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Automatic call blocking and routing system and method

  • US 10,306,057 B1
  • Filed: 01/09/2017
  • Issued: 05/28/2019
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2016
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. An automatic call blocking and routing system comprising:

  • an input port;

    a telephone line interface (Subscriber Line Interface Card/SLIC) in communication with the input port;

    an off-hook circuit including an overvoltage protection trisil connected across the input port and a series-connected fast-recovery diode, capacitor, and Zener diode in overvoltage-protecting communication with the input port;

    an output port;

    a switch in communication with the input port and the output port;

    a memory;

    a user-operable control; and

    a microprocessor responsive to the user-operable control to store in the memory data indicative of blocked callers;

    the microprocessor responsive to an incoming call received from the input port through the telephone line interface to compare the stored data with caller ID data in the incoming call andif the caller ID data matches a blocked caller, to block the incoming call by causing the off-hook circuit to send an off-hook signal to the input port, waiting a predefined interval of time, and then causing the off-hook circuit to send an on-hook signal to the input port, andif the caller ID data does not match a blocked caller, to cause the switch to connect the input port to the output port,wherein the off-hook circuit comprises a Darlington photo-isolator having a photosensor and a transistor in a Darlington connection in which a collector of the photosensor and a collector of the transistor are connected together and an emitter of the photosensor is connected to a base of the transistor, the transistor in communication with the input port through the fast-recovery diode, the Darlington photoisolator having an input connected to receive off-hook and on-hook signals from the microprocessor.

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