Pre-paid security mechanism in a post-pay telecommunications system

• US 20070293191A1
• Filed: 05/24/2007
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: TTI Inventions C LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: TTI Inventions C LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hopson, Alan, Mir, Amanullah, McGrail, Lori, Heyrich, Daivd, Bhavsar, Hema, Im, Grace
• Application Number:
  US11/805,781
• Publication Number:
  US 20070293191A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1417 Advice of charge with threshold, e.g. user indicating maximum cost
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1453 Methods or systems for payment or settlement of the charges for data transmission involving significant interaction with the data transmission network
• 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 15/83 Notification aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/85 characterised by the type of condition triggering a notification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/851 Determined tariff
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/00 Prepayment of wireline communication systems, wireless communication systems or telephone systems using a coded card to authorise calls from a telephone set H04M1/675
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/81 Notifying aspects, e.g. notifications or displays to the user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/815 Notification when a specific condition, service or event is met

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for real-time charging including the following capabilities: calculation and storage of real time usage information on a per subscriber or group basis; real-time criteria evaluation of configurable thresholds; real-time threshold notification to the subscriber/account owner; and subscriber/account owner interaction capability to restrict specific calls and events for any member of a group, through external systems, text messaging and interactive voice response (IVR) sessions. When these four major capabilities are combined and configured, a pre-paid functionality in a post pay environment is produced.

Claims

1. A method for real-time charging for service usage in a telecommunications system having at least one subscriber, said method comprising:

receiving a service request from the subscriber;

validating the subscriber and obtaining notification recipient data and subscriber threshold data;

commencing the requested service and tracking real-time usage data; and

notifying the notification recipient data if the real-time usage data exceeds the subscriber threshold data.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the notification recipient data indicates one of execute an action, ignore the notification, terminate the requested service and cancel the requested service.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the action is send a restriction event.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the subscriber is the notification recipient data.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein notifying is performed using at least one of mobile telephones, cellular telephones, landline telephones, text messages, e-mail messages, and interactive voice response.

6. A real-time charging system for use in a telecommunications system having at least one subscriber, comprising:

a subscriber database comprising at least notification recipient data and subscriber threshold data;

a host device operable to receive a service request from the subscriber, and validate the subscriber;

real-time usage data; and

a criteria checking mechanism operable to notify the notification recipient data if the real-time usage data exceeds the subscriber threshold data.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the notification recipient data indicates one of execute an action, ignore the notification, terminate the requested service, and cancel the requested service.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the action is send a restriction event.

9. The system according to claim 6, wherein the subscriber is the notification recipient.

10. The system according to claim 6, wherein the host device is a CPU.

11. The system according to claim 6, wherein a database includes the subscriber, the notification recipient and the subscriber threshold data.

12. The system according to claim 6, wherein notifying is performed using at least one of mobile telephones, cellular telephones, landline telephones, text messages, e-mail messages, and interactive voice response.

13. A computer readable medium having computer readable program for operating on a computer for executing a real-time charging system, said program comprising instructions that causes the computer to perform the steps of:

receiving a service request from a subscriber;

validating the subscriber and obtaining notification recipient data and subscriber threshold data;

commencing the requested service and tracking real-time usage data; and

notifying the notification recipient data if the real-time usage data exceeds the subscriber threshold data.

14. The program according to claim 13, wherein the notification recipient data indicates one of execute an action, ignore the notification, terminate the requested service and cancel the requested service.

15. The program according to claim 14, wherein the action is send a restriction event.

16. The program according to claim 13, wherein the subscriber is the notification recipient data.

17. The program according to claim 13, wherein notifying is performed using at least one of mobile telephones, cellular telephones, landline telephones, text messages, e-mail messages, and interactive voice response.