Patent ID: 8000458
Filing Date: 2011-08-16
Classification: H04M

Abstract:
1. A computer implemented method in a mobile communication device for automatically verifying an incoming telephone number, the method comprising: responsive to detecting an incoming communication by the mobile communication device, determining, by the mobile communication device, whether a user enabled a telephone number verification unit within the mobile communication device; responsive to a determination that the user did not enable the telephone number verification unit within the mobile communication device, connecting, by the mobile communication device, with a telephone number associated with the incoming communication; responsive to a determination that the user did enable the telephone number verification unit within the mobile communication device, determining, by the mobile communication device utilizing the telephone number verification unit, whether the telephone number associated with the incoming communication matches one of a plurality of telephone numbers in a storage unit within the mobile communication device; responsive to a determination that the telephone number associated with the incoming communication does match one of the plurality of telephone numbers stored in the storage unit within the mobile communication device, determining, by the mobile communication device, whether the user enabled a confirmation to continue with the incoming communication function within the mobile communication device; responsive to a determination that the user did not enable the confirmation to continue with the incoming communication function within the mobile communication device, connecting, by the mobile communication device, with the telephone number associated with the incoming communication; responsive to a determination that the user did enable the confirmation to continue with the incoming communication function within the mobile communication device, using, by the mobile communication device, a display screen to prompt the user for confirmation to continue with the incoming communication; responsive to the mobile communication device prompting the user for the confirmation to continue with the incoming communication, determining, by the mobile communication device, whether the mobile communication device received the confirmation from the user to continue with the incoming communication; responsive to the mobile communication device receiving the confirmation from the user to continue with the incoming communication, connecting, by the mobile communication device, with the telephone number associated with the incoming communication; responsive to the mobile communication device not receiving the confirmation from the user to continue with the incoming communication, terminating, by the mobile communication device, the connection with the telephone number associated with the incoming communication; responsive to a determination that the telephone number associated with the incoming communication does not match one of the plurality of telephone numbers in the storage unit within the mobile communication device, applying, by the mobile communication device, telephone number verification rules to determine whether to continue with the incoming communication, wherein the telephone number verification rules direct the mobile communication device to continue with the incoming communication in response to the mobile communication device having previously completed a connection with the telephone number associated with the incoming communication a first predetermined number of times or more without saving the telephone number to a contact list in the storage unit within the mobile communication device, to continue with the incoming communication in response to the mobile communication device having previously made a connection to the telephone number associated with the incoming communication the first predetermined number of times or more without saving the telephone number to the contact list in the storage unit within the mobile communication device, to display a selectable background color alert within a display screen in response to the mobile communication device not having previously completed a connection with the telephone number associated with the incoming communication a second predetermined number of times or less without saving the telephone number to the contact list in the storage unit within the mobile communication device, or to display the selectable background color alert within the display screen in response to the mobile communication device not having previously made a connection to the telephone number associated with the incoming communication the second predetermined number of times or less; determining, by the mobile communication device, whether to continue with the incoming communication based on the telephone number verification rules; responsive to a determination not to continue with the incoming communication based on the telephone number verification rules, displaying, by the mobile communication device, the selectable background color alert within the display screen of the mobile communication device to indicate that the incoming communication is questionable; responsive to a determination to continue with the incoming communication based on the telephone number verification rules, determining, by the mobile communication device, whether the user enabled an automatic update function within the mobile communication device; responsive to a determination that the user did enable the automatic update function within the mobile communication device, updating, by the mobile communication device, the storage unit within the mobile communication device to include the telephone number associated with the incoming communication and a name associated with the telephone number; and sending, by the mobile communication device, an update message to the telephone number associated with the incoming communication to alert a calling party of an update to the storage unit within the mobile communication device to include the telephone number.