Telephonic communications – With usage measurement – Call charge metering or monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
1995-03-27
2001-02-20
Shankar, Vijay (Department: 2778)
Telephonic communications
With usage measurement
Call charge metering or monitoring
C379S144020
Reexamination Certificate
active
06192113
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for phone card billing, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for phone card billing which provides financial benefits to a phone card client.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various methods and systems for the sale and use of prepaid telephone calls are well known in the telecommunications industry. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,275, incorporated herein by reference, describes the implementation and operation of a telephone system that allows for prepayment of telephone calls, wherein credit information and a special code for a specific account are stored in memory in special exchanges, and wherein the amount of prepaid minutes in that specific account are debited as a call, made using that special code, progresses. Such systems are well known in the telecommunications industry, and a detailed description is not provided herein. Special codes are typically referred to as Personal Identification Numbers, or PINs.
It is to be understood that the special code, or PIN, which enables an end user to access a specific account can be provided in various forms, such as on a label or a phone card. For example, a phone card company sells a plurality of phone cards with distinct PINs on each of the phone cards to a phone card client, or middleman, such as a retailer, a vending machine operator, a promotional advertiser, etc. These phone cards are then typically re-sold at retail, sold as collectibles, or given away as promotional items, by the phone card client to an end user.
Each PIN printed on each individual phone card corresponds to a specific account that is credited with a predetermined number of telephone call units, such as minutes. In other words, in a preferred embodiment, each PIN is linked to a specific number of minutes of “talk time.”
An end user purchases or receives a phone card from one of these phone card clients. To place a call, the end user typically calls a special phone number, and then enters the PIN along with the phone number the end user is trying to reach. The number of units remaining in a specific account is debited by the number of units spent by the end user on telephone calls.
However, there is a significant drawback for phone card clients with the way that phone cards are currently being sold. The drawback with the currently available phone cards is that phone card clients that want to sell phone cards through retail channels, or distribute them through promotional giveaways, must prepay the phone card company in advance for all of the phone card units received. The units received represent credits to accounts corresponding to the PINs on the phone cards being sold to the phone card client. When a phone card client purchases a large number of phone card units for re-sale or distribution, the prepayment for these phone cards to the phone card company can reach into the thousands of dollars, and represent a financial burden on the phone card client. This is especially true when the phone card client is interested in distributing phone cards free to end users for promotional purposes.
For example, assume that company A wants to advertise their products or services by placing their company logo and phone number on a phone card, wherein the phone card has a PIN that is linked to a specific account credited with ten minutes of talk time. Company A wishes to distribute these phone cards free of cost to potential customers as part of an advertising campaign. Currently, company A must prepay the phone card company for all of the phone card units being purchased for distribution. In other words, 100 phone cards good for ten minutes each means the phone card client must pay for 1000 minutes up front. Prepayment for these minutes is required even though there is a good chance that a significant number of these phone cards, along with their prepaid units, may never be used by an end user.
Therefore, a better solution is needed to minimize the financial burden on the phone card client providing phone cards to end users, and to ensure that phone card clients are charged for the phone card units received only if the corresponding phone card units are actually used by an end user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The method and apparatus of the present invention for phone card billing provides phone card clients with the benefits associated with the sale or distribution of phone cards, while reducing the associated drawbacks, such as the initial financial burden of prepaying for phone card units, or the wasted cost of prepaying for phone card units that never get used by an end user.
The method and apparatus of the present invention for phone card billing provides phone card clients with phone cards comprising a PIN associated with a specific account credited with a predetermined number of units, such as minutes. The phone card client is only required to make a nominal up front payment to the phone card company to cover the cost of producing the phone cards, or the cost of packaging each phone card or label containing a PIN. The phone card client is not required to prepay the phone card company for the number of phone card units being purchased for re-sale or distribution to end users. The nominal up front fee for the phone cards is significantly less than the value of the phone card units associated with each of the PINs on the phone cards.
An end user that purchases or receives a phone card implementing the method and apparatus of the present invention will not notice anything different in their use of a phone card. To place a call, the end user calls a special number, and then enters the PIN along with the phone number the end user is trying to reach. To the end user, the method and apparatus of the present invention for phone card billing resembles the prior art telephone systems. A call processing platform computer system verifies that the entered PIN is a valid PIN. When the entered PIN is verified, the end user's phone call is connected to the phone number. Upon connection to the phone number dialed by the end user, the number of minutes remaining in the specific account corresponding to the entered PIN is debited by the number of minutes spent by the end user on telephone calls.
However, unlike the prior art, the call processing computer system downloads all user-entered PINs to an invoicing computer system on a periodic basis. After receiving all of these user-entered PINs, the invoicing computer system processes the received PINs to determine whether these PINs have been previously used by an end user. If the invoicing computer system determines that any of the PINs entered by an end user is being used for the first time, then certain information relating to the corresponding phone card account, such as the phone card client that purchased that PIN, are copied to an “invoice” database for further processing. This process is transparent to the end user, and the end user's telephone calls are connected in the usual manner by the special exchange.
The invoice database therefore contains a listing of PINs recently used for the first time, along with each PIN's corresponding account information. This account information is used to generate invoices which are then billed to the appropriate phone card clients that sold or distributed the recently activated phone cards. In this way, the phone card client is only billed for phone card units when the phone card units are first used by an end user. It is to be understood that an invoice database, as described herein, is typically defined by a software program which categorizes data and then stores that categorized data onto a hard disk drive, or other equivalent storage device, in a manner well known in the computer art.
For example, if company A distributes a phone card to an end user, and that end user keeps the card for its promotional message, or as a collectible item, or if the end user loses or throws away the phone card, the only expense incurred by company A is the nominal cost of the phone card, and not the more substantial
AT&T Corp
Shankar Vijay
LandOfFree
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