Telephonic communications – With usage measurement – Call charge metering or monitoring
Patent
1994-11-02
1996-10-08
Chin, Wellington
Telephonic communications
With usage measurement
Call charge metering or monitoring
379 67, 379 89, 379196, 379 91, H04M 1100, H04M 1500, H04M 164, H04M 300
Patent
active
055639330
ABSTRACT:
Calls to geographically limited toll-free telephone numbers, when originated from outside the predefined geographic region, are completed, but not at the called party's expense, by a) indicating to the caller that the telephone call, which otherwise will be blocked, will be completed on his behalf if the caller provides for payment of the cost of the call and b) completing the call if a signal is received from the caller indicating that the caller agrees to pay the cost of the call. Advantageously, the caller is not automatically charged for what he believed would be a free telephone call. The caller may pay for the call by charging it to any conventionally available account for charging telephone calls to which the caller is authorized to charge charges. If the account associated with the caller's telephone is selected by the caller for charging the call, a further test is made to determine if the ability to charge the cost of such geographically-limited toll-free calls to the account has been blocked. If the ability to charge the cost of such calls to the account has been blocked, the caller is offered the option of selecting a different method of payment for the call. Alternatively, the direct dial telephone number to which the 800-type telephone number translates may be announced to the caller, so that he may dial it directly himself on a subsequent call.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4893330 (1990-01-01), Franco
patent: 5146491 (1992-09-01), Silver et al.
patent: 5187710 (1993-02-01), Chau et al.
patent: 5222120 (1993-06-01), McLeod et al.
patent: 5438615 (1995-08-01), Moen
patent: 5448633 (1995-09-01), Jamaleddin et al.
August Katherine G.
Silverman David P.
AT&T
Chin Wellington
Loomis Paul
Rosenthal E. J.
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