Telephony system and method with enhanced validation
First Claim
1. A method for establishing a call from a calling party to a called party over a communications system, charges for said call to be borne by other than the calling party, the method comprisingreceiving a request from said calling party to establish the call, said request identifying said called party by a telephone number,placing the call to said called party and announcing that issues exist as to the ability to bill charges for said call to said called party, but that the call will be completed free of charge on a condition that the called party agrees to a contact after the call is completed to optionally arrange for the called party paying for future calls from the calling party,connecting the call from said calling party to said called party only if acceptance of said condition by said called party is received, andafter completing the call free of charge, initiating the contact with the called party to optionally arrange for the called party paying for future calls from the calling party.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Inmate communications systems provide a feature-rich platform with a high degree of flexibility and security employing call control facilities located off institutional premises. Authentication processes for calling and called party verification include biometric techniques in some embodiments. Distributed processing of call control and billing provide flexible interactive call payment processes. Preferred embodiments feature voice over IP transmission and control featuring controlled access to avoid addition of unauthorized third-party call participants. Monitoring, recording and selective forwarding of calls is provided under control of system administrators.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for establishing a call from a calling party to a called party over a communications system, charges for said call to be borne by other than the calling party, the method comprising
receiving a request from said calling party to establish the call, said request identifying said called party by a telephone number, placing the call to said called party and announcing that issues exist as to the ability to bill charges for said call to said called party, but that the call will be completed free of charge on a condition that the called party agrees to a contact after the call is completed to optionally arrange for the called party paying for future calls from the calling party, connecting the call from said calling party to said called party only if acceptance of said condition by said called party is received, and after completing the call free of charge, initiating the contact with the called party to optionally arrange for the called party paying for future calls from the calling party.
Specification