Patent ID: 9553985
Date: 2017-01-24
CPC Classifications: H04M

Claim:
1. A telecommunications switch, comprising: an input port receiving phone calls destined for a phone number associated with a called party; a processor, which, when a determination cannot be made if a call made by a calling party is wanted by said called party, answers said call; said processor determining if said call from said calling party attempting to connect to said called party via said phone number is unwanted, based on prior call data, by conducting audio comparisons between audio of said call to stored audio or a stored audio signature of a previous unwanted call; an output port via which data is sent, when said call is answered at said telecommunications switch, said data being representative of a message to said calling party, said message requiring at least one number to be received from said calling party; and a memory component, storing audio of said calling party recorded during said step of said processor answering said call, wherein said audio is sent to said telecommunications switch; wherein phone call routing by way of said processor or another processor is improved based on updated instructions stored in said switch, the instructions updated based on a threshold of closeness of said audio or said audio signature of said prior call to audio of said call from said calling party in order to make said determination if said call is unwanted, wherein upon receipt of another phone call to said input port, said threshold of closeness used to determine if said another call is unwanted is different if said another call directed to said called party versus if said another call directed to a different called party.