Telephonic communications – With check operated control – Other than coin
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-31
2002-07-23
Nguyen, Duc (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
With check operated control
Other than coin
C379S112010, C379S114010, C379S114150, C379S114170, C379S114200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06424706
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a method and system for purchasing, storing, exchanging, converting, transferring, and other advantageous uses of, stored value accounts, for example, accounts of frequent-flyer miles, shopping-stamp premiums, prepaid transportation tickets or badges (such as Transit Pass or EZ Pass) and long distance or other telephone card minutes. For ease in explanation, and with respect to a preferred system and method of the invention, reference will be made to an embodiment of the invention utilizing long distance or other telephone card minutes. Thus, for example, the present invention, in this embodiment, relates generally to a method and system for purchasing, storing, exchanging, converting, transferring, and other advantageous uses of, prepaid telecommunication-time units over a network, wherein the telecommunication-time has a value associated with the cost of local and long-distance telephone call minutes.
Prepaid telecommunications systems are well known in the art. Such systems allow customers to pre-purchase telecommunication-time for use later in placing telephone calls using normal telephones, payphones and more recently wireless telephone, and have proved commercially successful and desirable for several reasons. Prepaid customers avoid collect and operator assistance surcharges, and they can obtain long distance calling service without credit and without payment of monthly bills. Furthermore, telecommunication service operators prefer such systems because of the lack of bad-credit concerns since the cost of the call has been pre-paid by the caller. Up to now, prepaid telecommunications systems address the telecommunication needs of such subscribers and telecommunication service operators, but do not enable any other use for the prepaid telecommunication-time other than for placing telephone calls.
Furthermore, a large percentage of the customers preferring prepaid telecommunications services are lower income individuals who either do not qualify for traditional bank accounts or find them inconvenient and expensive because of minimum balance requirements, overdrawn account problems, poor customer service and long lines at pay day. Instead such customers prefer to perform traditional banking transactions and other financial services, such as check cashing, at special purpose check-cashing agencies which typically charge large fees in comparison with traditional banks.
In addition, many prepaid telecommunication customers often may perform frequent national and international money transfers. In such cases, the customer faces the inconvenience
10
of travelling to a local branch of a money transfer service, waiting for the transfer to be completed, and incurring the added expense of 20-30% transaction fees and unfavorable exchange rates.
Furthermore, many of these same individuals may be unable to qualify for a credit card, and are therefore unable to access the important commerce opportunities available on the Internet and through telephone-based catalog or mail ordering. Increasingly, goods and services are available at a discounted price, if not exclusively, when purchased at Internet websites via a credit card or in specialized telephone or mail-order catalogs. Individuals unable to access such commerce opportunities are at a significant financial disadvantage.
As aforementioned, systems that allow for the prepayment of telephone calls are generally well known in the art. For example a variety of prepayment telephone systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,706,275 to Kamil; 4,879,7444 to Tasaki, et al.; and 4,975,942 to Zebryk. A typical prior art system may be illustrated in Prior Art
FIG. 1A. A
subscriber
100
pays money at a step
101
to a vendor and purchases and activates a fixed amount of telecommunication-time or minutes at a step
102
. Subscriber
100
will receive some validation and code information related to the pre-purchased minutes, typically by way of a prepaid calling card. These cards may also be purchased at vending machines or any variety of retail locations and may even be given away as a premium or bonus to a qualifying subscriber. Each card typically has a fixed price and is redeemable for a fixed amount of telecommunication-time, however, some systems let subscriber
100
purchase additional minutes. Redeeming these cards typically involves calling a toll-free telephone number to activate the minutes. First, subscriber
100
inputs their unique subscriber ID, which in the case of long distance prepaid systems is typically a temporary identifier, printed on the card itself and good until all of the minutes associated with the card are used up. In the case of a prepaid wireless system, the subscriber ID is typically a permanently assigned number and may be the unique ESN identifier associated with the wireless telephone handset itself, in which case subscriber
100
may not need to input the number if they are activating the calling card from their wireless telephone. Next, subscriber
100
inputs a unique card number printed on the card. The prepaid system authenticates this number and subsequently credits subscriber
100
with the appropriate number of minutes and deactivates the unique card number to avoid duplicate use. In cases where the cards have not been pre-purchased by the retail vendor, the company providing the prepaid telephone service later bills the vendor for the cost of the minutes provided, which the vendor collects, plus any profit margin, from the sale of the cards to subscriber
100
.
Purchased and activated minutes are added at a step
103
to a prepaid minute account
108
associated with subscriber
100
. Subscriber
100
can then place a telephone call
104
to a non-subscriber
106
(or any other individual) either by calling a toll-free number and entering a subscriber ID, or in the case of wireless prepaid systems, by using their uniquely identified wireless telephone handset. The duration of the call in minutes is measured in a step
105
and the result is subtracted from subscriber minute account
108
in a step
107
.
While such prior art systems facilitate prepayment of telephone calls, they nevertheless do not allow advantageous use of prepaid telecommunication-time for uses other than making telephone calls. The openMEDIA prepaid telephone system created by Open Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Glenayre Technologies Inc. allows for a limited transfer of prepaid minutes between multiple accounts, but is restricted to those accounts assigned to the same subscriber. The openMEDIA system also does not allow subscribers to transfer minutes between subscribers, nor does it offer any services at all to non-subscribers, and thus does not satisfy many of the needs provided by the invention as described herein.
Typical prior art money transfer systems, such as those operated by Western Union and MoneyGram, are illustrated in Prior Art FIG.
1
B. As shown, a sender
109
typically visits a local branch office
111
and fills out a form with the transfer amount and information about the recipient
116
. Next, sender
109
makes a payment at a step
110
for the amount to be transferred, a transaction fee and additional exchange fees for international transfers to local branch office
111
and typically receives a receipt with a special transaction identifier at a step
112
and/or assigns a special test question for the recipient to answer. Sender
109
can then place a telephone call at a step
117
to receiver
116
to inform them of the special transaction identifier. In a step
113
, local branch office
111
then electronically transfers the money to a remote branch office
115
closest to recipient
116
. After some period of time, ranging anywhere between several minutes to several days, recipient
116
visits their local branch office (remote branch office
115
), presents the transaction identifier and/or answer to test question and picks up the transferred money at a step
114
. The high cost of the transaction, often 10 to 30 percent
Boerner Daniel E.
Katz Howard B.
Imagine Networks, LLC
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Nguyen Duc
LandOfFree
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