Abstract:
A method, system and apparatus for processing bill payments in a PSTN. The method of the invention can include, responsive to answering a telephone call from a caller over the PSTN, identifying the caller from a data communications source external to the telephone call and retrieving billing information for the identified caller. Once the billing information has been retrieved for the identified caller, the payment of a bill can be processed based upon the billing information. In a preferred aspect of the invention, the identifying step can include identifying the caller based upon identifying information for the caller received through a data communications link from a name resolution adapter disposed within the PSTN. For instance, the identifying step can include identifying the caller based upon identifying information retrieved from a LIDB and transmitted by the name resolution adapter.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Statement of the Technical Field  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to delivering subscriber services for a telephone subscriber, and more particularly to providing bill payment services in a public switched telephone network (PSTN).  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     The intelligent network of today bears little semblance to the PSTN of old. In fact, the term “intelligence” has little to do with the operation of the conventional PSTN. Rather, the conventional PSTN of old incorporates a massive complex of switching matrices and transport trunks that, through the electronic equivalent of “brute force”, forge the interconnections necessary to call completion. More particularly, for decades for every call processed the PSTN relied upon each successive switch to route a voice signal to the next. Still, the modern volume of calls processed within the conventional PSTN demands a faster, more streamlined approach to call routing.  
         [0005]     To overcome the elements of the brute force aspect of the conventional PSTN, physically separate signaling networks have been grafted upon the transport and switching PSTN elements to oversee call set-up and billing. These “out-of-band” adjuncts speed routing data and commands directly to the switches involved, establishing all the necessary links prior to the actual transmission of a call. Consequently, with “out-of-band” signaling the PSTN has become “conscious” of the operations it is to perform prior to their execution. As a result, the PSTN has become a more flexible beast, capable even of substantial logic.  
         [0006]     The development of the “out-of-band” protocol, Signaling System  7  (SS 7 ), has led to the widespread deployment of intelligent network technology. In SS 7 , signaling links transmit routing packets between switches. Consequently, specialized SS 7  Signaling Transfer Points (STPs) appeared to shepherd routing messages from local switches onto a high-capacity packet switches for distribution to other switches, STPs and call-related databases, such as the Line Information Database (LIDB), the Local Number Portability (LNP) database, the Toll Free Calling database and other databases containing additional call routing instructions. And, so, the agility of high-speed computer networking began exerting control over the raw power of the PSTN.  
         [0007]     The marriage of convenience between SS 7  and the PSTN soon produced the Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)—an architecture where centralized databases control call processing. Logic ported via STPs to select switches now have become widely distributed throughout the network. AIN-capable switches also have begun to finction as interactive signaling-platforms. Equipped with resident software triggers, AIN capable switches now can halt a call in progress long enough to query Service Control Points (SCPs)—databases containing service logic and subscriber information—which can provide instruction as to how to route, monitor, or terminate the call. The PSTN of today now effectively includes long-term memory as well as intelligence. Accordingly, the modem local exchange carrier holds the means to deploy such advanced telecommunications features such as telephone number portability, wireless roaming, call waiting and a host of other subscriber options.  
         [0008]     The LIDB is a database configured for coupling to the PSTN through an SCP. The LIDB typically includes amorphous records arranged to store information regarding telephone callers, such as the name of the caller, the address of the caller, billing information for the caller, and the like. By storing invariable information regarding the caller, such as the name, address and billing method, many intelligent telephonic services can be provided over the PSTN through a simple query to the LIDB. In this regard, several local exchange carriers have deployed independent LIDB access services to facilitate the deployment of intelligent telephonic services which can exploit the invariant information stored within the LIDB.  
         [0009]     Despite the wealth of information associated with a telephone caller stored in the LIDB, the LIDB seems to remain an untapped resource suitable only for advanced telephony billing applications. Accordingly, many conventional inconveniences remain prevalent in the world of the call center. For instance, though a name of a caller can be resolved prior to the completion of a phone call, in many cases, telephone callers still must exhaustively establish their respective identities in order to conduct a phone payment of a bill. Typically, the required information can include a social security number, account number, home address, phone number, date of birth and mother&#39;s maiden name. Consequently, the potential convenience of telephonic bill payment can be lost among the clutter of identity establishment procedures.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010]     The present invention addresses the deficiencies of the art in respect to the telephonic payment of a bill and provides a novel and non-obvious method, system and apparatus for the payment of a bill through the PSTN. In accordance with the present invention, a method for processing bill payments in a PSTN can include, responsive to answering a telephone call from a caller over the PSTN, identifying the caller from a data communications source external to the telephone call and retrieving billing information for the identified caller. Once the billing information has been retrieved for the identified caller, the payment of a bill can be processed based upon the billing information.  
         [0011]     In a preferred aspect of the invention, the identifying step can include identifying the caller based upon identifying information for the caller received through a data communications link from a name resolution adapter disposed within the PSTN. For instance, the identifying step can include identifying the caller based upon identifying information retrieved from a LIDB and transmitted by the name resolution adapter. The retrieving step can include retrieving a bill specifying payment by the caller. Finally, the processing step can include presenting the billing information to the caller telephonically over the PSTN, prompting the caller to accept the information, and continuing processing payment of the bill if the caller accepts the information.  
         [0012]     A bill processing system configured for use in a call center coupled to a PSTN can include a telephone communications device disposed in the call center and configured for use with the PSTN. The system further can include a bill payment management information system configured for coupling to a telephone subscriber database disposed in the PSTN over a data communications link which is separate from a telephonic linkage used to couple the telephone communications device to the PSTN. Finally, the system can include a bill payment service hosted by the bill payment management information system.  
         [0013]     Additional aspects of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The aspects of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute part of the this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. The embodiments illustrated herein are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown, wherein:  
         [0015]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a system, method and apparatus for processing bill payments in a PSTN according to the inventive arrangements;  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a schematic illustration of a system for processing bill payments using identifying information acquired within the PSTN; and,  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating a method for processing bill payments in the system of  FIG. 2 .  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]     The present invention is a method, system and apparatus for processing bill payments in a PSTN. In accordance with the present invention, a placed call within the PSTN can be processed by logic disposed within the PSTN to identify the caller for the placed call. Once the caller has been identified, further identifying information can be retrieved from a data store within the PSTN and the further identifying information can be electronically provided to a bill payment service over a data communications network. Concurrently, the placed call can be completed to call terminating equipment in the call center. Using the further identifying information, a bill payment can be processed for the caller without requiring an exhaustive prompting of personally identifying information over the PSTN.  
         [0019]     In further illustration,  FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a process for name-alias based delivery of services in a PSTN according to the inventive arrangements. Specifically, callers  130  can be coupled telephonically to a call center  160  having a bill management information system  160 A and one or more telephone communication devices  160 B. The call center  160  can include a bill payment service  140  which can process bill payment data  150  through interactions with one or more callers  130  over the PSTN  110 . In this regard, callers  130  can telephonically pay bills managed by the bill payment service  140  by calling the call center  160  through the PSTN  110 . In the present invention, however, the callers  130  need not engage in an exhaustive authentication process as the authentication of the callers  130  can occur primarily externally to the calls themselves.  
         [0020]     In more particular explanation, as a caller  130  initiates a telephone call in the PSTN  110 , a name resolution adapter  180  disposed within the PSTN  110  can capture caller data  190  for the telephone used by the caller  130  to place the telephone call in order to identify the caller  130 . Using the caller data  190 , the name resolution adapter  180  can produce specific caller identification data  170  for the caller  130 , for instance a name, address, phone number, credit card number, or account number, to name a few. More particularly, the name resolution adapter  180  can query one or more databases disposed within the PSTN  110 , including a LIDB, to obtain the specific caller identification data  170  based upon the caller data  190 .  
         [0021]     When the specific caller identification data  170  has been acquired, the specific caller identification data  170  can be provided to the bill management information system  160 A over a data communications network linkage. Concurrently, the call between the caller  130  and the telephone communications device  160 B in the call center  160  can be established over the PSTN  110 . Using the specific caller identification data  170 , the bill payment service  140  can retrieve the billing records for the caller  130  from the bill payment data  150 . Subsequently, the caller  130  can be prompted to manage one or more bills, for instance by paying all or a portion of a retrieved bill. Notably, the caller  130  can be prompted to manage one or more bills without first requiring extensive authentication in part because the authentication will be obviated by the specific identification of the caller by the name resolution adapter  180 .  
         [0022]     To further illustrate the preferred embodiments of the present invention,  FIG. 2  is a schematic illustration of a system for processing bill payments using identifying information acquired within the PSTN. As shown in  FIG. 2 , a system for processing bill payments using identifying information acquired within the PSTN can include one or more telephonic switches  230  coupled to one another within a PSTN  200 . Each of the switches  230  can be communicatively linked to a service switching point (SSP)  220  coupled to an out-of-band signaling network comprised of a multiplicity of signal transfer points (STP)  210 . Each STP  210  can be cross-connected to other ones of the STPs  210  in the PSTN so as to form an inter-network of switched communications links to support out-of-band signaling as is well-known in the art.  
         [0023]     One or more switchless nodes each referred to as an SCP  240  can be communicatively linked to the out-of-band signaling network via one of the STPs  210  as is well-known in the art and embodied within the SS 7  signaling network. The SCP  240  can be coupled to one or more databases  260 A,  260 B,  260 n which can be configured to store invariant data such as the name, address and billing information for callers. For example, the databases  260 A,  260 B,  260 n can include a local number portability (LNP) database, a LIDB, or any other such database which can be accessed within an SCP  240 .  
         [0024]     Importantly, as is well-known in the art, the information stored within the databases  260 A,  260 B,  260 n can be stored in amorphous records in nothing more than a flat file database, an object database or a relational database. In any event, through the communicative linkages between the SCP  240 , the STP  210  and the databases  260 A,  260 B,  260   n , transaction capabilities application part (TCAP) messages can be processed in the SCP  240  to access the invariant data in the databases  260 A,  260 B,  260   n . In this way, calls processed through the switch  230  can access logic in the SCP  240  and data in the databases  260 A,  260 B,  260   n  through the SSP  220 .  
         [0025]     Importantly, a name resolution adapter  290  can be coupled to the out-of-band network comprised of inter-connected STPs  210  to access data and logic through the SCP  240  through an exchange of messages such as TCAP messages. The name resolution adapter  290  can include a gateway node  250  having both an interface to the PSTN  200  and also an interface to a data communications network  270  such as an Internet Protocol driven network  270 . In this way, data received through the PSTN  200 , and more particularly from accessing the databases  260 A,  260 B,  260   n  in the PSTN  200  can be passed within IP packets to an enterprise application  280  over the data communications network  270 . Also, as the enterprise application  280  can be coupled to a switch  230  within the PSTN  200  through an associated adapter, data disposed within the databases  260 A,  260 B,  260   n  regarding an incoming call can be processed within the enterprise application  280 .  
         [0026]     In operation, the name resolution adapter  290  can monitor calls placed to a switch  230  to which the enterprise application  280  has been coupled. As calls are received in the switch  230 , the name resolution adapter  290  can receive respective TCAP messages from the STP  210  coupled to the switch  230 . Using the TCAP messages, the name resolution adapter  290  can create additional TCAP messages to query the LIDB  260 B to identify the callers. For each TCAP message querying the LIDB  260 B, the LIDB  260 B can return the identity of the caller, for instance the caller&#39;s name, or other identification such as caller&#39;s address. Once the name resolution adapter  290  has received the identity of the caller from the LIDB  260 B, the name resolution adapter  290  can transmit the identity to the enterprise application  280  over the data communications network  270 . The enterprise application  280  subsequently can correlate the caller identity received from the name resolution adapter  290  with a corresponding call received through the switch  230 .  
         [0027]     It will be recognized by the skilled artisan that by establishing the identity of the caller through the operation of the name resolution adapter  290 , an exhaustive authentication exchange will not be required as between a caller and the enterprise application to determine the identity of the caller. Rather, as the name resolution adapter  290  within the PSTN  200  will be considered trustworthy to the enterprise application  280 , the identity of the caller as specified by the name resolution adapter  290  will suffice for the purpose of authentication the caller. As such, a bill payment process  300  can process the payment of a bill simply by correlating the identity of the caller as specified by the name resolution adapter  290  with internally managed bill payment data for the caller.  
         [0028]     Specifically,  FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating a method for processing bill payments in the system of  FIG. 2 . Beginning in block  310 , a call can be received in the call center and in block  320 , caller information for the call can be gathered from a name resolution adapter disposed in the PSTN. In block  330 , billing information can be retrieved for the caller based upon the caller information received from the name resolution adapter. Subsequently, the caller can be prompted to with information relating to a bill based upon the retrieved billing information.  
         [0029]     In decision block  340 , it can be determined whether the caller has accepted the billing information as accurate. If not, in block  390  the call can be transferred to a customer service process, or possibly a live customer service agent. Otherwise, the caller can be prompted to pay the bill associated with the billing information. If in decision block  350 , it is determined the the caller has agreed to pay the bill in full, in block  380  the bill can be paid. Otherwise, in block  360  the caller can be prompted to specify a partial payment of the bill. In decision block  370  it can be determined whether the caller agrees to pay a partial amount of the bill. If so, the partial amount can be paid in block  380 . Otherwise, the caller can be prompted again in block  360 . Alternatively, the caller can request help in which case the call can be transferred to a customer service process in block  390 .  
         [0030]     The present invention can be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. An implementation of the method and system of the present invention can be realized in a centralized fashion in one computer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind of computer system, or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein, is suited to perform the functions described herein.  
         [0031]     A typical combination of hardware and software could be a general purpose computer system with a computer program that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein. The present invention can also be embedded in a computer program product, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein, and which, when loaded in a computer system is able to carry out these methods.  
         [0032]     Computer program or application in the present context means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following a) conversion to another language, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different material form. Significantly, this invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and accordingly, reference should be had to the following claims, rather than to the foregoing specification, as indicating the scope of the invention.