The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 17, 2002
Filed:
May. 07, 1999
Miguel Cobo, Montreal, CA;
Betty Lee, St. Laurent, CA;
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ), Stockholm, SE;
Abstract
A system and method of providing a prepaid subscriber service to a mobile subscriber in an integrated wireless telecommunications network having a circuit-switched portion and a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) packet-switched portion. A prepaid subscriber class (PPSC) is stored in a home location register (HLR), and the PPSC is sent from the HLR to a serving mobile switching center (MSC) when the subscriber registers in the circuit-switched portion of the network. The PPSC is sent from the HLR to a serving GPRS support node (SGSN) when the subscriber registers in the packet-switched portion of the network. Also, the PPSC may be sent from the SGSN to a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) in order to indicate that the subscriber is a prepaid subscriber. When the mobile subscriber begins a packet-switched data session, the SGSN, GGSN, or both periodically send partial call data records (CDRs) to a prepaid center (PPC). When the mobile subscriber begins a circuit-switched call, the MSC periodically sends partial CDRs to the PPC. The PPC calculates in near real time, a new account balance for the prepaid subscriber. The current call is disconnected, and prepaid services are stopped when the account balance is reduced to zero.