METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VERIFYING TELEPHONE NUMBERS ACROSS SERVICE PROVIDERS

• US 20080101572A1
• Filed: 10/26/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Walker, Keith Raymond, Chen, Yen-Fu, Morgan, Fabian F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,877,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/201.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems

Abstract

A system for verifying and updating a telephone number across service providers. After dialing a telephone number, a contact name and a timestamp in a central repository is compared with a contact name and a timestamp in a storage device. If the contact name in the central repository does not match the contact name in the storage device and the timestamp in the central repository is not more recent than the timestamp in the storage device, a determination is made as to whether the central repository indicates that a new telephone number is associated with the contact name. If a new telephone number is indicated for the contact name, the central repository is queried for the new telephone number. In response to the new telephone number being found, the dialed telephone number is routed to the new telephone number. Also, the storage device is updated with the new telephone number.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method in a communication device for automatically verifying and updating a telephone number across service providers, the method comprising:

responsive to a telephone number being dialed, determining if a contact name in a central repository associated with the dialed telephone number matches a contact name in a storage device associated with the dialed telephone number and if a timestamp in the central repository associated with the dialed number is more recent than a timestamp in the storage device associated with the dialed number;

responsive to the contact name in the central repository not matching the contact name in the storage device and the timestamp in the central repository not being more recent than the timestamp in the storage device, determining if the central repository indicates that a new telephone number is associated with the contact name to automatically verify the dialed telephone number;

responsive to the central repository indicating that a new telephone number is associated with the contact name, querying the central repository for the new telephone number;

responsive to finding the new telephone number in the central repository, routing the dialed telephone number to the new telephone number; and

updating the storage device with the new telephone number.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending an alert message via a display to a user of the communication device.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the storage device stores user data, and wherein the user data includes contact names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and instant messaging screen names, and wherein the user data is included within one or more contact lists, and wherein the one or more contact lists are automatically forwarded to a new service provider when the user switches to the new service provider from a previous service provider.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, wherein dialing the telephone number is automatically performed by the communication device on a predetermined periodic basis to verify and update the user data stored within the storage device.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the central repository is located at a remote site, and wherein the central repository includes data from a plurality of cellular telephone service provider network databases, and wherein the central repository is synchronized with the plurality of cellular telephone service provider network databases.

6. A computer program product for automatically verifying and updating a telephone number, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therein, the computer usable medium comprising;

computer usable program code configured to determine if a contact name in a central repository associated with a dialed telephone number matches a contact name in a storage device associated with the dialed telephone number and if a timestamp in the central repository associated with the dialed number is more recent than a timestamp in the storage device associated with the dialed number in response to the telephone number being dialed;

computer usable program code configured to determine if the central repository indicates that a new telephone number is associated with the contact name to automatically verify the dialed telephone number in response to the contact name in the central repository not matching the contact name in the storage device and the timestamp in the central repository not being more recent than the timestamp in the storage device;

computer usable program code configured to query the central repository for the new telephone number in response to the central repository indicating that a new telephone number is associated with the contact name;

computer usable program code configured to route the dialed telephone number to the new telephone number in response to finding the new telephone number in the central repository; and

updating the storage device with the new telephone number.