System and method for pre-paid and pay-per-use internet services

• US 6,335,968 B1
• Filed: 09/30/1999
• Issued: 01/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xylon LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Malik, Dale W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): BARNIE, REXFORD N
• Application Number:
  US09/409,686
• Time in Patent Office: 824 Days
• Field of Search: 379/114.01, 379/114.03, 379/114.2, 379/114.28, 379/114.29, 379/127.01, 379/127.02, 379/127.03, 379/228, 379/229, 379/230
• US Class Current: 379/114.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/16 Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/16 for devices exhibiting advertisements, announcements, pictures or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/51 for resellers, retailers or service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/56 for VoIP communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/68 Payment of value-added services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/90 using Intelligent Networks [IN] or Advanced Intelligent Networks [AIN]
• 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 2215/016 Billing using Intelligent Networks [IN] or Advanced Intelligent Networks [AIN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0196 Payment of value-added services, mainly when their charges are added on the telephone bill, e.g. payment of non-telecom services, e-commerce, on-line banking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/202 VoIP; Packet switched telephony
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/22 Bandwidth or usage-sensitve billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/54 Resellers-retail or service providers billing, e.g. agreements with telephone service operator, activation, charging/recharging of accounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13345 Intelligent networks, SCP
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 Provisions for intelligent networking

Abstract

A telecommunications system and method for providing access to the Internet on a pre-paid or pay-per-use basis that utilizes an Advanced Intelligent Network (“AIN”) to set up a dial up connection between a subscriber and an Internet Service Provider (“ISP”). The telecommunications system communicates with the ISP'"'"'s computer systems to coordinate verification of callers attempting access to the ISP. The system uses features of the AIN to identify a call as a pre-authorized call so that the ISP grants access without requiring a username and a password from a caller. If the ISP receives a call that is not so identified, the caller is treated as regular ISP subscriber, and requires a username and a password to authenticate the caller prior to granting access to the ISP'"'"'s resources. The present invention further utilizes the telephone service provider'"'"'s billing systems to aggregate bills and collect revenue from subscribers. A portion of the revenue is retained by the telephone service provider as a fee for providing the service, and a portion is paid to the ISP as payment for its services.

Claims

1. In a telephone network, a method for providing pre-paid and pay-per-use access to an internet service provider using a billing system of the telephone network comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a database on a service control point comprising a pre-paid subscriber'"'"'s telephone number, an amount of pre-paid units and a blocked subscriber'"'"'s telephone number;

(b) provisioning a trigger on an internet service provider telephone number on a switch in the telephone network;

(c) transmitting a query from the switch to the service control point when a call to the internet service provider telephone number arrives at the switch, thereby activating the trigger, wherein the query comprises a calling party number and the internet service provider telephone number;

(d) determining whether the calling party number is a pre-paid number, a pay-per-use number, an unknown number or a blocked number;

(e) transmitting a termination instruction from the service control point to the switch, wherein when the calling party number is either a pre-paid number or a pay-per-use number, a pre-determined code is inserted into a calling party field, and wherein when the calling party number is either the unknown or the blocked number the calling party number is in the calling party field;

(f) sending a first notification message and a second notification message from the switch to the service control point when the calling party number is a pre-paid or pay-per-use number, said first notification message being sent when the call begins and said second notification message being sent when the call ends;

(g) billing the calling party number for a usage amount when the calling party number is a pre-paid or pay-per-use number; and

(h) updating the billing system when the calling party number is a pre-paid or pay-per-use number.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the step of determining whether the calling party number is a pre-paid number, a pay-per-use number, a foreign number or a blocked number comprises comparing the calling party number to a number stored in the database.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage amount is determined by comparing the first notification message to the second notification message.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the usage amount is subtracted from the pre-paid units in the database when the calling party number is a pre-paid number.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the usage amount is recorded in the database when the calling party number is a pay-per-use number.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger is a public office dialing plan trigger.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of pre-paid units is a quantity of time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of pre-paid units is a quantity of connections.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-determined code comprises a portion of the calling party number and a set of pre-determined digits.

10. A telephone network for providing pre-paid or pay-per-use access to an internet service provider, comprising:

(a) a service control point having a database, said database comprising a pre-paid subscriber'"'"'s telephone number, an amount of pre-paid units and a blocked subscriber'"'"'s telephone number;

(b) a switch in communication with the service control point, said switch having an internet service provider telephone number and a trigger provisioned on said internet service provider telephone number;

(c) an access control server in communication with the switch, wherein said access control server determines a calling party number before answering an incoming call; and

(d) a billing system in communication with the service control point,

wherein when a call is placed to the internet service provider telephone number, the switch queries the service control point to determine whether the calling party number is a pre-paid number, a pay-per-use number, an unknown number or a blocked number,

wherein the service control point provides a response to the switch, said response instructing the switch to terminate the call to the internet service provider telephone number when the calling party number is a pre-paid number or a pay-per-use number, and wherein said response comprises a calling party field including a pre-determined code,

and wherein the access control server grants access to the internet service provider without requiring a username or a password if the call has the predetermined code in the calling party field.

11. The telephone network of claim 10, wherein the pre-determined code comprises a pre-selected set of digits appended to a portion of the calling party number.

12. The telephone network of claim 10, wherein the access control server requires a username and a password when the call does not have the pre-determined code in the calling party field.

13. The telephone network of claim 27, wherein the response from the service control point to the switch comprises an instruction to disconnect the call when the call is unknown or blocked.

14. The telephone network of claim 13, wherein the response further comprises an instruction to play an announcement before disconnecting the call.

15. The telephone network of claim 27, wherein the billing system generates a bill when the call is a pay-per-use number.