WO2007071178A1

WO2007071178A1 - An automatic value-charging method, system and service control point for telecommunication service account

Info

Publication number: WO2007071178A1
Application number: PCT/CN2006/003482
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rahul R
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2005-12-21
Filing date: 2006-12-19
Publication date: 2007-06-28
Also published as: CN1852386A

Abstract

An automatic value-charging method for telecommunication user service account comprises: checking the fee in user's service account, when determining the service account balance is insufficient, inquiring the finance account corresponding to the service account, and transferring certain amount money from the said finance account to the service account. An automatic value-charging system and service control point for telecommunication user service account is also provided. With the utilization of the invention, the user does not need to purchase card for topping up frequently, and the service provider can be ensured to receive the user charge in time.

Description

Method, system and service control point for automatic recharging of telecommunication user service account

The present invention relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a method, system and apparatus for automatically recharging a telecommunications subscriber service account. Background of the invention

With the rapid development of telecommunication systems, it is inevitable that the payment methods of service usage fees (such as telephone and Internet access charges) provided by operators are more flexible. Also, payment methods that require business usage fees should be beneficial to both users and operators. In the current telecommunication system, the payment method of business expenses is mainly divided into prepaid service (PPS, Prepaid Service), postpaid service (POS, Postpaid Service), and immediate payment service (HOT-BILLING). Here's an introduction:

PPS users pay a certain fee to the operator before using the service. For example, PPS card services (such as 201 cards, long-distance calling cards, etc.) or services that require pre-charge of business accounts (such as mobile phone services) are typical prepaid services. Users need to pay in advance before using such services. A certain fee for the business.

For operators, the disadvantage is that they need to manage the issuance of PPS cards, occupying a certain cost, and operators also need to pay for the retailer's partial share, and also need to lose a part of the benefits.

The disadvantage for the user is that the service to be used must be paid in advance; or the business account provided by the operator needs to be manually recharged. Moreover, since the cost of managing the PPS card by the operator may be passed on to the user, the call rate of the card service is higher than that of the ordinary telephone service. Moreover, for users with a long communication time, it may be inconvenient to frequently buy cards and manually recharge. The POS user pays the fee for the service used by the operator after a period of time after using the service. For example, for a call service provided by a landline telephone, the user does not pay for the service used by the user at the end of each month.

For operators, the disadvantage is that they can only get a fee after a certain period of time, which is not convenient for the operation of funds. Also, there may be cases where the user refuses to pay and cannot receive the fee.

For the user, the disadvantage is that the user needs to pay attention to the regular (such as monthly) payment, and pay in time.

HOT-BILLING users charge users immediately when they use a business. At present, this method is a combination of the operator network and the financial system (such as the banking system). When the user uses a certain telecommunication service provided by the operator, when the communication ends, the operator telecommunication network is immediately connected to the financial system, from the financial The user's financial account of the system allocates the corresponding amount to the operator.

For the operator, the disadvantage is that the user can get the fee after the communication is completed, so it may happen that the user's financial account has been frozen (such as the user has instructed the bank to freeze or deactivate the financial account;), or connect to the financial system. An abnormality in the network prevented the transfer of fees from the user's financial account. And because it needs to be connected to the financial system frequently, the security and stability have high requirements, and the maintenance cost is bound to be high.

In summary, the current telecommunication service usage fee payment method either requires the user to manually purchase the card to recharge, which is inconvenient, or the operator cannot immediately receive the user service usage fee, and may not be charged after the user service is used. The cost of the situation. Summary of the invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method, a system and a service control point for automatically charging a service account of a telecommunication user, so that the user can manually recharge without purchasing a card, and also ensures that the operator can obtain the service usage fee of the user in time. The method for automatically recharging a telecommunication user service account provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

When the cost of the user's business account is detected, and the financial account of the business account is insufficient, the financial account corresponding to the business account is queried, and a certain amount is allocated from the financial account to the business account.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a system for automatically recharging a telecommunications subscriber service account, including:

a user service account unit for storing and managing a user's business account;

a user financial account unit for storing and managing a user's financial account;

The service control unit is configured to: when detecting that the business account of the user service account unit is insufficient, query the financial account corresponding to the business account, and allocate a certain fund from the queried financial account to the business account of the user service account unit.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a service control point for automatically recharging a telecommunications subscriber service account, including:

The service control unit is configured to: when detecting that the business account of the user service account unit is insufficient, query the financial account corresponding to the business account, and allocate a certain fund from the queried financial account to the business account of the user service account unit;

User business account unit, used to store and manage the user's business account. It can be seen from the foregoing method that the method, system, and service control point provided by the embodiments of the present invention detect the cost of the user service account, and determine that the amount of funds in the service account is insufficient, and allocate a certain amount from the financial account signed by the user. In its business account, so that the business account has sufficient amount to continue subsequent communications.

For the user, the user's frequent manual refilling is avoided, which is convenient for the user, and there is no need to purchase the PPS card in advance. For operators, they can always receive users in a timely manner. Business usage fees, because the user's business account always retains a certain amount, avoiding the situation that users who are not paying in the form of post-paid or immediate payment may not pay (because the business account always retains a certain amount when the user uses the business) And also removed the management of PPS card issuance. In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the user service account may be associated with multiple financial accounts of the user, and the user may use any bank card provided by any financial system as a financial account contracted with the user service account, which is convenient for the user to use, such as the US SEAT. VISA, Master Card, etc. issued by banks, Bank of China, etc. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure la is a flow chart of automatic recharging of a telecommunications subscriber service account according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure lb is a flow chart of automatic recharging of a telecommunications subscriber service account according to another embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a structural diagram of an automatic recharge system for a telecommunications subscriber service account according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of an embodiment of a telecommunication subscriber service account automatic refill system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram of a service control point for automatic recharging of a telecommunications subscriber service account according to an embodiment of the present invention. Mode for carrying out the invention

In the embodiment of the present invention, the operator automatically detects the usage of the service account provided to the user, and automatically detects a certain amount from the financial account pre-designated by the user when it is detected that the balance of the business account is insufficient due to the user using the corresponding service. Go to the business account so that the business account has sufficient amount to continue subsequent communications or calls. The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to the flowchart of the automatic recharging of the user telecommunication service account of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1a, a detailed description will be given below. Operators of telecommunication services assign different business accounts to different users. Among them, one service account can be provided for all services of one user, and different service accounts can be provided for different services of one user. Moreover, the user deposits a certain fee for the business account, and can use all current methods to recharge the business account. If you pay at the operator, or purchase a prepaid card to recharge the business account by phone, or refill the business account by bank transfer from your financial account.

A user can designate a financial account of one of their financial systems to establish contact with their business account by contract. Users can sign up for one or more of the following financial accounts: credit card, debit card, etc. 4. Bank account issued by 4 banks (Voice, Master, American Express, Diners). When signing up for multiple financial accounts, you can set different priorities for these financial accounts, as shown in Figure la, including the following steps:

Step 101: The telecommunication system detects the fee condition of the user's service account, and when detecting that the user service account is insufficient, step 102 is performed. The telecommunication system detects the cost of the user's service account in the following situations: during the process of using the telecommunication service, such as during a call, or during the establishment/release of a call (such as initializing a call) Process, call process, process of releasing a call, etc.); or when the telecommunication system processes user service accounts on a regular basis (such as a post-paid business account is processed on a monthly basis); or a certain period set by the operator.

Step 102: Determine whether the balance of the business account is insufficient. The balance of the service account may be determined to be insufficient by determining whether the balance of the service account is 0. Alternatively, a threshold may be preset by the user, the operator, or the financial system, and when the balance of the user service account is detected to be lower than When the threshold is reached, it is determined that the business account balance is insufficient.

Step 103: The telecommunications system establishes a connection to the financial system.

Step 104: Transfer a certain amount from the financial account of the financial system subscribed by the user to the business account. If the user signs up for multiple financial accounts of different priorities, the first Select a financial account with a higher priority and select the financial account of the next priority only when the high-priority financial account is underfunded.

The amount of the amount allocated may be set by the user in advance, or may be set by the operator according to the average usage fee of the business. The amount of the transferred amount can be stored in the telecommunication system in the form of a configuration file. When the connection to the financial system is requested, the amount or configuration file is sent to the financial system together, and the financial system allocates the amount according to the received amount or configuration file. The corresponding funds.

Also, the transfer from the financial account to the user's business account can be done as soon as the request is received by the telecommunications system, or after a period of time. The specific allocation time can be determined according to the following factors: payment means, financial system, and the system of negotiation between operators and finance.

FIG. 1b is a flow chart of automatic recharging of a user telecommunication service account according to another embodiment of the present invention, including the following steps:

Wherein, steps 201-202 are the same as steps 101-102.

Step 203: After determining that the balance of the business account is insufficient, the user is asked whether to transfer a certain amount from the contracted financial account to the business account. If the user confirms the transfer, step 204 is performed; otherwise, step 206 is performed.

Wherein, if the user signs a plurality of financial accounts of different priorities, the user can designate a financial account to transfer a certain amount from the designated financial account to the business account.

Steps 204 to 205 are the same as steps 103 to 104.

Step 206: Return the transfer failure response.

FIG. 2 shows a telecommunication subscriber service account automatic refill system according to an embodiment of the present invention, including a service control unit, a user service account unit, and a user financial account unit.

The user service account unit is used for storing and managing the user service account, and the user service account stores a certain amount of funds, so that the user can use the telecommunication service.

User financial account unit. Used to store and manage user financial accounts. The service control unit is configured to store a correspondence between the user account and the financial account of the user, and when detecting that the business account of the user service account unit is insufficient, query the financial account corresponding to the business account, and allocate the financial account from the query. Certain funds are transferred to the business account of the user's business account unit.

As shown in FIG. 3, an embodiment of the present invention is implemented in an intelligent network, in which a service control unit is disposed in a Service Control Point (SCP). The user service account unit can be set in the Service Data Point (SDP). In the case of a small amount of data, it can also be set in the SCP database. The user financial account unit is set up in the financial system. If the financial system and the telecommunication system cannot be directly connected, they can be connected through a payment gateway.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a service control point for automatically recharging a service account of a telecommunication user. As shown in FIG. 4, the service control point includes an existing service control function unit for storing user data and service logic. In addition, it also includes:

The service control unit is configured to store a correspondence between the user account and the financial account of the user, and when detecting that the business account of the user service account unit is insufficient, query the financial account corresponding to the business account, and allocate the financial account from the query. Certain funds are transferred to the business account of the user's business account unit.

User business account unit, used to store and manage the user's business account.

The service confirmation unit is configured to send a message to the user to confirm whether the financial account is allocated a certain amount to the business account when the service control unit detects that the user's business account is insufficient, and notify the user after receiving the transfer confirmation message of the user. The business control unit transfers a certain amount of money from the user's financial account to the user's business account.

When the user uses the telecommunication service provided by the operator, the user's service usage fee is allocated from the user's business account to the operator in real time. The SCP performs periodic or real-time detection on the user's business account. When it detects that the business account balance is insufficient, the automatic recharge process is initiated, and the SCP passes the support. The payment gateway establishes a connection to the financial system, and requests the financial system to allocate a certain amount of funds to the financial account according to the financial account signed by the user. The financial system transfers a certain amount of funds from the financial account to the user's business account upon request by the SCP.

In this way, the user service account can guarantee a certain amount of funds to ensure that the user can continue to use the services provided by the operator. Also, users do not need to purchase a PPS card to manually recharge. Moreover, for the user who controls the call charge, the service usage fee can be easily controlled by controlling the user's financial account fee. For users with high traffic volume and high usage fees, a credit card account can be used to ensure that when the user does not recharge the business account in time, the credit card account can also transfer the fee to the business account to continue to use the telecommunication service provided by the operator.

On the other hand, since the user service account can always guarantee a certain amount of funds, the operator does not have to worry about the user's business use fee after the user uses the service as the immediate payment service described in the background art, and can obtain the user's business use as soon as possible. Fees, and do not have to wait until the end of the month, and do not have to manage the PPS card issue.

The underlying transport protocol of the operator system and the financial system interface may be TCP/IP, HTTPS, HTTP, and the like. The application layer protocol for the operator system and financial system interface can be a standard protocol such as IS08583.

The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc., which are included in the spirit and scope of the present invention, should be included in the present invention. Within the scope of protection.

Claims

Claim

A method for automatically recharging a service account of a telecommunication user, characterized in that: detecting a user service account, detecting that a financial account corresponding to the service account is insufficient, and dialing from the financial account A certain amount into your business account.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the user is assigned a business account.

The method according to claim 2, wherein the allocating a service account for the user comprises: allocating a same service account for all services of one user; or

Assign different business accounts to different services of a user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein transferring a certain amount from the financial account to its business account comprises: sending a message to the user confirming whether a certain amount of money is transferred from the financial account to its business account, and After receiving the user's transfer confirmation message, a certain amount is transferred from the financial account to its business account.

The method according to claim 1 or 4, characterized in that the correspondence between at least one financial account subscribed by the user and its business account is established.

The method according to claim 5, wherein different priorities are set for different financial accounts subscribed by the user, and when a certain amount is transferred from the financial account to the business account, the financial account is selected according to the priority.

The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, when a certain amount is transferred from the financial account to its business account, a certain amount is transferred from the user-specified financial account to its business account.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: storing, by way of a configuration file, the amount of the dialed amount; When it is detected that the funds of the business account are insufficient, the amount is allocated according to the amount of the amount to be allocated stored in the configuration file.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the amount of the transfer of a certain amount is preset by the user; or

Pre-set by the operator; or,

Pre-set by the financial system.

10. A system for automatically recharging a telecommunications subscriber service account, comprising:

a user service account unit for storing and managing a user's business account;

The system according to claim 10, wherein the user service account unit is disposed in a database of service data points or service control points, and the service control unit is disposed in the service control point.

12. A service control point, configured for automatically recharging a service account of a telecommunications user, comprising: a service control unit, configured to store a correspondence between a service account of the user and a financial account, and when detecting that the user’s business account is insufficient, the query is The financial account corresponding to the business account, and allocates a certain amount of funds from the inquiring financial account to the user's business account;

The service control point according to claim 12, further comprising: a service confirming unit, configured to send a confirmation to the user whether the financial account is from the financial account when the service control unit detects that the user's business account funds are insufficient. A message that transfers a certain amount to its business account, and after receiving the user's transfer confirmation message, notifies the service control unit of the user's gold The insect account allocates a certain amount of funds to the user's business account