Trend Micro Inc.

Xiangdong Ruan

Jing Cao

Juliang Jiang

A central computer of a telecommunications company handles an incoming call from a caller. The telephone number of the caller is checked against a white list or blacklist and handled accordingly. If the caller is unknown, a question is played to the caller (optionally selected randomly) along with a number of possible answers. The answers are presented randomly, associated with random identifiers, etc. If the caller selects the correct answer then the call is routed to the receiver's telephone. If not, then the call is terminated or other action taken as specified. The incoming call may also be handled by a mobile telephone or computing device at the user's home or business. The mobile telephone may alert the user when answering the incoming call or wait until the question is answered correctly before ringing the telephone.

Telephone call challenge to block spam

A user generates a pattern in a matrix (or two-dimensional grid) and enters a user name and an associated password. This username, password and pattern are stored locally on a computing device or are transmitted to a remote computer server for later authentication. Upon authentication, an input matrix is displayed. The user enters the password into the matrix in the form of the pattern, and also enters the username. The computer retrieves the previously stored pattern and password with the username. The previously stored pattern is used to read the input password from the input matrix. A match with the stored password indicates authentication. Alternatively, the input matrix only includes the pattern and password is entered separately. The input matrix may also be filled with random characters to improve security. The stored pattern is compared to the input pattern using image analysis or by comparing a set of coordinates.

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Nanjing, China

Xiangdong Ruan