on the communication device in association with the call; and
instructing the communication device to present the identified content;
receiving from the communication device notification of an operator's activation of a first control within the identified content; and
in response to notification of activation of the first control, adding the originating party to a list of undesirable callers.
16. A system for screening calls placed to a communication device and presenting content on the communication device, comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive electronic notification of a call being initiated to the communication device from an originating party;
identify the originating party;
determine whether the call should be cancelled;
if the call is not cancelled:
query the communication device to determine if the communication device stores preferred content to be presented to the originating party;
if the communication device stores preferred content to be presented to the originating party, retrieve the preferred content and forwarding the preferred content toward the originating party;
identify content to be presented on the communication device in association with the call; and
instruct the communication device to present the identified content;
receive from the communication device notification of an operator's activation of a first control within the identified content; and
in response to notification of activation of the first control, add the originating party to a list of undesirable callers.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the originating party is identified by a telephone number from which the call was placed.
18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the originating party is identified by a name associated with a telephone number from which the call was placed.
19. The system of claim 16 , wherein said determining whether the call should be cancelled comprises:
searching the list of undesirable callers for the originating party.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the list of undesirable callers includes one or more telemarketers.
21. The system of claim 19 , wherein the list of undesirable callers includes one or more originators of spam.
22. The system of claim 19 , wherein the list of undesirable callers includes one or more parties an operator of the communication device has identified as undesirable callers.
23. The system of claim 19 , wherein said determining whether the call should be cancelled further comprises:
if the list comprises the originating party, cancelling the call.
24. The system of claim 19 , wherein said determining whether the call should be cancelled further comprises:
if the list comprises the originating party:
before the communication device rings, notifying an operator of the communication device that the originating party is an undesirable caller; and
querying the operator whether the call should be cancelled.
25. The system of claim 24 , wherein the memory stores further instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to, if the list comprises the originating party:
delay ringing of the call at the communication device until the operator answers said query.
26. The system of claim 16 , wherein said identifying content to be presented comprises:
eliciting content from a third party that has paid a fee to have the content presented on the communication device.
27. The system of claim 16 , wherein said identifying content to be presented comprises:
receiving content from the originating party that the originating party desires to have presented to an operator of the communication device.
28. The system of claim 16 , wherein the identified content includes a query as to whether the originating party is an undesirable caller.
29. The system of claim 16 , wherein the identified content is presented on the communication device after the call is connected to the communication device.