PREPAID SERVICES IN A COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and an arrangement for providing prepaid calls or services for a user of a telephone. Th arrangement comprises a prepaid calling service and a telephone terminal enabling an access to the prepaid calling service. In addition, means for providing the user with an individual code and an account dedicated for the individual code are used. The communications network apparatus includes means for triggering the call to a desired destination, means for dynamically charging the costs for the call from the account, and means for informing during the call dynamically the user of the remaining calling time on the basis of the balance remaining in the account and the costs for the call and/or of the remaining balance in the account.

Description: PREPAID SERVICES IN A COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM FTFT.n OF TTF. T VFNTTON The present invention relates to a method and arrangement for providing prepaid calls and/or prepaid use of services through a communications system. RACCf?ROT7TCm OF THF TNVFNTTON Telephone calls and various services obtained by means of a communications network may be charged by various alternative manners . Usually the charging or billing is done in accordance with the used calling time, but it may also be based on some other criteria, such as the service purchased by the call or the number of calls within a predefined time period. There are many instances where it is preferred to be able to charge the price of the call beforehand, so that the operator will avoid any credit losses of unpaid bills, for instance in cases where the callers are not actual subscribers of the particular operator (i.e. have not made any agreements with the operator) . In addition, some callers may prefer to stay anonymous, i.e. may not wish reveal their identity to the called party, such as to a service provider. The conventional way of precharging the calls are the public coin (or note) telephones. These, however, require a lot of maintenance and service. In addition, some of the users may feel it uncomfortable to have coins with them. The amount of coins needed may also be substantially high, e.g. when making an international call or accessing certain service numbers and services. The public money phones are also common targets for robberies . Another possibility to charge the calls beforehand is such that the operator sells prepaid calling cards including a desired amount of preloaded balance for the calls (for a certain calling time) . These cards may be provided with a magnetic strip, or in some cases even with some kind of intelligence (so called smart cards) , and thus the caller has to use a telephone provided with a suitable magnetic strip reader or a smart card reader. During a call the amount of balance (units corresponding predefined amount of money) decreases from the card, and after all balance has been spent the call becomes terminated. Still another possibility is to use such prepaid calling cards which are not provided with the magnetic strip or similar means enabling machine reading, but which announce e.g. a specific (personal) number string or code to the user, which he/she then needs to dial in when initiating a call. The user has to call to a special telephone service where he/she has an individual user account which includes preloaded balance or money for the calls. These cards may be e.g. so called PPMA (Pre-Paid Mobile Access) service cards or scratch-surface calling cards. These cards can be used both for ordinary telephones or for mobile phones. In view of these prepaid cards a reference is made to applicant's US patent Application Serial No. 08/836,371 (corresponds to WO 96/15G33) , and especially to figure 5 thereof, which application is incorporated herein by reference. Almost every telephone can be used for these cards, as they do not require any specific reading devices. In the above prior art disclosure the monitoring of the call can be accomplished for such calls which are made by a prede- fined telephone subscription or by means of a special prepaid card. The use of the prepaid cards enables the user to call from any phone whatsoever, and yet the call will be charged against the user's account, which has a certain pre-set balance indicated by the prepaid card. The user of the service is pro- vided with an Account Code and a Personal Identification Number PIN by means of the card. When the user establishes a call, the call signal of is triggered to a Service Control Point SCP of an IN (intelligent network) . The SCP checks form a database to see the current balance of the account dedicated to the prepaid card and may notify the user of the status of the account (i.e. the remaining balance) by a voice message or on the display of the used terminal . If the account is empty, the call procedure is released, and if the balance is positive, the connection to the call destination is initiated. If the called party replies, charging is started on the basis of the charging information and the pulses are received from the exchange in order to update the balance of the account associated with the card. In addition, the call can be monitored in respect of other conditions indicated in the subscriber record. During a call the telephone network appara- tus is arranged to monitor the amount of money left either in a card or in the account associated to a certain prepaid calling card. In case there is no balance left, the call cannot be continued or new calls cannot be initiated. It is also possible for the operator to reload new balance into the account of the database record, and thus one card containing the subscriber information can be used again after the balance has run out by loading new balance into the account . From the point of view of the telephone operators, the above card solutions are substantially safe, as the calls are always charged beforehand. The distribution and sales of the cards can also be arranged substantially easily and efficiently e.g. from various outlets, such as from shops, kiosks, newspaper stands, tobacco shops etc. From the user's point of view, the prepaid calling card arrangements provide a possibility for making a call to any destination number without a risk for too high telephone bills, as the costs for the calls are paid beforehand and in case of zero prepaid balance no calls can be established/continued. In addition, the user may use any tele- phone for the calls. The cards provide also anonymity towards the service providers . STT MARY OF THF TNVFNTTON The inventor has found the above arrangements to still have some disadvantages. For instance, the present arrangement do not provide to the user any information concerning the real time balance and the time he/she still has for the call during the call, but the balance information the user is able to receive is updated only after the call is released and the actual costs are known. Thus the user is not able to determine the actual remaining calling time. In addition, when calling to service numbers having different charges, and/or charges which change during the connection, the call costs calculations may become rather complicated and the possibilities for the user to determine the remaining calling time will become even more re- stricted. There is also a need for a solution by means of which service providers could charge the use of certain predefined service or services beforehand. It is an object of the present invention to overcome the disad- vantages of the prior art solutions and to provide an improved solution for prepaid calling. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and an arrangement, by means of which it is possible for a user of a telephone to have real-time information concerning the remaining calling time and/or balance. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and an arrangement, by means of which it is possible for a user to receive further real-time information concerning the charging of the call. An additional object is to provide a solution by means of which the service providers are able to receive prepayments for a particular predefined service or services. An object is also a prepayment arrangement in which the parameters or information relating to prepayment data can be changed such that this change does not affect to the reliability of the real-time information provided to the user. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be brought out in the following part of the specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The objects are obtained by the disclosed method of providing prepaid calls or services for a user of a telephone by means of the telephone terminal and a prepaid calling service. The method is comprising steps of providing the user with an individual code, establishing a call between the telephone terminal and the prepaid calling service, giving the individual code to the prepaid calling service, triggering the call to a desired destination, dynamically charging the costs for the call from an account dedicated to the individual code and containing required prepayment data, and informing accordingly the user dynamically of the remaining calling time during the call on basis of remaining balance in the account and the costs for the call and/or of the remaining balance in the account. According to a preferred further embodiment the call time and/or balance information and possible other information relating to the call charging is displayed to the user by means of a display of the telephone terminal. In addition, the user can pay in advance for an access to a certain predefined service, and in this case the individual code the user is provided with is a code dedicated solely for said certain predefined service. According to one embodiment the telephone number of the prepaid calling service is a number for a free -phone telephone number, and the individual code routes the call to a predefined premium rate telephone number of a desired service provider. According to a further additional embodiment the method comprises retrieving data relating to the individual code from a database, wherein the data relating to the individual code including restriction parameters or other parameters or information relating to the use of the prepaid calling service. According to one form of the invention the account is a pulse account, wherein the method comprises the further steps for dynamically deducting pulses from the account during the call, and determining the remaining prepaid calling time and/or balance by means of calculations using at least parameters which dynamically indicate the price of the call and the amount of pulses left in the account . The method can also comprise a further step of changing the balance in the account and/or modifying the parameters or restrictions of the call during the call, wherein the network operator or service provider preferably accomplishes said changes and/or modifications . An inventive arrangement for providing prepaid calls or serv- ices for a user of a telephone comprises a prepaid calling service, a telephone terminal enabling an access to the prepaid calling service, means for providing the user with an individual code, an account dedicated for the individual code, means for triggering the call to a desired destination, means for dynamically charging the costs for the call from the account, and means for informing during the call dynamically the user of the remaining calling time on the basis of the balance remaining in the account and the costs for the call and/or of the remaining balance in the account . According to a further embodiment the arrangement comprises a database accessible by the prepaid calling service, means for retrieving data relating to the individual code from the database in response to received individual code, wherein the ar- rangement is such that the information and parameters included in said database can be changed or modified, preferably by an operator running the arrangement . The account can be a pulse account implemented either in a database of an Intelligent Network providing the prepaid calling service or in a prepaid calling card of the user. Several advantages are obtained by means of the present inven- tion. The solution provides a possibility of informing the user in real-time of the remaining calling time and/or balance (e.g. money or similar units left in an account) during the call. The announcement can be given in time units (instead of pulses or money units) , and thus the user is more ready to understand the actual situation. Since the determination is done dynamically, the calculated estimate will be changed accordingly in case the price for the connection changes or some of the parameters affecting to the charging of the call are otherwise changed or modified. In the following the present invention and the other objects and advantages thereof will be described in an exemplifying manner with reference to the annexed drawings, in which similar reference characters throughout the various figures refer to similar features. BRTFF ΠERΠ TPTTΠTSΓ OF TTF. PPΆWTNΠS Figure 1 is a schematic presentation of one communication system including an intelligent network node; Figure 2 is a schematic presentation of an intelligent network (IN) node according to one embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 discloses schematically one possibility for displaying information relating to remaining calling time; Figure 4 discloses one example of the general arrangement for implementing a prepaid call arrangement; Figure 5 discloses an example of an IN database; and Figure 6 discloses a flow chart for an embodiment . ΠFTΆTT.FΠ ΠESO TPTTON OF THE DRΆWTNΠS Firstly, the general structure of a telecommunications system including an Intelligent network (IN) node enabling various switching and charging operations of calls will be explained with reference to figure 1 to give a better understanding of the basis of the invention. It is to be noted that multiples of some network elements are omitted for reasons of clarity from figure 1. Figure 1 is a schematic presentation of the physical architec- ture of a public switched telephone network (PSTN) providing telecommunication connections between the users thereof. The PSTN comprises a plurality of exchanges 20 and 21. The exchanges interconnected with each other by trunk lines 23. A telephone terminal 4 is connected to the local exchanges via a subscriber line 6. When a call is established between a first terminal and another terminal (only one terminal shown) , the call connection passes through the local exchanges and perhaps through one or several of the transit exchanges . The local exchanges or transit exchanges can be based for instance on the well known AXE digital switching system, which is offered by the applicant. The telephone system of figure 1 includes further a mobile network, e.g. a GSM based public land line mobile network (PLMN) , connected to the PSTN or a similar facility, such as to an integrated system digital network (ISDN) . The necessary links between the systems are well known in the art . In the example of figure 1 the PLMN includes a gateway mobile services switching center (GMSC) 18 which is connected to several mobile services switching centers (MSC) 16, which in turn are connected to plurality of base station subsystems (BSS) 13. Each BSS is connected to a plurality of base stations (BS) 12, each of which supervises a predefined geographical area called as a cell. The arrangement is such that mobile stations (MS) 1, 2, 3 are communicating via a radio interface with the nearby base station 12, which in turn is connected to the mobile switching center (MSC) , which is further connected to the PSTN via a suitable linking apparatus . The communications network system may comprise one or more intelligent network nodes. The intelligent network nodes (IN nodes) interface with the telecommunications network, such as the PSTN or PLMN. In figure 1 the IN node 22 includes a service switching processor, which is commonly referred to in the art as a service switching point (SSP) 26. The SSP 26 can be a local exchange 21 provided with an additional software used to identify the intelligent network (IN) calls. The SSP 26 is in turn connected to a service control processor, which is commonly referred to as a service control point (SCP) 27. It is noted that the SCP and the SSP may alternatively form an integrated unit called to as a service switching and control point (SSCP) . A reference is now made also to figure 2, which is a more detailed disclosure of one IN node comprising SSP and SCP. The SSP 26 includes a computer 170, an intelligent peripheral 176 that performs a number of advanced functions, such as voice recognition, a triggering function 172, a switching function 174 and a traffic processing and call control functions 178. A communications connection 190, such as a well known SS7 connection (signalling system No. 7, which is standardized by CCITT) connects the SSP to the 27. The SCP includes a computer 180 and a service logic for implementing various advanced services provided by the intelligent network IN. As mentioned, it is also possible to integrate the SSP and the SCP into a single Service Switching and Control Point processor (SSCP) . In either imple- mentation the service logic 182 is independent of the network access and transport implementation. The SSP 26 provides the users with an access via the communications network to a prepayment network service or a prepaid calling service provided by the SCP 27. While the signalling information is generally communicated to the SSP 26, it is to be understood that such a signalling information is in practice communicated to the switching and call control functions 178 of the SSP. The SSP 26 forwards a request for the prepayment services to the SCP 27 to establish an interaction between the prepayment network service and the calling user/telecommunications device, such as the terminals 1, 2, 3 and 4 of figure 1. Thus the SSP 26 interfaces various calls in the network by its digital switching function, and makes the prepaid calling service available from the SCP 27. The SCP can be generally defined as an electronic control unit which controls the SSP by means of INAP (Intelligent Network Application Part) protocols. The SCP is arranged to monitor the calls and to dynamically accomplish the charging operations from the accounts dedicated to particular prepaid calling cards. As can be seen from figure 1 the SSP and the SCP may be connected to one of the exchanges of the PSTN, or they could also be implemented within or connected directly to the MSC of a mobile network. The intelligent network includes databases 184 for various accounts implemented so as to provide prepaid service accounts for the users (i.e dedicated user accounts) . The accounts are generally implemented within the SCP. These accounts are discussed in more detail later on in this specification. The triggering points in the call switching process are de- tected at the service switching point SSP 26. A basic example of the triggering point is a call attempt to a specific number. As applied in the present invention, such a triggering point might be a detection of a prepaid calling service telephone number, e.g. a specific free-phone number provided with a cer- tain prefix, such as "0800''. When such triggering point is detected by the triggering function, the SSP computer 170 immediately informs the SCP 27 about the triggering event and forwards various associated call connection data, such as the calling terminal telephone number and the destination number. The SCP 27 responds by processing the information in the computer 180 in accordance with the service logic 182 and returns control orders to the SSP computer 170, which translates those orders into appropriate commands for the switching and traffic processing and call control processing so as to control the switching. The SSP 26 detects the triggering conditions, i.e. identifies those network signals which are related to the services, and handles these signals so as to transfer the calls to the service control processor 162, and further receives the responses from the service control processor 162, verifies at the request of the service control processor whether specific conditions will arise, and if so, transmits corresponding messages to the service control processor 162, orders set-up and release of connections in the transport network and interacts with an intelligent peripheral (IP) equipment 176. The intelli- gent peripheral 176 may be used e.g. to provide different voice synthesis announcements to subscribers and receive / decode digits from dual tone multi- frequency (DTMF) telephones. In addition, the intelligent peripheral 176 may also receive voice inputs (rather than only DTMF tones) and employ suitable voice recognition software to decode subscriber responses. While the intelligent peripheral 176 may be included within the SSP 26, it may also be provided as a separate node accessible by the service switching point SSP 26 through the switching function 174 thereof. Figure 3 discloses one possibility for displaying the remaining calling time to the user. A mobile telephone 1 is provided with a display 30. The display show an announcement which may be sent e.g. in a for of a SMS text message (Short Message Service) per se known to a skilled person. In this example the display shows remaining calling time (22 minutes and 10 seconds) and the balance in the account (86 FIM) as the situation is at the given moment. It is to be understood here that the display could be any suitable display connected to a tele- phone terminal, such as a display of a PSTN telephone terminal or a display connected to a PSTN telephone terminal. Figure 4 shows one arrangement enabling the terminal 4 to establish a call to another terminals or to service providers 10. The call is routed to the SSCP, wherefrom it is triggered to the IN prepaid call service (0800 free-phone prefix) and further to a prepaid premium time card (PPPT) service providing the connections to the desired destinations 10. Figure 5 discloses one possible IN database record and the various fields thereof which may be used in the arrangement . The arrangement is preferably such that when a caller calls to the prepaid calling service, the service retrieves the dedicated database record. The record may include e.g. the following fields: 1. Field for secret individual code (PIN; Personal Identification Number) . The length of the PIN code will depend on the required level of security (may be e . g . 9 to 18 digits) . 2. The second field contains an administration code showing the status of the card. These can be, for instance, BLOCKED, USED, FRESH, etc. (in the example these are indicated by corresponding status state numbers) . This field may also contain a card series code of the issuing service provider enabling the service provider to block the card, if this is felt necessary. In one alternative the network operator or service provider may even change the status during an ongoing call. 3. The third field contains possible announcements (announcement number) by the service provider who has issued the card. 4. The fourth field contains a destination number or destination numbers to which a call can be established by the card. In case this field is in use, a call can be established only to numbers indicated by this field to provide a connection between the calling terminal and the terminal providing the desired service . 5. The fifth field contains the remaining call session time which is calculated dynamically during the call. 6. The sixth field contains the actual pulse account dedicated to the card and dynamically charged during the call as the call proceeds. The remaining session time indicated by field 5 is calculated on basis of this pulse value. As mentioned above, the accounts used in the invention may be pulse accounts. These are already known from the prepaid card arrangement already referred to, and thus not explained further than by mentioning that the electronic pulses in the account equal to a certain amount of money in a certain currency, e.g. such that 1 pulse = 10 pennies. Each of the pulse accounts in the IN is dedicated to a certain individual code (e.g. PIN in figure 5) . The user receives the code e.g. by buying a scratch surface prepaid calling card indicating the service number and the code under the erasable surface or a suitable voucher indicating the secret individual code dedicated to one account. According to one particular embodiment, the prepaid calling card is a special calling card with a predefined destination number, i.e. a card enabling a call to one single number or service only or to only some numbers (indicated by field 4 in figure 5) . The card may also have some other restrictions, such as restrictions in view of the calling time per a call, restrictions in view of the geographical locations or operator, number of calls and so on. One possible restriction is such that the card enables calls only to a data network, e.g. an access to an Internet Service Provider via a modem connection. The account in the IN node is activated by calling to the service and thereafter giving the individual (unique) code. The amount of pulses the user buys in advance equals to a certain amount of money, e.g. worth 100 FIM in a per se known manner, e.g. by said prepaid cards or vouchers. According to one alternative the secret or code is announced e.g. in a newspaper or a magazine. The code allows a call to only one destination number, so that the reader may call back to that number e.g. for the purposes of ordering advertised goods and/or services or for answering to some inquiries and/or for giving feed back to the paper. Each paper may show a dif- ferent unique (individual) code or then all the paper may show the same code dedicated to that advertisement. In addition, the calling time per reader using the code may also be limited. It is also a possibility that such prepaid call cards are distributed publicly (preferably free of charge) which allow a free call back to a certain number. An advantage of the above solutions compared to direct free-phone number is that the use thereof is more easily controllable, and that you can limit the maximum amount of calls/calling time and replies by the amount of distributed unique or individual codes. One additional embodiment enables changes or modifications to the data which relates to the account, such as to calling parameters or information associated to the specific individual code. For example, the operator or the service provider or the user may load some additional money or unit to the account, even during the call connection. One instance where this can be used is when the operator allows a bonus for a caller who has, for instance, used certain amount of money for the calls, in which case the bonus is loaded to the dedicated account. In addition, the operator or service provider may temporarily or permanently change the fee for the call during the call (e.g. between a normal price and a special price, or after a certain time has lapsed) . It is also possible to add some new restriction parameters / to remove some of the existing restriction parameters (such as allowed destination numbers, maximum calling time per a call, time of the day when calls are allowed etc . ) . The operator or service provider may also perform some control operations affecting the prepaid calls. The changes or modifications in the data will then be taken into account when providing dynamic information to the user concerning the charging . According to one embodiment the connection is desired between user's data terminal and service providers (e.g. Internet service provider; ISP) terminal. In this case the call can be established as a silent connection using modem connections, i.e. such that the dial-up string includes the prefix needed for providing the connection and also the secret code, whereafter the connections is made transparently through the prepayment service to the desired service of the service provider without any prompts or announcements or similar from the network side. According to one embodiment the secret code can be downloaded from the network (e.g. from Internet) . The secret individual code is transmitted as a crypted data packet which is then opened at the terminal. The IN apparatus enabling the implementation of the above are available e.g. by the applicant. However, it is to be understood that the details of the various implementations may vary in different installations. Exemplifying procedures for the prepayment of the calls and/or services by means of the present invention is now discussed with reference to the flow chart of figure 6. After the user has been provided with an individual code, e.g. by means of a scratch surface calling card or an add in a newspaper, the user may access the prepaid calling services of the IN e.g. by dialling a specific prefix, such as 0800 free-phone number, or another suitable access number so that the SSP may route the call to the service. As the call to the prepaid calling services initiates, the caller may be prompted to give the secret code, where after the caller enters the special code string to the service followed by # . As explained, the secret code is dedicated to the particular account, and thus the IN knows the correct user account to be debited from the call . In case the code was incorrectly given the caller may be prompted to re-enter the code. The IN verifies the balance in the user account . In case the balance in the account exceeds a certain threshold value, the caller is allowed to establish a call to the destination address, such as to another telephone terminal, to a service provider or to a data network. In case the balance of the user account is empty, or lower than said threshold value, a message is sent to the caller informing that there is no calling time left and e.g. asking him/her to load additional money to the user account. The message may be only informative and advising that the calling time is running out and that the user should load some more units or money, or a request to load some more units or money in condition that calls are otherwise not allowed or that the ongoing call will become terminated. According to one embodiment the caller is informed of the balance at the beginning of the connection. In case the remaining balance is lower than what is required for accessing the desired destination number or service, the user can be informed of this . The further information may contain an advice of such services in general which can still be accessed with the remaining balance, or the prepaid calling service may suggest a cheaper alternative for the desired service or even automatically connect the caller to some alternative service having lower price and being thus still accessible. After the card is successfully validated, the call is routed to the desired destination. After the destination answers, the dynamic charging operations will be started, and the charges are deducted from the user account accordingly. As the service is aware of the price of the call / use of the service and the amount of pulses remaining in the account, it is capable of dynamically calculating an estimation of the remaining call time. This remaining calling time is informed to the user, preferably by displaying it in the display of the telephone or by a voice message. The voice message can be, for instance, given in certain time intervals or then it can be given when a certain threshold time is reached (e.g. when ever the remaining time is shortened by 30 seconds) . It is to be noted that even though the above concerns accounts implemented in the network side, it is possible to use accounts which are implemented in the card side. The basic principle in these is the same, i.e. the remaining calling time is defined on basis of the price of the call and the amount of pulses left in the account. The calculations can be made by the prepaid calling service in the IN. Should the price of the call change during the call, e.g. in cases where the first 5 minutes are more expensive / less expensive than the next 5 minutes or a time period for a special price starts, the service will take this dynamically into ac- count, and the remaining time will be displayed accordingly. Thus, the invention provides an apparatus and a method by which a significant improvement can be achieved in the area of prepaid calls. It should be noted that the foregoing examples of the embodiments of the invention are not intended to restrict the scope of the invention to the specific forms presented above but the present invention is meant rather to cover all modifications, similarities and alternatives which are included in the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims. All additional embodiments, modifications and applications obvious to those skilled in the art are thus included within the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth by the claims appended hereto.

Claims: Claims 1. A method of providing prepaid calls or services for a user of a telephone by means of the telephone terminal and a prepaid calling service, comprising: providing the user with an individual code; establishing a call between the telephone terminal and the prepaid calling service; giving the individual code to the prepaid calling service; triggering the call to a desired destination; dynamically charging the costs for the call from an account dedicated to the individual code and containing required prepayment data; and informing accordingly the user dynamically of the remaining calling time during the call on basis of remaining balance in the account and the costs for the call and/or of the remaining balance in the account. 2. Method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the call time and/or balance information and possible other information relating to the call charging is displayed to the user by means of a display of the telephone terminal. 3. Method in accordance with claim 1 or 2 , wherein the user pays in advance for an access to a certain predefined service; and the individual code the user is provided with is a code dedicated solely for the certain predefined service. 4. Method in accordance with claim 3, wherein the individual code is provided to the user by means of a prepaid calling card providing the access to the certain predefined service only. 5. Method in accordance with any of the preceding claims, wherein the calling terminal and the terminal at the desired destination are data processing devices connected to the communications system, and the individual code is provided to the user by means of a data transmission through the communications system. 6. Method in accordance with any of the preceding claims, wherein the telephone number of the prepaid calling service is a number for a free-phone telephone number, and the individual code routes the call to a predefined premium rate telephone number of a desired service provider. 7. Method in accordance with claim any of the preceding claims, wherein it further comprises retrieving data relating to the individual code from a database, the data relating to the individual code including restriction parameters or other parameters or information relating to the use of the prepaid calling service. 8. Method in accordance with claim any of the preceding claims, wherein the dynamic real-time information provided to the user during the call includes further the balance used during the call. 9. Method in accordance with claim any of the preceding claims, wherein the account is a pulse account, and comprising further steps of: dynamically deducting pulses from the account during the call; and determining the remaining prepaid calling time and/or balance by means of calculations using at least parameters which dynamically indicate the price of the call and the amount of pulses left in the account. 10. Method in accordance with claim any of the preceding claims, comprising further a step of changing the balance in the account and/or modifying the parameters or restrictions of the call during the call, wherein the network operator or service provider preferably accomplishes said changes and/or modifications . 11. An arrangement for providing prepaid calls or services for a user of a telephone comprising: a prepaid calling service; a telephone terminal enabling an access to the prepaid calling service; means for providing the user with an individual code; an account dedicated for the individual code; means for triggering the call to a desired destination; means for dynamically charging the costs for the call from the account ; and means for informing during the call dynamically the user of the remaining calling time on the basis of the balance remaining in the account and the costs for the call and/or of the remaining balance in the account . 12. An arrangement in accordance with claim 11, comprising f rther : a database accessible by the prepaid calling service ,- means for retrieving data relating to the individual code from the database in response to received individual code, wherein the arrangement is such that the information and parameters included in said database can be changed or modi- fied, preferably by an operator running the arrangement. 13. An arrangement in accordance with claim 11 or 12, wherein the account is a pulse account implemented either in a database of an Intelligent Network providing the prepaid calling service or in a prepaid calling card of the user. 14. An arrangement in accordance with any of claims 11 to 13, wherein the telephone terminal comprises a display for displaying the remaining call time information and/or balance and possible other information relating to the call charging. 15. An arrangement in accordance with any of claims 11 to 14, wherein the account is a pulse account from which the pulses are dynamically deducted during the call, whereby the remaining prepaid calling time is determined by means of calculations using at least parameters indicating the price of the call and pulses left in the account. 16. An arrangement in accordance with any of claims 11 to 15, wherein the calling terminal and a terminal providing the desired service at the destination number end are data processing devices.

Inventors: AHOLA KALEVI, KESKITALO PASI, TIURI MARKKU, AHOLA, KALEVI, KESKITALO, PASI, TIURI, MARKKU
Applicants: AHOLA KALEVI, ERICSSON TELEFON AB L M, KESKITALO PASI, TIURI MARKKU, AHOLA, KALEVI, KESKITALO, PASI, TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL), TIURI, MARKKU
Application year: 1999
Main classification: H04M17
IPC codes: H04M3, H04M15, H04M17