Cellular rental phone system and method having realtime data collection and billing
First Claim
1. A cellular mobile communication system comprising:
- a plurality of mobile subscriber stations, each station including radio means for communicating with a cellular mobile radio system;
a cellular mobile radio system having at least one cellular base station for serving said cellular mobile radio subscriber stations for the origination and termination of calls;
a cellular communications switching system comprising;
a plurality of trunk circuits to a public switched telephone network;
means for selectively interconnecting said mobile subscriber stations and said public switched telephone network through said trunk circuits;
system control means for enabling and disabling of service to said subscriber stations; and
means for monitoring call activity and transmitting automatic message accounting data in real time over one or more of said trunk circuits;
a cellular mobile radio rental system or cellular mobile radio credit transaction system comprising;
means for entering and collecting customer transaction and credit card information;
means for obtaining credit approval from a credit card clearinghouse; and
means for communicating transaction and credit card data over said trunk circuits to and from said public switched telephone network to a collector system for the purpose of initiating and terminating customer transactions; and
a collector system comprising;
means for initiating and terminating customer transactions, means for receiving, filtering, and calculating long distance toll from said automatic message accounting data and generating billable call records;
means causing said cellular communication switching system to change service for said mobile subscriber stations;
means for compiling said billable call records into customer transactions and storing said customer transactions; and
means for retrieving said stored customer transactions and transmitting same over said public switched telephone network.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Cellular telephone rental system and method wherein a point-of-purchase rental terminal capturing transaction data, obtains validation thereof, and communicates same to a collector which in turn instructs a switching system to enable the cellular phone to make and receive calls. The collector examines in real time automatic message accounting data in the switching system and calculates call charges in real time. The collector then transmits call data to the rental terminal which provides both the rental agency and the cellular phone user call data in real time, with the call data also being transmitted to an account administration system nightly. Also disclosed is an embodiment for entering credit card data at the rental phone to enable use on credit billing and remote programming of such rental phone all over the voice responsive communication of the cellular system.
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Citations
5 Claims
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1. A cellular mobile communication system comprising:
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a plurality of mobile subscriber stations, each station including radio means for communicating with a cellular mobile radio system; a cellular mobile radio system having at least one cellular base station for serving said cellular mobile radio subscriber stations for the origination and termination of calls; a cellular communications switching system comprising;
a plurality of trunk circuits to a public switched telephone network;
means for selectively interconnecting said mobile subscriber stations and said public switched telephone network through said trunk circuits;
system control means for enabling and disabling of service to said subscriber stations; and
means for monitoring call activity and transmitting automatic message accounting data in real time over one or more of said trunk circuits;a cellular mobile radio rental system or cellular mobile radio credit transaction system comprising;
means for entering and collecting customer transaction and credit card information;
means for obtaining credit approval from a credit card clearinghouse; and
means for communicating transaction and credit card data over said trunk circuits to and from said public switched telephone network to a collector system for the purpose of initiating and terminating customer transactions; anda collector system comprising;
means for initiating and terminating customer transactions, means for receiving, filtering, and calculating long distance toll from said automatic message accounting data and generating billable call records;
means causing said cellular communication switching system to change service for said mobile subscriber stations;
means for compiling said billable call records into customer transactions and storing said customer transactions; and
means for retrieving said stored customer transactions and transmitting same over said public switched telephone network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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Specification