Network support for Caller ID verification

• US 20070036136A1
• Filed: 07/30/2005
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Mahajan, Sanjeev, Benco, David, Ruggerio, Raymond, McRoberts, Thomas, Barclay, Deborah
• Granted Patent: US 8,040,875 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems

Abstract

Caller ID information provided coincident to a Voice over IP (VoIP) call is validated by one or more network devices. An originating router detects an offered IP address associated with a calling party node, for example, upon receiving a SIP Invite message initiated by the calling party node. The originating router determines the validity of the offered IP address and hence determines the validity of the Caller ID information based on the validity of the offered IP address. The originating router sends indicia of the validity to a terminating router, connected to a called party node, by inserting a verification bit in the SIP Invite message and sending the transformed SIP Invite message to the terminating router. Alternatively, the terminating router may query the originating router for indicia of validity. Upon receiving the indicia of validity, the terminating router may notify the called party node and so inform the called party whether it can rely on the Caller ID information.

Claims

1. In a communication system supporting a Voice over IP (VoIP) call, wherein Caller ID information associated with a calling party node is displayed to a called party node, a method of determining the validity of the Caller ID information, the method comprising:

detecting an offered IP address associated with the calling party node, wherein the Caller ID information is based on the offered IP address;

determining the validity of the offered IP address; and

determining the validity of the Caller ID information based on the validity of the offered IP address, the Caller ID information being valid if the offered IP address is valid and the Caller ID information being invalid if the offered IP address is invalid.

2. The method of claim 1, performed by a network device having knowledge of a valid IP address associated with the calling party node, the step of determining the validity of the offered address comprising:

comparing the actual IP address to the valid IP address;

determining the offered IP address to be valid if the offered IP address is the same as the valid IP address;

otherwise

determining the offered IP address to be invalid if the offered IP address differs from the valid IP address.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the network device comprises a router logically connected to the calling party node, defining an originating router.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of detecting an offered IP address comprises receiving a SIP Invite message initiated by the calling party node, the offered IP address residing in a header of the SIP Invite message.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the originating router sending indicia of the validity of the Caller ID information to a terminating router, the terminating router defining a network device logically connected to the called party node.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of sending indicia of the validity of the Caller ID information comprises:

inserting a verification bit in the SIP Invite message, yielding a transformed SIP Invite message, the verification bit comprising indicia of the validity of the Caller ID information; and

sending the transformed SIP Invite message to the terminating router.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising the terminating router sending indicia of the validity of the Caller ID information to the called party node.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising the terminating router:

consulting a database to determine if a Caller ID verification feature is active for the called party node;

if the Caller ID verification feature is active, sending indicia of the validity of the Caller ID information to the called party node;

otherwise if the Caller ID verification feature is not active, declining sending indicia of the validity of the Caller ID information to the called party node.

9. In a communication system supporting a Voice over IP (VoIP) call between a calling party node and a called party node, wherein a terminating router logically connected to the called party node receives an IP address associated with the calling party node and sends Caller ID information to the called party node based on the IP address, a method of verifying the Caller ID information, the method comprising the terminating router:

receiving indicia of validity of the Caller ID information from an originating router logically connected to the calling party node; and

sending indicia of the validity to the called party node.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the terminating router receives the indicia of validity responsive to querying the originating router.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the terminating router consulting a database to determine if a Caller ID verification feature is active for the called party node, the terminating router querying the originating router if the Caller ID verification feature is active.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the terminating router receives the indicia of validity responsive to receiving a SIP Invite message from the originating router, the indicia of validity residing in a verification bit of the SIP Invite message.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the terminating router consulting a database to determine if a Caller ID verification feature is active for the called party node, the terminating router sending the indicia of validity to the called party node if the Caller ID verification feature is active.

14. In a communication system supporting a Voice over IP (VoIP) call, wherein Caller ID information associated with a calling party node is displayed to a called party node, a network device comprising:

means for receiving a SIP Invite message including an offered IP address associated with the calling party node;

means for determining the validity of the offered IP address; and

means for determining the validity of the Caller ID information based on the validity of the offered IP address, the Caller ID information being valid if the offered IP address is valid and the Caller ID information being invalid if the offered IP address is invalid.