Method and system for call tracing

• US 5,999,616 A
• Filed: 04/17/1998
• Issued: 12/07/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ameritech Services Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ameritech Services Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fellner, Paul W., Langdon, James F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Harry S.
• Application Number:
  US09/061,926
• Time in Patent Office: 599 Days
• Field of Search: 345/2, 379/127, 379/142, 379/219, 379/242, 379/245, 379/246, 379/247, 379/249, 455/31.2
• US Class Current: 379/247
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party
• 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 3/42144 by service provider
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/12 for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0087 Network testing or monitoring arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 379/90 Internet, e.g. Internet phone, webphone, internet-based telephony

Abstract

The present invention is drawn to a call trace system and method that is simple to establish in a short amount of time. The call trace is implemented through a Web browser page which remotely programs central offices to trace calls to particular number. When a trace is established a message is sent back to the Web browser which displays the calling number, the called number and the central office detecting the call. Also, a page is sent to a pager which displays the traced information.

Claims

1. A method for tracing a call, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) displaying a log-on screen on a display device, the log-on screen having a plurality of fields requiring input data including a telephone number field;

(b) inputting a telephone number in the telephone number field wherein the telephone number represents the number to be traced;

(c) establishing a call trace in a plurality of central offices;

(d) displaying a confirmation screen on the display device, the confirmation screen indicating whether the trace was successfully established or not in each of the plurality of central offices; and

(e) indicating that a call has been made to the telephone number input in step (b).

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein step (e) comprises the steps of paging a paging device when a call has been made to the telephone number input in step (b) and displaying the calling number on the paging device.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein step (e) comprises the step of displaying the calling number on the display device.

4. A method according to claim 2 further comprising the step of displaying the calling number on the display device.

5. A method according to claim 2 further comprising the step of displaying the called number on the paging device.

6. A method according to claim 2 further comprising the step of indicating which one of the plurality of central offices handled the calling number.

8. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of (f) canceling the call trace in each of the plurality of central offices.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein step (c) comprises displaying the log-on screen on the display device and inputting the telephone number previously entered in step (b) prefixed by a predetermined code which indicates the trace is to be canceled.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the log-on screen includes geographic information fields and the method further comprises the step of selecting desired geographic fields in which the tracing should be carried out.

7. A method according to claim I wherein step (c) is simultaneously performed.

11. A method for tracing a call, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) simultaneously designating at least one telephone number to be traced in a plurality of central offices;

(b) monitoring incoming calls at said plurality of central offices;

(c) determining when a called number of an incoming call at one of said plurality of central offices matches the at least one telephone number designated in step (a); and

(d) if it is determined in step (c) that the called number of an incoming call at one of said plurality of central offices matches the at least one telephone number designated in step (a), then indicating that a match has occurred.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein step (a) comprises:

(i) display a log-on screen on a display device, the log-on screen having a plurality of fields requiring input including a telephone number field;

(ii) inputting a telephone number in the telephone number field wherein the telephone number represents the number to be traced;

(iii) transmitting the telephone number input in step (i) to the plurality of central offices.

13. The method according to claim 11 wherein step (d) comprises paging a pager and displaying a calling number of the incoming call on the pager.

14. The method according to claim 12 wherein step (d) comprises displaying the called number of the incoming call on the display device.

15. The method according to claim 12 wherein step (d) comprises displaying the called number of the incoming call substantially simultaneously on a screen of a pager and on the display device.

16. The method according to claim 11 further comprising the step displaying a confirmation screen on a display device the confirmation screen indicating whether the trace was successfully established or not in each of the plurality of central offices.

17. A system for tracing calls, said system comprising:

a processor;

a plurality of central offices coupled to the processor for sending messages to the processor and receiving messages from the processor;

wherein the processor is programmed to run the following call tracing routine;

receiving a message identifying a telephone number to be traced;

transmitting a command to the plurality of central offices to establish a trace on the identified telephone number;

transmitting a trace found message to a display device when any one of the plurality of central offices detects that the identified telephone number has been called.

18. The system according to claim 17 wherein the processor is programmed to display a log-on screen on the display, the log-on screen having a plurality of fields requiring input data including a field for specifying the identified telephone number.

19. The system according to claim 17 further comprising a pager coupled to the processor wherein the processor is further programmed to transmit a trace found message to the pager when any one of the plurality of central offices detects that the identified telephone number has been called.

20. The system according to claim 18 wherein the processor is programmed to cause the display to display the trace found message wherein the trace found message includes an identification of a telephone number associated with calling the identified number.

21. A call trace process performed by a computer network, the process comprising the steps of:

a first party identifying a telephone number to be traced;

the first party sending a call trace activation message to the computer network authorizing the activation of a call trace, the message also including the telephone number to be traced;

the computer network sending a call trace activator message to a central office coupled to the computer network;

the central office sending a call trace found message to the computer network whenever a called number of an incoming call is matched to the telephone number to be traced;

the computer network sending a call trace information message to the first party wherein the call trace information message includes an identification of the telephone number of the incoming call.