Methods and systems for inbound call control
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving an indication of an incoming call directed to a telephone from a caller at a call control unit communicatively coupled to, or resident within the telephone, the call control unit being between a telecommunication service provider providing the incoming call and the telephone, the incoming call being associated with the caller and a telephone number for the caller; and
querying, by the call control unit, a server to determine whether additional information associated with the telephone number and the caller exists, and if so, determining whether the additional information indicates that a negative characteristic is associated with at least one of the caller and the telephone number and if so, providing an inquiry to the caller and, upon receipt of a correct response to the inquiry, routing the call to the telephone, otherwise, blocking the call.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An indication of an incoming call may be received at a call control unit communicatively coupled to, and/or resident within, a telephone. The indication may include identification information for the incoming call. It may be determined whether additional information regarding a caller associated with the identification information exists, and if so, a first operation may be performed on the incoming call responsively to the additional information, otherwise, a second operation may be performed on the incoming call responsively to an absence of the additional information. The additional information my include a user-configurable list of desired callers (e.g., a whitelist) and/or undesired callers (e.g., a blacklist). The additional information may also include caller identification information and/or a spam score. The first operation may be blocking the incoming call, forwarding the incoming call to a voice mailbox, transmitting the incoming call to the telephone, enabling the telephone to receive the incoming call, and/or answering the incoming call and then terminating the incoming call. In some embodiments, the first and/or second operations performed on the incoming call is/are user configurable.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving an indication of an incoming call directed to a telephone from a caller at a call control unit communicatively coupled to, or resident within the telephone, the call control unit being between a telecommunication service provider providing the incoming call and the telephone, the incoming call being associated with the caller and a telephone number for the caller; and querying, by the call control unit, a server to determine whether additional information associated with the telephone number and the caller exists, and if so, determining whether the additional information indicates that a negative characteristic is associated with at least one of the caller and the telephone number and if so, providing an inquiry to the caller and, upon receipt of a correct response to the inquiry, routing the call to the telephone, otherwise, blocking the call. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A call control unit comprising:
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an input for receiving an indication of an incoming call for a telephone from a telecommunication service provider, the incoming call being associated with the caller and a telephone number for the caller; a processor communicatively coupled to the input, the processor configured to query a server to determine whether additional information associated with the telephone number and the caller exists, and if so, determining whether the additional information indicates that a negative characteristic is associated with at least one of the caller and the telephone number and if so, providing an inquiry to the caller and, upon receipt of a correct response to the inquiry, routing the call to the telephone, otherwise, blocking the call; and a communication port configured to enable the call control unit to communicate with a telephone responsively to at least one of the first operation and the second operation. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system comprising:
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a telephone network communicatively coupled to a call control unit, the telephone network being configured to transfer an incoming call to a call control unit communicatively coupled to or resident within a telephone and positioned between a telecommunication service provider providing the incoming call and the telephone; the call control unit configured to receive an indication of the incoming call, the incoming call being associated with a caller and a telephone number for the caller, the call control unit being further configured to query a server to determine whether additional information regarding a caller associated with the telephone number and the caller exists and, if so, determining whether the additional information indicates that a negative characteristic is associated with at least one of the caller and the telephone number and if so, providing an inquiry to the caller and, upon receipt of a correct response to the inquiry, transferring the incoming call to the telephone otherwise, blocking the call; and the telephone for receiving the incoming call from the call control unit. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification