Verification of a caller

Abstract

Disclosed is a computer-implemented method comprising obtaining a verification, for a first account that is associated with a first user using a service, wherein obtaining the verification comprises receiving an external verification, and wherein the verification is for identifying the first user, transmitting information regarding the verification of the first user to the service, transmitting, to the service, a first request for initiating communication to a second user, that is associated with a second account, and wherein the second user uses the service, and using a first profile of the first account associated with the first user to initiate the communication, the first profile comprising a first set of fields of information identifying the user and indicating that the first user is a verified user, wherein the first profile is for being transmitted to the second user along with the request of communication by the service.

Description

[0001] VERIFICATION OF A CALLER

[0002] FIELD

[0003] The exemplary embodiments discussed in the present disclosure relate to establishing a call between two or more users and identifying the two or more users.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Phone calls are commonly performed using a mobile device that allows the receiver of the call to know the number of the caller. The knowing may be obtained by for example displaying the number on the display of the mobile device, and / or using audio that tells the caller to the user. If the number is not available, then that may also be indicated to the user. If the user has saved the phone number, then the name of the contact to whom the number is saved, is indicated as the caller. In addition to receiving phone calls from contacts saved to the mobile device, the user may receive calls that the user would not wish to receive, such as calls in which there is a salesperson or a robot on the other end. This may be disturbing to the user.

[0006] BRIEF DESCRIPTION

[0007] The scope of protection sought for various embodiments is defined by the independent claims. Dependent claims define further embodiments included in the scope of protection. Exemplary embodiments, if any, that do not fall into any scope of protection defined in the claims, are to be considered as examples useful for understanding the cope of protection.

[0008] According to a first aspect there is provided a computer-implemented method comprising obtaining a verification, for a first account that is associated with a first user using a service, wherein obtaining the verification comprises receiving an external verification, and wherein the verification is for identifying the first user, transmitting information regarding the verification of the first user to the service, transmitting, to the service, a first request for initiating communication to a second user, that is associated with a second account, and wherein the second user uses the service, and using a first profile of the first account associated with the first user to initiate the communication, the first profile comprising a first set of fields of information identifying the user and indicating that the first user is a verified user, wherein the first profile is for being transmitted to the second user along with the request of communication by the service. According to a second aspect there is provided a computing system comprising means for performing the computer-implemented method of the first aspect.

[0009] In some examples according to the second aspect, the means comprises at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the performance of the computing device.

[0010] According to a third aspect there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing device to perform a computer-implemented method according to the first aspect.

[0011] According to a fourth aspect there is provided a non-volatile computer- readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon which, when executed on a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a computer-implemented method according to the first aspect.

[0012] According to a fifth aspect there is provided a computer-implemented method comprising receiving, from a first account associated with a first user, a first request for initiating communication to a second account, that is associated with a second user, wherein a first verification has been received for the first user account prior to receiving the first request, the first verification comprising receiving an external verification regarding the first user, and wherein a second verification has been received for the second account prior to receiving the first request, verifying that the first user provides information that corresponds to information regarding the first user stored, and transmitting to the second user the first request for initiating the communication, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting a first profile of the first account associated with the first user, the first profile comprising a first set of fields of information identifying the user and indicating that the first user is a verified user.

[0013] According to a sixth aspect there is provided a computing system comprising means for performing the computer-implemented method of the fifth aspect.

[0014] In some examples according to the second aspect, the means comprises at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the performance of the computing device.

[0015] According to a seventh aspect there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing device to perform a computer-implemented method according to the fifth aspect.

[0016] In some examples according to the seventh aspect, the computer program product is a service run on a computing system.

[0017] According to an eighth aspect there is provided a non-volatile computer-readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon which, when executed on a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a computer-implemented method according to the fifth aspect.

[0018] According to a ninth aspect there is provided a system comprising a service provided using a first computing system and an application run on a second computing system, the system being configured to cause performance of at least the following: obtaining, by the application, a verification, for a first account that is associated with a first user using a service, wherein obtaining the verification comprises receiving an external verification, and wherein the verification is for identifying the first user; transmitting information regarding the verification of the first user to the service; transmitting, by the application to the service, a first request for initiating communication to a second user, that is associated with a second account, and wherein the second user uses the service; using, by the application, a first profile of the first account associated with the first user to initiate the communication, the first profile comprising a first set of fields of information identifying the user and indicating that the first user is a verified user, wherein the first profile is for being transmitted to the second user along with the request of communication by the service; verifying, by the service, that the first user provides information that corresponds to information regarding the first user stored; and transmitting, by the service, to the second user the first request for initiating the communication, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting a first profile of the first account associated with the first user, the first profile comprising a first set of fields of information identifying the user and indicating that the first user is a verified user. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Some of the exemplary embodiments are discussed with reference to the figures in which:

[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a user receiving calls.

[0021] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment that enables a user to obtain a verification of who the caller is.

[0022] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which the service, together with an application run on a mobile device, verifies an account which is for an organization.

[0023] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which a user may be a verified user that is associated with multiple caller profiles.

[0024] FIG. 5A illustrates a signalling chart according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0025] FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary embodiment regarding how the callee may react to the incoming call.

[0026] FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of usage of a field of information comprising a video for a profile of an account registered at the service.

[0027] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a call register.

[0028] FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a computing device.

[0029] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a user receiving calls. In this exemplary embodiment, the user uses a mobile phone 100 in which the user has saved contacts. Thus, when the user receives a call from a known person, such as from the mother of the user, there is an indication that the caller is the mother. In this exemplary embodiment, the caller is indicated using the visual indication 120 displayed on the display of the mobile device 100. As the user, who is a callee, is able to see the caller, and as the caller is someone the user knows and has saved as a contact, the user is likely to answer the call, or call or send a message to the caller later in case the user is not able to pick up the phone as the call comes.

[0031] Yet, in case the caller is not known to the user, then there is an indication either indicating a number that the user does not recognize, and / or which is not saved to any of the contacts saved on the mobile phone 100, or it is indicated that the number is an unknown number. In this exemplary embodiment there is a visual indication 140 indicating that the call originates from an unknown number. The user may then be hesitant to answer the call as there is a risk that the call originates from a salesperson for example or is otherwise such that the user considers the call as annoying. Due to such annoying phone calls, some users may be reluctant to answer calls originating from numbers that are not known to them. Yet, there may be calls that they still would wish to take, such as those originating from a bank or from a doctor’s office, but which are left unanswered due to the hesitation.

[0032] Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment that enables a user to obtain a verification of who the caller is. A benefit of having such verification is that it can then be utilized when initiating a call such that the callee can knows who is calling. The callee may then make an informed decision whether to ignore the call or not. The verification may be obtained with a help of an external service that may be provided by a service provider. The service provider may host the service on a computing system comprising one or more computing devices that together perform tasks of the service and thus their resources are commonly available for tasks comprised in the service that may be computer implemented methods performed by the computing system. One or more software algorithms may be used for performing such tasks and the one or more software algorithms may be comprised in a computer program product comprising instructions that may be executed by one or more processors. The computing system, which may comprise one or more computing devices, may be understood as a server, a backend or a cloud computing environment for example. The service may then be provided to the user, such as a caller or a callee, using an application that may be installed on a computing device configured to perform voice and / or video calls. The computing device may be for example a mobile phone or any other suitable mobile device, a tablet computer or a laptop computer. The application may also be referred to as a front-end of the service. The calls that are then performed using the applications and the service may be voice over IP, VoIP calls.

[0033] In this exemplary embodiment, there is a user 200 that has a mobile device 210, that in this exemplary embodiment is a mobile phone. It is to be noted that alternatively, the mobile device may be for example a smart watch, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or an in-car computer. The mobile phone 210 has the application installed in it and the application comprises computer instructions that cause the mobile phone to establish a connection to the service 220 such that the application may be in connection with the service 220. The service 220, that may also be understood as a communication service, may be a stand-alone communication service, or it may be a communication service that is integrated to another service, such as another platform enabling communication such as messaging, voice calls, video calls, etc. It is to be noted that the application may be considered to be in the same computer-implemented system as the service 220. The application may be a front-end application to the service 220, or it may be another application such as an application enabling voice over IP, VoIP, communication, and which is configured to utilize the service 220, or any other suitable application that is configured to connect to the service 220. The service 220 may be considered as a computer-implemented service for establishing communication between two or more users. The application may thus be understood as an application that is enabled, using the resources of the mobile device, that is a computing device, running the application, to connect to the service 220 and to enable communication to be established, with at least one other party, via the service 220.

[0034] When verifying the user 200, in other words obtaining a verification for an account associated with the user 200, different levels of verifying may be used. It is to be noted that verification could also be referred to as authentication and therefore obtaining a verification may also be understood as obtaining authentication. In the first level, the user 200 provides the phone number of the mobile phone 210 to the service 220. The service 220 then provides an authentication indication, such as a text message, to the mobile phone 210. The authentication indication is then received by the mobile phone 210 and via that authentication indication, the user 200 may be verified to be the real user of the mobile phone 210. In this exemplary embodiment, the user 200 is identified as Jane Doe. On this level of authentication, the authentication is based on the phone number and the authentication message provided by the service 220 to the mobile phone 210 such that it can be verified that the Jane Doe is actually who is reached using that phone number. For example, the user may have transmitted to the service 220 a request for verification and along that request the name and phone number were provided. The service 220 may then provide the verification message to the phone number. The verification message may for example comprise a code that the user then inputs, or which is automatically input to the application run on the mobile phone 210. As the code is provided to the application, the application may then indicate to the service 220, using resources of the mobile phone 210, that the code was successfully received in the phone number and thus, the user 200 is verified. Yet, no secure and / or external authentication is performed. Yet, the user 200 may now receive calls from other authenticated users who are also verified by the service 220. When receiving calls, the caller may see the profile of the user 200 as indicated by the display rendering 230.

[0035] On a second level of verification, external verification 240 may be utilized. The external verification may be considered as a verification provided by a third party and may be dependent on the country of the user. For example, different methods of strong verification may be used in different countries. As an example, an ID card issued by the authorities that has a chip can be used, with a card reader connected to a computing device, can be used to verify the identity of the user 200. As another example, banking applications that authenticate the user may also be used as well as other mobile verification methods.

[0036] In other words, the external verification may be understood as a verification provided by an entity external, and thereby independent, to the service 220 and its related application run on the mobile phone 210. While the verification may follow some known protocol, it may also be independent from it. Thus, the service 220 may not perform the verification, but rely on verification performed by an external entity. Examples of external verification may utilize for example Finnish Authenticator Identification Service.

[0037] Thus, the user may use the application run on the mobile phone 210 to initiate an identification process using the external authentication 240. Alternatively, in some examples, when the user 200 sends an authentication request, from the application run on the mobile device 210 to the service 220, the service 220 may request, and optionally also direct, the user to perform verification, which may also be referred to as authentication, using the external verification 240. The external verification 240 may then provide to the application run on the mobile phone 210 the full name and identification information of the user, such as social security number. Thus, the application may then, using the resources of the mobile phone 210, provide the information to the service 220. Alternatively, or additionally, the external verification 240, after verifying the user 200, may indicate to the service 220 the verified identity of the user 245. After the service 220 has received the verified identity of the user 200, the service 220 may then store that information. The storing may be done in a secure manner encrypting the information to protect the personal data of the user.

[0038] As the user has been securely identified using the external verification 240, the profile of the user 245 is associated with an icon 245 indicating that the user has been verified to be who the user indicates to be. By using the icon 245, it may not be necessary to include for example in a session initiation protocol (SIP) header whether the origin of the call is verified, as the icon in the profile may be added only in case that is the situation and the icon may be displayed to the callee along with the initiation of the call, when the incoming call is indicated to the callee. Yet, the header may still be used as well in some exemplary embodiments. The second level of authentication allows the user to receive calls from verified users and also to initiate calls as a verified caller. When initiating a call as a verified user, the application run on the mobile phone 210 provides the identification information of the user to the service 220 and the service 220 verifies that the information transmitted corresponds to that saved in the service 220 as a result of the external verification performed. If this information corresponds, then the user 200 is allowed to establish the call to the callee as a verified user and the callee can see the information of the caller when the call is being initiated. The information 250 indicated to the callee may comprise the name of the user 200 and the indication 245 that the user 200 is verified using the second level of verification thus letting the callee know who the caller really is before the call is answered or ignored. It is to be noted that the user may be allowed to select, for example, which of the verified names are indicated as part of the information 250 when the user 200 calls. For example, whether the first name and the last name are indicated or just the first name. It is to be noted that the information 250 may be indicated visually and / or using audio. It is also to be noted that the information 250 may also comprise further information such as an image of the user or any other information the user 200 has selected to be provided. The information 250 may be understood to comprise different fields of information, and one such field may be for one type of information. For example, an image, which may be an image file saved, may be understood as a field of information. Also, there may be one field of information for one or more names such as for first name or for the first and the last name, and so on. A field of information may then be rendered in any suitable manner and different field may overlap each other at least partly. For example, name may be rendered on top of an image and so on. It is to be noted that name and image are examples of types of information for which there may be a field of information and other types of information may also be used.

[0039] While the caller may be required to have the second level of authentication to be able to initiate calls such that the callee sees who is calling and that the caller is a verified caller, it may be sufficient for the callee to have just the first level of verification. In other words, a second-level verification, that requires external verification, may be required to initiate a communication, while the first- level of verification, that does not require the external verification, is required for receiving the communication. Yet, both the caller and the callee may be users with second level authentication such that it is verified who is on the other end of the call. It is also to be noted that although for the sake of explaining only two participants in a call are discussed, there could be also more than two participants in the call. In such case, it may also be that the user initiating a call to one of the participants in the call, may be required to have the second level verification.

[0040] There may also be a third level of verification which may be performed during a call in which the caller at least has a second level of verification. This third level of verification comprises exchanging of personalized indications associated with the accounts of the users. In this case, the caller 250 and the callee 260 both transmit their personalized indication to the service 220. The personalized indication may be an existing one that has been saved to the service 220 previously as the indication of that user. Alternatively, the caller 250 and the callee 260 may receive their respective indications, that are personalized indications, from the service 220, during the call. The caller 250 may then receive the indication 270 and the callee 260 may receive the indication 280. The indication, whether defined earlier or during the call, may be for example a code, such as a sequence of numbers and / or letters, created at that moment by the service 220. For example, the indication may be dedicated to the receiver such that the service 220 creates one indication for that moment to the caller 250 and another indication, for that moment, to the callee 260. The caller 250 then indicates, with or without user input, to the application the received indication, and the application then indicates the received indication to the service 220. Correspondingly, the callee 260 indicates, with or without user input, the received indication to the application and the application transmits the received indication to the service 220. The service 220 then verifies if the indication received 275 corresponds to the indication transmitted 270, and correspondingly, if the indication received 285 corresponds to the indication transmitted 280. If both are verified to correspond to the indications 270 and 280 transmitted, then the service 220 may identify that in the call there are the parties that are assumed to be there, and the call may be identified as a third level verified call. Alternatively, the predefined indications by the caller 250 and the callee 260 are provided to the service 220 and the service 220 then verifies, during the call, the Thus, the caller 250 and the callee 260 may both be ensured that the other party on the call is who the user claims to be. This may be beneficial for example if discussing sensitive matters such as medical issues or banking issues. Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which the service 220, together with an application run on a mobile device 310, verifies an account which is for an organization 300 and in which there may be a plurality of users belonging to that organization. It is to be noted that an account may be for user, who has been verified using one of the verification levels as described previously, or an account may be for a group of users such as the organization 300, or any other suitable organization such as a charity group, a hobby group, or a company, such as a company that is for recruiting, a company that provides health services, a company that provides customer service, a company that provides logistic related services, a company providing accommodation services, a company providing entertainment events such as concerts, plays or sports games, etc. It is to be noted that a company could also be understood as an organization, or an organization could be a part of a company etc. Thus, an account is for identifying one user, which may be a person, or one group of users. The organization 300, may thus be considered as a group of users each associated with their respective personal accounts in the service 220. It is to be noted that the personal accounts in the service 220 are verified accounts. The organization 300 may be for example an enterprise or a school or any other organization that can be officially verified. One user of the organization 325, who is authorized to represent the organization 300, may verify the organization 300 using an external verification 320. It is to be noted that it may be required that the user personally has a 2nd level verification, in other words, the account of the user has been externally verified. This may be performed as the second level of verification in the previous exemplary embodiment. In other words, the user 325 who is authorized to represent the organization 300, may create an account for the organization 300 using the application run on the mobile device 310. The service 220 then uses the information received from the application and / or the external verification 320 to create and account for the organization 300. The user 325 may be dedicated as a manager of the account created for the organization 300 and may thus control addition of other users 330 to the account of the organization 300.

[0041] The user 325 may be a user having personally a second level verification and may then verify the information regarding the organization 300 to be correct when the account for the organization 300 is created. The external verification may thus be performed for the user 325 personally and / or for the organization 300 such that the information of the organization 300 is received from the external verification 320 and the user 325, who has a second level verification performed earlier, or at the moment, may then verify the information.

[0042] Once the account for the organization has been created, the user 325 as a manager of that account may add one or more other users 330 belonging to that organization 300 to the account thus giving the other user(s) 330 the ability to represent the organization when calling. The callee can then know that the person calling is a representative of the organization 300. Adding of users 330 to the organization 300 may be performed in any suitable manner. For example, the user 325 may transmit a link from the application run on the mobile phone 310 to a user that is to be added as a member of the organization 300. Alternatively, or additionally, the user 325 may add user(s) to the organization 300 using the application run on the mobile device 310. The user that is added may then accept the adding and thereby verify the belonging to the organization 300 by providing any suitable input to the application run on the user’s mobile device. The adding and the verification by the added user are communicated to the service 220 by the respective applications. The applications thus provide indications to the service 220 that indicate the adding and the verifying of the user being added to the organization 300. As a new user is added, the new user then uses an application run on the user’s mobile device to verify the addition. The added user may be required to have a second level verification performed using the application run on the user's mobile device before the user can be added to the organization 300. This allows the callee to know that the caller 300 is a verified caller, and is therefore who they indicate to be, and also that the organization as such is verified. In other words, this allows double verification so that the callee who is calling and from which organization.

[0043] The adding of the new user may additionally, or alternatively, be initiated by a new user. The new user then may have an account on the service 220 with an external verification. The new user may then request to be added to the organization 300. The request may be provided through the service 220 for example or by transmitting the request directly to the verified user 325. The verified user 325, who is the manager of the organization 300 then rejects or approves the addition and may transmit an indication of the approval or rejection to the service, and / or to the new user requesting to be added to the organization 300.

[0044] Thus, when a member of the organization calls, the callee is able to know who is calling and from which organization. Thus, when the callee, who may be a verified user, receives the call in the application run on the callee’s mobile device for example, the callee may see an incoming call indication 340 in which the name of the verified user John Doe and the indication of the verified organization 300 to which John Doe has been verified to belong to. Correspondingly, if another user of the organization 300, Jane Doe, initiates a call to a callee using the service 220 via an application running on the callee’s mobile device, the indication 350 of the incoming call may be displayed. In this indication the name Jane Doe, the organization 300 and an indication that Jane is a verified user and member of the verified organization 300, are displayed. It is to be noted that in addition to displaying the indication, the indication may also be provided as audio output. Additionally, or alternatively, the indication may also be displayed on a related device such as a smart watch or other wearable device.

[0045] It is to be noted that in general, an organization may have a visual appearance for the organization. The visual appearance may be such that if a user of the organization initiates a communication comprising a call and / or a message, the receiver device of the initiated communication is caused to display, at least partly, the visual appearance of the organization. The visual appearance may comprise at least an indication of the organization such as a name of the organization, which may be indicated as text, the logo of the organization at least partly, and / or an icon indicating that the organization is a verified organization. Optionally, the visual appearance of the communication may comprise also visual appearance of the caller who is a user of the organization along with the at least partial visual appearance of the organization. The visual appearance of the organization may comprise any suitable visual elements, such as the logo of the organization, image (s) related to the organization, colours identified with the user group, etc. Yet to avoid the organization from using inappropriate visual elements, such as logos they the organization is not entitled to use, visual elements the usage of which is prevented by for example copyrights, or morally questionable visual elements, the organization may have the visual appearance verified. The verification may be performed at least partly by the service, or it may be performed, partly or completely, using authentication obtained from any suitable external verification, such as accessing official records for example. As an example, the service may utilize artificial intelligence -based solutions, or any other suitable software algorithms, to check if the visual appearance is appropriate. An appropriate visual appearance may be defined using pre-determined criteria, such as the user group being entitled to use the visual appearance and the content of the visual appearance fulfilling criteria regarding morally appropriate content. Thus, an appropriate visual appearance fulfils the pre-determined criteria for being considered as appropriate.

[0046] Additionally, or alternatively, the visual appearance may also include other elements that are in accordance with for example a pre-determined visual guideline of the organization, such as certain image(s) and / or usage of certain colours. Additionally, or alternatively, the visual appearance may also comprise a picture of the user that initiates the call and the picture, which is an image of the user, may be an image associated with the organization, for example, the picture may be in accordance with a theme of the organization. Information regarding the caller, such as name and / or role in the organization, may also be indicated.

[0047] Figure 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which a user 400 may be a verified user 405 that is associated with multiple caller profiles. In other words, an account associated with the user 400 may comprise a plurality of profiles. The user has an account created for service such as the service 220 and the user has an application running on a computing device through which the user uses the service 220. In this exemplary embodiment, user has the verified personal profile, which may be referred to as a first profile and which is obtained when creating an account performing a verification, but the user is also linked to two groups of users that are verified groups. The user 400 has accepted, and / or initiated, the linking to the groups. Thus, the linking to the groups and a profile of the user associated with each group may be saved by the application and / or by the service. For example, once the profiles are completed and accepted by the user using the application, the application then transmits the information regarding the profiles to the service as well. It is to be noted that as the profiles are saved to the server, the profiles may be searched by other users of the service. Thus, the user 400 may be identified as a verified user 405 but also the various roles may be identified thus helping the person searching to identify the correct profile depending on the context for example.

[0048] In this exemplary embodiment, the user 400 is verified with names Jane Sandra Smith Doe. The user 400 then selects for the personal profile 420 that the field of information comprising name in the personal profile 420 comprises only the name Sandra. Additionally, the user has selected a profile picture as the field of information comprising a picture. As the user is a verified user, the icon 405 indicates the second level of verification.

[0049] The user 400 then has, in this exemplary embodiment, a profile 430 as the work profile and the field of information for that profile, that comprises name, is selected to be Jane Doe. Thus, the user may select for each profile which of the verified names are displayed in the field of information of that profile that indicates the name of the user. In this profile, the field of information comprising a picture, the logo of the company for example may be selected. Optionally, more than one picture may be used, for example one for the logo of the organization and one for the face of the user 400. As the user is a verified user, also the icon of verification 405 is displayed. The profile may also comprise further fields of information, such as the title of the user 400, the role in the organization and so on. Some fields of information of the profile may be mandatory and others may be optional. The organization may define which fields of information are mandatory for profiles that are linked to that organization. Also, it is to be noted that in case the user 400 has multiple roles in the company, the user may have a different profile for each of those roles. It is to be noted that in different profiles, there may be a different photo of the user 400 as well, and / or some profiles of the user 400 may have the same photo of the user and so on.

[0050] In this exemplary embodiment, the user then has also a third profile 450 which for the hobby of the user 400. The user 400 may be an active yogi and therefore the user may be a member of a yoga studio. For this profile, the user has selected as the name comprised in the field of information comprising the name, the name Jane Doe. As a picture, a logo of the yoga studio for example may be selected. The verified logo 405 may also be comprised in the profile 405. The profile may comprise further fields of information as well, for example an indication of how advanced the user is and / or which type of yoga the user 400 prefers and so on.

[0051] While the user may be part of several groups and in each group, the user may have one or more profiles in the account associated with the user, each profile comprising relevant fields of information, some of which may be mandatory, the user may be limited to just one personal profile. This may be useful for example in case it is necessary to verify that the user really is who the user claims to be. If the user 400 is linked to a group, then the user may create the profile for that group after, before, or together with, being successfully added for example in the manner as described in the previous exemplary embodiments. The group may have identified some fields of information comprised in the profile for that group as mandatory. For example, the name and title as well as company logo may be mandatory for a profile linked to a group that is an account of a company for which the user 400 works. Each profile, 420, 430 and 450 may thus comprise mandatory fields and also optional field that the user may select to be presented. The profiles may be displayed for example if another user searches for the user 400 using the directory provided by the service and / or when the user 400 initiates a call, the incoming call indication of the callee may display the profile. The user 400 may select which profile to use when initiating the call, so that it is clear when the call is work related, when it relates to a hobby and when it is personal for example.

[0052] By enabling a user to have different profiles, distinction between work and free time, for example, may be obtained. The caller may be relevant to the callee as part of one group, but not otherwise, or the caller may be relevant as a person, but not business wise. Therefore, it is beneficial to understand which role the user 400 has when calling. This may also help the callee to determine when to answer a call and when not. For example, someone calling from a hobby during a workday may be left unanswered and / or during a weekend, someone calling as a business representative may not be of interest, while during a workday it may be a priority to answer the call.

[0053] Additionally, or alternatively, when another user that has an account in the service, uses the service to look for the user 400, the service may indicate the one or more profiles associated with the account associated with the user 400. Thus, the other user may then select to which profile a call, or some other form of communication is to be initiated. This also allows the user 400 to know when there is the request for the incoming communication that for which profile it is. This may be useful such that the user 400 knows if the caller for example is trying to call to the work-related profile or to the personal profile thus allowing the user 405 to better screen the incoming communication and to decide whether to accept the communication, reject it, or come back to it later. This may allow the user 400 to better separate for example free time from work.

[0054] In addition to being able to know who is calling and optionally also in which context, based on a profile of the caller, the callee may also benefit from knowing why the caller is calling. Therefore, it may be useful to receive a premessage indicating a message from the caller when receiving the incoming call and determining if to answer the call or not. The pre-message may be a message, such as a text-based message, such as an SMS, or voice message, video message, image, or any other suitable form of a message. The pre-message may also comprise links to files, that may be of any suitable type such as documents or images, and / or the links may be to a website and so on. This may be useful for example if the user initiating the communications wishes to share and / or cause any suitable rendering of documents, or other files during the communication. The pre-message may also be considered as part of the communication or as a message associated with the communication. It is to be noted that in addition to having a link in the premessage, access to the file may be shared during the communication also in any other suitable manner. For example, by using elements rendered on the user interfaces of the caller and / or the callee that allow sharing and / or accessing the file during a call for example. Additionally, or alternatively, there may be a further message during the communication comprising a link to the file, or the file itself, for example. In general, any suitable manner of sharing the file during the communication may be used. The pre-message may be rendered at least partly simultaneously with an incoming communication, or the pre-message may be rendered first before the incoming communication.

[0055] Figure 5A illustrates a signalling chart according to an exemplary embodiment in which the caller may initiate a call with a pre-message such that the message is rendered to the callee along with the indication of an incoming call. In this exemplary embodiment, there is application 500 which is the application the caller is using. The application 500 may be run on any suitable computing device. The callee also has an application 505 which is run on any suitable computing device of the callee. Both applications 500 and 505 enable the caller and the callee to use the service 220, which has been described in the previous exemplary embodiments.

[0056] In this exemplary embodiment, the caller to use the application 500 to select the callee for whom the caller wishes to initiate a call. The application then allows the caller to provide a pre-message 520 by for example typing the message. Alternatively, or additionally, the caller may also be allowed to dictate the premessage 520. The pre-message may be limited in terms of its length, for example in terms of characters allowed, and / or the number of characters allowed. For example, there may be 80 characters allowed. In case the user dictates an audio pre-message, then the length of the pre-message may be limited. The limitation of the pre-message 520 may be useful in ensuring that the pre-message 520 is easily read and / or listened to when the callee receives the incoming call and the premessage 520 is rendered along with the indication of the incoming call. The content of the pre-message 520 may be determined by the caller and it may provide for example an explanation why the caller is calling.

[0057] Optionally, there may be one or more templates available in the application 500 from which the caller may select a suitable pre-message and optionally also modify it. The templates may be saved locally on the computing device, and / or they may be saved by the service 220 and the application 500 may access the service in order to provide the template pre-messages to the caller. Additionally, or alternatively, the user of the application 500 may generate and store templates for messages 520 as well. This may be useful for example if the caller needs the same pre-message often 520. For example, recruiters often call to multiple candidates for the same reason and thus they may benefit from template pre-messages 520 that they may use as such or after minor modifications. Additionally, or alternatively, the caller may also use one of previously used pre- message(s) as the pre-message 520. Such previously used pre-message (s) may also be saved as templates.

[0058] For example, an organization may have templates defining messages that may be used as pre-messages. Optionally, the content of the pre-message may be checked by the service. The checking may be performed automatically using any suitable software algorithms, for example. As an example, artificial intelligence may be utilized to verify that the text is appropriate. Additionally, or alternatively, the correctness of the information included in the pre-message may be verified. For example, if the pre-message comprises a link, the validity of the link, and optionally also the content the link provides access to, are verified to be valid and not for example used for fraud or for infecting the computing device of the recipient of the link.

[0059] After providing user input providing the pre-message 520, by for example typing, dictating, and / or selecting the pre-message 520, the user provides input that causes the application 500 to transmit to the service 220 a request 525 to initiate a call with the pre-message 520 to the application 505, which is the application of the callee. The service 220 then receives the request 525 and may verify that the identity of the caller corresponds to that saved to the service 220. If so, the service 220 may the perform 530 initiation of the call and thus transmit an indication 535 of an incoming call from the application 500 along with the premessage 520 to the application 505.

[0060] The application 505 then receives the indication 535 of the incoming call and thus receives the call 540. When receiving the call 540, the application 505 renders an indication of the incoming call using resources of the computing device on which the application 505 is run. The indication may comprise the profile of the caller and the pre-message 520. The callee may then answer the call 545, or the callee may react to the incoming call 550 in some other manner. The reaction may be that the user ignores or rejects the call. Alternatively, the callee may react to the call by providing a reaction indicated using an icon and / or by transmitting a message to the caller. The message may be typed, or it may be selected from a template of messages. The reaction to the call may then be transmitted 555 to the service 220. In case the user reacts to the incoming call 550 the call may be rejected and thus the call is not established.

[0061] The service 220 may optionally register the received reaction 560 by saving it as a call log. After receiving the reaction, the service 220 forwards the reaction to the application 500 using indication 565 comprising the reaction. After this, the application 500 and the application 505 may, along with the service 220, save the reaction to the call log 570. In the call log, the call with the pre-message 520 is saved, as well as whether the call was answered or not, and in case there is a reaction to the call, then that reaction is also saved to the call log, which may also be registered as a call register.

[0062] In case the callee then uses the application 505 to later on initiate a returning call to the application 500 of the caller, this may be performed such that the pre-message 520 and optionally also the reaction, may be associated with the returning call. The returning call may be understood as a call that is initiated after the call was not received, or also in case the call was received, but the callee still comes back to a topic of the call for example. The returning call may thus be understood as a call initiated by the callee after receiving an incoming call with a pre-message. It is to be noted that although the call is referred to herein, also other types of communication could be initiated. In some examples, the pre-message 520 as such may be the communication initiated, and to which a reaction may be provided. In such an example, the returning call may be a call initiated as a response to receiving the pre-message 520.

[0063] Once the callee uses the application 505 to initiate the returning call 580, the application 505 transmits to the service 220 a request for initiating the call to the application 500. The call may be initiated to the profile from which the call with the pre-message 520, or any other suitable communication, originated from. The service 220 the verifies 590 that the user account that is used by the application 505 is verified and matches the information saved to the service 220 and if so, transmits and initiation request 595 of the returning call to the application 500. Together with the initiation request, the pre-message 520 is also indicated. This allows the user of the application 500 to know that this is a returning call and to what the call relates to. Optionally also the reaction may be indicated.

[0064] It is also to be noted that if the pre-message comprises a link, the link may be used to share content, which may comprise one or more files such as documents, during the communication. For example, there may be a need to share the document during a call, that is part of the communication. While in such as situation the link may be used to share the content, such as a document, there may also be other ways of sharing the content. For example, there may be another element rendered on the user interface of the caller allowing the caller to share the content during the communication. Additionally, or alternatively, the callee may receive a link, or any other suitable user interface element, that allows the callee to access the content during the communication. Further additionally, or alternatively, there may be a further message during the communication comprising the link. It is to be noted thus that any suitable manner of sharing, or providing access to, the content to be shared during the communication, may be used.

[0065] The service may therefore, in response to receiving a request to establish the communication, gather information relevant to the communication, such as information regarding the organization and its visual appearance, information, such as name and / or role in the organization, regarding the user initiating the communication as a representative of the organization, as well as the pre-message the user has selected to be provided to the receiving application when establishing the communication. The service may have also verified the gathered information. The verification may optionally be indicated using a visual element, such as an icon, to indicate that the verification has been successfully performed. The service may then provide a request to the receiving application to establish the communication originating from the application of the user. The request may comprise all the gathered information to be rendered by the receiving application as the request is received. Alternatively, there may be first displayed the premessage selected by the user, which in this exemplary embodiment indicates the reason for the communication. If this is the first time the callee receives such a premessage indicating the reason for requesting a communication to be established, there may also be indicated an explanation of why such a pre-message is displayed, in other words, what its purpose is. After the first time there may not be such explanation rendered anymore, or if it is determined that such a message could be helpful to the user, the message may be displayed also along with another incoming request for communication, that has a pre-message associated to it. Either along with the pre-message explaining the reason for the incoming communication, or after that, there may be further information regarding the organization provided to be rendered by the receiving application. The further information may comprise for example at least part of the visual appearance of the organization. Thus, the communication service may provide a combination of information regarding the originating user of the communication, the organization of the user and a message indicating reason for the communication to be initiated. This information may be considered as trustworthy information as the information included in the combination has been verified by the service, at least partly. Thus, the receiver of the initiated communication may know what the communication is about and may consider the rendered information regarding the other party of the communication being established as trustworthy. It is to be noted that in addition to, or alternatively to displaying the information, also other means of rendering may be used such as using voice communication to read the message.

[0066] Figure 5B illustrates an exemplary embodiment regarding how the callee may react to the incoming call. The application 505 renders in this exemplary embodiment, the visual indication 580 when the incoming call is received. In the visual indication 580 the profile of the caller is displayed along with the field of information 582 indicating the name of the caller and the field of information 584 indicating the group of the caller. It is also indicated that the caller is a verified caller by rendering the verified icon 586. Along with the profile, also the premessage 588 is indicated which in this exemplary embodiment is a text message indicating the reason for the call.

[0067] The callee may then be provided, by the application 505 a selection of reactions 590 that the callee may use to react to the incoming call. The selection comprises various icons such as the icon 592 for approval, the icon 594 for indicating high importance, the icon 596 for indicating liking and the icon 598 for indicating disapproval. It is to be noted that there are examples of reactions that the user may be provided with and that other reactions may also be available for the user to choose and use.

[0068] In this exemplary embodiment the callee also provides a message 595 as part of the reaction. The message 595 in this exemplary embodiment requests the caller to call again later, but it is to be noted that the message could also indicate something else.

[0069] The incoming call may comprise the profile of the caller and optionally also a pre-message. In some exemplary embodiments, the profile may comprise a field for a video image. Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of usage of a field of information comprising a video for a profile of an account registered at the service. In this exemplary embodiment, the user of the account has stored a video, which may be generated by the user by filing a video 600 for example or it may be obtained in any other suitable manner. When initiating a call, the caller may be provided an option, by the application, to include the video. The field of information comprising the video may be temporary such that it enables the video to be included in the initiated call, or it may be permanently saved to the profile of the user, and used as the user is using to initiate the call. The user then transmits the request for establishing a call to the selected callee along with the selected video. The request is transmitted to the service. The service then transmits an indication of the incoming call to the callee along with the video and profile and optionally also other information such as a pre-message. As the incoming call is indicated 650, the video is rendered by the application of the callee such that the callee sees that there is an incoming call and the video. The video is thus rendered as part of the indication of the incoming call. It is to be noted that the video may be rendered even if the caller and the callee have not communicated before with each other and / or do not know each other. It is also to be noted that in case a profile comprises a field of information for an image, the image may as well be displayed along with the other fields of information when there is an incoming call even if the caller and the callee do not know each other before hand.

[0070] As mentioned previously, the calls may be saved to a call register. The call register of a profile of a user may be saved locally by the application and / or by the service. Figure 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a call register 700. In this exemplary embodiment, there is a registered call 710 and the entry of that call in the register comprises the name of the caller, the time of the call as well as the pre-message that was transmitted along with the incoming call. Associated with that entry there is also the reaction to the call 715 by the user.

[0071] As a second entry in the register there is the entry 720 comprising information of the caller and when the call was received. As a third entry 730 there is an indication that a representative of a bank called, when the call was received, as well as the pre-message they transmitted. Also, associated with that entry, is the reaction 735 of the user as well as the message 737 that the user transmitted to the caller as part of the reaction.

[0072] It is to be noted that also the calls initiated by the user may be saved to the call register as well as pre-messages sent along with the initiated calls and the reactions received to them. It is also to be noted that the reactions may be provided not only to the incoming calls but also during the call and / or after the call, for example, the reaction may be provided to an entry of the call register after the call has been received. Thus, a call may have a reaction associated to it whether it was answered, in other words, whether the call was established, or not. It is also to be noted that the pre-message may also be transmitted without actually initiating the call. Then, the profile of the sender is displayed to the receiver and the pre-message along with possible reactions to it may be indicated as an entry in the call register.

[0073] The call register may be useful for example if identifying disturbing callers. For example, the service may identify from one or more call registers of one or more profiles if there are indications of one caller receiving negative reactions. If so, the service may provide the data for further investigation such that it can be clarified if there are disturbing calling patterns. Additionally, or alternatively, also other metrics may be obtained based on call registers of one or more profiles and / or users. It is to be noted that a user may have a call register for each of his / her profiles and / or a combined call register for a plurality of profiles of the user.

[0074] The service therefore may be useful in determining accurately such callers that cause disturbance and this may be achieved without having to collect separate databases based on information provided by users. This may also be beneficial for groups of users as it may reduce the groups being mistakenly labelled as disturbing callers. Also, as an example, while a call from a salesperson from an insurance company may not be that interesting in a given situation for a callee, a call from the same insurance company coming from the contact person of the callee might be very relevant and the callee may then wish to answer the call. Yet, in case the salesperson is able to indicate in a pre-message and interesting topic to discuss, the callee may react to it appropriately and / or initiate a returning call.

[0075] As a further exemplary embodiment, after a call, the caller and / or the callee may make notes regarding the call. The notes may be such that they may be for the one making them, or they may be shared with both the caller and the callee, for example as a related item to the call. In such an example, the call register may then also indicate the note in the register. This may be beneficial for a user then to later on come back to the call, or when a new call or other form of communication is initiated, to be reminded of the note and thus be more aware regarding context to the communication for example. Such post communication notes may then also be saved to the service.

[0076] Optionally, the exemplary embodiments described above, may also comprise an indication of a priority of the communication that is to be established using the service. The priority may have any suitable levels of priority, such as high, normal, and low. A receiver may have indicated those parties that are allowed to initiate a communication with a designated priority for example. In case the priority is assigned to the communication, by the initiating party for example, then the receiver is notified regarding the assigned priority as the request for the communication is received. The notifying may be done in any suitable manner, for example, by using a background colour to indicate the priority. For example, there may be a background colour red when the communication has high importance, and light blue when the importance is low. Additionally, or alternatively, the indication may comprise audio and / or haptic indication in accordance with the priority.

[0077] Also optionally, in the exemplary embodiments described above, an application run on a receiving device may also be caused, by the application, to provide feedback regarding the communication received to the service. The feedback may be regarding the pre-message, the call, or regarding the communication as a whole, including the pre-message. In case the feedback is regarding the pre-message, then the feedback may be provided after the communication, for example if the communication is accepted, or, if the communication is rejected, after rejecting the communication. In general, the feedback regarding the communication may be regarding the communication as a whole, or a part of the communication, and it may be provided at any suitable time, such as after rejecting the communication once the pre-message is received, during the communication, or after the communication. Such feedback may be in any suitable format. For example, the service may have provided the receiving device with a query to provide feedback regarding the communication. Thus, the feedback may comprise for example an evaluation regarding how useful the communication was using a pre-determined scale. Alternatively, or additionally, the evaluation may be in a format that allows the user to provide text, and so on. In other words, the feedback is information regarding the communication received that is then provided to the service. The service may be configured to store information regarding each communication request it has received and if feedback is received, the feedback may then be stored along with the information regarding the communication request received from the mobile device. The information may comprise information such as was the communication established, to whom the communication was targeted, what information was provided along with the request to establish the communication, for how long did the communication last and so on. It is to be noted that in case the communication was considered as not useful, for example due to not being informative enough, or the content of the message was not applicable to the receiver, for any reason by the receiver of the communication, that may be reported to the communication service as well and it may be considered as feedback as well. Based on such reporting, the communication service may then check the validity of the user group and its users for example. The feedback may then optionally be provided, at least partly, to the user who originated the communication as well.

[0078] In the exemplary embodiments above, data transfers included in the originating of the communication, as well as subsequent data transfers during the communication, as well as data transfers regarding the communication that occur after the communication, may all be secure communications. Additionally, or alternatively, the service may be configured to follow regulations regarding storing of user data.

[0079] In the exemplary embodiments described above, the communication may be enabled using a service that is integrated to another service, the service may then act as a verifying service to the other service. For example, if the other service is used to initiate any type of communication to a receiving party, the initiation may be implemented such that the communication service is used to obtain a verification that the initiating party is a verified, and therefore legitimate, party. Thus, even though the communication as such is provided by the other service, the other service uses the service for obtaining the verification so that the users of the other service can trust the communication provided by that other service. The verification may be indicated in any suitable manner, for example, like is described above. In order to be able to provide such verification, the party to be verified may be such that has been verified before the communication is initiated.

[0080] Figure 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a device 800 that may be or may be comprised in a computing system comprising one or more computing devices. This exemplary embodiment is compatible with the previous exemplary embodiments, and they may be combined in any suitable manner. In this exemplary embodiment, there is at least one processor 840, at least one memory 830, at least one connectivity unit 810 and at least one unit for receiving input and providing output 820. It is to be noted that the units described here are logical units and thus the actual implementation may vary. The at least one processor 840, at least one memory 830, at least one connectivity unit 810 and at least one unit for receiving input and providing output 820 may be connected to each other.

[0081] The at least one processor 840 may also be referred to as core, a central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor or graphical processing unit (GPU). A processor may be understood as an integrated circuit for performing calculations according to instructions provided using computer code. The at least one memory 830 may comprise volatile and / or non-volatile memory. Thus, the at least one memory 830 may be understood to be one block of memory or a combination of different blocks of memory. The memory may be for storing different types of data. The at least one memory 830 stores also computer program instructions, for example in the form of an application and / or an operating system. The at least one memory 830 provides computer program instructions to the at least one processor 840 for executing and the at least one processor 840 may then be configured to store data into the at least one memory 830. Some examples of memory are random access memories (RAMs), such as static RAM (SRAM) and dynamic RAM (DRAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memories, optical discs, and magnetic computer storage devices, such as hard disk drives. The input and output unit 820 may allow user input, such as pressing a button, touch input and / or voice input, to be received by the device 800 and output such as audio, haptic or visual output to be provided to a user. The connectivity unit 810 allows connection to be formed between the device 800 and another device. The connectivity unit may allow wireless and / or wired connections to be formed between the device 800 and other devices. Examples of connection types that may be supported by the connectivity unit 810 are cellular communication -based connections, local area networks, Bluetoothconnections, Wi-Fi connections, etc.

[0082] The present disclosure has been described above with reference to the exemplary embodiments. However, a person skilled in the art will understand there may be embodiments that vary from the example embodiments discussed above within the scope of the claims. Thus, skilled person will understand that the exemplary embodiments described above may, but are not required to, be combined with each other and / or other exemplary embodiments in various manners.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining a verification, for a first account that is associated with a first user using a service, wherein obtaining the verification comprises receiving an external verification, and wherein the verification is for identifying the first user; transmitting information regarding the verification of the first user to the service; transmitting, to the service, a first request for initiating communication to a second user, that is associated with a second account, and wherein the second user uses the service; and using a first profile of the first account associated with the first user to initiate the communication, the first profile comprising a first set of fields of information identifying the user and indicating that the first user is a verified user, wherein the first profile is for being transmitted to the second user along with the request of communication by the service.

2. A computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the first account comprises a second profile comprising a second set of fields of information, and the second profile being linked to a third account, wherein the third account is for a group of users.

3. A computer-implemented method according to claim 2, the method further comprising transmitting to the service a second request for initiating a second communication using the second profile.

4. A computer-implemented method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the second profile is created in response to the first user receiving an indication of being added to the group of users and the first user verifying the addition to the group or users.

5. A computer-implemented method according to any previous claims wherein the first request for initiating communication comprises a pre-message transmitted along the first request.

6. A computer-implemented method according to claim 5, wherein the method further comprises receiving a call, that is a returning call received as aresponse to the first request, and receiving the pre-message together with the returning call.

7. A computer-implemented method according to any previous claims wherein the first request for initiating communication is for initiating a call.

8. A computer-implemented method according to any previous claims wherein the method further comprises receiving, as a response to the first request for initiating communication, a first reaction.

9. A computer-implemented method according to claim 3, wherein the method further comprises receiving, as a response to the second request for initiating communication, a second reaction.

10. A computer-implemented method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the method further comprises saving to a call register the first request for initiating communication and the first reaction, and / or the second request for initiating communication and the second reaction11. A computer-implemented method according to any previous claim, wherein the first set of fields of information comprises a video that is for rendering for the second user.

12. A computer-implemented method according to any previous claim, wherein the second account has a verification that is a first-level verification, and the verification of the first user account is a second-level verification that requires the external verification, and wherein the first level verification is required to receive the communication and the second-level verification is required to initiate the communication.

13. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, from a first account associated with a first user, a first request for initiating communication to a second account, that is associated with a second user, wherein a first verification has been received for the first user account prior to receiving the first request, the first verification comprising receiving an external verification regarding the first user, and wherein a second verification has beenreceived for the second account prior to receiving the first request; verifying that the first user provides information that corresponds to information regarding the first user stored; and transmitting to the second user the first request for initiating the communication, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting a first profile of the first account associated with the first user, the first profile comprising a first set of fields of information identifying the user and indicating that the first user is a verified user.

14. A computer-implemented method according to claim 13 further comprising: establishing the communication between the first user and the second user; performing additional verification during the communication by receiving from the first user a first authentication indicator, and receiving from the second user a second authentication indicator; and verifying that the first authentication indicator is correct and that the second authentication indicator is correct.

15. A computer-implemented method according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the second verification is a first-level verification, and the first verification is a second-level verification that requires the external verification, and wherein the first level verification is required to receive the communication, and the second-level verification is required to initiate the communication.

16. A computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed by a computing system, cause the system to perform a computer- implemented method according to any of claims 1 to 1217. A computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed by a computing system, cause the system to perform a computer- implemented method according to any of claims 13 to 15.

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