Control of billing in a communications system
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- receiving a service request from a client, wherein the service request includes a subscriber identifier identifying a subscriber paying for the service and a service identifier identifying a content server;
analyzing, by a gateway, in response to receiving the service request from the client, whether a credit check is required prior to delivery of the service;
performing said credit check when the analyzing indicates that the credit check is required;
in response to a credit check, making a billing reservation for said subscriber and associating a monetary value with said billing reservation;
forwarding the service request to the content server;
initiating service delivery from the content server; and
billing the client according to the billing reservation in response to the service request being fulfilled and not billing according to the billing reservation in response to the service request not being fulfilled,wherein the analyzing further comprises retrieving service profile data related to said service and subscriber profile data related to said subscriber and using said profile data to determine whether a credit check is required.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to the control of billing in a communications network. The objective is to accomplish a mechanism for minimizing credit losses caused by subscribers, while at the same time maintaining good performance of the system. A gateway receives service requests and filters out the requests for which the analysis performed indicates that a credit loss risk is involved. For these service requests an in-advance credit check is initiated. If the credit check indicates that the delivery is permissible, a reservation is made for the amount of money corresponding to the service price, i.e. the said sum is reserved in the subscriber account so that said sum cannot be used by another service request in the meantime. When the service has been delivered successfully, the reservation is confirmed and the said sum is debited from the balance of the subscriber account. Otherwise, the reservation is cancelled.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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receiving a service request from a client, wherein the service request includes a subscriber identifier identifying a subscriber paying for the service and a service identifier identifying a content server; analyzing, by a gateway, in response to receiving the service request from the client, whether a credit check is required prior to delivery of the service; performing said credit check when the analyzing indicates that the credit check is required; in response to a credit check, making a billing reservation for said subscriber and associating a monetary value with said billing reservation; forwarding the service request to the content server; initiating service delivery from the content server; and billing the client according to the billing reservation in response to the service request being fulfilled and not billing according to the billing reservation in response to the service request not being fulfilled, wherein the analyzing further comprises retrieving service profile data related to said service and subscriber profile data related to said subscriber and using said profile data to determine whether a credit check is required. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus, comprising:
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at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform; receive a service request from a client, wherein the service request comprises a subscriber identifier identifying a subscriber paying for the service and a service identifier identifying a content server, analyze, in response to receiving the service request from the client, whether a credit check is required prior to delivery of the service, initiate sending of a credit check request and to receive a billing reservation identifier in response, wherein said identifier identifies a billing reservation that is associated with said subscriber and that indicates a price of the service, retrieve service profile data related to said service and subscriber profile data related to said subscriber and use said profile data to determine whether a credit check is required, and determine whether a separate billing server is to receive acknowledgement of service delivery. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method comprising:
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receiving a service request from a client, wherein the service request includes a subscriber identifier identifying a subscriber paying for the service and a service identifier identifying a content server; analyzing, by a gateway, in response to receiving the service request from the client, whether a credit check is required prior to delivery of the service; initiate sending of a credit check request to a billing server when the analyzing indicates that a credit check is needed; receiving a billing reservation identifier in response to said credit check request, wherein said identifier identifies a billing reservation that is associated with said subscriber and that indicates the price of the service; and determining whether a separate billing server is to receive acknowledgement of service delivery, wherein the analyzing comprises retrieving service profile data related to said service and subscriber profile data related to said subscriber and using said profile data to determine whether a credit check is required.
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21. An apparatus comprising:
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storage configured to maintain subscriber-specific accounts; at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform; receive credit check requests from a network, wherein each credit check request includes an identifier identifying an account, check a balance of the account referred to by said identifier, make a billing reservation for the account to which said identifier refers, and associate said account and a sum of money with the reservation, wherein the processor is configured to receive acknowledgements from the network, wherein each acknowledgement includes a reservation identifier identifying a billing reservation, the processor is configured to retrieve service profile data related to said service and subscriber profile data related to said subscriber and to use said profile data to determine whether a credit check is required in response to receiving a service request from a client, and the storage is responsive and debits the balance of the account associated with said billing reservation identifier by the sum associated with the billing reservation identifiers. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A method, comprising:
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maintaining subscriber-specific accounts at a network device; receiving credit check requests from the network, wherein each credit check request includes an identifier identifying a certain account; checking the balance of the account to which the identifier refers; in response to said checking, making a billing reservation for said account, and associating said account and a sum of money with the billing reservation; receiving acknowledgements from the network, wherein each acknowledgement includes a billing reservation identifier identifying a billing reservation; and debiting the balance of the account associated with said reservation identifier by the sum associated with the billing reservation identified by the acknowledgement, wherein service profile data related to said service and subscriber profile data related to said subscriber is retrieved and said profile data is used to determine whether a credit check is required in response to receiving a service request from a client. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. A system, comprising:
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first processor means for receiving a service request from a client, wherein the service request includes a subscriber identifier identifying a subscriber paying for the service and a service identifier identifying a content server; second processor means, responsive to the first means, for analyzing, in response to receiving the service request from the client, whether a credit check is required prior to delivery of the service; third processor means, responsive to the second means, for performing said credit check; fourth processor means for generating a billing reservation for said subscriber, wherein said billing reservation indicates a monetary value of said service; fifth processor means for deciding whether or not billing is to be carried out according to said billing reservation; and sixth processor means, responsive to the fifth means, for carrying out billing according to said billing reservation, wherein the second processor means is configured to retrieve service profile data related to said service and subscriber profile data related to said subscriber and to use said profile data to determine whether a credit check is required.
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Specification