System and method for providing prepaid billing for instant messaging users

1. An apparatus for providing prepaid billing services as part of an instant messaging (IM) system, comprising:

a prepaid account screener; and

an instant messaging (IM) gateway coupled to the prepaid account screener, wherein the IM gateway is operable to:

establish a regular IM session for an IM client if the prepaid account screener determines that a prepaid account balance associated with the IM client satisfies a pre-determined criteria, wherein establishing a regular IM session further comprises forwarding an IM client request to an external community IM server; and

establish a limited IM session for the IM client if the prepaid account screener determines that the prepaid account balance does not satisfy the pre-determined criteria, wherein establishing a limited IM session further comprises:

automatically sending a message containing an error code to the IM client without forwarding an IM client request to an external community IM server; and

after the message is sent to the IM client, terminating the limited IM session by sending a logout request to the external community IM server.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pre-determined criteria includes a threshold value, and further, wherein the pre-determined criteria is satisfied if the prepaid account balance has a value equal to or greater than the threshold value.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the IM gateway is further operable to send a server-initiated disconnect to the IM client.

4. A system for providing prepaid billing services as part of an instant messaging (IM) system, comprising:

a server operable to receive an IM request from a client; and

a prepaid account screener coupled to the server, wherein the prepaid account screener is operable to:

determine whether a prepaid account balance associated with the client satisfies a pre-determined criteria;

initiate a regular IM session if the prepaid account balance satisfies the pre-determined criteria;

initiate a limited IM session if the prepaid account balance does not satisfy the pre-determined criteria; and

an IM backend server coupled to the prepaid account screener and operable to provide an IM service;

wherein the prepaid account screener is operable to connect to the IM backend server if the prepaid account balance satisfies the pre-determined criteria; and

wherein the server is operable to:

send a message to the client if the prepaid account balance does not satisfy the pre-determined criteria, the message being sent to the client without forwarding an IM client request to the IM backend server; and

after the message is sent to the client, terminate the limited IM session.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein initiating a limited IM session further comprises blocking a specified set of one or more IM functions.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the limited IM session is terminated by sending a logout request from the server to the IM backend server.

7. A method of providing prepaid billing services as part of an instant messaging (IM) system, comprising:

receiving an IM request from an IM client;

determining whether a prepaid account balance associated with the IM client satisfies a pre-determined criteria;

if the prepaid account balance does not satisfy the pre-determined criteria;

establishing a limited IM session;

sending a message to the IM client without forwarding the IM request to an external IM server, wherein the message is sent to the IM client using the IM system and wherein the message notifies a user of the IM client of a low or insufficient prepaid account balance; and

after the message is sent to the IM client, terminating the limited IM session.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the limited IM session is terminated so that the IM client is shown as off-line to users of the IM system.