Credit control system for long distance telephone services
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for preventing telephone travel card abuse, comprising the steps of:
- capturing data transmitted by a conventional, pre-existing switching equipment means, including information concerning the temporal length of a long distance telephone call, immediately upon completion of the call;
said step of capturing data including the step of capturing said data as it is transmitted between a switching equipment means and an internal buffer means;
immediately transmitting the captured data to a monitoring means;
immediately subtracting the temporal length of the call from the amount of time available to the caller as determined by the caller'"'"'s line of credit; and
immediately invalidating the caller'"'"'s travel card account number if no amount of time is available to the caller after said subtraction.
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Abstract
The amount of credit available to a telephone travel card holder is determined immediately at the completion of a long distance call and the travel card is invalidated if no credit remains. Capture software captures call ticket data at the completion of a call and the ticket data is transmitted to a monitoring computer without delay. The monitoring computer calculates the amount of credit available to that caller and invalidates the travel card if no credit remains by transmitting a signal to all switching equipment stations throughout the telephone system.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for preventing telephone travel card abuse, comprising the steps of:
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capturing data transmitted by a conventional, pre-existing switching equipment means, including information concerning the temporal length of a long distance telephone call, immediately upon completion of the call; said step of capturing data including the step of capturing said data as it is transmitted between a switching equipment means and an internal buffer means; immediately transmitting the captured data to a monitoring means; immediately subtracting the temporal length of the call from the amount of time available to the caller as determined by the caller'"'"'s line of credit; and immediately invalidating the caller'"'"'s travel card account number if no amount of time is available to the caller after said subtraction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A telephone system that routes calls to their respective destinations and which records the temporal extent of each completed call by transmitting data about each completed call from a switching equipment means to an internal buffer means, said system including means for retrieving said records on a predetermined periodic basis and said system including credit-based travel cards issued to customers, wherein the improvement comprises:
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capturing means for intercepting call data at the completion of a call; said capturing means being conductively coupled at a predetermined location to a conventional, pre-existing switching equipment means; said predetermined location being between said switching equipment means and said internal buffer means; monitoring means for analyzing data captured by said capturing means; means for immediately transmitting intercepted data to said monitoring means; and means for invalidating a customer'"'"'s travel card if said monitoring means determines that no amount of credit remains on a customer'"'"'s travel card at the completion of a call. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification