Patent ID: 11937151
Assignee: VERIZON PATENT AND LICENSING INC.
Field: Telecommunications (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A method, comprising:
sending a first pre-authorization, by an Account Balance Management Function (ABMF) located in a mobile network to a first Converged Charging System (CCS) located in the mobile network, to pre-authorize network service unit consumption by a first subscriber of a plurality of subscribers that are members of a same, shared network service account;
sending a second pre-authorization, by the ABMF to a second CCS located in the mobile network, to pre-authorize network service unit consumption by a second subscriber of the plurality of subscribers, wherein the first CCS and the second CCS are located at physically distributed locations in the mobile network relative to the ABMF;
receiving, by the ABMF from the first CCS, first network unit consumption charges associated with the first subscriber of the plurality of subscribers;
receiving, by the ABMF from the second CCS, second network unit consumption charges associated with the second subscriber of the plurality of subscribers; and
updating, by the ABMF, a consumption counter for the same, shared network service account based on the first and second network unit consumption charges, associated with the first and second subscribers, received from the first CCS and the second CCS.