Pre-paid security mechanism in a post-pay telecommunications system
The present invention provides a method and system for real-time charging including the following capabilities: calculation and storage of real time usage information on a per subscriber or group basis; real-time criteria evaluation of configurable thresholds; real-time threshold notification to the subscriber/account owner; and subscriber/account owner interaction capability to restrict specific calls and events for any member of a group, through external systems, text messaging and interactive voice response (IVR) sessions. When these four major capabilities are combined and configured, a pre-paid functionality in a post pay environment is produced.
1 . A method for real-time charging for service usage in a telecommunications system having at least one subscriber, said method comprising:
receiving a service request from the subscriber;
validating the subscriber and obtaining notification recipient data and subscriber threshold data;
commencing the requested service and tracking real-time usage data; and
notifying the notification recipient data if the real-time usage data exceeds the subscriber threshold data.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the notification recipient data indicates one of execute an action, ignore the notification, terminate the requested service and cancel the requested service.
3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the action is send a restriction event.
4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the subscriber is the notification recipient data.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein notifying is performed using at least one of mobile telephones, cellular telephones, landline telephones, text messages, e-mail messages, and interactive voice response.
6 . A real-time charging system for use in a telecommunications system having at least one subscriber, comprising:
a subscriber database comprising at least notification recipient data and subscriber threshold data;
a host device operable to receive a service request from the subscriber, and validate the subscriber;
real-time usage data; and
a criteria checking mechanism operable to notify the notification recipient data if the real-time usage data exceeds the subscriber threshold data.
7 . The system according to claim 6 , wherein the notification recipient data indicates one of execute an action, ignore the notification, terminate the requested service, and cancel the requested service.
8 . The system according to claim 7 , wherein the action is send a restriction event.
9 . The system according to claim 6 , wherein the subscriber is the notification recipient.
10 . The system according to claim 6 , wherein the host device is a CPU.
11 . The system according to claim 6 , wherein a database includes the subscriber, the notification recipient and the subscriber threshold data.
12 . The system according to claim 6 , wherein notifying is performed using at least one of mobile telephones, cellular telephones, landline telephones, text messages, e-mail messages, and interactive voice response.
13 . A computer readable medium having computer readable program for operating on a computer for executing a real-time charging system, said program comprising instructions that causes the computer to perform the steps of:
receiving a service request from a subscriber;
validating the subscriber and obtaining notification recipient data and subscriber threshold data;
commencing the requested service and tracking real-time usage data; and
notifying the notification recipient data if the real-time usage data exceeds the subscriber threshold data.
14 . The program according to claim 13 , wherein the notification recipient data indicates one of execute an action, ignore the notification, terminate the requested service and cancel the requested service.
15 . The program according to claim 14 , wherein the action is send a restriction event.
16 . The program according to claim 13 , wherein the subscriber is the notification recipient data.
17 . The program according to claim 13 , wherein notifying is performed using at least one of mobile telephones, cellular telephones, landline telephones, text messages, e-mail messages, and interactive voice response.