Method and system for communicating local content over a network

Abstract

The invention provides a communications system for communicating local content over a network, including storing a plurality of primary local content entries on a local content provider computer system, storing an account total for each of a plurality of customers, storing a plurality of added local content entries relating to the customers on a local content provider computer system, transmitting at least a subset of the matched entries from the local content provider computer system over a network to a partner computer system, each matched entry that is transmitted including data from a respective one of the primary local content entries, and depending upon the account total of each customer corresponding to each entry, added content from the respective added local content entry and updating a selected account total of a selected customer for a charge based on a transaction at the partner computer system, the transaction involving extraction and transmission of a selected entry corresponding to the selected customer due to a search request being received from a remote computer system at the partner computer system.

1 . A method of communicating local content over a network, comprising:
 storing a plurality of primary local content entries on a local content provider computer system;   storing an account total for each of a plurality of customers;   storing a plurality of added local content entries relating to the customers on a local content provider computer system;   transmitting at least a subset of matched entries from the local content provider computer system over a network to a partner computer system, each matched entry that is transmitted including data from a respective one of the primary local content entries and, depending upon the account total of each customer corresponding to each added local content entry, added content from the respective added local content entry; and   updating a selected account total of a selected customer for a charge based on a transaction at the partner computer system, the transaction involving extraction and transmission of a selected matched entry corresponding to the selected customer due to a search request being received from a remote computer system at the partner computer system.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 matching each added local content entry to a respective one of the primary local content entries; and   adding the added content to the primary local content entry if the account total is above a predetermined amount, to create the matched entries.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing the entries in a partner data store at the partner computer system;   receiving a search request from the remote computer system at the partner computer system;   extracting the selected entry from the partner data store based on the search request; and   transmitting the selected entry from the partner computer system to the remote computer system.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 reporting the transaction by automatically transmitting a transaction report from the partner computer system to the local content provider system.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the account total is automatically updated in response to the transaction report. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein a plurality of the entries is extracted from the partner data store, further comprising:
 transmitting a results page from the partner computer system to the remote computer system, the results page including a plurality of entry selectors corresponding to the entries that are extracted;   receiving a selection from the remote computer system at the partner computer system following selection of one of the entry selectors at the remote computer system; and   transmitting the entry corresponding to the entry selector selected at the remote computer system to the remote computer system.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each entry includes at least a name, an address, a telephone number, and a geographical location. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 receiving contents for the entries from a plurality of customer computer systems.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 receiving an update of each account total from the customer computer systems upon payment.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 receiving enrollment information from each customer computer system prior to receiving the contents for each entry.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 generating the geographic location of each entry, utilizing the contents received from each respective customer computer system.   
     
     
         12 . A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computer, carries out a method comprising:
 storing a plurality of primary local content entries on a local content provider computer system;   storing an account total for each of a plurality of customers;   storing a plurality of added local content entries relating to the customers on a local content provider computer system;   transmitting at least a subset of matched entries from the local content provider computer system over a network to a partner computer system, each matched entry that is transmitted including data from a respective one of the primary local content entries and, depending upon the account total of each customer corresponding to each added local content entry, added content from the respective added local content entry; and   updating a selected account total of a selected customer for a charge based on a transaction at the partner computer system, the transaction involving extraction and transmission of a selected entry corresponding to the selected customer due to a search request being received from a remote computer system at the partner computer system.   
     
     
         13 . A communications system for communicating local content over a network, comprising:
 a local content provider computer system, including at least one local content provider data store;   a plurality of primary local content entries stored in the at least one local content provider data store;   an account total stored in the at least one local content provider data store for each of a plurality of customers;   a plurality of added local content entries stored in the at least one local content provider data store for each one of the customers;   a data-forwarding module for transmitting at least a subset of matched entries from the local content provider computer system over a network to a partner computer system, each matched entry that is transmitted including data from a respective one of the primary local content entries and, depending upon the account total of each customer corresponding to each added local content entry added content from the respective added local content entry; and   an account reduction module that updates the total of a selected customer for a charge based on a transaction at the partner computer system, the transaction involving extraction and transmission of a selected matched entry corresponding to the elected customer due to a search request received from a remote computer system at the partner computer system.   
     
     
         14 . The communications system of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a business targeting module that matches each added local content entry to a respective one of the primary local content entries and adds the added content to the primary local content entry if the account total is above a predetermined amount, to create the matched entries.   
     
     
         15 . The communications system of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a reporting module on the partner computer system that reports the transaction by automatically transmitting a transaction report from the partner computer system to the local content provider system.