Identifying recycled telephone numbers
First Claim
1. An apparatus operative in association with one or more service provider opt-in databases, comprising:
- one or more hardware processors; and
computer memory holding computer program instructions executed by the one or more hardware processors to;
receive one or more de-activation lists from one or more carriers;
periodically, and for each telephone number identified on a given de-activation list, issue a request to determine a current carrier associated with that telephone number;
when the current carrier does not match an identification of a carrier that had identified the telephone number as being de-activated, identify the telephone number as being ported; and
for each ported telephone number, log an identification thereof.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An automated method begins by receiving a list of numbers that have been de-activated by a carrier. Periodically, and for each number, a request is made to identify a current carrier for the number. If the current carrier matches the carrier that provided the de-activation information, the mobile number is considered to be in a first state, i.e., shut off and returned to a pool of numbers that are available to this same carrier. Upon a determination that the number is in the first state, the provider issues a request to any opt-in database to delete any express consent or other similar data associated with the number. If, however, the number does not match the carrier of deactivation, the number is considered to be in a second state, i.e., likely to have been ported by the same user to a new carrier. This state is logged in an audit trail.
18 Citations
15 Claims
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1. An apparatus operative in association with one or more service provider opt-in databases, comprising:
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one or more hardware processors; and computer memory holding computer program instructions executed by the one or more hardware processors to; receive one or more de-activation lists from one or more carriers; periodically, and for each telephone number identified on a given de-activation list, issue a request to determine a current carrier associated with that telephone number; when the current carrier does not match an identification of a carrier that had identified the telephone number as being de-activated, identify the telephone number as being ported; and for each ported telephone number, log an identification thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method, comprising:
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receiving, by a processor, one or more de-activation lists from one or more carriers; periodically, and for each telephone number identified on a given de-activation list, issuing, by the processor, a request to determine a current carrier associated with that telephone number; when the current carrier does not match an identification of a carrier that had identified the telephone number as being de-activated, identifying, by the processor, the telephone number as being ported; and for each ported telephone number, logging, by the processor, an identification thereof. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification