System and method for preventing spam over internet telephony

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DESCRIPTION

System and method for SPAM prevention for Internet telephony

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates, in general, to voice over IP (VoIP) technology and, more particularly, to a system and method for the prevention of SPAM for Internet telephony (SPIT).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

VoIP and Next Generation Network (NGN) services are developing rapidly on a global scale and represent a major operational challenge for conventional telephone service. However, cybersecurity is a crucial issue in the development of Internet systems and the NGN network based on IP technology inherits the vulnerability of IP protocol networks. VoIP and NGN services are faced with various Internet security problems.

Beyond conventional security threats, the VoIP service faces a new security threat, SPIT. SPIT is not a traditional security threat in the original security sense. Since SPIT exists in the course of normal transmission, it is not a threat to the network. The danger of SPIT comes from the disturbance for each called party caused by the transfer of content in the SPIT. VoIP service is low cost both in terms of call costs and hardware costs and is therefore used by many users. The dispersion of SPIT would pose problems similar to SPAM: SPIT consumes large amounts of network resources, reducing the quality of service provided to users by providers. On the other hand, the call from the SPIT is an unsolicited 'garbage' message depending on the definition of SPIT. Therefore, SPIT can seriously interfere with users' work and lives.

There is no technology aimed at the prevention of SPIT in NGN in the prior art, up to the present time.

US 2006/0182029 A1 discloses a method to combat SPIT. Trust ratings are embedded in certificates of calling devices in a VoIP communication system. A confidence rating is included in a call request to a call recipient. The callee decides how to respond to the call demand based on the level of the trust rating. The recipient of the call can affect the trust rating of the calling device by entering a complaint associated with received calls. The method effectively combats SPIT through the participation of called parties.

Rohwert T et al discloses a method for the prevention of SPIT in the document entitled "TNG White Paper: Abwehr von Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT-AL)" (XP007902521). A private whitelist and a private blacklist can be configured on a call recipient and can be imported from a friend's whitelist or blacklist. A statistical blacklist, which is formed based on the number of times of VoIPs made by a calling user in a pre-established period of time and the duration of each VoIP, can also be used to import the call recipient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Some embodiments of the present invention disclose a SPAM prevention system and method for Internet telephony. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method for preventing Spam through Internet telephony comprises: receiving, by a server, a call request for a terminal by a calling user; obtaining, by the server, an identifier of the calling user of said call request; the determination, by the server, of whether the identifier of the calling user is established as a SPIT user for the called user and the forwarding, by the server, of the call request to said terminal if said identifier is not established as a user of SPIT, wherein said calling user identifier is set as a SPIT user in response to a SPIT report request with said identifier from a reporting terminal and the SPIT reporting request is obtained in response to an instruction by a called user at said reporting terminal; wherein the report request SPIT further comprises a call time and the identifier of the called user of the call request; the server obtains the call time, the calling user identifier and the called user identifier from the SPIT report request in response to receiving the SPIT report request; the server compares the call time, the calling user identifier and the called user identifier with records of a call log kept on the server; if the calling user did not make any calls to the called user at the time of the call, according to the records, the server will not process the SPIT report request and will send a response message indicating said circumstance to the terminal; If the calling user makes a call to the called user, at the call time, according to the logs, the server sets the calling user identifier as being a SPIT user.

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According to an embodiment of the present invention, a terminal for the prevention of SPAM through Internet telephony (SPIT) comprising a terminal man-machine interface and a terminal communication module, the terminal communication module capable of sending and receive call demands; the terminal further comprising: a report module SPIT, capable of detecting calls requests received by the terminal communication module; with providing call demand record to the user through the human-machine interface after receiving a SPIT report instruction by a user through the human-machine interface and setting the caller identifier that the user selects in a SPIT report request and sending the SPIT report request to a server; wherein the SPIT report module comprises: a SIP signaling control unit, configured to monitor and record (203) the requests for calls received by the terminal communication module and to send (204) the calling user identifier and the identifier of the called user; an interactive human-machine unit, capable of communication between a first main processing unit and the terminal human-machine interface; the first main processing unit, configured to receive and store (201) the calling user identifier and the called user identifier, to receive a report instruction through the man-machine interactive unit and to notify the man interactive unit -machine sending call records to be displayed by the terminal man-machine interface, to set (203) the calling user identifier and the called user identifier in the SPIT report request, as determined by the user, and to provide at the output (204) the SPIT report request and an interactive unit of server, configured to communicate with the server, including sending (204) the SPIT report request to the server.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a server for the prevention of SPAM through Internet telephony (SPIT) comprising: a SPIT processing module, capable of obtaining and storing a calling user identifier as a SPIT user, obtaining a new calling user identifier and determining whether the new calling user identifier is in a list of SPIT users and rejecting forwarding of a call request from the new calling user if the identifier of said new calling user is in the SPIT user list; wherein the SPIT processing module comprises: a communication unit, configured to obtain report data information from a SPIT report request, for outputting the report data information; a report recording unit and a second main processing unit, configured to receive the report data information from the communication unit and to set the calling user identifier as SPIT user and to memorize the calling user identifier in the unit report log; to obtain a new calling user ID from a new call request, to search the reporting registration unit to determine whether the new calling user ID is included in your list and to reject the forwarding of the call. new call request if included in the list; wherein the reporting data information comprises: call time, the reporting user identifier and the reported user identifier; the report information received by the second main processing unit comprises the call time, the second main processing unit determining whether the informed user has called the reporting user at the call time; if the reported user did not make any calls to the reporting user at the call time, the second main processing unit suppresses the report request; wherein the second main processing unit determines whether the informed user made a call to the reporting user at the call time, comprising: the second main processing unit compares the call time, the calling user identifier and the user identifier call with the records of a call log kept on the server; If the calling user did not make any calls to the called user, at the time of the call, according to the records, the second main processing unit will not process the SPIT report request and will send a response message indicating this circumstance to the terminal ; if the calling user made a call to the called user, at the time of the call, according to the records, the second main processing unit sets the identifier of the calling user as being a SPIT user.

It can be deduced from the above description, for the purpose of SPIT prevention, that the terminal includes a SPIT report module and the server includes a SPIT processing module. The terminal detects a received call request and sends a SPIT report request to the server. The report request SPIT contains an identifier of the calling user whom the terminal wishes to inform. The server obtains and stores the identifier and establishes the calling user as a SPIT user. Upon receipt of a new call request, the server obtains an identifier from the new call request that contains the identifier of the new calling user and determines whether the identifier of the new calling user is memorized, or not, and set as a SPIT user. If the calling user identifier is set as a SPIT user, it rejects the new call request, thus, the present invention can avoid disturbances from SPIT to users.

Numerous additional features, embodiments, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description that follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a flow chart showing a method for preventing SPIT based on an embodiment of the present invention;

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Figure 2 is a flow chart showing the process of a SPIT Reporting terminal, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating the process of a server processing the SPIT report request, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating the process of a server processing the call request, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 is a schematic view illustrating a system for the prevention of SPIT according to an embodiment of the present invention and

Figure 6 is a schematic view illustrating a SPIT report module and a SPIT processing module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment of the present invention, the terminal includes a SPIT reporting module and the server includes a SPIt processing module. The terminal detects a received call request and sends a SPIT report request to the server. The report request SPIT contains an identifier of the calling user to whom the terminal wishes to inform. The server obtains and stores the identifier and establishes the calling user as a SPIT user.

Upon receiving a new call request, the server obtains an identifier from the new received call request that contains the new calling user identifier and determines whether the new calling user identifier is memorized and establishes it as a SPIT user. If the identifier is set as a SPIT user, the new call request is rejected.

As illustrated in Figure 1, the method for the prevention of SPIT according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises the following:

Block 101: the terminal detects and records the calls requests received and establishes the identifier of the calling user of the call request in a report request SPIT if the user decides that the call request is through a calling party SPIT and sends the request SPIT report to a server.

Block 102: The server obtains and stores the identifier of the calling user from the received SPIT report request. The SPIT report request may further include the call time and the called user identifier of the call request. In such condition, the server obtains the call time, the calling user identifier and the called user identifier from the SPIT report request in response to the receipt of the SPIT report request. The server compares the call time, the calling user ID, and the called user ID with records from a call log maintained on the server. If the calling user did not make any calls to the called user, at the time of the call, according to the records, the server will not process the SPIT report request and will send a response message indicating such circumstance to the terminal. If the calling user made a call to the called user, at the call time, according to the logs, the server processes as described in block 103.

Block 103: The server sets the identifier of the calling user as being a SPIT user. In one embodiment, if the SPIT report request contains the identifier of the calling user and the identifier of the called user, the server will obtain and store the identifier of the calling user and the identifier of the called user. The server will set the calling user as the reported user and set the called user as the reporting user.

Before the server sets the calling user identifier as being a SPIT user, the server analyzes the number of times the calling user has been reported as a SPIT user in the past. If said number exceeds a preset threshold value, the caller's identifier is set as belonging to a SPIT user.

Block 104: Upon receipt of a new call request, the server obtains the identifier of the calling user from the new call request, determines if the calling user's identifier is stored or not and is established as a SPIT user and the forwarding of the new call request if the caller's identifier is stored and established as a SPIT user.

If the identifier of the calling user is not memorized and established as a SPIT user, the server determines if the identifier of the calling user is in the list of informed users and forwards the new call request if it is not in the list of informed users. If not, the server determines whether or not the identifier of the called user is in the list of reporting users corresponding to the informed user and rejects the new call request if the answer is affirmative and the server forwards the new call request. called if the answer is 'no'.

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In one embodiment, the server can send the identifiers of the SPIT users to other servers in communication with the server. The other servers receive the identifiers and establish the respective users as SPIT users in their lists.

Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating the process of a SPIT reporting terminal, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, communication between terminals is via SIP, which is a dominant signal protocol in NGN. The method comprises:

Block 201: When a SPIT report is received from a user, the terminal sends the SPIT report instruction to a SPIT report module. The SPIT report module sends the call demand call log, which detects the SPIT report module and provides the corresponding display to the user.

In one embodiment, the terminal cannot be allowed to inform the SPIT users unless the user has called the terminal beforehand. The terminal is allowed to activate the SPIT reporting function if the terminal received a call request in idle state and responded to the call request, for example by monitoring 200 OK signaling or ACK signaling.

Block 202: The user selects a call record, in the terminal, to report the call received as SPIT. If the user determines not to inform the user, the process ends.

In one embodiment, each call record may include: call time, SIP address, and IP address of the calling user and the called user. Call logs are classified according to the time of the call. The terminal can auto-store a predetermined number of call records in a list of call records. When it exceeds the predetermined number, the terminal will automatically delete the call records that have the previous call time.

Block 203: The terminal obtains the call log to inform, including the time of the call, the identifier of the calling user and the identifier of the called user, for example, SIP address and IP address of the calling user and the called user.

Block 204: The SPIT report module establishes the record of calls to be informed in a request for a SPIT report and sends the request for a SPIT report to the server.

Block 205: The reporting process is complete with the receipt by the SPIT reporting module of a reporting response from the server.

Block 206: If the terminal does not receive the report response from the server at a predetermined time, the terminal determines whether to forward the report request or not. If the answer is yes, it goes back to block 204 and the report request is forwarded to the server. If not, the process is complete.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the process of processing by a server of the SPIT report request, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process comprises:

Block 301: The server obtains information from the report from the SPIT report request, when it receives the SPIT report request.

In one embodiment, the information in the report includes: call time, identifier of the reporting user, and the identifier of the reported user.

Block 302: The server compares the call time, the reporting user identifier and the reported user identifier with the call log maintained on the server. If the informed user has not called the informing user in the call time, the server will not process the report request and will send a response to the terminal.

Block 303: If the reported user made a call to the reporting user at the time of the call, the server looks for a temporary report record on the server to determine whether or not the caller's identifier is in the temporary report record. The temporary report record is also referred to as a gray list; the reporting log is also referred to as a blacklist.

Block 304: If the identifier of the calling user is in the gray list, the server adds the identifier of the reporting user corresponding to the user reported in the gray list and increases the alarm value of the user reported in the gray list.

Block 305: The server determines if the alarm value exceeds a preset threshold value; if it does not exceed the threshold value, it sends a response message to the terminal to notify the terminal that the report was successful.

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Block 306: If the alarm value does not exceed the threshold value, the server stores the identifier! of the user reported on the blacklist and sends a response message to the terminal to notify the terminal that the report was successful. In one embodiment, the server can send a message to other servers, notifying said other servers of the storage of the identified user of the informed user in their blacklists.

Block 307: If the identifier of the calling user is not included in the gray list, the server memorizes the identifier of the informed user and the identifier of the reporting user in the gray list, sets the alarm value of the informed user as 1 and sends a message response to the terminal to report that the terminal report was successful.

In this case, the informed user and the reporting user correspond, respectively, to the calling user and the called user.

Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating the process of a server processing the call request, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process includes:

Block 401: The server obtains the identifier of the calling user and the identifier of the called user from a new call request received.

Block 402: The server compares the identifier of the calling user with each of the identifiers of the users reported in the black list.

Block 403: If the black list does not include the identifier of the calling user, the server compares the identifier of the calling user with each of the identifiers of the users reported in the gray list.

Block 404: If the gray list includes the identifier of the calling user, the server determines whether the identifiers of the reporting users that correspond to the calling user in the gray list include the identifier of the called user. If the identifiers of the reporting users, which correspond to the calling user in the gray list, do not include the identifier of the called user, the server sends an alarm message to the called user.

Block 405: If the gray list does not include the caller's identifier or if the identifiers of the reporting users, which correspond to the calling user in the gray list, do not include the identifier of the called user, the server forwards the new call request received and the process is completed.

Block 406: If the black list includes the identifier of the calling user or if the identifiers of the reporting users, which correspond to the calling user in the gray list, include the identifier of the called user, the server sends a 'reject' message to the user caller of the new call request and the process is completed.

Figure 5 illustrates a system for the prevention of SPIT according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system includes: at least two terminals with the SPIT reporting function and one server with the SPIT prevention function.

The terminal includes: a human-machine interface, a SPIT reporting module, and a terminal communication module. The server includes: a SPIT processing module.

In one embodiment, the terminal communication module sends a call request to the human-machine interface, upon receipt of the call request from the server.

The report module SPIT is capable of detecting the demands of calls received by the terminal communication communication; providing records of call demands to the user via the human-machine interface after receiving a SPIT report instruction by a user via the human-machine interface and setting the identifier of the calling user that the user selects in a report request SPIT and sending the SPIT report request to the server's SPIT processing module.

The SPIT processing module is at the base of the SIP server protocol stack, the SPIT processing module processes received SIP signaling before other server components.

The SPIT processing module is capable of obtaining and memorizing the identifier of the calling user as a SPIT user. The SPIT processing module obtains a new calling user identifier and determines whether or not the new calling user identifier is in the SPIT user list, rejects the forwarding of the new call request if the new calling user identifier is on the SPIT user list.

Figure 6 is a schematic view illustrating a SPIT report module and a SPIT processing module, according to an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in Figure 6, the SPIT reporting module comprises: a man-machine interactive unit, a SIP signaling monitoring unit, a first main processing unit, and a server interactive unit.

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The interactive human-machine unit is coupled to the terminal human-machine interface, configured to transmit the user report request received from the terminal to the first main processing unit and to receive the response message from the first processing unit. to confirm the report SPIT user. The human-machine interactive unit is further configured to provide related alarm messages to the user through the determined human-machine interface when the reporting process ends or is determined to be unsuccessful.

The SIP signaling supervision unit is configured to monitor and record call requests received by the terminal communication module and to send the calling user ID and the called user ID to the first main processing unit.

When the terminal receives a call request, the SIP signaling monitoring unit obtains the calling user identifier and the called user identifier from the terminal communication module and transmits the calling user identifier and the called user identifier to the first main processing unit. When the first main processing unit finishes reporting to the server, the SIP signaling monitoring unit clears the current call log and goes into the idle state, monitoring the SIP signaling message.

The first main processing unit is configured to receive and store the calling user identifier and the called user identifier, which are sent from the SIP signaling monitoring unit.

The SIP signaling supervision unit is further configured to send the call time of the supervised call request to the first main processing unit. The first main processing unit receives and stores the call record of the call request from the SIP signaling supervision unit. The call records include a call time, the calling user ID and the called user ID, eg, the SIP address and the IP address.

In one embodiment, the first main processing unit classifies the call records of the call demands based on the call time. The terminal can set the maximum number of call records memorized by the first main processing unit. When the number of call records is higher than the maximum, the first main processing unit will automatically delete the call record of the earliest call time.

In one embodiment, the first main processing unit is further configured to receive a report instruction via the human-machine interactive unit and to notify the human-machine interactive unit of sending the call records to displayed by the human-machine interface of the terminal. In one embodiment, the default mode of a terminal displays the most recent call record first and the user can select the previous call record by scrolling through the call records. If the user wants to report a call request, the first main processing unit obtains the calling user ID and the called user ID, sets the calling user ID and the called user ID in the SPIT report request and sends The SPIT report request to the interactive server unit.

In one embodiment, the first main processing unit can set the call time of the call log in the SPIT report request and sends the SPIT report request to the interactive unit of the server. The SPIT report request may contain: the SIP address of the reported user, the IP address of the reported user, the SIP address of the reported user, the IP address of the reporting user and the call time.

The interactive server unit establishes the message interface between the terminal and the server. The communication protocol between the server and the terminal can be SIP or another communication protocol. The interactive unit of the server is configured to transfer the received SPIT report request to the communication unit of the SPIT processing unit in the server, to receive a report response message from the communication unit and to send the response message report to the first main processing unit. The first main processing unit sends the report response message to the terminal's human-machine interface via the human-machine interactive unit, for display to the user.

As illustrated in Figure 6, the SPIT processing module includes: a communication unit, a second main processing unit, a report recording unit, and a temporary report recording unit. The communication unit is configured to communicate with the interactive server unit of the SPIT report module in the terminal and with the communication units of the nearby servers.

More specifically, the communication unit is configured to obtain report information from the received SPIT report request and to transfer the report information to the second main processing unit. The communication unit is further configured to receive the response message from the second main processing unit and to transfer it to the interactive server unit at the terminal. The

ES 2 389 259 T3 information in the report includes: call time, the identifier of the reporting user and the identifier of the reported user.

The communication protocol used in the communication unit is similar to that of the server interactive unit, eg, SIP or other communication protocol.

In addition, the communication unit sends the report records in the report recording unit to nearby servers. The communication protocol that the SPIT processing unit supports in the nearby servers can be the same protocols of the communication unit and the interactive unit of the server.

In one embodiment, the function of the second main processing unit includes: determining whether or not to forward the call request to the conventional SIP server and to receive and process the SPIT report request from the terminal through the communications unit.

In one embodiment, the second main processing unit is capable of obtaining the identifier of the calling user and the identifier of the called user, searching the report registration unit and the temporary report registration unit to determine whether the identifiers are included in their lists and process the call demand based on the search result.

The call demand processing based on the search result includes the following four conditions.

If the calling user identifier is not included in the list of reported user identifiers, memorized in the report recording unit or in the temporary report recording unit, the second main processing unit transfers the call request to the server Conventional SIP. The conventional SIP server forwards the call request to the called user.

If the identifier of the calling user is included in the list of reported user identifiers that is memorized in the reporting recording unit, the second main processing unit will not forward the call request and send a 'reject' message to the user caller through the communication unit.

If the caller's identifier is included in the list of reported user identifiers, stored in the temporary reporting unit, the second main processing unit further searches the temporary reporting unit to determine whether the identifier of the called user is included in your list. If the identifier of the called user is included in the list, the second main processing unit will not forward the call request and sends a 'reject' message to the calling user via the communication unit. If the identifier of the called user is not included in the list, the second main processing unit will send a notification message to the called user to notify that the calling user has been informed by other users and forwards the call request to the conventional sIp server.

The second main processing unit obtains the report information from the SPIT report request received from the communication unit and compares the report information with the report information in the temporary report register and processes the report request based on of said comparison.

If the reporting information, received by the second main processing unit, includes the identifier of the reporting user and the identifier of the reported user, the processing of the second main processing unit is applied to the report demand based on the comparison, being able to include any of the three following conditions:

1) If the second main processing unit confirms that the identifier of the reported user exists in the temporary report register, increment the alarm value by 1 and store the identifier of the reporter user in the temporary report register. The second main processing unit determines whether the alarm value exceeds a predetermined value or not and retains the identifier of the reported user, in the temporary report log, if it does not exceed the predetermined value.

2) If the alarm value exceeds the default value, the second main processing unit adds the identifier of the reported user to the reporting log, deletes the identifier of the reported user from the reporting log, and sends a message to other servers via the communications unit to notify the other servers of the addition of the informed user to its report registry.

3) If the second main processing unit confirms that the reported user identifier does not exist in the temporary reporting record, the second main processing unit adds the reported user identifier and the reporting user identifier to the temporary reporting record and sets the reported user alarm value, in the temporary report log, to 1.

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If the Report Information received by the second main processing unit includes the call time, the second main processing unit determines whether or not the informed user made a call to the reporting user at the call time. If the reported user made a call to the reporting user at the call time, the second main processing unit processes the report request based on the above three conditions. If the reported user did not make a call to the reporting user at the call time, the second main processing unit suppresses the demand for reports.

In one embodiment, the SPIT reporting module is implemented by existing hardware of a conventional terminal. In an alternative embodiment, hardware is added to a conventional terminal to implement this function.

In one embodiment, the SPIT processing module is implemented by existing conventional server hardware. In an alternative embodiment, hardware is added to a conventional terminal to implement this function.