Patent ID: 7324641

Claim:
A method of providing telephone response unit (TRU)-based services, comprising: receiving from a point-of-sale (POS) device a request at a host computer system to activate TRU-based services, wherein the request comprises an identifier that indicates the specific TRU-based services to be activated; confirming the availability of the specific TRU-based services to be activated; storing at the host computer system information that indicates the services are activated; returning a message to the POS that indicates that the TRU-based services have been activated, wherein returning a message to the POS device that indicates that the TRU-based services have been activated comprises returning an identifier that is unique to a particular customer; receiving a request at the host computer system from a TRU relating to the specific TRU-based services to provide an activation status of the specific TRU-based services; searching stored information at the host computer system for the activation status of the specific TRU-based services; returning information that indicates the activation status of the specific TRU-based services; and maintaining a record at the host computer system reflective of an account balance of a customer relating to the specific TRU-based services.