Prepaid short message services revenue capture

• US 9,307,095 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2014
• Issued: 04/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Inventors: Gao, Donghong, Tuttle, Lewis
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, KHAI MINH
• Application Number:
  US14/460,630
• Publication Number:
  US 20140357225A1
• Time in Patent Office: 599 Days
• Field of Search: 455/466, 455/407, 455/406, 455/405
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/223 based on the use of peer-to-peer networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/26 Debit schemes, e.g. "pay now"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/31 Distributed metering or calculation of charges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/10 Account details or usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/28 SMS billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/96 Distributed calculation of charges, e.g. in different nodes like for mobiles between HLR and VLR, or between the terminal and the billing function
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A prepaid messaging solution that utilizes a pre-delivery debit query to tariff a short message, coupled with an additional debit query performed once necessary billing information has been acquired. A short message is tariffed prior to message delivery via a pre-delivery debit query to a prepaid server. During message delivery, the prepaid server is queried a second time, following the HLR query performed by the Short Message Service Center (SMSC). This subsequent debit query bills a subscriber for any additional service fees discovered throughout message delivery, e.g., international/roaming fees, etc. If either the pre-delivery debit query or the subsequent debit query indicates that a subscriber has insufficient account balance to deliver a short message, the message is prevented from being delivered. If a message is dropped due to lack of account balance, any funds debited throughout the attempted message delivery may be credited back to the subscriber'"'"'s prepaid account.

Claims

1. A method of providing prepaid message services, comprising:

receiving a text message from a mobile device associated with a prepaid account for text messages;

initiating a pre-delivery debit query to a prepaid server to determine if said prepaid account is sufficient to deliver said text message;

initiating delivery of said text message when said prepaid account indicates adequate funds to deliver said text message;

subsequently initiating an additional debit query during said initiated delivery of said text message; and

dropping said text message when said prepaid account indicates inadequate funds to cover an additional service fee identified after said pre-delivery debit query.

2. The method of providing prepaid message services according to claim 1, wherein:

said additional service fee is identified in a home location register (HLR) query response.

3. The method of providing prepaid message services according to claim 1, further comprising:

performing successive debit queries during delivery of said text message.

4. The method of providing prepaid message services according to claim 1, wherein:

said additional service fee is identified in response to said additional debit query.

5. The method of providing prepaid message services according to claim 1, wherein:

said text message is a Short Messaging System (SMS) message.

6. A short message service center (SMSC) comprising one or more computing devices, the SMSC being configured to:

receive a text message from a mobile device associated with a prepaid account for text messages;

initiate a pre-delivery debit query to a prepaid server to determine if said prepaid account is sufficient to deliver said text message;

initiate delivery of dropping said text message when said prepaid account indicates does not have adequate funds to deliver said text message;

subsequently initiate an additional debit query to the prepaid server during said initiated delivery of said text message; and

drop said text message when said prepaid account indicates inadequate funds to cover an additional service fee is identified after said pre-delivery debit query.

7. The SMSC according to claim 6, wherein:

said additional service fee is identified in a home location register (HLR) query response.

8. The SMSC according to claim 6, wherein the SMSC is further configured to

perform successive debit queries to the prepaid server during delivery of said text message.

9. The SMSC according to claim 6, wherein:

said additional service fee is identified in response to said additional debit query.

10. The SMSC according to claim 6, wherein:

said text message is a Short Messaging System (SMS) message.