WO2000010318A1

WO2000010318A1 - A method and apparatus for determining whether a fee is to be charged to a party initiating a telephone call

Info

Publication number: WO2000010318A1
Application number: PCT/US1999/018183
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michael O. Council; Daniel J. Santos
Original assignee: Cbt Flint Partnership
Priority date: 1998-08-10
Filing date: 1999-08-10
Publication date: 2000-02-24
Also published as: AU5553899A; CA2340260A1; CA2340260C

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for determining whether a party initiating a telephone call is authorized by the recipient party to communicate with the recipient party. If the calling party is not authorized (34), a fee may be charged (37) to the calling party in order for communication to the recipient party to continue. Processing equipment located at the subscriber's central office is programmed to determine the identity (32) of the calling party and determine if the calling party is an authorized party to the communication recipient. This is done by comparing the calling parties identity (32) or telephone number to a pre-programmed list (34) of authorized calling parties associated with the called parties identifier or telephone number.

Description

A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING WHETHER A FEE IS TO BE CHARGED TO A PARTY INITIATING A TELEPHONE CALL

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to communications and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for determining whether a party making a telephone call or

10 sending an email message is to be charged a fee. More particularly, the method and apparatus of the present invention provide for determining whether a party initiating a telephone call or email communication is authorized by the party who is the target of the telephone call or email message. It the initiating party making the telephone call or sending the email message is not authorized by the target party, the initiating party may

15 be charged a fee in return for being allowed to communicate with the target party.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many businesses utilize telemarketing as a means of soliciting customers in order to promote or sell the company's products and/or services. Telephone

20 solicitations have become such an annoyance to many telephone subscribers that at least one State, namely Georgia, has enacted legislation intended to prevent companies or individuals from contacting telephone subscribers who have been placed on a list, referred to as the "No Call List", maintained by the Georgia Public Service Department. A fee is charged to any telephone subscriber wanting to be registered on

25 the list. Telephone solicitors are required to obtain the list and quarterly updates of registrants to the list and to pay an annual fee. If a telephone solicitor places a telephone call to anyone on the list, the telephone solicitor can be subjected to a fine. One of the disadvantages of using the "No Call List" is that subscribers must pay a fee to be placed on the list in order to prevent telemarketers from contacting

30 them. Currently, this fee is $5.00 per telephone number. Therefore, a financial burden is placed on the telephone subscriber in order for the telephone subscriber to avoid being bothered by unwanted telephone calls. A service known as Caller-ID is now available which allows a party receiving a telephone call to visually review the telephone number and/or the identity of the calling party before deciding whether to accept the telephone call. However, Caller-ID has several disadvantages. First of all, when the subscriber receives a telephone call, the subscriber must visually review the caller's identity and/or the telephone number on the display of the Caller-ID device to determine whether he or she wishes to accept the telephone call. Therefore, the telephone rings regardless of whether or not the subscriber is interested in accepting the call, which interrupts the subscriber. Although the Caller-ID service does provide the subscriber with the option of blocking telephone calls, it does not provide for billing the calling party a fee in order to connect the calling part with the subscriber.

Secondly, many telephone calls show up on the Caller-ID display as "unknown" or "private" numbers, thereby preventing the subscriber from ascertaining the telephone number and/or identity of the calling party. Therefore, the subscriber often feels compelled to accept the call when this message is displayed even though the subscriber does not know the telephone number and/or the identity of the calling party.

Recently, a service known as "Privacy Manager", developed by Ameritech Corporation, solves some of the shortcomings of Caller-LD related to "unknown" and "private" numbers. Privacy Manager implements software which intercepts calls from "unknown", "private", "unavailable", "out-of-area" and "blocked" numbers which are directed to persons subscribing to the "Privacy Manager" service. The software then causes the caller to be asked to record his or her name and then provides that information to the subscriber. The subscriber then decides whether he or she wishes to accept the call. Therefore, the caller is not connected to the subscriber until the subscriber has indicated that he or she will accept the call. If the caller does not provide the caller's name, the software causes the call to be disconnected.

One of the disadvantages of Privacy Manager is that the telephone rings and the subscriber must then decide whether to accept the call. Therefore, even if the subscriber decides not to accept the call, the subscriber has been inconvenienced by the call. Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus that allows a subscriber to authorize certain callers to be connected to the subscriber and, on the other hand, which allows a subscriber to effectively block calls from unauthorized parties and/or selectively accept the unauthorized calls in exchange for some pecuniary benefit charged to the party initiating the call. In this way, a financial burden is not placed on the subscriber, but rather, is placed on the unauthorized caller. Furthermore, if the subscriber decides to accept an unauthorized call, the subscriber can, depending on how the fees are allocated, receive a portion of the fee charged to the telemarketer in return for being connected to the subscriber. With respect to email communications, many companies and individuals are currently using email to solicit business. The receiving party often has never even spoken with the person sending the email message and has not even expressed an interest in doing business with the party sending the email message. Currently, when a subscriber of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) wants to check his or her electronic mail, the subscriber connects to the subscriber's ISP and any new mail is downloaded to the subscriber's computer, or data terminal equipment (DTE), via the subscriber's data communication equipment (DCE), e.g., a modem, which is coupled to the DTE. The subscriber may have to dial in to the ISP in order for these events to occur or the subscriber may be connected to a server that periodically connects with the ISP or that has a "nailed up" connection to the ISP to enable email for the subscriber to be downloaded to the server.

In each of these cases, email intended for the subscriber is ultimately downloaded from the ISP and displayed on a monitor comprised by the subscriber's DTE when the user checks to see whether he or she has received mail. The user normally must read the message in order to determine that the message is an unrequested and/or undesired message.

Oftentimes, people solicit business over the Internet by sending out email messages, which may be, for example, advertisements, to large numbers of people. The recipients of these messages often are not interested in receiving these messages. Sometimes these messages contain a large quantity of data and may take quite a bit of time to download. Furthermore, some of these messages contain data such as computer viruses that can adversely affect the subscriber's computer.

Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus that allow unwelcome or unsolicited email messages to be screened out so that they are not downloaded to the subscriber, or to allow the messages to be provided to the subscriber in return for charging a fee to the sender.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for allowing a telephone subscriber or ISP subscriber to selectively control which parties are allowed to communicate with the subscriber by either telephone or electronic mail (email). When a party makes a telephone call or sends an email message to a target party, a determination is made as to whether the initiating party is an authorized party. If so, the initiating party is allowed to communicate with the subscriber in the normal manner. If not, the initiating party may be charged a fee in return for being allowed to communicate with the target party.

The determination as to whether a party is an authorized party preferably can be accomplished in a many different ways. In accordance with one embodiment, an authorization list associated with the target party is checked to determine whether the initiating party is an authorized party. Therefore, if the telephone number or email address of the initiating party, depending on which mode of communications is used, is on an authorization list associated with the target party, the initiating party is allowed to communicate with the target party in the normal manner. If not, the initiating party may either be blocked from communicating with the target party or may be charged a fee in return for being allowed to communicate with the target party.

In accordance with an alternative embodiment, the communication being attempted by the initiating party may include an identifier indicating that the calling party is not an authorized party. For example, the identifier could indicate that the calling party is a telemarketer or a person soliciting business via email. This could be the case where the state and/or federal government have required, by statute or otherwise, that parties soliciting business via telephone or email be required to append the identifier to communications directed to target parties. In this case, the target party's authorization list could simply indicate whether or not the target party is willing to accept communications associated with the identifier. The identifier could be part or all of the initiating party's telephone number or email address or it could be a separate identifier. For example, a telemarketer initiating a telephone call could be required by law to dial a particular code when dialing a target party's telephone number. The telephone network would then identify the party as a telemarketer and then check to see whether the target party has authorized communications from telemarketers. If not, the initiating party could simply be blocked from communicating with the target party or could be charged a fee in return for being allowed to communicate with the target party.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, drawings and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a typical telephone network implementing common-channel signaling, commonly referred to as signaling system 7 (SS7).

Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the components of the central office shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart functionally demonstrating the method of the present invention in accordance with a first embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart functionally demonstrating the method of the present invention in accordance with a second embodiment. Fig. 5 is a block diagram of the switching module shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of the software and data stored in the switch memory of the switching module shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart showing the process performed by the switching module of Fig. 5 in determining whether a feature is to be activated or whether a call is to be routed. Fig. 8 is a flow chart illustrating the method of the present invention for modifying an existing authorization list in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a flow chart illustrating the method of the present invention in accordance with one embodiment for creating a new subscriber authorization list. Fig. 10 is a flow chart illustrating the method of the present invention for allowing the subscriber to automatically add the telephone number of the most recent unauthorized calling party to the subscriber's authorization list and/or which allows the fee that was charged to the caller to be deleted from the billing records.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram of an Internet network with which the present invention can be implemented.

Fig. 12 is a flow chart functionally demonstrating the method of the present invention in accordance with the preferred embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Fig. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a telephone system 1 in which the method and apparatus of the present invention may be implemented. For ease of illustration, only two customer premises 4 and 5 and the central offices 2 and 3 to which they are connected are shown in Fig. 1. Central offices 2 and 3 provide the switching operations for connecting a calling party located at a customer premises 5 with a subscriber located at another customer premises 4. A twisted, or copper, pair 6 connects the central office 2 to a telephone 8 located at the customer premises 4. The central office 2 is connected to central office 3 via a cable trunk 1 1. The central office 3 is connected to a telephone 9 located at customer premises 5 via a twisted, or copper, pair 7. Voice information is transmitted over trunk 11 between central offices 2 and 3.

Preferably, call signaling is accomplished in accordance with the common- channel signaling protocol, which is well known in the communications industry and commonly referred to as signaling system 7 (SS7). The common-channel signaling protocol utilizes a separate dedicated data channel to carry signaling information in the form of short packets of data. In accordance with this protocol, the packets of data contain call signaling information as well as the identification and/or telephone number of the calling party. These packets are transmitted between the signaling processors 13 and 15 via cable trunk 14. The signaling processors 13 and 15 determine the switching of the customer circuits to be performed by switching modules (not shown) located at the central offices 2 and 3 to cause the calling party located at customer premises 5 to ultimately be connected to the subscriber located at customer premises 4.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram which illustrates the central offices 2 and 3 in more detail. Each of the central offices comprise an administrative module and a plurality of switching modules. The functions of these components will be described with respect to central office 2. The administrative module 18 receives the call signaling information from the signaling processor 13 and causes the switching modules 20 to be switched to set up call sessions for telephones 21. The administrative module 18 also handles all billing tasks for the central office 2 and creates billing files that are ultimately dumped to a location designated by the telephone company where they are used to generate customers' bills. The administrative module comprises a computer (not shown) running software for performing all of these tasks. The administrative module 18 also comprises a memory device (not shown) in communication with the computer with for storing any files used by or generated by the computer and any other software needed by the computer for performing all of its tasks. The switching modules 20 perform the switching of the customer circuits.

Preferably, the method of the present invention is implemented in part by the switching modules 20 and in part by the administrative module 18. Each of the switching modules comprises a computer for performing the switching functions. This computer preferably is utilized in accordance with the present invention to determine whether the identity and/or telephone number of the calling party is on a list of parties authorized by the called parties. Each switching module 20 contains a list which corresponds to each of the called parties serviced by that particular switching module. Once this determination is made by the switching module 20, the switching module 20 takes the appropriate action. The administrative module 18 calculates all billing information relating to the fee to be charged to and collected from the calling party. This method of the present invention is shown in detail in Fig. 3 in accordance with a first embodiment. When a calling party initiates a telephone call, the call signaling information is decoded in the manner discussed above, as indicated at block 32. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the method and apparatus of the present invention apply to all types of communications devices which utilize the telephone network including, but not limited to, for example, analog telephones, digital telephones, cordless telephones, hand-held devices, facsimile machines, pagers, cellular telephones, etc. It will be understood by those skilled in the art the manner in which the method and apparatus of the present invention apply to all such devices. The information decoded at block 32 will include the calling party's telephone number, as well as the subscriber's telephone number. This information may also contain the identity of the calling party. Preferably, the subscriber's telephone number is used to generate a memory address, or a block of addresses, at which the subscriber's list of authorized calling parties is stored. The computer of the switching module 20 then compares the calling party's telephone number with the telephone numbers contained in the list, as indicated at blocks 33 and 34 and makes a determination as to whether the calling party's telephone number is contained on the list of authorized calling parties.

If so, the calling party is connected to the subscriber by the switching module without a fee being charged to the calling party's account, as indicated at block 35. If not, the calling party is charged a fee and the calling party is connected with the subscriber, as indicated at block 36. The calling party's billing account is then updated, as indicated at block 37. The administrative module 18 then calculates the percentage of the collected fee to be added to the subscriber's account, as indicated at block 38. The administrative module then updates the subscriber's billing account, as indicated at block 39.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the order in which steps 35 through 39 are performed is not critical to the present invention. For example, the operations occurring at block 37 may be performed prior to the calling party actually being connected to the subscriber. Similarly, the subscriber's account could be updated before the calling party's account is updated. Also, other determinations may also be made, such as, for example, whether the calling party's billing account is current, i.e., whether or not the calling party has been delinquent in paying its telephone bill or its toll fee bill. It should also be noted that it is not necessary that steps 39 and 40 be performed at all.

Fig. 4 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the present invention which is similar to the embodiment shown in Fig. 3 except that, prior to billing the fee to the calling party's account, a determination is made as to whether the calling party has authorized these types of fees to be billed to its account, as indicated at step 45. This feature of the present invention is intended to prevent calling parties from being billed without their knowledge or consent. A determination is made at step 43 as to whether the calling party is on the list of authorized calling parties. If so, the calling party is connected with the subscriber without the fee being charged, as indicated at block 44. If the calling party is not on the list of authorized calling parties, a determination is made as to whether the calling party has authorized billings for these types of fees to be charged to its account, as indicated at block 45. If not, the calling party is informed that it has not authorized these types of billings, as indicated at block 47.

If the calling party has authorized such billings, the fee is charged to the calling party's billing account and the calling party is connected with the subscriber, as indicated at block 46. The calling party's billing account is then updated, as indicated at block 48. The percentage of the fee to be added to the subscriber's account is then calculated, as indicated at block 49, and the subscriber's billing account is updated, as indicated at block 51. However, it should be noted that steps 49 and 51 are optional. Whatever percentage of the fee that is not added to the subscriber's account may be retained by the telephone company or may be paid to some other entity. As indicated above, the manner in which the fee is allocated is not critical to the present invention.

It should also be noted that the methods of the present invention described above can also be used with facsimile machines since these also make use of the telephone network and since the telephone number of the calling facsimile machine is contained in the common-channel signaling information. In this case, the steps performed in Figs. 3 and 4 will also be performed for facsimile communications using the telephone number of the facsimile initiating the communication.

It should be noted that the fee may be charged to the calling party regardless of whether or not the called party actually answers the telephone. In this case, the fee would be charged when the central office connects the calling party's line with the called party's line, regardless of whether or not the called party answers the telephone.

As stated above, rather than comparing the calling party's telephone number or identity to a list of authorized calling parties, an identifier associated with the calling party could be analyzed to determine whether or not the calling party is an authorized calling party. For example, telemarketers could have an identifier associated with them, such as a particular sequence of telephone digits, which identify them as telemarketers. The telephone network could be configured to detect this identifier. The identifier could be detected at any one of many suitable locations within the telephone network, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. A determination would then be made as to whether or not the called party has authorized the receipt of communications from telemarketers. If so, the telemarketer will be allowed to communicate with the called party in the normal manner. If not, the telemarketer may be blocked from communicating with the called party or may be charged a fee in return for being connected with, or being allowed to communicate with, the called party. In the case where an identifier is used to identify the type of party that is initiating the communication, the telephone subscriber's authorization list would not contain a list of authorized telephone numbers, but instead would simply indicate whether the subscriber has authorized calls from parties associated with the identifier. Therefore, a determination would not have to made as to whether any entry of the subscriber's list matches the identifier. Rather, a single determination would be made as to whether or not the subscriber has authorized communications associated with the identifier.

Those skilled in the art will understand that this embodiment of the present invention could be accomplished in many ways. One of the advantages of this embodiment is that it is not necessary for a list of authorized telephone numbers to be generated for each subscriber. Rather, a single entry in a database could be used to determine whether or not the subscriber is willing to freely accept communications from the party initiating the call. Of course, calling partys such as telemarketers may not freely identify themselves. Therefore, they may be required by law to do so. As evidenced from the promulgation of statutes such as those relating to the Georgia "No Call List", requiring partys to comply with such statutes is feasible. Another advatage to this embodiment is that the telephone network could easily and quickly determine whether a calling party is an authorized calling party, thereby reducing the amount of processing overhead that is associated with implementing the present invention in the telephone network.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the components of the switching module 20 shown in Fig. 2. The switching module comprises line units 78 which comprise circuitry (not shown) which terminates the telephone lines connected to the telephones 21. A time slot interchanger (TSI) 74, also commonly referred to as the switching fabric, controls the multiplexing and demultiplexing of the telephones 21 communicating with the switching module 20. The TSI 74 is in communication with a dual tone multifrequency (DTMF)/dial pulse decoder 76 which decodes the frequencies entered on the keypads of the telephones 21. The DTMF 76 then provides digit reports corresponding to the decoded frequencies to a core processor 70 of the switching module 20. The core processor receives the digit reports and determines whether a call is to be routed or whether a feature is to be activated. The core processor 70 runs software and other data stored in switch memory device 72. In accordance with the present invention, the core processor 70 generates the subscriber authorization lists and updates, or modifies, the authorization lists, which preferably are stored in switch memory device 72. The core processor 70 also performs the tasks of determining whether a caller is an authorized or unauthorized caller, as discussed above with respect to Figs. 3 and 4.

The authorization lists may be generated in a plurality of manners. In accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, the subscriber may simply call the local telephone company and orally provide the local telephone company with a list of authorized callers. Preferably, the list is maintained by the subscriber's local telephone company because the method and apparatus of the present invention are preferably implemented at the central office, which is typically owned and operated by the local telephone companies. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is not limited with respect to the location in the telephone network at which the present invention is implemented and thus is not limited with respect to the entity which maintains the authorization list. For example, the authorization list could be maintained by a long distance carrier.

In accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention, whenever the list is to be updated, i.e., whenever a telephone number is to be removed or added to the list, the subscriber simply calls the local telephone company (or other entity maintaining the list) and orally updates the list. A person at the local telephone company edits the list on a computer in accordance with the subscriber's requests and the modified list is then saved in switch memory device 72. In the case where one or more identifiers are used to identify the types of parties, the person would simply tell an appropriate person at the telephone company that they want to block, or do not want to freely accept (i.e., without charging the calling party a fee), telephone calls from calling parties associated with the identifiers.

Also, if a caller was charged in return for being connected to the subscriber and the subscriber now wants to add the caller to the authorization list and/or delete the charge, the subscriber can orally request that the caller be added to the list and/or that the charge to the caller be deleted. Once the modifications to the list have been made, the list with the updates is re-saved in the switch memory device 72. The charges associated with any unauthorized calls are also saved in one or more files in the switch memory device 72 and these files are eventually downloaded to the administrative module 18 so that appropriate billing records can be updated and/or generated.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the software modules and the database stored in switch memory device 72 which are utilized by the core processor 70 to generate and update the subscriber authorization lists. The core processor 70 runs a digit analysis software module 79 which analyzes the digit reports received by the core processor 70 from the DTMF decoder 76 to identify the digits that have been pressed or dialed. Information relating to the identified digits is then utilized by a call processing software module 80 executed by the core processor 70. The call processing software module 80 determines whether the digits represent a call to be routed or whether they represent a feature to be activated. In accordance with the present invention, the feature to be activated is a request to generate or update a subscriber authorization list.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart functionally illustrating the operations performed by the DTMF decoder 76 and by the core processor 70 executing the digit analysis and call processing software modules 79 and 80, respectively. As stated above, the DTMF decoder 76 generates digit reports which are output to the core processor 70, as indicated by block 88. The digit analysis software module 79 being executed by the core processor 70 then analyzes the digit reports to determine which digits were entered by the subscriber and this information is passed to the call processing module 80, as indicated by block 89. The call processing module 80 then determines whether a call is to be routed or whether a feature is to be activated, as indicated by block 91. If a call is to be routed, the core processor 70 sets up the path for the call. If a feature is to be activated, the call processing module determines which feature is to be activated, as indicated by block 93, and then causes the selected feature to be activated, as indicated by block 94.

When the call processing software module 80 determines at block 93 that the digits correspond to a request to automatically update a subscriber authorization list, the call processing module 80 retrieves the list associated with the subscriber from the database 82 stored in the switch memory device 72, as indicated by block 99 in Fig. 8. The core processor 70 then modifies the file corresponding to the subscriber's authorization list in accordance with the digit reports received by the core processor 70 from the DTMF decoder 76, as indicated by block 100. These digit reports correspond to entries made by the subscriber on his or her telephone 21 which, in turn, correspond to telephone numbers to be added to or deleted from the list. Once the list has been modified, the list is re-saved in the database 82 contained in the switch memory device 72, as indicated by block 101.

The same code or different codes can be assigned to the tasks of updating an existing list and of generating a new list. For example, the code "*62" could be assigned to the task of generating a new list and the code "*63" could be assigned to the task of updating an existing list. If different codes are used for these tasks, the core processor 70 will simply perform as instructed by the software of the call processing software module in accordance with the code received from the DTMF decoder 76. In this case, the routines executed by the core processor 70 will vary depending on which code was received. If the same code is used for both of these tasks, the core processor 70 will cause a prerecorded announcement to be played back by the announcement unit 77 to the subscriber that tells the subscriber to enter a particular digit if the subscriber wants to update an existing list and to enter a different digit if the subscriber wants to create a new list. The announcement unit 77 may be comprised in what is commonly referred to as a global digital service unit (not shown) which contains a variety of prerecorded announcements that serve subscribers. In this case, the recorded announcement might state, for example: "If you wish to update an existing list, press 1. If you wish to create a new list, press 2".

In this example, if a 1 was entered by the subscriber, the next recorded announcement might state: "If you wish to add a new number to your list, please press 1. If you wish to delete a number from your list, please press 2 " In this example, if a 1 was entered by the subscriber in response to this announcement, the next announcement might state: "Please enter each number to be added to your list, starting with the area code. After each number has been entered, press the star key. Once you have completed entering all of the numbers, press the pound key, or simply hang up."

If the subscriber is generating a new list, the core processor 70 may cause similar announcements might be played back to the subscriber by the announcement unit 77 to assist the subscriber in creating the list. Those skilled in the art will understand the manner in which this task and the announcements, if any, can be customized to facilitate the tasks of creating new lists or modifying old lists. It should also be noted that announcements are not necessary at all. The subscriber who has subscribed to the service of the present invention may be provided with instruction literature which obviates the need for recorded announcements. However, preferably announcements are used to facilitate this process and to make the process of updating and creating lists easy for the subscriber.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart generally illustrating the method of the present invention in accordance with one embodiment which enables a subscriber to create a new subscriber authorization list. When the subscriber picks up the telephone to get a dial tone, the subscriber enters a code which the core processor 70 recognizes as a request to update a subscriber authorization list. The core processor 70 then causes a prerecorded announcement to be played back to the subscriber which tells the subscriber how to enter the information to be placed in the authorization list, as indicated by block 105. The announcement might say, for example: "Enter each telephone number to be placed in your list, starting with the area code. After each telephone number has been entered, press the star key. Once you have finished entering all of the telephone numbers, press the pound key. You may start entering the telephone numbers to be placed in your list now."

In this example, the call processing module 80 being executed by the core processor 70 will control the generation of the list, as indicated by block 107, and, at the same time, will wait for the pound key to be pressed, as indicated by block 106. Once the pound key has been depressed, the core processor 70 will save the new list along with an indication of the subscriber (e.g., his or her telephone number) with which the list is associated, as indicated by block 108. One feature of the present invention is that the subscriber is provided with a way to prevent callers who are not currently listed on the subscriber's authorization list from being charged a fee in return for being connected to the subscriber's telephone. Preferably, immediately after the subscriber has finished speaking or otherwise communicating with the unauthorized caller that the subscriber wishes to add to the list, the subscriber hangs up the telephone, thereby causing it to go "on-hook", and then immediately picks up the telephone, thereby causing it to go "off-hook". The subscriber then enters a particular code, such as, for example, "*71", which preferably is different from the code(s) assigned to the tasks of updating and generating authorization lists. This code indicates to the core processor.70 that the last caller that was connected with the subscriber is to be added to the subscriber's authorization list and/or that the fee that was charged to the caller is to be deleted from the billing records.

Currently, typical switching modules keep track of the last call that was connected to the subscriber's line. The well known "call back" feature provided by telephone companies uses this information. Also, when a telephone goes "off-hook", typical switching modules know the telephone number associated with the telephone that is "off-hook". Therefore, all the subscriber has to do in order for the last caller to be added to the list and/or for the charge to be removed is to enter this code, which preferably is common to all subscribers who subscribe to the feature of the present invention. An exemplary embodiment of this feature of the present invention is shown in Fig. 10. When the subscriber finishes speaking with someone whom the subscriber wants to have added to the list, the subscriber will simply hang up the telephone, wait to hear the dial tone, and then press the code, e.g., "*71". The call processing software module 80 being executed by the core processor 70 detects the entry of the code "*7i"_ι as indicated by block 113, and then causes the last caller's telephone number to be added to the subscriber's list, as indicated by block 115. This may also cause the charge to the caller to be removed from the billing file stored in the switch memory device, as indicated by block 117. This feature of the present invention allows the subscriber to easily update the list and to easily delete charges to callers whom the subscriber does not want to be charged.

It should be noted that the same or different codes can be assigned to the tasks of adding the last caller to the list and of modifying the file containing fee information in order to delete the charge to the last caller. If the same code is used for these tasks, then a prerecorded announcement might be played to the subscriber when the core processor detects the code which states: "If you would like to add the caller to your list and you would like to have the fees charged to the caller removed, press 1. If you would like to have the fees charged to the caller removed, but do not wish to have the caller added to your list, press 2. If you would like to have the caller added to your list, but do not wish to have the fee removed, please press 0." Due to the high volume of traffic that may result from playing back announcements to subscribers and from the keypad entries made by the subscribers in response to the announcements, it may be desirable to utilize a trunk unit (not shown) which connects the switching module 20 to one or more processors (not shown) that are dedicated to controlling the playback of the prerecorded announcements by one or more announcement units to the subscribers, as well as the handling of the keypad entries made by the subscribers. These additional processors may use the decoder 76 of the switching module to decode the entries made by the subscribers in response to the announcements, or they may use one or more separate decoders (not shown) which are dedicated to this task. Those skilled in the art will understand the manner in which this additional equipment could be implemented in accordance with the present invention to handle these tasks.

Fig. 1 1 is a block diagram of the preferred embodiment of the present invention wherein the present invention is implemented as part of an ISP system. End users having data terminal equipment (DTEs) 121 and 128, such as personal computers, are connected to the network 124, which preferably is the Internet, via ISPs 122 and 126, repsectively. The DTEs 121 and 128 are connected to the ISPs 122 and 126 via data communication equipment (not shown), such as modems or terminal adapters. The ISPs 122 and 126 typically comprise one or more servers and several modems, or data communications equipment devices, for interfacing with the network 124. In accordance with the present invention, when a sending party represented by

DTE 121 sends an email message to an intended receiving party represented by DTE 128, the intended receiving party's ISP 126 determines whether the source address associated with the email communication is a source address authorized by the intended receiving party. In order to perform this task, a computer (not shown) located at the ISP 126 compares the source address with a list of source addresses associated with the destination address to determine whether the source address is an authorized source address. If so, the computer stores the message at the location in the ISP database corresponding to the mail box associated with the destination address, i.e., the intended recipient's mail box. If not, the computer either causes the message to be discarded or charges a fee to the sending party associated with the source address and stores the message in the intended recipient's mail box.

As stated above, the present invention can be used with all types of networks, including private networks, such as local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs). The present invention is also not limited with respect to the location at which the method and/or apparatus are located in the communications network. Preferably, the present invention is implemented at the intended receiving party's ISP. Alternatively, the present invention could be implemented at, for example, routers of the network or at the sending party's ISP.

Preferably, the communications protocol that is used with the present invention is TCP/IP. When using TCP/IP, the destination address of the intended receiving party and the source address the sending party are contained in the IP message, or datagram. However, many other types of communications protocols also transmit an indication of the source of the message to the intended recipient, including communications protocols that do and do not comply with the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model. Other types of public and private communications protocols can also be used with the present invention, including proprietary protocols, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

All or a portion of any fee charged may be paid to the intended receiving party. A portion of the fee may be applied, for example, to the intended receiving party's ISP service account to reduce the intended receiving party's ISP service bill. Preferably, the service provided by the present invention is optional and can be enabled or disabled at the receiving party's ISP depending on whether the receiving party has subscribed to the service.

Fig. 12 illustrates the method of the present invention in accordance with a preferred embodiment wherein a determination is made as to whether an e-mail message has originated from an authorized e-mail source address The computer at the ISP decodes the datagram and obtains the source and destination addresses, as indicated at block 131 The computer then compares the source address with a list of source addresses associated with the destination address and makes a determination as to whether the source address is on a list of authorized source addresses, as indicated at blocks 133 and 135 Thus, the destination address is used to determine which list is associated with the intended receiving party

If a determination is made that the source address is on the list of authorized e- mail addresses, then the e-mail message is saved in a location in a database associated with the e-mail address of the receiving party so that the receiving party can access the e-mail message, as indicated at block 137 In this case, a fee is not charged to the sending party If the sending party's e-mail address is not on the list of authorized e- mail addresses, then a determination is made as to whether the sending party has authorized the ISP to bill it for these types of fees, as indicated at block 138 If not, the sending party is notified by an e-mail message that it has not authorized fee billing, as indicated at block 141 It should be noted that the steps illustrated at blocks 138 and 141 are optional Alternatively, the process could proceed directly from decision block 135 to either block 137 or 141, depending on the results of the comparison

If the sending party has authorized billing for the fees, then the fee is charged to the sending party's billing account and the e-mail message is saved in the receiving party's mailbox, as indicated at block 139 The sending party's billing account is then updated, as indicated at block 143 The percentage of the fee to be added to the receiving party's billing account is then calculated, as indicated at block 145 The receiving party's billing account is then update, as indicated at block 147 The order in which the steps corresponding to blocks 137 through 147 are performed is not limited to any particular order It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the order of these steps can be rearranged and performed in any suitable order It should also be noted that steps 143, 145 and 147 are also optional Rather than updating the sending party's account, as presented by block 143, the sending party could simply be sent a bill The steps represented by blocks 145 and 147 could be eliminated altogether, since the present invention is not limited with respect to the manner in which the fees are allocated.

As stated above, rather than comparing the sending party's email address to a list of authorized email addresses, an identifier identifying the nature of the communication could be appended to or included in the message. For example, parties that solicit business over the Internet could be required by law to identify messages that are sent for the purpose of soliciting business with a particular identifier. The receiving party's ISP would then simply determine whether the receiving party has authorized these types of communications. If not, the ISP could simply block the transmission, e.g., not save it the intended receiving party's mailbox, or could charge the sending party a fee in return for providing the communication to the intended recipient. Those skilled in the art will understand the manner in which this embodiment could be accomplished.

It should also be noted that the step represented by block 141 in Fig. 12 could be utilized as a billing tool. For example, when the sending party is not authorized, the ISP could cause a message to be sent to the sending party that states that the sending party is not authorized, but that the communication will be provided to the intended recipient if the sending party agrees to pay a fee. The sending party could then reply by authorizing the fee to be charged or could decline to pay the fee. The message sent by the ISP could request that the sending party enter a credit card number of an account to which the fee will be charged. The sending party could then reply by authorizing payment to be made from the designated account. Alternatively, the sending party could simply authorize the charge and make payment at a later date.

It should be noted that the present invention has been described with respect to particular embodiments, but that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. It will also be understood by those skilled in the art that the manner in which an unauthorized sending party is billed with a fee and the manner in which the billing account of the receiving party is updated is not limited to any particular method. Also, the location at which the billing of the fee and the updating of any accounts is performed is not limited to any particular location. The billing and updating of accounts for unauthorized e-mail addresses can be performed at the ISP location or at some other location in communication with the receiving party's ISP. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that other modifications and variations to the embodiments of the present invention discussed above can be made which are in the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for determining whether a fee is to be charged to a calling party initiating a telephone call directed to a called party, the apparatus comprising: a computer in communication with a telephone network, the computer being programmed to detect an identifier that identifies a calling party and to compare the identifier to an authorization list to determine whether or not the calling party is an authorized calling party, the authorization list comprising one or more identifiers of one or more respective calling parties from whom the called party will receive telephone calls, wherein if the computer determines that the calling party is not an authorized calling party, the computer charges a fee to the calling party in return for enabling the calling party to communicate with the called party.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computer is located at a central office of the telephone network, the central office servicing a telephone associated with the called party.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said identifier corresponds to a telephone number associated with a telephone from which the telephone call initiated by the calling party is made.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said identifier corresponds to the name of the calling party.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the identifier identifies the calling party as a particular type of calling party.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the identifier identifies the calling party as a telemarketer.

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the telephone network utilizes common- channel signaling, and wherein a signaling processor of the telephone network transmits common-channel signaling information to said central office, the common- channel signaling information including the telephone number associated with the telephone from which the calling party initiated the telephone call and the telephone number of the called party to which the telephone call is directed, the computer using the telephone number of the called party to access the authorization list associated with the called party, the authorization list associated with the called party containing telephone numbers of authorized calling parties, the computer comparing the telephone number of the calling party with each of the telephone numbers of the authorized calling parties contained on the authorization list to determine whether the calling party is an authorized calling party.

8. An apparatus for determining a fee to be charged to a calling party initiating a telephone call to a called party, the apparatus comprising: means for determining whether the calling party is an authorized calling party, said means being in communication with a telephone network, said means detecting an identifier that identifies the calling party and comparing the identifier to an authorization list to determine whether or not the calling party is an authorized calling party, the authorization list corresponding to a list of identifiers associated with calling parties from whom the called party will receive telephone calls, wherein if said means determines that the calling party is not an authorized calling party, then said means causes a fee to be charged to the calling party.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said means is located at a central office of the telephone network, the central office servicing a telephone associated with the called party.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the telephone network utilizes common- channel signaling, and wherein a signaling processor of the telephone network transmits common-channel signaling information to said central office, the common- channel signaling information including the telephone number associated with the telephone from which the calling party initiated the telephone call and the telephone number of the called party, said means using the telephone number of the called party to access the authorization list associated with the called party, the authorization list associated with the called party containing telephone numbers of authorized calling parties, said means comparing the telephone number of the calling party with each of the telephone numbers of the authorized calling parties contained on the authorization list to determine whether the calling party is an authorized calling party.

11. A method of determining whether an incoming telephone call initiated by a calling party and directed to a called party is an authorized telephone call, the method comprising the steps of: decoding signaling information associated with the telephone call initiated by the calling party, the signaling information including an identifier that identifies the calling party and an indication of the called party to whom the telephone call is directed; comparing the identifier associated with the calling party to information contained on a list of authorized calling parties associated with the called party to determine whether or not the calling party is an authorized calling party; if a determination is made that the calling party is not an authorized calling party, charging a fee to the unauthorized calling party and connecting the calling party with the called party; and if the calling party is an authorized calling party, connecting the authorized calling party with the called party.

12. The method of claim 1 1, wherein if a determination is made that the calling party is not an authorized calling party, prior to charging a fee to the unauthorized calling party, a determination is made as to whether the unauthorized calling party has authorized the fee to be charged to the calling party, wherein if the unauthorized calling party has not authorized the fee to be charged to the calling party, the unauthorized calling party is informed that it has not authorized the fee to be charged to the unauthorized calling party and the unauthorized calling party is provided with an opportunity to authorize the fee to be charged to the unauthorized calling party, wherein if the unauthorized calling party authorizes the fee to be charged to the calling party, the fee is charged to the unauthorized calling party and the unauthorized calling party is connected to the called party.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the telephone call initiated by the calling party is initiated by a facsimile machine.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the telephone number to which the call initiated by the calling party is directed corresponds to a facsimile machine.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the telephone number to which the telephone call initiated by the calling party is directed corresponds to a pager.

16 A computer-readable medium having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program comprising: a first code segment which determines whether an identifier that identifies the calling party is contained on a list of identifiers, each identifier being associated with an authorized calling party, each authorization list being associated with a particular called party; and a second code segment which generates a fee amount to be charged to the calling party if the first code segment determines that the calling party initiating the telephone call is not an authorized calling party.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising a third code segment, the third code segment determining whether the calling party has authorized the fee to be charged to the calling party, the second code segment only generating the fee amount if the third code segment determines that the calling party has authorized the fee to be charged to the calling party.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising a fourth code segment, the fourth code segment generating a message to be communicated to the calling party when the third code segment determines that the calling party has not authorized the fee to be charged to the calling party, wherein the message generated and communicated to the calling party informs the calling party that the calling party has not authorized the fee to be charged to the calling party.

19. A computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising a fifth code segment, the fifth code segment determining a percentage of the fee charged to the calling party and subtracting the percentage of the charged fee from a telephone billing account of the called party.