Patent Application
20060252432
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods and systems for blocking cellular phone calls.
2. Background Art
Venues such as schools, concert halls, movie theaters, etc., have prohibited the use of cellular phones in their premises. That is, venues have prohibited incoming and outgoing cellular phone calls to and from cellular phones present in the venues. For example, schools prohibit students from using cellular phones in school classrooms while school is in session.
Some venues simply posted public notices in their premises that the use of cellular phones within their premises was prohibited in order to enforce the prohibition. Other venues directly enforced the prohibition by having cellular service providers scramble cellular phone calls to and from cellular phones present in the venues. For example, some hotels have cellular service providers scramble cellular phone calls to and from guests present in their hotel rooms. In any event, venues had set forth or enforced the prohibition in order to block all (incoming and outgoing) cellular phone calls to and from cellular phones present in the venues.
A problem with blocking or prohibiting cellular phone calls to and from persons present in a venue is that emergency (incoming and outgoing) cellular phone calls are also blocked. In view of emergency issues, many venues have relaxed the prohibition by allowing persons present in their premises to make outgoing cellular phone calls. However, venues still desire to prohibit incoming cellular phone calls because such calls are a disturbance to other persons. For instance, schools desire to prohibit incoming cellular phone calls to students because such calls disturb students while school is in session. Likewise, concert halls and movie theaters desire to prohibit incoming cellular phone calls to their patrons because such calls disturb the concert or movie event for the other patrons.
Some venues which prohibit incoming cellular phone calls now allow persons in their premises to receive incoming cellular phone calls during certain time periods. For instance, some schools allow students to have cellular phones but require that such phones not be used during the school day. Likewise, concert halls and movie theaters do not wish to prohibit incoming cellular phone calls after the concert or movie event has ended.
The method and system for enabling venues to selectively block incoming calls to cellular phones present in their premises in accordance with the present invention has many advantages. For example, the method and system enable a venue to prohibit incoming cellular phone calls to all but a select group of cellular phones present in the venue while enabling all cellular phones present in the venue to make outgoing cellular phone calls.
The method and system generally provide a “geographic call manager” service to venues such as schools which enables the venues to selectively block incoming cellular phone calls to cellular phones present within their premises while allowing all outgoing cellular phone calls from cellular phones present within their premises. The venues select the groups of cellular phones which are to be allowed to receive incoming cellular phone calls while present in the venues.
The geographic call manager service addresses emergency issues by enabling venues to selectively block incoming cellular phone calls to their premises while allowing all outgoing cellular phone calls from their premises. For example, the geographic call manager service enables venues to selectively allow certain individuals to be able to receive incoming cellular phone calls while present in the venues. For instance, schools can select principals and teachers to be able to receive incoming cellular phone calls while present in the school, concert halls and movie theaters can select doctors to be able to receive incoming cellular calls while present in the concert hall or movie theater, etc. As such, individuals selected by the venues are able to receive incoming emergency cellular phone calls while present in the venues. Likewise, all outgoing cellular phone calls are allowed for all individuals present in the venues. As such, any individual present in a venue can make an outgoing emergency cellular phone call in case of an emergency within the venue.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the geographic call manager service enables a venue to store with cellular service providers a list of exempt cellular phone numbers. An exempt cellular phone number corresponds to the cellular phone of an individual that is allowed by the venue to have at least some access of receiving incoming cellular phone calls while present in the venue. The cellular service providers transfer incoming cellular phone calls to the exempt cellular phones present in the venue while blocking all other incoming calls to the other cellular phones present in the venue.
Again, the venue selects the exempt cellular phones for individuals that are to have the ability to receive incoming cellular phone calls while present in the venue. Such an exempt list of individuals could include principals and teachers (while present in schools), doctors (while present in concert halls or movie theaters), etc. As such, the lines of incoming cellular communications terminating to cellular phones within the venue are not totally blocked. Further, the cellular service providers allow all cellular phones present within the venue to originate outgoing cellular phone calls. As such, none of the lines of outgoing cellular phone communications originating from cellular phones within the venue are blocked.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the geographic call manager service enables a venue to store with cellular service providers a list of permitted and non-permitted usage periods in which cellular phones present in the venue are able and not able to receive incoming cellular phone communications while present in the venue. Thus, the geographic call manager service enables venues to set forth time-of-day/day-of-week/day-of-year (TOD/DOW/DOY) functionality to allow incoming cellular phone calls to cellular phones within the venue during certain time periods. For example, the venue may be a school and the permitted time periods include weekends and after school hours. In this case, all cellular phones present within the school grounds are able to receive incoming cellular phone calls during weekends or after school. As another example, the venue may be a movie theater and the permitted time periods include times when the movie has ended. In this case, all patrons present in the movie theater are allowed to receive incoming cellular phone calls while present in the movie theater after the movie has ended.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the geographic call manager service enables a venue to associate a permanent or temporary basis with the exempt cellular phone numbers. For example, the venue can associate a permanent basis with an exempt cellular phone such that the cellular phone is allowed to receive incoming cellular phone calls while present in the venue until the venue decides otherwise. In this case, the venue simply removes the cellular phone from the stored exempt list once the venue decides that the cellular phone is no longer allowed to receive incoming cellular phone calls while present in the venue. As another example, the venue can associate a temporary basis with a listed exempt cellular phone such that the cellular phone is allowed to receive incoming cellular phone calls while present in the venue only at certain time periods (i.e., allowing the exempt cellular phone to receive incoming cellular phone calls only during certain time periods of the day while present in the venue).
Accordingly, in accordance with the present invention, the geographic call manager service allows a venue to provide exceptions to the general rule of blocking incoming cellular phone calls to cellular phones located in the venue.
Referring now to
In operation, at least one or more individuals are physically located within the premises of a venue 12. Some of these individuals have cellular phones. For example, as shown in
Communications network 10 includes cellular infrastructure 22 such as a cellular tower for establishing cellular phone calls between cellular phones 14, 16, and 18, and telephone 20 as is known in the art. For example, when a cellular phone call is established between cellular phones 14 and 18, cellular tower wirelessly transmits communications between cellular phones 14 and 18.
Communications network 10 further includes a service switching point (SSP) 24 having a mobile telephone switching office (MTSO) 26 and a home location register (HLR) database 28. For simplicity, SSP 24 with MTSO 26 and HLR database 28 form part of the wireless communications network of one cellular service provider that provides cellular phone services to cellular phones 14, 16, and 18. MTSO 26 communicates cellular tower 22 to generally control the wireless communications aspects of communications network 10. General functions handled by MTSO 26 include monitoring calls, keeping track of the location of the mobile users, keeping track of billing, switching calls to a wire-based (land-line) central office, etc. In accordance with the present invention, other functions of MTSO 26 include blocking incoming cellular phone calls to all but a group of cellular phones selected by venue 12 while present within the vicinity of the venue during times designated by the venue. Correspondingly, MTSO 26 functions to complete incoming cellular phone calls to the selected cellular phones present within the vicinity of venue 12 during the designated times.
MTSO 24 communicates with the public switched telephone network (PTSN) 30 in order to establish cellular phone calls between cellular phones 14, 16, and 18, and telephone 20 as is known in the art. To this end, telephone 20 communicates with PTSN 30 via a SSP 31 in order to make and receive phone calls to and from cellular phones 14, 16, and 18 as is known in the art.
MTSO 26 communicates with a signal control point (SCP) 32 of an incoming cellular phone call control system 34. Control system 34 is preferably associated with a cellular service provider but may, for example, be associated with an LEC or third party which acts as the screening agent for venue 12. Control system 34 further includes an incoming cellular cell phone sub-control system 37 having a database 36 and a processor 39. In accordance with the present invention, database 36 stores information provided by venue 12 regarding incoming cellular phone call prohibitions. It is pointed out that such information may also be stored by HLR 28 of SSP 24. Further, part of such information may be stored in HLR 28 and the other part of such information may be stored in database 36.
Again, it is noted that venue 12 provides the information regarding incoming cellular phone all prohibitions. To this end, control system 34 includes a web server 38 which communicates with Internet 40. Venue 12 accesses web server 38 using a venue access point 42 (such as a computer) connected to Internet 40. Venue 12 accesses web server 38 to provide information to the cellular service provider regarding incoming cellular phone call prohibitions.
More particularly, venue 12 communicates with control system 36 to instruct the cellular service provider to generally block incoming cellular phone calls to cellular phones present within the geographic location of the venue. Venue 12 further communicates with control system 36 to instruct the cellular service provider to provide exceptions to this general rule. For instance, venue 12 communicates with control system 36 to instruct the cellular service provider to generally block incoming cellular phone calls to cellular phones present within the geographic location of the venue during designated times. As such, during other times, the cellular service provider does not block incoming cellular phone calls to cellular phones present within the geographic location of venue 12 during other times. Venue 12 also communicates with control system 36 to instruct the cellular service provider to not block incoming cellular phone calls to certain cellular phones present within the geographic location of the venue during any time (or during designated times).
Control system 36 is operable to enable venue 12 to register a venue profile with the cellular service provider. The venue profile includes the geographic location of venue 12. For example, the geographic location of venue 12 may be derived from street address coordinates of the venue. As another example, the geographic location of venue 12 may be automatically derived by the cellular service provider based on the physical location of venue access point 42. In any event, the geographic location of venue 12 is established with the cellular service provider and the cellular service provider may verify such information using automatic or manual means.
As a result of the incoming cellular phone call prohibition instructions made by venue 12 to control system 36 of the cellular service provider, the venue profile stored by database 36 (and/or HLR 28) generally includes three pieces of information. The first piece of information is the geographic location of venue 12. The second piece of information is a list of exempt cellular phone numbers corresponding to cellular phones which are to be allowed to receive incoming cellular phone calls while located within the vicinity of the geographic location of venue 12. As such, the cellular service provider does not block incoming cellular phone calls to the cellular phones corresponding to the exempt list of cellular phone numbers while located within the vicinity of venue 12. Correspondingly, the cellular service provider blocks incoming cellular phone calls to the cellular phones which are not listed as exempt while located within the vicinity of venue 12.
The third piece of information relates to the permitted and non-permitted usage time periods. The permitted usage time periods are the time periods in which the cellular service provider is not to block incoming cellular phone calls. The non-permitted usage time periods are the time periods in which the cellular service provider is to block incoming cellular phone calls. The permitted and non-permitted usage time periods may be associated with the list of exempt cellular phone numbers. For example, a cellular phone number may be listed as exempt from the general prohibition of incoming cellular phone calls during permitted time periods while being subject to the general prohibition during the remaining time periods (i.e., the non-permitted usage time periods).
Referring now to
Venue 12 then uses venue access point 42 to access web server 38 of the cellular service provider as shown in block 60 in order to communicate to the cellular service provider the information selected by the venue. In turn, the cellular service provider obtains the geographic location of venue 12 as shown in block 62. This may be done by communications to venue 12 via web server 38. Alternatively, the geographic location of venue 12 is previously registered with the cellular service provider or determined by the cellular service provider by some other means.
While accessing web server 38, venue 12 provides to the cellular service provider the cellular phone numbers of the selected individuals as shown in block 64. Venue 12 further provides the permitted time period information to the cellular service provider as shown in block 66. Venue 12 also provides the non-permitted time period information regarding the selected individuals to the cellular service provider as shown in block 68. In turn, the cellular service provider stores the information provided by venue 12 along with the geographic location of the venue in database 36 (and/or HLR 28) as shown in block 70. The cellular service provider then blocks and allows incoming cellular phone calls to cellular phones located at venue 12 in accordance with the information provided by the venue.
Referring now to
The cellular service provider then obtains the stored venue profile of a venue 12 and compares the geographic location of the recipient cellular phone with the geographic location of the venue as shown in block 88. The geographic location of the venue is part of the information stored by the cellular service provider as described above. The cellular service provider compares the two geographic locations to determine whether or not the recipient cellular phone is located at or within the vicinity of the venue. For example, if the recipient cellular phone is cellular phone 14, then the cellular service provider determines that cellular phone 14 is at the location of venue 12. Likewise, if the recipient cellular phone is cellular phone 18, then the cellular service provider determines that cellular phone 18 is not at the location of venue 12.
If the recipient cellular phone (such as cellular phone 14) is located at venue 12, then the cellular service provider compares the identity of the recipient cellular phone with a list of exempt cellular phone numbers associated with venue 12, a list of permitted incoming call times associated with the venue, and a list of non-permitted incoming call times associated with the venue as shown in block 90. The cellular service provider stores these lists as part of the venue profile for venue 12. The cellular service provider compares the identity of the recipient cellular phone with the list of exempt cellular phone numbers to determine whether or not the recipient cellular phone is authorized by venue 12 as an exception to the general rule of being prevented from receiving incoming cellular phone calls while located at the venue. Likewise, the cellular service provider compares the identity of the recipient cellular phone with the lists of permitted and non-permitted times to determine whether or not the recipient cellular phone is authorized by venue 12 as an exception to the general rule of not being prevented from receiving incoming cellular phone calls while located at the venue during specified time periods.
Assuming that the recipient cellular phone is located at venue 12, the cellular service provider provides the incoming cellular phone call to the recipient cellular phone if the recipient cellular phone is an exempt cellular phone and if the incoming cellular phone call is made during a permitted time as shown in block 92. Alternatively, the cellular service provider blocks the incoming cellular phone call to the recipient cellular phone if the recipient cellular phone is not an exempt cellular phone or if the incoming cellular phone call is made during a non-permitted time as shown in block 94. For example, assuming that the recipient, cellular phone is cellular phone 16 located within venue 12, the cellular service provider blocks the incoming cellular phone call to cellular phone 16 if cellular phone 16 is not listed by the venue as being an exception to the general rule. Likewise, assuming that the recipient cellular phone is cellular phone 14 located within venue 12 and listed by the venue as being exempt from the general rule, the cellular service provider still blocks the incoming cellular phone call to cellular phone 14 if the incoming cellular phone call is made during a non-permitted time associated with cellular phone 14.
If the recipient cellular phone (such as cellular phone 18) is located outside of venue 12, then the cellular service provider provides the incoming cellular phone call to the recipient cellular phone as shown in block 96.
While embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe all possible forms of the present invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
