System and method for completing private or unknown calls made to a subscribers privacy screening service

• US 6,970,545 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2003
• Issued: 11/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Holt, Scott C., Hussain, Aamir M.
• Primary Examiner(s): TIEU, BENNY QUOC
• Application Number:
  US10/364,382
• Publication Number:
  US 20030123629A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,021 Days
• Field of Search: 37920101-20105, 379/207.02, 379/207.11, 379/207.13, 379/207.14, 379/207.15, 379/219, 379/220.01, 37922108-22112, 379/229, 379/230, 379/210.02, 379/211.02, 379/212.01, 37914201-14205, 379/211.01
• US Class Current: 379/207.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/6009 Personal information, e.g. profiles or personal directories being only provided to authorised persons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/22 Automatic class or number identification arrangements
• 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: 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: H04Q 2213/13095 PIN / Access code, authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13097 Numbering, addressing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13141 Hunting for free outlet, circuit or channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13204 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13209 ISDN
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13256 Call screening
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13282 Call forward, follow-me, call diversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13345 Intelligent networks, SCP
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13377 Recorded announcement
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0037 involving call modelling techniques, e.g. modifications to the basic call state model [BCSM]

Abstract

An advanced intelligent network system for managing and routing telephone calls from a calling party to a subscriber to a privacy screening service. The system routes the calls according to whether the calling party number is known and public, in which case the call is terminated in a routine manner; unknown, in which case the system plays an announcement asking the calling party to record his or her name; or known and private, in which case the system asks the caller for permission to override his or her privacy before routing the call to the subscriber. The advanced intelligent network system stores the subscriber'"'"'s number in a display text field, thus enabling termination of the call to the subscriber irrespective of whether the subscriber number is private or public.

Claims

1. A method for terminating calls from a calling party to a subscriber via a privacy screening service when the calling party has a private number, comprising:

determining that the calling party number is known and private;

obtaining a permission from the calling party to override the calling party'"'"'s service privacy when the calling party number is private;

in response to obtaining the permission, placing a subscriber number in a display text field;

retrieving the subscriber number from the display text field to determine where to terminate the call; and

terminating the call to the subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a trigger occurs at a switch in response to the call and the trigger is a termination attempt trigger and the switch sends an info analyzed query to a controller in response to the termination attempt trigger.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring the call to a service node with the subscriber number in a re-directing field;

wherein the subscriber number in the display text field is obtained from the re-directing field.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step for obtaining a permission comprises:

playing an announcement to the calling party requesting a permission for overwriting the calling party'"'"'s service privacy;

collecting digits input by the calling party; and

returning the collected digits to a controller.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the query is triggered by a trigger provisioned on a multi-line hunt group connecting the switch to a service node.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the response is an analyze_route message with its display text field populated by the subscriber number.

7. A method for managing calls from a calling party to a subscriber who has subscribed to a privacy screening service, comprising:

identifying that an incoming call is from one of a public calling number, a private number or a unknown number; and

if the incoming call is from a private number, requesting a permission from a calling party to overwrite the caller'"'"'s service privacy;

rewriting a presentation indicator in a calling party field of the incoming call as public;

triggering a first query

in response to the first query, sending a message with a subscriber number in a display text field;

triggering a second query with the subscriber number in the display text field and the incoming call telephone number in a calling field; and

in response to the second query, authorizing the incoming call to be terminated to the subscriber.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising transferring the incoming call to a service node before triggering the first query with the subscriber number in a re-directing field and wherein a switch connects with the service node through a multi-line hunt group.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second query contains a number of the service node in a charge field.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein if the incoming call is a

unknown number, requesting the calling party to record the calling party'"'"'s name;

rewriting a presentation indicator in a calling party field of the incoming call as public;

in response to a query sending a message with the subscriber number in a display text field; and

authorizing the coming call to be terminated to the subscriber.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising transferring the incoming call to a service node for recording the calling party'"'"'s name, wherein the message in response to the query has the service node'"'"'s number in a calling party field.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the determination is performed at a switch control point.

13. The method of claim 7, when the incoming call is from a private number, further comprising:

requesting a permission of the calling party to override the calling party'"'"'s service privacy;

sending a query for determining an authorization if the calling party permits the request and a refusal if the caller refuses the request;

terminating the incoming call if the calling party permits to overriding the calling party'"'"'s service privacy.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of requesting permission is performed at a service node.

15. The method of claim 10, when the calling number is an unknown number, further comprising:

directing the incoming call to a service node;

requesting the calling party to record the calling party'"'"'s name;

after the caller records the calling party'"'"'s name, sending a query with the subscriber number in the display text field and service node'"'"'s number in a calling number field; and

authorizing a termination of the incoming call to the subscriber.

16. A system for managing calls from a calling party number to a subscriber number for a subscriber who has subscribed to a privacy screening service, comprising:

controller in communication with at least a first and a second switches;

a first trigger for sending a first query to the controller from the first switch when an incoming call from a calling party is received;

a first application package at the second switch for requesting a permission from the calling party to perform one of overriding the calling party'"'"'s privacy and recording the calling party'"'"'s name when the calling party number is one of a unknown number and a private number;

a second trigger for sending a second query to the controller from the second switch;

a second application package at the controller that responds to the second query by sending a message with the subscriber number in a display text field and authorizes a termination of the incoming call when receiving a third query from the second switch with the subscriber number in the display text field.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the trigger at the second switch is a termination attempt trigger, and wherein the second switch sends an info_analyzed query to the controller in response to the termination attempt trigger.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the system collects at least one digit from the calling party indicating that the calling party allows his or her privacy overridden.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the second switch retrieves the subscriber number from the display text field of the response received from the controller, and includes the subscriber number in a setup message it sends to a service node.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the service node retrieves the subscriber number from the setup message and dials a customized dialing plan code followed by the subscriber number, and wherein the customized dialing plan code prompts the third query.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the controller responds to the third query by returning an analyze_route response with the subscriber number as the called party number and the number of the service node as the charge number.

22. A method for terminating calls from a calling party to a subscriber to a privacy screening service when the calling party has a privacy number comprising:

determining that the calling party number is unknown and private;

routing the call to a service node;

sending a message to the service node, said message having the subscriber number in its display text field;

retrieving the subscriber number from the display text field; and

terminating the call to the subscriber.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising obtaining the calling party'"'"'s agreement to override his or her privacy at a controller that sent the message to the service node.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising obtaining the calling party'"'"'s agreement to override his or her privacy at the service node.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the query is triggered by a trigger provisioned on a multi-line hunt group connecting a switch to the service node where the switch has generated the query to cause the message to be sent to the service node.

26. A method for terminating calls from a calling party to a subscriber via a privacy screening service when the calling party has a private number, comprising:

a step for determining that the calling party number is known and private;

a step for obtaining a permission from the calling party to override the calling party'"'"'s service privacy when the calling party number is private;

a step for, in response to obtaining the permission, sending a message with the subscriber number in a display text field;

a step for retrieving the subscriber number from the display text field; and

a step for terminating the call to the subscriber.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising a step for transferring the call to a service node before the step for obtaining a permission.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising a step for triggering a termination attempt at a switch and the switch sends an info_analyzed query to a controller in response to the trigger of the termination attempt.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising a step of transferring the call to a service node wherein transfer of the call has the subscriber number in a re-directing field;

and

wherein the subscriber number in the display text field is obtained from the re-directing field.

30. A service manager, comprising:

means for determining that a call from a calling party to a privacy screening service subscriber is unknown and private;

means for directing the call to a service node;

means for requesting a permission from the calling party to perform one of recording the calling party'"'"'s name and overwriting the calling party'"'"'s service privacy;

means for sending a query to a controller from a switch in communication with the service node;

means for responding to the query by sending a message from the controller to the switch with the message'"'"'s display text field populated with the subscriber number; and

means for terminating the call to the subscriber.

31. The service manager of claim 30, wherein the calls are directed to the service node according to instructions received from the controller.

32. The service manager of claim 30, wherein the query to the controller is an info_analyzed query.

33. The service manager of claim 32, wherein the response from the controller is an analyze_route message.