Systems, methods, and computer program products for providing service credit to customer accounts in a wireless communications service network

• US 8,391,832 B2
• Filed: 05/11/2010
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gonzalez, Lizbet, Burnett, Leonard James, Carlton, Todd D., Chandler, William B. Jr., McFarland, Raymond A. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): MITCHELL, NATHAN A
• Application Number:
  US12/777,708
• Publication Number:
  US 20110281551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: 455406-408
• US Class Current: 455/406
• 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 15/62 based on trigger specification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/75 Account location specifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/751 Card based account, e.g. smart card, SIM card or USIM
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/752 Terminal based account
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/755 Account identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/7556 by SIM, e.g. smart card account in SCP, SDP or SN
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/10 Account details or usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/20 with provision for recharging the prepaid account or card, or for credit establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products use combinations of international mobile equipment identity (IMEI), international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), and account information to determine if a customer is eligible for service credit in near real-time. The customer needs an active account prior to inserting a subscriber identity module (SIM) into a device and powering on the device for the system to determine credit eligibility. No further customer action is required. The credit application process determines credit eligibility based upon device credit eligibility, account tenure, and/or credit rules, and applies the credit to the customer'"'"'s account. The customer may be proactively notified when the credit is applied. The credit and tenure rules may be changed as the industry and business needs change to remain competitive in the industry. The SIM used is configured with software to lock the SIM to the device upon first power-on.

Claims

1. A method, for selectively applying a service credit to a new customer account, comprising:

receiving, by a first system comprising a processor, in response to the new customer account being activated at a prepaid system, an activation notice comprising a first mobile subscriber number;

receiving, by the first system, from a device associated with the new customer account, a trigger message comprising an international mobile equipment identity of the device, an international mobile subscriber identity stored in a subscriber identity module installed in the device, and a second mobile subscriber number;

denying, if the first mobile subscriber number and the second mobile subscriber number do not match, application of the service credit; and

performing, if the first mobile, subscriber number and the second mobile subscriber number match, additional operations comprising;

denying, if the international mobile equipment identity received in the trigger message does not match one of a plurality of international mobile equipment identities listed in

an international mobile equipment identity list, application of the service credit; and

performing, if the international mobile equipment identity received in the trigger message matches one of the plurality of international mobile equipment identities, further operations comprising;

generating and transmitting, to a device lifecycle system, a first integrated circuit card identifier request comprising the international mobile equipment identity as a query parameter;

receiving a first integrated circuit card identifier response comprising a first integrated circuit card identifier associated with the international mobile equipment identity and a credit value available for the international mobile equipment identity;

generating and transmitting, to a subscriber identity module, a second integrated circuit card identifier request comprising the international mobile subscriber identity as a query parameter;

receiving a second integrated circuit card identifier response comprising a second integrated circuit card identifier associated with the international mobile subscriber identity;

denying, if the first integrated circuit card identifier and the second integrated circuit card identifier do not match, application of the service credit; and

performing, if the first integrated circuit card identifier and the second integrated circuit card identifier match, still further operations comprising;

generating and transmitting, to the prepaid system, an apply service credit request and comprising the credit value; and

receiving, from the prepaid system, an apply service credit response comprising a notification that the credit value of the service credit has been applied to the new customer account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the activation notice comprises receiving the activation notice from an activation notice queuing system configured to receive a plurality of activation notices from the prepaid system as accounts are activated and send the activation notices to the first system based upon an order of each activation notice of the plurality of activation notices established in an activation notice queue.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the trigger message from the device comprises receiving, from a power-on event trigger application stored on the subscriber identity module, the trigger message in response to the device being powered-on for the first time with the subscriber identity module installed.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the international mobile equipment identity list prior to the device being offered for sale.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the international mobile equipment identity list is based upon a determination of which international mobile equipment identities in a credit eligible international mobile equipment identity list have received a credit.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the international mobile equipment identities in the credit eligible international mobile equipment identity list are each paired with a particular integrated circuit card identifier of a particular subscriber identity module that is packaged together with a particular device associated with each international mobile equipment identity in the credit eligible list.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the still further operations comprises, prior to generating the apply service credit request:

generating and transmitting, to a billing system, an account information request comprising the first mobile subscriber number;

receiving an account information response comprising account information associated with the first mobile subscriber number; and

determining, using the account information, and based upon a business rule, whether to permit or deny application of the service credit, wherein the business rule comprise at least one type of rule selected from a group consisting of;

an account type-based rule employing one or both of a list of all account types that are not eligible for service credit and a list of all account types that are eligible for service credit; and

a tenure-based rule used to enforce credit eligibility for customer accounts based upon at least one time factor selected from a group of time factors consisting of a time since a particular customer account was activated and a time since a particular customer account was given service credit.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising sending, to the device, a credit notification indicating that the service credit has been applied to the new customer account.

9. A system, for selectively applying a service credit to a new customer account, comprising:

a processor;

a memory being in communication with the processor and having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, in response to the new customer account being activated at a prepaid system, an activation notice comprising a first mobile subscriber number;

receiving, from a device associated with the new customer account, a trigger message comprising an international mobile equipment identity of the device, an international mobile subscriber identity stored in a subscriber identity module installed in the device, and a second mobile subscriber number;

denying, if the first mobile subscriber number and the second mobile subscriber number do not match, deny application of the service credit; and

performing, if the first mobile subscriber number and the second mobile subscriber number match, additional operations comprising;

denying, if the international mobile equipment identity received in the trigger message does not match one of a plurality of international mobile equipment identities listed in an international mobile equipment identity list, application of the service credit; and

performing, if the international mobile equipment identity received in the trigger message matches one of the plurality of international mobile equipment identities, further operations comprising;

generating and transmitting, to a device lifecycle system, a first integrated circuit card identifier request comprising the international mobile equipment identity as a query parameter;

receiving receive, a first integrated circuit card identifier response comprising the first integrated circuit card identifier associated with the international mobile equipment identity and the credit value available for the international mobile equipment identity;

generating and transmitting, to a subscriber identity module management system, a second integrated circuit card identifier request comprising the international mobile subscriber identity as a query parameter;

receiving, a second integrated circuit card identifier response comprising the second integrated circuit card identifier associated with the international mobile subscriber identity;

denying, if the first integrated circuit card identifier and the second integrated circuit card identifier do not match, application of the service credit; and

performing, if the first integrated circuit card identifier and the second integrated circuit card identifier match, still further operations comprising;

 

generating and transmitting, to the prepaid system, an apply service credit request comprising the credit value; and

 

receiving, from the prepaid system, an apply service credit response comprising a notification that the credit value of the service credit has been applied to the new customer account.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive the activation notice, cause the processor to receive the activation notice from an activation notice queuing system configured to receive a plurality of activation notices from the prepaid system as accounts are activated and send the activation notices to the system based upon an order of each activation notice of the plurality of activation notices established in an activation notice queue.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive the trigger message from the device, cause the processor to receive, from a power-on event trigger application stored on the subscriber identity module, the trigger in response to the device being powered-on for the first time with the subscriber identity module installed.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to generate the international mobile equipment identity list prior to the device being offered for sale.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to generate the international mobile equipment identity list, cause the processor to generate the list based upon a determination of which international mobile equipment identities in a credit eligible international mobile equipment identity list have received a credit.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the international mobile equipment identities in the credit eligible international mobile equipment identity list are each paired with a particular integrated circuit card identifier of a particular subscriber identity module that is packaged together with a particular device associated with each international mobile equipment identity in the credit eligible list.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the still further operations, cause the processor to, prior to generating the apply service credit request:

generate and transmit, to a billing system, an account information request comprising the first mobile subscriber number as a query parameter;

receive an account information response comprising the account information associated with the first mobile subscriber number; and

determine, using use the account information, based upon a business rule, whether to permit or deny application of the service credit, wherein the business rule rules comprise at least one type of rule selected from a group consisting of;

an account type-based rule employing one or both of a list of all account types that are not eligible for service credit and a list of all account types that are eligible for service credit; and

a tenure-based rule used to enforce credit eligibility for customer accounts based upon at least one time factor selected from a group consisting of a time since a particular customer account was first activated and a time since a particular customer account was given service credit.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to send, to the device, a credit notification indicating that the service credit has been applied to the new customer account.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, for selectively applying a service credit to a new customer account, comprising:

receiving, in response to the new customer account being activated at a prepaid system, an activation notice comprising a first mobile subscriber number;

receiving, message from a device associated with the new customer account, a trigger message comprising an international mobile equipment identity of the device, an international mobile subscriber identity stored in a subscriber identity module installed in the device, and a second mobile subscriber number;

denying, if the first mobile subscriber number and the second mobile subscriber number do not match, application of the service credit; and

performing, if the first mobile subscriber number and the second mobile subscriber number match, additional operations comprising;

denying, if the international mobile equipment identity received in the trigger message does not match one of the plurality of international mobile equipment identities in an international mobile equipment identity list, application of the service credit; and

performing, if the international mobile equipment identity received in the trigger message matches one of the plurality of international mobile equipment identities in the international mobile equipment identity list, further operations comprising;

generating and transmitting, to a device lifecycle system, a first integrated circuit card identifier request comprising the international mobile equipment identity as a query parameter;

receiving a first integrated circuit card identifier response comprising the first integrated circuit card identifier associated with the international mobile equipment identity and the credit value available for the international mobile equipment identity;

generating and transmitting, to a subscriber identity module management system, a second integrated circuit card identifier request comprising the international mobile subscriber identity as a query parameter;

denying, if the first integrated circuit card identifier and the second integrated circuit card identifier do not match, application of the service credit; and

performing, if the first integrated circuit card identifier and the second integrated circuit card identifier match, still further operations comprising;

generating and transmitting, to the prepaid system, an apply service credit request to the prepaid system comprising the credit value; and

receiving, from the prepaid system, an apply service credit response comprising a notification that the credit value of the service credit has been applied to the new customer account.

18. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the still further operations, cause the processor to, prior to generating the apply service credit request:

generate and transmit, to a billing system, an account information request comprising the first mobile subscriber number as a query parameter;

receive an account information response comprising the account information associated with the first mobile subscriber number; and

determine, using the account information, based upon a business rule, whether to permit or deny application of the service credit, wherein the business rule comprises at least one type of rule selected from a group consisting of;

an account type-based rule employing one or both of a list of all account types that are not eligible for service credit and a list of all account types that are eligible for service credit; and

a tenure-based rule used to enforce credit eligibility for customer accounts based upon at least one time factor selected from a group consisting of a time since a particular customer account was activated and a time since a particular customer account was given service credit.

19. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to send, to the device, a credit notification indicating that the service credit has been applied to the new customer account.

20. The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive the trigger message from the device, cause the processor to receive, from a power-on event trigger application stored on the subscriber identity module, the trigger message in response to the device being powered-on for the first time with the subscriber identity module installed.