Patent Application
20060116105
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to billing for communications services and, more particularly, to selecting an account to be charged.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many forms of communications are made possible for subscribers using terminals that are either mobile or fixed in location. The communications may be of any type, including such forms as audio, such as telephone or radio; text, e.g. short message service (SMS); Multimedia Message Service (MMS); graphics, such as those provided by the World Wide Web; or a video, and others. The different forms of communications may be transmitted to and from a single terminal by a single provider, or by multiple providers in cooperation with one another, or less often, independently. However, conventionally a communications services provider uses a single identifier to communicate with a terminal. In the case of land line terminals, the terminal (telephone, facsimile machine, etc.) is identified by a port on a switch. In the case of a computer connected to the Internet, the computer terminal is identified by an Internet Protocol (IP) address.
Different terms are used for the identifier of a mobile telephone, depending upon how it communicates. For Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications, an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is stored in the handset, while the MSISDN (Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network Number) and the IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identifier) are stored in the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). In the case of a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile telephone, a Mobile Identification Number (MIN) and the IMSI are stored in the Number Assignment Module (NAM). The NAM is part of the User Identity Module/Removable User Identity Module (UIM/R-UIM). In the case of IP communications, the MAC address is stored in the equipment and is equivalent to the IMEI/ESN, while the IP address is equivalent to the MSISDN/MIN.
Some mobile telephones or other terminals have more than one identification storage unit (e.g., SIM and/or NAM), or one or more sockets, so that the SIM, NAM, etc., is removable. For example, cellular telephones are currently available that are capable of communication in more than one type of system and have both a SIM and a NAM. In some of these terminals, users are able to replace the SIM/NAM to manually change the identity supplied by the terminal. In these terminals, each SIM/NAM is provisioned separately, typically by customer service personnel of the service provider.
The identifier stored in the SIM, NAM, etc. is used not only to establish connections, but also to determine the cost of a communication session. In the case of mobile telephones, known methods of billing include “post-pay,” where the cost is determined after the end of the communication session and the subscriber receives a bill for payment on a regular basis, e.g., monthly. Other billing methods include “pre-pay” and real-time billing (RTB) which both determine cost during the communication session and terminate the session if the available funds that have been pre-paid are exhausted, or pre-defined limits of a post-pay system are reached, respectively. Another method known by the inventors is a “toggle” system which permits a single subscriber identifier to be switched between pre-pay and post-pay.
Variations on these basic billing methods are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,026,291 and 6,256,504 and U.S. Patent Application Publications 2003/0032404 and 2003/0115138. The '291 patent discloses a post-pay cellular system having programmable subscription capability. The system uses the home location register (HLR), which is accessed when a call to or from a cellular telephone is initiated, to provide instructions to a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) regarding which attributes to record in a Call Detail Record (CDR) used in determining the cost of a communication session. The instructions are based on profiles stored in the HLR. The profiles are defined by subscription, user and terminal records. Subscription records contain information regarding agreements between users and cellular system operators on the usage of telecommunications services within a telecommunications network. User records contain information regarding persons who have access to the telecommunications services within a cellular system. Terminal records contain information regarding particular cellular subscriber stations or terminals. Thus, a single user may have multiple subscriptions or multiple terminals, or both. When a communication session is initiated with a terminal, a base station controller (BSC) provides a communication link with the cellular telephone terminal and sends the MIN to the home MSC of the terminal. Relationships between the subscription, user and terminal records are maintained as lists of user subscriptions for a user and allowed users for subscriptions. The user subscriptions list defines who will be charged for a call based on a schedule of day and time. If permitted by the profile, a user may send a feature request signal to select a different subscription.
The '504 patent discloses a billing system for mobile telephone users based on location of the mobile unit. The HLR executes a location sensitive billing (LSB) application in addition to a conventional HLR application. Location finding equipment (LFE) may be provided on the network side or in the mobile subscriber unit. During operation, a location function controller (LFC) in the HLR stores location information in a location cache (LC) that is accessed by the LSB application to generate a bill for the subscriber. A user may define zones such as “home”, “office” and “cellular” by informing the service provider of the geographical areas for the first two which can be charged at a lower rate than the cellular zone which is everywhere outside the home and office zones. Each time the subscriber initiates a call, the system informs the subscriber via an audio or text message of the current zone of operation and the subscriber is given an opportunity to terminate the call prior to being charged.
The '404 publication is directed to provisioning service zones for location sensitive billing. Geographical map data is utilized by a user interface to enable selection of zones as defined in a service subscriber database.
The '138 publication discloses a billing system for use of a telephony device after identifying the user of the device, so that the user's account can be charged, regardless of who is registered as owning the device. Caller identity authentication may be performed by the originating device, the destination device, or an intermediary device processing the call. Authentication methods mentioned include voice authentication; biophysical identifiers, such as an eye scan or a fingerprint; keypad entries, such as a PIN code, account number, password, etc.; and other secure transaction keys. Once the user has been identified, the billing information ordinarily used for a call placed from the device is replaced with the billing plan for the identified user in a service control point (SCP) or other billing system storage.
Although it is known to use a HLR to store profiles of users in which there may be multiple relationships between users, subscriptions and terminals, there is no known way of selecting a user identity or subscription plan for charging an account based on activities performed by the user. That requires intelligence in the device processing the communication, such as a signal control point in an intelligent network (IN).
An aspect of the present invention is to provide for real-time authorization and billing different accounts associated with a subscriber's terminal without modification of the terminal. This includes supporting simultaneous activities to multiple different accounts.
Another aspect of the present invention is to enable multiple users to share a single terminal with each user having a separate account.
A further aspect of the present invention is to enable a single terminal to be used for different activities with charges to an appropriate account for each activity, such as charging a personal account for playing games on a cellular telephone that is used primarily for business.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is to enable a single user with a single terminal to distribute their communications costs, across multiple financial domains.
The above aspects can be attained by a method of providing services for a subscriber using a communication terminal, including storing subscriber identity rules based on at least activities of a subscriber; and selecting, in accordance with the subscriber identity rules, one of a plurality of accounts associated with the subscriber to record a cost of at least one of a communication session and a commerce transaction. In particular, the account may be selected when the communication is initiated using a terminal of the subscriber.
The invention is particularly useful in conjunction with mobile communication terminals. When the communication terminal is mobile, the subscriber identity rules preferably include at least one of date, time, and location of the communication terminal, and the selecting may be based on an activity in which the communication terminal is used and at least one of date, time, and location of the communication terminal during the communication session.
In addition, the accounts may be associated with at least one mobile communication terminal of the subscriber different from the communication terminal used in providing the services which may be a landline telephone, for example. Then, the method preferably includes receiving from the communication terminal an identifier associated with the at least one mobile communication terminal of the subscriber to identify the one of the accounts that is selected. The form of the identifier may be any that is currently known or developed in the future.
The accounts may include at least one group account of which the subscriber is a member. Particularly in the case of a group account, such as a business account, the subscriber identity rules may restrict at least one activity. Due to such restrictions or insufficient funds in an initially selected account, a different account permitting the at least one activity may be selected either automatically or in response to a signal from the communication terminal.
These aspects can also be attained by a system for providing services for a subscriber using a communication terminal, including at least one storage device storing subscriber identity rules based on at least one of date, time, activity, and location; and at least one real time activity control device selecting, in accordance with the subscriber identity rules, one of a plurality of accounts associated with the subscriber to record a cost of at least one of a communication session and a commerce transaction.
Preferably, the system includes at least one interface to receive signals generated when the communication is initiated using the communication terminal of the subscriber. The interface may include a gateway to receive one of unstructured supplementary service data, a feature request and short message service text, indicating a change in identity requested by the subscriber for subsequent communications. The interface may also include at least one of a Web server, a handheld application server and an intelligent peripheral/interactive voice response (IP/IVR) server. The Web server may be used when the communication terminal is a data terminal capable of communicating via the World Wide Web and the IP/IVR server may be used when the communication terminal is a landline or mobile telephone.
These together with other aspects and advantages which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.
Following are several terms or acronyms used herein that are commonly used reference to communication networks, particularly telecommunications that include mobile or cellular or terminal devices, such as cellular telephones.
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
COS Class of service
CRM Customer Relationship Management
ESN Electronic Serial Number
FeatReq Used to transmit information via signaling channels of a CDMA network
GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GSM Global System for Mobile Communication
HHAP Hand Held Application Server
HLR Home Location Register
IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity
IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identifier
IN Intelligent Network
IP Internet Protocol
IVR Interactive Voice Response
MIN Mobile Identification Number
MMS MultiMedia Messaging Service
MSC Mobile Switching Center
MSID Mobile Station ID
MSISDN Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network Number
NAM Number Assignment Module
RTBS Real-Time Billing System
SCP Service Control Point (Processor)
SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node
SIM Subscriber Identity Module
SMS Short Message Service
SMSC Short Message Service Center
Terminal User communications device, such as a cellular telephone
UIM/R-UIM User Identity Module/Removable-User Identity Module
USSD Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (available in GSM networks)
WWW World Wide Web
As illustrated in
Common parameters for a single subscriber and a single communication device will typically be the identifiers of the equipment and subscriber, in particular, ESN or IMEI, MSISDN or MIN, and IMSI. Unique parameters for each identity or account of the subscriber may include (a) treatments, such as life-cycle, notifications, announcements, etc.; (b) permissible activities, such as local voice, SMS, MMS, gaming, etc.; (c) subscribed features, such as friends & family, group account, call forwarding, voice mail, etc.; (d) promotions, such as discounts, bonus, awards, etc.; and (e) charges, including tariffs, periodic and usage.
An exemplary embodiment of a communication system according to one aspect of the present invention for use with cellular telephone 22 is illustrated in
Following is a list of the types of operations that subscribers might be able to have performed on the data in identity database 28 either a customer care representative, or using one of the self-care options discussed below:
There are many ways a subscriber could directly interact with identity manager 26, some of which would only be available in particular types of communications systems. In addition to using a communications terminal, such as a cellular telephone 22, Web server 40 could be accessed by any user device 42 capable of communicating therewith via the World Wide Web 44. In existing cellular telephone networks, signals from cellular telephone 22 pass through mobile switching center or serving general packet radio service support node (MSC/SGSN) 46 which communicates with gateway GPRS support node 48, home location register (HLR) 50 or short message service center (SMSC) 52, depending upon the type of network and mode of communication. In addition, terminal 22 could be used to communicate with IP/IVR system 54 which can interact directly with terminal 22 via an Internet Protocol, interactive voice response, or a keypad interface. Alternatively, server 56 running handheld applications could be used to communicate between terminal 22 and self care application 32.
An example of a the type of screen display that might be generated for manually changing identity via Web server 40 is illustrated in
Currently, most cellular telephone networks in the United States are either code division multiple access (CDMA) or global system for mobile (GSM) communications networks. Each of these types of networks are able to send signaling data through HLR 50. CDMA networks provide such signaling via what are termed feature requests (FeatReqs) and such signals would be processed by FeatReq gateway 58. In GSM networks, unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) can be transmitted using HLR 50. USSD gateway 60 may be provided to supply information related to subscriber identities to self care application 32. Some networks of both CDMA and GSM provide short message service (SMS) via SMSC 52. SMS gateway 62 may be provided to supply identity information to self care application 32.
FeatReq gateway 58 and USSD gateway 60 would receive codes transmitted via CDMA and GSM networks, respectively, identifying specific operations to be performed. An example of the codes and corresponding operations that could be implement is provided in the table below. Identity 1
Identity 2
Identity 3
Identity 4
Identity 5
Identity 6
Identity 7
next
previous
Any conventional IP/IVR system could be used as IP/IVR system 54. IP/IVR system 54 allows the end users to do all of the activities offered by Web server 40 using a menu driven voice response system. The IVR system would generate a series of prompts offering the subscriber to initiate operations similar to those described above for the other interfaces and the subscriber would indicate responses either orally or by pressing on a phone keypad. IP/IVR system 54 collects each response and offers more prompts based on the response to receive further information to perform the desired operation. In short, the subscriber can select the identity, check the status of the identity, check the balances associated with the identity, select discount plans, add/remove service and feature offerings, add/modify/delete numbers to/from a friends and family list associated with the identity, and transfer funds between identities, among other things offered by a service provider.
The subscriber identity rules stored in identity database 28 define a relationship between a subscriber identity and an account. As illustrated in
In addition, the subscriber identity rules preferably include the ability to define restrictions or permissions for activities. Examples of activities that could be expressly restricted or permitted include voice calls (local, long distance, international, calls to/from explicit destinations) e-commerce and m-commerce purchases, file downloads, video/audio streams, mobile enterprise applications, gaming, etc
An example of a communications system according to an aspect of the present invention during operation is illustrated in
An overview of how such restrictions could be implemented is provided in the flowchart illustrated in
A more detailed flowchart of the method for determining an identity of a subscriber is illustrated in
If it is determined 110 that the subscriber is attempting an activity that is not permitted by the identity, such as playing interactive games, then it is determined 114 whether there is an alternate identity for this rule. In the case of Rule Number 1 in
If the criteria for application of the first rule are not matched 104, the next rule is selected 102 for consideration. In the example illustrated in
If no match 104 is found for the selection criteria in the first two rules, the remaining rules are considered in sequence. In the example illustrated in
A history of the changes in identity is preferably maintained in a log file. Each time a subscriber's identity is switched, a history record is recorded and stored in association with the subscriber's detail record. This history record can be used to inform the subscriber about all identity switches and may be referenced by customer care personnel when researching billing problems. An example of a portion of such a log file containing only identity changes for a single subscriber is provided in
The present invention has been described primarily with respect to use of a cellular telephone as a communication terminal. However, the invention is not limited to this particular type of terminal and can be employed in other communications networks. The invention can be used in any system where a user is charged for usage and is identified by the system using an identification value such as an MSISDN, an IP address, a directory number, an account number, or any other identifying attribute.
The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification and, thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as recited in the claims which may include the phrase “at least one of A, B and C” as an alternative expression that means one or more of A, B and C may be used, contrary to the holding in Superguide v. DIRECTV, 69 USPQ2d 1865 (Fed. Cir. 2004).
