System and Method for Real-Time Blocking of a Telephone Call

• US 20080298574A1
• Filed: 08/11/2008
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Koch, Robert A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,315,368 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/210.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54

Abstract

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.

Claims

1. A system for real-time blocking of a telephone call, the telephone calls placed by a calling party to a called party, the system comprising:

call blocking logic configured with a blocked caller list that is editable for review by the user during the telephone call, the call blocking logic further configured to respond to an update signal during the telephone call, the update signal operative to add a telephone number of the calling party call to the blocked caller list, wherein the update signal is received during the telephone call.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the call blocking logic is a switch.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the blocked caller list is maintained within the memory of the switch.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the switch is a softswitch.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the switch is a Central Office switch.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the Central Office switch operates under the AIN protocols.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the call blocking logic further comprises a service control point, the service control point operating under the AIN protocols.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the update signal comprises a DTMF tone.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal comprises a signal from an IP telephone.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the call blocking logic further comprises a call blocking server, wherein the call blocking server communicates with the switch, and wherein the blocked caller list is stored on the call blocking server.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal comprises HTML communications from a computer operated by the called party.

12. A method for a called party to block a caller from sending calls to the called party, the method comprising:

sending a telephone call from the caller to the called party;

receiving a signal from the called party during the telephone call that the called party desires to block the caller;

updating a blocked caller list for the called party by adding the telephone number associated with the caller to the blocked caller list;

terminating the call; and

blocking a subsequent call from the same caller to the called party.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the blocked caller list is stored on a server.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of receiving a signal from the called party further comprises receiving a communication by the server.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the received signal is associated with a DTMF tone.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the received signal comprises an Internet Protocol signal.

17. A computer readable medium encoded with instructions for a called party to block a caller from sending calls to the called party, the instructions comprising:

logic configured for sending a telephone call from the caller to the called party;

logic configured for receiving a signal from the called party during the telephone call that the called party desires to block the caller;

logic configured for providing a blocked caller list during the telephone call, the blocked caller list being editable for review by the user before the caller is added to the blocked caller list; and

logic configured for placing the telephone number associated with the caller on the blocked caller list.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the blocked caller list is stored on a server.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the logic configured for receiving a signal from the called party further comprises logic configured for receiving a communication by the server.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the received signal is associated with a DTMF tone.