Telephonic communications – With usage measurement
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-24
2001-02-27
Nguyen, Duc (Department: 2743)
Telephonic communications
With usage measurement
C379S112030, C379S114030, C379S127030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06195419
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to the field of telecommunication services and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for direct billing derived subaccount charge information for a call.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Originally, subaccount billing services in which charges for telephone calls to the customer are sorted and listed under separate subaccount numbers assigned by the customer were offered on a presubscription basis only. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,004, Bauer et al, entitled “Communication Service Method and Apparatus,” a method and apparatus were defined for subaccount billing which allowed a subscriber to enter, in real time for each telephone call, a subaccount code entered via dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) digits. The entered subaccount code is used by a telecommunications services billing system to categorize telephone calls in different accounts on a telephone services bill. Bauer et al, '004, permitted subaccount billing service offered on a “per call” or “as needed” basis.
In the prior art, the customer's monthly phone bill is simply a summation of each is individual subaccount. Therefore, the customer pays the bill in full using a single payment method each month. The prior art does not address permitting a customer to establish a billing arrangement by subaccount so that the subaccount can be directly and individually billed to separate, desired payment methods.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing problems and associated disadvantages of the prior art are overcome and technical advances achieved in the present invention whereby the customer can establish a direct billing relationship for each subaccount within the subaccount bill. The direct billing mechanism includes any type of alternate billing arrangement such as a personal calling card, a corporate calling card, credit card, a pre-paid card, a debit card, a collect call, or a third party number. Thus, the present invention permits a caller to make calls and either have each call billed in a preselected manner or, prior to each call, to define the call billing arrangement at the time of the call. Such billing arrangements for any subscriber would be set-up and confirmed in advance.
The service involves a customer utilizing a telephone, computer, facsimile machine, or other device, to initiate a call. An originating switch forwards the originating caller's automatic number identification (ANI) to a subscriber database which searches for a record match to see if the originating caller is subscribed to the service. Assuming the caller is subscribed to the service, the caller is given the opportunity to enter a subaccount number via DTMF entry. The caller is then connected through a transit network and a terminating switch to the receiving party's telephone device. That information is coupled by the originating switch through a message accumulator. The message accumulator is coupled into a direct bill database as well as through an exchange message interface (EMI) formatting system and a rating system to a billing system to route the charges, at the direction of the originating party, to be billed to the proper subaccount.
Furthermore, it is a feature of the present invention that where a particular number called is repeatedly matched to a particular subaccount by the subscriber, the invention may automatically asssign the call to that subaccount on all subsequent calls. However, the calling party can override this determination and direct the billing to a different subaccount upon initiation of the call.
These and other features of the present invention will become clear from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4776004 (1988-10-01), Bauer et al.
patent: 5287270 (1994-02-01), Hardy et al.
patent: 5325421 (1994-06-01), Hou et al.
patent: 5440621 (1995-08-01), Castro
patent: 5450477 (1995-09-01), Amarant et al.
patent: 5511114 (1996-04-01), Stimson et al.
patent: 5539807 (1996-07-01), Ghisler et al.
patent: 5771282 (1998-06-01), Friedes
patent: 5774533 (1998-06-01), Patel
patent: 5825863 (1998-10-01), Walker
AT&T Corp.
Nguyen Duc
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