Post-page caller name identification system

Abstract

Caller Name Identification, or CNAM Caller ID, is a telecommunication end-user feature that appeared for PSTN landline customers in the late 1980s. The rapid development of cellular mobile and VOIP telephony systems lead to the frequent omission of the CNAM Caller ID feature. Described is an independent end-user system that obtains the CNAM Caller ID after the call page transmission. The system operates on the user's smartphone or on a TCP/IP connected computer. A user with multiple telephone devices (i.e. a smartphone, landline, and VOIP line) may share use of this system between all devices.

I claim: 
     
       1. A system, functioning independently of a called party's telephone carrier and device, provides a calling party's CNAM after entry of the calling party's telephone number CID, comprising:
 a) an entry field, within a HTML web or mobile phone application, permitting the called party to input a query, post-page, specifying the CID;   b) an SS7 interfacing node permitting real-time access to the SS7 network;   c) a function serving as a direct interface between the called party's query and the calling party carrier's respective CNAM database;   d) within the HTML web or mobile phone application, a display of the successfully queried calling party CNAM.   
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the web or mobile phone application provides free-of-charge CNAM resolution for any of the end-user's multiple telephony devices, thereby permitting cost-savings. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the called party enjoys significant cost savings and free-of-charge CNAM querying through an advertising display within the user interface. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein component function (c) additionally:
 confirms that the CID is not subject to system opt-out privacy controls; and   confirms that the CID paged a telephonic device owned or operated by the called party.   
     
     
       5. A method for providing a called party with the calling party's CNAM after a network page, independent of interaction with the carrier or device receiving the page, comprising the following steps:
 a) entering of the calling party's telephone number CID into a web HTML or mobile phone application query field;   b) connecting to the PSTN via an SS7 interfacing node;   c) directly querying the calling party carrier CNAM database with the CID query entry;   d) displaying the successfully queried calling party CNAM on the HTML web or mobile phone application user interface.   
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , further comprising a step to display advertising sponsorship on the web or mobile phone application interface, thereby achieving significant user cost savings and free-of-charge CNAM querying. 
     
     
       7. An SS7 interfacing node connected to both a TCP/IP network and an SS7 communication network, comprising:
 a TCP/IP network interface configured to provide a connection to a user terminal, the connection being configurable over an application program interface (API) using an industry standard protocol; and   an SS7 communication network interface configured to communicate with signal control points (SCPs) on the SS7 communication network;   wherein the SS7 interfacing node is configured (a) to receive from the user terminal over the TCP/IP network interface a query of a caller name identification (CNAM) database for a CNAM based on a telephone number obtained from a paging signal of an SS7 call, (b) to transmit the telephone number in a carrier identity request over the SS7 communication network interface to one or more line information databases (LIDBs); (c) to receive a carrier identity from the LIDBs over the SS7 communication network interface; (d) based on the carrier identity, to forward the query using GR-1188 to one or more CNAM databases over the SS7 communication network interface, (e) over the SS7 communication network interface, to receive from the CNAM databases a CNAM associated with the telephone number; and (f) over the TCP/IP network interface, to provide the received CNAM as the calling party's name to the user terminal.    
     
     
       8. The SS7 interfacing node of claim 7, wherein the industry standard protocol comprises JSON.  
     
     
       9. A method in an SS7 interfacing node connected to both a TCP/IP network and an SS7 telecommunication network, comprising:
 configuring a TCP/IP network interface with a user terminal using an application program interface (API) that conforms to an industry standard protocol; and   configuring an SS7 communication network interface that communicates with one or more line information databases (LIDBs) and one or more SS7 signal control points (SCPs) over the SS7 communication network;   wherein the SS7 interfacing node (a) receives from the user terminal over the TCP/IP network interface a query of a caller name identification (CNAM) database for a CNAM based on a telephone number obtained from a paging signal of an SS7 call, (b) transmits the telephone number in a carrier identity request over the SS7 communication network interface to one or more line information databases (LIDBs); (c) receives a carrier identity from the LIDBs over the SS7 communication network interface; (d) based on the carrier identity, forwards the query using GR-1188 to one or more CNAM databases over the SS7 communication network interface, (e) over the SS7 communication network interface, receives from the CNAM databases a CNAM associated with the telephone number; and (f) over the TCP/IP network interface, provides the received CNAM as the calling party's name to the user terminal.    
     
     
       10. The method of claim 9, wherein the industry standard protocol comprises JSON.