The spread of broadband has increased the number of users who view Web pages through the Internet, using Web browsers and the like. Those Web pages are easily retrieved and retain a large amount of information, and therefore, they are being used in diverse forms of business.
As a form of usage in business, there has been a system in which reservations can be made or orders for products can be placed with actual shops, with the use of telephone numbers appearing on Web pages. For example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 10-336349) discloses a Click-To-Dial system that can transmit a call (a phone call) simply by clicking a call button through a Web browser.
Specifically, this is a system that is formed with a PC in which a special-purpose Web browser including special-purpose software having a function to make a call to a telephone device is installed, and a telephone device A to be connected to the PC. A user obtains the telephone number of a shop or the like he/she wishes to call from a Web page on the Internet or the like. The user then inputs the telephone number to a “phone number” input region of the special-purpose Web browser, and clicks the “call button”. The special-purpose Web browser then makes a call to the telephone device A to be connected. When the user responds (for example, responds with on the hook) to the telephone device A, the special-purpose Web browser calls the telephone number that is input by the user.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds