Handling insufficient account balance of subscribers
View Patent ↗A system, method, and computer readable medium comprising instructions for handling insufficient account balance of subscribers in a mobile communications network is disclosed. A request for communication is received from a mobile station. A determination is made as to whether a subscriber of the mobile station has an insufficient account balance. If the subscriber has an insufficient account balance, the request is withheld and the mobile station is notified by a short message.
1. A method, comprising:
receiving a request for communication from a mobile station;
determining if a subscriber of a destination mobile station has an insufficient account balance;
withholding the request for communication;
notifying the destination mobile station if the subscriber has an insufficient account balance; and
notifying the mobile station of the insufficient account balance, regardless of whether a voice call or a short messaging service via the mobile station is in progress, wherein the notification comprises instructions regarding how to recover the withheld request for communication.
2. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining if a subscriber of the mobile station has an insufficient account balance, wherein the determining comprises:
sending a query for an account balance of the subscriber to a server;
receiving the account balance from the server; and
determining if the account balance is below a predetermined threshold amount.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the query is sent to the server periodically.
4. The method of claim 2 , comprising notifying the mobile station automatically if the account balance is above the predetermined threshold amount.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the notifying comprises sending a short message indicating an insufficient account balance to the mobile station and wherein the short message comprises time and date of the request.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the short message is sent to the mobile station periodically.
7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the short message comprises instructions on how to replenish funds.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forwarding the request to the destination mobile station if the subscriber has a sufficient account balance.
9. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that when read by a processor cause the processor to perform:
receiving a request for communication from a mobile station;
determining if a subscriber of a destination mobile station has an insufficient account balance;
withholding the request for communication;
notifying the destination mobile station if the subscriber has an insufficient account balance; and
notifying the mobile station of the insufficient account balance, regardless of whether a voice call or a short messaging service via the mobile station is in progress, wherein the notification comprises instructions regarding how to recover the withheld request for communication.
10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , comprising determining if a subscriber of the mobile station has an insufficient account balance, wherein the determining comprises:
sending a query for an account balance of the subscriber to a server;
receiving the account balance from the server; and
determining if the account balance is below a predetermined threshold amount.
11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the query is sent to the server periodically.
12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , comprising notifying the mobile station automatically if the account balance is above the predetermined threshold amount.
13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the notifying comprises sending a short message indicating an insufficient account balance to the mobile station and wherein the short message comprises time and date of the request.
14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the short message is sent to the mobile station periodically.
15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the short message comprises instructions on how to replenish funds.
16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , further comprising forwarding the request to the destination mobile station if the subscriber has a sufficient account balance.
17. A system, comprising:
at least one mobile station;
at least one mobile switching center communicably connected to the at least one mobile station and at least one short message service center;
at least one short message service center communicably connected to at least one mobile switching center; and
a server communicably connected to the at least one short message service center,
wherein the at least one short message service center;
receives a request for communication from a mobile station;
determines if a subscriber of a destination mobile station has an insufficient account balance;
withholds the request for communication;
notifies the destination mobile station if the subscriber has an insufficient account balance; and
notifies the mobile station of the insufficient account balance, regardless of whether a voice call or a short messaging service via the mobile station is in progress, wherein the notification comprises instructions regarding how to recover the withheld request for communication.