Patent US6490349B1 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US6490349B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
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System and method for scan-dialing telephone numbers and classifying equipment connected to telephone lines associated therewith
Assignee: Sandstorm Enterprises Inc
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Filing: 1998-12-19
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Granted: 2002-12-03
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Expires: 2018-12-19
Abstract
Abstract A telephone scan-dialing arrangement includes a listener module, at least one dialing control module and at least one dialing module, each dialing module being associated with a respective modem. The listener module receives a command to initiate a scan-dialing operation in connection with a profile that identifies, inter alia, telephone numbers to be dialed and operations to be performed during each call and telephone number selection criteria, and provides the identification of the profile to the dialing control module The dialing control module obtains from the profile a set of telephone numbers to be used during the scan-dialing operation and provides the obtained telephone numbers to respective ones of the dialer modules to be dialed for a call, along with information identifying operations to be performed during the call, as each dialer module finishes its previous call. During each call, each dialer module controls its associated modem to dial the telephone number provided thereto by the dialing control module and perform the specified operations. Each dialer module stores call result information in the profile based on results of the call. During each call the telephone scan-dialing arrangement can determine, if the call is answered, the dialer module can determine characteristics of equipment connected to the called telephone line, including whether the equipment is a voice answering equipment, such as a voice telephone or an automated voice answering system, a fax receiving device or a computer. If the answering equipment is an automated voice answering device or a computer, the telephone scan dialing arrangement can also attempt to penetrate the device or computer to determine the operating system and user name/password combination used to access the device or computer. The a profile is stored in the form of SQL (structured query language) database, and the telephone scan-dialing arrangement can generate reports from the call result information in the profile using templates in HTML, RTF or other convenient format.
Inventors
- 👤 Simson L. Garfinkel
- 👤 A. Samuel Gorton
- 👤 Michael S. Greenberg
- 👤 Daniel J. Weber
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 05:39
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04M; H04M3/00; H04M3/22; H04M2203/00; H04M2203/20; H04M2203/2066
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
191 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising: A. a plurality of dialer modules, each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to (i) receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call, one call operation comprising a connect operation, (ii) control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto in the call control information and perform the specified call operations, the dialer module being configured to, during a connect operation, enable its respective modem to dial the telephone number to determine whether equipment connected to a called telephone line associated with the telephone number connects, and hang up after the equipment connects; and (iii) store call information related to the call; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to each dialer module as it finishes each call.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
191 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising: A. a plurality of dialer modules, each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to (i) receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call, one call operation comprising a connect operation, (ii) control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto in the call control information and perform the specified call operations, the dialer module being configured to, during a connect operation, enable its respective modem to dial the telephone number to determine whether equipment connected to a called telephone line associated with the telephone number connects, and hang up after the equipment connects; and (iii) store call information related to the call; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to each dialer module as it finishes each call.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
192 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising: A. a plurality of dialer modules, each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to (i) receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call, one call operation comprising an identify operation; (ii) control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto in the call control information and perform the specified call operations, the dialer module being configured to, during an identify operation, enable its respective modem to dial the telephone number and, if equipment connected to a called telephone line associated with the telephone number connects, classify the equipment according to a predetermined classification scheme; and (iii) store call information related to the call; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to each dialer module as it finishes each call.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
192 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising: A. a plurality of dialer modules, each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to (i) receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call, one call operation comprising an identify operation; (ii) control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto in the call control information and perform the specified call operations, the dialer module being configured to, during an identify operation, enable its respective modem to dial the telephone number and, if equipment connected to a called telephone line associated with the telephone number connects, classify the equipment according to a predetermined classification scheme; and (iii) store call information related to the call; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to each dialer module as it finishes each call.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement as defined in claim 2 in which the dialer module classifies the equipment in relation to tonal information representative of signals generated by the equipment as received by its respective modem.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
190 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising: A. a plurality of dialer modules, each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to (i) receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call, one call operation comprising a penetrate operation, (ii) control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto in the call control information and perform the specified call operations, the dialer module being configured to, during a penetrate operation, enable its respective modem to dial the telephone number and, if equipment connected to a called telephone line associated with the telephone number connects, determine predetermined internal characteristics of the equipment; and (iii) store call information related to the call; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to each dialer module as it finishes each call.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
190 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising: A. a plurality of dialer modules, each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to (i) receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call, one call operation comprising a penetrate operation, (ii) control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto in the call control information and perform the specified call operations, the dialer module being configured to, during a penetrate operation, enable its respective modem to dial the telephone number and, if equipment connected to a called telephone line associated with the telephone number connects, determine predetermined internal characteristics of the equipment; and (iii) store call information related to the call; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to each dialer module as it finishes each call.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
25 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement as defined in claim 4 in which the dialer module is configured to use a state/function table during the penetrate operation.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
32 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement as defined in claim 4 in which, if the equipment is a computer, the dialer module is configured to determine identification of an operating system controlling the computer.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
32 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement as defined in claim 6 in which, if use of the equipment is regulated by a user name, the dialer module is configured to determine the user name.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
31 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement as defined in claim 7 in which, if use of the equipment is further regulated by a password, the dialer module is configured to determine the password.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
26 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement as defined in claim 8 in which the dialer module is further configured to obtain user names and passwords from the profile.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
25 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement as defined in claim 4 in which the dialer module is configured to use a state/function table during the penetrate operation.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
196 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising at least one dialer module and a dialing control module, A. each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call and control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto by the dialing control module and perform the specified call operations, and to store call information related to the call, one call operation comprising an identify operation, the dialer module during an identify operation being configured to enable its respective modem to dial the telephone number and, if equipment connected to a called telephone line associated with the telephone number connects, classify the equipment according to a predetermined classification scheme; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to said dialer module as it finishes each call.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
196 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising at least one dialer module and a dialing control module, A. each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call and control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto by the dialing control module and perform the specified call operations, and to store call information related to the call, one call operation comprising an identify operation, the dialer module during an identify operation being configured to enable its respective modem to dial the telephone number and, if equipment connected to a called telephone line associated with the telephone number connects, classify the equipment according to a predetermined classification scheme; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to said dialer module as it finishes each call.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
24 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement as defined in claim 11 in which at least one class of said classification scheme is a fax machine class.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
192 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising: A. at least one dialer module, each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call and control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto by the dialing control module and perform the specified call operations, and to store call information related to the call, one call operation is a penetrate operation, the at least one dialer module during a penetrate operation being configured to enable its respective modem to dial the telephone number and, if equipment connected to a called telephone line associated with the telephone number connects, determine predetermined internal characteristics of the equipment; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to each dialer module as it finishes each call.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
192 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising: A. at least one dialer module, each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call and control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto by the dialing control module and perform the specified call operations, and to store call information related to the call, one call operation is a penetrate operation, the at least one dialer module during a penetrate operation being configured to enable its respective modem to dial the telephone number and, if equipment connected to a called telephone line associated with the telephone number connects, determine predetermined internal characteristics of the equipment; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to each dialer module as it finishes each call.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
156 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising: A. at least one dialer module, each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call and control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto by the dialing control module and perform the specified call operations, and to store call information related to the call, at least one element of said call information comprising audio information received by said modem; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to each dialer module as it finishes each call.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
156 words
A telephone scan-dialing arrangement comprising: A. at least one dialer module, each dialer module being associated with a respective modem, each dialer module being configured to receive call control information specifying a telephone number to be dialed in connection with a call and call operations to be performed in connection with the call and control its associated modem to call the telephone number provided thereto by the dialing control module and perform the specified call operations, and to store call information related to the call, at least one element of said call information comprising audio information received by said modem; and B. a dialing control module configured to, during a scan-dial run, obtain from a profile a set of telephone numbers in response to selected telephone number selection criteria to be used during the scan-dial run, and generate for each telephone number call control information for provision to each dialer module as it finishes each call.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-12-02 | 2006-06-03 | 2006-12-03 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-12-02 | 2010-06-03 | 2010-12-03 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-12-02 | 2014-06-03 | 2014-12-03 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |