Centralized SPIT Filtering via Dynamic List Management

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current methods for preventing unwanted telephone advertising over Internet Telephony (SPIT) are inadequate in terms of convenience and effectiveness, as they either rely on voluntary advertiser compliance, occupy resources with answering machines, or fail to distinguish between legitimate and spam calls from abroad.

Innovation Solution

A packet-oriented network service manages lists of identifiers for unwanted advertising, routing incoming calls based on black, white, and grey lists, with automatic call handling and identification of call machines through speech analysis or interaction, allowing for efficient updating and management of these lists.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Object-affected harmful factors

If a Robinson list is used to prevent unwanted advertising, then advertising companies belonging to the association are prevented from sending telephone advertising to registered participants, but the use of these lists is voluntary and not all advertisers belong to the association, and it is only effective in Germany

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveunwanted telephone advertisingVSAvoideffectiveness against all advertisers and locations
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the list management into multiple components: a central service maintains master blacklists and whitelists, while local terminals maintain cached copies and can perform local filtering. This segmentation allows the system to achieve both voluntary participation (local caching) and comprehensive coverage (central service coordination) simultaneously.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent creates a universal list management service that can handle multiple functions: maintaining blacklists, maintaining whitelists, providing real-time updates, and coordinating between multiple terminals. This multi-functional service makes the system adaptable to different advertisers and locations beyond just Germany.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Object-affected harmful factors

If an answering machine is inserted into every incoming call to prevent unwanted advertising, then advertising can be filtered, but resources (exchange lines, storage space) are unnecessarily occupied by the called party, and the caller may reach his destination with a delay

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveunwanted advertisingVSAvoidresources occupied by called party
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the list management and filtering functionality from the called party's terminal and places it in a separate central service. The terminal only needs to cache lists and perform simple lookups, while the complex management functions reside elsewhere. This extraction reduces resource occupation at the terminal while maintaining filtering capability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces a central service as an intermediary between the caller and the called party. This service handles list management, updates, and coordination, allowing the terminal to perform filtering without occupying excessive resources. The intermediary manages the complexity centrally while enabling simple local filtering.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Reliability

If a service for keeping lists is provided in the packet-oriented network to manage blacklists and whitelists centrally, then identifications of calls with unwanted spoken advertising can be determined more effectively, but the system requires automatic call handling and speech analysis to identify call machines

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedetermination of unwanted advertising callsVSAvoidautomatic call handling and speech analysis
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary actions by maintaining pre-populated blacklists and whitelists in advance. These lists contain known identifiers of unwanted callers and trusted callers. When a call arrives, the system can quickly check against these pre-prepared lists without needing complex real-time analysis, thus improving reliability while managing complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses partial action by implementing a multi-tier filtering approach: first checking against cached local lists, then optionally consulting the central service, and only using speech analysis when necessary for ambiguous cases. This partial application of complex analysis reduces overall system complexity while maintaining high reliability for clear-cut cases.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentEP2103096B1Method for repelling unwanted speech advertising for packet-oriented communication networks
Publication Date: 2017.06.07 UNIFY GMBH & CO KG
  • EP2103096B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2103096B1 patent drawingFigure 2A~2B

AI summary

A service (LD) according to the invention is disclosed for managing lists in a packet-oriented network (LAN) for end devices (EG) of the network, said service providing a first (blacklist) and second (whitelist) list (L1, L2) of identifiers (id, rn) in which one or no unwanted speech advertising SPIT or unsolicited bulk communications are to be expected. A call is directed to the service (LD), and the identifier (idx) of the call is compared to the identifiers (id, rn) in the lists (L1, L2). A call whose identifier (idx) is not contained in the lists (L1, L2) is directed to the addressed end device (EGx) and transmitted following acceptance. After determination of a call with or without unwanted speech advertising (SPIT), a first or second piece of information (z1, z2) inputted to the end device (EGx) is transmitted to the service (LD) in the packet-oriented network (LAN), and the identifier (idx) of the call is assigned to the first or second list (L1, L2). The handling of the lists, and therefore the comfort for the subscriber, is increased by the central management of the lists (L1, L2) by a service (LD) in the network and by simple input to the end device.