Patent ID: 7852993

Claim:
A computer implemented method for ascertaining an identity of a telephone caller associated with an incoming telephone call that is directed to a specific potential call recipient, the method comprising: creating and storing for a plurality of potential call recipients, including the specific potential call recipient, a separate personalized speech recognition grammar including a callers list that is a listing of potential callers, wherein the callers list for each of the separate personalized speech recognition grammars is customized for its associated potential call recipient in that there is a variation from one callers list to the next in terms of which potential callers are included in the listing of potential callers, the variation being formed so as to reflect a determination of which potential callers are more relevant to the potential call recipient with whom the listing of potential callers is associated; and wherein the separate personalized speech recognition grammar for each of the plurality of potential call recipients contains a collection of data that supports a biased discrimination between the potential callers on the callers list such that certain potential callers on the callers list are more acceptable than others to be selected when the associated personalized speech recognition grammar is applied, said biased discrimination being location-based in that it reflects a determination of, and preference for, a sub-set of less than all potential callers on the callers list that are high probability callers relative to a particular location from which a phone call originates; wherein the separate personalized speech recognition grammars are stored together as a collection of separate personalized speech recognition grammars; obtaining a speech sample from the telephone caller; selecting, based on the identity of the specific potential call recipient, the personalized speech recognition grammar associated with the specific potential call recipient; and utilizing a computer processor that is a functional component of the computer to select the identity of the telephone caller based at least in part on the personalized speech recognition grammar selected as being associated with the specific potential call recipient, wherein selecting the identity of the telephone caller further comprises selecting the identity from the potential callers in the callers list included within the personalized speech recognition grammar selected as being associated with the specific potential call recipient, and wherein selecting the identity from the potential callers comprises applying the collection of data included within the personalized speech recognition grammar selected as being associated with the specific potential call recipient so as to apply said biased discrimination relative to a location from which the incoming telephone call originates.