Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.

Verizon Business Global LLC

Anna Marie Appleby

Gregory Lee Mumford

Jon E Abel

John M Leslein

David A Fitzgerald

Radhika Gunasekar

Richard Garrett Moore

David K Vognsen

Prepaid services include associating a plurality of users with a prepaid services account. The account is configured to track a prepaid balance associated with the account as well as to allow at least a subset of the plurality of users associated with the account to draw down the prepaid balance at least generally at the same time. Drawing down the prepaid balance includes allocating a portion of the prepaid balance to each respective user, monitoring a provision of service, and repeating, selectively, the allocating and monitoring.

Systems and methods for providing multiple simultaneous calls from the same prepaid account

Methods relating to prepaid services include determining an unlocked status of an account configured to track usage of prepaid services. The methods further include locking the account for a length of time after the determining step. The methods further include providing, for a service period, a service to a user associated with the account subsequent to the locking step, and continuously extending the locking for an additional length of time throughout the service period.

Lease model for avoiding permanent card locking

A system and method are disclosed for providing prepaid services via an open network architecture system having access to a network, such as the Internet via an Internet protocol. The architecture system is operated by a system operator and includes a customer profile database which stores various customer-related information, such as customer names and their respective payment and contact information, a plurality of databases each storing prepaid accounts for a particular prepaid service, such as telephony, Internet access, paging, and cellular, and web-site system hardware connected to the customer profile database and the plurality of databases and to a network, such as the Internet, for ubiquitously accessing the databases via the Internet for viewing and managing one's prepaid services, as well as purchasing additional prepaid services and/or usage rights. The architecture system further includes network hardware connected to the web-site system hardware for enabling outside system operators, e.g., wholesalers, online retailers, system developers and ISPs, to utilize the architecture system to brand their own prepaid services and offer them through the architecture system.

System and method for providing prepaid services via an internet protocol network system

Prepaid services include a multi-user prepaid services account as well as a prepaid balance associated with the account. A plurality of user records associated with the account each includes a quota. A service monitoring component may be configured to repeatedly draw down the prepaid balance by providing one or more allocations of the prepaid balance during a service period to a user associated with a respective user record.

Growing community of inventors

Cedar Rapids, IA, United States of America

Anna Marie Appleby