Patent ID: 8363803

Claim:
A system for reducing unwanted telemarketing calls, said system comprising: a contact list manager module configured to manage a contact list of users of a telephone assigned to an associated telephone number; a call interceptor module configured to intercept an incoming telephone call to the telephone number and determine whether a telephone number associated with the incoming telephone call is in the contact list; a call handler module in communication with said call interceptor module, configured to: in response to said call interceptor module determining that the telephone number associated with the incoming telephone call is in the contact list, connect the incoming call to the telephone assigned to the called telephone number; otherwise, in response to said call interceptor module determining that the telephone number associated with the incoming call is not in the contact list: prompt a caller with an audible message; in response to the caller responding to the audible message by entering a first response, block the incoming telephone call from connecting to the called telephone; and otherwise, in response to the caller responding to the audible message by entering a second response, connect the incoming call to the telephone assigned to the called telephone number; and a call history manager module that is configured to present a list of telephone numbers from callers that were determined not to be in the contact list, wherein said call interceptor is further configured to determine if the telephone number associated with the incoming call is on the list of telephone numbers that were determined to not be in the contact list, and wherein said call handler module is further configured to block the incoming telephone call from connecting to the called telephone and to report the telephone number of the incoming call.