System and method for determining and associating tariff rates for institutional calls
AssigneeValue-Added Communications, Inc.
InventorStephen Lee Hodge
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A telecommunications method for call forwarding including storing information regarding a called party in at least one local database, where the information regarding the called party is stored in a user account and making a telephone call by dialing a telephone number with a telephone, where the telephone is contained in a telephone management system. The method also includes determining whether the telephone number is associated with the user account and transferring, via the switchboard, the call to the called party if the telephone number is associated with the user account, where the telephone management system is in communication with a revenue management system, and also where the revenue management system contains at least one local database.
Claims22
A telecommunications management system for avoiding tariff circumvention, comprising:
- a telephone for making a telephone call, wherein the telephone is contained in an institutional telephone management system, and wherein the telephone dials a telephone number of or associated with a called party;
- an institutional server connected to the institutional telephone management system configured to regulate outbound calls originating from an institution;
- a revenue management system configured to associate the telephone number with a called party user account, the called party user account including geographic information regarding the location of the called party, wherein the geographic information is verified by an account setup process prior to activation of the called party user account, the account setup process comprising:
- consecutively querying the telephone number against a plurality of remote databases until the telephone number is located or until all of the plurality of databases have been queried;
- acquiring, from one of the plurality of remote databases when the telephone number is located in the one of the plurality of remote databases, or from the called party when the telephone number has not been found after all of the plurality of databases have been queried, geographic information of the called party associated with the telephone number;
- verifying that the geographic information of the called party includes a corresponding credit card address and a credit card zip code associated with the called party, wherein the verifying includes mailing to the called party an activation phone number and a code that when entered during communication with the activation telephone number positively verifies the geographic information and activates the called party user account;
- and
- a user account database configured to store verified geographic information associated with the called party and to process queries from the institutional server to determine if the outbound call is associated with an activated called party user account and if the telephone number is located in a different geographic region than the institution, thereby allowing outbound calls to be charged at an appropriate tariff.
A telecommunications method for avoiding tariff circumvention, comprising:
- associating a telephone number with a called party user account, the called party user account including geographic information regarding the location of the called party;
- verifying the geographic information using an account setup process prior to activation of the called party user account, the account setup process comprising:
- consecutively querying the telephone number against a plurality of remote databases until the telephone number is located or until all of the plurality of databases have been queried;
- acquiring, from one of the plurality of remote databases when the telephone number is located in the one of the plurality of remote databases, or from the called party when the telephone number has not been found after all of the plurality of databases have been queried, geographic information of the called party associated with the telephone number;
- verifying that the geographic information of the called party includes a corresponding credit card address and a credit card zip code associated with the called party, wherein the verifying includes mailing to the called party an activation phone number and a code that when entered during communication with the activation telephone number positively verifies the geographic information and activates the called party user account;
- storing the geographic information regarding the called party in a user account database;
- determining if an outbound call is associated with an activated called party user account and if the telephone number is located in a different geographic region than the institution by querying the user account;
- and
- transferring the outbound call to the called party if the telephone number is associated with an activated called party user account or terminating the outbound call if the telephone number is not found in the user account database.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.