System and method for identifying an unidentified caller

• US 5,940,476 A
• Filed: 06/28/1996
• Issued: 08/17/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Zarbana Digital Fund LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Distributed Software Development, Inc.
• Inventors: Morganstein, Sanford J., Zaks, Sergey, Boswell, Peter B., Akkuratov, Georgi
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan S.
• Application Number:
  US08/672,677
• Time in Patent Office: 1,145 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67, 379/88, 379/89, 379/88.01, 379/88.02, 379/88.22, 379/88.23, 379/88.25, 379/265
• US Class Current: 379/88.02
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/22 Automatic class or number identification arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/229 Wire identification arrangements; Number assignment determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/382 using authorisation codes or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/385 using speech signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/387 using subscriber identification cards
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13003 Constructional details of switching devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1305 Software aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13091 CLI, identification of calling line
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13093 Personal computer, PC
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13095 PIN / Access code, authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13103 Memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13141 Hunting for free outlet, circuit or channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13175 Graphical user interface [GUI], WWW interface, visual indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13204 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13271 : Forced release
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13282 : Call forward, follow-me, call diversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13353 : Routing table, map memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/72 : Finding out and indicating number of calling subscriber

Abstract

A system (8) for identifying an unidentified caller (14, 16, 18) includes a database (42) that contains utterance data (162) corresponding to a known caller. A data communications system (10) is coupled to the database (42) and receives utterance information corresponding to the unidentified caller (14, 16, 18). The data communications system (10) compares the utterance information with the utterance data (162) to identify the unidentified caller (14, 16, 18) as the known caller.

Claims

1. A system for identifying a caller having input a destination telephone number, the identification being performed independent of human interaction with the caller, the system comprising:

a database containing stored speech data identified with a known caller;

a voice messaging system associated with the destination telephone number, the voice messaging system receiving an incoming call from the caller and, in response, receiving speech information from the caller and recording a voice message from the caller;

a database server coupled to the voice messaging system and to the database, the database server receiving speech data for the caller from the voice messaging system in response to the incoming call, the database server comparing the speech data for the caller with the stored speech data independent of human interaction with the caller to identify the caller, the voice messaging system associating the identity of the caller with the voice message and communicating the identity of the caller to a user of the system in association with the voice message.

2. A method for identifying a caller having input a destination telephone number, the identification being performed independent of human interaction with the caller, the method comprising:

storing speech data identified with a known caller;

receiving an incoming call from the caller;

receiving speech information from the caller in response to the incoming call;

receiving a voice message from the caller in response to the incoming call;

recording the voice message;

communicating speech data for the caller to a database server;

comparing the speech data for the caller with the stored speech data independent of human interaction with the caller and using the database server;

identifying the caller according to the comparison;

associating the identity of the caller with the recorded voice message; and

communicating the identity of the caller to a user in association with the recorded voice message.

3. A method for identifying a caller independent of human interaction with the caller, comprising:

storing speech data identified with a known caller;

receiving an incoming call and speech information from a first caller;

identifying the first caller as the known caller;

storing additional speech data identified with the known caller using speech data for the first caller;

receiving an incoming call from a second caller;

receiving speech information from the second caller in response to the incoming call;

receiving a voice message from the second caller in response to the incoming call;

recording the voice message;

communicating speech data for the second caller to a database server independent of human interaction with the second caller;

comparing the speech data for the second caller with the stored speech data and with the additional stored speech data independent of human interaction with the second caller;

identifying the second caller as the known caller according to the comparison;

associating the identity of the second caller with the recorded voice message; and

communicating the identity of the second caller to a user in association with the recorded voice message.

4. A method for identifying a caller having input a destination telephone number, the identification being performed independent of human interaction with the caller, the method comprising:

storing speech data identified with a known caller;

receiving an incoming call from the caller;

receiving speech information from the caller in response to the incoming call;

receiving a voice message from the caller in response to the incoming call;

recording the voice message;

communicating speech data for the caller to a database server;

comparing the speech data for the caller with the stored speech data independent of human interaction with the caller and using the database server;

identifying the caller from among a plurality of known callers according to the comparison;

associating the identity of the caller with the recorded voice message;

storing additional speech data identified with the known caller using the speech data for the caller used in identifying the caller as the known caller;

communicating the identity of the caller in association with the recorded voice message;

comparing, independent of human interaction with the caller and using the database server, the speech data for a second caller with the stored speech data and with the additional stored speech data to identify the second caller as the known caller.

5. A method for identifying a caller independent of human interaction with the caller, comprising:

storing speech data identified with a known caller;

receiving an incoming call and speech information from a first caller;

identifying the first caller as the known caller;

storing additional speech data identified with the known caller using speech data for the first caller;

receiving an incoming call from a second caller;

receiving speech information from the second caller in response to the incoming call;

receiving a voice message from the second caller in response to the incoming call;

recording the voice message;

communicating speech data for the second caller to a database server independent of human interaction with the second caller;

comparing the speech data for the second caller with the stored speech data and with the additional stored speech data independent of human interaction with the second caller;

identifying the second caller as the known caller according to the comparison;

associating the identity of the second caller with the recorded voice message;

communicating the identity of the second caller to a user in association with the recorded voice message;

storing further speech data identified with the known caller using the speech data for the second caller; and

comparing speech data for a third caller with the stored speech data, additional speech data, and further speech data to identify the third caller.