Patent · US Active

Phone number verification method and system

US8923812B1 · kind B1 · utility

13Cited by
5References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 26, 2010
Grant dateDec 30, 2014
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 12, 2030

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04M1/56
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method, apparatus and computer program product is provided for verifying an association between a phone number provisioned by a voice network and a phone device. The verification is useful on a synthetic communication network that reuses the phone number to transmit text and other media types over a data network such as the Internet between phone devices registered on the synthesized network. One implementation receives a request to add a phone device previously registered with a voice network to the synthesized communication network. With respect to the synthesized network, the phone number is presumed to be unconfirmed even though it may have been previously provisioned from the voice network. Implementations of the invention attempt to transmit a verification message addressed to the phone device through a data channel within the voice network. If the phone number is in fact associated with the phone device then the verification message returns back to the phone device over the data channel on the voice network. If the verification message is received by the phone device, the phone number is confirmed as associated with the phone device. Once the phone number is confirmed, the…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.