Prepaid telephony system and method of activating a prepaid telephony account
AssigneeSBC Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
InventorsDonna Harrison, Larry Pearson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In one particular embodiment, the disclosure is directed to a method of activating a prepaid telephony account. The method includes receiving a call from a caller at a prepaid service destination address identified by a prepaid calling card; receiving a prepaid card number of the caller; receiving a destination number; receiving an origination address of the caller; providing a message to the caller including an offer to associate a prepaid account corresponding to the prepaid calling card with the origination address of the caller; receiving a response to the message from the caller; and associating a long distance service code with the origination address of the caller based on the response to the message.
Claims42
A method of activating a prepaid telephony account, the method comprising:
- receiving a call from a caller at a prepaid service destination address identified by a prepaid calling card;
- receiving a prepaid card number of the caller;
- receiving a destination number;
- receiving an origination address of the caller;
- providing a message to the caller including an offer to associate a prepaid account corresponding to the prepaid calling card with the origination address of the caller;
- receiving a response to the message from the caller;
- and
- associating a long distance service code with the origination address of the caller based on the response to the message.
A method of handling a long distance call, the method comprising:
- receiving a long distance call request communicated over a telephony network;
- retrieving a prepaid long distance service code from a switch control point coupled to the telephony network;
- and
- connecting to a prepaid call system based on the long distance service code.
A prepaid account stored in a computer system, the prepaid account comprising:
- subscriber identity data;
- network address information associated with the subscriber identity data;
- and
- prepaid usage data to identify a number of prepaid usage units available for use of a telephony service, the telephony service automatically accessible from a telephone network address identified by the network address information.
A billing statement comprising:
- subscriber information associated with a subscriber;
- local exchange information associated with a local phone service of the subscriber;
- and
- prepaid account information identifying a portion of prepaid account units associated with a long distance service.
A system comprising:
- a long distance telephony carrier system;
- a calling card prepaid system;
- a service control point including a memory storing subscriber prepaid account information including a prepaid card identity and an associated local phone address;
- and
- a service switching point of an intelligent network, the service switching point responsive to the long distance telephony carrier system and responsive to the calling card prepaid system, the service switch point configured to access the service control point in response to receiving a call request, the service control point configured to access the subscriber prepaid account information to authorize the call request.
A prepaid calling card comprising:
- a primary access address;
- and
- a unique identification number identifying a prepaid account having an allotment of prepaid usage units for use in connection with a telephony service, the telephony service accessible via a first access channel to the service provider and accessible via a second access channel to the service provider.
A system comprising:
- computer readable memory including:
- an originating address;
- and
- a presubmitted interexchange carrier code identifying a prepaid long distance exchange carrier associated with the originating address.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.