Apparatus and method for recruiting, communicating with, and paying participants of interactive advertising

Abstract

A method and apparatus for recruiting, communicating with, and paying participants of interactive advertising are described. The present invention is a system through which advertisers car recruit, communicate with, and pay their potential customers for their time. The system achieves these functions without the advertiser or the customer having to be in the same location—all logistics are handled through the system's web site, database, and communications interfaces. The system enables advertisers to promote interactive seminars in which they try to sell products to potential customers. Most importantly, the advertisers are able to offer their potential customers financial rewards for their time, such as 25 cents per minute to reward a customer for listening to a sales pitch. The system then provides a real-time communications link between the advertiser and customer. The system automatically bills the advertiser and rewards the customer for the time that they interact.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method comprising: 
 providing one or more interactive advertising links;    receiving, from one or more users, one or more selections for a selected advertising link from the one or more interactive advertising links;    establishing a communications link between the one or more users and an advertiser of the selected advertising link; and    compensating the one or more users based on various input provided to the advertiser during interaction there between via the communications link.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 receiving a request from an advertiser to establish an interactive advertising link; and    placing a link for an interactive advertisement among the one or more interactive advertising links.    
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising: 
 generating a record in an advertiser database, the record including advertiser information contained in the request, wherein the advertiser information includes one or more of a compensation price, real-time advertiser availability, specific type of the advertisement, languages spoken by the advertiser and additional compensation incentives.    
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the compensating the one or more users further comprises: 
 billing the advertiser a billing amount for each interaction with the one or more users; and    transferring the billing amount to the one or more users.    
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the billing the advertiser further comprises: 
 measuring a duration of the interaction between the one or more users and the advertiser; and    calculating the billing amount for the advertiser based on the duration of the interaction and a time-based price paid by the advertiser.    
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more interactive advertisement links include one or more interactive public opinion polls, such that a user selecting a public opinion poll is compensated for providing his/her opinion and wherein the establishing the communications link further comprises: 
 providing a user that selected a public opinion poll link with an online questionnaire of the public opinion poll; and    once the user completes the questionnaire, transmitting the questionnaire to an advertiser of the public opinion poll link.    
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each selection from a user includes one or more of a category of advertisers, an advertiser payment price, advertiser type and advertisement.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein prior to the receiving the one or more selections from the one or more users, the method further comprises: 
 receiving a request from a user for connection to an interactive advertisement system via a communications link;    establishing a connection between the user and the interactive advertisement system in order to provide the user with an interaction with a chosen advertiser; and    providing the user with a list of the wide array of advertisement types available from the interactive advertisement system.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more interactive advertising links include one or more interactive seminar links and following selection of a selected interactive seminar by the one or more users, the establishing the communications link further comprises: 
 establishing a real-time video communications link between the one or more users and an advertiser of the selected interactive seminar;    providing additional incentive-based links to the one or more users to provide additional feedback; and    enabling the one or more users to purchase one or more items advertised by the interactive seminar.    
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein following the establishing the communications link, the method further comprises: 
 providing additional incentive-based links to the one or more users to provide additional feedback; and    enabling the user to purchase one or more items advertised by the selected advertising link.    
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the compensating the one or more users further comprises: 
 enabling a user to purchase an advertised product with limited availability, such that the user is compensated by having the ability to purchase the advertised product.    
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising: 
 charging the user a predetermined amount such that the user is compensated by having the ability to purchase the advertised product; and    transferring the predetermined amount to the advertiser.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising: 
 using a telephone as the communications link between the user and the advertiser of the selected advertising link.    
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing the one or more interactive advertising links further comprises: 
 receiving, from an advertiser interface, a request to activate an interactive seminar included among the one or more interactive advertising links;    activating the seminar, such that one or more users can select and participate in the interactive seminar;    receiving, from the advertise interface, a request to de-activate the interactive seminar once the seminar is closed; and    de-activating the interactive seminar, such that additional users can no longer participate in the interactive seminar.    
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the establishing a communications link, further comprises: 
 providing the one or more users with a recorded version of the selected advertisement; and    enabling the one or more users to purchase one or more advertised products.    
     
     
         16 . A computer readable storage medium including program instruction that directs a computer to function in a specified manner when executed by a processor, the program instructions comprising: 
 providing one or more interactive advertising links;    receiving, from one or more users, one or more selections for a selected advertising link from the one or more interactive advertising links;    establishing a communications link between the one or more users and an advertiser of the selected advertising link; and    compensating the one or more users based on various input provided to the advertiser during interaction there between via the real-time communications link.    
     
     
         17 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , further comprising: 
 receiving a request from an advertiser to establish an interactive advertising link; and    placing a link for an interactive advertisement among the one or more interactive advertising links.    
     
     
         18 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 17 , further comprising: 
 generating a record in an advertiser database, the record including advertiser information contained in the request, wherein the advertiser information includes one or more of a compensation price, real-time advertiser availability, specific type of the advertisement, languages spoken by the advertiser and additional compensation incentives.    
     
     
         19 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the instruction for compensating the user further comprises instructions of: 
 billing the advertiser a billing amount for each interaction with the one or more users; and    transferring the billing amount to the one or more users.    
     
     
         20 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein the billing the advertiser further comprises instructions of: 
 measuring a duration of the interaction between the one or more users and the advertiser; and    calculating the billing amount for the advertiser based on the duration of the interaction and a time-based price paid by the advertiser.    
     
     
         21 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more interactive advertisement links include one or more interactive public opinion polls, such that a user selecting a public opinion poll is compensated for providing his/her opinion and wherein the establishing the communications link further comprises instructions of: 
 providing a user that selected a public opinion poll link with an online questionnaire of the public opinion poll; and    once the user completes the questionnaire, transmitting the questionnaire to an advertiser of the public opinion link.    
     
     
         22 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein each selection from a user includes one or more of a category of advertisers, an advertiser payment price, advertiser type and advertisement.  
     
     
         23 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein prior to the instruction for receiving the one or more selections from the one or more users, the computer readable storage medium further comprises instructions of: 
 receiving a request from a user for connection to an interactive advertisement system via a communications link;    establishing a connection between the user and the interactive advertisement system in order to provide the user with an interaction with a chosen advertiser; and    providing the user with a list of the wide array of advertisement types available from the interactive advertisement system.    
     
     
         24 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more interactive advertising links include one or more interactive seminar links and following selection of a selected interactive seminar by the one or more users, the establishing the communications link further comprises the instructions of: 
 establishing a real-time video communications link between the one or more users and a provider of the selected interactive seminar;    providing additional incentive-based links to the one or more users to provide additional feedback; and    enabling the one or more users to purchase one or more items advertised by the interactive seminar.    
     
     
         25 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein following the establishing a real-time communications link, the computer readable storage medium further includes instructions of: 
 providing additional incentive-based links to the one or more users to provide additional feedback; and    enabling the one or more users to purchase one or more items advertised by the selected interactive advertising link.    
     
     
         26 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the instruction for compensating the user further comprises instructions of: 
 enabling a user to purchase an advertised product with limited availability, such that the user is compensated by having the ability to purchase the advertised product.    
     
     
         27 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , further comprising the instructions of: 
 charging the user a predetermined amount such that the user is compensated by having the ability to purchase the advertised product; and    transferring the predetermined amount to the advertiser.    
     
     
         28 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , further comprising the instructions of: 
 using a telephone as the communications link between the user and the advertiser of the selected advertising link.    
     
     
         29 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the method comprising providing one or more interactive advertising links further comprises: 
 receiving, from an advertiser interface, a request to activate an interactive seminar included among the one or more interactive advertising links;    activating the seminar such that one or more users can select and participate in the interactive seminar;    receiving, from the advertise interface, a request to de-activate the interactive seminar once the seminar is closed; and    de-activating the interactive seminar, such that additional users can no longer participate in the interactive seminar.    
     
     
         30 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 16 , wherein the establishing a communications link, further comprises: 
 providing the one or more users with a recorded version of the selected advertisement; and    enabling the one or more users to purchase one or more advertised products.    
     
     
         31 . An online incentive-based advertising system comprising: 
 a user interface for receiving one or more selection requests from one or more users for an interactive advertisement from one or more interactive advertisement links stored in an advertisement database;    a processor to receive the one or more selection requests from the one or more users for a selected interactive advertisement from the user interface, and establish a communications link between the one or more users and a provider of the selected interactive advertisement for interaction via the communications link; and    a compensation procedure to compensate the user based on various input provided to the advertiser during interaction therebetween via the communications link.    
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the user interface: 
 provides the user with a list of fields of advertisements, accepts a type of advertisements desired by the user, provides the user with a list of interactive advertisements stored in the advertisement database which match the type of advertisement desired by the user, and a receive the selection from the user for a selected advertiser.    
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 31 , further comprising: 
 an advertiser interface for receiving a request from an advertiser to establish an interactive advertising link, and generate a record in the advertisement database, the record including provider information contained in the request.    
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 33 , wherein the provider information includes one or more of a compensation price, real-time advertiser availability, specific type of the advertisement, languages spoken by the advertiser and additional compensation incentives.  
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the communications link further comprises: 
 a public switched telephone network interface to connect the user to the advertiser of the selected advertisement.    
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the communications link further comprises: 
 a wireless communications network interface to connect the user to the advertiser of the selected advertisement.    
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the communications link further comprises: 
 a video link to connect the user to the advertiser of the selected advertisement.    
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the communications link further comprises: 
 a voice communication link to connect the user to the advertiser of the selected advertisement.    
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 31 , further comprising: 
 a banner advertisement link procedure to generate an interactive advertisement link as a web page banner advertisement of an advertiser web site.    
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 31 , further comprising: 
 a banner advertisement link procedure to generate an interactive advertisement link as a web page banner advertisement of a search engine web site.