The present invention is generally directed to computer systems and smart pay telephone systems, and more particularly to a method of computerized collection for smart pay telephone usage.
When a smart pay telephone is used to call a xe2x80x9cDial Aroundxe2x80x9d toll free number, which xe2x80x9cDials-Aroundxe2x80x9d or connects to a Telecommunication Carrier subscribed to by the owner of the smart pay telephone, through the use of (but not limited to) an xe2x80x9c800,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c877xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c888xe2x80x9d number, the Federal Communications Commission requires that the owner of the number compensate the owner of the pay telephone for any completed call. At present, the amount of compensation, known as xe2x80x9cdial-around compensationxe2x80x9d is twenty-four cents per call. As can be appreciated, this can add up to a sizeable amount of money since smart pay telephones often dial xe2x80x9cDial Aroundxe2x80x9d toll free numbers, resulting in xe2x80x9cDial Aroundxe2x80x9d (e.g., when callers use a calling card or subscriber 800 number), and an entity may own many smart pay telephones.
Presently, the only way that the owners of the smart pay telephones can get compensated for such calls is to deal with a clearinghouse which processes compensation payments for one or more InterExchange Carriers (IXCs), or directly from the responsible IXC owning such xe2x80x9cDial Aroundxe2x80x9d toll free numbers. Essentially, the smart pay telephone operator registers each smart pay telephone number (ANI) with one or more clearinghouses and/or IXCs, and receives a check from the clearinghouses and/or IXCs for the Dial Around calls completed using the IXC""s xe2x80x9cDial-Aroundxe2x80x9d numbers made from the owner""s phones (ANIs).
One significant problem with this scheme is that the owner of the private pay telephone has no way to know what xe2x80x9cDial Aroundxe2x80x9d numbers are assigned to each IXC. Thus it is presently not possible to reconcile amounts received from the clearinghouse(s) and/or IXCs with the call records collected at the smart pay telephone. The private pay telephone owner/operator is essentially at the mercy of the clearinghouses and/or IXCs, and/or the owner of the switch where the calls are logged. As a result, the smart pay telephone owner has no way to verify that the compensation is in the correct amount. Similarly, switchless resellers of xe2x80x9cDial Aroundxe2x80x9d toll free numbers have no way of knowing whether they have been properly billed. Moreover, with the present scheme, because the owners of Dial Around toll free numbers are generally switched-based carriers, they are in control of all the information (SMDR Records) used or provided to the clearinghouses for determining compensation amounts. Such carriers are thus effectively billing themselves, with little or no oversight. As a result, the owners of the smart pay telephone systems are not particularly satisfied with the present dial-around compensation system, nor are the switchless resellers. Nevertheless, no alternate compensation mechanism or way to reconcile the compensation has been heretofore available.
Briefly, the present invention provides a method and system for determining dial-around compensation based on the actual data recorded at the smart pay telephones. To this end, records maintained at the smart phone, store dialed information. Through a series of parsing and filtering operations on those records, and database accesses based on information in the records, the present invention establishes which Carrier Identification Code (CIC) is associated with each call, based on the pay telephone""s ANI-related information and the date and destination of the call. Once the CIC is known, another database is accessed to determine the known owner of that CIC. Output such as billing information may then be generated to collect compensation from the responsible IXC or reconcile IXC payments.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds