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Completion of internet session notification serviceRelated Patent Categories: Electrical Computers And Digital Processing Systems: Multicomputer Data Transferring, Distributed Data Processing, Processing AgentCompletion of internet session notification service description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080028018, Completion of internet session notification service. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for contacting residents at home, and more particularly, for contacting residents when they are not occupied on the Internet. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Businesses often seek to contact residents at home by placing telephone calls. Credit card companies may contact existing account holders at home to solicit their interest in programs such as account insurance or balance transfers, or to solicit new card members. Video rental companies may contact residents at home regarding overdue movies. Polling companies may call large numbers of residents to conduct surveys and polls. Telemarketing companies may call large numbers of residents to solicit interest in various products and services. [0003] However, the business making the phone calls often does not know whether the resident is home or not. The person making the call may get no answer or may get an answering machine. In most cases, the goal is a live conversation with a person, not to leave a message on an answering machine. The time and money spent on the unsuccessful phone call may be wasted. This is a significant problem. [0004] Sometimes businesses make these calls in the evening around dinnertime. The hope is that the resident will be home at around this time. Unfortunately, many residents refuse to answer the phone during this period. This is also a significant problem. [0005] Sometimes the resident is home but is occupied by an Internet session. Typically, the resident will not answer an incoming call during this period. If the resident has standard dial-in access to the Internet, the business will likely receive a busy signal. The resident does not answer because the line is occupied. Some residents may have multiple lines or an ISDN or ASDL connection that effectively gives them multiple lines. Such a resident may know that a call is incoming. However, the resident may not answer the incoming call because he/she is occupied by the Internet session. [0006] The tendency of residents not to answer incoming calls during their Internet sessions is a significant obstacle for businesses attempting to contact these residents. The proliferation of home computers and Internet usage during recent years makes this an increasingly significant problem for these businesses. [0007] It is also unlikely that a business knows that an unsuccessfully-contacted resident was at home, but was occupied with the Internet. Thus, the business does not know that a follow-up call later that day may be successful. Even if it is somehow known that a follow-up call is in order, the business does not know when to make the call. These are all significant problems. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] Accordingly, the present invention is generally directed to a service for detecting the completion of an online session that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to the limitations and disadvantages of the prior art. [0009] Generally, a user begins an online session by logging into an access provider, such as an Internet Service Provider. Upon completion of the online session, the access provider can store online session data that describes the online session. The online session data may include such information as the identity of the user (e.g., a phone number, an address, and so forth) and the time the online session ended. This online session data can be processed by a caller in order to identify users to call. The caller may be the access provider or a third party, such as a telemarketer. The online session data may be processed in various manners. The online session data may be compared to data of failed calls to identify users who could not be contacted before, but that may now available based on the completion of their online sessions. The online session data may be processed to identify users having online sessions that were completed within some time interval. The online session data can be processed in other ways. [0010] The advantages of the present invention are numerous. In particular, a caller can learn that a user is at home because an online session was just completed. The caller also knows an optimal time to call the user, for example, as a few minutes after the online session was completed. The caller can also use the information provided by the service to determine which users should be called back following an unsuccessful call. Other advantages and benefits exist. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a system for identifying users to be called according to an embodiment of the invention. [0012] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary user and exemplary user interface according to an embodiment of the invention. [0013] FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary Internet Service Provider (ISP) according to an embodiment of the invention. [0014] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary ISP database according to an embodiment of the invention. [0015] FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary output module of an ISP according to an embodiment of the invention. [0016] FIG. 6 is an exemplary flow diagram for identifying users to be called according to an embodiment of the invention. [0017] FIG. 7A is an exemplary flow diagram for storing online session details according to an embodiment of the invention. [0018] FIG. 7B is an exemplary flow diagram for identifying users to call according to an embodiment of the invention. [0019] FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary system for identifying users to be called according to an embodiment of the invention. [0020] FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of the comparison of call details data and online session details data according to an embodiment of the invention. Continue reading about Completion of internet session notification service... Full patent description for Completion of internet session notification service Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Completion of internet session notification service patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. 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