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:
May. 08, 2012
Filed:
Nov. 08, 2011
Mark Titus, Arnold, MD (US);
Dara Ung, Odenton, MD (US);
Carle S. Johnson, Jr., Annapolis, MD (US);
Erik Wallace, Annapolis, MD (US);
Phillip Geil, Clarksville, MD (US);
Daniel Hronek, Annapolis, MD (US);
Mark Titus, Arnold, MD (US);
Dara Ung, Odenton, MD (US);
Carle S. Johnson, Jr., Annapolis, MD (US);
Erik Wallace, Annapolis, MD (US);
Phillip Geil, Clarksville, MD (US);
Daniel Hronek, Annapolis, MD (US);
TeleCommunication Systems, Inc., Annapolis, MD (US);
Abstract
A prepaid messaging solution using open networking standards (e.g., TCP/IP) to support pre-payment of Internet messaging services. The disclosed prepaid architectures/methods determine if a subscriber has sufficient account balance to deliver a short message, prior to message delivery. A message may be prevented from being delivered (at the source end or destination end) if a subscriber account has insufficient funds. A prepaid tariff engine supports remote interaction with the SMSC and web chat servers to apply real-time billing for each message. A service provider may define subscriber rates and/or tariffing plans to apply real-time billing for sending/receiving messages. Message billing may be based upon, e.g., rate per message, message count, character count, Time of Day, Day of Week, message type, and/or mobile location. The prepaid short messaging service preferably supports internet access to subscriber's account balances and status maintained in the prepaid short messaging database of the prepaid messaging server.