System and method for providing call gating using a femto cell
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for providing cellular call gating, the method comprising:
- enabling a call gating function on a femto cell located at a customer premises for a cellular device in response to receiving an activation signal from the cellular device, the femto cell providing a wireless cellular signal for the cellular device and having a broadband Internet Protocol (“
IP”
) connection, through a broadband router at a customer premises, to a mobile switching center (MSC) associated with a mobile service provider providing cellular service to the cellular device;
providing a web interface for a user to provide a list of allowed telephone numbers and a list of blocked telephone numbers, the interface accepting wildcard characters to allow the user to block or accept multiple telephone numbers with a single entry in one of the lists;
monitoring, with a processor of the femto cell, for an incoming call to the cellular device in response to enabling the call gating function associated with the cellular device;
identifying, with the processor of the femto cell, a caller ID associated with an incoming call in response to receiving an incoming call to the cellular device;
determining, using the processor of the femto cell, whether the caller ID is on a list of allowed caller IDs associated with the cellular device; and
routing, with the processor of the femto cell, the incoming call to the cellular device in response to a determination that the caller ID is on the list of allowed caller IDs associated with the cellular device,wherein the call gating function includes timing features for gradually reducing a number of allowed incoming calls based on time of day.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the disclosed invention include a system and method for providing call gating. For example, in one embodiment, a femto cell is disclosed that includes a processing unit configured to execute instructions to perform operations comprising: enabling a call gating function associated with a cellular device in response to receiving an activation signal from the cellular device, monitoring for an incoming call to the cellular device in response to enabling the call gating function associated with the cellular device; identifying a caller ID associated with an incoming call in response to receiving an incoming call to the cellular device; determining whether the caller ID is on a list of allowed caller IDs associated with the cellular device; and routing the incoming call to the cellular device in response to a determination that the caller ID is on the list of allowed caller IDs associated with the cellular device.
75 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for providing cellular call gating, the method comprising:
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enabling a call gating function on a femto cell located at a customer premises for a cellular device in response to receiving an activation signal from the cellular device, the femto cell providing a wireless cellular signal for the cellular device and having a broadband Internet Protocol (“
IP”
) connection, through a broadband router at a customer premises, to a mobile switching center (MSC) associated with a mobile service provider providing cellular service to the cellular device;providing a web interface for a user to provide a list of allowed telephone numbers and a list of blocked telephone numbers, the interface accepting wildcard characters to allow the user to block or accept multiple telephone numbers with a single entry in one of the lists; monitoring, with a processor of the femto cell, for an incoming call to the cellular device in response to enabling the call gating function associated with the cellular device; identifying, with the processor of the femto cell, a caller ID associated with an incoming call in response to receiving an incoming call to the cellular device; determining, using the processor of the femto cell, whether the caller ID is on a list of allowed caller IDs associated with the cellular device; and routing, with the processor of the femto cell, the incoming call to the cellular device in response to a determination that the caller ID is on the list of allowed caller IDs associated with the cellular device, wherein the call gating function includes timing features for gradually reducing a number of allowed incoming calls based on time of day. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A femto cell located at a customer premises for providing cellular call gating, the femto cell comprising:
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a transceiver configured to send and receive signals between the femto cell and one or more cellular devices within range of the femto cell; an Ethernet port to provide a connection between the femto cell located at the customer premises and an Internet Protocol (“
IP”
) network to provide connectivity, through a broadband router at the customer premises, to a mobile switching center (MSC) associated with a mobile service provider providing cellular service to the cellular device; anda processing unit configured to execute instructions to perform operations comprising; enabling a call gating function of the femto cell located at the customer premises associated with a cellular device in response to receiving an activation signal from the cellular device; providing a web interface for a user to provide a list of allowed telephone numbers and a list of blocked telephone numbers, the interface accepting wildcard characters to allow the user to block or accept multiple telephone numbers with a single entry in one of the lists; monitoring for an incoming call to the cellular device in response to enabling the call gating function associated with the cellular device; identifying a caller ID associated with an incoming call in response to receiving an incoming call to the cellular device; determining whether the caller ID is on a list of allowed caller IDs associated with the cellular device; and routing the incoming call to the cellular device in response to a determination that the caller ID is on the list of allowed caller IDs associated with the cellular device, wherein the call gating function includes timing features for gradually reducing a number of allowed incoming calls based on time of day. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification