Method and apparatus for screening calls from a telephony device

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a messaging system component that provides for a screening, of an incoming call from a telephony device, wherein the messaging system component is associated with a network; and

wherein the messaging system component conforms to a signaling protocol of the network to communicate with the network; and

wherein upon receipt of the incoming call the messaging system component employs a profile associated with a called telephony device to provide for the screening of the incoming call from the telephony device; and

wherein the profile comprises a) an email address, b) a plurality of numbers associated with the called telephony device, c) a Universal Resource Identifier (URI), and d) one or more filter rules; and

wherein the messaging system component performs a validation on a calling party number of another telephony device to ensure that a message for the called telephony device is being recorded.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the messaging system component is located in a peripheral relationship to the network, and wherein the peripheral relationship to the network allows for the addition of providing for the incoming call to be screened from the another telephony device without modification to an architecture associated with the network.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the architecture associated with the network comprises a signaling infrastructure; and

wherein the messaging system component that is located in a peripheral relationship to the network conforms to a signaling protocol associated with the signaling infrastructure; and

wherein the messaging system component allows for the screening of the incoming call from the another telephony device without modification to the signaling infrastructure associated with the network.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

telephony and signal processing hardware that conforms to the signaling protocol of the network, wherein a protocol stack employs the signaling protocol to communicate with the network without modification to a signaling infrastructure associated with the network.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising a screening engine, wherein the screening engine and the protocol stack bridge the incoming call to a screening call, allowing the incoming call to be screened by the another telephony device, and wherein the screening engine and the telephony and signal processing hardware serve to establish the screening call between the messaging system component and the another telephony device.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the screening engine and the protocol stack bridge the incoming call to the screening call in a listen-only mode that provides for a message to be screened from the telephony device in real-time.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein upon receipt of a trigger the screening engine and protocol stack bridge the incoming call to the screening call in a two-way mode that provides for an interactive session between the telephony device and a calling telephony device, and wherein the calling telephony device initiates the incoming call.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the called telephony device receives the incoming call, and wherein the screening engine comprises a screening outcall engine, and wherein the screening call comprises a screening outcall, and wherein a screening device comprises the telephony device; and

wherein the screening outcall engine and the telephony and signal processing hardware initiate the screening outcall to the screening device associated with the called telephony device; and

wherein the screening engine and the protocol stack bridge the incoming call to the screening outcall provide for the screening, of the incoming call, from the telephony device, and wherein the telephony device responds to the screening outcall.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the screening outcall comprises a respective messaging number, and wherein the messaging number identifies the screening outcall as a screening call.

10. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the screening engine comprises a screening in-call engine, and wherein the screening call comprises a screening in-call, and wherein the telephony device initiates the screening in-call to the messaging system component; and

wherein upon receipt of the screening in-call from the telephony device the screening in-call engine and the protocol stack bridge the incoming call to the screening-in call to provide for the screening of the incoming call from the telephony device.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the screening in-call comprises a screening number, and wherein the messaging system component associates the screening in-call with a mailbox of a called telephony device based on the screening number of the screening in-call.

12. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the screening call comprises a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the messaging system component provides for the screening, of the incoming call, by bridging the incoming call to a screening call, and wherein the telephony device is associated with the screening call.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a database that stores the profile associated with the called telephony device.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signaling protocol comprises Signaling System 7 (SS7) protocol.

16. A method, comprising the steps of:

providing for a screening, of an incoming call, from a telephony device by a messaging system component associated with a network; and

conforming to a signaling protocol of the network by the messaging system component to communicate with the network;

wherein upon receipt of the incoming call the messaging system component employs a profile associated with a called telephony device to provide for the screening of the incoming call from the telephony device; and

wherein the profile comprises a) an email address, b) a plurality of numbers associated with the called telephony device, c) a Universal Resource Identifier (URI), and d) one or more filter rules; and

wherein the messaging system component performs a validation on a calling party number of another telephony device to ensure that a message for the called telephony device is being recorded.

17. The method of claim 16 , comprising the step of:

bridging the incoming call to a screening call in a listen-only mode providing for the screening of the incoming call from the telephony device.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein a calling telephony device initiates the incoming call, comprising the steps of:

monitoring the screening call from the telephony device;

receiving a trigger from the telephony device;

bridging the incoming call to the screening call in a two-way mode providing for an interactive session between the telephony device and the calling telephony device.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the step of providing for the screening, of the incoming call, from the telephony device by the messaging system component associated with the network comprises the steps of:

retrieving the profile associated with the called telephony device of the incoming call from a database; and

employing the profile associated with the called telephony device, wherein the messaging system component provides for the screening, of the incoming call, by one of initiating a screening outcall and responding to a screening in-call.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein a screening device comprises the telephony device associated with the called telephony device, and wherein the screening call comprises a screening outcall, and wherein the step of providing for the screening, of the incoming call, from the telephony device by the messaging system component associated with the network comprises the steps of:

initiating the screening outcall to the screening devices associated with the called telephony device, wherein the called telephony device receives the incoming call; and

bridging the incoming call to the one screening outcall in a listen-only mode providing for the screening of the incoming call from the one screening device, wherein the one screening device responds to the screening outcall.

21. The method of claim 16 , wherein the screening call comprises a screening in-call, and wherein the step of providing for the screening of the incoming call from the telephony device by the messaging system component associated with the network comprises the steps of:

responding to the screening in-call initiated by the telephony device; and

bridging the incoming call to the screening in-call of the telephony device in a listen-only mode providing for the screening of the incoming call from the telephony device in real-time.

22. The method of claim 21 , comprising the step of:

employing a called party number of the screening in-call to associate the screening in-call to a mailbox of a called telephony device, wherein the called telephony device receives the incoming call.

23. The method of claim 16 , comprising the step of:

conforming by the messaging system component to Signaling System 7 (SS7) protocol of the network to communicate with the network, wherein conforming to the signaling protocol to provide for the screening of the incoming call by the telephony device requires no modification to a signaling infrastructure associated with the network.

24. A tangible computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing steps, comprising:

means in the one or more media for screening an incoming call from a telephony device by a messaging system component located in a peripheral relationship to a network;

means in the one or more media for conforming to a signaling protocol of the network by the messaging system component to communicate with the network;

means in the one or more media for retrieving a profile associated with a called telephony device of the incoming call from a database, wherein the profile comprises a) an email address, b) a plurality of numbers associated with the called telephony device, c) a Universal Resource Identifier (URI), and d) one or more filter rules; and

means in the one or more media for employing the profile associated with the called telephony device, wherein the messaging system component provides for the screening, of the incoming call, by one of initiating a screening outcall and responding to a screening in-call;

wherein the messaging system component performs a validation on a calling party number of another telephony device to ensure that a message for the called telephony device is being recorded.

25. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the called telephony device is a personal computer.