Patent ID: 8346211
Filing Date: 2013-01-01
Classification: H04L,H04M,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of managing a prepaid server-arbitrated group communication session within a wireless communications system, comprising: receiving, from a session originator, a request to setup a prepaid group communication session with at least one session target, the prepaid group communication session requiring each session participant to have an available prepaid account balance above a threshold level; sending a query to an online charging system to determine whether at least the session originator has a prepaid account with an available balance at least equal to the threshold level; sending at least one additional query to the online charging system to determine whether the at least one session target has a prepaid account with an available balance at least equal to the threshold level, wherein initiating setup of the requested prepaid group communication session continues without waiting to receive a response to the at least one additional query, wherein the query and the at least one additional query are bundled within the same message; initiating setup of the requested prepaid group communication session without waiting to receive a response to either the query or the at least one additional query; receiving a query response from the online charging system indicating the available balance of the prepaid account for at least the session originator after initiating setup of the requested prepaid group communication session; and receiving at least one additional query response from the online charging system indicating the available balance of the prepaid account for at least one target after initiating setup of the requested prepaid group communication session.