Patent ID: 7492880

Claim:
A method for processing a charge transfer request from a first user to a second user during a multi-way telephone call, comprising: receiving a charge transfer request from the first user; generating a billing record of the first user associated with the multi-way call; requesting an authorization for the charge transfer to the second user, said requesting an authorization for the charge transfer step further comprising: determining the second user among the plurality of participating users based on a multi-way call request, the multi-way call request including the plurality of desired participating users of the multi-way call; and determining an order of the remaining participating users added by the first user following the multi-way call request; storing the order of the remaining participating users added by the first user following the multi-way call request; receiving a charge transfer request response from the second user, the charge transfer request response including at least one of a predefined speech pattern or a predefined key pattern; transferring a charge to the second user if the second user authorizes the charge transfer request, wherein the second user becomes an administrator of the multi-way telephone call after the charge is transferred to the second user; notifying the first user of the chare transfer request response, including at least one of: notifying the first user and the second user of the transferred charge if the second user authorizes the charge transfer request, further including: generating a billing record of the second user for the multi-way telephone call at the time the charge is transferred to the second user; retrieving a billing record of the first user generated at the time when the multi-way telephone call is initiated; and updating the billing record of the first user based on the time of the charge transfer; or notifying the first user that the second user refuses the charge transfer request if the second user does not authorize the charge transfer request, wherein the first user is an initial administrator of the multi-way telephone call, remains as the administrator when the second user does not desire to be the administrator, and has originated the multi-way telephone call via a Voice over Internet Protocol system connecting a plurality of participating users which includes the second user, a land line phone service system, a wireless phone service system, or a private branch exchange system.