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:
Apr. 11, 2017
Filed:
Jun. 25, 2014
Applicant:
Textnow, Inc., Waterloo, CA;
Inventors:
Derek Ting, Waterloo, CA;
Jonathan Lerner, San Francisco, CA (US);
Assignee:
TEXTNOW, INC., Waterloo, CA;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H04M 7/00 (2006.01); H04M 15/00 (2006.01); H04L 29/06 (2006.01); H04M 17/02 (2006.01); H04L 29/12 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H04M 7/0075 (2013.01); H04L 65/1069 (2013.01); H04L 65/1076 (2013.01); H04M 15/56 (2013.01); H04M 15/8044 (2013.01); H04M 17/02 (2013.01); H04L 61/157 (2013.01); H04L 61/1588 (2013.01);
Abstract
A database stores unique associations between account identifiers and mobile-network telephone numbers assigned by a mobile network to mobile communications devices. The account identifiers are also associated with voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephone numbers. Voice calls between the mobile communications devices are made as voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls using respective VoIP telephone numbers. Tracking of the VoIP calls is performed through the mobile network using respective mobile-network telephone numbers, so that a prepaid balance can be enforced.