Method and apparatus for anonymous voice communication using an online data service

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for establishing anonymous telephone communication.

2. Description of Related Art

Telephone calls are typically established by one party dialing the phone number of a second party. The call is routed by a public switched telephone network (PSTN) to the phone unit of the called party. Generally speaking, the calling party must know the phone number of the called party to establish a call.

To maintain confidentiality, it may desirable to establish a two-party telephone communication without divulging the phone numbers of the parties. For example, two parties may be communicating using an online service such as America Online or Prodigy. The two parties exchange electronic mail by entering messages into their data terminals. The messages are transmitted over a public data network (PDN) to the online service provider. At some point in the communication the parties may want to establish voice communication with the other party without revealing their phone number to the other party. It would be desirable to have a system that can provide such an anonymous telephone communication.

"Chat lines" systems provide a form of anonymous voice communication. One type of prior art chat line randomly connects callers who call into the system. The callers can transfer to a different caller by pressing a key on the telephone handset. In this system the number of people a caller can communicate with is limited to the people who are connected to the system. Further, the caller has no control over who they will be connected to.

Another form of chat line allows a number of people to call a conference bridge. The bridge allows the callers to talk to each other anonymously in a conference call. Two callers may interact with the system to move into a two party communication. In this system the range of potential call mates is limited to callers already on the system. This system does not allow two parties to reestablish anonymous communication. Additionally, the voice communication required to select the other party is expensive relative to data communication.

Another form of chat line allows people to call into a system, record a short greeting, browse the greetings of other callers currently on the system, and request an anonymous connection to the party associated with a greeting. In this case, the range of potential call mates is limited to callers currently on the system and the selection process is cumbersome. Additionally, the system does not allow callers to reestablish anonymous communication, and the voice communication required to select the other party is expensive relative to data communication. It would be desirable to provide an anonymous telephone communication system without limiting the choice of call mates to people who are already on the system. It would also be desirable to have a telephone system which allows callers to reestablish an anonymous voice connection, which reduces the cost of selecting the other party to the call, which provides better mechanisms to search for and select the other party to the call.

Anonymous communication can also be established using a published ad and the ability to "cut through" a call to the advertiser. In this situation, the calling party browses ads (Lonely Hearts) published by other parties, selects an ad, calls the system and enters the number associated with the ad. The system calls the advertiser and asks them if they are willing to accept the call, and if they are willing to accept the call, then the system connects the two parties anonymously.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,847,890, 5,058,152 and 5,361,295 issued to Solomon disclose an anonymous telephone communication system. In the Solomon system each subscriber is assigned a personal identification number (PIN) that is stored in a database with the telephone number of the subscriber. The subscriber places a personal advertisement in a printed publication which lists the PIN and a phone number of the system. A reader who wishes to contact the subscriber calls the published phone number of the system and enters the PIN through the telephone keypad. The system correlates the PIN with the subscriber telephone number and connects the caller to the subscriber. In this manner the caller does not know the phone number of the subscriber.

The Solomon system requires a printed publication to advertise the PIN and corresponding phone number. Additionally, instead of specifying in advance which callers will be accepted, the Solomon system requires the advertiser to turn the system on and off. It would be desirable to provide anonymous telephone communication which did not limit the potential called parties to those who had placed an advertisement, which allowed a better mechanism for selecting the other party than browsing ads, which allowed both parties to initiate the communication, and which allowed both parties to identify the parties from which they were willing to accept anonymous calls.

"Voice Personals with cut through" is an implementation of the Solomon patents. In this case the advertisement is a voice recording. Callers to the system are allowed to browse the voice greetings left by advertisers. When the caller finds a greeting they like, the caller requests an anonymous telephone call with the other party using the cut through approach. This approach suffers from the same limitations as indicated above. In addition, sequential browsing of voice recordings is a cumbersome method of selecting the other party and voice communication is expensive relative to data communications.

Prodigy offers a service which allows subscribers to search ads online. However, to contact the advertiser, the subscriber must follow the same procedure used for a newspaper ad ie. dial the system and enter the PIN from the ad. This system is limited to chat mates who place ads and the set up process for the voice call is not integrated with the online data service.

There also exist a phone system to establish conference calls referred to as "MEET ME". The MEET ME service is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,065 issued to Frey, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,694 issued to Bales et al. In the MEET ME system, at about the same time, each party dials a telephone number assigned to the service and then enters a code which has been assigned to the conference call. The system connects each caller to a conference system which utilizes a digital bridge to implement the conference call.

A conference bridge is a specialized piece of equipment required for conferencing digital calls. For each caller, it takes the input signal from multiple callers, sums these signals, removes the signal for one caller, and then outputs the signal to that caller. It would be desirable to provide an anonymous two party telephone communication which used the MEET ME approach to set up a two party call and which did not require a conference bridge for communication.

Packet switched networks can transmit digitally encoded voice as well as data. To communicate by voice over a package switched network, both parties must have a microphone and speakers attached to their computer, the computers must have sufficient processing power to decompress the digital signal in real time, and both computers must be running software which uses the same protocol to establish communication and to decompress the voice signal. The lack of widespread deployment of compatible hardware and software has limited the use of computer based voice communication systems. In addition, a buffer is used in both computers to eliminate the jitter associated with random delays in the packet switching network. This delay degrades the quality of the communication link. The voice quality is also degraded by the use of compression techniques. It would be desirable to provide an anonymous telephone communication without requiring the use of special equipment, other than a telephone and possibly a computer, and which allowed high quality voice communication.

"Teletalk" from Cinecom is a software package which allows two users of Galacticom's Worldgroup bulletin board system to communicate anonymously. Both parties must be able to record and playback speech on their computer. After one party makes a recording, the resulting file is transferred to the other party through the bulletin board system. The other party's computer receives the file and plays it. This approach provides a high quality voice signal; however, the delay between speaking and hearing for the two parties is very long. In addition the load on the bulletin board system to transfer these large speech files is substantial. It would be desirable to provide anonymous voice communication which overcame these deficiencies.

Cheersoft has advertised a product called "Autopatch", which converts data communication into voice communication. The Cheersoft device is a small 8 port circuit switch into which analog telephone lines are connected on one side and modems are connected on the other side. The modems are connected to a bulletin board system. Initially the device passes signals from the analog telephone line to the modem. At the request of two users who are communicating via the bulletin board, the bulletin board signals the switch which then connects the two analog lines. This provides the parties with an anonymous voice connection. This approach is inefficient because most of the time the switch just passes data packets from the analog line to the modem. The Cheersoft product will not work when either party is connected to the bulletin board over a packet switching network such as X.25 or Internet. It would be desirable to provide an anonymous telephone communication system which could convert a data communication over a packet switched network to a voice communication over a circuit switched network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An anonymous telephone communication system. The system includes an anonymous voice system which can establish an anonymous telephone communication through a circuit switched network (CSN). In standalone operation, two parties place separate telephone calls to the anonymous voice system through the CSN. The parties then enter matchcodes through their telephone keypads. The anonymous voice system compares the matchcodes entered by the parties and connects the telephone calls if the matchcodes match.

The system may include an on-line data service that establishes electronic communication between the parties through corresponding data terminals. The data terminals may have resident anonymous voice input commands that can be selected by the parties. The on-line data service transmits a connect command to the anonymous voice system which dials the parties, or waits for the parties to dial the system, and then connects the parties. The anonymous voice system sends a disconnect command to the on-line data service when the parties hang up. The disconnect command can be used by the online service to bill the parties for using the anonymous voice service.

The system also stores a couple record during the first anonymous call recording the matchcode and the telephone numbers of both parties. Subsequently, either party may initiate an anonymous call to the other party without prior coordination. Any method may be used to establish the first anonymous call, including the methods described in the Solomon patents, provided the method for the first call is modified to include the step of storing a couple record.

The anonymous voice system may be implemented as "customer premise equipment" attached to the Public Switched Telephone Network via an access line or it may be implemented as an "adjunct processor" within the Public Switched Telephone Network.

The Anonymous Voice System may be distributed with nodes in the major cities so that at most one long distance call is required when one of the callers is resident in a city with an AVS node.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic of a system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic of an alternate embodiment of the system;

FIG. 3 is a schematic of an anonymous voice system;

FIG. 4 is a schematic of a graphical user interface;

FIG. 5 is a schematic showing different anonymous voice fields;

FIG. 6 is a schematic showing different fields of messages transferred between an anonymous voice system and an on-line data service;

FIG. 7a-d are flowcharts showing the operation of the system;

FIG. 8 is a schematic showing an alternate embodiment of the system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the drawings more particularly by reference numbers, FIG. 1 shows an anonymous voice communication system 10 of the present invention. In one embodiment the system 10 uses a circuit switched network (CSN) 12 and an Anonymous Voice System (AVS) 14 to establish anonymous voice communication between party A and party B. In another embodiment the system 10 additionally uses a packet switched network 16 and an on-line data system (ODS) 18 to initiate an anonymous voice communication between party A and party B.

Each party has a telephone station 20, 22 that is connected to the circuit switched network 12. The system 10 utilizes a circuit switched network 12 to establish a voice connection between the telephone stations 20 and 22, and the AVS 14. In one embodiment the Anonymous Voice System 14 prompts both parties for an input and based upon that input connects the two calls so that party A is communicating anonymously with Party B.

In another embodiment, each party may also have a data terminal 24, 26 which may be connected to the ODS 18 through the circuit switched network 12 and the packet switched network 16. The parties exchange messages through the on-line data system 18 to request an anonymous voice connection. The On-line data system 18 generates a command which prompts the Anonymous Voice System 14 to establish a telephone connection with party A and party B, and then connects the two parties. Although two parties are shown and described, it is to be understood that numerous parties may be connected to the system of the present invention. Additionally, although personal computers 24, 26, a packet switched network 16, and an on-line data system 18 are shown and described, it is to be understood that anonymous voice communication can be established with the present invention without these components. Additionally, although one on-line data system 18 is shown and described, it is to be understood that numerous on-line data systems 18 may be connected to the system of the present invention.

The telephone stations 20, 22 may be ordinary telephones, ISDN telephones, or any device which can terminate an access line, play an audio signal and transmit a received audio signal.

The data terminals 24, 26 may be any personal computer with the ability to process and store data, display information, accept input via keyboard, microphone, or writing tablet, and communicate with other devices via a serial port, modem, or Local Area Network.

The parties can be coupled to the circuit switched network 12 by access lines 28 and 30. The access lines 28, 30 may be ordinary copper lines typically provided by the telephone companies, coaxial lines typically provided by the CATV firms, a wireless connection typically provided by a cellular company, or hybrid fiber coax which is currently being deployed by telephone and CATV firms. When a personal computer 24, 26 is implemented, a connector 32 may couple both the telephone station and the personal computer to the same access line. When the access line is ordinary copper lines, the connector can be a relay switch or an RJ-11 jack with two receptacles. When the access line supports ISDN, the connector would be an NT1 interface with a TA for the telephone. Both the B channel and the D channel of the ISDN access line can be used to connect the personal computer to the packet switched network 16. For coaxial or hybrid fiber coax access lines, the connector 32 would have to include a radio transmitter to place the signal on the coaxial cable.

FIG. 2 shows alternative ways to connect the telephone stations and personal computers. The computer 26 and telephone station 22 may be connected to the circuit switched network by separate access lines 34 and 36. If two access lines 34, 36 are used, then a connector 32 is not required. Additionally, the computers may be connected to the ODS 18 by modems 38 and 40 through access lines 42 and 44 that are coupled to the CSN 12. If both personal computers 24, 26 are connected to the On-line data system 18 via modems 38, 40 and access lines 42, 44 then the packet switched network 16 is not required even when the ODS is used to initiate the anonymous voice call.

The circuit switched network 12 may be any network capable of connection oriented isochroneous communication such as the existing public switched telephone network, or an ATM network using ATM Adaptation Layer type 1 to provide a constant bit rate service.

The packet switched network 16 may be any network capable of switching packets such as public data networks including Sprintnet with X.25 or frame relay, the Internet using TCP/IP, an SMDS based network, or an ATM network using ATM Adaptation Layer type 2, 3, 4, or 5 to provide variable bit rate services. It may be as simple as a modem bank connected to a statistical multiplexor which is connected to the ODS via a dedicated circuit or even point to point dedicated circuits with modems on each end.

The Anonymous Voice System 14 is a processor-controlled, software-driven interactive voice response system with switching, access line termination, call supervision and progress analysis, audio playback and record, tone detection and generation, storage devices, and optionally voice recognition. The operation of the anonymous Voice System 14 is controlled by system software capable of executing transaction scripts which include commands [i]) to answer incoming calls and dial outgoing calls, ii) to prompt callers to enter touch-tone or spoken information, iii) to gather such information, iv) to connect calls to each other, v) to monitor calls for disconnect, vi) to do call progress analysis on outgoing calls.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the Anonymous Voice System 14. The AVS 14 has a line termination unit 46 connected to the CSN 12 by access line 48. The line termination unit 46 terminates access line 48, detects network signaling for incoming calls and disconnects of established calls. The unit 46 may be a product sold by Dianatel under the designation EA 24 which terminates a DS1. The AVS 14 includes a voice processing card 50 that can record and playback speech, detect and generate DTMF signals, and perform call progress analysis. The card 50 may be a product sold by Dialogic Corp. under the designation D/121B which supports 12 DS0 voice channels. The AVS 14 may further include a switch card 52 that connects two DS0 channels on the line termination card 46, or connects a DS0 channel on the line termination card 46 to a voice channel on the voice processing card 50. The switch card 52 can also be used to monitor network signaling. The card may be a product sold by Dianatel under the product designation SS96 which provides a 96 by 96 non blocking switch that may be upgraded to a 192 by 192 non blocking switch. The line termination card 46, voice processing card 50 and switch card 52 are connected by a voice bus 54. The voice bus 54 may be a PEB (PCM expansion bus) cable sold by Dialogic that provides 96 DSO channels.

Each channel on the line termination card 46 and on the voice processing card 50 is connected to a channel on the switch card 52 and can be addressed by reference to a switch channel number.

The line termination card 46, voice processing card 50, and switch 52 are connected to a CPU and RAM 56 via a computer bus 58. The cards exchange control messages with the CPU over the bus 58. The voice processing card 50 also retrieves voice prompts from the RAM 56 over the bus 58. The protocol and content of the messages are described in documentation provided by the Dianatel and Dialogic product specifications. The computer bus 58 can be implemented using a conventional ISA bus. The CPU and RAM 56 can be provided by a PC motherboard with a microprocessor sold by Intel Corporation under the designation 80486. The AVS 14 may include a disk controller 60 that couples a disk drive 62 to the bus 58. The AVS 14 may also include a LAN adapter 64 which connects a router 66 to the computer bus 58. The router 66 connects the Anonymous Voice System 14 to a data communication link 68. The data link 68 is preferably connected to the Internet.

The software which controls the operation of the Anonymous Voice System 14 includes an operating system and a voice application generator. The voice application generator interprets (or compiles) scripting commands and interacts with the drivers used to control the line termination 46, voice processing 50, and switch 52. The drivers for these cards are supplied by the card manufacturer. Voice application generator software supports a set of commands which can be used to dial or answer calls, connect two DS0 channels to each other, and record and playback speech. The voice application generator also supports storage and retrieval of digitally encoded speech from the disk drive 62. The operating system may be the Voice Operating System (VOS) sold by Parity Software, which provides a voice application generator. VOS uses DOS as the operating system for low level control of the computing hardware

The capacity of the exemplary embodiment, containing a Dianatel SS96 switch card 52 and one Dianatel EA24 line termination unit 46 supporting 24 DS0 channels, can be increased by adding additional line termination units, by increasing the capacity of the switch, or by implementing an embodiment which utilizes a large programmable switch, multiple PCs with voice processing cards, and another PC to control the operation of the programmable switch and the PCs with voice processing cards.

Voice bus 54 may be implemented using a Signal Computing System Architecture (SCSA) developed by Dialogic Corporation. In this embodiment, the switch 52 is not required. Both the line termination unit 46 and the voice processing unit 50 can issue commands to the SCSA bus 54 which allows any of 1,024 channels on the SCSA bus to be connected together.

If switch 52 is replaced by a conference bridge, then this system has the ability to connect more than 2 parties in an anonymous conference call.

Access line 48 is an ordinary high capacity link capable of carrying multiple DS0 circuits (or B channels) simultaneously such as DS1, DS3, PRI ISDN, or SONET OC3. Access line 48 may include a channel service unit, a DS3 multiplexor or other equipment required to connect to the line termination card 46.

Referring to FIG. 1, access line 69 connects the ODS 18 to the packet switched network 16. It is typically implemented as a high speed dedicated circuit i.e., DS1 or DS3. For smaller systems, multiple analog lines may be used.

Data communication link 68 connects the Anonymous Voice System 14 to the ODS 18. This link is used to pass messages between the two systems. This link can be implemented as: a dedicated circuit such as a DS0, an analog dial up link using modems at each end, a packet switched network, a local area network, a bus within a multiprocessor, or via software used to implement interprocess communication between processes running on the same computer. In the preferred embodiment, data communication link 68 is a packet switched network such as the Internet. Thus data communication link 68 and packet switched network 16 may be the same network.

If a dial up connection is used to implement data communication link 68, then router 66 would be replaced by a modem and LAN adapter 64 would be replaced by a modem adapter.

It is also possible to implement the invention so that the Anonymous Voice System 14 and the On-line data system 18 form a single integrated computer system. In this case software based interprocess communication is used to exchange messages between the two systems.

The Anonymous Voice System 14 can be implemented by either an interexchange carrier or a local exchange carrier. If a carrier implements the Anonymous Voice System, it is sometimes called by its functional name of "adjunct processor", or "attached prompting mechanism". In this case the Anonymous Voice System 14 would be located in a central office connected to a tandem switch via access line 48, a short cable without a channel service unit.

The Anonymous Voice System 14 can be implemented by a firm which is not a carrier. In this case, the system is sometimes called "Interactive Voice Response System" or "Customer Premise Equipment". In this embodiment, a channel service unit would be required to connect the Anonymous Voice System 14 to the circuit switched network 12.

The On-line data system 18 is a computing device with storage and communications capability which provides services such as electronic mail, chat, newsgroups, and access to information. Examples of the firms which provides these services are AMERICA ONLINE and PRODIGY. The Internet can also provide these services using a distributed architecture for the computing device.

The software which controls the On-line data system 18 is modified so that it exchanges messages with the personal computers 24, 26 related to the initiation of an anonymous voice call. The On-line data system 18 ensures that both parties want to establish an anonymous voice call, collects from both parties the information required to initiate an anonymous voice call, and sends a connect message 110 to the Anonymous Voice System 14 over the data communications link 68. When the call is complete, the Anonymous Voice System 14 sends the on-line data system 18 a disconnect message.

The process of establishing an anonymous voice communication is initiated when one party inputs a command into their personal computer. For text based interfaces to the on-line data system 18, such as commonly provided by Bulletin Board Systems, a party uses a global command to start the anonymous voice call routine on the On-line data system 18. For on-line systems with graphical user interfaces, an icon or menu command is used to initiate the request. This is implemented by modifying the client software which executes on the personal computer. This client software is distributed to subscribers by the firm offering the service.

FIG. 4 shows a full screen of a computer which contains graphical user interface which may be used to initiate an anonymous voice call.

Menu bar 70 allows the user to select commands for execution at any time by pointing and clicking on the appropriate command. Clicking on the SERVICE menu command 72 causes a pull down menu 74 to be displayed. Pointing and clicking on the Anonymous Voice command 76 will initiate an anonymous voice call.

Selecting Public Chat 78 will bring up the Public chat window 80. This window displays the messages typed by other users in list box 82 and allows messages to be typed in text box 84. Messages in box 84 are sent to other parties who are also in public chat when button 78 is selected. The icon 86 will initiate an anonymous voice call when selected.

Selecting Private Chat 88 on pull down menu 74 will bring up dialog box 92 which requests the name 94 of the other user, a message 96 to be sent to that user, and a button 98 causes the message to be sent to the other user. When the other user accepts the private chat, the On-line data system 18 sends a message to the personal computer which results in the display of the window 100. This window 100 displays the messages 102 sent between the two users, provides for the sending of messages to the other user 104, 106 and includes an icon 108 for initiating an anonymous voice call.

The graphical interface features shown in FIG. 4 exist in present on-line services except for the Anonymous Voice command 76 which may be located in the menu bar 70 or a pull down menu 72, and the Anonymous Voice icons 86 and 108 located in public and private chat windows.

The anonymous voice icon 86, 108 can also be implemented as a "floating icon" within the client software. In this embodiment, the icon will float to the top of the monitor screen of personal computer 24, 26 and be constantly visible above all other windows on the screen.

FIG. 5 shows information which can be stored in the AVS 14. The information corresponds to data for the anonymous callers. Two types of records are stored: a couple record 80 and a voice message record 82. A couple record 80 is set up for each pair of callers who are connected anonymously. The couple record contains party information 84 about each party in the couple who has been connected together in an anonymous call. The party information 84 may contain the telephone number 86 of the corresponding party. The couple record 80 is created when two parties make their first anonymous call. The couple record is deleted if either party requests its deletion, or if no anonymous calls have been made for a specified period, for example three months.

When a person calls the system, automatic number identification (ANI) is used to obtain the callers telephone number. The system can identify the couple record to be used by using the matchcode entered and the ANI.

When the matchcode is being selected, each party must ensure that they do not use the same matchcode for two different parties. If the calling party uses the same matchcode twice, the Anonymous Voice System 14 will attempt to connect the calling party to the other party associated with the first couple record for the calling party which contains the matchcode. The matchcode 87 is stored in the coupled record 80 and may be any alphanumeric code agreed to by the two parties. To simplify DTMF input, the matchcode can be restricted to numeric characters.

The present invention provides at least three different methods of creating anonymous voice communication; "standalone", "on-line", and "single party initiated". The standalone process starts when two parties agree on a matchcode and a time without revealing their identity to each other. Standalone anonymous communication is established when two parties call the system at about the same time and enter the same matchcode. The AVS 14 compares the matchcodes and connects the parties if the codes match. The first time a party calls and enters a matchcode, the couple record 80 does not match based upon the matchcode entered and the ANI of the calling party. The next party who calls and enters the same matchcode, and does not have an existing couple record for that matchcode, will be connected to the first party. The phone numbers 86 and match code 87 are then stored in the couple record 80. If one party makes a subsequent call and enters the same matchcode, the Anonymous Voice System 14 will identify the couple record and wait for a call which has an ANI equal to the telephone number of the other party, where the other calling party enters the same matchcode.

For an on-line anonymous call request the Anonymous Voice System 14 receives the telephone numbers of both parties in a connect message from the ODS 18. The anonymous voice system 14 dials both parties and connects them without reference to a matchcode. Optionally, either party may elect to call the system rather than have the system call them. The matchcode is optionally included in the connect message so that the two parties can initiate subsequent anonymous calls using the standalone method or the single party initiation method.

The single party initiated method can be used after a first anonymous call is made and a couple record 80 is created. The party initiating the call, dials the system and enters the matchcode. The Anonymous Voice System 14 retrieves the telephone number of the second party from the couple record and dials the second par