Filtering unsolicited incoming calls

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10659606-B2
Application number	US-201816154094-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 8, 2018
Priority date	Oct 8, 2018
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

A mechanism for filtering communication including receiving an incoming call from a calling party, the incoming call being directed to a called party. The mechanism further comprises obtaining calling party information comprising a value of at least one descriptive parameter of the calling party and obtaining historical called party information relating to past activities of the called party. One or more call-handling rules are generated based on the historical called party information, each call-handling rule defining how to handle an incoming call based on a descriptive parameter of a calling party. The calling party information is processed according to the one or more call-handling rules to determine how to handle the received incoming call.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for handling calls, the method comprising:
receiving an incoming call from a calling party, the incoming call being directed to a called party;
determining the calling party is unknown to the called party;
obtaining, in response to determining the calling party is unknown, calling party information comprising at least one descriptive parameter of the calling party and a value for each of the at least one descriptive parameter;
obtaining historical called party information related to a plurality of past activities of the called party, wherein the plurality of past activity includes a recent activity;
generating one or more call-handling rules based on the historical called party information, each call-handling rule defining how to handle the incoming call based on the at least one descriptive parameter of the calling party, wherein generating the one or more call handling rules comprises:
identifying a first descriptive parameter and a first value corresponding to the first descriptive parameter;
determining a first permissible value of the first descriptive parameter, wherein the first permissible value is related to the recent activity, and wherein the recent activity occurred within a predetermined period of time; and
defining the one or more call-handling rules that the incoming call is to be permitted in response to the first value of the first descriptive parameter of the calling party matching the first permissible value of the first descriptive parameter; and

processing the incoming call based on the calling party information and the one or more call-handling rules to determine how to handle the incoming call.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the incoming call comprises:
evaluating the first value of the first descriptive parameter of the calling party against the one or more call-handling rules to determine whether to permit the incoming call.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
in response to determining that the incoming call is to be permitted, selecting the calling party information to be provided to the called party; and
providing the incoming call and the selected calling party information to the called party.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one descriptive parameter is selected from the group consisting of:
a name of the calling party, a location associated with the calling party, a business name associated with the calling party, a business function associated with the calling party, a contact number of the calling party, a contact address of the calling party, and a contact electronic message address of the calling party.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of past activities of the called party is selected from the group consisting of:
location history, electronic message history, internet search history, call history, social media history, notes, reminders, and calendar entries.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the one or more call-handling rules comprises a rule defining that the incoming call is to be permitted in response to the value of the descriptive parameter of the calling party satisfying the rule, wherein the descriptive parameter is selected from the group consisting of:
a visited location of the called party, a sender of an electronic message received by the called party, a recipient of an electronic message sent by the called party, a subject of an electronic message of the called party, content of an electronic message of the called party, an internet search made by the called party, a result of an internet search made by the called party, a descriptive parameter of a call made by the called party, a descriptive parameter of a call received by the called party, a social media user followed by the called party, content of a note generated by the called party, and a subject of a reminder defined by the called party.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the calling party information comprises:
searching a database based on an identifier number associated with the incoming call; and

in response to identifying a database entry for the identifier, retrieving a first value of a first descriptive parameter of the calling party from the database entry.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
searching the internet based on the retrieved value of the first descriptive parameter of the calling party; and
based on the internet search results, retrieving a second value of a second descriptive parameter of the calling party.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to determining that the incoming call is to be denied, providing the incoming call to a voicemail service.

10. A computer program product for handling calls, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processing unit to cause the processing unit to perform a method comprising:
receiving an incoming call from a calling party, the incoming call being directed to a called party;
determining the calling party is unknown to the called party;
obtaining, in response to determining the calling party is unknown, calling party information comprising at least one descriptive parameter of the calling party and a value for each of the at least one descriptive parameter;
obtaining calling party information comprising at least one descriptive parameter of the calling party and a value for each of the at least one descriptive parameter;
obtaining historical called party information related to a plurality of past activities of the called party, wherein the plurality of past activity includes a recent activity;
generating one or more call-handling rules based on the historical called party information, each call-handling rule defining how to handle the incoming call based on the at least one descriptive parameter of the calling party, wherein generating the one or more call-handling rules comprises:
identifying a first descriptive parameter and a first value corresponding to the first descriptive parameter;
determining a first permissible value of the first descriptive parameter, wherein the first permissible value is related to the recent activity, and wherein the recent activity occurred within a predetermined period of time; and
defining the one or more call-handling rules that the incoming call is to be permitted in response to the first value of the first descriptive parameter of the calling party matching the first permissible value of the first descriptive parameter; and

processing the incoming call based on the calling party information and the one or more call-handling rules to determine how to handle the incoming call.

11. A system for handling calls comprising:
a processor; and
a computer-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the processor and storing program instructions which, when executed by the processor, are configured to cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
receiving an incoming call from a calling party, the incoming call being directed to a called party;
determining the calling party is unknown to the called party;
obtaining, in response to determining the calling party is unknown, calling party information comprising at least one descriptive parameter of the calling party and a value for each of the at least one descriptive parameter;
obtaining historical called party information related to a plurality of past activities of the called party, wherein the plurality of past activity includes a recent activity;
generating one or more call-handling rules based on th

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Thomas Caroline J
• Waterton Thomas J
• White Liam
• Vines Joshua E

Classifications

• H04M1/573

  Line monitoring circuits for detecting caller identification · CPC title

• H04M3/53308

  Message originator indirectly connected to the message centre, e.g. after detection of busy or absent state of a called party · CPC title

• H04M3/541

  based on information specified by the calling party · CPC title

• H04M1/663

  Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set · CPC title

• H04M1/575

  Means for retrieving and displaying personal data about calling party · CPC title