Granted Patent B1

US 9,271,051 · App. 14/323,054 · Granted Feb 23, 2016

Inventors: Alexander V. Libkind (Valley Stream, NY); Michael Rivkin (Valley Stream, NY); Matthew Johnston (Centerport, NY); Roman Zatsepine (Brooklyn, NY)

Assignee: DevelopOnBox, LLC

H04N21/6187H04N21/2543H04N21/47H04N21/4788H04N21/6168

Abstract

Claims (59)

1. A system for placing calls between a requesting subscriber of a cable television service and a target recipient comprising:

a device having a display and set top box (STB) transmit and receive functions communicably associated with a head end of the cable television service for transmitting data to said head end and receiving data from said head end;

a user interface (UI) that enables the requesting subscriber to access and manipulate menus on the display, the menus providing information related to placement of calls and information related to call targets; and

a service application implemented in a server at the head end, the service application:

receiving from said device a request, made by said requesting subscriber, to connect a telephone of the requesting subscriber to a telephone of the target recipient;

providing to a telephone service provider instructions for connecting said telephone of said requesting subscriber and said telephone of said target recipient over a telephone network; and

receiving from the telephone service provider confirmation that the telephones of said requesting subscriber and said target recipient can be connected, and providing said confirmation to said device for display thereon,

wherein said request comprises an identification of said target recipient, and said service application extracts a phone number for the target recipient to be used in said instructions to said telephone service provider;

at said head end, selecting one of at least two telephone service providers to be used for connecting said requesting subscriber to said target recipient;

providing, from said service application at said head end, to said selected telephone service provider, instructions for connecting said telephone of said requesting subscriber and said telephone of said target recipient over a telephone network, said instructions including said telephone number of said target recipient; and

at the head end, receiving information from the telephone service provider indicating whether the telephones of said requesting subscriber and said target recipient can be connected;

wherein the information from the telephone service provider based on making an initial call to said target recipient, receiving an initial response from said target recipient, and using voice recognition methods to determine whether said initial response was pre-recorded or was made by a voice of a live person in real time;

if said initial response is determined to be made by the voice of a live person in real time, generating a confirmation message;

if said initial response is determined to be pre-recorded or not made by the voice of a live person in real time, generating a call access denied message;

providing said confirmation message or said call access denied message, from said head end, to said device, for display thereon; and

if said confirmation message was received, connecting said telephones of said requesting subscriber and said target recipient over said telephone network,

wherein said request made by said requesting subscriber comprises, while displaying an identifier of said target recipient as part of a broadcast delivered from said head end to said device using said STB receive function, selecting said target recipient to be a recipient associated with said identifier,

wherein said device further includes an onscreen display frame buffer causing said menus to be overlaid over a display of said broadcast, and

wherein transmission of data from said device to said head end is carried over a reserved channel of said cable television service.

2. The system as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the menus include information related to predetermined vendors of goods and services.

3. The system as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the information related to predetermined goods and services is organized according to categories.

4. The system as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the detail information related to predetermined targets includes telephone number information, the system further comprising a process that locates and transmits the telephone number information to the head end for use in creating said instructions.

5. The system as set forth in claim 4 , wherein the service application is constructed and arranged to generate a billing event in response to a request to place a call by the requesting subscriber.

6. The system as set forth in claim 5 , wherein the billing event comprises at least one of (a) a pay-per-call billing charge and (b) a delivery of advertising content to the requesting subscriber over the telephone of the subscriber, wherein the service application and/or the cable television service automatically capture the telephone number information and other information related to the requesting subscriber and to the target recipient to generate the billing event.

7. The system as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the UI is constructed and arranged to enable the requesting subscriber to access and select a service on a messaging menu delivered to the display through the head end;

wherein user selection of a service causes the service application to issue an SMS request to the telephone service provider, requesting that an SMS message related to content in the messaging menu to be delivered to the telephone of the userrequesting subscriber;

wherein the messaging menu includes listings of selectable content adapted for download to the telephone of the requesting subscriber and the SMS message includes a download link that enables the user requesting subscriber to download the content from a content vendor;

wherein the SMS request includes a telephone number associated with the telephone of the requesting subscriber, an SMS short code and an indicia of the content requested by the requesting subscriber; and

wherein the SMS request further includes a telephone type/capability ID associated with the telephone of the requesting subscriber and the service application is constructed and arranged to limit types of content to download based upon available capabilities of the telephone of the requesting subscriber based upon the telephone type/capability ID.

8. The system as set forth in claim 1 , wherein: the UI includes a menu of available items and services for sale and to enables the requesting subscriber to access and select a service from the menu; and

the service application at the head end receives the selection of the requesting subscriber, and provides to the display of the device a purchase confirmation menu that when confirmed by the requesting subscriber using the UI, comprises an affirmative confirmation of a purchase of one of the items and services.

9. A method for placing calls between a requesting subscriber of a cable television service and a target recipient, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a device having a display and set top box (STB) transmit and receive functions communicably associated with a head end of the cable television service for transmitting data to said head end and receiving data from said head end;

accessing and manipulating, using a user interface (UI), menus on the display, the menus provide information related to placement of calls and information related to call targets;

selecting, using the UI, a desired target recipient;

providing to a service application implemented in a server at the head end a request to connect a telephone of the requesting subscriber to a telephone of the target recipient, the request comprising an identification of the target recipient;

based on said identification of the target recipient, extracting a phone number for the target recipient;

at said head end, selecting one of at least two telephone service providers to be used for connecting said requesting subscriber to said target recipient;

providing, from said service application at said head end, to said selected telephone service provider, instructions for connecting said telephone of said requesting subscriber and said telephone of said target recipient over a telephone network, said instructions including said telephone number of said target recipient; and

at the head end, receiving information from the telephone service provider indicating whether the telephones of said requesting subscriber and said target recipient can be connected;

wherein the information from the telephone service provider based on making an initial call to said target recipient, receiving an initial response from said target recipient, and using voice recognition methods to determine whether said initial response was pre-recorded or was made by a voice of a live person in real time;

if said initial response is determined to be made by the voice of a live person in real time, generating a confirmation message;

if said initial response is determined to be pre-recorded or not made by the voice of a live person in real time, generating a call access denied message;

providing said confirmation message or said call access denied message, from said head end, to said device, for display thereon; and

if said confirmation message was received, connecting said telephones of said requesting subscriber and said target recipient over said telephone network,

wherein said selecting the desired target recipient comprises, while displaying an identifier of said target recipient as part of a broadcast delivered from said head end to said device using said STB receive function, selecting said target recipient to be a recipient associated with said identifier,

wherein said device further includes an onscreen display frame buffer causing said menus to be overlaid over a display of said broadcast, and

wherein transmission of data from said device to said head end is carried over a reserved channel of said cable television service.

10. The method as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the step of accessing and manipulating includes navigating menus that include information related to predetermined vendors of goods and services.

11. The method as set forth in claim 10 further comprising, in response to said providing a request to connect said telephone of the requesting subscriber to said telephone of the target recipient, generating a billing event.

12. The method as set forth in claim 11 , wherein the billing event comprises at least one of (a) a pay-per-call billing charge and (b) a delivery of advertising content to the requesting subscriber over the telephone of the requesting subscriber.

13. The method as set forth in claim 9 , wherein the step of accessing and manipulating includes navigating to and selecting a service on a messaging menu delivered through the head end, and wherein the step of selecting a desired target recipient causes an SMS message related to content in the messaging menu to be delivered to the telephone of the requesting subscriber as an SMS message.

14. The method as set forth in claim 13 , wherein the messaging menu includes listings of selectable content adapted for download to the telephone of the requesting subscriber and the SMS message includes a download link that enables download of the content from a content vendor.

15. The method as set forth in claim 14 , wherein the step of providing a request includes issuing an SMS request to the telephone service provider, requesting that said SMS message related to said content be delivered to the telephone of the requesting subscriber, wherein the SMS request includes a telephone number associated with the telephone of the requesting subscriber, an SMS short code and an indicia of the content requested by the requesting subscriber.

16. The method as set forth in claim 15 , wherein the SMS request further includes a telephone type/capability ID associated with the telephone of the requesting subscriber, said method further comprising said service application limiting types of content to download based upon availability capabilities of the telephone of the requesting subscriber based upon the telephone type-capability ID.

17. The method as set forth in claim 9 , wherein said step of selecting one of said at least two telephone service providers is based on at least one of the following criteria:

telephone service provider's ability to access the telephone numbers of the requesting subscriber and the target recipient;

rates charged for connecting the requesting subscriber and the target recipient; and

the telephone service provider's billing relationship with a provider of said cable television service.

Assignments (10)

Continuity (3)