Patent ID: 6226364
Filing Date: 2001-05-01
Classification: H04M

Abstract:
A method for providing prepaid telephone services, comprising the steps of:establishing and maintaining a subscriber account in a billing system configured to receive call detail records from a switching center at predetermined times via a non-voice data link for the purpose of computing charges for telephone calls;receiving a monetary deposit establishing a prepaid balance in the account;establishing a customer service profile including prepaid rating parameters and postpaid rating parameters for the account;connecting a communication between an originating station and a terminating station through the switching center, the communication incurring charges to the account; andduring the course of the communication,at the switching center, creating and maintaining an in-process call detail record for the communication and providing a real-time interface for externally monitoring the in-process call detail record for the communication, andat the billing system, accessing the real-time interface via a second non-voice data link to monitor the in-process call detail record for the communication, charging against the prepaid balance in the account a cost associated with a prepaid portion of the communication based on the prepaid rating parameters in the customer service profile, and in response to a determination that the prepaid balance in the account is exhausted, charging the account for a cost associated with the remainder of the communication and based on the postpaid rating parameters.