Granted Patent B1

US 12,652,351 · App. 19/289,780 · Granted Jun 9, 2026

Inventors: William Gentry (Raleigh, NC); Ankush Gangwani (Aldie, VA)

Assignee: Bandwidth Inc.

H04M3/436H04M3/2281H04M3/42025

Abstract

Claims (49)

1 . A method for authenticating VoiceBot calls prior to delivering the VoiceBot calls to a call recipient, wherein a VoiceBot call is a call made by an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solution that interacts with users through spoken language on a call, the method comprising:

receiving an incoming VoiceBot call at a VoiceBot call processor of an incoming call processing module in communication with network equipment;

authenticating the received VoiceBot call at an authentication module in the VoiceBot call processor; and

if the VoiceBot call is authenticated, incorporating an indication of authentication into the VoiceBot call such that the indication of authentication is accessible to the call recipient before the VoiceBot call is answered by the recipient, wherein the indication of authentication indicates legitimacy of the VoiceBot call,

wherein the incoming call processing module further communicates with a centralized authority and/or a centralized network database, the centralized authority authorizes various attributes associated with the VoiceBot call to provide the indication of authentication to the call recipient and the centralized network database delivers the indication of authentication to the call recipient using out-of-band signaling to deliver the indication of authentication to the recipient separate from information delivered within call control signaling.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein authenticating comprises:

communicating with the centralized authority that issues tokens associated with VoiceBot calls, wherein the centralized authority communicates with a VoiceBot ecosystem or an associated telephony network to establish a credential that takes the form of the issued tokens;

receiving an authentication token from the centralized authority; and

incorporating the authentication token into call control signaling of the VoiceBot call,

wherein the indication of authentication comprises the authentication token received from the centralized authority.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein communicating with the centralized authority is performed in a VoiceBot ecosystem associated with the call recipient.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

receiving the VoiceBot call having the authentication token associated therewith;

communicating with the centralized authority to assess legitimacy of the incoming VoiceBot call; and

if authenticated, delivering the VoiceBot call to the call recipient with an indication that the VoiceBot call has been authenticated.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein communicating further comprises communicating with the centralized authority to assess legitimacy of the incoming VoiceBot call from a device associated with the recipient.

6 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising, if the VoiceBot call is not authenticated, delivering the VoiceBot call to the call recipient without an indication of authentication.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein authenticating comprises:

formulating a flag indicating that the VoiceBot call is authenticated, wherein the indication of authentication comprises the flag; and

including the flag in call control signaling of the VoiceBot call.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein formulating the flag comprises formulating the flag in a VoiceBot ecosystem and/or a network associated with the call recipient.

9 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving the VoiceBot call having the flag;

recognizing the flag as an indication of authentication; and

delivering the VoiceBot Call to the call recipient if the flag is recognized.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the receiving, recognizing and delivering is performed at a device associated with the call recipient.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein authenticating comprises:

depositing a credential for the VoiceBot call in the centralized network database; and

verifying that the credential is present in the centralized network database before delivering the VoiceBot call to the recipient, wherein the indication of authentication comprises presence of the credential in the centralized network database.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the verifying is performed at a device associated with the recipient.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving is preceded by:

initiating the VoiceBot call in a VoiceBot ecosystem; and

delivering the incoming call to the VoiceBot call processor.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the VoiceBot call processor is located in a telephone network associated with the recipient and/or in a VoiceBot ecosystem.

15 . A system for authenticating VoiceBot calls prior to delivering the VoiceBot calls to a call recipient, wherein a VoiceBot call is a call made by an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solution that interacts with users through spoken language on a call, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium to store a set of instructions for execution by the processor, the set of instructions to cause the processor to:

receive an incoming VoiceBot call at a VoiceBot call processor of an incoming call processing module in communication with network equipment;

authenticate the received VoiceBot call at an authentication module in the VoiceBot call processor; and

if the VoiceBot call is authenticated, incorporate an indication of authentication into the VoiceBot call such that the indication of authentication is accessible to the call recipient before the VoiceBot call is answered by the recipient, wherein the indication of authentication indicates legitimacy of the VoiceBot call,

wherein the incoming call processing module further communicates with a centralized authority and/or a centralized network database, the centralized authority authorizes various attributes associated with the VoiceBot call to provide the indication of authentication to the call recipient and the centralized network database delivers the indication of authentication to the call recipient using out-of-band signaling to deliver the indication of authentication to the recipient separate from information delivered within call control signaling.

16 . A computer for authenticating VoiceBot calls prior to delivering the VoiceBot calls to a call recipient, wherein a VoiceBot call is a call made by an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solution that interacts with users through spoken language on a call, the computer comprising:

one or more memories;

one or more processors, communicatively coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors configured to:

receive an incoming VoiceBot call at a VoiceBot call processor of an incoming call processing module in communication with network equipment;

authenticate the received VoiceBot call at an authentication module in the VoiceBot call processor; and

if the VoiceBot call is authenticated, incorporate an indication of authentication into the VoiceBot call such that the indication of authentication is accessible to the call recipient before the VoiceBot call is answered by the recipient, wherein the indication of authentication indicates legitimacy of the VoiceBot call,

wherein the incoming call processing module further communicates with a centralized authority and/or a centralized network database, the centralized authority authorizes various attributes associated with the VoiceBot call to provide the indication of authentication to the call recipient and the centralized network database delivers the indication of authentication to the call recipient using out-of-band signaling to deliver the indication of authentication to the recipient separate from information delivered within call control signaling.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein authenticating comprises authenticating an artificial intelligence VoiceBot system as the calling party.

Assignments (1)

References Cited (10)