Network session management
View Patent ↗A communication system providing telephony communication across combined circuit switched and packet switched networks, such as a telephone network and the Internet, which are connectable to terminals, such as telephones and computers, for selective communication therebetween. The communication system includes an authorization and account control object in the packet switched network, multiple gateways between the circuit switched and packet switched networks providing controlled connectivity between those networks, and an information retrieval object in the packet switched network, wherein the authorization and account control object maintains a substantially real time record of user accounts and usage, and the information and retrieval object provides substantially real time retrieval of selected information from the authorization and account control object. The retrieval object provides on demand to terminals which provide authentication for access to an identified account information regarding that account. The information regarding the account is substantially real time information including information with respect to communications in progress, which are chargeable to the account which has been authenticated. The authorization and account control object is preferably a unitary logical object having distributed instances thereof handling multitudinous accounts of widely separated terminals. The retrieval object provides isolation of the authorization and account control object permitting simultaneous multitasking by the authorization and account control object and the retrieval object respectively.
1. A method, comprising:
receiving a request from a calling party to place a call to a called party, the calling party having a calling party number in E.164 format and associated with a packet-switched network, and the called party having a called party number in E.164 format and associated with a circuit-switched network;
receiving calling party authorization information;
authorizing the call when the calling party authorization information is determined to be valid;
determining a gateway associated with the called party number, based on the called party number,
establishing a call between the calling party and called party via the gateway and at least partially via the packet-switched network;
tracking call data associated with the call, the call data including the time and length of the call;
storing the call data in substantially real-time in a database connected to the packet switched network;
receiving a request from the calling party to retrieve the call data;
retrieving the call data from the database;
providing the call data to the calling party.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the calling party authorization information is determined to be valid when the calling party authorization information matches calling account authorization information associated with a calling account associated with the calling party.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the calling account authorization information is stored in the database.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the database is distributed over a plurality of remote locations.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a calling party account is associated with the calling party, the calling party account having an available balance, and wherein the calling party authorization information is determined to be valid when a cost of the call is within the available balance.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after receiving a request from the calling party to retrieve the call data, but prior to providing the call data to the calling party, authenticating the calling party.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the calling party authentication information includes an account number and a password.
8. A method, comprising:
receiving a request from a calling party to place a call to a called party, the calling party having a calling party number in E.164 format and associated with a packet-switched network, the called party having a called party number in E.164 format and associated with a circuit-switched network, the calling party having a calling account and credit card account;
receiving calling party authorization information;
authorizing the call when the calling party authorization information is determined to be valid;
determining a gateway associated with the called party number, based on the called party number;
establishing a call between the calling party and called party via the gateway and at least partially via the packet-switched network;
tracking call data associated with the call, the call data including the time and length of the call;
storing the call data in a database connected to the packet switched network;
calculating a fee associated with the calling party calling account based on the call data;
billing the fee to the calling party credit card account periodically.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein authorizing the call includes:
comparing the calling party authorization information to authorization information associated with the calling account.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein authorizing the call includes:
determining a cost of the call prior to establishing the call;
determining whether enough funds are available in the calling account to cover the cost of the call.
11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
providing call cost information to the calling party prior to establishing the call.
12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
providing the fee to the calling party during a call in substantially real time.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the calling party authorization information is not valid when another call is in progress associated with the calling account.
14. A method, comprising:
receiving a request to establish a calling account associated with a phone service for a user, the phone service using a packet-switched network for call transmission and control;
establishing the calling account for the user, the calling account having an account number, a password and a user number in E.164 format;
receiving user credit card information associated with a user account with a credit provider, and authorization to directly submit charges for usage fees associated with usage of the phone service by the user to the credit provider;
receiving at least one request to establish a call between the user and a third party, the at least one request received over a packet-switched network, the third party associated with a circuit-switched network;
establishing the call between the user and the third party via the packet-switched network and via a gateway connected to the packet-switched network and the circuit-switched network;
generating usage fees associated with usage of the phone service by the user;
directly submitting the usage fees to the credit provider for payment.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
storing the usage fees in the user account;
receiving a request from the user to view the usage fees;
providing a display including the usage fees.
16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
receiving a request from the user to change the password;
changing the password in response to the request.
17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
authenticating the user prior to providing the display including the usage fees.