Method and system for auditing and reconciling telecommunications data

• US 20080043951A1
• Filed: 08/14/2007
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cheng Gang Yap Ye, Jose Antonio Alvarado Del Campo, Jose Joaquin Arias Ferrer, Robert Neps
• Original Assignee: Cheng Gang Yap Ye, Jose Antonio Alvarado Del Campo, Jose Joaquin Arias Ferrer, Robert Neps
• Inventors: Ferrer, Jose Joaquin Arias, Neps, Robert, Alvarado del Campo, Jose Antonio, Yap Ye, Cheng Gang
• Granted Patent: US 8,078,509 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/114.14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/16 Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP

Abstract

A system and method for auditing and reconciliation of telecommunications billing data in real-time to prevent fraud. The system and method includes aggregation and maintenance of billing data records, from a service provider billing system database, its network elements and associated databases in one or more countries to a centralized directory system for the purpose of automatic auditing and reconciliation, and the mapping of billing data records between the billing system database and network elements database.

Claims

1. A method for billing auditing and reconciliation on a communications network, comprising:

automatically, periodically, securely collecting a plurality of first sets of billing data on a first server network device from plural server network devices via a communications network, wherein the plurality of first sets of billing data are each collected for a plurality of mobile target network devices for use of subscription services on the communications network;

automatically auditing the plurality of sets of billing data to create a plurality of plural sets of audited billing data;

automatically reconciling the plurality of sets of audited billing data to create a plurality of sets of reconciled billing data;

automatically storing the plurality of audited plural sets of reconciled billing data in a database associated with the first server network device; and

automatically securely returning the plurality of sets of reconciled billing data to the plurality of server network devices via the communications network in real-time, wherein the reconciled plurality of sets of billing data are used to prevent fraudulent use of subscription services on the communications network, and to create bills for the plurality of mobile target network devices for use of the subscription services on the communications network.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising a computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for causing one or more processors to execute the steps of the method.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the subscription services include voice and data services.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of automatically auditing includes a real-time Call Detail Record (CDR) analysis to detect fraud in real-time as it is occurring.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the auditing provides real-time audit of a single subscriber, real-time audit of a group of subscribers and real-time audit of all subscribers.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the auditing includes a non-intrusive auditing process wherein subscriber data is stored in directory accessible via Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the auditing includes designating subscriber data as consistent audit data or inconsistent audit data.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein automatically reconciling step includes a reconciliation process includes processing of inconsistent audit data to reconcile any inconsistencies in the audit data.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the storing step includes storing the plurality of audited plural sets of billing data in central directory in the database, wherein the central directory is an abstraction of data records from a billing system database and a plurality of network elements with associated databases that collect billing data from target mobile network devices.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the central directory is accessible via Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of network elements include a plurality of servers, switches, routers, bridges, wired access points and wireless access points in one country or in a plurality of countries.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the abstraction of data in the central directory allows auditing and reconciliation processing without impacting the performance of the plurality of network elements on the communications network.

4. The method of Clam 3 wherein the data services include voice, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), video, audio, electronic mail, text messaging services and short message services.

14. A method for tracking audited and reconciled billing data, comprising:

automatically examining a plurality of sets of audited billing data for inconsistencies, on a first network device wherein the plurality of sets of audited billing data were securely obtained from a plurality of other network devices on a communications network and automatically audited on the first server network device;

automatically reconciling any inconsistent audited data to correct inconsistencies to create reconciled audited data; and

automatically securely returning the reconciled audited data to the plurality of other network devices via the communications network in real-time to reduce fraudulent use of subscription services by target mobile network devices on the communications network.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising a computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for causing one or more processors to execute the steps of the method.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the plurality of sets of audited billing data are from a plurality of different countries.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the automatically examining step includes a non-intrusive auditing process wherein audit data is stored in a central directory accessible via Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the automatically examining step includes an auditor process that creates an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) message including any audit inconsistencies obtained from the plurality of sets of audited billing data.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the reconciling step includes a reconciliation process that interprets an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) message created by an auditor process and determines a configuration for a matching inconsistency template for each audit inconsistency.

20. A system for billing auditing and reconciliation on a communications network, comprising in combination:

means for automatically, periodically, securely collecting a plurality of first sets of billing data on a first server network device from plural server network devices via a communications network, wherein the plurality of first sets of billing data are each collected for a plurality of mobile target network devices for use of subscription services on the communications network and for securely returning a plurality of sets of reconciled billing data to the plurality of server network devices via the communications network in real-time to reduce fraudulent use of subscription services on the communications network in one country or in multiple countries, wherein the reconciled plurality of sets of billing data are used to create bills for the plurality of mobile target network devices for use of the subscription services on the communications network;

means for automatically auditing the plurality of sets of billing data to create a plurality of plural sets of audited billing data and for automatically examining a plurality of sets of audited billing data for inconsistencies, wherein the plurality of sets of audited billing data were securely obtained from a plurality of other network devices on a communications network and automatically audited on the first server network device; and

means for automatically reconciling the plurality of sets of audited billing data to create a plurality of sets of reconciled billing data and for reconciling any inconsistent audited data to correct inconsistencies to create reconciled billing data.