Patent Abstract:
The present invention is directed to a system and method for managing a prepaid wireless account for voice and data communications services. According to one embodiment the communications system, having a prepaid architecture for managing a plurality of prepaid wireless accounts for communication services, wherein each prepaid account is associated with a prepaid subscriber comprises a wireless network including a mobile switch, in communication with a wireless device, the wireless device for remotely managing at least one of the prepaid accounts. The communications system also comprises a wide area network including a prepaid account database for storing records assigned to subscribers of prepaid communications services; a prepaid application module for initializing and updating the prepaid accounts; a credit card transaction server, coupled to a credit card database, for checking available credit; and a prepaid server coupled to the prepaid account database and the prepaid application module. The communications system also includes a gateway in communication with the mobile switch of the wireless network and in communication with the wide area network.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to communications services and, more particularly, to a system and method for managing a prepaid wireless account for voice and data communications services. 
     2. Description of the Background 
     Wireless carriers have recently introduced a prepayment architecture in which subscribers prepay for services. The prepayment architecture benefits both carriers and subscribers. For the carriers, the prepayment architecture allows them to obtain payment in advance, which eliminates the cost of collection services or the need to acquire security, such as a credit card, in advance of engaging a subscriber. For the subscriber, the prepayment architecture avoids the typical credit checks, long-term contracts and billing agreements associated with standard wireless offers. Moreover, the prepayment architecture gives subscribers the ability to “pay as they go” for their wireless usage. 
     Despite the popularity of prepaid wireless accounts, most subscribers find the process for replenishing the account balance too burdensome. For example, subscribers must purchase refill cards at wireless carrier stores or at participating retail locations. Consequently, subscribers must locate and visit one of these establishments during regular business hours to purchase additional minutes. Also, subscribers may recharge cards using interactive voice response systems. Such a scheme may be too cumbersome and time-consuming. The recent standardization of wireless application protocol, however, may help to ease this burden. 
     Wireless application protocol (WAP) is an open specification that offers a standard method to access Internet-based content and services from wireless devices such as mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). WAP is a layered communication protocol that includes network layers (e.g., transport and session layers) as well as an application environment including a browser, scripting, telephony value-added services and content formats. This architecture allows WAP services to be hosted on standard world wide web (WWW) servers since they communicate with a WAP gateway/proxy using standard Internet protocols. 
     A prepayment architecture is needed that allows subscribers of prepaid wireless services to create and update account information in a simple and convenient manner. The architecture should provide sufficient flexibility so that subscribers can manage their account using either a personal computer or a wireless device. The system should also provide subscribers with secure access to perform a variety of the most popular account management functions such as account balance inquiries and account replenishment. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a system and method for managing a prepaid wireless account for voice and data communications services. According to one embodiment, the communications system, having a prepaid architecture for managing a plurality of prepaid wireless accounts for communication services, wherein each prepaid account is associated with a prepaid subscriber, comprises a wireless network including a mobile switch, in communication with a wireless device, the wireless device for remotely managing at least one of the prepaid accounts. The communications system also comprises a wide area network including a prepaid account database for storing records assigned to subscribers of prepaid communications services; a prepaid application module for initializing and updating the prepaid accounts; a credit card transaction server, coupled to a credit card database, for checking available credit; and a prepaid server coupled to the prepaid account database and the prepaid application module. The communications system also includes a gateway in communication with the mobile switch of the wireless network and in communication with the wide area network. 
     The system and method of the present invention may be used to manage a prepaid wireless account for communications services. The present invention provides a system for prepaid wireless subscribers to remotely manage their accounts. These and other benefits of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description below. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
       For the present invention to be understood clearly and readily practiced, the present invention will be described in conjunction with the following figures, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a simplified schematic diagram of a system for managing a prepaid wireless account for voice and data communications services, according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exemplary flow diagram that illustrates a process for managing subscriber accounts for prepaid wireless services according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a simplified schematic diagram of a system according to another embodiment of the present invention for managing subscriber accounts for prepaid wireless services; 
         FIG. 4  is a simplified schematic diagram of a system for alerting prepaid subscribers when the recharge threshold is encountered at the conclusion of a voice/data session; and 
         FIG. 5  is an exemplary flow diagram that illustrates a process for alerting prepaid subscribers when the recharge threshold is encountered at the conclusion of a voice/data session. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention while eliminating, for purposes of clarity, other elements. For example, certain details of a wireless network and certain account management platforms are not described herein. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize, however, that these and other elements may be desirable in a typical wireless network. A discussion of such elements is not provided because such elements are well known in the art and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention. 
     The various features of the invention will now be described with respect to the figures, in which like parts are identified with the same reference characters. The following description utilizes the wireless application protocol (WAP) and wireless markup language (WML) standards as a basis for linking a wireless device to a remote application. It will be recognized, however, that these standards are used by way of example only, and that the concepts utilized here are equally applicable in other environments that do not operate in accordance with these particular standards. 
       FIG. 1  is a simplified schematic diagram of a system  10 , according to one embodiment of the present invention, for managing subscriber accounts for prepaid wireless services. The system  10  includes a WAP-enabled wireless device  12 , a mobile switching center (MSC)  14 , a WAP gateway  16 , a prepaid secure server  18 , a customer account database  19 , a credit card transaction server  20 , a prepaid card application module  21 , an Internet  22 , and a firewall  24 . The wireless device  12  may be any wireless digital processor capable of accessing the Internet such as, for example, a WAP-enabled mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, or a pager. 
     Mobile switching center  14  may comprise any one of a number of known communications switching devices, including those commonly used and known in the art for providing either digital or analog cellular telephone service to a plurality of wireless devices  12 . The mobile switching center  14  performs switching functions to permit communication between the Internet  22  and the wireless device  12 . Although only one mobile switching center  14  is shown, it will be understood that system  10  likely includes many more. 
     The WAP gateway  16  refers to a software infrastructure that connects the wireless domain (i.e. wireless device  12  and MSC  14 ) with the Internet  22 . Specifically, the WAP gateway  16  carries out protocol conversions between WAP communication protocols and the Internet communication protocols (e.g. HTTP, TCP/IP). The WAP gateway  16  also performs content encoding, such as encoding of WML into binary format and compilation of WMLScripts. The WAP gateway  16  typically resides within the wireless carrier&#39;s network but may also reside within a corporate business environment. 
     The prepaid secure server  18  can be a single physical machine or multiple machines linked together. The firewall  24  is a system, usually a combination of hardware and software, interposed between prepaid server  18  and the rest of the Internet  22  that enforces a security policy on communication traffic entering and leaving an internal network. As shown in  FIG. 1 , communications to and from the prepaid server  18  go through the firewall  24 . 
     The customer account database  19  stores information related to the prepaid service credit balance of the prepaid subscriber. The customer account database identifies particular subscribers, credit card information, and other account specific information concerning that subscriber. 
     The credit card transaction server  20  includes one or more of the commercial credit card databases such as, for example, MasterCard or Visa. Each record of this database corresponds to one transaction using a given credit card. Each record may include, for example, an account number, an expiration date of the card, a transaction amount, a merchant identification number, and a credit limit. The credit card server  20  communicates with prepaid secure server  18  to update the subscriber credit information stored in the customer account database  19 . 
     The application module  21  carries out administrative transactions in connection with certain prepaid communications services including account initialization, balance queries, and account recharging. Module  21  may be implemented using hardware or software. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the process described below may be implemented at any level, ranging from hardware to application software and in any appropriate physical location. For example, module  21  may be implemented as software code to be executed by the prepaid server  18  using any suitable computer language such as, for example, microcode, and may be stored in, for example, an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), or can be configured into the logic of the prepaid server  18 . According to another embodiment, module  21  may be implemented as software code to be executed by the prepaid server  18  using any suitable computer language such as, for example, Java, Perl, C or C++ using, for example, conventional or object-oriented techniques. The software code may be stored as a series of instructions or commands on a computer readable medium, such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), a magnetic medium such as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, or an optical medium such as CD-ROM. The application module  21  may also be a computer, such as a workstation or a personal computer, a microprocessor, a network server, or an application specific integrated circuit, using any suitable type of computer instruction. 
     The mobile switching center  14  is coupled to the gateway  16  by communication link  27 , which may be, for example, a T1 connection. The gateway  16  is then coupled to the Internet  22  by communication link  28 , which may be, for example, a T1 connection or a T3 connection. Likewise communication links  30  and  32  couple the prepaid server and credit card transaction server  20  to the Internet  22  using, for example, a T1 or T3 connection. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the hardware and software interfaces between the elements shown in  FIG. 1  are conventional and do not form part of the invention. 
       FIG. 2  is a simplified flow diagram that illustrates a process  90  for managing subscriber accounts for prepaid wireless services according to one embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 2  is entered at step  100 , and in step  102 , the prepaid subscriber uses wireless device  12  to initiate a connection with the prepaid server  18 , such as by entering a uniform resource locater (URL) in a conventional manner. The request is sent from the wireless device  12  to the WAP gateway  16  using wireless session protocols, essentially a binary version of HTTP. The present invention establishes a secure connection between the wireless device  12  and gateway  16  using transport layer security, such as wireless transport layer security (WTLS). WTLS is based on transport layer security, but optimized for narrowband communication channels. The communication then works its way through the system  90  in a manner well know to those skilled in the art until it reaches the prepaid server  18 . The prepaid wireless server  18  then interfaces with the application module  21  to manage the subscriber&#39;s request for account access. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciated that the application module  21  may reside on the prepaid server  18  or may reside on any web server connected either directly to the prepaid server  18  or the Internet  22 . 
     For return communication issued to the wireless device  12 , content is suitably formatted in, for example, wireless markup language (WML) to accommodate the small screen and low bandwidth/high latency connection. The WML for WAP is analogous to HTML used on the world wide web, except that WML is based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML). The gateway  16  then encodes the formatted content into a binary format in order to save valuable bandwidth in the wireless network, such as the WAP binary XML content format. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 2 , in step  104  the present invention inquires whether the requester has previously registered for service. If not, in step  106  the application module  21  queries for new account information including, but not limited to, a valid credit card number, a recharge threshold, and a recharge amount. The recharge threshold refers to a minimum account balance below which the present invention requires replenishment. The recharge amount refers to a pre-authorized amount used to replenish an account when the balance has fallen below the recharge threshold. 
     In step  108 , the new prepaid subscriber enters a username and password. The username, for example, may be a phone number where the wireless device  12  is a cellular telephone. In step  110 , the username and password are read, again in a conventional manner, and checked against information stored in the customer account database  19 . The process of reading and authenticating of a username and password is well known to those skilled in the art. If the username and password combination is invalid, the present invention may permit several failed login attempts before terminating the application. 
     If application module  21  finds the username and password in the customer account database  19 , in step  112  the present invention gives the subscriber an opportunity to perform a variety of popular account management tasks. For an account balance query, in step  114  the application module  21  queries the customer account database  19 , using the username received during the login process, to determine the account balance. This step is executed by the application module  21  in a manner well known to those skilled in the art for querying a database for certain records. Finally, in step  116 , the present invention displays the account balance on the browser of the wireless device  12  and proceeds to an end in step  117 . 
     If, in step  112 , the application module  21  cannot find the subscriber&#39;s username the account initialization process begins. In step  118  the application module  21  requests the subscriber to input an amount to prepay. In step  120 , the present invention checks the credit associated with the card account to determine whether the prepaid subscriber&#39;s account has available credit. The present invention queries credit card transaction server  20  via communication links  30  and  32 . Communication between the credit card server  20  and the Internet  22  is protected using, for example, secure sockets layer (“SSL”) protocol and user authentication. If in step  122  the subscriber lacks available credit, the present invention may give the subscriber an opportunity to specify a lesser amount in step  118 . Once the application module  21  determines that the subscriber has sufficient credit available, the module  21  initializes the prepaid account in step  124  and proceeds to an end in step  117 . 
     If a prepaid subscriber elects, in step  112 , to replenish an existing account, then in step  126  the present invention checks the credit associated with the card account to determine whether the prepaid subscriber&#39;s account has available credit. In step  128 , the present invention determines whether the amount of available credit exceeds the recharge amount. Where the amount of credit available is less than the recharge amount, the present invention allows the prepaid subscriber to enter an amount less than the recharge amount (step  130 ). Otherwise, the account is replenished in step  132  and proceeds to an end in step  117 . According to another embodiment, step  128  would provide an additional check to verify that the account balance, after recharging, exceeds a predetermined minimum amount necessary to complete a voice/data session. The manner of comparing a prepaid account balance with the attributes of a desired communications is well know to those of ordinary skill in the art. 
       FIG. 3  is a simplified schematic diagram of a system  50  according to another embodiment of the present invention for managing subscriber accounts for prepaid wireless services. The system  50  includes, in addition to those components described above in connection with system  10 , a web appliance  52 , such as, for example, a personal computer (e.g. a Compaq iPAQ Home Internet Appliance) or a browser on a whiteware appliance, coupled to a router  54  that is operable to route data to and from the Internet  12  via communications link  56 . The router  54 , in turn, is coupled to the Internet  22  in a conventional manner. The Web appliance  52  gives prepaid subscribers an alternative mechanism for accomplishing the same account management requests described above in connection with the wireless device  12 , including account initialization, balance queries, and account recharging. Standard communication protocols, like HTTP and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) manage these requests and the transfer of data along the communications link  56 . 
       FIG. 4  is a simplified schematic diagram of a system  200  for alerting prepaid subscribers when the recharge threshold is encountered at the conclusion of a voice/data session. Similar to systems  10  and  40 , the system  200  includes the wireless device  12 , the mobile switching center (MSC)  14 , the gateway  16 , the prepaid secure server  18 , the customer account database  19 , and the application module  21 . The application module  21  determines the prepaid account balance at the conclusion of the voice/data session and compares the balance to the recharge threshold. If the module  21  finds that the prepaid balance is less than the recharge threshold it issues an alert using, for example, a push framework. WAP push, called push access protocol, is used to convey content and push related control information between the application module  21  (the push initiator) and wireless device  12  (the push proxy) without a previous user action. A push proxy gateway  60 , like the gateway  16 , parses control information and transforms WML content into binary form. 
       FIG. 5  is an exemplary flow diagram that illustrates a process  300  for alerting prepaid subscribers when the recharge threshold is encountered at the conclusion of a voice/data session. Assume, for example, that a prepaid user with an account balance of $12 and a recharge threshold of $10 makes a call on the wireless device  12 .  FIG. 5  is entered at step  302  just as a voice/data session terminates. In step  304 , the wireless device  12  reports the minutes of use to the application module  21 . The module  21  then updates the account balance in the customer account database  19 . In step  306 , the present invention determines whether the most recent voice/data session caused the account balance to fall below the recharge threshold. In this example, when the account balance falls below $10, the recharge threshold, the application module  21  issues a WAP push notification, addressed to the username provided during registration, that proceeds through a push proxy gateway  60  and finally to the WAP-capable wireless device  12  (steps  308  and  310 ). In one embodiment, when the account falls below a threshold, a short messaging service (SMS) message having an alert is sent to the address of the wireless device  12 . Accordingly, the wireless device  12  displays a notification that the account balance has fallen below $10. The prepaid architecture could, according to one embodiment, allow subscribers to draw the account balance below zero provided the initial account registration provided for overdraft. According to another embodiment, the subscriber could specify a minimum account balance, such as $50, that would trigger a push alert. 
     According to another embodiment, the module  21  may issue an alert anytime the wireless device  12  is powered on, rather than just at the termination of a call. Furthermore, prepaid subscribers could specify the frequency of recharge alerts that occur once the recharge threshold has been encountered. Subscribers could specify the frequency, for example, during account initialization. According to another embodiment, the module  21  could be configured so that subscribers could specify the notification frequency based on elapsed time or a certain triggering event. 
     According to another embodiment, the module  21  could be configured to deliver an in-call notification if the mobile switching center and wireless device are capable of simultaneous voice/data sessions. For example, the wireless device  12  could emit an audible signal during a call, notifying the subscriber that the account balance has fallen below the recharge threshold. If the wireless device  12  is a cellular phone, the subscriber could recharge the account balance without dropping the call. 
     It should be understood that the invention is not limited by the foregoing description of preferred embodiments, but embraces all such alterations, modifications, and variations in accordance with the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7