Network session management
First Claim
1. A communication system for providing telephony communication across combined circuit switched and packet switched networks connectable to terminals for selective communication therebetween, comprising:
- an authorization and account control object associated with the packet switched network;
a gateway object for providing controlled connectivity between the circuit switched and packet switched networks; and
an information retrieval object associated with the packet switched network and with the authorization and account control object, wherein;
the authorization and account control object maintains substantially real time records of user accounts comprising associated data regarding substantially real time usage, in response to reports of connections from the gateway object, and the information retrieval object provides retrieval of the data from the records of user accounts in the authorization and account control object upon request from authorized terminals connected to the packet switched network, and transmits the retrieved data to the authorized requesting terminals.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A communication system providing telephony communication across combined circuit switched and packet switched networks, such as a telephone network and the Internet, which are connectable to terminals, such as telephones and computers, for selective communication therebetween. The communication system includes an authorization and account control object in the packet switched network, multiple gateways between the circuit switched and packet switched networks providing controlled connectivity between those networks, and an information retrieval object in the packet switched network, wherein the authorization and account control object maintains a substantially real time record of user accounts and usage, and the information and retrieval object provides substantially real time retrieval of selected information from the authorization and account control object. The retrieval object provides on demand to terminals which provide authentication for access to an identified account information regarding that account. The information regarding the account is substantially real time information including information with respect to communications in progress which are chargeable to the account which has been authenticated. The authorization and account control object is preferably a unitary logical object having distributed instances thereof handling multitudinous accounts of widely separated terminals. The retrieval object provides isolation of the authorization and account control object permitting simultaneous multitasking by the authorization and account control object and the retrieval object respectively.
308 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A communication system for providing telephony communication across combined circuit switched and packet switched networks connectable to terminals for selective communication therebetween, comprising:
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an authorization and account control object associated with the packet switched network;
a gateway object for providing controlled connectivity between the circuit switched and packet switched networks; and
an information retrieval object associated with the packet switched network and with the authorization and account control object, wherein;
the authorization and account control object maintains substantially real time records of user accounts comprising associated data regarding substantially real time usage, in response to reports of connections from the gateway object, and the information retrieval object provides retrieval of the data from the records of user accounts in the authorization and account control object upon request from authorized terminals connected to the packet switched network, and transmits the retrieved data to the authorized requesting terminals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A communication system for providing telephony communication across combined circuit switched and packet switched networks through gateway control objects providing controlled connectivity between said circuit switched and packet switched networks to terminals for selective communication therebetween, comprising:
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an authorization and account control object comprising a unitary logical processor system having separate and distributed processor instances, said authorization and account control object communicating through said packet switched network with the gateway control objects; and
an information retrieval object associated with said packet switched network and with said authorization and account control object, wherein;
said authorization and account control object maintains a substantially real time record of user accounts and associated usage, and said information retrieval object provides substantially real time retrieval of selected information from said authorization and account control object responsive to request of one of said terminals. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. In a communication system providing telephony communication across combined circuit switched and packet switched networks connectable to terminals for selective communication therebetween, a method of account management comprising the steps of:
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a) commencing and terminating a telephony communication path between said circuit switched and packet switched networks to provide communication between a pair of said terminals via a gateway object;
b) communicating from said gateway object on a substantially real time basis to an account object connected to said packet switched network data regarding said commencement and termination;
c) storing said data in said account object in an account record for one of said terminals connected via said communication path, the stored data including data regarding usage of said communication system during said connection and data regarding debiting of said account record for said usage;
d) communicating from said account object to an information retrieval object connected to said packet switched network information regarding the data in said account record; and
e) communicating information regarding the substantially real time data in said account record, from said information retrieval object to a terminal having provided authentication corresponding to said account record. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. In a communication system providing telephony communication across combined circuit switched and packet switched networks connectable via multiple selectable gateway objects and respectively connectable to originating and terminating terminals for selective communication therebetween, a method of account management comprising the steps of:
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a) establishing in an authorization and account object connected to said packet switched network account records for ones of said terminals subscribing to a telephony communication service over said communication system;
b) tracking in said authorization and account object ongoing telephony communications across said communication system using one or more of said gateway objects and chargeable against a respective one or more of said account records;
c) maintaining in said authorization and account object account record balances for said respective one or more of said account records, as a function of the tracking of the ongoing telephony communications;
d) communicating from said authorization and account object to an information retrieval object connected to said packet switched network information regarding the tracked communications and the balances for said respective one or more of said account records; and
e) communicating from said information retrieval object to a requesting terminal, which provides authentication, requested information regarding one account record corresponding to said authentication. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A system for use with a communication network comprising a circuit switched network connected to a packet switched network via a plurality of control gateway object and with a plurality of terminals connectable to said communication network for selective communication between said terminals through said network system, the system comprising:
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a unitary logical authorization and account object having distributed processor instances thereof, at least certain of said processor instances of said authorization and account object being coupled for communication with at least certain of said control gateway objects; and
an information retrieval object coupled to said authorization and account object and to said packet switched network, wherein;
said authorization and account object is for maintaining in distributed storage associated with said processor instances thereof user accounts and associated authorization information, said user accounts being updated on a substantially real time basis with information provided to said authorization and account object from said control gateway objects, whereby said user accounts include substantially real time user account usage and account balance records, said information retrieval object is for retrieving from said authorization and account object upon request from one of said terminals through said packet switched network information related to one of the user accounts upon presentation of authentication data corresponding to the one user account, said information retrieval object communicating said requested information to the requesting terminal through said packet switched network, and the requested information communicated to the requesting terminal comprises the substantially real time user account usage or the account balance for said one user account.
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Specification