Here is how it works.
A call comes in (we don't know yet if it’s a human call or a robot call).
The "Cello Mobile Robo Call Screener" at the carrier level picks up all calls right away.
Caller hears a recording in the phone line owners voice (this ensures that there is no universal recording with the same message, which doesn't allow robot operators to adapt their robots to specific greetings) “To be connected to this line, you will need to answer the following question: Mendy had 4 candies, and Rivki gave him another 2 candies, how many candies would Mendy have? (There will always be a story question, which makes it impossible for a robot to challenge. User can customize the story with their own words and customize the answers e.g. Sally had 244 cars, and she bought another 6 cars, how many cars in total does Sally currently own? Or, John had 344 yachts in 2012, and a big storm destroyed 3 yachts, how many yachts is he left with?). User will be able to record a couple of different recordings, and system should randomly play questions.
4.1 Human Calls : Caller enters the code (answer to the above question) that is required and phone starts ringing right away, and it rings to the intended party.
4.2 Robo Calls: Because a robot cannot understand a story, the robot will not know what to enter.
(Note: We can implement another layer of protection to ensure programmers are not fooling the system. There is currently a technology used by robots which allows them to leave messages on voice mails. The way it works is as follows: The robot calls a phone number, the phone picks up the incoming calls. When a voice mail answers, there is continuous talking like “Nobody is home to take your call, please leave your message after the tone”. The robot is trained to hear a “continuous voice” talking, so the robot knows that a voice mail picked up, and knows to wait for a tone to leave a message. We can use that technology here. We could implement a continuous talking detection system that will detect a robot talking, and the moment it detects “continuous talking” it will label the recording as spam, and will put it away.)
After the system detects a robot call, the message that was played by the robot will be stored in the users voice mail box labeled as spam, and the user can listen to it they want at their own discretion.
Here is what we need to add to the above.
There should always be a “secret code” (user decides how many digits, minimum 5 digits) that allows to bypass the system, this allows children to know a code to call home, and it’s the users responsibility to share this code with the reverse 911 system, so emergency calls can go through.
If the above idea (sharing your code with reverse 911) doesn’t work for logistical reasons. Carriers can have a master code that will unlock or overwrite reverse 911 robo calls to reach their intended destination. Master codes can change daily (e.g. Verizon decides that on Feb. 1, 2013 their code will be 7986542366#.) and they share it with “reverse 911”, now when reverse 911 calls people on Feb. 1, 2013, they enter 7986542366#., and it goes through). This part needs some thinking, but the idea is here.
Even though it says on the FAQ that political calls etc. are allowed, and there should be a way to screen out those calls in the detection process , we feel that a person that doesn’t like robo calls, also doesn’t like political etc. robo calls.
Sharing your whitelist “secret code” with any political organization is the best way to know that you receive robo calls from callers that you want to hear from.
Caller should be able to dial *94483 (*White) to whitelist any number while on the call or dial *7626 (*ROBO) to block any call from calling you in the future. Whitelisting any number should always be an option, even outside of a call.
I might also add that each greeting should start with a unique tone to be decided by the telephone industry (like we have our unique North American ring, or the unique busy signal or the unique call waiting signal etc.) to let the callers or robots know that this phone number is a “no robot phone line”, which allows some robots (good ones that are not interested in making people crazy) to stop calling you, and real humans should listen carefully as a “keyed-in” answer will soon be needed to reach that person, so listen in……………..
We think that the above idea is the most cost effective idea, and it can easily be implemented "today", and will allow carriers to charge a monthly fee, which will give them an incentive to launch this unique idea.
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