(12) United States Patent
`Apple et al.
`
`(10) Patent No.:
`(45) Date of Patent:
`
`US 8,031,849 B1
`Oct. 4, 2011
`
`US008031849B1
`
`(54) TELEPHONY SYSTEMAND METHOD WITH
`ENHANCED FRAUD CONTROL
`
`(75) Inventors: Wesley Larry Apple. Archdale, NC
`(US); Timothy Edwin Pabon,
`Greensboro, NC (US)
`
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`s
`5,113,433 A
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`5,131,027 A
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`-
`-
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
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`Continued
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 1736 days.
`(Continued)
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
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`(Continued)
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
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`-
`(Continued)
`-
`-
`-
`-
`-
`-
`Primary Examiner – Binh Tieu
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm – Kilpatrick Townsend &
`Stockton, LLP
`
`-
`(*) Notice:
`
`(21) Appl. No.: 11/219,570
`(22) Filed:
`Sep. 2, 2005
`Related U.S. Application Data
`(60) Provisional application No. 60/607,447, filed on Sep.
`3, 2004, provisional application No. 60/676.155. filed
`on Apr. 29, 2005, provisional application No.
`60/676,153, filed on Apr. 29, 2005, provisional
`application No. 60/676,151, filed on Apr. 29, 2005,
`provisional application No. 60/676,154, filed on Apr.
`29, 2005, provisional application No. 60/676,152,
`filed on Apr. 29, 2005.
`
`(51) Int. Cl.
`(2006.01)
`H04M 15/06)
`(2006.01)
`H04M H 7/00
`(52) U.S. Cl. .............. 379/145; 379/114.14; 379/11403;
`704/273; 704/274
`(58) Field of Classification Search ............. 379/114.14,
`379/143, 144,03, 188, 145; 704/208, 210,
`704/216, 217, 218, 231, 236, 237,251, 273,
`704/274
`See application file for complete search history.
`
`(56)
`
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`Inmate communications systems provide a feature-rich plat
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`Authentication processes for calling and called party verifi
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`
`20 Claims, 19 Drawing Sheets
`
`YES
`
`PROMPT:
`USER ID:
`
`PRößlpt:
`PASSWORD
`
`WERIFY;
`AuTHENTICATE
`£ALLER
`
`r- -F º ºr -
`1988]... 1.- Tian
`lwallpation
`
`| Waibaron
`
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`
`
`
`ANNoUNCE:
`CALLEty; Nor
`ALLøWEd
`
`PuT CALLER
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`
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`
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`
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`
`
`
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`HANGiºf ort
`TIMEºut
`
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`
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`PARTY
`
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`
`

`

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`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`US 8,031,849 B1
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`US 8,031,849 B1
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`1
`TELEPHONY SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH
`ENHANCED FRAUD CONTROL
`
`RELATED APPLICATIONS
`
`The present application claims priority based on these
`related Provisional Applications:
`1. IP-Based Telephony System and Method, Ser. No. 60/607,
`447, filed Sep. 3, 2004;
`2. Telephony System and Method with Improved Validation,
`Ser. No. 60/676,155, filed Apr. 29, 2005;
`3. Telephony System and Method with Improved Call Moni
`toring, Ser. No. 60/676,153, filed Apr. 29, 2005;
`4. Telephony System and Method with Improved Caller
`Access Control, Ser. No. 60/676,151, filed Apr. 29, 2005;
`5. Telephony System and Method, Ser. No. 60/676,154, filed
`Apr. 29, 2005;
`6. Telephony System and Method with Improved Fraud Con
`trol, Ser. No. 60/676,152, filed Apr. 29, 2005;
`Each of these provisional applications is hereby incorpo
`rated by reference for all purposes in the present application
`as if set forth in its entirety herein.
`In addition, other related non-provisional applications filed
`concurrently with the present application are:
`8. Telephony System and Method with Enhanced Call Moni
`toring, Recording and Retrieval, by W. L. Apple and T. E.
`Pabon:
`9. IP-Network-Based Telephony System and Method, by W. L.
`Apple, and T. E. Pabon;
`10. Telephony System and Method with Enhanced Validation,
`by W. L. Apple, T. E. Pabon and J. V. Townsend;
`11. Telephony System and Method with Enhanced Caller
`Access Control, by W. L. Apple and T. E. Pabon;
`12. Telephony System and Method with Improved Fraud Con
`trol, by W. L. Apple, K. J. Gumbiner, T. E. Pabon, and W.
`Ryan.
`Each of these concurrently filed non-provisional related
`applications is hereby incorporated by reference for all pur
`poses in the present application as if set forth in its entirety
`herein. In the sequel, the above-identified related incorpo
`rated applications will be referred to by the paragraph number
`in which it appears, e.g. incorporated application 1, or incor
`porated provisional application 1, is a reference to IP-Based
`Telephony System and Method cited in paragraph 1 above.
`Because each of the cited concurrently filed applications
`incorporates all of the others, but none incorporates itself by
`reference, the corresponding paragraph number for the
`present application is intentionally omitted.
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`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention relates generally to the field of tele
`communications. More particularly, the present invention
`relates, in one aspect, to voice and data telecommunications
`systems and methods. Still more particularly, aspects of the
`present invention relate to voice and data telecommunications
`systems and methods for use in providing collect, pre-paid
`calling or other billing options. Yet more particularly,
`embodiments of the present invention relates to such telecom
`munications systems and methods as applied to inmate tele
`phone calling systems and methods for providing telephone
`calling services to inmates in correctional and other confine
`ment facilities. The terms confinement facilities and correc
`tional facilities are used interchangeably in this application.
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`Various telephone calling and billing arrangements have
`been developed over the long history of the telecommunica
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`tions industry. From operator-controlled local and long dis
`tance calls to automatic direct dialing to newly emerging
`computer telephony calling over data networks, and from
`plain-old-telephone service (POTS) to collect calling, to call
`ing card, toll-free calling and pre-paid calling—among many
`others—the telephone industry has been continually seeking
`to apply new technologies to provide new and more flexible
`telephone calling services.
`Electronic and optical switching, transmission, signaling,
`and database storage of many kinds have expanded the reach
`of telephony techniques to many new and enhanced applica
`tions. These and a variety of processors and other facilities
`embedded in, or linked to, more traditional facilities in the
`Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) have still fur
`ther enlarged the spectrum of telephone services available to
`the public.
`One telephone service area that has developed rapidly in
`recent years is that of providing telephone communications to
`inmates in jails, prisons and other confinement facilities,
`sometimes referred to as Inmate Calling Services (ICS).
`While ICS contexts involve functions in common with every
`day home and business calling, and with calling from public
`facilities such as airports and hotels, special issues arise that
`are peculiar to ICS. Thus, for example, controls over timing,
`duration, allowed called destinations, and billing—among
`many others—must be addressed in planning and implement
`ing ICS.
`An important goal in providing ICS is call efficiency—
`despite the need to observe the many constraints characteris
`tic of ICS calling. Thus, for example, automation of call
`setup, monitoring and billing processes for ICS is of high
`importance. In particular, since collect and other special bill
`ing arrangements are common in the provision of ICS, avoid
`ance of costs associated with human operators to provide
`step-by-step controls for ICS has long been recognized. U.S.
`Pat. No. 4,054,756, issued Oct. 18, 1977 to Comella and
`Yokelson discloses a system and method for automating
`many operator services, including playing of recorded
`announcements, collection of information from calling and
`called parties, call setup and billing based on such inputs. Use
`of functionality like that described in the last-cited patent has
`therefore found application in the provision of ICS.
`As computing power has greatly increased and been made
`available in the form of now-ubiquitous personal computers,
`the Comella, et al. teachings have been adapted to provide
`much of the computing power used to provide ICS. In par
`ticular, providing ICS to inmates in confinement facilities has
`lately been accomplished through the use of analog telephone
`station equipment (usually hardened versions of basic home
`or office telephone sets) connected to one or more personal
`computers located on-premises at correctional facility loca
`tions. Such computers are used, among other things, to con
`trol telephone access to the PSTN, record conversations as
`appropriate, and to generate and record Station Message
`Detail Reporting (SMDR) data for use in billing calls made
`from the correctional facility.
`FIG. 1 shows a functional network diagram representation
`of a typical prior art ICS systems, including apparatus
`installed at a correctional facility connected to the PSTN. In
`particular, a telephone facility 100 is shown as including a
`plurality of analog telephone sets 101-i, i=1, 2, . . . , N.
`illustratively connected to control computer 110. Telephone
`sets 101-i and computer 110 may be physically located in
`different areas or different buildings of a correctional facility;
`more than one control computer 110 may be employed if
`required to meet calling volume at the facility. Control com
`puter(s) 110 located on-site within an illustrative correctional
`
`

`

`3
`facility are typically connected directly to the PSTN via on
`site analog loop-start telephone lines or, in some cases, mul
`tiplexed digital connections, e.g., T1 carrier links. Personal
`computer-based control computer 110 typically includes a
`plurality of peripheral interface cards to accomplish connec
`tivity between the analog stations and the PSTN. Illustra
`tively, Intel Dialogic D/4PCI cards are used to interface to up
`to four input telephone sets per card. In some applications, up
`to 16 such cards can be used in a single computer to provide
`access to PSTN 120 for up to 64 telephone sets. Other par
`ticular Intel cards can provide much higher line coverage.
`While the illustrative Intel cards provides functionality for
`detecting ringing associated with incoming calls, ICS calling
`is typically limited to providing only outbound calling from
`the correctional institution.
`The one or more control computers 110 at each correc
`tional facility site, in cooperation with PSTN functionality
`provided off-site by local and long distance telephone com
`panies, control the sequence of events required to complete
`ICS calls originated at the correctional facility site to called
`parties connected to the PSTN. Such calls are typically either
`collect or debit/prepaid telephone calls to remote called par
`ties identified by inmates using the facilities shown in FIG. 1.
`In FIG.1 the PSTN is represented as cloud 120; parts of PSTN
`120 are shown outside this cloud to emphasize the part they
`25
`play in completing the call. In particular, illustrative PSTN
`switches 140 and 145 are shown serving representative sta
`tions, shown as telephones 170 and 160, respectively, in FIG.
`1. Telephone station set 160, by way of example, is indicated
`as the called party’s telephone set.
`The owner or provider of the on-site telephony equipment
`and ICS incurs purchase, operation and maintenance costs
`associated with the completion of such calls, and seeks a
`profit by charging a rate for ICS calls that repays both the
`fixed costs (equipment, maintenance and other) and the vari
`35
`able per-call costs that the provider incurs for use of PSTN
`120.
`As will be appreciated from the foregoing, control com
`puter costs, telephone line use costs, and maintenance costs
`associated with ensuring a high level of system up-time at
`many geographically distributed (on-correctional-site) instal
`lations—each including complex computer hardware and
`associated software—can be burdensome and expensive.
`Voice over IP (VOIP) techniques using the Internet or other
`data networks offer possible alternatives to a range of existing
`business and residential communications systems. In particu
`lar, VOIP systems are emerging as candidate implementa
`tions for a variety of enterprise communications solutions.
`One illustrative example of such systems is available from
`Quintum Technologies. Residential use, as illustrated by
`AT&T’s Call Vantage VOIP service over high-speed cable
`connections, and digital subscriber line Internet connections
`by local exchange carriers and others, is also emerging as a
`possible alternative to local and long distance calling using
`traditional Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS). A formal
`XML Schema for IP-based voice telephony service is
`included as Exhibitipdr-1 in incorporated provisional appli
`cation 1.
`A particular aspect of collect, bill-to-third-party, and calls
`involving other particular billing options is that of billing
`validation. Billing validation relates generally to validating
`the availability of identified accounts for billing of a call, and
`has proven to be especially important for inmate calling.
`Thus, for example, validation is commonly sought for collect
`calls to determine that the account, including called party
`account numbers, exist and are of a class for which billing can
`be accomplished by one or more billing entities. In some
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`cases, as, for example, for at least some calls to a called party
`at a cellular account number, it is often difficult to ensure
`billing for the benefit of an ICS provider placing the call on
`behalf of a calling party. Often bills for calls completed to a
`variety of called party destination types prove to be uncol
`lectible unless complex, expensive and time-consuming vali
`dation techniques are used. Further, these techniques are
`applied in prior practice even when a call is not completed, as
`when the called number is busy or a called party fails to
`anSWer.
`Because of the rise in popularity of cellular and other
`portable telephone devices, many of which do not provide
`billing collection services for calls placed by wireline ICS
`providers, an important step in insuring payment for ICS is to
`verify the type of service subscribed to by the called party for
`ICS calls. Perhaps even more important in this regard is the
`rise of CLECs or Competitive Local Exchange Carriers, who
`often lack the ability or inclination to provide billing collec
`tion for calls processed by an ICS provider. CLECs are to be
`contrasted with the traditional incumbent local exchange car
`riers (ILECs), such as a Regional Bell Operating Company
`(RBOC).
`Some estimates report that upwards of 20 percent of calls
`sought to be completed by ICS providers are ultimately to be
`completed by CLECs. When combined with mobile services
`such as cellular telephone services for which billing is some
`times problematic, the combined percentage of calls poten
`tially associated with billing problems can easily approach or
`exceed twenty-five percent.
`To help reduce the number of calls completed to telephone
`stations associated with cellular service, CLEC and other
`services that do not ensure collection and payment of charges
`for ICSs, and for other service providers concerned about
`billing of charges for services rendered, a number of data
`bases are maintained by the telephone industry for checking
`the status of particular telephone lines. In particular, so-called
`Line Identification Databases (LIDB databases) provide a
`variety of information for telephone lines. Thus, a database
`query launched to a LIDB or similar database for a call can
`provide some information relating to whether calls to a par
`ticular line (and the account and phone number associated
`with it) can be counted on (or not) to be billed by the number
`provider.
`Other databases having special information about particu
`lar telephone subscriber accounts may also be maintained,
`including, generally, a class known as billed number screen
`ing databases or by other particular names. Some of these are
`maintained locally by service providers based on past history
`of payment, credit or other factors. All of these may help
`service providers, including ICS providers, to increase the
`share of calls that can actually be billed, thereby increasing
`the share of calls for which charges are actually collected.
`As might be expected, use of LIDB and other telephone
`line or account databases by service providers seeking infor
`mation about particular telephone lines or accounts incurs
`charges by the providers of such databases. Since data com
`monly found in such databases is available more easily to
`some industry participants than others, concern is sometimes
`expressed by those querying the database as to these charges
`and conditions associated with use of the databases. In par
`ticular, a significant percentage of calls for which line or
`account databases (hereinafter, LIDB databases) are queried
`(i.e., for which so-called database dips are performed) prove
`to be no-revenue calls. This no-revenue condition can arise
`because the LIDB data raises issues about the likelihood of
`being able to bill for the call. For example, the unlikely ability
`to bill for the call may be indicated by a database response
`
`

`

`US 8,031,849 B1
`
`5
`indicating no data is available for the particular line/account
`(hereinafter, line). In some cases, it is possible to arrange for
`alternative payment methods by which a called party can pay
`for received calls, even if such payment options are not
`reflected in the LIDB database response. But by the time such
`arrangements have been made, a LIDB dip may well have
`been performed, and a cost to the ICS provider incurred.
`Further, even if the line information received in response to
`a LIDB dip appears to warrant the completion of a call in the
`expectation of being able to bill for the call, the call may not
`be completed, e.g., because of a busy line or a no-answer
`condition at the time of the call. As to conditions associated
`with LIDB services, it is often required that even successive
`calls to the same number must employ a separate LIDB dip,
`thus incurring multiple charges for the same information over
`a short interval. Moreover, storage (or caching) of prior LIDB
`dip results is typically discouraged under contracts with
`LIDB database providers. Thus, ICS and other service pro
`viders incursubstantial costs for LIDB services, even for calls
`or call attempts for which no revenue will be derived by the
`ICS provider.
`In yet another way that ICS providers incur costs without
`deriving any revenues involves so-called billed number
`screening (BNS). Callers attempting to place a third number
`billed or collect call to a line equipped with BNS will be
`advised by an announcement that such billing is not autho
`rized and another form of billing is required. Such need for
`alternative billing arrangements may not be determined
`before costs of call setup and LIDB dip has been performed,
`thus incurring cost to an ICS provider. It is obviously prefer
`able that such alternative billing arrangements not be negoti
`ated on each call to a BNS line.
`It is therefore desirable for network users, such as ICS
`providers, to ascertain with increased certainty that calls
`placed can be billed. Moreover, it is desirable that such calls
`incurrminimum costs to the provider and provide convenience
`for calling and called parties to an ICS call.
`A need therefore exists to provide flexible and economical
`validation of billing status for called parties or others relied
`upon by an inmate to pay charges for ICS calls.
`A continuing problem in ICS is that though an original
`called party (e.g., an inmate’s lawyer or an approved family
`member) can be qualified by correctional authorities to
`receive inmate calls, such calls can sometimes be forwarded,
`extended, bridged, or otherwise connected to other parties
`who have not been so qualified. A primary mechanism for
`permitting calls to such not-qualified persons