Monitoring of charges debited to an account having an assigned limit

• US 5,450,477 A
• Filed: 12/27/1993
• Issued: 09/12/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T IPM Corp. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Neilon, Robert M., Desmedt, William H., Amarant, Brenda B., McChristian, David C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout, Brent
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wu, Daniel J.
• Application Number:
  US08/174,167
• Time in Patent Office: 624 Days
• Field of Search: 379/91, 379/93, 348/1
• US Class Current: 379/114.17
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4037 Remote solvency checks
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0014 for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00 meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity G07F15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/08 by coded identity card or credit card or other personal identification means without personal verification means G07F7/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/88 Provision for limiting connection, or expenditure
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/00 Prepayment of wireline communication systems, wireless communication systems or telephone systems using a coded card to authorise calls from a telephone set H04M1/675
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/02 Coin-freed or check-freed systems , e.g. mobile- or card-operated phones, public telephones or booths
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0116 Provision for limiting expenditure, e.g. limit on call expenses or account

Abstract

Charges and balances assignable to a credit card account are controlled and monitored by assigning a purchase limit to the card. More specifically, when a card is used to pay for a telephone call on a telecommunication network, the validity of the card is verified in, for example, a network database and the card record is examined for the presence of a purchase limit. If the card has a purchase limit, the network database determines the type of purchase limit which applies and if the balance is positive. If the balance is not positive and the purchase limit applicable does not authorize the extension of credit, a denial response is sent from the network database to an appropriate local operator system which provides a denial indication to the caller. If the available balance is positive, the network database forwards the balance to the operator system. Based upon the balance returned in the reply from the database, the operator system sends a request to a rating processor to determine the length of time the caller may talk. If the rating database cannot ascertain the amount of time a caller can speak, for whatever reason, the call is denied. Thus, the balance is used to determine how long the caller can speak. At various predetermined intervals during the call and immediately after the call has been completed, the actual charges are calculated and forwarded to the network database. If during a call, the maximum duration is exhausted, the operator system will terminate the call, calculate the actual charges, and forward the charges to the network database. The network database decrements the balance with each intermediate update from the operator system. At the termination of a call, the network database adjusts the card holders balance a final time to maintain the purchase balance accuracy.

Claims

1. A method for use with an operator system for monitoring charges assigned to an account for the making of a telephone call comprising the steps of

(a) storing in a database a billing authorization code representative of a card account having an assigned purchase limit for a user authorized to make transactions;

(b) determining, at the time the telephone call is initiated, the purchase amount limit assigned to said account, said determining step comprising

communicating said code via a telephone network to said database, and

comparing said code to the stored information in said database;

(c) obtaining, at the time the telephone call is initiated, the current existing purchase balance remaining in the account, said current existing purchase balance comprising said purchase limit minus transactions against said account preceding said telephone call being initiated;

(d) periodically transmitting a request, from said operator system for the actual cost of a period of said telephone call immediately preceding said request, to a rating processor separate from said database;

(e) receiving at said operator system each actual cost from said rating processor for the immediately preceding period in response to said request; and

(f) periodically transmitting said each actual cost to said database by said operator system, via said telephone network, for use in developing an updated current existing purchase balance by deducting each of said actual costs from said current purchase balance.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the step of

notifying the account user when the telephone call depletes the existing purchase balance.

3. The method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the step of

terminating the telephone call when the telephone call depletes the existing purchase balance.