Claims
- 1. A wireless communication system, comprising:
a radio interface; a plurality of terminals configured to play advertisements and to communicate voice and data over the radio interface; at least one network node configured to communicate with the plurality of terminals over the radio interface, the network node including:
a fixed network interface; a telecommunications advertising means comprising an advertisement database and a processing means coupled with the advertisement database, the processing means configured to selectively associate at least one advertisement in the advertisement database with an incoming communication; and a switching center coupled to the telecommunications advertising means, the switching center configured to route communications between the terminals, to route communications from the terminals to fixed network users via the fixed network interface, to route advertisements associated with a source of the incoming communication by the telecommunications advertising means to a terminal associated with the source, and to route advertisements associated with a destination of the incoming communication by the telecommunications advertising means to a terminal associated with the destination.
- 2. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein the advertisements associated with the source and/or destination of the incoming communication are used to replace a busy signal that would otherwise be sent to the source and/or destination.
- 3. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to forward advertisements received by the terminals to other terminals within the wireless communication system.
- 4. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to optionally connect, through the switching center to the source of any advertisement routed to the terminal by the switching center.
- 5. The wireless communication system of claim 4, wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to navigate through information provided by the source of the advertisement once the terminal is connected to the source of the advertisement.
- 6. The wireless communication system of claim 4, wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to facilitate purchasing of products or services once the terminal is connected to the source of the advertisement.
- 7. The wireless communication system of claim 6, wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to allow charge account information to be input into the terminal, and wherein the terminal provides the charge account information to the source of the advertisement to facilitate the purchasing of products or services.
- 8. The wireless communication system of claim 6, wherein the telecommunication advertising means stores charge account information associated with each terminal, and wherein the telecommunications advertising means automatically supplies the charge account information to the source of the advertisement to facilitate purchasing of products or services.
- 9. The wireless communication system of claim 4, further configured to allow the source and/or destination of the incoming communication to be connected to the source of an advertisement prior to completion of the incoming communication.
- 10. The wireless communication system of claim 4, wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to store a list of advertisements played during the completion of the incoming communication.
- 11. The wireless communication system of claim 10, wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to connect to the source of an advertisement selected from the list of advertisements after the completion of the incoming communication.
- 12. The wireless communication system of claim 4, further comprising a packet data server configured to interface the plurality of terminals to the Internet, and wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to optionally connect, through the packet data server, to the source of any advertisement routed to the terminal.
- 13. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein the advertisements routed to the source of the incoming communication are played during at least one of the following points:
prior to a ring back signal being applied to the source of the incoming communication; in place of ring tones associated with the ring back signal; in place of the ring back signal, and after the ring back signal, but before the source of the incoming communication is connected with the destination of the incoming communication.
- 14. The wireless communication system of claim 13, wherein the advertisements routed to the destination of the incoming communication are played prior to the source of the incoming communication being connected with the destination of the incoming communication.
- 15. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the advertisement database is stored in each terminal in the plurality of terminals, and wherein the switching center routes a command provided by the telecommunications advertising means to the terminals indicating which advertisement to play.
- 16. The telecommunications advertising means of claim 15, wherein the portion of the advertisement database stored in the terminals is updated by the telecommunications advertising means over the radio interface.
- 17. A wireless communication system, comprising:
a packet data carrier; a plurality of terminals configured to communicate packet data over the packet data carrier; a telecommunications advertising means comprising an advertisement database and a processing means coupled with the advertisement database, the processing means configured to selectively associate at least one advertisement in said advertisement database with an incoming packet data communication; a packet data server configured to interface the terminals with the Internet, to route communications between the terminals and the Internet over the packet data carrier, and to route advertisements associated with a source of the incoming packet data communication to the source, and to route advertisements associated with a destination of the incoming packet data communication to the destination.
- 18. The wireless communication system of claim 17, wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to optionally connect through the packet data server to the source of any advertisement routed to the terminal by the packet data server.
- 19. The wireless communication system of claim 18, wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to navigate through information provided by the source of the advertisement once the terminal is connected to the source of the advertisement.
- 20. The wireless communication system of claim 19, wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to facilitate purchasing of goods and services once the terminal is connected to the source of the advertisement.
- 21. The wireless communication system of claim 20, wherein some or all of the terminals are configured to allow charge account information to be input into the terminal, and wherein the terminal provides the charge account information to the source of the advertisement to facilitate the purchasing of goods and services.
- 22. The wireless communication system of claim 20, wherein the telecommunication advertising means stores charge account information associated with each terminal, and wherein the telecommunications advertising means automatically supplies the charge account information to the source of the advertisement to facilitate purchasing of goods and services.
- 23. A method of telecommunications advertising in a wireless communication system configured for voice and/or data communication between a source and a destination, the method comprising:
storing a plurality of advertisements; selectively associating one or more of said plurality of advertisements with a communication in the wireless communication system; playing or otherwise displaying the one or more advertisements through a terminal associated with the source or destination of the communication prior to connecting the source to the destination for purposes of completing the communication; and connecting the terminal with a company associated with one of the one or more advertisements.
- 24. The method of claim 23, further comprising permitting the terminal to browse information and/or products or services offered by the company.
- 25. The method of claim 24, further comprising permitting the terminal to purchase one or more products or services offered by the company.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/585,460, filed Jun. 01, 2000.
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09585460 |
Jun 2000 |
US |
Child |
09753415 |
Jan 2001 |
US |