The present invention relates to telecommunications in general, and, more particularly, to the prevention of annoying telephone calls.
The invention of the telephone has been a mixed blessing. The telephone is a blessing when a friend calls and a curse when a telemarketer calls. The invention of Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (“VoIP”) telephony enables a telemarketer to place a telephone call for less money than was possible in the past, and, therefore, telemarketers will probably inundate people in the future with annoying telephone calls in the same way that spammers inundate people with annoying e-mail.
Therefore, the need exists for a mechanism that prevents people from being inundated with annoying telephone calls.
The present invention provides a mechanism for predicting whether a telephone call that is being set up will be considered annoying by the called party and, if so, for preventing it from being established. Predicting whether a telephone call will be considered annoying is, in some respects, analogous to predicting whether an e-mail will be considered annoying, and, therefore, some of the techniques for predicting whether an e-mail will be considered annoying can be used to predict whether a telephone call will be considered annoying. For example, when twenty annoying e-mails arrive from one sender, it is reasonable to predict that the twenty-first e-mail from that sender will also be annoying and should be blocked. Analogously, when twenty annoying telephone calls arrive from one caller, it is reasonable to predict that the twenty-first telephone call from that caller will also be annoying.
A telephone call is not analogous to an e-mail all respects, and, therefore, predicting whether a telephone call will be considered annoying is not the same as predicting whether an e-mail will be considered annoying. For example, when predicting whether an e-mail will be considered annoying or not, the contents of the e-mail can be examined, but when predicting whether a telephone call that has not yet occurred will be considered annoying or not, the contents of the call cannot be examined. Furthermore, each telephone call is by its very nature interactive, which an e-mail is not, and, therefore, its content is not determined solely by the caller, but by the called party as well. It is for these reasons that predicting whether a telephone call will be considered annoying is not fully analogous to predicting whether an e-mails will be considered annoying.
The illustrative embodiment predicts whether a telephone call will be considered annoying by the called party based on temporal characteristics of previous calls from the same caller. For example, when a called party receives an unwanted telephone solicitation, he or she will usually hang up within the first minute. If many telephone calls are made from the same caller, and all of these calls last under a minute, then it is reasonable to predict that future calls from this caller will be considered annoying.
As another example, when many calls are made from the same caller immediately one after another, it is reasonable to assume that the caller is using an auto-dialer or working off of a call list. In this case, it is reasonable to predict that future calls from this caller will be considered annoying.
As yet another example, when many calls are made from the same caller within a given time interval, it is reasonable to assume that the caller is using an auto-dialer or working off of a call list. In this case, it is reasonable to predict that future calls from this caller will be considered annoying.
In yet another example, when many calls from the same caller are characterized by the caller speaking for most of the telephone call, it is reasonable to predict that future calls from this caller will be considered annoying.
The illustrative embodiment comprises: receiving a request to establish a telephone call from a caller; and transmitting one of: an indication that the telephone call will be established as requested, and an indication that the telephone call will not be established as requested, based on an indicium of a temporal characteristic of a previous telephone call from the caller.
Telecommunications terminals 101-1 and 101-2 are each hardware and software that enable users to place and receive telephone calls through telecommunications network 102, and it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use telecommunications terminals 101-1 and 101-2. For the purposes of this disclosure, a “telephone call” is defined as an interactive telecommunication session involving two or more telecommunications terminals, and, therefore, includes, but is not limited to telecommunications terminals capable of handling:
Telecommunications network 102 is the Public Switched Telephone Network, but it will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this disclosure, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the present invention in which telecommunication network 102 is another network, such as, for example and without limitation, the Internet, a private data network, a satellite network.
At task 201, telecommunications network 102 monitors all telephone calls from telecommunications terminal 101-1 and generates indicia of the temporal characteristics of those calls. For example, telecommunications network 102 collects for each call:
At task 202, telecommunications network 102 receives a request from terminal 101-1 to establish a telephone call with telecommunications terminal 101-2. As part of task 202, telecommunications network 102 generates an indicium of the time interval between the termination of the previous telephone call from the caller and the receipt of the request.
At task 203, telecommunications network 102 determines whether a telephone call should be established or blocked based on the likelihood that the call will be considered annoying by the called party at telecommunications terminal 101-2. The likelihood that the call will be considered undesirable by the called party is based on:
When telecommunications network 102 determines that the requested call should be established, control passes to task 204; otherwise control passes to task 205.
At task 204, telecommunications network 102 transmits to telecommunications terminal 101-1 an indication that the telephone call to telecommunications terminal 101-2 will be established. It will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this disclosure, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the present invention in which the indication that the telephone call to telecommunications terminal 101-2 will be established is transmitted to another party.
At task 205, telecommunications network 102 establishes the call between terminal 101-1 and terminal 101-2. From task 205, control passes to task 201 in which data is collected on this call, including whether the called-party considered the call annoying or not.
At task 206, telecommunications network 102 transmits an indication to telecommunications terminal 101-1 that the telephone call to telecommunications terminal 101-2 will not be established, in well-known fashion. It will be clear to those skilled in the art, after reading this disclosure, how to make and use alternative embodiments of the present invention in which the indication that the telephone call to telecommunications terminal 101-2 will be established is transmitted to another party.
It is to be understood that the disclosure teaches just one example of the illustrative embodiment and that many variations of the invention can easily be devised by those skilled in the art after reading this disclosure and that the scope of the present invention is to be determined by the following claims.