Patents by Inventor Christopher Scott Crothers

Christopher Scott Crothers has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10380637
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses to dynamically allocate location dependent telephone numbers to facilitate voice connections between people. One embodiment includes: responsive to a request from a user, selecting a telephone number from a plurality of telephone numbers of a connection server to match a location indicator of the request; embedding the telephone number in an advertisement, the telephone number to be used by the user to initiate a telephone call to the connection server for further connection to an advertiser of the advertisement; and providing the advertisement with the telephone number of the connection server as a response to the request. In one embodiment, responsive to receiving the telephone call at the telephone number of the connection server from the user, whether to play a prompt message to the user is determined based at least in part on statistic data about telephone calls collected at the connection server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
    Inventors: Ebbe Altberg, Christopher Scott Crothers, Scott Faber, Ron Hirson, Paul G. Manca, Sean Van Der Linden
  • Publication number: 20160196583
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses to dynamically allocate location dependent telephone numbers to facilitate voice connections between people. One embodiment includes: responsive to a request from a user, selecting a telephone number from a plurality of telephone numbers of a connection server to match a location indicator of the request; embedding the telephone number in an advertisement, the telephone number to be used by the user to initiate a telephone call to the connection server for further connection to an advertiser of the advertisement; and providing the advertisement with the telephone number of the connection server as a response to the request. In one embodiment, responsive to receiving the telephone call at the telephone number of the connection server from the user, whether to play a prompt message to the user is determined based at least in part on statistic data about telephone calls collected at the connection server.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2016
    Publication date: July 7, 2016
    Inventors: Ebbe Altberg, Christopher Scott Crothers, Scott Faber, Ron Hirson, Paul G. Manca, Sean Van Der Linden
  • Patent number: 9317855
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses to dynamically allocate location dependent telephone numbers to facilitate voice connections between people. One embodiment includes: responsive to a request from a user, selecting a telephone number from a plurality of telephone numbers of a connection server to match a location indicator of the request; embedding the telephone number in an advertisement, the telephone number to be used by the user to initiate a telephone call to the connection server for further connection to an advertiser of the advertisement; and providing the advertisement with the telephone number of the connection server as a response to the request. In one embodiment, responsive to receiving the telephone call at the telephone number of the connection server from the user, whether to play a prompt message to the user is determined based at least in part on statistic data about telephone calls collected at the connection server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
    Inventors: Ebbe Altberg, Christopher Scott Crothers, Scott Faber, Ron Hirson, Paul G. Manca, Sean Van Der Linden
  • Patent number: 8069082
    Abstract: Systems and methods to determine prices for communication leads generated from pay for performance advertisements. In one embodiment, a method includes: providing an advertisement with a reference to customers on behalf of a specific party; facilitating communications between the party and a customer via the reference; and charging the party according to a price bid specified by the party in response to a lead to communications between the party and the customer facilitated via the reference. In one embodiment, a fee for the communication leads is determined according to the price bid specified by the party for the advertisement and at least one predetermined rule, which may be based on the geographic area of the advertisement, the categories of the advertisement, the price bids of a selected set of advertisements, and/or the query that causes the advertisement to be presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2011
    Assignee: UTBK, Inc.
    Inventors: Ebbe Altberg, Scott Faber, Ron Hirson, Sean Van Der Linden, Christopher Scott Crothers
  • Publication number: 20080097845
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses to dynamically allocate location dependent telephone numbers to facilitate voice connections between people. One embodiment includes: responsive to a request from a user, selecting a telephone number from a plurality of telephone numbers of a connection server to match a location indicator of the request; embedding the telephone number in an advertisement, the telephone number to be used by the user to initiate a telephone call to the connection server for further connection to an advertiser of the advertisement; and providing the advertisement with the telephone number of the connection server as a response to the request. In one embodiment, responsive to receiving the telephone call at the telephone number of the connection server from the user, whether to play a prompt message to the user is determined based at least in part on statistic data about telephone calls collected at the connection server.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 17, 2007
    Publication date: April 24, 2008
    Applicant: UTBK, INC.
    Inventors: Ebbe ALTBERG, Christopher Scott CROTHERS, Scott FABER, Ron HIRSON, Paul G. MANCA, Sean VAN DER LINDEN