Patent ID: 8374917

Claim:
A method of processing a billing transaction, comprising: receiving over a data network, at a billing transaction processing server, a first online purchase request message, wherein the first online purchase request message is initiated based at least in part on a website transaction by a first user and includes at least one billing parameter associated with the first user; at least partly in response to receiving the first online purchase request message, and based at least in part on the at least one billing parameter, making a first determination, by the billing transaction processing server, as to whether the first user is authorized to have online purchases billed on a phone bill; based at least in part on the first determination indicating that the first user is authorized to have online purchases billed on the phone bill: prior to billing the first online purchase to the phone bill, transmitting from the billing transaction processing server over the data network to a client application hosted by a computing terminal associated with a first user, a billing event notification instruction configured to cause the client application to notify the first user of a pending billing of the first online purchase to the phone bill and requesting that the first user provide a confirmation that the first online purchase is to be billed to the phone bill; and at least partly in response to receiving, via the client application, a confirmation from the first user that the first online purchase is to be billed to the phone bill, causing at least in part the client application to cause a first charge associated with the first online purchase to be added to the phone bill.