In late April (I am still catching up on my reading), Bill Slawsky covered a recent patent application by Google: Exploring Click and Pay to Call (CPTC) Google Phone Ads. It was as interesting for what Google has already implemented as well as what they might implement. Clearly (as you can see from the image below), large parts of the technology have already been deployed in their Google Maps Click to Call feature

Like many of Google’s technologies, this one sits in a sort of limbo; cool, potentially high impact but unpromoted and hidden from most users. This is a technology to could drive significant small business use of Google Adwords particularly in the local sphere as the result would be something tangible that every small business owner understands: a telephone call. Perhaps the patent filing portends a wider roll for the technology.

Comparison of patent filing with Google Maps image