Telephonic communications – With usage measurement – Call charge metering or monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
1996-12-31
2001-06-12
Nguyen, Duc (Department: 2743)
Telephonic communications
With usage measurement
Call charge metering or monitoring
C379S119000, C379S091010, C235S380000, C235S381000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06246755
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to methods and systems for allowing callers to access content providers, such as 900 and 976 numbers, over a telephone network. More particularly, the invention relates to prepaying for services supplied by such providers and accessing the services through an intermediary who has access to the prepaid accounts.
BACKGROUND
With the advent of 900 number and similar shared-revenue systems, the use of telephone-based services and the corresponding number of providers of these services has increased dramatically. Consumers can now use the telephone to receive a wide variety of services, ranging from technical support to personal psychic readings. These services are typically provided by a content provider who first delivers the service over the telephone and subsequently bills the caller. The caller typically is identified by the phone number from which he is calling, with the subsequent bill then included as part of the caller's regular telephone bill. The content provider typically calculates the amount of the bill after the service has been delivered. This amount is forwarded to the telephone company, which both bills and collects from the caller. The telephone company typically deducts a portion of the total bill in return for both the cost of making the telephone connection and for the telephone company's role as bill collector.
This system has significant drawbacks. For example, since the caller is charged after he has consumed the service, there is a significant risk of bad debt. Callers may refuse to pay for the service or may even deny having used the service in the first place. This often results in a loss to the content provider and also requires the telephone company to charge a higher rate for the telephone connection since a fraction of the connections will be written off as bad debt. Another disadvantage is that calls from public access phones, such as those in airports and hotels, are typically blocked since it is unclear who should be billed for calls from these phones. Many companies also block calls from their internal phones to prevent employees from, among other reasons, generating large bills. Another disadvantage is that callers from home cannot access a service anonymously since telephone billing statements normally identify both the content provider called and the amount charged.
In an effort to overcome some of these disadvantages, some content providers have established 900 number debit cards in which the caller prepays for the service provided by the content provider. For example, a 900 number debit card was offered by the Weather Channel. In this system, the caller set up an account by purchasing the debit card, effectively prepaying for Weather Channel access/information. The caller then dialed the access number on the back of the debit card to access the Weather Channel, with the appropriate fee being deducted from the value remaining in the caller's prepaid account. However, the Weather Channel debit card could only complete calls to the Weather Channel; services from other content providers were not available through the Weather Channel debit card. This single service limitation severely limits the functionality of a debit card, as a caller would have to carry a separate card and maintain a separate prepaid account for each content provider he intends to access.
At the other extreme, many vendors sell prepaid calling cards for telephone calls at a fixed or standard rate. Such cards may allow, for example, the caller to call anywhere in the U.S. at any time for 16 cents/minute, with a correspondingly higher rate for foreign calls. Although such prepaid cards have no called-number restrictions, they are oriented toward pure telephony, rather than content access. That is, every call made is charged at the same rate regardless of the number being called, and this rate is set by the prepaid card provider rather than by the number being called. Telephony systems of the type maintaining prepaid accounts at a central computer are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,706,275, 5,359,642 and 5,469,497.
Thus, there is a need for systems and methods which allow a caller to access different content providers, each having a particular rate different from the standard rate for telephone connectivity, while simultaneously reducing the instances of bad debt, increasing the access from public and other normally blocked telephone lines, allowing the caller to anonymously access a service, and/or reducing the high cost of telephone connections for such services.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In connection with the foregoing, a transaction processor (e.g., debit card platform) in accordance with the invention includes two communications ports, a telephone switch coupling the two communications ports, and a control logic. In a method using this system, the first communications port receives a telephone call from a caller, who identifies one of many content providers which he would like to access, and the second communication port makes a telephone connection to the identified content provider. The control logic configures the telephone switch to connect the caller on the first communications port to the content provider on the second communications port, thus allowing the content provider to provide a service to the caller. The control logic also debits a prepaid account associated with the caller for the service.
One aspect of the invention includes a prepaid account database coupled to the control logic. The prepaid account database associates caller identifying codes, such as personal identification numbers (PINs), with prepaid accounts. When a caller supplies his caller identifying code, the control logic accesses the prepaid account database to identify the corresponding prepaid account.
Another aspect of the invention includes a content provider database coupled to the control logic. The content provider database associates content providers with costs for their services. When a caller accesses a content provider, the control logic accesses the content provider database to calculate an amount to be debited to the caller's prepaid account based specifically on the service provided and the identified content provider.
Yet another aspect of the invention concerns crediting a caller's prepaid account in response to receiving a payment from a caller.
The system and method of the invention will be more readily understood and apparent from the following detailed description of the invention, which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and from the claims which are appended at the end of the detailed description.
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Liz Pulliam, “College Students May Learn the hardest Accounting Lessons Outside the Classroom”, Orange County Register, Sep. 1, 1996, at p. K01.
“Kids' Phone Usage Another Way for Marketers to Get Connected”, Phillips Business Information, Inc., Selling to Kids, Jan. 22, 1997.
Pending U.S. patent application Appln. No. 08/570,443, entitled “Prepaid Limited Usage Calling Card”, filed in the name of Jay S. Walker on Dec. 11, 1995.
Web Site: “College Talk” (http://WWW.adforce.com/video/
Carson Gregory G.
Case T. Scott
Jorasch James A.
Walker Jay S.
Alderucci Dean P.
Nguyen Duc
Walker Digital, LLC
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