Use condition for a geographic phone number

• US 10,524,086 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2017
• Issued: 12/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hassan, Amer Aref, Halley, David Michael, Lickorish, David Anthony, Penar, Russell Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Shedrick, Charles T
• Application Number:
  US15/631,941
• Publication Number:
  US 20180376279A1
• Time in Patent Office: 921 Days
• Field of Search: 4554143
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 with services dependent on location where the service is an information service H04M2242/15; services independent of location H04M3/42229
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/38 Graded-service arrangements, i.e. some subscribers prevented from establishing certain connections queuing arrangements H04Q3/64
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/436 Arrangements for screening incoming calls , i.e. evaluating the characteristics of a call before deciding whether to answer it based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; diversion H04M3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information

Abstract

Techniques for use condition for a geographic phone number are described. According to various implementations, techniques described herein enable a policy pertaining to the use of a geographic phone number to be enforced, such as to prevent unpermitted use of the geographic phone number.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one hardware processor; and

one or more computer-readable storage media including instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the at least one hardware processor, cause the system perform operations including;

applying a call policy to call data that includes information about a set of calls originating from a geographic phone number;

determining that a call of the set of calls is an unpermitted call based on the call violating a geographical use condition specified by the call policy for the originating geographic phone number, the geographical use condition restricting usage of the originating geographic phone number to a particular geographical region;

detecting a request to make a call originating from the geographic phone number;

generating a notification that enables an alternate phone number to be used for originating the call based on the determining of the unpermitted call; and

causing, based on a selection of the notification, the call to be connected using the alternate phone number as a second originating phone number.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein operations further include generating the call data to include a geographical region at which the call is placed, and wherein said determining comprises determining that the geographical region at which the call is placed is outside of the geographical region specified in the call policy for the geographic phone number.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the geographical use condition is based on a regulatory policy that restricts usage of the geographic phone number to the particular geographical region.

4. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the geographical use condition comprises a threshold number of calls that are permitted to be placed using the geographic phone number outside of the particular geographical region.

5. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further include generating a user-detectable notification indicating that the geographical use condition is violated.

6. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further include:

allowing the geographic phone number to be used for call usage within the particular geographical region.

7. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said determining comprises determining that the call is made at a different geographical region.

8. A system as recited in claim 1, the operations further comprising blocking the geographic phone number for usage outside of the geographical region, and allowing the geographic phone number to be used within the geographical region.

9. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said causing the call to be connected is performed by a communication client.

10. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further include presenting a notification that the geographic phone number is blocked.

11. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

performing a statistical analysis on call data that describes usage of a geographic phone number for originating calls to determine if usage of the geographic phone number for originating calls exceeds a usage threshold specified by a call policy, the usage threshold pertaining to usage of the geographic phone number for originating calls outside of a specified geographical region;

determining that usage of the geographic phone number for originating calls exceeds the usage threshold;

generating a notification to enable an alternate phone number to be used for originating a call at a different geographical region based on the usage exceeding the threshold; and

causing the call to be connected based on receiving an indication of a selection of the notification.

12. A method as described in claim 11, wherein the usage threshold specifies a threshold number of calls placed outside of the specified geographical region over a discrete period of time.

13. A method as described in claim 11, wherein the statistical analysis comprises:

identifying different geographical regions at which different calls of a set of calls are placed using the geographic phone number; and

categorizing each call based on from which geographical region of the different geographical regions the call was placed,

wherein the usage threshold specifies a threshold number of calls placed outside of the specified geographical region.

14. A method as described in claim 11, further comprising:

blocking the geographic phone number for call usage within the specified geographical region and outside of the specified geographical region;

or

blocking the geographic phone number for call usage outside of the specified geographical region and allowing the geographic phone number to be used for call usage within the geographical region.

15. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising presenting a notification that the geographic phone number is blocked outside of the specified geographical region.

16. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining geographical regions at which a geographic phone number was used as a phone number for originating calls;

aggregating call data that includes the determined geographical regions;

determining that a call of the originated calls is an unpermitted call based on determining that the call violates a geographical use condition for the originating geographic phone number;

detecting a request to make a call originating from the geographic phone number;

generating, a notification that enables an alternate phone number to be used for originating a call based on the determining of the unpermitted call; and

causing the call to be connected using the alternate phone number as a second originating phone number.

17. A method as described in claim 16, wherein said determining of the geographical regions comprises querying a communication client on a device from which the calls are made for a location of the device.

18. A method as described in claim 16, wherein said determining of the geographical regions comprises:

identifying, for a particular call, multiple possible geographical regions from which the call is made;

assigning a reliability value to each geographical region of the multiple possible geographical regions; and

selecting the geographical region with the highest reliability value as the geographical region from which the call was placed.

19. A method as described in claim 16, wherein the geographical use condition comprises a threshold number of calls outside of a particular geographical region.

20. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising presenting a notification that the geographic phone number is blocked based on the call violating the geographical use condition.