Patent ID: 8634520

Claim:
A method in a computing system for reducing unwanted calls to phone numbers utilized for call tracking, the method comprising: providing a plurality of phone numbers to be utilized for tracking calls to the phone numbers after distribution through different publication channels, each publication channel corresponding to a distribution path through which an indication of one of more phone numbers or an indication of an ability to call one or more phone numbers is made visible to a caller; storing one or more tracking parameters that enables a call to one of the plurality of phone numbers to be correlated with a particular publication channel in which the phone number was published when a call to the plurality of phone numbers is received; upon receipt of requests to call the plurality of phone numbers from callers, performing an automated filtering function that is intended to reduce unwanted calls to the phone numbers, the automated filtering function identifying calls that are not to be routed to requested phone numbers; terminating the calls that are identified by the automated filtering function as not to be routed to requested phone numbers; and routing the remaining calls to the requested phone numbers and storing data characterizing the routed calls; and using the stored data characterizing the routed calls and the stored one or more tracking parameters to assess the performance of the publication channels.