Telephone caller screening device

Abstract

A telephone caller screening device is operable with a pre-existing telephone line with an existing installed telephone device. In one mode, the telephone caller screening device selects and stores caller ID information from incoming telephone calls for later use to compare with caller entered identification data to determine whether the premise telephone user should be alerted to the incoming telephone call. In a second mode the telephone caller screening device controls the telephone system by generating an off-hook condition on the pre-existing telephone line to suppress the ring signal from an incoming telephone call to prevent audible ringing of the telephone device. The telephone caller screening device generates an alerting signal in an alerting device when the caller entered identification data compares with a stored caller identification data. In the event that the caller does not enter valid identification data, or the call recipient did not respond to the alerting signal in a predetermined time interval, the incoming telephone call is directed to a message device.