Systems and methods of intercepting telephony communications to provide information to communicants
View Patent ↗During setup of a telephony communication between a calling and a called party, a check is made to determine is a special message or information should be played to the calling or called party before the telephony communication is established between the calling and called parties. If so, the message or information is delivered to the party as early media. Systems and methods embodying the invention may track which messages and information have been played to individual parties to thereby avoid delivering the same message or information more than once.
1. A method of providing information to at least one of a calling party and a called party while a telephony communication is being setup between the calling party and the called party, comprising:
receiving a call setup request for the purpose of connecting the calling party to the called party;
initiating call setup procedures to connect the calling party to the called party;
determining whether to provide information relevant to the telephony communication being setup to at least one of the calling party and the called party while the call setup procedures are ongoing and before the telephony communication is established between the calling party and the called party, wherein the determination is based on at least one characteristic associated with at least one of the calling party and the called party;
tracking a number of times the information relevant to the telephony communication being setup has been provided to at least one of the calling party and the called party;
providing information relevant to the telephony communication being setup to at least one of the calling party and the called party before the telephony communication is established between the calling party and the called party based on the result of the determining step and when the number of times is below a specified value; and
preventing the information relevant to the telephony communication being setup from being provided to at least one of the calling party and the called party when the number of times exceeds the specified value.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one characteristic comprises at least one of an identifier, an identity, a location or a characteristic of the called party.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one characteristic comprises at least one of an identifier, an identity, a location or a characteristic of the calling party.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving step comprises receiving an identifier associated with the called party as part of the setup request, and wherein the determining step is based on the received identifier associated with the called party.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the received identifier is a telephone number associated with the called party.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises:
obtaining information about the calling party based on information contained in the received call setup request; and
using the obtained information to determine whether to provide information to at least one of the calling party and the called party.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises:
obtaining information about the called party based on information contained in the received call setup request; and
using the obtained information to determine whether to provide information to at least one of the calling party and the called party.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the obtained information includes a location of the called party.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises determining whether the calling party has already been provided with a particular piece of information at least once in the past.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises:
determining an identity of the calling party; and
consulting a message tracking unit to determine whether the calling party has already been provided with a particular piece of information at least once in the past.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising recording the fact that the calling party has been provided with a particular piece of information after the piece of information has been provided to the calling party.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing step comprises performing an interactive voice response system for at least one of the calling party or the called party.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises determining whether to provide information to the calling party while the telephony communication is being setup, and wherein the providing step comprises providing information to the calling party before the telephony communication is established between the calling party and the called party based on the result of the determining step.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises determining whether to provide information to the called party while the telephony communication is being setup, and wherein the providing step comprises providing information to the called party before the telephony communication is established between the calling party and the called party based on the result of the determining step.
15. A system for providing information to at least one of a calling party and a called party while a telephony communication is being setup between the calling party and the called party, comprising:
means for receiving a call setup request for the purpose of connecting the calling party to the called party;
means for initiating call setup procedures to connect the calling party to the called party;
means for determining whether to provide information relevant to the telephony communication being setup to at least one of the calling party and the called party while the call setup procedures are ongoing and before the telephony communication is established between the calling party and the called party, wherein the determination is based on at least one characteristic associated with at least one of the calling party and the called party;
means for tracking a number of times the information relevant to the telephony communication being setup has been provided to at least one of the calling party and the called party;
means for providing information relevant to the telephony communication being setup to at least one of the calling party and the called party before the telephony communication is established between the calling party and the called party based on the determination made by the determining means and when the number of times is below a specified value; and
means for preventing the information relevant to the tele bony communication being setup from being provided to at least one of the calling party and the called party when the number of times exceeds the specified value.
16. A system for providing information to at least one of a calling party and a called party while a telephony communication is being setup between the calling party and the called party, comprising:
an intercept determination unit that receives information about a call setup request that has been received for the purpose of connecting the calling party to the called party, initiates call setup procedures to connect the calling party to the called party, determines whether to provide information relevant to the telephony communication being setup to at least one of the calling party and the called party while the call setup procedures are ongoing and before the telephony communication is established between the calling party and the called party, wherein the determination is based on at least one characteristic associated with at least one of the calling party and the called party, and tracks a number of times the information relevant to the telephony communication being setup has been provided to at least one of the calling party and the called party; and
a message playing unit that provides information relevant to the telephony communication being setup to at least one of the calling party and the called party before the telephony communication is established between the calling party and the called party based on the determination made by the intercept determination unit and when the number of times is below a specified value, and prevents the information relevant to the telephony communication being setup from being provided to at least one of the calling party and the called party when the number of times exceeds the specified value.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one characteristic comprises at least one of an identifier, an identity, a location or a characteristic of the called party.
18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one characteristic comprises at least one of an identifier, an identity, a location or a characteristic of the calling party.
19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the intercept determination unit receives an identifier associated with the called party as part of the setup request, and wherein the determination about whether to provide information to at least one of the calling party and the called party is based on the received identifier associated with the called party.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the received identifier is a telephone number associated with the called party.
21. The system of claim 16 , wherein the intercept determination unit obtains information about the calling party based on information contained in the received call setup request, and wherein the intercept determination unit uses the obtained information to determine whether to provide information to at least one of the calling party and the called party.
22. The system of claim 16 , wherein the intercept determination unit obtains information about the called party based on information contained in the received call setup request, and wherein the intercept determination unit uses the obtained information to determine whether to provide information to at least one of the calling party and the called party.
23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the obtained information includes a location of the called party.
24. The system of claim 16 , wherein the intercept determination unit determines whether the calling party has already been provided with a particular piece of information at least once in the past.
25. The system of claim 16 , wherein the intercept determination unit determines an identity of the calling party, and consults a message tracking unit to determine whether the calling party has already been provided with a particular piece of information at least once in the past.
26. The system of claim 16 , further comprising a message tracking unit that records the fact that the calling party has been provided with a particular piece of information after the piece of information has been provided to the calling party.
27. The system of claim 16 , wherein the message playing unit causes an interactive voice response system to interact with at least one of the calling party or the called party.
28. The system of claim 16 , wherein the intercept determination unit determines whether to provide information to the calling party while the telephony communication is being setup, and wherein the message playing unit provides information to the calling party before the telephony communication is established between the calling party and the called party based on the determination made by the intercept determination unit.
29. The system of claim 16 , wherein the intercept determination unit determines whether to provide information to the called party while the telephony communication is being setup, and wherein the message playing unit provides information to the called party before the telephony communication is established between the calling party and the called party based on the determination made by the intercept determination unit.
30. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information relevant to the telephony communication being setup is information related to a service provider setting up the telephony communication.
31. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information relevant to the telephony communication being setup is information related to a cost of the communication that will be incurred if the communication is established between the calling party and the called party.
32. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information relevant to the telephony communication being setup is information related to an account maintained by a telephony service provide for at least one of the called party and the calling party.