Freedom Wireless(Las Vegas, Nevada) patent....(part II)
41. The method as set forth in claim 40 wherein the accessing step includes sharing access to the database with other pre-paid service providers.
42. A method for pre-paid wireless telephone service, the method comprising:
identifying an originator of a wireless telephone call as a subscriber to a pre-paid wireless telephone service;
causing the call to be connected to a pre-paid switching system; and
a wireless switch sending an identifier associated with the destination of the call and an identifier associated with a pre-paid account of the originator of the call to the pre-paid switching system that validates the balance in the account of the originator of the call, causes the call to be connected to the destination, and periodically validates the call based on the balance associated with the account and causes the call to be terminated if validation is unsuccessful.
43. The method as set forth in claim 42 including terminating the call when the balance in the account becomes zero.
44. The method of claim 42 wherein the identifier associated with the pre-paid account is a mobile identifier.
45. The method of claim 42 wherein the identifier associated with the pre-paid account is a telephone number.
46. The method of claim 42 wherein the identifier associated with the pre-paid account is an automated number identifier.
47. The method as set forth in claim 42, 29, 30, or 31 wherein the validating step includes finding the pre-paid account of the originator of the call and retrieving a balance associated with the account.
48. The method as set forth in claim 47 including maintaining a database of identifiers associated with pre-paid wireless telephone accounts, the database being remote from the pre-paid switching system, and the finding step including accessing the database via a remote server.
49. The method as set forth in claim 48 wherein the accessing step includes sharing access to the database with one or more other pre-paid switching systems.
50. The method as set forth in claim 42, 29, 30, or 31 including notifying the originator of the pre-paid wireless telephone call of the status of the account.
51. The method of claim 50 including notifying the originator of the pre-paid wireless telephone call of the remaining balance.
52. The method of claim 42, 29, 30, or 31 wherein the identifier associated with the pre-paid account is an electronic serial number.
53. The method of claim 42, 29, 30, or 31 comprising:
identifying at least one cost variable associated with the call;
determining a rate associated with a fixed interval of time based on the cost variable; and
converting the account balance to a maximum call length based on the account balance and based on the rate.
54. The method of claim 53 wherein the cost variable is time of day.
55. The method of claim 53 wherein the cost variable is a destination of the pre-paid wireless call.
56. The method as set forth in claim 42, 29, 30, or 31 wherein the originator of the wireless telephone call is identified as a subscriber to the pre-paid wireless telephone service at the wireless switch.
57. The method as set forth in claim 42, 29, 30, or 31 wherein the identifier associated with the destination of the call is entered by the subscriber prior to origination of the wireless telephone call, and the identifier associated with the pre-paid account of the originator of the call is transparently sent to the wireless switch upon origination of the wireless telephone call.
58. The system of claim 33 to 34 wherein the computer with access to the database is the computer that receives information from the wireless switch, validates the balance, causes the call to be connected to the destination, periodically validates the call, and causes the call to be terminated if validation is unsuccessful.
59. The system of claim 33 to 34 wherein the computer with access to the database is networked to a server computer with which the database is associated.
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Description
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a cellular telecommunications system having a security feature which allows only pre-authorized users to complete cellular telephone calls. More particularly, the cellular telecommunications system of the present invention permits cellular telecommunications providers to obtain pre-paid subscribers and eliminate credit-risk problems. In addition, the present invention provides anti-fraud protection for cellular service providers by allowing subscribers to designate protection codes which must be dialed before a telecommunications event will be completed.
Conventional cellular telecommunications systems require the cellular provider to undertake credit screening and certify credit-worthy subscribers before enabling a user to access the cellular telecommunications system. Customarily, a potential subscriber will apply to the cellular service provider, who then undertakes a verification process to determine whether the potential subscriber is credit-worthy. If the potential subscriber has a positive credit rating, the subscriber is given access to the cellular system and is able to initiate or receive unlimited cellular telecommunications events during a certain period of time or during a certain number of billing cycles. If the subscriber regularly pays invoices for the telecommunications services, the subscriber's access to the telecommunications system continues unfettered. If the subscriber fails to pay invoices as they become due, the cellular service provider has the ability to discontinue the subscriber's access until the invoice is paid. Thus, pre-paid telecommunications access is a desirable feature to prevent fraudulent use of the telecommunications system. Additionally, the present invention provides anti-fraud capabilities by requiring that a pass-code or personal identification number (PIN) be dialed along with the called number before a telecommunications event will be completed.
Up to now, the cellular service provider had no means available to offer cellular telecommunications services on a pre-paid basis, monitor the subscriber's cellular telecommunications usage in real time and discontinue access to the cellular telecommunications services immediately upon exhaustion of a pre-paid account balance. Additionally, up to now, cellular service providers had no means available to prevent cellular theft by unscrupulous persons retrieving equipment serial numbers from cellular signal transmissions and "cloning" or reprogramming other cellular equipment to replicate a subscriber's telecommunications profile.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Land-based telecommunication systems have devised a method for allowing pre-paid telephone usage and limiting telecommunications usage to only a period of time equivalent to the pre-paid value. Perhaps the best example of such a land-based telecommunications system is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,335 issued Oct. 4, 1994 to D'Urso (hereinafter the "D'Urso" patent).
The D'Urso patent discloses a public switched telephone network (PTSN) which operates on a pre-payment system and has multilingual capabilities. A telephone user purchases a pre-determined quantum of service, i.e., telecommunications time before access and is provided a card imprinted with a unique account number. The user is also given a series of toll free, commonly known as "1-800" numbers which allows the user to access the prepaid telephone system. Activation of each of the toll free numbers causes the system described in the D'Urso patent to interact wit the user in the user's native language or in a language which the user desires to interact with the telecommunications system. Upon dialing an appropriate toll free telephone number at a PTSN node, the user is connected through a switching system with a host computer. The host computer prompts the user, typically by digital voice commands, to enter the user's account number, using the PTSN node keypad, imprinted on the user's account card. The authenticity of the entered account number and the available amount of credit is determined by the host computer. Account authentication and credit balance checking is accomplished by local area network connection with a service management computer which manages a card database containing account information for each outstanding account card. If the account card is valid and an available balance is verified, the host computer prompts the user to enter a speed dialing alias or destination telephone number. The user is given a pre-set number of attempts to enter a valid alias or destination number. The system performs editing checks on the alias or destination number. Improper entry of a speed dialing alias or destination for the pre-set number of attempts will cause the host computer to disconnect the user. Upon proper entry of a speed dialing alias or destination number, the host computer compares the available card balance against the balance required to make a one minute phone call to the desired destination. If the available balance is greater than or equal to the balance required to make that one minute call, a voice response unit (VRU) plays an announcement in the user's chosen language informing the user that the call is being processed. The VRU computer uses a stored call rate associated with the caller's destination number and the available credit balance to determine the available call duration. A call duration timer is set in response to the determination of the available call duration.
The VRU computer is then directed to outpulse the digits of the destination number to a network node. When the host computer detects an off-hook condition from the destination, the call duration timer is started and the available call balance is depleted while the call is in progress. When the host computer detects that the available call balance is close to depletion, the VRU computer is bridged onto the call and plays a pending disconnect announcement in the users chosen language. Upon exhaustion of the call balance, the VRU plays a disconnect announcement, the call is disconnected and the host computer sends a message to the service management computer and database that the balance on the card is depleted.
Alternatively, if an on-hook condition at the destination occurs before the card balance is depleted, the host computer calculates the remaining available balance based upon the condition of the call timer and compares the computed balance to the minimum credit threshold. The host computer then causes a VRU computer to notify the caller, in the chosen language, whether the remaining balance exceeds the minimum credit threshold, and the value of the available balance and then disconnects the calling party. The host computer then sends an update message to the service management computer and the database, notifying them of the calculated remaining balance. The service management computer then overwrites the present balance in the database with the calculated balance sent by the host computer.
While the D'Urso telecommunications system allows for pre-paid telecommunications activity, it is wholly dependent upon user first calling a toll free number, inputting account information, waiting for account validation, inputting the called destination, waiting for destination validation and then either being connected or not. The D'Urso system requires a plurality of input events by the user before a call can be passed to the destination. Moreover, the D'Urso system lacks direct interface with the remote database for real time account balance adjustment during a telecommunications event. Rather, in the D'Urso system a host computer queries a remote management server database to determine an available credit balance. The host computer then looks up a telecommunications rate for the destination number called, calculates a time value corresponding to the credit balance for the destination number and either authorizes or rejects the attempted call on the basis of the calculated time value. If the attempted call is authorized, a calculated time value timer is set. Upon occurrence of an off-hook condition at the destination called, the calculate time value timer at the host computer is decremented until a pre-determined threshold value. As the threshold value is reached, a voice message is bridged onto the call to advise the user of the remaining calculated time value. Upon expiration of the calculated time value, the call is disconnected. After disconnection due to either 1) expiration of the calculated time value, or 2) an on-hook condition at the called destination, the host computer re-calculates the credit balance from the remaining time value and sends an update record to the management server and database and overwrites the previous credit balance information stored at the database. In this manner, the database is not actively updated as the telecommunications activity is occurring.
Those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that the prepaid land-based telecommunications system described in the D'Urso patent is fundamentally different from the cellular-based telecommunications system of the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A need has been recognized for a cellular telecommunications system which permits access by pre-paid users, without the need for modifying the cellular radiotelephones commonly in use. The present invention provides a system and method which recognizes cellular radiotelephones pre-programmed with a pre-selected telephone number and a automated number identification code (ANI). The pre-selected telephone number is reserved to the pre-paid cellular telecommunications system. The user merely enters the destination telephone number and activates an off-hook condition, typically by depressing a "send" button on the keypad of the cellular radiotelephone. The cellular radiotelephone then transmits the ANI and a dialed number identification system code (DNIS). Because all cellular systems operate on the basis of discrete cell sites, which re-transmit the received signal to a central cellular service organization cellular switch, both the ANI and the DNIS are transmitted to the cellular switch. At the cellular switch, the ANI is recognized as one reserved to the pre-paid cellular system and is re-directed, along with the DNIS, to the pre-paid cellular system switch via T1 land lines or via cellular re-transmission.
At the pre-paid cellular system switch, a host computer authenticates both the ANI and DNIS. Upon recognition of a valid ANI, the host computer establishes communications via either a local area network (LAN) or wide-area network (WAN) with a remote computer database server. At the remote computer database server, a database is maintained with pre-paid subscriber information. The pre-paid subscriber database contains records of each pre-paid subscriber. Each subscriber record in the database includes, at least the ANI assigned to that pre-paid subscriber, a pre-paid account balance and a time rate for telecommunications charges.
The host computer validates the received ANI by comparison to the ANI information in the database. Upon validation of the received ANI, account balance information for the account associated with the received ANI is queried to determine if there is a positive credit balance. Upon verification that the account has a positive credit balance, the host computer outpulses the dialed destination telephone number to a local exchange carrier, such as one of the Regional Bell Operating Companies.
During the call progress, the account balance information at the computer database server is decremented based upon elapse of pre-determined time periods at the predetermined time value for cellular telecommunications. It is important to note the time value is deducted from the account balance at regular intervals of time while the call is in progress.
The present invention allows a pre-paid user to access the cellular telecommunication system and have authentication and accounting occur transparently without any preliminary input by the user. The present invention accomplishes this by using the ANI as the file link to identify and authenticate the cellular telephone against the database. Thus, cellular telephone users are freed of the need to carry and use cards, are freed of the need to enter account information as a first step in the authentication process and the possibility of fraud on the cellular service providers is minimized.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following more detailed description of the present invention when taken with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a typical cellular telecommunications system interfaced with the cellular telecommunications system of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic call flow of the prior art pre-paid land-based telecommunications system.
FIG. 3 is a call flow diagram from a typical cellular radiotelephone.
FIG. 4 is a call flow diagram at a cellular switch in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating call validation processing at a host computer in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating call processing at the central office in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating call accounting processing at a host computer in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 8A is a flow diagram illustrating a first embodiment of incoming call processing in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 8B is a flow diagram illustrating a second embodiment of incoming call processing in accordance with the present invention. |
