US6707811B2 — Internet telephony for ecommerce

Claim 1

Independent Claim 150 words

A method for establishing a phone call between an end user using a computer connected to a data packet network and a called party connected to a public switched telephone network, the method comprising the steps of: downloading a call web page to the computer, the call web page including an end user identifier, an identifier of a called party, and an address that may be used to obtain software required to complete a phone call to the called party; transmitting a message to the address upon an indication by the end user that the phone call to the called party is desired; receiving the software at the computer; sending the end user identifier from the computer to the called party; and exchanging, under the control of the software, voice packets over the data packet network with a gateway connected through the public switched telephone network to the called party.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 150 words

A method for establishing a phone call between an end user using a computer connected to a data packet network and a called party connected to a public switched telephone network, the method comprising the steps of: downloading a call web page to the computer, the call web page including an end user identifier, an identifier of a called party, and an address that may be used to obtain software required to complete a phone call to the called party; transmitting a message to the address upon an indication by the end user that the phone call to the called party is desired; receiving the software at the computer; sending the end user identifier from the computer to the called party; and exchanging, under the control of the software, voice packets over the data packet network with a gateway connected through the public switched telephone network to the called party.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 14 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the called party is a call center.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 39 words

The method of claim 2 , wherein a plurality of web pages are downloaded and the call web page is downloaded prior to the indication by the end user that the phone call to the call center is desired.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 16 words

The method of claim 2 , wherein the call web page further includes a merchant identifier.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 51 words

The method of claim 2 , further comprising the steps of: receiving a web page identifier from the call center; transmitting the web page identifier to a web server from which the web page was downloaded; and downloading a new web page corresponding to the web page identifier to the computer.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 33 words

The method of claim 5 , wherein the new web page corresponds to a web page displayed at the call center on a computer display associated with a representative at the call center.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 17 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the end user identifier is sent the call center in-band.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 18 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the end user identifier is sent to the call center out-of-band.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of displaying information corresponding to the end user identifier on a display at the call center.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 25 words

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of storing a portion of the software on a permanent storage device in the computer.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 50 words

The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of examining a permanent storage device on the computer to determine whether a portion of the software is present, wherein the receiving step is not performed for any portion of the software that is present on the permanent storage device.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 21 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifier of the called party includes a telephone number for the called party.

Claim 14

Independent Claim 169 words

A method for facilitating a phone call between an end user using a computer connected to a data packet network and a call center connected to a public switched telephone network from a server, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a message from the computer indicating a desire to make a phone call; receiving a message from the computer including an identifier of a merchant to which a phone call is desired, the merchant having at least one call center; instructing, by a server, a gateway connected to the public switched telephone network and the data packet network to establish a call to the call center over the public switched telephone network; receiving at the server a message from a call center computer, the message including a phone line identifier of a particular phone line at the gateway over which the phone call is connected; retrieving context information using the phone line identifier; and transmitting the context information to the call center computer through the data packet network.

Claim 15

Independent Claim 169 words

A method for facilitating a phone call between an end user using a computer connected to a data packet network and a call center connected to a public switched telephone network from a server, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a message from the computer indicating a desire to make a phone call; receiving a message from the computer including an identifier of a merchant to which a phone call is desired, the merchant having at least one call center; instructing, by a server, a gateway connected to the public switched telephone network and the data packet network to establish a call to the call center over the public switched telephone network; receiving at the server a message from a call center computer, the message including a phone line identifier of a particular phone line at the gateway over which the phone call is connected; retrieving context information using the phone line identifier; and transmitting the context information to the call center computer through the data packet network.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 30 words

The method of claim 13 , wherein the message indicating a desire to make a phone call and the message including a merchant identifier are part of the same message.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 17 words

The method of claim 14 , wherein the merchant identifier includes a telephone number for the merchant.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method of claim 13 wherein the call center packets are transmitted directly from the gateway to the computer.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 40 words

The method of claim 13 , wherein the call center packets are sent from the gateway to a server, are combined at the server to form combined packets, and the combined packets are sent from the server to the computer.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 25 words

The method of claim 13 , further comprising the steps of selecting the call center from a plurality of call centers associated with the merchant.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 18 words

The method of claim 18 , wherein the call center is selected based on a time of day.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 23 words

The method of claim 18 , wherein the call center is selected in order to balance load among the plurality of call centers.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 15 words

The method of claim 18 , wherein the call center is selected based on geography.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 16 words

The method of claim 18 , wherein the call center nearest to the computer is selected.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 14 words

The method of claim 13 , wherein the context information includes a customer identification.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 14 words

The method of claim 13 , wherein the context information includes a session identification.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 22 words

The method of claim 13 , wherein the context information includes an identification of a web page being viewed at the computer.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method of claim 13 , wherein the phone line identifier is an automatic number identification (ANI) associated with the particular phone line at the gateway.

Claim 29

Dependent Claim 24 words

The method of claim 13 , wherein the phone line identifier is a caller ID associated with the particular phone line at the gateway.

Claim 30

Dependent Claim 16 words

The method of claim 13 , wherein the context information is transmitted in-band to call center.

Claim 31

Dependent Claim 21 words

The method of claim 13 , wherein the context information is transmitted out-of-band to a computer associated with the call center.

Claim 32

Dependent Claim 44 words

The method of claim 13 , further comprising the steps of: receiving a web page identifier from the call center; transmitting the web page identifier to the computer for use by the computer to download a web page corresponding to the web page identifier.

Claim 33

Dependent Claim 24 words

The method of claim 30 , wherein the web page identifier comprises a dual tone multi-frequency signal received over the public switched telephone network.

Claim 34

Independent Claim 202 words

A system for establishing a phone call from an end user viewing a merchant web site and a merchant call center, the system comprising: a web server, the web server including a web page, the web page including an end user identifier, an address to which a message may be sent to receive software to enable a phone call to a merchant call center and an identifier of a merchant associated with the web page, the software being configured to transmit the end user identifier from a computer on which the software is installed to the call center; an application server, the application server being responsive to a message received at the address to transmit the software to an end user computer; a gateway connected to a data packet network and a public switched telephone network; a call server, the call server being responsive to a message including a merchant identifier from the end user computer to configure the gateway to exchange packets comprising digitized voice information with the end user computer over the data packet network and exchange voice information corresponding to the digitized voice information with a merchant call center associated with the merchant over the public switched telephone network.

Claim 35

Independent Claim 202 words

A system for establishing a phone call from an end user viewing a merchant web site and a merchant call center, the system comprising: a web server, the web server including a web page, the web page including an end user identifier, an address to which a message may be sent to receive software to enable a phone call to a merchant call center and an identifier of a merchant associated with the web page, the software being configured to transmit the end user identifier from a computer on which the software is installed to the call center; an application server, the application server being responsive to a message received at the address to transmit the software to an end user computer; a gateway connected to a data packet network and a public switched telephone network; a call server, the call server being responsive to a message including a merchant identifier from the end user computer to configure the gateway to exchange packets comprising digitized voice information with the end user computer over the data packet network and exchange voice information corresponding to the digitized voice information with a merchant call center associated with the merchant over the public switched telephone network.

Claim 36

Dependent Claim 25 words

The method of claim 32 , wherein the identifier of the merchant associated with the web page includes a telephone number for the called party.

Claim 37

Independent Claim 123 words

A method for conducting a phone call between an end user using a computer connected to a data packet network and a called party connected to a public switched telephone network, the method comprising the steps of: downloading a call web page to the computer, the call web page including an identifier of the called party; establishing a phone call between the end user and the called party via a gateway connected to the data packet network and the public switched telephone network; transmitting a DTMF tone to the gateway from the called party via the public switched telephone network; translating the DTMF tone to a uniform resource locator (URL); and downloading a second web page corresponding to the URL to the computer.

Claim 38

Independent Claim 123 words

A method for conducting a phone call between an end user using a computer connected to a data packet network and a called party connected to a public switched telephone network, the method comprising the steps of: downloading a call web page to the computer, the call web page including an identifier of the called party; establishing a phone call between the end user and the called party via a gateway connected to the data packet network and the public switched telephone network; transmitting a DTMF tone to the gateway from the called party via the public switched telephone network; translating the DTMF tone to a uniform resource locator (URL); and downloading a second web page corresponding to the URL to the computer.

Claim 39

Dependent Claim 15 words

The method of claim 34 , wherein the translating step is performed at the gateway.

Claim 40

Dependent Claim 38 words

The method of claim 34 , wherein the translating step is performed at by translating the DTMF tone to an index at the gateway and the index is used to retrieve a uniform resource locator by the computer.

Claim 41

Dependent Claim 45 words

The method of claim 34 , wherein the translating step is performed by translating the DTMF tone to an index at the gateway and the index is used to retrieve a uniform resource locator by a server from which the second web page is downloaded.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2007-03-16	2007-09-15	2008-03-16	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2011-03-16	2011-09-15	2012-03-16	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2015-03-16	2015-09-15	2016-03-16	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Internet telephony for ecommerce

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