IP Library Granted Patent US 11,144,851
Granted Patent B2
US 11,144,851 · App. 16/539,234 · Granted Oct 12, 2021

System and methods for managing communications events

Inventors: U Kong Wong (San Francisco, CA); Chen Chen (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee: TEXTNOW, INC.
G06Q10/04G06Q30/0206G06Q30/0271H04M7/0075H04M7/0078
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,144,851
App. No.
16/539,234
Granted
Oct 12, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

An example communications routing system includes a prediction engine to, for each user account, generate a predicted cost of communications events using a gamma-gamma cost model, generate a predicted revenue of presented advertisements using a gamma-gamma revenue model, generate a margin based on the predicted cost and the predicted revenue, and, when the margin for a given user account is below a margin threshold, restrict a status associated with the given user account.

Claims (51)

1. A communications routing system comprising:

a routing engine configured to manage Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications events between a plurality of communications devices using respective VoIP telephone numbers;

an account database storing a plurality of unique associations between user accounts of users and the VoIP telephone numbers;

a cost database storing a cost of the communications events for the user accounts;

a revenue database storing a revenue of presented advertisements associated with the user accounts;

a prediction engine configured to, for each of the user accounts:

generate a predicted cost of the communications events using a gamma-gamma cost model;

generate a predicted revenue of the presented advertisements using a gamma-gamma revenue model;

determine an upper revenue confidence bound representing a revenue threshold percentile of an inverse gamma revenue distribution;

determine a lower cost confidence bound representing a cost threshold percentile of an inverse gamma cost distribution;

generate a margin based on the predicted cost and the predicted revenue and a difference between the upper revenue confidence bound and the lower cost confidence bound; and

when the margin for a given user account is below a margin threshold, restrict a status associated with the given user account.

2. The communications routing system of claim 1 , wherein, to generate the predicted revenue for the given user account, the prediction engine is configured to:

determine optimal parameters of the gamma-gamma revenue model based on a maximum likelihood estimation; and

determine a predictive revenue distribution for the given user account using an inverse gamma revenue distribution based on (i) the optimal parameters, (ii) an average daily advertisement revenue for the given user account and (iii) a number of days on which the given user account was presented with an advertisement.

3. The communications routing system of claim 1 , wherein, to generate the predicted cost for the given user account, the prediction engine is configured to:

determine optimal parameters of the gamma-gamma cost model based on a maximum likelihood estimation; and

determine a predictive cost distribution for the given user using an inverse gamma distribution based on (i) the optimal parameters, (ii) an average daily cost of communications events for the given user account and (iii) a number of days on which a communications event occurs for given user account.

4. The communications routing system of claim 1 , wherein, in response to restricting the status of the given user account the routing engine is configured to:

block communications events for the given user account;

limit features of communications services available for the given user account;

increase a length of advertisements presented to the given user account; or

increase a number of advertisements presented to the given user account.

5. The communications routing system of claim 1 , wherein the revenue threshold percentile is a 95 th percentile.

6. The communications routing system of claim 1 , wherein the cost threshold percentile is a 5 th percentile.

7. The communications routing system of claim 1 , wherein the prediction engine is configured to update the account database to include an indication of the restricted status of the given user account.

8. A method comprising:

storing a plurality of unique associations between user accounts of users and VoIP telephone numbers;

storing a cost of communications events for the user accounts;

storing a revenue of presented advertisements associated with the user accounts;

for each of the user accounts:

generating a predicted cost of the communications events using a gamma-gamma cost model;

generating a predicted revenue of the presented advertisements using a gamma-gamma revenue model;

determining an upper revenue confidence bound representing a revenue threshold percentile of an inverse gamma revenue distribution;

determining a lower cost confidence bound representing a cost threshold percentile of an inverse gamma cost distribution;

generating a margin based on the predicted cost and the predicted revenue and a difference between the upper revenue confidence bound and the lower cost confidence bound; and

when the margin for a given user account is below a margin threshold, restricting a status associated with the given user account.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein generating the predicted revenue for the given user account comprises:

determining optimal parameters of the gamma-gamma revenue model based on a maximum likelihood estimation; and

determining a predictive revenue distribution for the given user account using an inverse gamma revenue distribution based on (i) the optimal parameters, (ii) an average daily advertisement revenue for the given user account and (iii) a number of days on which the given user account was presented with an advertisement.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein generating the predicted cost for the given user account comprises:

determining optimal parameters of the gamma-gamma cost model based on a maximum likelihood estimation; and

determining a predictive cost distribution for the given user using an inverse gamma distribution based on (i) the optimal parameters, (ii) an average daily cost of communications events for the given user account and (iii) a number of days on which a communications event occurs for given user account.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising, in response to restricting the status of the given user account:

blocking communications events for the given user account;

limiting features of communications services available for the given user account;

increasing a length of advertisements presented to the given user account; or

increasing a number of advertisements presented to the given user account.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the revenue threshold percentile is a 95 th percentile.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the cost threshold percentile is a 5 th percentile.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising updating an account database to include an indication of the restricted status of the given user account.

Assignments (2)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Aug 29, 2025
From: TEXTNOW, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., TORONTO BRANCH
Reel/Frame 072749/0610 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 21, 2019
From: WONG, U KONG; CHEN, CHEN
To: TEXTNOW, INC.
Reel/Frame 050771/0535 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62718123 · Aug 13, 2018
Related Publication 20200050979A1 · Feb 13, 2020