Revenue management systems and methods with payment suspense management

• US 8,462,923 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2007
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Krishnamoorthy, Jayaprakash, Labuda, David S., Haddock, James R., Goldman, Mark S., Chowlur, Prashanth
• Primary Examiner(s): Afshar, Kamran
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHAHEED, KHALID W
• Application Number:
  US11/760,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20070288368A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,195 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/40, 455/406, 455/407, 455/408, 455/410, 455/411
• US Class Current: 379/114.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A revenue management system for telecommunication systems is disclosed. The revenue management system can have multiple integrated modules. The modules can include a revenue generation module, a revenue capture module, a revenue collection module, a revenue intelligence module, and others. The revenue management system can also be configured to simultaneously manage revenue for prepaid, postpaid, now-paid payment models.

Claims

1. A method of applying a payment for services in a revenue management system of a telecommunication network, the method comprising:

receiving at the revenue management system requests for services from a plurality of end users via a telecommunications network, the plurality of end users associated with a customer account and including at least one end user billed for services on a pre-paid usage model and at least one user billed for services on a post-paid usage model;

requesting authentication of each end user and authorization of each service requested by a revenue capture module of the revenue management system;

authenticating each end user with the revenue capture module based on customer account information maintained by the revenue management system;

authorizing each service requested with the revenue capture module in real time based on the customer account information;

charging the customer account with the revenue capture module for each service provided in response to each request;

receiving at a revenue collection module of the revenue management system, a payment on customer account;

performing a validation process on information related to the payment with the revenue collection module; and

in response to a failure of the validation process indicating a failure to validate the information related to the payment, suspending the payment with the revenue collection module, wherein suspending the payment comprises recording the payment in a suspense account and excluding the suspense account from a billing process.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising posting the suspense account to an accounting ledger as an unallocated payment.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying the payment to an account indicated by a user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising recycling the payment through the validation process.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising, in response to a success of the validation process, posting the payment to an indicated account and reversing the recording the payment in the suspense account.

6. A system for applying a payment for services in a revenue management system of a telecommunication network, the system comprising:

a network layer including a telecommunications network adapted to deliver communication services to each of a plurality of end users, the plurality of end users associated with a customer account and including at least one end user billed for services on a pre-paid usage model and at least one user billed for services on a post-paid usage model;

a gateway layer communicatively coupled with the network layer and adapted to receive requests for services from each end user via the network layer and request authentication of each end user and authorization of each service requested;

a revenue capture layer communicatively coupled with the gateway layer and adapted to receive the requests for authentication of the end users and authorization of the services requested from the gateway layer and perform authentication of the end users and authorization of the services requested; and

a revenue management layer communicatively coupled with the revenue capture layer and adapted to maintain one or more data stores of information including account information for the customer account and pricing information for the communication services, wherein the revenue capture layer performs authentication of the end users based on the account information and performs authorization of the service requested based on the account information and the pricing information for the communication services; and

a revenue capture layer communicatively coupled with the telecommunication network and adapted to receive a payment on the customer account, perform a validation process on information related to the payment, and in response to a failure of the validation process indicating a failure to validate the information related to the payment, suspending the payment, wherein suspending the payment comprises recording the payment in a suspense account and excluding the suspense account from a billing process.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising posting the suspense account to an accounting ledger as an unallocated payment.

8. The system of claim 6, further comprising applying the payment to an account indicated by a user.

9. The system of claim 6, further comprising recycling the payment through the validation process.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising, in response to a success of the validation process, posting the payment to an indicated account and reversing the recording the payment in the suspense account.