Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
379210020 | Call blocking | 38 |
20080279359 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RESTRICTING AND MONITORING TELEPHONE CALLS - Communications from a first communications address identified by a service user are controlled. Data of a communication from the first communications address to a third party communications address is received. The communication is disallowed when an identification number received from a party requesting the communication is not a personal identification number specified by the service user, the first communications address is a restricted address for which the service user has elected to disallow communications, and the third party communications address is not a priority communications address for which the service user has elected to allow communications. | 11-13-2008 |
20080292085 | Method and apparatus for automatically rejecting unauthorized telephone calls - A data processing apparatus and method for determining whether an incoming telephone call originated from a number on a blacklist, and either hanging up on the call, or allowing the connected phone to ring through. A means of adding or deleting numbers simply with one touch of a button is implemented. | 11-27-2008 |
20080298574 | System and Method for Real-Time Blocking of a Telephone Call - A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a call blocking service to which a user subscribes. The preferred call blocking service includes maintaining an updateable list of calling parties that the user wishes to block from being able to complete telephone calls to the user, maintaining a buffer for storing information associated with the most recent calling party placing a telephone call to the user, and recognizing a signal that the user activates to automatically add the most recent calling party to the list of calling parties blocked from being able to complete telephone calls to the user. | 12-04-2008 |
20090010414 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE PREVENTION OF UNWANTED CALLS IN A CALLBACK SYSTEM - In one method and apparatus for blocking unwanted calls in a callback system, parameters associated with a callback request (e.g., the user device to which the call is to be directed, the IP address from which the request originated or an identifier of the source computer from which the callback request originated, the party from whom the call is requested) are tracked for each call. A decision to automatically block the requested callback is made based on one or more criteria based on a combination of these parameters, which may be a total over a period of time. In a second method, one or both of the parties to the callback is queried as to whether the callback is unwanted and, if so, one or more parameters associated with the request are blacklisted. | 01-08-2009 |
20090041222 | SELECTIVE CALL REJECT FEATURE FOR A TELEPHONE - A telephone includes first circuitry enabling communications with a telephone network. A call block list includes at least one user designated number. A call blocking logic module is implemented within the first circuitry and selectively blocks incoming calls to the telephone over the telephone network responsive to the at least one user designated number in the call block list. | 02-12-2009 |
20090052648 | Method for Protecting Against Undesired Telephone Advertising in Communication Networks - A first list and a second list of identifications are established, with which a telemarketing advertisement or no undesirable telemarketing advertisement is expected. The identification of the caller an incoming call is compared to the identifications in the list. If the identification of the call is not found in the lists, the call is routed to a call processing which enables the reception of a telemarketing advertisement to ascertained and, based on the result of that determination, the lists are correspondingly updated. The calls for which the identification of the caller is recorded in the second list are routed to the called party and the calls for which the identification of the caller is recorded in the first list are rejected. Such protection against telemarketing is particularly efficient in the context of an industrial operation with numerous human resources and for lines on which several calls can be simultaneously carried. | 02-26-2009 |
20090060161 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO AUTOMATICALLY BLOCK A TELEPHONE NUMBER - A system to automatically block a telephone number is provided. The system, in one example embodiment, comprises a detecting module to detect a refused telephone call; a counter to be adjusted (e.g., incremented) in response to the refused telephone call; a processing module to determine a value of the counter; and a blocking module to block the telephone number based on the value of the counter. The counter is incremented in response to each refused telephone call. | 03-05-2009 |
20090097630 | Automatic Complaint Registration for Violations of Telephonic Communication Regulations with Call Rejection - In an embodiment, call information is received indicating that a called party, responsive to receiving a call from a calling party, desires to record a complaint against the calling party relating to receipt of the call. A call complaint based on the call information is added to a complaint database. Call rejection information based on the call information is forwarded to a call rejection database configured to indicate blocking of further calls from the calling party to the called party. The complaint information may be forwarded to the complaint database through a number of different communications paths. In another embodiment, a request for a change in status of an identifier entry on a user call rejection list is received. The status of the identifier entry on the user call rejection list is changed based on a comparison of the current status of the identifier entry with the request. The identifier entry and corresponding status are sent to a gateway for call rejection treatment based on the identifier entry and status. | 04-16-2009 |
20090110174 | CALLER TREATMENT IN A SIP NETWORK - In a SIP network, SIP servers are provisioned with information used to authenticate subscribers and entities that will be placing calls. This information can be used during call establishment to allow or deny calls, as well as to determine the appropriate party to bill if the call involves a charge, such as a long distance charge. In addition to allowing calls between authenticated and trusted entities, there is a need for the SIP server to allow certain kinds of calls that involve non-trusted users or entities. If non-trusted entities where not recognized, trusted users and entities within the SIP network would not be able to receive calls from users or entities not know to the SIP server that is providing them services. | 04-30-2009 |
20090136015 | INCOMING CALL CHALLENGER - In one embodiment, a method of challenging an incoming call to a called party based on predetermined call challenge rules. The call challenge rules may include challenging a calling party when an incoming call falls within a call challenge time window of the local time of the called party. A method may include determining the local time of the called party, announcing the local time to the calling party, and prompting the calling party whether to ring the ringer of the called party or be routed to voicemail. | 05-28-2009 |
20090202061 | METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING SPIT OR SPAM FOR VOIP - The invention relates to a method for the computer-assisted identification of a class of VoIP calls of a first type (spam) in a communication network (internet). Said communication network has a plurality (N) of first subscribers (Tn | 08-13-2009 |
20090316876 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING ENHANCED CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION - A tangible storage medium stores code which permits handling of unwanted calls from callers such as telemarketers, when caller identification is provided. In one embodiment, the called party adds the caller identification information for the telemarketer to a personal list after receiving the unwanted call. Subsequent calls from the telemarketer are intercepted. In a second embodiment, the called party identifies the telemarketer by detecting the caller identification information before answering the call. By providing a screen listing indication, the caller identification information is added to the called party's personal list before the call is completed, permitting the call to be intercepted and while future calls from the telemarketer to be intercepted. | 12-24-2009 |
20100046730 | SUBSCRIBER BARRING OF TELEMARKETING - A system is disclosed for barring unwanted calls comprising at least a calling party, a protocol, a receiving party where the calling party is connected to an originating node, and the receiving party is connected to a terminating node. The system further comprises means adapted to provide the calling party with at least one category/identifier, means adapted to give the receiving party a possibility to access a service/application on the terminating node where the receiving party can indicate at least one user defined category, and a protocol having spare bits suitable for transportation of the calling party's at least one category/identifier. It is further disclosed a corresponding method for barring unwanted calls. | 02-25-2010 |
20100091972 | Call Screening Method And Apparatus - A cellular telephone system is provided with a process and apparatus for screening an incoming call. The process is carried out by, and the apparatus comprises, a service provider ( | 04-15-2010 |
20100098234 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING PRIVACY FOR A TELEPHONE NUMBER IN A NETWORK - A method and an apparatus for providing privacy for a telephone number in a network are disclosed. The method receives a call associated with a disposable telephone number, and determines a call processing feature for the disposable phone number in accordance with a filtering function. The method then processes the call in accordance with the call processing feature for the disposable phone number. | 04-22-2010 |
20100128864 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OVERRIDING CALL BLOCKING - An approach is provided for overriding a call blocking feature. A request to establish a voice call over a wireless network to a called party is intercepted. A call blocking feature is detected as being enabled for the called party. The calling party is prompted for a passcode in response to the detected call blocking feature. The passcode is received from the calling party to override the call blocking feature. | 05-27-2010 |
20100246794 | DO NOT CALL LIST ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system and method for reducing unwanted telemarketing calls may include storing a contact list for users of a telephone assigned to an associated telephone number. An incoming telephone call from a caller may be intercepted and a determination may be made as to whether the caller is in the contact list. In response to determining that the caller is in the contact list, the incoming call may be connected to the telephone assigned to the called telephone number. Otherwise, in response to determining that the caller is not in the contact list, the caller may be prompted with an audible message, and, in response to the caller responding to the audible message by entering a first response, the incoming call may be blocked from connecting to the called telephone. Otherwise, in response to a second response, the incoming call may be connected. | 09-30-2010 |
20100246795 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ADDING A CALLER IN A BLOCKED LIST - A method and system for adding a caller ( | 09-30-2010 |
20100278325 | Annoying Telephone-Call Prediction and Prevention - A method for predicting whether a telephone call that is being set up will be considered annoying by the called party and, if so, for preventing it from being established. The illustrative embodiment predicts whether a telephone call will be considered annoying by the called party based on temporal characteristics of previous calls from the same caller. For example, when a called party receives an unwanted telephone solicitation, he or she will usually hang up within the first minute. If many telephone calls are made from the same caller, and all of these calls last under a minute, then it is reasonable to predict that future calls from this caller will be considered annoying. | 11-04-2010 |
20110026702 | MANAGING COMMUNICATIONS - A method of handling a request to set up a call between a calling party and a called party in a communication network. A switching node that serves the called party receives a request to set up a call from the calling party, and the request includes information identifying the calling party. The switching node invokes a call handling service for a comparison between the information identifying the calling party with identities of calling parties in a remote database, the identities having been provisioned by a third party. This allows a third party to provision information in the database that can be used for all subscribers to the call handling service. On the basis of the comparison, a decision is made on whether to set up the call or whether to invoke alternative call handling procedures such as barring calling party identity with identities in the call or diverting the call to, for example, a voice mailbox. | 02-03-2011 |
20110116616 | COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT FEATURE - A method for screening incoming communications includes the steps of receiving an incoming communication intended for a communication device or a recipient and identifying a sender of the communication and a communication type, which can includes an email. The method also includes the steps of identifying screening settings based on the sender and the communication type and determining whether the communication is allowed in accordance with the identified settings. Further, the method includes the steps of notifying a recipient of the communication, if the communication is allowed. In addition, the method includes the step of processing the communication without notifying a recipient, if the communication is not allowed. | 05-19-2011 |
20120027191 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BLOCKING TELEPHONE CALLS - A facility for blocking telephone calls is described. The facility is implemented by a telecommunications system that manages assigned and unassigned telephone numbers. The facility determines that a call originator has made two telephone calls to two different unassigned telephone numbers. The facility adds the call originator to a blacklist for a default time period. If the call originator calls any managed telephone number during the default time period, the facility renews the default time period. After the default time period expires, if the call originator makes additional telephone calls to other unassigned telephone numbers, the facility adds the call originator to the blacklist for a time period that is increased from the default time period. The facility increases the time period with each additional call to an unassigned telephone number. Accordingly, the time period is a function of the number of unassigned telephone numbers called by the call originator. | 02-02-2012 |
20120321064 | System and Method Employed by Answering Service to Dynamically Shield Against Unwanted Telephonic Contact Attempts - An answering service answers calls on behalf of called parties when callers place incoming calls to the called parties and the called parties are unable or unwilling to answer the incoming calls directly. A dynamic shield is employed to detect and respond to unwanted (“junk”) calls from nuisance callers. The dynamic shield includes: a detection module that detects patterns from calls received at the answering service and, for each of one or more nuisance callers, identifies the nuisance caller from the detected patterns; a database module within which the detection module creates and stores a caller record corresponding to the identified nuisance caller; and a shield module operating with reference to the caller record in the database module to screen out further junk calls from the identified nuisance caller. | 12-20-2012 |
20130034223 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REAL-TIME BLOCKING OF A TELEPHONE CALL - A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a call blocking service to which a user subscribes. The preferred call blocking service Includes maintaining an updateable list of calling parties that the user wishes to block from being able is complete telephone calls to the user, maintaining a buffer for storing information associated with the moat recent calling party placing a telephone nail to the user, and recognizing a signal that the user activates to automatically add the most resent calling party to the list of calling parties blocked torn being able to complete telephone calls to the user. | 02-07-2013 |
20130121482 | Do Not Call List Enforcement System and Method - A system and method for reducing unwanted telemarketing calls may include storing a contact list for users of a telephone assigned to an associated telephone number. An incoming telephone call from a caller may be intercepted and a determination may be made as to whether the caller is in the contact list. In response to determining that the caller is in the contact list, the incoming call may be connected to the telephone assigned to the called telephone number. Otherwise, in response to determining that the caller is not in the contact list, the caller may be prompted with an audible message, and, in response to the caller responding to the audible message by entering a first response, the incoming call may be blocked from connecting to the called telephone. Otherwise, in response to a second response, the incoming call may be connected. | 05-16-2013 |
20130156176 | CALL TREATMENT BASED ON USER ASSOCIATION WITH ONE OR MORE USER GROUPS - A method is described for call treatment based on user association with one or more user groups. The method includes receiving a phone call from a call source that is directed to a call recipient, identifying a user group associated with the call recipient, and determining a number of received indications assigned to the user group. The received indications are assigned to the user group by users associated with the user group, and the received indications reflect a desire by the users for a special treatment of future calls from the call source. The method also includes distinguishing treatment of the phone call from the call source based on the number of received indications. | 06-20-2013 |
20130170635 | On-Demand Call Blocking Service - In a telecommunication system configured to provide a connection between a caller and a callee via a telephone network, wherein the telephone network is configured to connect the caller and the callee, a method for allowing the callee to prevent the caller from establishing the connection with the callee. The method includes receiving an instruction from the callee to prevent the caller from establishing the connection with the callee and identifying a first telephone number associated with the caller. The method also includes preventing one or more phone calls from the first telephone number from being forwarded to a second telephone number associated with the callee. | 07-04-2013 |
20130235995 | COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT TERMINAL DEVICE, COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT METHOD AND COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM - Communication from inadmissible communication parties and communication accesses are excluded from an unspecified number of communication parties and communication accesses. A communication management system is provided with a communication device for communicating with communication parties connected through a communication network, a communication control device for controlling the communication, a communication history information memory device for storing communication history information indicative of communication history of the communication device, and a communication admissible party selecting device for selecting communication admissible parties who are admitted to communication with the communication device in accordance with the communication history information, wherein the communication control device has a communication admission control function to carry out admission control of communication from the selected communication parties. | 09-12-2013 |
20130272515 | Selectively Filtering Incoming Communications Events In A Communications Device - Selectively filtering incoming communications events in a communications device, including: receiving, by a communications event filtering module, an incoming communications event; determining, by the communications event filtering module, whether the communications device is currently servicing a call; responsive to determining that the communications device is currently servicing a call, determining, by the communications event filtering module, whether the call is interruptible; and responsive to determining that the call is not interruptible, blocking, by the communications event filtering module, the incoming communications event from presentation by the communications device until the call has ended. | 10-17-2013 |
20130279682 | Methods, Systems, and Computer Program Products for Processing a Nature of Address Indicator and/or Calling Party Number to Support Telecommunication Features - A call is processed by examining a nature of address indicator in a signaling message associated with the call and allowing the call to complete in a jurisdiction associated with a national nature of address indicator if the nature of address indicator is international. A call is also processed by examining a nature of address indicator in a signaling message associated with the call. A number of digits associated with a calling party number in the signaling message is determined and the call is allowed to complete if the nature of address indicator is national and the number of digits associated with the calling party number exceeds ten. | 10-24-2013 |
20140079204 | Computing Device With Remote Contact Lists - In one implementation a computer-implemented method includes generating a group of telephone contacts for a first user, wherein the generating includes identifying a second user as a contact of the first user based upon a determination that the second user has at least a threshold email-based association with the first user; and adding the identified second user to the group of telephone contacts for the first user. The method further includes receiving a first request to connect a first telephone device associated with the first user to a second telephone device associated with the second user. The method also includes identifying a contact identifier of the second telephone device using the generated group of telephone contacts for the first user, and initiating a connection between the first telephone device and the second telephone device using the identified contact identifier. | 03-20-2014 |
20140185786 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CALL SCREENING - Techniques, systems, apparatuses and methods to better interdict or screen calls without disturbing the callee. The phone user can implement a warning for unwanted human, i.e., live person callers, and a challenge or barrier for unwanted automated or robocalling, particularly the usage of a required response to a question. The warning and particularly the challenge would weed out undesired solicitations. The present invention also makes allowance for desired human, robotic or automated calling in addition to the proscripted calls. | 07-03-2014 |
20150086001 | Identifying and Filtering Incoming Telephone Calls to Enhance Privacy - A method for filtering a telephone call is provided. The method may comprise receiving from a caller the telephone call directed to a communication device associated with an intended call recipient. The received telephone call may be scored based on predetermined scoring criteria to create a score indicative of a desirability of the telephone call. Furthermore, the method may comprise comparing the score to a predetermined threshold score. Based on the comparison, the method may further comprise selectively classifying the telephone call as an unwanted telephone call. Furthermore, the method may comprise selectively rejecting the unwanted telephone call. | 03-26-2015 |
20150296080 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CALL SCREENING - A method includes receiving, at a device, a notification of a call from an application server and displaying, at the device, a pop-up view based on the notification, where the pop-up view includes a screen call option. The method also includes receiving, at the device, a selection of the screen call option and, in response to the selection of the screen call option, displaying a call screening view, where the call screening view includes a plurality of call screening action options. The method further includes receiving a second selection of a particular call screening action option of the plurality of call screening action options and handling the call based on the particular call screening action option. | 10-15-2015 |
20150341492 | COLLECTION COMPLIANCE SYSTEM - Techniques for selectively prohibiting or allowing a debt collection call are disclosed. In an example, a method processing a debt collection call may include receiving a collections compliance request with at least a To number and a From number, identifying a client based on the From number, determining if the To number is included in a client no-contact list, determining if a call frequency count value is appropriate, such that the call frequency count value is based on the To number, determining if a curfew value is being exceeded based on a current time and the To number, allowing the debt collection call to proceed if the To number is not included in the client no-contact list, the call frequency count value is appropriate, and the curfew value is not being exceeded, and prohibiting the debt collection call if the To number is included in the client no-contact list, the call frequency count value is not appropriate, or the curfew value is being exceeded. | 11-26-2015 |
20160072938 | CEASE AND DESIST CALL FLAGGING - Embodiments of the invention relate to systems, methods, and computer program products for providing cease and desist call flagging. The system, method, and computer program product are configured to provide a user interface for reporting cease and desist requests associated with a plurality of customers; receive, via user input into the user interface, a cease and desist request associated with a customer having at least one account maintained by an entity, wherein the cease and desist request specifies at least one rule to be implemented when contacting the customer; and automatically terminate contact to the customer on behalf of the entity based at least partially on the at least one rule specified in the cease and desist request. | 03-10-2016 |
20160142540 | ANALYZING TELEPHONE CALLS - The method includes receiving a telephone call from a first client device that is intended for a second client device. The method further includes identifying data associated with the first client device comprising at least one of: a telephone number, a name of a user associated with the first client device, an address of the user, and a business name associated with the first client device. The method further includes responsive to determining that the identified data associated with the first client device does match data stored in a database, determining, by one or more computer processors, whether to block the telephone call from the first client device to the second client device based on information comprising historical data associated with the first client device and preset information of the second client device. | 05-19-2016 |
20190149659 | IDENTIFYING AND CONTROLLING UNWANTED CALLS | 05-16-2019 |