Telephonic communications – With usage measurement – Call charge metering or monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-25
2001-07-10
Kuntz, Curtis (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
With usage measurement
Call charge metering or monitoring
C379S126000, C379S120000, C379S127030, C379S114030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06259779
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to communications and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for generating and/or updating a list of authorized callers associated with a telephone subscriber. The present invention also relates to a method and apparatus for updating a billing record associated with the list.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many businesses utilize telemarketing as a means of soliciting customers in order to promote or sell the company's products and/or services. Telephone solicitations have become such an annoyance to many telephone subscribers that at least one State, namely Georgia, has enacted legislation intended to prevent companies or individuals from contacting telephone subscribers who have been placed on a list, referred to as the “No Call List”, maintained by the Georgia Public Service Department. A fee is charged to any telephone subscriber wanting to be registered on the list. Telephone solicitors are required to obtain the list and quarterly updates of registrants to the list and to pay an annual fee. If a telephone solicitor places a telephone call to anyone on the list, the telephone solicitor can be subjected to a fine.
One of the disadvantages of using the “No Call List” is that subscribers must pay a fee to be placed on the list in order to prevent telemarketers from contacting them. Currently, this fee is $5.00 per telephone number. Therefore, a financial burden is placed on the telephone subscriber in order for the telephone subscriber to avoid being bothered by unwanted telephone calls.
A service known as Caller-ID is now available which allows a party receiving a telephone call to visually review the telephone number and/or the identity of the calling party before deciding whether to accept the telephone call. However, Caller-ID has several disadvantages. First of all, when the subscriber receives a telephone call, the subscriber must visually review the caller's identity and/or the telephone number on the display of the Caller-ID device to determine whether he or she wishes to accept the telephone call. Therefore, the telephone rings regardless of whether or not the subscriber is interested in accepting the call, which interrupts the subscriber. Although the Caller-ID service does provide the subscriber with the option of blocking telephone calls, it does not provide for billing the calling party a fee in order to connect the calling part with the subscriber.
Secondly, many telephone calls show up on the Caller-ID display as “unknown” or “private” numbers, thereby preventing the subscriber from ascertaining the telephone number and/or identity of the calling party. Therefore, the subscriber often feels compelled to accept the call when this message is displayed even though the subscriber does not know the telephone number and/or the identity of the calling party.
Recently, a service known as “Privacy Manager”, developed by Ameritech Corporation, solves some of the shortcomings of Caller-ID related to “unknown” and “private” numbers. Privacy Manager implements software which intercepts calls from “unknown”, “private”, “unavailable”, “out-of-area” and “blocked” numbers which are directed to persons subscribing to the “Privacy Manager” service. The software then causes the caller to be asked to record his or her name and then provides that information to the subscriber. The subscriber then decides whether he or she wishes to accept the call. Therefore, the caller is not connected to the subscriber until the subscriber has indicated that he or she will accept the call. If the caller does not provide the caller's name, the software causes the call to be disconnected.
One of the disadvantages of Privacy Manager is that the telephone rings and the subscriber must then decide whether to accept the call. Therefore, even if the subscriber decides not to accept the call, the subscriber has been inconvenienced by the call Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus that allows a subscriber to authorize certain callers to be connected to the subscriber and, on the other hand, which allows a subscriber to effectively block calls from unauthorized parties and/or selectively accept the unauthorized calls in exchange for some pecuniary benefit charged to the party initiating the call. In this way, a financial burden is not placed on the subscriber, but rather, is placed on the unauthorized caller. Furthermore, if the subscriber decides to accept an unauthorized call, the subscriber can, depending on how the fees are allocated, receive a portion of the fee charged to the telemarketer in return for being connected to the subscriber.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for allowing a telephone subscriber to selectively control which parties are allowed to be connected to the subscriber's telephone line when the parties place calls directed to the subscriber's telephone number. Preferably, the present invention is an optional service which a telephone subscriber has the option of requesting to be placed on his or her line by the local telephone company. In accordance with the present invention, the subscriber causes an authorization list to be generated which lists persons or parties who are allowed to be connected to the subscriber's telephone line.
When a caller places a telephone call to the subscriber's telephone number, a determination is made within the telephone network as to whether or not the caller is an authorized caller, i.e., as to whether or not the caller is listed on the authorization list. If the caller is an authorized caller, the caller is connected to the subscriber in the typical manner to allow the caller and the subscriber to communicate with each other. If the calling party is not on the list of authorized parties, preferably a fee is charged to the calling party in return for being connected to the subscriber.
The authorization list may be generated in a plurality of manners. In accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, the subscriber may simply call the local telephone company and orally provide the local telephone company with a list of authorized callers. Preferably, the list is maintained by the subscriber's local telephone company because the method and apparatus of the present invention are preferably implemented at the central office, which is typically owned and operated by the local telephone companies. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is not limited with respect to the location in the telephone network at which the present invention is implemented and thus is not limited with respect to the entity which maintains the authorization list. For example, the authorization list could be maintained by a long distance carrier.
In accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention, whenever the list is to be updated, e.g., whenever a telephone number is to be removed or added to the list, the subscriber simply calls the local telephone company (or other entity maintaining the list) and orally updates the list. A person at the local telephone company simply edits the list in accordance with the subscriber's requests. Also, if a caller was charged in return for being connected to the subscriber and the subscriber now wants to add the caller to the authorization list and/or delete the charge, the subscriber can orally request that the caller be added to the list and/or that the charge to the caller be deleted.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the processes of generating and updating the list are automated. In accordance with this embodiment of the present invention, a particular series of digits on the telephone keypad are assigned which indicate to the central office that a subscriber wants to generate an authorization list. When the central office detects the off-hook signal indicating that the subscriber's telephone is “off-hook”, the central office waits for the subscriber to enter digits
Council Michael O.
Santos Daniel J.
Barnie Rexford N.
Kuntz Curtis
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