USOO8913994B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 8,913,994 B2 Edwards et al. (45) Date of Patent: Dec. 16, 2014 (54) SYSTEMAND METHOD FOR CALL USPC ........ 455/411; 455/410; 455/414.1:455/415; BLOCKING AND SMS BLOCKING 455/518; 455/519 (58) Field of Classification Search (71) Applicant: Lookout, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US) CPC ... H04W 4/16; H04W 12/06; H04M 3/42042: HO4L 63/08 (72) Inventors: Stephen J. Edwards, San Francisco, CA USPC .............. 455/411, 410, 415,414.1, 517,518, (US); Ankur Bharatbhushan Nandwani, San Francisco, CA (US); 455/519, 550.1, 556.2 Rohan Nagarakere Ramakrishna, See application file for complete search history. Waterloo (CA); Brian James Buck, 56 Ref Cited Livermore, CA (US); Kesava Abhinav (56) eeees e Yerra, San Francisco, CA (US) U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS (73) Assignee: Lookout, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US) 6,941,134 B2 * 9/2005 White ........................... 455,418 8,126,456 B2 2/2012 Lotter et al. *) NotOt1Ce: Subjubject to anyy d1Sclaimer,disclai theh term off thithis (Continued) patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 64 days. OTHER PUBLICATIONS aFirewall call and Sms blocker—Android Apps on Google Play, (21) Appl. No.: 13/693,877 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lianyun. (22) Filed: Dec. 4, 2012 afirewallinapp&feature=search result, Retrieved Nov. 6, 2012, p. a rs 1-6. (65) Prior Publication Data (Continued) US 2014/O128047 A1 May 8, 2014 Primary Examiner — Khai MNguyen Related U.S. Application Data (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Dergosits & Noah LLP (60) fyinal application No. 61/722,003, filed on Nov. (57) ABSTRACT Systems and techniques are provided for managing and cat (51) Int. Cl. egorizing undesired phone calls and text messages. In a spe H04M I/66 (2006.01) cific implementation, an electronic communication identified H0474/6 (2009.01) by a phone numberis intercepted at a mobile communications HO47 (2/06 (2009.01) device before the electronic communication is received by an H04M 3/436 (2006.01) application program on the device. The phone number is sent H04L 2/58 (2006.01) to a server for the server to identify a category associated with HO4M 3/42 (2006.01) the phone number. The category is received at the mobile communication device. Based on the received category, a HO4L 29/06 (2006.01) determination is made as to whether the application program (52) U.S. Cl. should be allowed to receive the electronic communication. If CPC ................ H04W 4/16 (2013.01); H04 W 12/06 allowed, the electronic communication is forwarded to the (2013.01); H04M 3/436 (2013.01); H04L 5 1/12 application program; else, the electronic communication is (2013.01); H04M 3/42042 (2013.01); H04L not forwarded. 63/08 (2013.01); H04M 3/42068 (2013.01); H04L 5 1/28 (2013.01) 13 Claims, 14 Drawing Sheets 105 Y interceptcommunication at a mobile identified communications by a phone devicenumber an before electronic the communication is received by an application program on the device 1113 : Send the phone number to a server for the server to identify a category associated with the phone number 118 receive the category 120 Based on the received category, determine whether the application program should be allowed to receive the communication 25 if allowed- - if not allowed Block the application program Forward the communication to from receiving the the application program communicatio 130 135 US 8,913,994 B2 Page 2 (56) References Cited Calls Blacklist—Android Apps on Google Play, https://play.google. com/store/apps/details?id=com.vladlee. easyblacklist& U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS feature=search result, Retrieved Nov. 6, 2012, p. 1-6. Handcent SMS-Android Apps on Google Play, https://play.google. 8,355.491 B1* 1/2013 Butt ......................... 379,210.02 com/storefapps/details?id=com.handcent.nextSms& 8,655,307 B1 * 2/2014 Walker et al. ... 455,405 2010/0197275 A1 8, 2010 Yamasaki ..................... 455,411 feature=search result, Retrieved Nov. 6, 2012, p. 1-9. 2011/0026702 A1 2/2011 Bot .......................... 379,210.02 Mr. Number-Block calls, texts—Android Apps on Google Play, 2011 0103586 A1* 5, 2011 Nobre ............ ... 380,270 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mrnumber. 2011/O128906 A1* 6, 2011 Arrasvuori et al. 370,328 blocker&feature=search result, Retrieved Nov. 6, 2012, p. 1-6. 2012/0051529 A1* 3, 2012 Dobbins et al. .... 379,142.06 Postman: SMS Spam Blocker—Android Apps on Google Play, 2012/0309365 A1* 12/2012 Wang et al. ... 455,414.1 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com. 2013,0263248 A1* 10, 2013 Zhu et al. T26, 13 thesimpleandroidguy.apps.messageclient&feature=s%E2%80%A6, 2014f0074824 A1 3/2014 Radet al. ...................... 707/722 Retrieved Nov. 6, 2012, p. 1-4. OTHER PUBLICATIONS SMS and Call Blocker Plugin—Android Apps on Google Play, Call Blocker-Android Apps on Google Play, https://play.google.com/ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com. Smartanuj. Sms& store/apps/details?id=com.netqin. feature=search result, Retrieved Nov. 6, 2012, p. 1-4. mmi?t=W251bOwsMSwxLDIxMiwiY29tLm5IdT%E2%80%A6, WhosCall-block calls, texts—Android Apps on Google Play, https:// Retrieved Nov. 6, 2012, p. 1-6. play.google.com/store/apps/details?id gogolook.callgogolook2& call+sms Blocker—Award Winner—Android Apps on Google Play, feature=search result, Retrieved Nov. 6, 2012, p. 1-9. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com. SmsBlocker& feature=search result, Retrieved Nov. 6, 2012, p. 1-9. * cited by examiner U.S. Patent Dec. 16, 2014 Sheet 1 of 14 US 8,913,994 B2 Computing Device 2OO 21 O PrOCeSSOr Memory 22O 225 Mass Input Device Storage 215 240 Battery Antenna 230 235 FG. 2 U.S. Patent US 8,913,994 B2 U.S. Patent Dec. 16, 2014 Sheet 4 of 14 US 8,913,994 B2 uue16old 09G 999 GOED ?InpOW 099 979 U.S. Patent Dec. 16, 2014 Sheet 5 of 14 US 8,913,994 B2 C O s sh (f) .S. O X of C 9. n w As - o c O O U.S. Patent Dec. 16, 2014 Sheet 6 of 14 US 8,913,994 B2 U.S. Patent Dec. 16, 2014 Sheet 7 of 14 US 8,913,994 B2 Receive from a set of users in a Crowd information indicating that an electronic communication sent to the users should belong in a specific category 810 Does a number of users in the Crowd exceed a threshold value? 815 Categorize in a database a phone number associated with the electronic communication as belonging to the specific Category 82O Provide the categorization to another user so that when an electronic Communication is sent to the user the electronic Communication can be blocked because it is from a phone number belonging to the specific category 825 FG. 8A U.S. Patent Dec. 16, 2014 Sheet 8 of 14 US 8,913,994 B2 Receive from a Subset of users in a Crowd information indicating that an electronic communication sent to the users in the crowd should belong in a specific category. 840 ls a ratio of a number of users in the Subset to a number of users in the crowd greater than a threshold ratio? 845 Categorize in a database a phone number associated with the electronic communication as belonging to the specific category 850 Provide the categorization to another user so that when an electronic Communication is sent to the user the electronic communication can be blocked because it is from a phone number belonging to the specific category 855 FG. 8B U.S. Patent Dec. 16, 2014 Sheet 9 of 14 US 8,913,994 B2 Social Network 860 User A D N-- (usSe B) u----- 8 -----1 / ( / User D N S - User C ) Social Network 865 U.S. Patent Dec. 16, 2014 Sheet 10 of 14 US 8,913,994 B2 905 N. Messaging app receives and displays to a user a first message from a sender 910 User reviews the first message and identifies the sender as belonging to a specific category 915 User creates a draft of a second message forwarding the first message that identifies the sender of the first message and designates a recipient 920 Messaging app stores the second message forwarding the first message as draft in a database 925 Scan the database for the designated recipient and retrieve the second message stored as draft and identifying the sender of the first message 930 Categorize the sender into the specific category 935 FIG. 9 U.S. Patent US 8,913,994 B2 U.S. Patent Dec. 16, 2014 Sheet 12 of 14 US 8,913,994 B2 Intercept at a mobile communications device an electronic communication identified by a phone number before the communication is received by an application program on the device 1110 Send the phone number to a server for the server to identify a category associated with the phone number 1115 Receive the category 1 120 Based on the received category, determine whether the application program should be allowed to receive the Communication 1125 Block the application program Forward the Communication to from receiving the the application program communication 1130 1135 FIG 11 U.S. Patent Dec. 16, 2014 Sheet 13 of 14 US 8,913,994 B2 Incoming call from World Wide Sweepstakes 1210 (555) 867-5309 1215 YA This is spam, block this number This is spam, block this name This is spam, block this category File a complaint with the National Do Not Call Registry 1220 YA ACCept Decline Decline with p Selected Options 1205 FIG.