Patent ID: 6873690

Claim:
A method for providing a prepaid telephone calling card service using a call processor including an account database which has account records corresponding to a plurality of prepaid accounts, each of the accounts having a balance associated therewith, the account records including a plurality of access codes, each of which is associated with one of the accounts, said method comprising the steps of storing a plurality of registered telephone numbers in the database, each of the registered telephone numbers being associated with one of the accounts; connecting a first telephone call originating from a first telephone number to the call processor; determining whether the first telephone number corresponds to one of the registered telephone numbers; if the first telephone number corresponds to one of the registered telephone numbers, connecting the first call to a second telephone number; and adding a monetary value to a first one of the accounts by transferring the balance of a second one of the accounts to the first one of the accounts, wherein said adding step includes the steps of connecting a second telephone call to the call processor; prompting for an entry of the access code of the second one of the accounts; entering the access code of the second one of the accounts; determining whether the entered access code of the second one of the accounts is valid; transferring the balance of the second one of the accounts to the balance of the first one of the accounts; and setting the balance of the second one of the accounts to zero.