Patent ID: 8606222

Claim:
A method for performing prepaid account balance screening, the method comprising: at a network entity for processing network signaling messages: receiving a signaling message containing information that identifies a prepaid subscriber, the message being sent from a message source and intended for a message destination; determining, using prepaid account balance screening data and the information in the signaling message that identifies the prepaid subscriber, whether the prepaid subscriber's account balance satisfies a threshold requirement, wherein the available prepaid subscriber account information is stored in a prepaid subscriber database and wherein the prepaid account balance screening data is a subset of the available prepaid subscriber account information and is stored separate from the prepaid subscriber database; and in response to determining that the prepaid subscriber's account balance does not satisfy the threshold requirement, performing a screening action that shields the prepaid subscriber database from message traffic associated with the prepaid subscriber's account, wherein performing the screening action includes discarding the message.