Prepaid short messaging
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A prepaid messaging solution which uses open networking standards (e.g., TCP/IP) and which supports pre-payment of enhanced Internet messaging services. The disclosed prepaid architectures and methods accurately determine if a subscriber has sufficient account balance to deliver a complete short message, prior to delivery of the message. The short message may be prevented from being delivered (either at the source end or at the destination end) if insufficient funds are in the subscriber'"'"'s account. A prepaid tariff engine is preferably extensible over a TCP/IP network, and supports remote interaction with the SMSC and web chat servers for the purpose of applying a real-time billing charge for each message. A service provider may create subscriber classes of service that define and uniquely identify subscriber rate and/or tariffing plans used to apply real-time billing charges for sending or receiving of messages. The prepaid short message tariff engine determines the appropriate message billing based upon, e.g., flat rate per message, message count (e.g., 10 messages @ $ 5.00), character count (e.g., $0.01/char.), Time of Day, Day of Week (i.e., peak & non-peak hours), type of message, and/or mobile location (i.e., network point code). The prepaid short messaging service preferably supports Internet web page access to subscriber'"'"'s relating to their short messaging account balances and status maintained in the prepaid short messaging database of the prepaid messaging server.
109 Citations
49 Claims
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1-30. -30. (canceled)
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31. A method of handling a prepaid Short Messaging Service, comprising:
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providing a short message service (SMS) message for tariff after complete transmission from a device but before receipt by a recipient of said SMS message; querying an account database to determine that an account corresponding to an addressed party of said SMS message has sufficient funds to pay for delivery of said SMS message; permitting said account to be debited in real time prior to delivery to said SMS message and routing said SMS message to said recipient when said account is presumed to have sufficient funds; and preventing message delivery to said recipient until said account has sufficient funds. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. Apparatus for handling a prepaid Short Messaging Service, comprising:
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means for providing a short message service (SMS) message for tariff after complete transmission from a device but before receipt by a recipient of said SMS message; means for querying an account database to determine that an account corresponding to an addressed party of said SMS message has sufficient funds to pay for delivery of said SMS message; means for permitting said account to be debited in real time prior to delivery to said SMS message and routing said SMS message to said recipient when said account is presumed to have sufficient funds; and means for preventing message delivery to said recipient until said account has sufficient funds. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification