Blocking of unsolicited messages in text messaging networks
AssigneeTrend Micro Incorporated
InventorHaichuan Qian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In one embodiment, a subscriber who receives a spam message in his or her wireless mobile device may forward the message to a designated server for potential blocking. The message may be forwarded to the server using a designated phone number, for example. At the server, a learning module may verify if the message is indeed spam based at least on reports from other subscribers. If the message is spam, the server may initiate blocking of same or similar messages. For example, the server may report the spam message to a message service center, which may then block transmission of same or similar messages to all subscribers. The wireless mobile device may be a mobile telephone, for example.
Claims20
A method of blocking spam messages in a text messaging network, the method comprising:
- receiving a report of a text message, the report being initiated by a subscriber who received the text message in a mobile telephone;
- verifying if the text message is spam based at least on reports from other subscribers;
- and
- if the text message is verified as spam, preventing other text messages having a same characteristic as the text message from being received in other mobile telephones.
A system for blocking spam messages in a communications network, the system comprising:
- a plurality of mobile devices coupled to a wireless communications network;
- a message service center coupled to the wireless communications network, the message service center providing a messaging service to the plurality of mobile devices;
- an Internet message gateway coupling the message service center to the Internet;
- and
- a learning server coupled to the Internet message gateway, the learning server being configured to verify if a message received from a mobile device is a spam message based at least on reports from other mobile devices.
A method of blocking spam messages in a text messaging network, the method comprising:
- receiving a text message in a mobile telephone;
- dialing a predetermined telephone number to report the text message to a computer server;
- at the computer server, determining if the text message is spam based at least on reports received from other mobile telephones;
- and
- if the text message is verified as spam, preventing text messages having a same characteristic as the text message from being received in other mobile telephones.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.