U.S. patent application number 09/967507 was filed with the patent office on 2002-02-28 for credit based telephony service facilitation.
Invention is credited to Pendse, Ajit B..
Application Number | 20020024948 09/967507 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 24298337 |
Filed Date | 2002-02-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020024948 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Pendse, Ajit B. |
February 28, 2002 |
Credit based telephony service facilitation
Abstract
Advertisement consumption activities of a user are monitored.
The user is credited with telephony service credits in accordance
with observed advertisement consumption activities. In turn,
telephony service for the user is facilitated. The facilitation is
based at least in part on the amount of telephony service credits
credited to the user.
Inventors: |
Pendse, Ajit B.; (Portland,
OR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
COLUMBIA IP LAW GROUP, PC
10260 SW GREENBURG ROAD
SUITE 820
PORTLAND
OR
97223
US
|
Family ID: |
24298337 |
Appl. No.: |
09/967507 |
Filed: |
September 28, 2001 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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09967507 |
Sep 28, 2001 |
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09574961 |
May 19, 2000 |
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6298056 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
370/352 ;
370/252 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/535 20220501;
H04L 12/146 20130101; H04L 12/14 20130101; H04M 3/2218 20130101;
H04M 3/36 20130101; H04M 15/00 20130101; H04W 4/24 20130101; H04M
2215/2026 20130101; H04M 2215/32 20130101; H04M 3/4878 20130101;
H04L 69/329 20130101; H04M 2215/0192 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
370/352 ;
370/252 |
International
Class: |
H04L 012/66 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method comprising: monitoring advertisement consumption
activities of a user; crediting said user with telephony service
credits in accordance with observed advertisement consumption
activities; and facilitating telephony service for said user based
at least in part on said telephony service credits credited to said
user.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said monitoring comprises
monitoring for number of banner advertisements displayed.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein said monitoring further comprises
monitoring for number of banner advertisements clicked.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises
reporting observed advertisement consumption activities of said
user.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said advertisements are on-line
advertisements, and at least a selected on of said monitoring and
said reporting is performed locally on a client computer on which
the on-line advertisements are rendered.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein said crediting comprises
determining whether observed advertisement consumption activities
of the user are advertisements of sponsors, and said crediting is
made proportional to the amount of the observed advertisement
consumption activities being associated with advertisements of
sponsors.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said crediting is performed by a
selected one of an advertisement server and a telephony server.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein said facilitating comprises
informing the user of the amount of telephony service credits
available.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein said informing comprises causing
a meter-like icon depicting the amount of telephony service credits
available to be rendered.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein said informing includes
dynamically updating the user in real time on the amount of
telephony service credits available.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein said dynamic updating comprises
causing a meter-like icon depicting the amount of telephony service
credits available to be refreshed.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein said facilitation further
comprises determining whether the user is a pay subscriber when the
user exhausted his telephony service credits.
13. A method comprising: monitoring advertisement consumption
activities of a user; and periodically reporting observed
advertisement consumption activities of the user to a telephony
service provider to facilitate crediting the user with telephony
service credits in accordance with the observed advertisement
consumption activities.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein said monitoring comprises
monitoring for number of banner advertisements displayed.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein said monitoring further
comprises monitoring for number of banner advertisements
clicked.
16. The method of claim 13, wherein said monitoring includes
monitoring advertiser identities of the advertisements consumed by
the user, and said periodic reporting includes reporting said
advertiser identities of the advertisements consumed by the
user.
17. An apparatus comprising: a storage medium having stored therein
a plurality of programming instructions designed to monitor
advertisement consumption activities of a user of the apparatus,
when the programming instructions are executed, and to periodically
report observed advertisement consumption activities of the user to
a telephony service provider to facilitate crediting the user with
telephony service credits in accordance with the observed
advertisement consumption activities; and a processor coupled to
the storage medium to execute the programming instructions.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said programming
instructions are designed to monitor for number of banner
advertisements displayed.
19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said programming
instructions are designed to monitor for number of banner
advertisements clicked.
20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said programming
instructions are designed to monitor for advertiser identities of
the advertisements consumed by the user, as well as reporting
observed advertiser identities of the advertisements consumed by
the user.
21. A method comprising: receiving report on advertisement
consumption activities of a user; crediting the user with telephony
service credits in accordance with the reported advertisement
consumption activities; and facilitating telephony service for said
user based at least in part on the telephony service credits
credited to said user.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein said crediting comprises
determining whether the reported advertisement consumption
activities of the user are advertisements of sponsors, and said
crediting is made proportional to the amount of the reported
advertisement consumption activities of the user being
advertisements of sponsors.
23. The method of claim 21, wherein said facilitating comprises
informing the user of the amount of telephony service credits
available.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein said informing comprises
causing a meter-like icon depicting the amount of telephony service
credits available to be rendered for the user.
25. The method of claim 23, wherein said informing includes
dynamically updating the user in real time on the amount of
telephony service credits available.
26. The method of claim 25, wherein said dynamic updating comprises
causing a meter-like icon depicting the amount of telephony service
credits available to be refreshed.
27. The method of claim 21, wherein said facilitation further
comprises determining whether the user is a pay subscriber when the
user exhausted his telephony service credits.
28. An apparatus comprising: a storage medium having stored therein
a plurality of programming instructions designed to receive report
on advertisement consumption activities of a user, when the
programming instructions are executed, and to credit the user with
telephony service credit in accordance with the reported
advertisement consumption activities, as well as to facilitate
telephony service for said user based at least in part on the
telephony service credit credited to said user; and at least one
processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the programming
instructions.
29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said programming
instructions are designed to determine whether the reported
advertisement consumption activities of the user are advertisements
of sponsors, and make said crediting proportional to the amount of
the reported advertisement consumption activities of the user being
advertisements of sponsors.
30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said programming
instructions are designed to inform the user of the amount of
telephony service credits available.
31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein said programming
instructions are designed to cause a meter-like icon depicting the
amount of telephony service credits available to be rendered for
the user.
32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein said programming
instructions are designed to dynamically update the user in real
time on the amount of telephony service credits available.
33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein said programming
instructions are designed to cause a meter-like icon depicting the
amount of telephony service credits available to be refreshed.
34. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said programming
instructions are designed to determine whether the user is a pay
subscriber when the user exhausted his telephony service credits.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to the fields of
telecommunication, networking, and on-line information delivery.
More specifically, the present invention relates to an enhanced
approach for facilitating telephony services for a user.
[0003] 2. Background Information
[0004] Advances in microprocessor, networking, and
telecommunication technologies have led to the development of large
scale public networks, such as the Internet. In turn, it has led to
the development of packet based telephony (also known as voice over
IP, or VOIP, where IP stands for the Internet Protocol, referring
to a "variant" of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)).
Emergence of packet based telephony has led to the provision of
"free" long distance calls, although call quality, and therefore
user experience, remains a challenge, as packet delivery over
public networks, such as the Internet, is on a "best effort" basis.
As a result, delays and packet lost occur frequently. To improve
call quality and user experience, various technologies have emerged
to "fuse" packet based telephony with the traditional switch based
telephone network, Public Switching Telephone Network or PSTN. For
example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,774, assigned to the assignee of the
present invention, disclosed an approach for a collection of packet
based telephony bridge servers to select among themselves, the
"best" bridge server to transition a packet based phone call back
onto the traditional PSTN. As a further example, U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 08/818,321, also assigned to the assignee of
the present invention, disclosed an approach to completely
transition a packet based phone call back to a traditional PSTN
analog call.
[0005] The challenge to improve user experience of packet based
telephony service continues and never end. Thus, additional
innovations to further enhance user experience are always
desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] Advertisement consumption activities of a user are
monitored. The user is credited with telephony service credits in
accordance with observed advertisement consumption activities. In
turn, telephony service for the user is facilitated. The
facilitation is based at least in part on the amount of telephony
service credits credited to the user.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0007] The present invention will be described by way of exemplary
embodiments, but not limitations, illustrated in the accompanying
drawings in which like references denote similar elements, and in
which:
[0008] FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of the present invention.
[0009] FIG. 2 illustrates a networking environment suitable for
practicing the present invention, in accordance with one
embodiment;
[0010] FIGS. 3a-3b illustrate two methods of operation of the
present invention, in accordance with one embodiment each;
[0011] FIG. 4 illustrates the essential operation flow of the
monitor of FIG. 2, in accordance with one embodiment;
[0012] FIG. 5 illustrates the essential operation flow of the
credit module of FIG. 2, in accordance with one embodiment;
[0013] FIG. 6 illustrates the essential aspects of the subscriber
database of FIG. 2, in accordance with one embodiment;
[0014] FIG. 7 illustrates the essential operation flow of the
telephony service modules of FIG. 2, in accordance with one
embodiment;
[0015] FIG. 8 illustrates an example end user interface for the
packet phone of FIG. 2, in accordance with one embodiment;
[0016] FIG. 9 illustrates a computer system suitable for
programming with instructions to implement selected aspects of the
present invention, in accordance with one embodiment; and
[0017] FIG. 10 illustrates another networking environment suitable
for practicing the present invention, in accordance with another
embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0018] In the following description, various aspects of the present
invention will be described. However, it will be apparent to those
skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced with
only some or all aspects of the present invention. For purposes of
explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set
forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present
invention. However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the
art that the present invention may be practiced without the
specific details. In other instances, well known features are
omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present
invention.
[0019] Parts of the description will be presented in terms of
operations performed by digital systems, using terms such as
packets, transmit, receive, and the like, consistent with the
manner commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the
substance of their work to others skilled in the art. As well
understood by those skilled in the art, these quantities and
operations take the form of electrical, magnetic, or optical
signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, and
otherwise manipulated through mechanical and electrical components
of the digital systems. The term digital systems includes general
purpose as well as special purpose data/signal processing machines,
systems, and the like, that are standalone, adjunct or
embedded.
[0020] Various operations will be described as multiple discrete
steps in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding
the present invention, however, the order of description should not
be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily
order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be
performed in the order of presentation.
[0021] Referring now FIG. 1, wherein a block diagram illustrating
an overview of the present invention is shown. As illustrated,
advertisements 104 are delivered to user 102 for "consumption". In
one embodiment, advertisements 104 are on-line advertisements, such
as banner advertisements, and "consumption" for the purpose of this
application (including the claims) means passive and/or active
interactions with the advertisements. These "interactions" include,
but are not limited to, allowing the advertisements to be
displayed, and responding to the displayed advertisements, such as
"clicking" on the displayed advertisement to acquire additional
information about the product/service being advertised.
[0022] Advertisement consumption activities of user 102 are
monitored, e.g. using monitor 106. User 102 is credited with
telephony service credits 108 in accordance with observed
advertisement consumption activities. In due course, telephony
service 110 is facilitated for user 102. In accordance with the
present invention, the facilitation is based at least in part on
the amount of telephony service credits 108 credited to user
102.
[0023] FIG. 2 illustrates a network environment suitable for
practicing the present invention, in accordance with one
embodiment. As illustrated, network environment 200 includes client
computers 202 and telephony servers 208, incorporated with the
teachings of the present invention. Additionally, network
environment 200 also includes content servers 204, advertisement
servers 224 and handsets 214. The various elements are
communicatively coupled to each other through data network 210 and
PSTN 212. More specifically, some client computers 202 are coupled
to the other elements directly through data network 210 (those
having direct networking access, such as Integrated Data Service
Network (ISDN), Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or cable modem
services), and so forth, while others are coupled to the other
elements indirectly through PSTN 212 (those with e.g. dial-up
modems). Handsets 214 are coupled to PSTN 212, while content
servers 204 and advertisement servers 206 are coupled to data
network 210. Telephony servers 208, instead, are coupled to both,
i.e. data network 210 as well as PSTN 212.
[0024] Each client computer 202 includes browser 226 enhanced with
monitoring function or module 228 of the present invention.
Further, each client computer 202 is equipped with a packet based
telephone 230. Each content server 204 includes information pages
or web pages 222 having embedded links to various advertisements,
and each advertisement servers 206 includes the linked
advertisements 224. Telephony servers 208 collectively include
credit module 232, telephony service modules 234 and subscriber
databases 236.
[0025] Client computers 202 are intended to represent a broad range
of computers, network appliances and the like, known in the art.
Examples of these "devices" include, but are not limited to,
desktop computers such as Dimension Computer available from Dell
Computer of Austin, Tex., and iMac available from Apple Computers
of Cupertino, Calif., and hand held computing devices like Palm
Pilots available from 3COM of San Jose, Calif. Except for monitor
228, which will be described in more detail below, browser 226 is
also intended to represent a broad range of browsers known in the
art, including but not limited to Netscape Navigator and Internet
Explorer. Likewise, packet based telephone 230 is also intended to
represent a broad range of such telephony applications known in the
art. [Some or all of these product names are trademarks of the
respective manufacturers.]
[0026] Content servers 204, web pages 222, advertisement server
206, and advertisements 224 are all intended to represent a broad
range of these elements known in the art. Examples of content
servers 204 include, but are not limited to, MSNBC.com, Yahoo.com,
and so forth, and web pages 222 include, but are not limited to,
web pages found on these sites. Likewise, examples of advertisement
servers 206 include, but are not limited to, servers of Double
Click, Flycast Network, and so forth, and advertisements 224
include, but are not limited to, advertisements found on these
sites.
[0027] Data network 210 is intended to represent a wide range of
interconnected private and public networks, each constituted with
networking equipment such as gateways, switches, routers and the
like, such as the Internet. PSTN 212 is intended to represent the
traditional public switch based telephone network, including the
local or central offices, service transfer points (STP), service
control points (SCP), and the intelligent network (IN)
inter-coupling these elements. Handsets 214 are intended to
represent a broad range of conventional wall mount, table top, or
cordless telephone handsets.
[0028] Telephony Servers 208, except for credit module 232 and
enhancements made to telephony service modules 234 and subscriber
database 236, which will be described in more detail below, are
intended to represent the bridge servers that "fuse" over data
network packet based telephony with conventional PSTN based
telephony, such as those disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat.
No. '774, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/818,321.
[0029] FIGS. 3a-3b illustrate the method of the present invention,
in the context of the network embodiment of FIG. 2. As illustrated
in FIG. 3a, at 302, client computer 202, using browser 226,
accesses content server 204 to retrieve information or web pages
222 (having embedded advertisement links), block 302. Upon receipt
of the information/web pages, client computer 202, using browser
226, further accesses advertisement servers 206 to retrieve the
linked advertisements 224, block 304. Client computer 202
"consumes" the advertisements by permitting their display, and
optionally, responding to the displayed advertisements by e.g.
"clicking" on selected ones of displayed advertisements to retrieve
further information. While client computer 202 retrieves these web
pages and advertisements, and optionally interacts with the
advertisements, incorporated monitor 228 monitors the advertisement
consumption activities, and reports the observed advertisement
consumption activities to telephony servers 208, block 306. Upon
receipt of the reporting, telephony servers 208, via credit module
232, credits the user for the "consumption", block 308.
[0030] In one embodiment, monitor 228 includes with its monitoring,
identity information-of the advertisers, and includes the
advertiser identity information with its reporting. In one
embodiment, monitor 228 makes the reporting in real time, i.e.
contemporaneous with the observation. In another embodiment,
monitor 228 logs the observations and makes its reporting
periodically. In one embodiment, the periodic reporting is made at
the initiation of client computer 202, and in another embodiment,
the periodic reporting is made in response to the polling of
telephony servers 208. In one embodiment, credit module 232 credits
the user (also referred to as subscriber of telephony server's
service) with credits in proportion to the amount of observed
advertisement consumption activities being related to
advertisements of certain sponsors. Sponsors are those companies,
institutions, organizations, or even individuals, who underwrite
the cost of the telephony services that are going to provided by
telephony servers 208 based on the credits given. In one
embodiment, the credits given also vary depending on the nature of
the consumption, e.g. displaying of an advertisement of a sponsor
gets x amount of credits, whereas "clicking" on an advertisement of
a sponsor gets y amount of credits, and so forth. The exact amount
of credits given for each type of activities is application
dependent, and may vary from embodiment to embodiment.
[0031] In due course, as illustrated in FIG. 3b, client computer
206, using packet based phone 230, makes or receives phone calls,
block 312. These phone calls may be with another client computer
202 having like kind of equipment or with conventional handsets
214. These phone calls are serviced or bridged by servers 208. See
the aforementioned USP '774 and USPA '321 for further descriptions.
Except, in accordance with the present invention, to be described
in more detail below, telephony servers 208 facilitate the phone
calls based at least in part on the amount of telephony service
credits the user has been credited. In one embodiment, the phone
calls are facilitated strictly based on the amount of credits
available. That is, upon exhaustion of the credits given, no
services will be provided. This approach is particularly suitable
for servicing trial or guest "subscribers". In another embodiment,
the phone calls are facilitated first based on the amount of
credits available, and upon exhaustion of the credits given, the
user is invoiced for the additional services provided. This
approach is particularly suitable for servicing regular
subscribers.
[0032] Before describing monitor 228, credit module 232, relevant
enhancements to telephony service modules 234 and subscriber
database 236 in further details, it should be noted that while the
present invention is being described with content servers 204 and
advertisement servers 206 cooperatively provisioning the
advertisements, and telephony servers 208 giving and tracking the
credits, as well as facilitating the telephony service, the present
invention may be practiced in alternate embodiments with some or
all of these roles re-distributed and/or combined. For examples,
advertisements may be provisioned by the content servers directly,
that is in some cases, content servers 204 and advertisement
servers 206 are combined, or giving and tracking of credits may be
performed by advertisement servers 206 instead. Thus, those skilled
in the art, will appreciate that various modifications and
alterations may be made to practice the present invention, without
departing from the spirit and scope of the claims.
[0033] Turning now to FIG. 4, wherein a block diagram illustrating
the essential flow of the operation of monitor 228, as it relates
to the present invention, in accordance with one embodiment, is
shown. As illustrated, at 402, monitor 228 checks to determine if
an advertisement is being displayed. Such checking may be
accomplished e.g. by "watching" the messages returned to browser
226 from the communication services of client computer 202, using
any one of a number of techniques known in the art. If an
advertisement is displayed, monitor 228, at 404, records
identification and other descriptive information describing the
advertisement displayed, e.g. time and date of the display, the
source of the advertisement etc. The amount of information to be
recorded is application dependent, and may vary from embodiment to
embodiment.
[0034] If an advertisement is not being displayed, monitor 228, at
406, determines if the user just "clicked" on a displayed
advertisement. Similarly, such determination may be accomplished
e.g. by "watching" the event notifications sent to browser 226 from
the cursor control device drivers of client computer 202, using any
one of a number of techniques known in the art. If an advertisement
was "clicked", monitor 228, at 408, records identification and
other descriptive information describing the advertisement
"clicked", as in the earlier display situation. Again, the amount
of information to be recorded is application dependent, and may
also vary from embodiment to embodiment.
[0035] If an advertisement was not "clicked", monitor 228, at 410,
determines if it is time to report the recorded advertisement
consumption activities. As described earlier, the reporting may be
initiated by monitor 228 or made in response to a poll by telephony
servers 208. Periodic initiations may be accomplished e.g. by using
"timers" or other known techniques, and "polling" may be
accomplished e.g. using any one of a number of messaging techniques
known in the art. If it is time for reporting, monitor 228, at 412,
reports the recorded/observed advertisement consumption activities
to telephony servers 412 as earlier described.
[0036] The process then continues back at 402, as long as browser
226 is executing.
[0037] Referring now to FIG. 5, wherein a block diagram
illustrating the essential flow of the operation of credit module
232, as it relates to the present invention, in accordance with one
embodiment, is shown. As illustrated, at 502, credit module 232
receives advertisement consumption activities reporting for a
subscriber. At 504, credit module 232 examines a reported activity
to determine if the subscriber should be credited [in one
embodiment, i.e. whether the reported activity is related to an
advertisement of a sponsor]. If the user is to be given credit, at
506, credit module 232 credits the subscriber accordingly. As
alluded to earlier, the amount of credit given is dependent on the
nature of the reported activity, and the precise amount for each
type of activities is application dependent.
[0038] Upon determining the subscriber is not to be given credit
for a reported activity, or upon giving the appropriate amount of
credit, credit module 232 proceeds to determine if there are
additional reported activities for the subscriber to be analyzed,
508. If so, credit module 232 repeats operation 504, and
conditionally, operation 506, as described earlier. The process
continues until all reported activities of a subscriber have been
examined.
[0039] At such time, credit module 232 determines if there are
additional reporting subscribers to be processed, 510. If so,
credit module 232 repeats the above described process for another
subscriber. The process continues until reporting for all
subscribers have been analyzed (e.g. for one reporting period).
[0040] Referring now to FIG. 6, wherein a database suitable for use
as the subscriber database of the present invention is shown. As
illustrated, database 600 includes at least one table storing
various information for each subscriber. In particular, for the
illustrated embodiment, the information includes subscriber
identifier 602, credits given 606, and other information 604. Other
information 604 may include a wide range of subscriber and service
subscribed information, such as the subscriber's name, service
address and phone number, billing address and phone number, email
address, whether the subscriber has subscribed to call waiting,
call conferencing, call forwarding, voice mail and so forth. In
alternate embodiments, other data structures including, but are not
limited to, flat files, hierarchical databases, link lists and so
forth, may also be employed instead to track the credits given to
the various subscribers.
[0041] Referring now to FIG. 7, wherein a block diagram
illustrating the essential operation flow of the telephony service
modules of FIG. 2, in the context of the network environment of
FIG. 2, is shown. As illustrated, at 702, telephony service module
s234 accept connection to telephony server 208 by a subscriber. In
response, for the illustrated embodiment, at 704, telephony service
modules 234 cause the amount of telephony service credits available
to be displayed for the subscriber, e.g. on the subscriber's client
computer 202.
[0042] Thereafter, telephony modules 234 await the subscriber to
make or receive a phone call, 706. Upon making or receiving a call,
at 708, telephony service modules 234 facilitate the call as
described in the aforementioned patent and patent application. In
addition, telephony service modules 234 debit or decrement the
subscriber's accumulated credit. The amount debited may be
reflective of what the services otherwise would have cost. In one
embodiment, telephony service modules 234 further cause the
remaining amount of telephony service credits available to be
refreshed, i.e. giving the user feedback on the remaining credit in
real time. While facilitating the call, telephony service modules
234 continuously check to determine if the call is to be
terminated, 710, and whether the subscriber has exhausted all
accumulated credits, 712. In one embodiment, upon detecting that
the subscriber has exhausted his accumulated credits, telephony
service modules 234 further check to determine if the subscriber is
a pay subscriber (i.e. whether the subscriber can be invoiced for
the additional services provided), 714. If the call is to be
terminated, or the subscriber has exhausted his accumulated credits
and the subscriber is not a pay subscriber, telephony service
modules 234 terminate the call accordingly, 716. Otherwise,
telephony service modules 234 continue to facilitate the call, 708,
until a termination condition is encountered.
[0043] Referring now to FIG. 8, wherein an end user interface of
packet based telephone 230 of FIG. 2, in accordance with one
embodiment, is shown. As illustrated, end user interface 802
includes conventional features, such as dial pad 806, on/off
control buttons 808 and a display area for displaying information
such as the number called, or the calling number. Additionally, in
accordance with the present invention, end user interface 802
includes meter-like icon 810 for depicting the amount of telephony
service credits available. As described earlier, in a presently
preferred embodiment, meter-like icon 810 is refreshed in real
time, as the credits are used, providing the user/subscriber with
real time feedback on the amount of telephony service credits
available.
[0044] FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of a computer system
suitable to be programmed with programming instructions
implementing selected aspects (i.e. client or telephony server) of
the present invention. As shown, example computer system 900
includes one or more processors 902 and system memory 904.
Additionally, system 900 includes mass storage devices 906 (such as
diskette, hard drive, CDROM and so forth), input/output devices 908
(such as keyboard, cursor control and so forth) and communication
interfaces 910 (such as network interface cards, modems and so
forth). The elements are coupled to each other via system bus 912,
which represents one or more buses. In the case of multiple buses,
they are bridged by one or more bus bridges (not shown). Each of
these elements perform its conventional functions known in the art.
In particular, system memory 904 and mass storage 906 are employed
to store a working copy and a permanent copy of the programming
instructions implementing the selected aspects of the present
invention. The permanent copy of the programming instructions may
be loaded into mass storage 906 in the factory, or in the field, as
described earlier, through a distribution medium (not shown) or
through communication interface 910 (from a distribution server
(not shown). The constitution of these elements 902-912 are known,
and accordingly will not be further described.
[0045] Referring now FIG. 10, wherein a block diagram illustrating
another network environment suitable for practicing the present
invention, in accordance with another embodiment, is shown. As
illustrated, network environment 200' includes client computers
202', content servers 204', advertisement servers 206', telephony
server 208', data network 210', "PSTN" 212', and handset
214'coupled to each other, and operate essentially as earlier
described with references to FIGS. 2-9. However, under this
embodiment, enjoyment, i.e. usage, of the accumulated telephony
service credits are not necessarily via client computers 202'. More
specifically, enjoyment of the accumulated telephony service
credits may be made from a wireline or wireless handset 214'.
"PSTN" 212' is intended to include the wireless telephone networks
known in the art. It is contemplated that the local or central
offices, or the wireless telephone service providers will service
handsets 214' as telephony servers 208 service client computers 202
in the earlier described embodiment. Local/central offices and the
wireless telephone service providers may determine/obtain the
accumulated telephony service credits of the users of handsets 214'
from telephony servers 208' (or from advertisement servers 206' if
the credits are given and tracked by advertisement servers 206'
instead, as alluded to earlier), via the Intelligent Network of
PSTN 212' or data network 210'. Accordingly, it can be seen that
the credit base telephony service facilitation may be extended from
computer based telephony to substantially conventional landline
and/or wireless telephony service. As illustrated, preferably,
handsets 214' are advantageously equipped with a display (as most
wireless telephone sets are) to facilitate the rendering of a
meter-like icon to depict for the user the amount of telephony
service credits available, and keeping the user informed of the
remaining amount in real time.
[0046] Thus, a novel method and apparatus for facilitating
telephony service based on credits has been described. As alluded
to earlier, while the present invention has been described in terms
of the above illustrated embodiments, those skilled in the art will
recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments
described. The present invention can be practiced with modification
and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of
restrictive on the present invention.
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