Title of Invention

METHOD FOR PROTECTION AGAINST UNDESIRABLE TELEMARKETING ADVERTISEMENTS FOR COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

Abstract

The invention concerns a method, whereby a first list and a second list (11, L2) of identifications (id, rn) are established, with which a telemarketing advertisement or no undesirable telemarketing advertisement (spam) is expected. The identification (id, rn) of the caller an incoming call (call) is compared to the identifications (id, rn) in the lists (L1, L2). If the identification (id, rn) of the call (call) is not found in the lists (L1, L2), the call (call) is routed to a call processing (CALL-C) which enables the reception of a telemarketing advertisement (spam) to ascertained and, based on the result of that determination, the lists (L1, L2) are correspondingly updated. The calls (call) for which the identification (id, rn) of the caller is recorded in the second list (L2) are routed to the called party and the calls for which the identification (id, rn) of the caller is recorded in the first list (L1) are rejected. Such protection against telemarketing (spam) is particularly efficient in the context of an industrial operation with numerous human resources and for lines on which several calls can be simultaneously carried.

Full Text

In the case both of conventional telephone networks employing time-division multiplexing and of internet telephony, users are increasingly confronted with undesired telephone advertising - referred to in technical circles also as spam. Said undesired telephone advertising is executed by automatic callers with the aid of which call numbers are dialed randomly or selectively, with its being attempted by means of stored, pre-established voice information to sell the called user goods or services or to induce the user to call back to an expensive premium service having in Germany, for example, the prefix 0190. One possible way of partially protecting oneself against undesired telephone advertising is to use what is known in technical circles as the "Robinson list". Users can have themselves enrolled in the Robinson list administered by the "Deutscher Direkt-Marketing-Verband", meaning the German Direct Marketing Association, to prevent the advertising companies belonging to that association from sending the enrolled users any telephone advertising or from faxing or e-mailing them any advertising material. It must, though, be noted that the use of such lists by said advertising companies is voluntary and that not all advertising companies are members of that association. Moreover, said Robinson list is effective in Germany only, meaning that telephone advertising communicated from abroad cannot be prevented thereby. Another possible way of preventing undesired advertising is to loop an automatic answering machine into each incoming call. The disadvantage of said method is an unnecessary use of resources (trunk lines, memory) on the called party's side. Furthermore, the caller's objective of a callback may still be achieved via said method with a time delay. US 2003/0023736 A1 discloses a method and a system for filtering messages wherein it is determined on the basis of stored authorization criteria and message criteria of received messages whether the received message is authorized or not. An unauthorized sender is then displayed and the sender attempts to meet the authorization criteria. The authorization filter uses a blacklist and a whitelist in which the unauthorized and authorized senders are and will be recorded. US 5,371,787 describes an answer detector device by which a call to a subscriber is controlled and in which it is analyzed whether the call was answered by an answering machine or by a person. The object of the invention is to provide better protection against calls containing telephone advertising or spam. Said object is achieved by means of the features of claim 1. What can be seen as a major aspect of one inventive method is that a first and second list of identifications is provided for which undesired telephone advertising respectively is or is not to be expected and that the caller's identification in an incoming call is compared with the identifications contained in said lists. If a call arrives in the case of which the caller's identification is not contained in the lists, the call will be directed to a call handler with the aid of which an examination will be conducted to determine whether telephone advertising is being received. The lists will be updated accordingly depending on the examination result. According to a major aspect of a further inventive method, after the lists have been updated, calls in the case of which the caller's identification has been entered in the second list will be directed to the called user and calls in the case of which the caller's identification has been entered in the first list will be rejected. A call without identification will be directed to the call handler and the call will be directed to the called party or rejected depending on the examination result. What can be seen as a major advantage of the invention is that the saving or reduction in the time taken to detect and listen to telephone advertising will, particularly in commercial enterprises, result in more efficient use being able to be made of important personnel resources. Through the rejection of calls in particular during the signaling phase, more efficient use can also be made of lines, particularly lines over which a plurality of calls are conducted simultaneously. The lines to the switches and hence also the operating costs can be reduced thereby. According to an advantageous development of the invention the call is examined by the call handler to determine whether it is being conducted by an automatic caller with automatically announced telephone advertising. That can advantageously be done by determining in the call handler on the basis of the ratio of pauses in speech to speech duration in the received voice information whether the call in progress is being conducted by an automatic caller with automatically announced telephone advertising. A speech interaction with the caller is alternatively performed by the call handler, with a pre-defined spoken response to a spoken inquiry being expected and the call being determined to be one with telephone advertising if the caller fails to make an appropriate spoken response. It can thanks to said advantageous developments be determined at little economic expense whether an automatic caller is calling that wishes to convey telephone advertising or whether a user, which is to say a person, is calling. The invention is provided particularly advantageously in a call switch, private branch exchange, or Softswitch equipped with call handling, because the lists and call handling will then respectively be maintained and performed centrally for a plurality of users and a particularly economic implementation of the invention achieved thereby. Further advantageous developments of the invention may be derived from the dependent claims. The invention is explained below with reference to two drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a topology within which the invention can be realized, and Figure 2 is a flowchart showing how an incoming call is handled. Figure 1 shows a network topology within which the inventive method can be employed. Connected to a switch device, in the exemplary embodiment a private branch exchange PBX, referred to below as a PBX, are terminals EG of users TLN, with said terminals EG being connected via an analog a/b interface a/b or a digital ISDN interface SO, including the respective signaling procedures, to the PBX. The PBX is furthermore linked via an interface to a local network LAN -referred to below as a LAN -, to which further terminals EG can be connected, with an internet protocol being provided in the LAN. Connected as terminals EG to the a/b interface and SO interface a/b, SO are telephones, in the exemplary embodiment special telephones for PBXs, and to the LAN, special internet telephones or personal computers having a telephone function. Provided in the PBX is a spam routine Spam-R or a routine for protecting against telephone advertising. Two lists L1, L2 are implemented in said routine, with identifications id in the case of which the assigned users are implemented by means of automatic callers - not shown - and said automatic callers attempt to send any users telephone advertising having been or being entered in the first list L1. A second list is implemented in the spam routine Spam-R, with identifications rn in the case of which the assigned users are not automatic callers with undesired advertising having been or being entered in said list L2. The spam routine Spam-R furthermore contains a call handler CALL-C with the aid of which calls are handled whose caller identifications id have been entered neither in the first nor in the second list L1, L2. Said identifications id can be call numbers of the telephone networks or they can be internet addresses of internet users having a telephone function. The PBX is additionally equipped with interfaces for connecting to a public network, in particular an operator's telephone network FE, and/or for connecting to the internet IN - indicated respectively in Figure 1 by the references FE, IN. Let it be assumed for the exemplary embodiment that calls (call) with telephone advertising spam and without telephone advertising arrive from the telephone network FE or internet IN - indicated in Figure 1 by the reference call (spam). Based on the above explanations, a flow of the invention is illustrated using the flowchart in Figure 2. The identification id of the caller or, as the case may be, the calling user TIN is first sought in an incoming call (call). The caller's identification id is usually transmitted within the scope of call signaling - for example CLIP, or internet address, or Inter-Exchange Signaling System No. 7. Let it be assumed for the explanation of the invention in Figure 2 that the identifications id have been indicated as call numbers, with these being referenced rn in Figure 2. When the caller's call number rn has been determined, it will be compared with the call numbers rn in the first list L1. The call (call) will be rejected if contained in the first list because it is a call (call) with telephone advertising. If the caller's call number rn is not contained in the first list L1, the second list L2 will be checked for the presence of the call number rn. If the call number rn is found in the second list L2, the incoming call (call) will be directed to the addressed user TLN of the PBX or, as the case may be, switched through by the PBX or LAN. If the caller's call number rn does not appear in the second list L2 either, or if no call number rn at all has been communicated (CLIR), then the call (call) will be directed with the aid of the PBX to the call handler CALL-C. The incoming call (call) will be examined therein to determine whether it is being conducted by an automatic caller with automatically announced telephone advertising spam or whether it is an ordinary telephone call. The calls can be examined using a plurality of alternative methods. According to a first method, the ratio of pauses in speech to speech duration in the received voice information is ascertained. It can be determined relatively reliably based on said ratio whether the received voice information is voice information from a user TLN or from an automatic caller with telephone advertising spam. That is possible because the pauses in speech are much shorter in the case of calling devices or, as the case may be, automatic callers and the speech durations are longer than in the case of calls from users or, as the case may be, persons. With a further method for determining calls from automatic callers, speech samples of the incoming voice information are recorded and compared with already recorded speech samples from automatic callers with telephone advertising spam. If the samples largely tally, it may be assumed it is a call with telephone advertising spam. According to a further method for determining calls from automatic callers, the call handler CALL-C attempts to interact with the incoming call (call), meaning that an input request is conveyed in response to which certain inputs by the caller are expected. If the caller does not respond, it may be assumed it is a call with telephone advertising spam. Depending on the examination results, the call number rn of the incoming call (call) will be entered in either the first or the second list L1, L2 - no entry will be made in the case of calls (call) not having a communicated call number rn - and the incoming call (call) will be either rejected or forwarded to the addressed user TLN or, as the case may be, to the addressed terminal EG or, as the case may be, switched through by the PBX or LAN. According to a variant not shown in Figure 2, a call (call) with telephone advertising spam can be directed to the addressed user TLN or, as the case may be, to the addressed terminal EG despite the examination in the call handler CALL-C. It is in that case provided for the call (call) to be directed back to the call handler CALL-C in order with the aid thereof to record speech samples of the telephone advertising spam. These can then be used within the scope of an examination of further calls (call) for a comparison with the speech samples those contain. Alternatively or as an additional measure it is possible, after a user TLN has determined a call (call) with telephone advertising spam, for the call number rn or, as the case may be, the identification id of the call (call) to be entered in the first list L1 by means of special inputs on the terminal EG of the user TLN, as a result of which if a further such call (call) arrives for said user TLN it will immediately be rejected. The invention is not restricted to this exemplary embodiment and can be used in any communication network offering discriminating identification or, as the case may be, addressing, with its therein being possible to employ different first and second lists for the different networks. Methods coordinated therewith for determining or, as the case may be, recognizing or ascertaining calls with telephone advertising are also possible, with its having to be taken into account that for transmitting non-voice information such as, for example, e-mails, automatic callers are normally used and that it is more difficult to detect advertising spam. We claim :- 1. A method for protecting against undesired telephone advertising, - wherein a first and second list (L1.L2) of identifications (id.rn) is provided for which undesired telephone advertising (spam) respectively is or is not to be expected, - wherein the caller's identification (id.rn) in an incoming call (call) is compared with the identifications (id.rn) contained in the lists (L1.L2), - wherein a call (call) in which the caller's identification (id,rn) is not contained in the lists (L1.L2) will be directed to a call handler (CALL-C), - wherein an examination will be conducted with the aid of the call handler (CALL-C) to determine whether advertising (spam) is being received, - wherein the lists (L1.L2) will be updated accordingly depending on the examination result, - wherein the calls (call) in which the caller's identification (id.rn) has been entered in the second list (L2) will be directed to the called party, and - wherein the calls (call) in which the caller's identification (id.rn) has been entered in the first list (L1) will be rejected, - wherein a call (call) without identification (id/rn) is directed to the call handler (CALL-C), and - wherein the call (call) will be directed to the called party or rejected depending on the examination result. 2. A method for protecting against undesired advertising 1 - wherein a first and second list (L1, L2) of identifications (id, rn) is provided for which undesired telephone advertising (spam) respectively is or is not to be expected, - wherein the caller's identification (id, rn) in an incoming call (call) is compared with the identifications (id, rn) contained in the lists (L1, L2), - wherein a call (call) in which the caller's identification (id, rn) is not contained in the lists (L1, L2) will be directed to a call handler (CALL-C), - wherein an examination will be conducted with the aid of the call handler (CALL-C) to determine whether advertising (spam) is being received, - wherein the lists (L1, L2) will be updated accordingly depending on the examination result, - wherein the calls (call) in which the caller's identification (id, rn) has been entered in the second list (L2) will be directed to the called party, and - wherein the calls (call) in which the caller's identification (id, rn) has been entered in the first list (L1) will be rejected. 3. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the advertising is represented by telephone advertising (spam). 4. The method as claimed in one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the identification (id, rn) has been indicated as a call number (rn) or an internet address. 5. The method as claimed in one of claims 1 to 4 wherein a call (call) not having an identification (id, rn) will be directed to the call handler (CALL-C). 6. The method as claimed in one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the call (call) is examined by the call handler (CALL-C) to determine whether it is being conducted by an automatic caller with automatically announced telephone advertising. 7. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein it is ascertained in the call handler (CALL-C) with the aid of the ascertained ratio of pauses in speech to speech duration in the received voice information whether the call (call) in progress is being conducted by an automatic caller with automatically announced telephone advertising (spam). 8. The method as claimed in claim 6 or 7 wherein a speech interaction with the caller is performed by the call handler (CALL-C), with a pre-defined spoken response to a spoken inquiry being expected and the call (call) being determined to be one with telephone advertising (spam) if the caller fails to make an appropriate spoken response. 9. The method as claimed in claim 6, 7, or 8 wherein speech samples of automatic callers with automatically announced telephone advertising (spam) are stored with the aid of the call handler (CALL-C), in that speech samples of a call (call) in progress are compared with the stored speech samples, and in that the call (call) in progress will be determined as being a call (call) either with or without telephone advertising (spam) depending on the result of the comparison. 10. The method as claimed in one of the preceding claims wherein an incoming call (call) with advertising (spam) arriving at the called party (TLN) will be directed by the called party (TLN) to the call handler (CALL-C) and in that signal samples or speech samples of said call (call) will be registered and stored in the call handler (CALL-C). 11. The method as claimed in one of the preceding claims wherein if an incoming call (call) with advertising (spam) arrives at the called party (TLN), the called party (TLN) will by means of an input cause the identification (id, rn) of the caller (TLN) to be entered in the first list (L1). 12. The method as claimed in one of the preceding claims wherein the lists (L1, L2) are compiled and updated and the calls (call) directed in a call switch, private branch exchange (PBX), or Softswitch equipped with a call handler (CALL-C). 13. A method for protecting against undesired telephone advertising substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

7339-delnp-2007-Abstract-(04-07-2013).pdf

7339-delnp-2007-abstract.pdf

7339-delnp-2007-Assignment-(04-03-2015).pdf

7339-delnp-2007-Claims-(04-07-2013).pdf

7339-delnp-2007-claims.pdf

7339-delnp-2007-Correspondence Others-(04-03-2015).pdf

7339-delnp-2007-Correspondence Others-(04-07-2013).pdf

7339-delnp-2007-Correspondence Others-(23-07-2012).pdf

7339-delnp-2007-correspondence-others-1.pdf

7339-DELNP-2007-Correspondence-Others.pdf

7339-delnp-2007-description (complete).pdf

7339-delnp-2007-Drawings-(04-07-2013).pdf

7339-delnp-2007-drawings.pdf

7339-delnp-2007-form-1.pdf

7339-delnp-2007-form-18.pdf

7339-delnp-2007-form-2.pdf

7339-delnp-2007-form-3.pdf

7339-delnp-2007-form-5.pdf

7339-delnp-2007-GPA-(23-07-2012).pdf

7339-delnp-2007-pct-304.pdf

7339-delnp-2007-Petition-137-(04-03-2015).pdf

7339-delnp-2007-Petition-137-(04-07-2013).pdf

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