System and method for creating a billing record with a called party's name

• US 6,459,779 B2
• Filed: 09/04/1998
• Issued: 10/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ameritech Corp. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Murphy, Melanie Louise, Wardin, William Konrad
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, QUOC DUC
• Application Number:
  US09/148,935
• Publication Number:
  US 20010017915A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,488 Days
• Field of Search: 379/112, 379/114, 379/115, 379/116, 379/119, 379/120, 379/121, 379/126, 379/112.01, 379/114.01, 379/114.03, 379/114.28, 379/115.01, 379/121.01, 379/121.05, 379/142.01, 379/142.04, 379/142.1, 379/201.01, 379/201.07, 455/405, 455/406, 455/407, 455/408
• US Class Current: 379/112.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0104 Augmented, consolidated or itemised billing statement, e.g. additional billing information, bill presentation, layout, format, e-mail, fax, printout, itemised bill per service or per account, cumulative billing, consolidated billing

Abstract

A method and system are provided for creating a billing record with a called party'"'"'s name. Providing the called party'"'"'s name on the billing record facilitates the calling party'"'"'s review of the billing record by reducing the amount of time and effort needed to determine the identity of the called parties. In addition to identifying fraudulent and misbilled calls, the called party'"'"'s name allows a person reviewing the billing record to quickly identify long distance calls, quickly discern business from personal calls, and audit calls made from phone lines with multiple users (e.g., employees or kids). Additionally, the billing record reviewer saves time and money by avoiding the need to call directory assistance or a billing service to identify the calls.

Claims

1. A method for creating a billing record with a called party'"'"'s name, the method comprising:

(a) sending a call record comprising a plurality of terminating numbers from a public switch to a billing record generation system;

(b) extracting a terminating number from the call record;

(c) querying a terminating-number-to-called-party'"'"'s-name database with the terminating number;

(d) modifying the call record after call processing by adding the called party'"'"'s name returned from the query of (b) to the call record; and

(e) creating a billing record from the modified call record, whereby the billing record comprising the called party'"'"'s name;

wherein (b)-(e) are performed by the billing record generation system.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising (e) printing the billing record.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising (e) creating an electronic copy of the billing record.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein (a)-(d) occur after call processing.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining whether a customer subscribes to a called-party'"'"'s-name-on-billing-record service, and wherein (a)-(d) are performed in response to the customer subscribing to the called-party'"'"'s-name-on-billing-record service.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprises extracting a plurality of a given terminating number from a call record after a call is complete and (b) comprises querying the terminating-number-to-called-party'"'"'s-name database with a single occurrence of the given terminating number.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the eligibility of the extracted terminating number, and wherein (b) comprises querying a terminating-number-to-called-party'"'"'s-name database with the terminating number in response to the extracted terminating number being eligible.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) is performed in response to the extracted terminating number not being associated with an information provider service.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprises sending the extracted terminating number from a first terminating name module to a second terminating name module in response to the first terminating name module not containing a called party'"'"'s name associated with the extracted terminating number.

10. In a billing record generation system for creating a billing record comprising a call rating module, a call storage database, a call pricing module, and a billing record assembler, the improvement comprising:

a terminating name module operative to extract a terminating number from a call record received from a public switch, the call record comprising a plurality of terminating numbers after a call is complete; and

a terminating-number-to-called-party'"'"'s-name database coupled with the terminating name module;

wherein the terminating name module is further operative to querying the terminating-number-to-called-party'"'"'s-name database with the terminating number and modify the call record after call processing by adding the called party'"'"'s name returned from the query to the call record.

11. The invention of claim 10, wherein the terminating name module is part of the billing record assembler.

12. The invention of claim 10, wherein the terminating name module is part of the call rating module.

13. The invention of claim 10, wherein the terminating name module is part of the call storage database.

14. The invention of claim 10, wherein the terminating name module is part of the call pricing module.

15. The invention of claim 10, wherein the terminating-number-to-called-party'"'"'s-name database comprises a national directory assistance database.

16. The invention of claim 10, wherein the terminating-number-to-called-party'"'"'s-name database comprises an international directory assistance database.

17. The invention of claim 10, wherein the terminating-number-to-called-party'"'"'s-name database comprises a national directory assistance database and an international directory assistance database.

18. The invention of claim 10 further comprising a printer coupled with the billing record assembler.

19. The invention of claim 10 further comprising a tape drive coupled with the billing record assembler.

20. The invention of claim 10 further comprising an optical disc drive coupled with the billing record assembler.

21. The invention of claim 10 further comprising a network interface coupled with the billing record assembler.

22. A billing record generation system for creating a billing record with a called party'"'"'s name, the billing record generation system comprising:

first means for extracting a terminating number from a call record received from a public switch, the call record comprising a plurality of terminating numbers;

second means for querying a terminating-number-to-called-party'"'"'s-name database with the terminating number;

third means for modifying the call record after call processing by adding the called party'"'"'s name to the call record; and

fourth means for creating a billing record from the modified call record, whereby the billing record comprising the called party'"'"'s name.

23. A computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for creating a billing record with a called party'"'"'s name, the computer readable program code comprising:

first computer readable program code operative to cause a billing record generation system to extract a terminating number from a call record received from a public switch, the call record comprising a plurality of terminating numbers;

second computer readable program code operative to cause the billing record generation system to query a terminating-number-to-called-party'"'"'s-name database with the terminating number;

third computer readable program code operative to cause the billing record generation system to modify the call record after call processing by adding the called party'"'"'s name to the call record; and

fourth computer readable program code operative to cause the billing record generation system to create a billing record from the modified call record, whereby the billing record comprising the called party'"'"'s name.

24. A method for creating a billing record with a called party'"'"'s name, the method comprising:

(a) sending a call record comprising a plurality of terminating numbers from a switch to a billing system, the plurality of terminating numbers comprising at least one number that is not associated with an information provider service;

(b) with the billing system, querying a database with a terminating number from the call record for a called party'"'"'s name associated with the terminating number; and

(c) with the billing system, modifying the call record after call processing by adding the called party'"'"'s name returned from the query of (b) to the call record;

(d) with the billing system, creating a billing record from the modified call record, whereby the billing record comprising the called party'"'"'s name.

25. The invention of claim 24, wherein (a)-(d) are performed after call processing.

26. The invention of claim 24, wherein the database comprises a directory assistance database.

27. The invention of claim 24 further comprising extracting a plurality of a given terminating number from the call record, and wherein (b) comprises querying the database with a single occurrence of the given terminating number.

28. The invention of claim 24, wherein the switch is part of a telephone network, and wherein the billing system is separate from the telephone network.