Selective feature blocking in a communications network

(54) SELECTIVE FEATURE BLOCKING IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

(75) Inventor: John Kenneth Gallant, Piano, TX (US)

(73) Assignee: Verizon Business Global LLC,

Basking Ridge, NJ (US)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 1037 days.

(21) Appl. No.: 10/097,592

(22) Filed: Mar. 15, 2002

(65) Prior Publication Data

US 2002/0167946 Al Nov. 14, 2002

Related U.S. Application Data

(60) Provisional application No. 60/276,923, filed on Mar. 20, 2001, provisional application No. 60/276,953, filed on Mar. 20, 2001, provisional application No. 60/276,955, filed on Mar. 20, 2001, provisional application No. 60/276,954, filed on Mar. 20, 2001.

(51) Int. CI.

H04L12/66 (2006.01)

(52) U.S. CI 370/352; 370/389

(58) Field of Classification Search None

See application file for complete search history.

(56) References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 6,161,008 A * 12/2000 Lee et al 455/415

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Schulzrinne et al., "SIP Call Control Services", Internet Engineering Task Force, Internet Draft, Jun. 17, 1999.

Schulzrinne et al., "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications", Internet Engineering Task Force, Request for Comments 1889, Jan. 1996.

Handley et al., "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol", Internet Engineering Task Force, Request for Comment 2543, Mar. 1999.

* cited by examiner

Primary Examiner—Bob A. Phunkulh

(57) ABSTRACT

In the context of a communications system, means are disclosed for ensuring that invocation of redirect features, such as call forwarding, do not circumvent call blocking settings. User profile information associated with a party controls the invocation of features for the party and controls the screening of redirect contacts resulting from feature invocation. The behavior of feature-associated contact screening for the party is configurable independently of the originating calling permissions of the party.

16 Claims, 9 Drawing Sheets