Prepaid short messaging

US8175953B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, INC. · US

Inventors

• Mark Titus · Arnold, US
• Dara Ung · Odenton, US
• Carle S. Johnson, Jr. · Annapolis, US
• Erik Wallace · Annapolis, US
• Phillip Geil · Clarksville, US
• Daniel Hronek · Annapolis, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Nov 8, 2011
• Grant date: May 8, 2012
• Expiry date: Nov 8, 2031

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04W8/18
• WIPO field: Telecommunications
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A prepaid messaging solution using open networking standards (e.g., TCP/IP) to support pre-payment of Internet messaging services. The disclosed prepaid architectures/methods determine if a subscriber has sufficient account balance to deliver a short message, prior to message delivery. A message may be prevented from being delivered (at the source end or destination end) if a subscriber account has insufficient funds. A prepaid tariff engine supports remote interaction with the SMSC and web chat servers to apply real-time billing for each message. A service provider may define subscriber rates and/or tariffing plans to apply real-time billing for sending/receiving messages. Message billing may be based upon, e.g., rate per message, message count, character count, Time of Day, Day of Week, message type, and/or mobile location. The prepaid short messaging service preferably supports internet access to subscriber's account balances and status maintained in the prepaid short messaging database of the prepaid messaging server.