Apparatus and method for managing privacy using voice recognition and caller identification

Abstract

An apparatus and method for managing privacy using voice recognition and caller identification information are provided. If a calling party calls from a location that does not have caller id information associated with it, or such caller id information is blocked, the calling party may record his/her voice identification with a privacy management service provider. The called party may then listen to the voice recording and decide whether to accept or reject the call. The voice print, or voice pattern, of the voice recording and the acceptance or rejection of the call may be stored in a storage device for later use in determining calls. At a later time, when the calling party again calls from his/her unidentifiable location, the calling party may again identify him/herself with a voice recording. The voice print from the voice recording may be extracted and compared to a library of voice prints for the called party. If the voice print matches a stored voice print, the corresponding identification of whether to accept or reject the call is retrieved. If the identification indicates acceptance of the call, the call is routed to the called party's telephone unit.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.