Method and system for authenticating telephone callers and avoiding unwanted calls

摘要

A service that handles incoming telephone calls without bothering the telephone subscriber is disclosed. The service permits a call to go through to a subscriber if the service determines that the call is not unwanted and the caller has been unauthenticated. The authentication is based on challenging the caller to prove its identity rather than relying on caller ID displays. Prospective callers pre-register with the service providing caller account information. When a caller is issued a challenge, the caller may prove its authenticity by supplying the challenge back to the service along with its registered information.