Granted Patent B2

US 10,212,266 · App. 14/641,326 · Granted Feb 19, 2019

Abstract

Claims (31)

1. An automated method for determining the validity of an incoming phone call, the method comprising:

receiving an incoming phone call;

activating a controller in response to receipt of the incoming phone call, the controller generating a multi-digit code in response to the receipt of the incoming call, outputting an audible version of the multi-digit code to a caller for the incoming call, requesting the caller to input the multi-digit code, comparing the multi-digit code with a caller input, determining the call is invalid in response to a mismatch between the multi-digit code and the caller input, and terminating the phone call,

further comprising listing the directory number of the invalid call in a directory of calls that should not be accepted for further processing,

wherein the multi-digit code is a combination of letters forming a word, wherein the controller audibly outputs the word to the caller and instructs the caller to spell the word in his keypad using the numbers in his keypad,

wherein the combination of letters forming a word includes at least one letter that has at least two pronunciations increasing the level of cognition analysis by the caller, and

wherein the at least one letter has a pronunciation that changes based on the word in which it is included.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the controller

determining the call is valid in response to a match between multi-digit code and the caller input; and

processing the valid call with an internal voice recognition system.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein processing the valid call comprises transferring the call to an interactive voice response (IVR) call menu, call center, or call operator.

4. An automated method for determining the validity of an incoming phone call, the method comprising:

receiving an incoming phone call;

activating a controller in response to receipt of the incoming phone call, the controller generating a multi-digit code in response to the receipt of the incoming call, outputting an audible version of the multi-digit code to a caller for the incoming call, requesting the caller to input the multi-digit code, comparing the multi-digit code with a caller input, determining the call is invalid in response to a mis-match between the multi-digit code and the caller input, and terminating the phone call, and

wherein audibly outputting the multi-digit code further comprises audibly outputting a combination of numbers, wherein each number in the combination is individually relayed, compared, and matched, before the next number is relayed, compared, and matched.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating a multi-digit code further comprises generating specific digits randomly, pseudo-randomly, or from a secure data pool.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

searching the directory of calls for a telephone number corresponding to an incoming call; and

declining the call in response to finding the incoming call number listed in the directory of calls.

7. A telecommunications system for determining the validity of incoming phone calls, the system comprising:

a controller that identifies an incoming call, generates a multi-digit code and audibly outputs the multi-digit code to a caller placing the incoming call along with audible instructions requesting the caller to input the multi-digit code,

wherein the controller compares a caller input in response to the audible instructions with the multi-digit code, determines the call is invalid in response to a mis-match between the multi-digit code and the caller input, and terminates the invalid call, and

further comprising a directory of calls to not be accepted for further processing, wherein the controller adds the incoming telephone number to the directory when the call is identified as invalid,

wherein the multi-digit code is a combination of letters forming a word, wherein the controller audibly outputs the word to the caller and instructs the caller to spell the word in his keypad using the numbers in his keypad,

wherein the combination of letters forming a word includes at least one letter that has at least two pronunciations increasing the level of cognition analysis by the caller, and

wherein the at least one letter has a pronunciation that changes based on the word in which it is included.

8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a voice recognition system, wherein the controller determines the call is valid in response to the caller input matching the multi-digit code, and wherein an internal voice recognition system processes the valid call.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the internal voice recognition system transfers the call to a call menu, call center, or call operator.

10. The system claim 7 , wherein the multi-digit code further comprises a combination of numbers, wherein the controller is configured to relay, compare, and match each number in the combination individually before the next number in the combination is relayed, compared, and matched.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to generate the multi-digit code by generating specific digits randomly, pseudo-randomly, or from a secure data pool.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to search the directory of calls for a telephone number corresponding to an incoming call, and decline the call in response to finding telephone number listed in the directory of calls.

Assignments (9)