RoboCall Firewall

A multistage system that blocks RoboCalls from reaching the human telephone customer. By default, the device blocks the acoustic part of every incoming ring-signal. Every incoming call goes through 1 or 2 filters before the human participant may hear a ring-signal.
1 Step 1: Caller ID Filter Module 1.1 If the Caller ID is marked “OK”, it ends the blockage of the ring-signal. 1.2 If the Caller ID is marked “NOT OK” the acoustic ring signal stays blocked. 1.3 If the Caller ID is empty or not (yet) found it calls the step 2 module.

2 Step 2: RoboCall Detection Module 2.1 Goes off-hook and sends a request to the calling party. 2.2 Waits a defined amount of time for the reply to the request. 2.3 If the reply is positive, it creates an own acoustic ring-signal (speaker). 2.4 If no reply, negative reply or timeout it goes on-hook.

1. Step 3: Documentation of RoboCalls and Updating the Local Caller ID list Every single signal (with time stamp) of an incoming call is stored in a temporary buffer. If the classification is according to 1.2. or 2.4. then this data is written into a table, otherwise it is thrown away. Every Caller-ID is automatically stored in the local Caller-ID table. Caller Ids classified according to 2.3 are marked “OK” and Caller-IDs classified according to 2.4 are marked “NOT OK”. Step 3 requires a connection (USB) to a computer for sending data to the FTC and editing the Caller ID list in a dialog program (to be part of the device).

Advantages: All calls with an OK marked Caller ID go straight through, thereby avoiding interrupted calls from family members, friends and all other known callers with any kind of required action. “NOT OK” marked Caller-IDs are soundly blocked (no one ever hears their ring-signal). Every call with unknown or No caller ID has to go through a calling party identification procedure. But the exact documentation of RoboCalls may be the most important part because it would enable prosecution and heavy fines on solid data; In the long term it may make it totally unworthy to start any new RoboCall action, hence killing the whole RoboCall business.