[54] MONITORING OF CHARGES DEBITED TO AN ACCOUNT HAVING AN ASSIGNED LIMIT
[75] Inventors: Brenda B. Amarant, South Orange, N.J.; William H. Desmedt, Milford, Pa.; David C. McChristian, Naperville, 111.; Robert M. Neilon, Pickerington, Ohio
[73] Assignee: AT&T Corp., Murray Hill, N.J.
[21] Appl. No.: 174,167
[22] Filed: Dec. 27,1993
Related U.S. Application Data
[63] Continuation of Ser. No. 786,191, Oct. 31, 1991, abandoned.
[51] Int. CL« H04M 11/00
[52] U.S. CI 379/93; 379/91;
379/144
[58] Field of Search 379/91, 93; 348/1
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
3,723,655 3/1973 Zucker et al 379/91
3,896,266 7/1975 Waterbury 379/91
4,577,061 3/1986 Katzeff et al 379/91
4,706,275 11/1987 Kamil 379/144
4,731,818 3/1988 Clark, Jr. et al 379/91
4,746,786 5/1988 Heberle et al 379/91
4,750,201 6/1988 Hodgson et al 379/91
4,756,020 7/1988 Fodale 379/91
4,757,186 7/1988 Heberle et al 379/144
4,879,744 11/1989 Tasaki et al 379/91
5,068,891 11/1991 Marshall 379/91
5,138,650 8/1992 Stahl et al 379/91
5,163,086 11/1992 Ahearn et al 379/91
5,223,699 6/1993 Flynn et al 379/91
Primary Examiner—Brent Swarthout
Assistant Examiner—Daniel J. Wu
Charges and balances assignable to a credit card account are controlled and monitored by assigning a purchase limit to the card. More specifically, when a card is used to pay for a telephone call on a telecommunication network, the validity of the card is verified in, for example, a network database and the card record is examined for the presence of a purchase limit. If the card has a purchase limit, the network database determines the type of purchase limit which applies and if the balance is positive. If the balance is not positive and the purchase limit applicable does not authorize the extension of credit, a denial response is sent from the network database to an appropriate local operator system which provides a denial indication to the caller. If the available balance is positive, the network database forwards the balance to the operator system. Based upon the balance returned in the reply from the database, the operator system sends a request to a rating processor to determine the length of time the caller may talk. If the rating database cannot ascertain the amount of time a caller can speak, for whatever reason, the call is denied. Thus, the balance is used to determine how long the caller can speak. At various predetermined intervals during the call and immediately after the call has been completed, the actual charges are calculated and forwarded to the network database. If during a call, the maximum duration is exhausted, the operator system will terminate the call, calculate the actual charges, and forward the charges to the network database. The network database decrements the balance with each intermediate update from the operator system. At the termination of a call, the network database adjusts the card holders balance a final time to maintain the purchase balance accuracy.
3 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets
