Debit card system without centralized server
US6453029B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | May 18, 1998 |
| Grant date | Sep 17, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 18, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04M2215/46
- WIPO fieldIT methods for management
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system and method having a number of call processors and servers which provide prepaid or debit card calling service to local areas is disclosed. The servers are linked via a wide area network (WAN) or some other communications network. The system maintains a single account record for each debit card customer. Each account record contains information such as an account balance and a rate billing plan for the customer. When a customer makes a prepaid call, a local call processor and server handle the call. The local server obtains the customer's record from another server via the WAN if the record is not already present in a local database. WAN traffic is reduced because most debit card users routinely call from the same local area and, as a result, most of calls from a particular customer are processed by the same local call processor and server.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.