Telephone network credit card calling apparatus and method of operation

Abstract

Apparatus and method of controlling a telephone network to establish connections between calling and called telephone stations in accordance with dialed telephone numbers identified by ones of a plurality of calling party credit cards. The apparatus responds to the receipt of a telephone number and a credit card number from a calling telephone by identifying a company having issued the credit card assigned the received credit card number. A data link connection is established with a data base maintained by the identified company and the received credit card number is transmitted to the identified company during the call sequence for a determination of the validity of the received credit card number. The apparatus controls the telephone network to establish a network connection between the calling telephone and a telephone identified by the called telephone number upon receiving validation of the validity of the credit card and to establish a network connection between the calling telephone and an announcement circuit stating that the identified credit card cannot be used for telephone calls upon receiving non-validation of the credit card or upon identifying the credit card as fraudulent.