Methods for blocking repeated occurrences of nuisance calls
View Patent ↗Methods are disclosed for reducing occurrences of nuisance calls. A called party identifies a call as an undesired (or “nuisance”) call after answering, screening or reviewing recorded messages of calls. In one embodiment, the called party receives or screens a call and informs a terminating office that it desires to block future calls from the calling party. The terminating office determines the directory number of the calling party and causes the directory number to be added to a blocking database. In another embodiment, a called party reviews one or more prior messages recorded by a messaging system (e.g., answering machine or voicemail system) and flags a message (e.g., message #2) as originating from an undesired caller. The messaging system determines the directory number of the undesired caller and instructs a service provider to add the directory number to a blocking database. Thereafter, in either or both embodiments, the blocking database is consulted upon receiving an incoming call and, if the call is from a directory number in the blocking database, the call is ended or routed to an announcement without ringing the called party phone.
1. A method comprising the steps of:
receiving information indicating a called party, responsive to receiving a call from a calling party, desires to block future calls from the calling party;
determining a first directory number of the calling party;
responsive to determining the first directory number, consulting a database to identify at least a second directory number associated with the calling party, the first directory number and the at least a second directory number thereby defining a plurality of blocking numbers associated with the calling party; and
blocking one or more further occurrences of calls to the called party from any of the plurality of blocking numbers associated with the calling party.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving information comprises receiving a DTMF signal from the called party.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of receiving a DTMF signal comprises receiving the DTMF signal during the call from the calling party.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of receiving a DTMF signal comprises receiving the DTMF signal after the call is ended but before the called party receives another call.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving information comprises receiving a directory number of the calling party from the called party.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving information comprises receiving a desired duration of time for blocking the future calls from the calling party.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving information comprises receiving a desired time window for blocking the future calls from the calling party.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of blocking comprises:
adding the first directory number and the at least a second directory number to a blocking database, the first directory number and the at least a second directory number thereby defining blocking numbers;
determining a calling party directory number of at least a first further call directed to the called party;
consulting the blocking database to determine if the calling party directory number of the first further call is a blocking number; and
blocking the first further call if the calling party directory number is a blocking number.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of adding blocking numbers to a blocking database includes indicating an association of the blocking numbers with the called party.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of blocking comprises preventing ringing of the called party for one or more further calls from any of the blocking numbers.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of blocking comprises preventing ringing of the called party and directing the calling party to an announcement for one or more further calls from any of the blocking numbers.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining a first directory number comprises determining the first directory number is associated with a business:
the step of consulting a database comprising identifying at least a second directory number associated with the business, the first directory number and the at least a second directory number thereby defining a plurality of blocking numbers associated with the business; and
the step of blocking comprising blocking one or more further occurrences of calls to the called party from any of the plurality of blocking numbers associated with the business.
13. A method comprising the steps of:
receiving information indicating a called party, responsive to reviewing one or more caller messages, desires to block future calls from an undesired caller;
determining a first directory number of the undesired caller;
responsive to determining the first directory number, consulting a database to identify at least a second directory number associated with the undesired caller, the first directory number and the at least a second directory number thereby defining a plurality of blocking numbers associated with the undesired caller; and
blocking one or more further occurrences of calls from to the called party from any of the plurality of blocking numbers associated with the undesired caller.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of receiving information comprises receiving, from the called party, by a messaging system having recorded the caller messages, indicia of a message of the one or more messages that is associated with the undesired caller, the message thereby defining a flagged message.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of receiving information comprises receiving, by the messaging system, a message number of the flagged message.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of determining a first directory number comprises retrieving, by the messaging system, a directory number associated with the flagged message.