Method and apparatus for content presentation in association with a telephone call
A method and apparatus are provided for presenting multimedia content to a 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.
1. A method of controlling presentation of content on a communication device, the method comprising:
receiving electronic notification of initiation of a call from the communication device to a called party, wherein the communication device is operated by a caller;
transmitting a signal to the communication device to delay dialing the call, without soliciting action by the caller;
transmitting to one or both of the communication device and the called party a pre-ring set of multimedia content to be displayed before the call rings at the called party;
establishing a voice connection between the caller and an agent representing the called party; and
during the voice connection:
identifying an in-call set of multimedia content; and
transmitting the in-call set of multimedia content toward the communication device;
wherein the communication device displays the in-call set of multimedia content before termination of the voice connection.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying the pre-ring set of multimedia content based on an identity of the communication device.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the communication device is identified by a telephone number.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the agent is a human agent; and
the in-call set of multimedia content is identified by the human agent, based on a conversation between the human agent and the caller.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the called party is a commercial organization; and
the in-call set of multimedia content graphically depicts a current transaction between the caller and the commercial organization.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the called party is a commercial organization; and
the in-call set of multimedia content comprises an illustration of a product offered to the caller by the commercial organization.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the called party is a commercial organization; and
the in-call set of multimedia content comprises one or more illustrations of configuration options for a product offered to the caller by the commercial organization.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, during the voice connection:
prompting the caller for payment information; and
receiving at the called party, from the communication device, a second in-call set of multimedia content comprising the payment information, wherein the second in-call set of multimedia content is not conveyed via the voice connection.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting toward the communication device a post-call set of multimedia content to be displayed after termination of the voice connection.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the in-call set of multimedia content comprises an actuable control; and
the post-call set of multimedia content is selected for transmission to the communication device based on actuation of the actuable control.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
querying the communication device to determine if the communication device stores content to be presented to the called party; and
if the communication device stores content to be presented to the called party, retrieving the content and displaying the content to the agent.
12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of controlling presentation of content on a communication device, the method comprising:
receiving electronic notification of initiation of a call from the communication device to a called party, wherein the communication device is operated by a caller;
transmitting a signal to the communication device to delay dialing the call, without soliciting action by the caller;
transmitting to one or both of the communication device and the called party a pre-ring set of multimedia content to be displayed before the call rings at the called party;
establishing a voice connection between the caller and an agent representing the called party; and
during the voice connection:
identifying an in-call set of multimedia content; and
transmitting the in-call set of multimedia content toward the communication device;
wherein the communication device displays the in-call set of multimedia content before termination of the voice connection.
13. A system for controlling presentation of content on a communication device external to the system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
receive electronic notification of a call from the communication device to a called party, wherein the communication device is operated by a caller;
transmit a signal to the communication device to delay dialing the call without soliciting action by the caller;
transmit to one or both of the communication device and the called party a pre-ring set of multimedia content to be displayed before the call rings at the called party;
establish a voice connection between the caller and an agent representing the called party; and
during the voice connection:
identify an in-call set of multimedia content; and
transmit the in-call set of multimedia content toward the communication device;
wherein the communication device displays the in-call set of multimedia content before termination of the voice connection.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
identify the pre-ring set of multimedia content based on an identity of the communication device.
15. The system of claim 13 , wherein:
the agent is a human agent; and
the in-call set of multimedia content is identified by the human agent, based on a conversation between the human agent and the caller.
16. The system of claim 13 , wherein:
the called party is a commercial organization; and
the in-call set of multimedia content graphically depicts a current transaction between the caller and the commercial organization.
17. The system of claim 13 , wherein:
the called party is a commercial organization; and
the in-call set of multimedia content comprises an illustration of a product offered to the caller by the commercial organization.
18. The system of claim 13 , wherein:
the called party is a commercial organization; and
the in-call set of multimedia content comprises one or more illustrations of configuration options for a product offered to the caller by the commercial organization.
19. The system of claim 13 , wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to, during the voice connection:
prompt the caller for payment information; and
receive at the called party, from the communication device, a second in-call set of multimedia content comprising the payment information, wherein the second in-call set of multimedia content is not conveyed via the voice connection.
20. The system of claim 13 , wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
transmit toward the communication device a post-call set of multimedia content to be displayed after termination of the voice connection.
21. The system of claim 20 , wherein:
the in-call set of multimedia content comprises an actuable control; and
the post-call set of multimedia content is selected for transmission to the communication device based on actuation of the actuable control.
22. The system of claim 13 , wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
query the communication device to determine if the communication device stores content to be presented to the called party; and
if the communication device stores content to be presented to the called party, retrieve the content and displaying the content to the agent.