WO2000013375A1

WO2000013375A1 - Web-based access to an enhanced service system by institutions, point of sale and end users

Info

Publication number: WO2000013375A1
Application number: PCT/US1998/017621
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jason Bailis; Judy Chiang; Khalid Barham
Original assignee: Harris Corporation
Priority date: 1998-08-26
Filing date: 1998-08-26
Publication date: 2000-03-09
Also published as: AU8919798A

Abstract

An enhanced services telephone system (12) and method by which enhanced service providers (32), marketing institutions (34), point-of-sale merchants (36) and users (38) of the enhanced services are provided limited access to the database (20) of the enhanced service providers (32) via the Internet (30).

Description

WEB-BASED ACCESS TO AN ENHANCED SERVICE_^ SYSTEM BY INSTITUTIONS , POINT OF SALE AND END USERS

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to telephone enhanced services generally and more particularly to prepaid long distance telephone services. Present enhanced services telephone systems, particularly prepaid long distance calling card services, allow customers to access their accounts by dialing toll-free numbers and providing unique identification for their accounts. The user is guided through the system with voice prompts and announcements. Operators are generally required to be available to assist customers at every stage of the process. This constant live operator assistance is a significant portion of the cost of running a PrePaid system. The present Web-based approach is one way of helping to reduce these costs. Allowing end users to access their accounts without talking with an operator greatly reduces the administrative burden.

The advent of the Internet has opened many new opportunities in providing service to customers and end-users. In particular, the availability of reasonable and exportable secure communication over the Internet has enabled a new generation of commerce opportunities that are now widely available throughout the World Wide Web.

The advent of prepaid calling cards has proceeded in a parallel fashion to Internet commerce. By integrating these two paradigms, the present system provides new options for both enhanced service providers and the ultimate end users to access prepaid services using Web server technology.

Multilevel marketing of telephone enhanced services such as prepaid long distance telephone services is well known. Each of the persons and institutions involved in such marketing of such services are desirous of information relating to their participation in the marketing and use of the service.

For example, a provider of prepaid long distance telephone services may sell a block of calling cards to an institution, who may in turn arrange for the resale of the cards through retail outlets to the end users in the general public. The institution is interested in the number of the cards distributed to the retail outlets, and the retail outlets are interested in the number of cards resold. The service provider is interested in both the number of cards and the dollar volume of services to which it is committed to provide.

Information as to all end user accounts is of necessity maintained in the data base of the service provider who must administer all calls made. The service provider may also conveniently track in its database the number and identity of the cards sold to institutions as well as the amount of the services to which the holder is entitled. Because activation of the cards sold by the retail outlets is generally fairly prompt after purchase, the database of the service provider will closely reflect the number as well as the identity, and hence source, of the cards sold.

This information in the database of the enhanced service provider has not been readily available to those involved in the marketing of the service, except of course to the end user who must be made aware of the status of his personal account each time the service is used. The present invention provides features to Institutions, point-of-sale locations and end users that are not feasible with the existing system infrastructure.

The present Web-based interface to an enhanced services telephone platform will allow secure, seamless and automated flow- through access to the enhanced services platform by institutions, end users, and point-of-sale agencies. These entities will then be able to view account information, update account status, report problems, and recharge PrePaid telephone accounts . Additionally, full access into the enhanced services database will be given to institutions, point-of-sale, and end users to update account information with real-time problem reports, Web activity reports, credit card-based account recharge, notification facilities, extended reports and Internet card purchase.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel enhanced services telephone system and method with a Web interface which implements a philosophy of open architecture and maximum flexibility.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an enhanced services telephone system and method in which the database of the service provider may selectively be made available to each of the entities in the marketing chain of the enhanced services .

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel enhanced services telephone system and method in which

These and many other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a pictorial representation of the system of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to Figure 1, a conventional public switched telephone network ("PSTN") 10 is conventionally connected to the enhanced services platform 12 of a service provider by way of a local area network ("LAN") to a conventional Harris IXP Switch 14, and from the Switch 14 by way of a conventional Host Interface Link ("HIL") . In this way the telephone subscribers at any of the telephones 16 may access the PSTN 10 and the enhanced services platform 12 in the conventional manner.

A database server 18 with a database 20 is connected to the enhanced services platform 12 by a local area network ("LAN") or wide area network ("WAN") so that the data base 20 is accessible to a subscriber of the enhanced services conventionally through the telephone system.

Connected to the LAN may be the server or servers 22 used to effect administrative oversight over the enhanced services platform 12 and its data base 20 and plural live operators 24.

With continued reference to Figure 1, the Internet 30 is connected to the Web 32 through an external network. If bandwidth requirements are greater than a single web server can meet, multiple web servers may be added, each with the capability of accessing the data base 20. A load balancing mechanism is desirably used to effect the balancing of the use of the web servers .

As shown in Figure 1, all of the entities in the distribution chain of the enhanced telephone services may be conventionally connected to the Internet 30 via commercial access servers, e.g., institutions 34, point-of-sale merchants 36 and end users 38.

In the distribution chain, the institution 34 to whom a block of services is sold by the service provider who operates the service platform 12 may in turn sell a portion of the services to a point-of-sale merchant 36. Both the institution and the point- of-sale merchant may directly access the Internet or other network via any personal computer with an internet compatible protocol. It is desirable that he point-of-sale agent employ a touch- sensitive screen allowing the selection of HTML form elements.

The end user of the services 38, e.g. a prepaid telephone long distance telephone card, generally becomes a subscriber of the enhanced telephone services through activation of the card over a telephone of the PSTN 10, thereby entering the data base 20 of the enhanced services provider 12. The end user 38 may conventionally access the database via the PSTN 10 to learn the status of his account as reflected there.

The end user 38 may also directly access the Internet 30 by personal computer in a conventional manner to obtain information related to his account.

Access to the data base 20 of the enhanced services platform 12 may be permitted over the Internet under the control of the service provider and a suitable conventional software program which limits by password or other conventional means the access to the data of the database 14. In this way, each of the entities in the marketing chain may obtain data relating to the status of cards which have passed through their control .

As shown in Figure 1, the LAN to which the enhanced services platform 12 is connected may be separated from the external network by a firewall 40 to prevent unauthorized access to the LAN. The application firewall limits access to the private LAN to only the set of hosts specifically configured within the firewall and only for Open Data Base Connectivity ("ODBC") queries of the database 20.

Three types of firewalls are desirably provided in the present system. A network firewall is the most basic type and blocks and permits traffic flow according to source, destination addresses and ports in individual IP packets. An application firewall permits no unauthorized traffic between networks, performs elaborate logging and auditing of traffic. A network address translation ("NAT") firewall shield's a company's internal protocol addresses from hackers by continually reassigning the user to temporary and reusable addresses .

A secured mechanism may be provided so that one card holder' s data can not be seen by another card holder and one Institution' s data cannot be seen by another institution. For example, the end user receives a personal identification number ("PIN") at the time of purchase of the prepaid telephone card, and may log in via telephone or the Internet. At log in, end users will be presented with a personal web page to enter a personal profile including information such as address, telephone, e-mail address, prepaid card account numbers and PINs (if multiple card holder) . The end user shall then select a password, to be used for subsequent login attempts. The amount of information required may be a configureable option left up to the prepaid telephone service operator.

Institutions may also be provided with an identification number and password, as may the point-of-sale agent.

End users are desirably given read-only access to their call history and card balance through the Web interface. However, end users desirably have access to a live operator callback feature through the interface and the capacity to recharge their account through the Web interface .

Point-of-sale agencies are desirably given read-only access to their card balance information of their customers and the call history of their customers through the Web interface. Point-of- sale agencies desirably have access to an electronic payment feature and trouble-reporting ability through the Web interface.

Institutions are desirably given read-only access to their account status through the Web interface, but should also have trouble-reporting capability.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, it is to be understood that the embodiments described are illustrative only and the scope of the invention is to be defined solely by the appended claims when accorded a full range of equivalence, many variations and modifications naturally occurring to those of skill in the art from a perusal hereof .

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An enhanced telephone services system comprising: a public switched telephone network; an enhanced services platform; a database; identification means for identifying and limiting the access to data within said database as a function of the identity; a packet switched internal network operably connecting said enhanced services platform, said database and said identification means; a packet switched external network accessible via the Internet; and a firewall limiting access to said internal network from said external network.

2. In an enhanced services telephone system including a database, the method of providing access to selected data within the database to each of plural classes of entities interested in the status of the services for which commitments to provide services have been made, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) connecting the database to an internal network of package switched data through a configurable, password responsive, interface;

(b) providing a firewall;

(c) accessing the database from an external packet switched network through the firewall .