Caller identification for restricted mobile devices

• US 9,503,573 B1
• Filed: 07/28/2015
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hiya Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hiya Inc.
• Inventors: Belford, Morgan, Brooks, William Myron, Orth, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Siddiqui, Kashif
• Application Number:
  US14/811,771
• Publication Number:
  US 20160360030A1
• Time in Patent Office: 483 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 7/0033 Notification or handling of incoming calls by a computer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

A call information server registers with a carrier platform to receive call notifications for a telephone number associated with a mobile device. When an incoming communication is made to the registered telephone number, the call information server receives a call notification before the incoming communication arrives at the mobile device. The call information server then determines the caller information associated with the caller telephone number. The caller information for the caller telephone number is information about an entity that controls or is otherwise associated with the caller telephone number. The call information server sends the caller information and the caller telephone number to the mobile device before the incoming communication arrives at the mobile device. The mobile device can then display the caller information when the incoming communication arrives at the mobile device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of enabling caller identification on a mobile device, comprising:

registering, by a third party caller information server, to receive call notifications from a carrier platform for a telephone number associated with a mobile device;

receiving, by the third party caller information server, a call notification from the carrier platform for the registered telephone number indicating that an incoming communication from a caller telephone number has been made to the registered telephone number;

determining caller information associated with the caller telephone number responsive to receiving the call notification; and

sending the caller information and caller telephone number to the mobile device before the incoming communication arrives at the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein registering with the carrier platform comprises:

registering with a caller platform supporting Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) technology operated by a telephony services provider.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the caller information comprises at least one of a name and address of an entity associated with the caller telephone number.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

interacting with the carrier platform to delay the arrival of the incoming communication at the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the caller information associated with the caller telephone number includes a spam score indicating a likelihood that the caller telephone number is associated with nuisance telephone calls;

responsive to the caller information including a spam score, evaluating the spam score against a threshold; and

responsive to the spam score meeting the threshold, blocking the incoming communication to prevent the incoming communication from reaching the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is adapted to add the caller information to an address book of the mobile device, and wherein an operating system executing on the mobile device is adapted to automatically display the caller information to a user of the mobile device when the incoming communication arrives at the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the incoming communication is a telephone call placed from the caller telephone number to the registered telephone number.

8. A computer system for enabling caller identification on a mobile device, comprising:

a computer processor for executing computer program instructions; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions executable by the processor to perform steps comprising;

registering, by a third party caller information server, to receive call notifications from a carrier platform for a telephone number associated with a mobile device;

receiving, by the third party caller information server, a call notification from the carrier platform for the registered telephone number indicating that an incoming communication from a caller telephone number has been made to the registered telephone number;

determining caller information associated with the caller telephone number responsive to receiving the call notification; and

sending the caller information and caller telephone number to the mobile device before the incoming communication arrives at the mobile device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein registering with the carrier platform comprises:

registering with a caller platform supporting Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) technology operated by a telephony services provider.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the caller information comprises at least one of a name and address of an entity associated with the caller telephone number.

11. The system of claim 8, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing further computer program instructions executable by the processor to perform steps comprising:

interacting with the carrier platform to delay the arrival of the incoming communication at the mobile device.

12. The system of claim 8, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing further computer program instructions executable by the processor to perform steps comprising:

determining whether the caller information associated with the caller telephone number includes a spam score indicating a likelihood that the caller telephone number is associated with nuisance telephone calls;

responsive to the caller information including a spam score, evaluating the spam score against a threshold; and

responsive to the spam score meeting the threshold, blocking the incoming communication to prevent the incoming communication from reaching the mobile device.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the mobile device is adapted to add the caller information to an address book of the mobile device, and wherein an operating system executing on the mobile device is adapted to automatically display the caller information to a user of the mobile device when the incoming communication arrives at the mobile device.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the incoming communication is a telephone call placed from the caller telephone number to the registered telephone number.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer program instructions for enabling caller identification on a restricted mobile device, the computer program instructions executable to perform steps comprising:

receiving, at the mobile device, from a third party caller information server, caller information associated with a caller telephone number, the caller information received after an incoming communication is made from the caller telephone number to the mobile device and before the incoming communication arrives at the mobile device; and

storing the received caller information in an entry of an address book of the mobile device, the entry associated with the caller telephone number;

wherein an operating system of the mobile device is adapted to automatically display the caller information in the address book entry to a user of the mobile device when the incoming communication arrives at the mobile device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the storing comprises storing the received caller information in the entry of the address book after the incoming communication is made from the caller telephone number to the mobile device and before the incoming communication arrives at the mobile device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15,

wherein receiving the caller information comprises:

receiving the caller telephone number before the incoming communication arrives at the mobile device; and

retrieving the caller information associated with the caller telephone number from a caller information database.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein receiving the caller information comprises:

interacting with the caller information server to delay the incoming communication from reaching the mobile device until after the caller information associated with the caller telephone number is retrieved.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the steps further comprising:

deleting the entry associated with the caller telephone number from the address book after the call is completed.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the mobile device is a restricted mobile device in which third party applications are blocked from accessing information regarding incoming and outgoing communications involving the mobile device.