System and method for determining and associating tariff rates for institutional calls
First Claim
1. A telecommunications management system for avoiding tariff circumvention, comprising:
- a telephone for making a telephone call, wherein the telephone is contained in an institutional telephone management system, and wherein the telephone dials a telephone number of or associated with a called party;
a revenue management system configured to associate the telephone number with a called party user account, the called party user account including geographic information regarding the location of the called party, wherein the geographic information is verified by an account setup process prior to activation of the called party user account, the account setup process comprising;
consecutively querying the telephone number against a plurality of remote databases until the telephone number is located or until all of the plurality of databases have been queried; and
acquiring, from one of the plurality of remote databases when the telephone number is located in the one of the plurality of remote databases, or from the called party when the telephone number has not been found after all of the plurality of databases have been queried, geographic information of the called party associated with the telephone number; and
a user account database configured to store verified geographic information associated with the called party,wherein the revenue management system is further configured to verify the geographic information of the called party using a corresponding credit card address and a credit card zip code associated with the called party, wherein the verifying includes mailing to the called party an activation phone number and a code that when entered during communication with the activation telephone number positively verifies the geographic information and activates the called party user account.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A telecommunications method for call forwarding including storing information regarding a called party in at least one local database, where the information regarding the called party is stored in a user account and making a telephone call by dialing a telephone number with a telephone, where the telephone is contained in a telephone management system. The method also includes determining whether the telephone number is associated with the user account and transferring, via the switchboard, the call to the called party if the telephone number is associated with the user account, where the telephone management system is in communication with a revenue management system, and also where the revenue management system contains at least one local database.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A telecommunications management system for avoiding tariff circumvention, comprising:
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a telephone for making a telephone call, wherein the telephone is contained in an institutional telephone management system, and wherein the telephone dials a telephone number of or associated with a called party; a revenue management system configured to associate the telephone number with a called party user account, the called party user account including geographic information regarding the location of the called party, wherein the geographic information is verified by an account setup process prior to activation of the called party user account, the account setup process comprising; consecutively querying the telephone number against a plurality of remote databases until the telephone number is located or until all of the plurality of databases have been queried; and acquiring, from one of the plurality of remote databases when the telephone number is located in the one of the plurality of remote databases, or from the called party when the telephone number has not been found after all of the plurality of databases have been queried, geographic information of the called party associated with the telephone number; and a user account database configured to store verified geographic information associated with the called party, wherein the revenue management system is further configured to verify the geographic information of the called party using a corresponding credit card address and a credit card zip code associated with the called party, wherein the verifying includes mailing to the called party an activation phone number and a code that when entered during communication with the activation telephone number positively verifies the geographic information and activates the called party user account. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 20)
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11. A telecommunications method for avoiding tariff circumvention, comprising:
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associating a telephone number with a called party user account, the called party user account including geographic information regarding the location of the called party; activating the called party user account; verifying the geographic information using an account setup process prior to activation of the called party user account, the account setup process comprising; consecutively querying the telephone number against a plurality of remote databases until the telephone number is located or until all of the plurality of databases have been queried; and acquiring, from one of the plurality of remote databases when the telephone number is located in the one of the plurality of remote databases, or from the called party when the telephone number has not been found after all of the plurality of databases have been queried, geographic information of the called party associated with the telephone number; and verifying that the geographic information of the called party includes a corresponding credit card address and a credit card zip code associated with the called party. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification