WO2004015973A1

WO2004015973A1 - Techniques for authorizing prepaid wireless services

Info

Publication number: WO2004015973A1
Application number: PCT/US2002/025181
Authority: WO
Inventors: Youssri Helmy; Wael Amin
Original assignee: Itworx
Priority date: 2002-08-08
Filing date: 2002-08-08
Publication date: 2004-02-19
Also published as: AU2002368166A1

Abstract

A messaging technique for authorizing usage in a prepaid wireless services environment. A consumer (subscriber)(100) gives cash or something else of value to a retailer (102). The retailer (102) in turn uses a wireless access device (402), which may conveniently be a Java enabled wireless telephone, to send a secure electronic message to the wireless service provider. This message represents a request by the retailer (102) to the service provider to transfer minutes from the retailer's account to the consumer's wireless account. As a result of sending the request message, an updated unused minutes balance message is eventually transmitted to the subscriber's wireless device (400). During this process, further messages may be exchanged among various back end data processing systems in order to reconcile account balances.

Description

TECHNIQUES FOR AUTHORIZING PREPAID WIRELESS SERVICES

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Prepaid wireless telephone services are increasingly used to provide communication capability to a diverse cross section of the general population. In many developing nations there is little or no telephone service available outside major cities. The population in these areas have been considered too remote or too poor to justify the cost of installing land lines. Even in America, it is estimated that up to 25% of households still have no telephone service of any kind. Wireless telephone service can be deployed at low build-out cost to solve these problems. Cellular telephones have so prevalent that many people believe that they are easy to obtain. However, in many instances a new applicant for cellular service is turned down because that individual lacks an adequate personal credit rating. A wireless service provider is reluctant to not only lend them the relatively expensive equipment, but also to extend them credit for bills that might reach several hundred dollars per month if not controlled.

These and other factors contribute to the popularity of prepaid cellular service. Here, a consumer (subscriber) purchases an inexpensive telephone from a retailer. The retailer then activates the telephone. The prepaid phone is typically "charged" with a number of minutes. This can happen in a number of different ways. A first way is for the telephone to come pre-installed with a minimal number of usage minutes.

Additional minutes can also by purchased by acquiring telephone credit cards. In the typical process, a credit card contains information in the form of code numbers that can be used to recharge the available time. However, charge cards represent a complicated, lengthy and frustrating process for the average consumer. For example, it can take more than one hundred key strokes to enter a code number and other information needed to recharge the phone. The prepaid cards present other difficulties for the consumer. Often times a consumer may not have twenty or fifty dollars to buy a card when they only really want to make a few telephone calls for a few minutes.

Furthermore, in some systems, once the prepaid service is used up, then the customer may actually lose their telephone number. This requires them to acquire a different telephone number every time they recharge the phone.

Retailers also have a number of frustrations with prepaid cellular service as it presently stands. Keeping plastic cards represents a logistics problem in terms of keeping different denominations stocked in inventory, preventing cards from being stolen, f audulent use of cards, counterfeit cards, and so forth. Special purpose, point of sale card vending machines do not eliminate retailer worries either. These machines require special security procedures and further require the retailer to learn how to maintain another piece of equipment.

Some have recognized these difficulties with prepaid cellular services and propose different variations. For example, International Application No.

PCT WO00/04701 describes a method for prepaid wireless in which a credit refresh operation uses an over-the-air Short Message Service (SMS) message transmitted to the subscriber device. It is evident, however, from this proposed system that when a subscriber needs to refresh the phone he must provide either credit or debit card information. To recharge the phone, the calling card credit information is either dialed into the phone or given to an agent.

In another approach, International Patent Publication No.: PCT WO01/15096 describes a vending system paradigm for cellular telephone activation. Here a prepaid cellular telephone vending machine receives currency. A cellular telephone housed within the machine receives an activation signal in response to the machine having received sufficient currency. Once activated, the telephone is then dispensed from the machine in the state that is ready to use. The system contemplates recycling telephones via the reprogramming of returned telephones for use by either a previous user or a new user. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a technique for authorizing minutes usage for a consumer who does not have any personal credit standing in a prepaid wireless environment. In particular, the consumer (subscriber) gives cash or something else of value to a retailer. The retailer in turn uses a wireless access device, which may conveniently be a Java enabled wireless telephone, to send a secure electronic message to the wireless service provider. This message represents a request by the retailer to the service provider to transfer minutes from the retailer's account to the consumer's wireless account. As a result of sending the request message, eventually an updated unused minutes balance message is transmitted to the subscriber's wireless device.

During this process, further messages may be exchanged among various back end data processing systems in order to reconcile account balances.

The wireless messages, including the original request message and the final update message, in a Global System for Mobile (GSM) Communications system are sent using a digital message service such as Short Message Service (SMS).

The present invention therefore represents a realtime, card and voucher-less method to recharge a prepaid cellular telephone. This technique enables resellers to securely, on behalf of subscribers, replenish prepaid air time through the use of standard wireless messages. This eliminates the need for vendors to stock physical cards or maintain special purpose card vending equipment, and avoids the logistics problems with either prior art method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a sequence of events that occurs between a subscriber and a retailer to recharge a cellular telephone.

Fig. 2 is a sequence of events that occurs between a reseller and wholesaler. Fig. 3 is a sequence of events that occurs between a wholesaler (or retailer) and a wireless system operator.

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram showing a sequence of events that are required to recharge the client cellular telephone.

Fig. 5 is a message flow diagram.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A description of preferred embodiments of the invention follows.

Before describing the details of a technical implementation of the invention, it is instructive to understand the sequence of events that occur between humans using particular electronic equipment in order to accomplish recharging of the prepaid cellular telephone according to the present invention. Turning attention to Fig. 1, a consumer, herein referred to as a subscriber 100, walks into a business establishment operated by a retailer 102. The subscriber 100 tells the retailer 102 that he wishes to purchase additional air time for his mobile phone. The subscriber then gives something of value such as cash to the retailer 102. The retailer 102, using his own wireless device 402, sends a wireless data message to a wireless service provider (not shown in Fig. 1 ). After a brief delay, the consumer 100 and the retailer 102 receive messages confirming that the consumer's phone has been recharged.

This sequence of events may be carried out with a Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication system as follows. First, the retailer's mobile station 402 has been programmed such as via a special purpose Subscriber Identity Module

(SIM), to include an application to interact with wholesalers of cellular service. The retailer 102, using the SIM application, selects a particular wholesaler, and enters information required for the prepaid cellular request. This information typically includes a subscriber mobile identifying number (Mobile Station ISDN or International Mobile Station Identifier (EVISI) number), an amount of credit, and a security attribute such as a password. Since the retailer 102 is typically entering into these sorts of transactions on a regular basis, he does so without much difficulty as he is familiar with the process. The data is then sent as a Short Message Service (SMS) message to the wireless service provider. This eliminates the need for the subscriber 100 to be familiar with the procedures whereby lengthy credit cards and/or prepaid card serial numbers need to be entered into the phone.

In a next state 130, confirmation messages are received by both the cell phone 402 of the retailer as well as the subscribers phone 400. The message sent to the subscribers phone is a confirmation type SMS message which enables the available talk-time of the subscriber phone 400 to be increased. The retailer 102 also typically receives a confirmation SMS indicating that the subscriber's phone has been recharged. The SMS acknowledgment may include other information, for example, confirmation of the remaining credit balance in the retailer's account with the provider of wireless service. To support this method of updating minute balance information in a prepaid wireless phone, other events need to occur, although independently. Fig. 2 illustrates a sequence of events that occurs when a retailer approaches an operator or wholesaler. An operator or wholesaler 104 may act as an intermediary between a provider of wireless service and those that interact with subscribers such as the retailer 102. Here, the retailer (reseller) 102 makes a payment to the operator/wholesaler 104. The repayment is made to replenish air-time which is credited to the account of the reseller. In addition, this may include payments for new stock of air-time as well.

In a next step 220, the wholesaler updates the retailers account information, in particular, a credit limit may be adjusted and payments issued. This information is then used by centralized data processing equipment (described in greater detail below) to determine when a particular retailer 102 is authorized to permit subscribers phone accounts to be recharged.

In a nest step 230, the retailer collects payment details in the form of a paper receipt. The receipt may, for example, be used to confirm a new credit limit with the wholesaler. Fig. 3 is a sequence of steps that are performed when the wholesaler pays the wireless system operator. Here the wholesaler 104 (which also maybe the retailer 102 directly) brings a sum of money to the operator 108. The payment represents desired credit for a replenish able air-time or new stock of air-time. In a next step 320, the operator updates the credit information for the particular wholesaler 104 or retailer 102. A payment receipt is issued in state 330 and the credit limits are updated with payment details being recorded.

It should be understood that although the graphical representations of Figs. 2 and 3 tend to imply that these transactions may occur face-to-face and should be understood that they may take place electronically between using a secure transaction systems between the reseller 102, wholesaler 104 and/or operator 108.

In effect, the reseller 102 is acting on behalf of the consumer 100 to initiate a recharge request. This request originates via a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) application tool kit, such as by using an SMS wireless channel. The SMS recharge request is made to a wireless operator's replenishment server that interfaces to a prepaid billing system. The recharge request includes a reseller password, a reseller amount and an identification of the consumers mobile phone, such as a Mobile Station Identifier (MSISDN). Secure data processing systems are used to route the data as needed through back end billing and authorization systems, which return an SMS recharge message to the subscriber's wireless phone.

Further technical details of how to accomplish this are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Fig. 4 is an operation flow diagram while Fig. 5 is a message diagram. As described previously, the (client) consumer 100 having his related consumer phone 100 provides cash 410 or another thing of value to a retailer 102. The retailer 102 then takes steps to send messages that request transfer of a portion of his credit line to the client 100 initiates such a request through MSM message 420. This may, for example, include the use of a secure Java application on a mobile phone 402 which the retailer 102 has. The request 430 is further sent through a GSM SMS channel such as, for example, using a DES Data Encryption Standard type encrypted message. The recharge request message 430 reads a Short Messaging Service Center (SMSC) 510. The SMSC 510 forwards the recharge request message through data network paths 440 and 450. These may include a transaction zone that is a secure path through the Internet comprising firewalls 522, 526 and/or gateways 524 as required.

The request message 450 then arrives at a transaction process server (TPS) 530. The transaction process server 530 acts a front-end to a prepaid billing system platform 540. Here, the recharge request 460-1 passes as a message 460-1 from the transaction processor 530 to the prepaid platform 540. The recharge request, still including the seller password, recharge amount and a customer identifier, allows the prepaid platform 540 to then interact with the transaction process server 530 and/or distributed management data store 550 to debit the account of the retailer 102 accordingly. Thus, the prepaid platform 540 takes steps to ensure that the account for the prepaid cell phone 400 will be credited with the new amount whereas distributed management data store 550, for example, may be used to debit the retailers account. Acknowledgment messages from the prepaid platform 470- 1 and/or distributed management store 470-2 are then forwarded to the transaction process server 530. In an acknowledgment process, a message 480 then travels through the transaction zone 445 resulting in a message 490 arriving again at the SMSC 510. SMSC, having its application software, will as result create two SMS messages 499- 1 and 499-2 intended for the client 400 and retailer 402 respectively. The message 499-1 sent to the client 400 is an SMS message authorizing that the prepaid minutes balance be increased. Similarly, the confirmation message 499-2 appearing on the retailer phone 402 is the confirmation of the transaction in a format suitable for the retailer 102 to understand. The process has several important advantages not only in terms of logistics but also in terms of data processing security. The end-to-end process ensures tight security controls via the use of encrypted messaging. In addition, the use of a transaction process server and its interaction with the prepaid platform and distributor management data source allows for realtime financial control, that is of debiting and crediting of the retailer account and client accounts in realtime. In addition, as previously mentioned, the use of messages to request and effect prepaid wireless recharging ends the need for card management inventory, audit trails, and so forth.

While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method for pre-authorizing metered usage of a wireless communication device comprising: sending a wireless request message from a retailer wireless access device, the request message representing a request by a retailer to a wireless service provider to transfer a usage amount to a consumer wireless device; and after receiving the request message, transmitting a wireless usage update message to the consumer wireless device.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein the wireless request message is sent as a secure message.

3. A method as in claim 1 wherein the wireless request message is composed using a Java enabled interface on a wireless device.

4. A method as in claim 1 additionally comprising the step of: in response to receiving the request message, exchanging further update request messages among data processing systems.

5. A method as in claim 4 wherein the data processing systems further comprise a transaction process server.

6. A method as in claim 5 wherein the data processing systems further comprise a prepaid platform.

7. A method as in claim 1 wherein the request message and the usage update message are sent using a digital Short Message Service (SMS).

8. A method as in claim 1 wherein the retailer wireless access device is compatible with a Global System for Mobile (GSM) Communications standard.

9. A method as in claim 1 wherein the request message includes at least a subscriber mobile identifying number corresponding to the consumer wireless device and data indicating an amount of usage

10. A method as in claim 9 wherein the request message further includes at least a password.