Abstract: After receiving a directory assistance request from a caller, an attempt is made to determine the identity of the caller. If the caller's identity cannot be determined, a sponsor advertisement is played prior to providing the directory assistance service to the caller. If the caller's identity is determined, multiple advertisements of possible interest to the caller are identified. Each of the multiple advertisements has an associated bid price. An advertisement is selected based on the highest associated bid price. The selected advertisement is then played to the caller.

Abstract: A directory assistance request is received from a caller. A process attempts to determine the identity of the caller. If the caller's identity cannot be determined, a front-end sponsor advertisement is played prior to providing the directory assistance service to the caller. If the caller's identity is determined, the process identifies multiple advertisements of possible interest to the caller. Each of the multiple advertisements has an expected value. An advertisement having the highest expected value is selected and played to the caller.

Abstract: A directory assistance request is received from a caller such that the caller requests a particular business. A process identifies at least one advertisement for a business that competes with the requested business. The advertisement for the competing business is played to the caller. The caller is then given the option of selecting the competing business or the requested business.

Abstract: A system is provided for segmenting a character sting into useable parts and for deriving statistically relevant and searchable patterns from those separate parts. The system includes a corpus containing an initial set of character strings for processing, a corpus processor for identifying and segmenting each of the character strings, a segmentation rule available to the processor, and a pattern generator for generating the patterns.

Abstract: A processing system for retrieving interrelated documents is described. The system comprises a document repository for storing a plurality of documents, a metadata repository for storing a plurality of metadata elements to represent relations between the documents, and a sociological analysis engine to identify relationships between the documents using the metadata elements from the metadata repository.

Abstract: A voice user interface for accessing data is provided. This method and system receives a set of variables from a voice recognizer processing a voice request for information in a backend system; processes an integration method using the set of variables returned from the recognizer and an unstructured grammar based on entries in the database fields of a backend system; requests backend data from the backend system using the integration method and the set of variables as applied to the unstructured grammar; and receives backend data from the backend system responsive to the integration method used to request the backend data. Processes are described that add data associated with a database to increase the accuracy of interacting with the database through a voice interface and create the unstructured grammar for improved voice recognition capabilities.