Telephone Caller Classification

Abstract

In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for identifying telephone spam. An indication of an incoming telephone call and a calling device telephone number for the incoming telephone call is received. An indication that the calling device telephone number has been determined to be a source of telephone spam based on identifications by one or more users, other than a user of a mobile telephone, that the calling device telephone number is a source of telephone spam is received. A secondary alert is output to the user of the mobile telephone that is different than a default alert. The default alert is output to the user of the mobile telephone if the calling device telephone number is not determined to be a source of telephone spam.

1 . A computer-implemented method for identifying telephone spam, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a mobile telephone, an indication of an incoming telephone call and a calling device telephone number for the incoming telephone call;   receiving, at the mobile telephone, an indication that the calling device telephone number has been determined to be a source of telephone spam based on identifications by one or more users, other than a user of the mobile telephone, that the calling device telephone number is a source of telephone spam; and   outputting, by the mobile telephone, a secondary alert to the user of the mobile telephone that is different than a default alert, wherein the default alert is output to the user of the mobile telephone if the calling device telephone number is not determined to be a source of telephone spam.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting the calling device telephone number to a server system in a request to establish whether the calling device telephone number is a source of telephone spam.   
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 receiving, at the server system, communications from multiple mobile telephones classifying calling device telephone numbers as sources of telephone spam;   receiving, at the server system, the request to establish whether the calling device telephone number is a source of telephone spam;   determining, by the server system, that the calling device telephone number is a source of telephone spam by identifying that the calling device telephone number has been classified as a source of telephone spam by one or more of the multiple mobile telephones; and   transmitting, to the mobile telephone, the indication that the calling device telephone number has been determined to be a source of telephone spam.   
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, at the mobile telephone, an indication of a different incoming telephone call;   receiving, at the mobile telephone, user input that answers the different incoming telephone call; and   receiving, at the mobile telephone subsequent to the user input that answers the call, user input that classifies the different incoming telephone call as a source of telephone spam.   
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 4 , wherein the user input that classifies the different incoming telephone call as a source of telephone spam also terminates the different incoming telephone call. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 receiving, at the mobile telephone subsequent to the user input that answers the call, user input that selects a descriptive tag that identifies a type of the source of telephone spam; and   transmitting, from the mobile telephone to a server system, a communication that (i) classifies the incoming telephone call as a source of telephone spam, and (ii) identifies the selected descriptive tag.   
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the calling device telephone number was determined to be a source of spam by a server system that used a social network distance between the user of the mobile telephone and the one or more other users in the determination. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein outputting the secondary alert includes providing on a display of the mobile telephone an indication that the incoming telephone call is a source of telephone spam while the telephone is in a state that enables the user to answer the telephone with a single-action user input, and wherein outputting the default alert includes not providing on the display the indication that the incoming telephone call is a source of telephone spam. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8 , further comprising invoking, in response to receiving the indication that the calling device telephone number has been determined to be a source of telephone spam, an ability of the user to activate a playing of a pre-recorded message to the calling device without answering the incoming telephone call, wherein the pre-recorded message is not played to the calling device without the user-activation. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 8 , further comprising invoking, in response to receiving the indication that the calling device telephone number has been determined to be a source of telephone spam, an ability of the user to activate an early termination of the incoming telephone call without answering the incoming telephone call, wherein the early termination does not occur without the user-activation. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method for identifying telephone spam, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a server system, communications from a set of mobile telephones that each classify a telephone number as a source of telephone spam, wherein each communication from a mobile telephone includes (i) an identification of the telephone number, and (ii) a user-selected tag having a plurality of alphanumeric characters that categorizes a subject matter of audio received during a call from the telephone number;   identifying, at the server system, the telephone number for an incoming telephone call to a particular mobile telephone;   determining, by the server system, that the telephone number for the incoming telephone call is a source of telephone spam by identifying that the telephone number for the incoming telephone call has been classified as a source of telephone spam by the set of mobile telephones; and   transmitting, to the particular mobile telephone, an indication that the telephone number of the incoming telephone call is a source of telephone spam.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising selecting, from a community of mobile telephones that provide communications to the server system that each classify the telephone number as a source of telephone spam, the set of mobile telephones, wherein the set of mobile telephones is selected based on a distance in a social network graph between the particular mobile telephone and each of the telephones in the community. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , wherein the social network graph distance for each of the telephones in the community is based on a number of relationships between the particular mobile telephone and the telephone in the set. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , wherein the social network graph distance for each of the telephones in the community is further based on a strength of the relationships between the particular mobile telephone and the telephones in the community. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the telephone number of the incoming telephone call to the particular mobile telephone is received at the server system from the particular mobile telephone in a request to determine if an incoming telephone call that has been received by the particular mobile telephone is a source of telephone spam, the request received prior to a termination of the incoming telephone call with the particular mobile telephone. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising transmitting, to the particular mobile telephone, at least one user-selected tag received in a communication from one or more of the set of mobile telephones that classified the telephone number of the incoming telephone call as a source of telephone spam. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 16 , wherein the transmitting the at least one user-selected tag causes the particular mobile telephone to display the at least one user-selected tag in an interface that is presented to a user of the particular mobile telephone as an indication that an incoming telephone call is being received. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein determining that the particular calling device telephone number is a source of telephone spam includes identifying that communications from the one or more of the set of mobile telephones includes a user-selected tag that a user of the particular mobile telephone has previously selected to categorize a subject matter of audio received during a call from a telephone number. 
     
     
         19 . A system for identifying telephone spam, the system comprising:
 a call handler unit to receive indications of incoming telephone calls for a plurality of mobile telephones and to inform the plurality of mobile telephones of the incoming calls;   a community identification unit to determine a subset of the plurality of mobile telephones that are related to a particular mobile telephone based on a social network distance between a user of the particular mobile telephone and each user of the subset of the plurality of mobile telephones;   a telephone spam classification unit to (i) receive from the plurality of mobile telephones communications that classify calling device telephone numbers as sources of spam, and (ii) store data that identifies the calling device telephone numbers as telephone numbers that were identified as sources of spam by users of the plurality of mobile telephones; and   means for identifying that an incoming telephone call for the user of the particular mobile telephone is a source of spam by accessing, from the stored data that identifies calling device telephone numbers as sources of spam, identifications by users of the subset of the plurality of mobile telephones that the telephone number for the incoming telephone call is spam.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the social network distance between the user of the particular mobile telephone and each user of the subset includes a number of relationships between the user of the particular mobile telephone and the users of the subset.