Text message spam solutions

• US 8,832,204 B1
• Filed: 09/24/2009
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Gailloux, Michael A., Samson, Kenneth W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Tom Y
• Application Number:
  US12/566,383
• Time in Patent Office: 1,811 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1425 involving dedicated fields in the data packet for billing purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1467 involving prepayment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/28 SMS billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

A system is provided for text message spam solutions. The system includes a server and a spam application. When executed by the server, the spam application receives a first text message from a handset, parses the first text message to identify a short code as an identifier of a communication device that originated the first text message, and adds the short code to a block list associated with the handset. The spam application also calculates a credit based on a history of text messages associated with the handset and the short code, and provides the credit to a service account associated with the handset. Additionally, the spam application determines whether a second text message is associated with the short code in the block list; and blocks the second text message if the second text message is associated with the short code in the block list.

Claims

1. A system for spam text message solutions, comprising:

a server; and

a spam application, when executed by the server, that

receives a first text message from a handset;

in response to receiving the first text message;

parses the first text message to identify a short code as an identifier of a provider that originated the first text message;

adds the short code to a block list associated with the handset;

determines the provider associated with the short code;

performs a database lookup using the provider associated with the short code as a lookup key to determine whether the provider is associated with a second short code different from the short code;

adds the second short code to the block list associated with the handset in response to a determination that the provider is associated with the second short code; and

creates an association in the block list between the second short code and the short code in response to adding the second short code to the block list;

calculates a credit charged for the first text message, wherein the credit is determined based on identifying the first text message within a history of text messages received by the handset using the short code;

provides the credit to a service account associated with the handset;

determines whether a second text message is associated with at least one of the short code and the second short code in the block list; and

blocks the second text message in response to a determination that the second text message is associated with at least one of the short code and the second short code in the block list.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the handset is one of a mobile phone, a telephone, a wireless communication device, a pager, a personal digital assistant, a portable computer, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a digital camera, a digital music player, a digital calculator, an electronic key fob for keyless entry, a media player, and an inventory control device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the block list is associated with a plurality of handsets.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the history of text messages is associated with at least one of a current billing cycle and a previous billing cycle.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the service account is associated with one of a prepaid billing plan and a postpaid billing plan.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first text message and the second text message is a short message service (SMS) message.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first text message and the second text message is provided to a plurality of users that subscribe to a service provided by the provider.

8. A computer implemented method for text message spam solutions, comprising:

receiving a first text message from a handset;

in response to receiving the first text message;

parsing the first text message to identify a short code as an identifier of a provider that originated the first text message;

adding the short code to a block list associated with the handset;

determining the provider associated with the short code;

performing a database lookup using the provider associated with the short code as a lookup key to determine whether the provider is associated with a second short code different from the short code;

adding the second short code to the block list associated with the handset in response to a determination that the provider is associated with the second short code; and

creating an association in the block list between the second short code and the short code in response to adding the second short code to the block list;

calculating a credit charged for the first text message, wherein the credit is determined based on identifying the first text message within a history of text messages received by the handset using the short code;

providing the credit to a service account associated with the handset;

determining whether a second text message is associated with at least one of the short code and the second short code in the block list; and

blocking the second text message in response to a determination that the second text message is associated with at least one of the short code and the second short code in the block list.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the second text message is associated with the second short code.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising providing the second text message to be displayed on the handset in response to a determination that the second text message is not associated with at least one of the short code and the second short code in the block list.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a request from the handset to identify at least one of the short code and the provider;

parsing the first text message to identify at least one of the short code and the provider; and

displaying an identification of at least one of the short code and the provider on the handset.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the block list is located on at least one of the handset and a communication server.

13. A computer implemented method for text message spam solutions, comprising:

receiving a first text message and a keyword from a handset;

in response to receiving the first text message and the keyword;

parsing the first text message to identify a short code as an identifier of a provider that originated the first text message;

determining whether the keyword is associated with a block request;

adding the short code to a block list associated with the handset in response to a determination that the keyword is associated with the block request;

determining the provider associated with the short code;

performing a database lookup using the provider associated with the short code as a lookup key to determine whether the provider is associated with a second short code different from the short code;

adding the second short code to the block list associated with the handset in response to a determination that the provider is associated with the second short code; and

creating an association in the block list between the second short code and the short code in response to adding the second short code to the block list;

calculating a credit charged for the first text message, wherein the credit is determined based on identifying the first text message within a history of text messages received by the handset using the short code;

providing the credit to a service account associated with the handset;

determining whether a second text message is associated with at least one of the short code or the second short code in the block list; and

blocking the second text message in response to a determination that the second text message is associated with at least one of the short code and the second short code in the block list.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining whether the keyword is associated with an unblock request; and

removing the short code from the block list associated with the handset in response to a determination that the keyword is associated with the unblock request.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 14, further comprising:

calculating a charge based on the history of text messages associated with the handset and the short code; and

adding the charge to the service account associated with the handset.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 15, wherein the history of text messages associated with the handset and the short code comprises the credit calculated based on the history of text messages associated with the handset and the short code.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining whether the keyword is associated with a view block list request; and

providing the block list associated with the handset to be displayed on the handset in response to a determination that the keyword is associated with the view block list request.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 17, wherein providing the block list associated with the handset comprises accessing the block list on the handset.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving an unblock request associated with the short code in the block list; and

removing the short code from the block list associated with the handset.