Method and apparatus for handling telephone calls

• US 6,741,688 B1
• Filed: 10/28/1999
• Issued: 05/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yau, Hunyue
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): AGDEPPA, HECTOR A
• Application Number:
  US09/429,228
• Time in Patent Office: 1,671 Days
• Field of Search: 379/142-1-1, 379/207.14, 379/207.15, 379/201.01
• US Class Current: 379/142.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/22 Automatic class or number identification arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42102 Making use of the called party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4228 in networks
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

An electronic method and apparatus for handling telephone calls is described. The method includes storing in a memory a telephone number template. The template preferably is as wide as a telephone number is long and identifies one or more telephone number digits by the digit positions within a telephone number field for comparison purposes. The method further includes monitoring a telephone line for a call placed thereon, identifying at least one of the origin and the destination telephone number and storing one or more digits of such identified telephone number in a memory. The method further includes comparing the stored digits of the identified telephone number with the corresponding digits of the stored template. Finally, the method includes processing the call based upon the result of said comparing. Such processing may include any one or more of logging, filtering, blocking, ignoring, rerouting, forwarding, distinctive-ringing and answering the call. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the template includes a first-level mask-identifying digit position criterion that identifies dialing tokens of interest and a second-level target-identifying digit content criterion that attempts to pattern match those tokens of interest with corresponding tokens of stored telephone numbers.

Claims

1. An electronic method for handling telephone calls comprising:

storing in a memory one or more telephone number templates, each template being as wide as a telephone number is long, each template including a mask identifying one or more telephone number positions within a telephone number field for comparison purposes, each mask capable of identifying one or more telephone number positions within a telephone number field whether such positions are at the beginning, in the middle or at the end thereof, each template further including a target identifying one or more telephone number tokens within a telephone number field for comparison purposes;

monitoring a telephone line for a call placed thereon;

identifying at least one of the origin and the destination telephone number and storing one or more tokens of such identified telephone number in a memory;

comparing the stored tokens of the identified telephone number with the corresponding target tokens within the identified positions of at least one of the one or more stored templates; and

processing the call based upon the result of said comparing.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said processing includes logging the call.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said processing includes screening the call.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said screening includes ignoring the call.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said processing includes rerouting the call.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said processing includes forwarding the call.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said processing includes distinctive-ringing the call.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said processing includes answering the call.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the template includes a mask-identifying digit position criterion and a target-identifying digit content criterion, the position and content criteria being represented by alphanumeric fields stored in the memory.

10. An automatic telephone call handling method comprising:

monitoring a telephone line identifiable to an origin telephone number for entry by a caller of a destination telephone number;

comparing at least one of the origin and destination telephone numbers with an address template stored in a memory, the address template being a two-level logic device including a mask identifying one or more digit positions of significance and a-target identifying a telephone number of significance, each mask capable of identifying one or more digit positions of significance whether such positions are at the beginning, in the middle or at the end thereof;

processing the call based upon the result of said comparing, said processing including one of blocking, filtering, routing, forwarding, distinctive-ringing and answering the call; and

logging at least one of the origin and destination telephone numbers in a memory, said logging being performed selectively based upon the result of said comparing.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said comparing is performed by pattern matching.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said stored address template includes a telephone number mask identifying position-defined digits within the origin or destination telephone number for said pattern matching.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said stored address template includes one or more telephone number targets enumerating content-defined digits within the origin or destination telephone number for said pattern matching.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said pattern matching includes using the telephone number mask to select only those digits of interest in the origin or destination telephone number for comparison with the telephone number target.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said pattern matching further includes determining whether there is identity between those digits of interest in the origin or destination telephone number and corresponding digits of one of the telephone number targets.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said processing is performed only when it is determined there is such identity.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein said logging is performed only when it is determined there is such identity.

18. Telephone call-handling apparatus comprising:

a telephone line monitor for determining at least one of a source and destination telephone number for a telephone call;

a telephone number storage device for storing the at least one of the source and destination telephone number;

a template storage device for pattern matching with the at least one stored telephone number, said template including a mask for defining one or more sub-fields of interest in the stored telephone number, each mask capable of identifying one or more sub-fields of interest whether such sub-fields are positioned at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the stored telephone number, said template furthers including a target for comparing said one or more sub-fields of interest in the target with corresponding sub-fields of the stored telephone number; and

a call processor coupled with said template storage device for selectively processing the telephone call based upon the result of such comparison.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein said call processor includes any one or more of a call blocker, filter, router, forwarder, distinctive-ringer, answerer and logger.

20. A computer-readable medium containing a program for handling telephone calls, the program comprising:

instructions for storing in a memory one or more telephone number templates, each template being as wide as a telephone number is long, each template including a mask identifying one or more telephone number positions within a telephone number field for comparison purposes, each mask capable of identifying one or more telephone number positions within a telephone number field whether such positions are at the beginning, in the middle or at the end thereof, each template further including a target identifying one or more telephone number digits within a telephone number field for comparison purposes;

instructions for monitoring a telephone line for a call placed thereon;

instructions for identifying at least one of the origin and the destination telephone number and storing one or more digits of such identified telephone number in a memory;

instructions for comparing the stored digits of the identified telephone number with the corresponding target digits within the identified positions of at least one of the one or more stored templates; and

instructions for processing the call based upon the result of said comparing.

21. A method of screening telephone calls comprising:

monitoring a telephone call and storing in memory an entire dialing sequence of ordered dial tokens as a dial token field;

classifying the telephone call by analyzing only those dial token sub-fields within the stored dial token field that meet predefined position and content criteria, said classifying including logically combining a stored mask/target pair thereby to mask don'"'"'t care digits within a target telephone number and comparing the remaining complement of digits to corresponding digits of the dial token field, wherein a mask of each mask/target pair is capable of identifying one or more dial token sub-fields within the stored dial token field whether such positions are at the beginning, in the middle or at the end thereof; and

selectively processing the telephone call based upon said classifying, wherein said processing includes one of blocking, filtering, routing, forwarding, distinctive-ringing and answering the call.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein said analyzing is performed by masking the dial token field to identify dial token sub-fields of interest and comparing the dial token sub-fields of interest with corresponding telephone number target sub-fields stored in memory.