Personal dial tone service with personalized caller ID

• US 6,038,305 A
• Filed: 08/01/1997
• Issued: 03/14/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bell Atlantic Network Services, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Farris, Robert D., McAllister, Alexander I., Strauss, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista
• Assistant Examiner(s): Foster, Roland G
• Application Number:
  US08/904,936
• Time in Patent Office: 956 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.01, 379/88.02, 379/88.03, 379/201, 379/207, 379/210, 379/211, 379/212, 379/216, 379/229, 379/230, 379/142
• US Class Current: 379/201.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/12 intelligent networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• 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 3/382 using authorisation codes or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42017 Customized ring-back tones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/12 for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 Provisions for intelligent networking

Abstract

A telephone network provides personalized calling services based on a voice identification of a calling subscriber. When a person initiates a call, the network executes a speaker identification/verification procedure to identify the person as a subscriber. For example, on an outgoing call over a telephone line, the speaker identification/verification process provides a virtual office equipment number corresponding the identified subscriber. The central office switch servicing the outgoing call receives the virtual office equipment number and uses that number to retrieve a service profile associated with the subscriber. The switch provides a personalized form of "dial tone" like service to the subscriber by processing the outgoing call using the profile. As part of this service, the switch and the network provide subscriber specific identification information to the called party, to provide caller ID service which identifies the individual subscriber rather than the line or station that the subscriber has called from.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting a request to make a call from a predetermined link through a multiple link communication network;

receiving and processing speech signals from a person requesting the call via the predetermined link to identify the person as an individual one of a plurality of subscribers to services offered through the communication network;

instructing a switching office of the communication network to select one subscriber service profile corresponding to the identified individual subscriber, from a plurality of stored profiles, for processing of the call from the predetermined link through the network to a destination station; and

based on data from the one selected subscriber service profile, transmitting data representing the identity of the identified individual subscriber to the destination station.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step of instructing a switching office comprises providing a virtual office equipment number for use in retrieving the one selected subscriber service profile from the stored profiles.

3. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step of receiving and processing speech signals comprises:

receiving signals from the person over the predetermined link, and comparing information characteristic of the received speech signals to stored speech data corresponding to a plurality of subscribers associated with the predetermined link.

4. A method as in claim 1, wherein the communication network comprises a telephone network having a plurality of central offices each of which serves a plurality of communication links.

5. A method as in claim 4, wherein the plurality of communication links comprise telephone lines.

6. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting data comprises transmitting data representing a name of the one subscriber from the one selected subscriber service profile data through the communication network to the destination station.

7. A method as in claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting data comprises:

transmitting data representing the identity of the identified individual subscriber to a database remote from the switching office;

accessing information in the remote database to translate the data representing the identity of the identified individual subscriber into data representing the name of the identified individual subscriber; and

transmitting the data representing the name of the identified individual subscriber to the destination station.

8. A method, comprising:

identifying one party to a requested communication service as one of a plurality of subscribers;

using a virtual office equipment number, assigned to the one subscriber, to retrieve corresponding profile data from stored profile data for the plurality of subscribers;

providing the communication service over a link of a communication network based at least in part on the retrieved profile data; and

using a portion of the retrieved profile data to provide an identification of the one subscriber over another link of the communication network.

9. A method as in claim 8, wherein the step of identifying one party comprises analyzing speech information from the one party.

10. A method as in claim 8, wherein the communication service is a call from the one subscriber through the communication network, and a terminal coupled to said another link presents the identification of the one subscriber to a called party.

11. A method as in claim 10, wherein the identification of the one subscriber comprises the name of the one subscriber.

12. A method as in claim 11, wherein the step of using a portion of the retrieved profile data to provide the identification comprises transmitting data representing the name of the one subscriber from the profile data through the communication network to terminal.

13. A method as in claim 11, wherein the step of using a portion of the retrieved profile data to provide the identification comprises:

transmitting data representing the identity of the one subscriber to a database;

accessing information in the database to translate the data representing the identity of the one subscriber into data representing the name of the one subscriber; and

transmitting the data representing the name of the one subscriber to the terminal.

14. A method as in claim 8, wherein:

the communication network comprises a telephone network having a telephone switching system; and

the step of using the virtual office equipment number comprises supplying the virtual office equipment number to the telephone switching system and retrieving the corresponding profile data from storage in the telephone network.

15. A telecommunication network comprising:

a central office for processing calls originated over a plurality of communication links, said central office including mass storage containing subscriber service profiles for a plurality of subscribers each having an individually assigned office equipment number; and

a peripheral coupled to the central office, said peripheral including a voice authentication module for analyzing speech of a caller from one communication link to identify the caller as one individual from among the subscribers and provide an office equipment number assigned to the identified individual subscriber to the central office, wherein;

the central office retrieves one of the subscriber service profiles, which corresponds to the office equipment number assigned to the identified individual subscriber and processes at least one call over a communication link using information from the retrieved profile, and

the profile information includes at least some data identifying the individual caller for use in caller identification services.

16. A network as in claim 15, wherein the at least some data includes a code corresponding to the caller.

17. A network as in claim 15, wherein the at least some data includes subscriber name data.

18. A network as in claim 15, wherein the central office comprises a telephone switching system.

19. A network as in claim 18, wherein at least some of the communication links comprise telephone lines.

20. A network as in claim 18, further comprising:

a service control point, remote from the telephone switching system, said service control point containing a database of call processing records; and

a first signaling network separate from the communication links for carrying signaling messages between the service control point and the telephone switching system.

21. A network as in claim 20, further comprising an identification database remote from the telephone switching system and coupled to the first signaling network, said identification database comprising a plurality of subscriber records, each subscriber record containing name data for an associated subscriber.

22. A network as in claim 20, wherein the peripheral includes a communication server facilitating signaling communication between the peripheral and the service control point.

23. A network as in claim 22, further comprising a second signaling network, separate from the communication links and the first signaling network, coupled between the communication server and the service control point.

24. A network as in claim 23, wherein the peripheral stores characteristic voice feature data relating to a plurality of subscribers, and the peripheral comprises a voice authentication module for comparing characteristic data extracted from speech of the caller to the stored characteristic voice feature data.

25. A network as in claim 24, further comprising a remote peripheral storing characteristic voice feature data relating to another plurality of subscribers, wherein the remote peripheral is coupled to the second signaling network for communication of stored characteristic voice feature data.

26. A network as in claim 23, wherein:

the first signaling network comprises a common channel interoffice signaling network coupled to the telephone switches; and

the second signaling network comprises a packet switched data network.

27. A network as in claim 26, wherein:

the common channel interoffice signaling network utilizes signaling system 7 (SS7) protocol; and

the packet switched data network utilizes transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP).

28. A network as in claim 15, wherein the peripheral comprises a voice authentication module for analyzing speech received from the caller to identify the caller as an authentic subscriber.

29. A telecommunication network comprising:

a plurality of central office switching systems interconnected by trunk circuits, for processing calls originated over a plurality of communication links, each of said central office switching systems including mass storage containing subscriber service profiles for a plurality of subscribers each having an individually assigned office equipment number; and

a peripheral coupled to at least one of the central office switching systems for interacting with a caller to identify the caller as one individual from among the subscribers, said peripheral providing an office equipment number assigned to the identified individual subscriber to one or more of the central office switching systems,

wherein in response to receipt of the office equipment number, a central office switching system retrieves a corresponding profile and processes at least one call over a communication link using the retrieved profile, the processing of the at least one call including transmission of data from the profile specifically identifying the individual subscriber to a destination station.

30. A network as in claim 29, wherein the retrieved profile includes a code corresponding to the individual subscriber for use in retrieving name data for transmission to the destination station as the data identifying the individual subscriber.

31. A network as in claim 29, wherein the retrieved profile includes subscriber name data for transmission to the destination station as the data identifying the individual subscriber. office switching systems comprise telephone switches.

32. A network as in claim 29, wherein the central office switching systems comprise telephone switches.

33. A network as in claim 32, wherein at least some of the communication links comprise telephone lines.

34. A network as in claim 32, further comprising:

a service control point, remote from the telephone switches, said service control point containing a database of call processing records; and

a first signaling network separate from the communication links and from the trunk circuits, said first signaling network carrying signaling messages between the service control point and the telephone switches.

35. A network as in claim 34, further comprising an identification database remote from the telephone switches and coupled to the first signaling network, said identification database comprising a plurality of subscriber records, each subscriber record containing name data for an associated subscriber.

36. A network as in claim 34, wherein the peripheral includes a communication server facilitating signaling communication between the peripheral and the service control point.

37. A network as in claim 36, further comprising a second signaling network, separate from the communication links, the trunk circuits and the first signaling network, said second signaling network being coupled between the communication server and the service control point.

38. A network as in claim 37, wherein the peripheral stores characteristic voice feature data relating to a plurality of subscribers, and the peripheral comprises a voice authentication module for comparing characteristic data extracted from speech of the caller to the stored characteristic voice feature data.

39. A network as in claim 38, further comprising a remote peripheral storing characteristic voice feature data relating to another plurality of subscribers, wherein the remote peripheral is coupled to the second signaling network for communication of stored characteristic voice feature data.

40. A network as in claim 37, wherein:

the first signaling network comprises a common channel interoffice signaling network coupled to the telephone switches; and

the second signaling network comprises a packet switched data network.

41. A network as in claim 40, wherein:

the common channel interoffice signaling network utilizes signaling system 7 (SS7) protocol; and

the packet switched data network utilizes transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP).

42. A network as in claim 29, wherein the peripheral comprises a voice authentication module for analyzing speech received from the caller to identify the caller as an authentic subscriber.

43. A telecommunication network comprising:

a central office switching system for processing calls originated over a plurality of communication links, said central office switching system including mass storage containing subscriber profiles; and

a peripheral coupled to the central office switching system for interacting with a caller to identify the caller as a subscriber, said peripheral providing a virtual office equipment number assigned to the identified subscriber to the central office switching system,

wherein in response to receipt of the virtual office equipment number, the central office switching system retrieves corresponding profile information and processes a call using the retrieved profile information, the processing of the call including transmission of data specifically identifying the subscriber to a destination station.

44. A telecommunication network comprising:

a plurality of central office switching systems interconnected by trunk circuits, for processing calls originated over a plurality of communication links, each of said central office switching systems including mass storage containing subscriber service profiles for a plurality of subscribers; and

a peripheral coupled to at least one of the central office switching systems during processing of a call from one communication link, said peripheral including a voice authentication module for analyzing speech of a caller from the one communication link to identify the caller as an individual one of the subscribers and provide an instruction to one or more of the central office switching systems based on the identity of the individual subscriber,

wherein in response to receipt of the instruction, a central office switching system processes the call from the one communication link using one subscriber service profile corresponding to the identified individual subscriber and supplies data representing the identity of the individual subscriber to a terminal device associated with another subscriber involved in the call based on information corresponding to the identified individual subscriber from the one subscriber service profile.

45. A telephone central office switching system comprising:

interface units for coupling to a plurality of communication links;

a switch fabric for providing selective communication connections between the interface units; and

an administrative module for controlling connections provided by the switch fabric, wherein the administrative module comprises;

mass storage containing subscriber profiles, each of at least some of the subscriber profiles including data representing identity of a specific, associated subscriber,

a processor for providing control instructions to the switch fabric, and

a signaling interface for coupling the processor to a signaling link, for communication with an external network node, wherein;

in response to a virtual office equipment number received via the signaling interface, the processor retrieves a subscriber profile corresponding to the virtual office equipment number from the mass storage, uses the retrieved profile to process a selective connection through the switch fabric between two of the interface units and forwards the data representing identity from the retrieved profile through one of the interface units.

46. A switching system as in claim 45, wherein the data representing identity comprises a name of the specific, associated subscriber.

47. A switching system as in claim 45, wherein the data representing identity comprises a code assigned to the specific, associated subscriber.