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:
Sep. 03, 2013
Filed:
Feb. 19, 2001
Outi Markki, Espoo, FI;
Olli Andersson, Helsinki, FI;
Harald G. Fuchs, Vienna, AT;
Tero Loimuneva, Hausjarvi, FI;
Outi Markki, Espoo, FI;
Olli Andersson, Helsinki, FI;
Harald G. Fuchs, Vienna, AT;
Tero Loimuneva, Hausjarvi, FI;
Nokia Corporation, Espoo, FI;
Abstract
The invention relates to the control of billing in a communications network. The objective is to accomplish a mechanism for minimizing credit losses caused by subscribers, while at the same time maintaining good performance of the system. A gateway receives service requests and filters out the requests for which the analysis performed indicates that a credit loss risk is involved. For these service requests an in-advance credit check is initiated. If the credit check indicates that the delivery is permissible, a reservation is made for the amount of money corresponding to the service price, i.e. the said sum is reserved in the subscriber account so that said sum cannot be used by another service request in the meantime. When the service has been delivered successfully, the reservation is confirmed and the said sum is debited from the balance of the subscriber account. Otherwise, the reservation is cancelled.