System and Method for Proactively Establishing a Third-Party Payment Account for Services Rendered to a Resident of a Controlled-Environment Facility

• US 20090228383A1
• Filed: 03/05/2008
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Securus Technologies Incorporated (Securus Special Investments LLC)
• Original Assignee: Securus Technologies Incorporated (Securus Special Investments LLC)
• Inventors: Martinez, Veronica, Keiser, Luke, Hite, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 9,026,468 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/32 Post and telecommunications franking apparatus G07B17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/60 Business processes related to postal services shipping G06Q10/083; franking apparatus G07B17/00

Abstract

Systems and methods for proactively establishing a third-party payment account for services rendered to a resident of a controlled-environment facility (“CEF”). A campaign-triggering event is detected, which triggers contact of prospective third-party (“3^rd-party”) payers for a resident of a CEF in order to encourage such prospective 3^rd-party payers to establish 3^rd-party payment accounts for the resident. In this manner, the prospective 3^rd-party payers are proactively contacted prior to an expected future demand for service by the resident. A method thus comprises identifying at least one prospective third-party payer for a resident of a controlled-environment facility, and proactively contacting the identified at least one prospective third-party payer prior to demand for service by the resident to encourage the identified at least one prospective third-party payer to establish a third-party payment account for payment for future service expected for the resident.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying at least one prospective third-party payer for a resident of a controlled-environment facility; and

proactively contacting the identified at least one prospective third-party payer prior to demand for service by the resident to encourage the identified at least one prospective third-party payer to establish a third-party payment account for payment for future service expected for the resident.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said proactively contacting comprises:

initiating an outbound calling campaign to call the identified at least one prospective third-party payer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the demand for service and the future service expected for the resident comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of:

communication service, information access service, and provision of consumer goods to the resident.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the demand for service and the future service expected for the resident comprise telephony service.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the controlled-environment facility comprises a correctional facility.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the correctional facility comprises at least one of:

municipal jail, county jail, state prison, federal prison, military stockade, juvenile detention facility, detention camp, and home incarceration environment.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein at least said proactively contacting is performed autonomously by a campaign system.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said identifying is performed autonomously by a third-party payer identification system.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

proactively establishing a third-party payment account for the identified at least one prospective third-party payer prior to said demand for service by the resident.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said proactively establishing is performed autonomously by a campaign system.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving a demand for said future service expected for the resident; and

paying for the provision of said service rendered to the resident by the proactively established third-party-payment account.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting at least one campaign-triggering event for the resident.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

in response to the detected at least one campaign-triggering event, performing said proactively contacting the identified at least one prospective third-party payer.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein said at least one campaign-triggering event comprises an event that is likely to lead to the identified at least one prospective third-party payer desiring to establish said third-party payment account for payment for future service expected for the resident.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein said at least one campaign-triggering event comprises any one or more of the following:

the resident being identified as potentially becoming a resident of the controlled-environment facility, the resident being checked into the controller-environment facility, and detection of an upcoming perishable date of interest for the resident or an associate of the resident.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said upcoming perishable date of interest for the resident or and associate of the resident comprises any one or more of the following perishable dates of interest:

a birthday of the resident, a birthday of an associate of the resident, an anniversary of the resident, an anniversary of an associate of the resident, and a holiday.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting an information-capture triggering event for the resident; and

in response to the detected information-capture triggering event, determining information about said at least one prospective third third-party payer for the resident.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said information-capture triggering event comprises an event that indicates that prospective third-party payer information may be available for capture for the resident.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein said information-capture triggering event comprises any one or more of the following:

the resident being identified as potentially becoming a resident of the controlled-environment facility, and the resident being checked into the controlled-environment facility.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein said information about said at least one prospective third-party payer comprises any one or more of the following:

identification of the at least one prospective third-party payer, contact information for the at least one prospective third-party payer, and/or other information about the prospective 3^rd-party payer(s).

21. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

detecting at least one campaign-triggering event for the resident.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

in response to the detected at least one campaign-triggering event, performing said proactively contacting the identified at least one prospective third-party payer using the determined information about said at least one prospective third-party payer.

23. A method comprising:

identifying at least one prospective third-party payer for a resident of a controlled-environment facility;

detecting at least one campaign-triggering event; and

in response to the detected at least one campaign-triggering event, initiating a campaign to proactively contact the identified at least one prospective third-party payer prior to demand for service by the resident to encourage the identified at least one prospective third-party payer to establish a third-party payment account for payment for future service expected for the resident.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein said initiating said campaign to proactively contact the identified at least one prospective third-party payer comprises:

initiating an outbound calling campaign to call the identified at least one prospective third-party payer.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the demand for service and the future service expected for the resident comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of:

communication service, information access service, and provision of consumer goods to the resident.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the controlled-environment facility comprises a correctional facility.

27. The method of claim 23 wherein at least said initiating said campaign is performed autonomously by a campaign system.

28. The method of claim 23 wherein said identifying is performed autonomously by a third-party payer identification system.

29. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

proactively establishing a third-party payment account for the identified at least one prospective third-party payer prior to said demand for service by the resident.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein said proactively establishing is performed autonomously by a campaign system.

31. The method of claim 29 further comprising:

receiving a demand for said future service expected for the resident; and

paying for the provision of said service rendered to the resident by the proactively established third-party-payment account.

32. The method of claim 23 wherein said at least one campaign-triggering event comprises an event that is likely to lead to the identified at least one prospective third-party payer desiring to establish said third-party payment account for payment for future service expected for the resident.

33. The method of claim 23 wherein said at least one campaign-triggering event comprises any one or more of the following:

the resident being identified as potentially becoming a resident of the controlled-environment facility, the resident being checked into the controller-environment facility, and detection of an upcoming perishable date of interest for the resident or an associate of the resident.

34. A system comprising:

third-party identification system operable to identify at least one prospective third-party payer for a resident of a controlled-environment facility; and

campaign system operable to proactively contact the identified at least one prospective third-party payer prior to demand for service by the resident to encourage the identified at least one prospective third-party payer to establish a third-party payment account for payment for future service expected for the resident.

35. The system of claim 34 further comprising:

third-party payment account establishment system operable to establish a third-party payment account for the at least one prospective third-party payer, wherein said third-party payment account can be used to pay for a received demand for said future service expected for the resident.

36. The system of claim 34 wherein the campaign system is operable initiate a campaign to proactively contact the identified at least one prospective third-party payer in response to at least one campaign-triggering event being detected.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein the campaign system is operable to detect said at least one campaign-triggering event.

38. The system of claim 36 wherein said at least one campaign-triggering event comprises an event that is likely to lead to the identified at least one prospective third-party payer desiring to establish said third-party payment account for payment for future service expected for the resident.

39. The system of claim 36 wherein said at least one campaign-triggering event comprises any one or more of the following:

the resident being identified as potentially becoming a resident of the controlled-environment facility, the resident being checked into the controller-environment facility, and detection of an upcoming perishable date of interest for the resident or an associate of the resident.

40. The system of claim 34 wherein said campaign system is operable to initiate an outbound calling campaign to call the identified at least one prospective third-party payer.

41. The system of claim 34 wherein the demand for service and the future service expected for the resident comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of:

communication service, information access service, and provision of consumer goods to the resident.

42. The system of claim 34 wherein the controlled-environment facility comprises a correctional facility.

43. The system of claim 34 further comprising:

third-party account establishment system operable to proactively establish a third-party payment account for the identified at least one prospective third-party payer prior to said demand for service by the resident.

44. The system of claim 43 further comprising:

service provision system operable to receive a demand for said future service expected for the resident; and

service management system operable to retrieve, from the proactively established third-party-payment account, payment for the provision of said service rendered to the resident.