KR100246591B1 - Method and apparatus for charge notification using telephone - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to various billing methods and apparatuses using a telephone network for transmitting and notifying various bills billed to a user through a telephone network and paying various public bills based on the transmitted data.

In the conventional billing system, it takes a lot of time and effort to collect the bill for each user, and a lot of facilities and costs are put into the preparation of the bill for the mail notice and the processing of the mail service. Many complaints are caused by loss, and there are many inefficiencies in storing and arranging mailing bills, and causing social problems such as exposure of privacy information by bill mail. It is

Since the present invention transmits data collected as a fee to be notified to the user as data through the subscriber's telephone network, the main purpose of the online notification of the fee is that the remote notification issuing agent detects a telephone usage state of the subscriber network. A second step of performing a network connection for transmitting the charging data of the subscriber when the subscriber network is in an unused state, and a step of translating the charging data to the connected subscriber network in a state in which it can be received. And a fourth process of transmitting subscriber billing data of the remote notification issuing agency to the corresponding subscriber, and a fifth process of checking whether all the transmission data has been received and releasing access to the subscriber network.

In addition, when the billing data cannot be successfully transmitted to the subscriber in steps 2 to 5, the subscriber access is regarded as a failure, and the control is performed to be transmitted again later and the control execution is performed to be sequentially moved to the next subscriber. It features.

Description

Various bill notification method and device using telephone network

The present invention relates to various billing methods and apparatuses using a telephone network for transmitting and notifying various bills billed to a user through a telephone network and paying various public bills based on the transmitted data.

In general, when a product, a facility, or a service is used, an appropriate fee is charged based on the use thereof, which forms the basis of commerce.

It is well known that all of the above usage fees vary widely depending on the person requesting the fee.

For example, the telephone bill of the telephone subscriber, the bill of purchase of credit card users, the bill of bills such as electricity, water and gas, and the notice of medical insurance premiums. The issuing agency ", and this issuing agency must have a duty to notify users of the usage fee according to a predetermined procedure, which is an essential transaction procedure for billing.

Therefore, the issuing agency that has not fulfilled its obligations to pay is not legally required to have a compulsory claim for non-payment of fees.

Thus, each issuing agency collects the details of the usage fee for each user at the appropriate time, prints the amount of the confirmed charge on the paper of the appropriate notice for each user, mails this notice, and based on the mailed notice. As a result, a payment system through banks, banks, etc. has been established.

However, when looking at the conventional billing system as described above, it takes a lot of time and effort to collect the bill to be billed for each user, and a lot of facilities and costs for the preparation of bills for postal notices and processing according to the mail delivery There are many complaints about loss of mails, and there are many inefficiencies in storing mails and storing and organizing these documents. In recent years, there are social problems such as exposure of privacy information by bill mail. It is the situation that is causing the harm.

Look in more detail.

As an example, looking at the telephone bill notice problem occurs the following problems.

The telephone bill records the billing data for each time zone on the magnetic tape to detect the user's telephone usage and calculate the usage fee through the access time, access area, and billing system. After collecting and collecting by car or in person to the processing place, billing data is classified by subscriber and generated as billing data for each subscriber.

At this time, a large computer is needed to classify and print the bills on the bill for each subscriber from the magnetic tape.

However, printing tens of millions of bills, which are also the same number, to notify tens of millions of subscribers also requires a lot of time, effort, and money.

In addition, the process of transporting the magnetic tape containing the billing data to the central billing processing place is also always unsatisfactory because the excessive manpower, time and data processing delays, and the deterioration of the data will be excessive.

As a result, according to the above-described prior art, as the individual bill is processed by billing a large number of subscribers individually, the central billing place has a disadvantage in that it requires a large computer facility and a related facility that can be processed quickly for counting and printing.

In addition, due to the long processing time for each user, such a bill is not possible for the current month bill notification and delayed to the bill notice for the previous month (2 months ago), so that the issuing institution decreases the profit by that much. It can only happen.

In addition, since each user needs to manage, update, and connect to the billing data and the database managing the address, the data to be maintained is doubled, thereby increasing the amount of work.

In addition, various problems such as manpower requirements, increased costs, loss of losses, and leakage of privacy information due to the mailing of bills are inevitable.

Considering the above problem, there have been some proposals to improve the system in which a predetermined billing data is distributed from local telephone stations and connected to a central billing site on-line.

In other words, in order to solve the unrealistic problem of billing, Korean Patent Publication No. 93-6864, "Method of handling mountain climbing charges of electronic exchanger", Patent Publication No. 93-12084, "Exchange billing data collection and transmission device" and Patent notification 96 -11708 "Intensive charge collection method in exchange system" has been devised.

All of these improvements have been made to the conventional system for collecting and transporting billing data, which relyed on magnetic tape, so that it can be distributed at exchanges to perform billing processing and to send billing data to remote locations.

In the end, distributing the billing information recorded on the magnetic tape and transmitting it remotely is only an improvement in transportation and processing compared with the direct transfer of the magnetic tape to the centralized processing. Therefore, the printing process of the bill and the mail of the bill are improved. Problems related to shipping cannot be solved.

Therefore, the real computer processing involving the user is impossible because it is only an independent computerization process of the high-issue issuing institution.

On the other hand, Korean Patent Publication No. 93-3155 "Method of improving the function using a PC of a multi-function telephone", 93-5597 "Charging method of an electronic exchange using a computer" and 93-4925 "Method of displaying telephone usage information" Inventions capable of supercharging and displaying on the terminal side have been devised.

However, they calculate and display the call charge according to the rough usage time, which is mainly formed in a programmable keyphone, which is only enough to remind the user of the economics of the call, and to form a personal computer in a facility such as a keyphone. By simply receiving and displaying the billing data, it is also impossible to process the computer linking the issuing institution with the user and the receiving institution (such as a bank).

In addition, not only the procedure of notifying the telephone fee but also the billing of various credit cards, the bill of medical insurance premiums and the non-payment reminder, etc. are not performed in a timely manner.

The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the conventional billing system as described above has the following object.

The present invention has a main object of bringing online a bill notice since data collected from a fee to be notified to a user is transmitted as data through the subscriber's telephone network.

The present invention also provides various billing methods using a telephone network that can shorten the processing time by transmitting the billing data such as magnetic tape for billing notices to the subscribers in a unit billing issuing agency without carrying and intensive processing. To provide the device.

In addition, the present invention provides a variety of billing methods and apparatuses using a telephone network to reduce the cost required, and to avoid the cost of shipping and loss of mail because it excludes the print output for billing.

In addition, the present invention is notified of the usage fee by using the telephone number, so that the notification destination is moved in accordance with the user's telephone transfer, etc. Various problems using the telephone network to solve the problem caused by the inaccuracy of the database that maintains the user address Provides a billing method and apparatus therefor.

The present invention made to implement the various objects of the present invention as described above are as follows.

All the descriptions below will be based on the billing system of the telephone usage fee.

First, in using the telephone network in describing the present invention, among the telephone stations equipped with a telephone network switching device and generating billing data, the telephone station at the lowest level of the vertical structure is collectively referred to as a "subordinate remote notification issuing agency", and the sub-station All types of telephone stations existing above the remote notification issuing agency and between central billing institutions are called "parent country remote notification issuing agencies" and "remote notification issuing agencies" without special distinction Collectively, all of them.

In addition, a telephone station in charge of the remote notification issuing agency will be referred to as a "central billing processing institution".

1 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional rate notification system.

2 is a schematic diagram of a toll system using a telephone network according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic telephone usage fee notification method of the remote notification issuing agency according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a block diagram showing a schematic telephone usage fee notification method of the subscriber side according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a block diagram showing a billing method as a modification according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a block diagram showing the device configuration of a remote notification issuing organization according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a device configuration on the subscriber side according to the FIG. 6 invention.

It looks at with reference to a billing system using a telephone network as shown in FIG.

According to the present invention, in a telephone network consisting of a telephone subscriber, a telephone company accommodating the subscriber, and a central telephone station in charge of the telephone stations, the telephone network includes a telephone network switching facility according to the telephone usage of the subscriber, and issuing a remote notice for generating billing data of the usage fee. There is an organ.

The remote notification issuing authority manages the access and control of subscribers or relay lines, controls the switching exchange subsystem (ASS) in charge of switching, and centrally controls each connection switching subsystem (ASS), and operates and manages the exchange. And a variety of auxiliary storage devices including the central subsystem (CCS) responsible for the maintenance and maintenance functions, and a magnetic tape (MT) connected to the central subsystem (CCS) to store billing data. Consists of including.

Of course, this remote notification issuing agency may send and receive mutual billing data using a link connecting the respective systems from the lower station remote notification issuing agency to the upper station remote notification issuing agency and the upper station remote notification issuing agency to the central billing processing institution. It is configured to store this data.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, the billing data of the remote notification issuing organization is to transmit the billing data to the subscriber side as needed.

That is, the remote notification issuing agency detects a telephone use state of a subscriber network, a second process of performing a network access to transmit billing data of the subscriber when the subscriber network is not in use, and the connected process. A third step in which the subscriber side transfers the billing data to the subscriber network in a state in which it can be received; a fourth step in which the subscriber billing data of the remote notification issuing agency is transmitted to the corresponding subscriber; And a fifth process of accessing a subscriber network of a next-order subscriber who releases the subscriber network access.

In addition, when the billing data cannot be successfully transmitted to the subscriber in the second to fifth processes, the subscriber access is regarded as a failure, and control is performed to be transmitted again later, and the control is performed to be sequentially moved to the next subscriber.

The remote notification issuing agency transmits the notice state and subscriber information online to the central billing processing institution, and the subscriber who receives the billing notice is stored in the receiving institution on the basis of the received billing data, and the receiving institution recalls the receipt situation. The central billing agency will be notified.

The control method of the present invention made to transmit the charging data will be described in more detail with reference to the embodiment of FIG. 3.

The remote notification issuing agency is prepared to make a database of the billing data collected and analyzed at an appropriate time of each month and to transmit the billing data (step 101).

In order to transmit the billing data, a billing database for each subscriber is linked (step 102). The billing database may be indexed as necessary. For example, telephone number order.

Then, in accordance with the order of the indexed billing database, the usage of the senior subscriber's telephone network is checked (step 103), and if not, the subscriber network is connected to the subscriber's telephone network (step 104) to establish a data transmission path between the remote notification issuer and the subscriber. Configure.

When the data transmission path is established, the billing data of the billing database is transmitted using a modem (step 105). The remote notification issuing agency detects the success of the billing data transmission (step 106) and then the billing database. Transmission completion is marked on the display (step 107).

Of course, if the subscriber telephone network is in use (step 103) or if the transmission of the charging data fails (step 106), the charging database is updated (step 110) and the charging data of the subscriber that failed to be transmitted is the final record of the database. Updates are made to the updater.

The transmission of such billing data proceeds sequentially to the final subscriber. When the transmission is completed to one subscriber, the subscriber is confirmed whether or not the subscriber is recognized (step 108). It is checked whether or not (step 109) the subscriber telephone network connection process (step 104) is repeated.

Thus, in the case of the final subscriber (step 108), it is checked whether there is an untransmitted subscriber (step 111), and if there is no untransmitted subscriber, the charging data transmission result is output (step 114) and the transmission is completed.

If there is a non-transmitted subscriber, it is checked whether repetitive transmission is performed (step 112). If repetitive transmission is not performed, retransmission from the priority subscriber based on the rank is performed through repetitive transmission (step 113). (Step 103).

Here, the repeated transmission corresponds to a case where the connection is not made due to a problem in the telephone network or the transmission ends in failure, which may be set up to two or more times.

Of course, the unsent subscriber, even after performing the set repetitive transmission, records and stores the cause of the error in the transmission, and remotely tests the telephone network and the receiving equipment of the corresponding and the transmitting subscriber (step 114) to determine whether the program is an error or a hardware failure. After the check, the billing data transmission result is output in step 115 (step 115), the billing database of a new untransmitted subscriber may be generated and transmitted again.

The subscriber side control by the transmission of the remote notification issuing agency as described above will be described with reference to FIG.

If a signal is received from the remote notification issuing agency over the telephone network to set up the modem for reception (step 201), the modem will indicate on the display that charging data is being received from the remote notification issuing agency (step 202). Modem is ready to receive data (step 203) and charging data is received (step 204).

It is checked whether all the billing data has been successfully received (step 205). When all of the billing data has been successfully received, the charging data reception completion indication (step 206) is made and the received billing data is stored and recorded (step 209).

According to the present invention described above, it is preferable to include an indication code of the corresponding charge in the serial data transmitted to at least identify which charge is the charge data, which makes it possible to distinguish each charge when transmitting multiple charges. do.

Fees may also consist of various data as needed. For example, the billed period (months), details can be included.

In addition, it is desirable to have a data format capable of transmitting and receiving various data in the shortest possible time, which can be tried in various ways.

In addition, the transmission of the billing data, such as the present invention, the general notification of the transmission to the subscriber from the remote notification issuing agency, or the subscriber calls the remote notification issuing agency, the details of the billing data or billing data of the subscriber in the remote notification issuing agency Can also be sent (see Figure 5).

In such a case, the user shall reserve the necessary information as required by this ARS via the Voice Automated Response System (ARS), which transmits the billing data to the remote notification issuing party, By paying bills.

An embodiment of a specific device configuration of the present invention as described above will be described in more detail below.

6 is a schematic diagram of a device configuration of a remote notification issuing organization that implements the technical idea of the present invention.

In the telephone network consisting of ordinary telephone subscribers, telephone stations that accept the subscribers, and a central telephone station that manages the telephone stations, the central office controls the access switching subsystems (ASSs) in charge of the exchange and controls the access and control of subscriber relay lines. It is responsible for various auxiliary storage devices and input / output, including the central sub system (CCS) that is in charge of operation and management functions and maintenance functions, and the magnetic tape (MT) connected to the central subsystem (CCS) to store billing data. And a subscriber network search means (10) for detecting the use of the subscriber subscriber network in the central sub system (CCS), and the toll data to be transmitted as data indexed in an appropriate order. Days of the bill data storage means 12 and the bill data storage means 12 Transmission control means (14) for reading and controlling the transmission status and recording the transmission result, and transmission output means (16) enabled when the transmission attempts of the subscriber network search means (10) and the transmission control means (14) are logical sums. ), A modem 18 for transmitting data output to this transmission output means, and the subscribers SS1 to the connection via the connection exchange subsystem ASS by connecting the modem 18 to a central subsystem CCS. The charging data is transmitted to the modem of SSn).

On the other hand, each subscriber (SS1 ~ SSn) receiving the charging data of the remote notification issuing agency is provided with a receiving means 20 for receiving and recording this charging data.

The receiving means 20 is connected to a subscriber telephone network and has a modem 22 including a telephone network interface and an LED indicator, a microcomputer (MPU) having an arithmetic program for processing data received through the modem, and an operation result of the microcomputer. A storage means 24 for recording and storing, and a medium recording means 26 and a recording medium 28 for recording the received charging data on an extractable recording medium, and the charges, types and details of the received charging data. And display means (D) for indicating that the telephone network is receiving data through the modem.

The medium recording means 26 can be considered as an encoder for recording on a recording means such as a magnetic card, IC card, or the like.

According to the device configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention, the subscriber's telephone network usage fee is recorded on the magnetic tape MT for recording the charge through the central sub system (CCS).

The billing data recorded on the magnetic tape MT is extracted and processed into billing details for each subscriber by a normal billing processing step, which is referred to as billing data.

Eventually, the bill data is indexed in the order of hostility according to the characteristics of the subscribers to be a database. This database is recorded in the bill data storage means 112.

The toll data recorded in the toll data storage means 112 is transmitted to each subscriber as a modem 18 and a modem 22 at a specific time according to the program for transmitting the toll data. Transmission is controlled by the transmission control means 14 which controls the transmission.

The transmission network is provided with a subscriber network search means 10 to start the transmission when the transmission program operates and the corresponding subscriber network to be transmitted is not in use.

As a result, when the subscriber for transmission does not use the communication network, the transmission control means 14 enables the transmission output means 16 to connect the subscriber network through the modem 18 and start the transmission of the charging data.

When the billing data transmission request is generated from the remote notification issuing authority, the modem 22 on the subscriber side is initialized to receive the billing data.

That is, when the start bit is received, the subscriber modem 22 enters a setup state and receives charging data through the modem. When the charging data is being received, the display means D indicates that the data is being received, and the received charging data records the received data in the storage means 24 under the control of the microcomputer (MPU) and at the same time, how much the charge is received. The display means (D).

The received charging data is then recorded by the medium recording means 26 on a recording medium 28 such as a magnetic card or IC card.

Accordingly, the subscriber withdraws and carries the recording medium 28 and pays the fee to the receiving institution and receives the related fee.

It is desirable that the paid data be deleted on the record carrier 28.

This is due to the necessity of the self recording capacity to be taken into consideration, and also because the appropriate number of accumulated charging data is stored in the storage means 24 of the receiving means 20.

Storing the received billing data on the storage means 24 can be limited to about several months to about one year, and it is extremely easy to variably increase or decrease as needed.

In addition, by storing the received billing data in the storage means 24, there is an advantage that can be checked by outputting the billing history of the last month already in the offline state.

According to the present invention as described in detail above, the data collected by the fee to be notified to the user is transmitted as data through the telephone network of the subscriber, so that the bill can be online, billing such as magnetic tape for billing It is effective to shorten the processing time by transferring the data to the subscriber from the unit charge issuing agency without transporting or intensively processing the data. Has the advantage of preventing loss and so on.

In addition, the present invention is notified of the usage fee by using the telephone number, so that the notification destination is naturally moved according to the user's telephone transfer, etc., and the effect of solving the problem caused by the inaccuracy of the database that maintains the user address, the telephone It is a very innovative invention that can reduce and charge a lot of social costs by linking and transmitting bill notification data of all billing issuers such as electricity bills, credit card charges or medical insurance fees, and various member fees.

Claims (8)

In a billing system configured to send and receive mutual billing data using a link connecting a system to a remote station issuing agency of a lower station, a remote station issuing station of a higher station, and a central billing institution to notify a subscriber's usage fee. The remote notification issuing agency prepares a billing database and detects a telephone usage state of the subscriber network, and performs a network access for transmitting billing data of the subscriber when the subscriber network is not in use. A third process of translating the charging data into a state in which the subscriber side can receive the data through the connected subscriber network; a fourth process of transmitting specific subscriber charging data of the remote notification issuing agency to the corresponding subscriber; When all transmissions have been made, the subscriber network is disconnected and the subscriber network of the next If the charging process fails to successfully transmit the billing data to the subscriber in the fifth process and the second to fifth processes, the subscriber is regarded as a failure and controlled to be retransmitted later. Various billing method using a telephone network, characterized in that made. 2. A method and apparatus for billing using a telephone network according to claim 1, comprising a database updating step of changing the charging database according to the result transmitted to the subscriber. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber side detects a signal for setting up a modem to be in a state in which the modem can be received when transmission of billing data is initiated from a remote notice issuing agency through a telephone network, and billing data is being received from a remote notice issuing agency. Is displayed on the display, and the modem of the subscriber's telephone is in the data receiving state, receiving the charging data, and checking whether all the charging data has been successfully received. And a billing method using the telephone network, characterized in that the process of storing and recording the received billing data. 4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the initiation of the billing data transmission causes the subscriber to call the remote notification issuing agency to transmit the billing data or details of the billing data of the subscriber at the remote notification issuing agency. Through the Voice Answering System (ARS), which transmits billing data to the remote issuing agency so that the user can reserve the necessary information as required by this ARS, and allow the remote issuing agency to execute the billing in accordance with this reservation. Various billing method using a telephone network, characterized in that made. In the telephone network consisting of a normal telephone subscriber, a telephone station for accommodating the subscriber, and a central telephone station that manages the telephone stations, the central office controls and controls the access exchange subsystems (ASSs) in charge of the exchange and control of access to the subscriber relay line. Various auxiliary storage devices and input / output devices including a central sub system (CCS) that is in charge of the operation, management and maintenance functions of the system, and a magnetic tape (MT) connected to the central subsystem (CCS) to store charging data. Including the input and output device in charge, the subscriber network search means for detecting the use of the subscriber network subscribed to the central sub-system (CCS) 10 and the data indexed in the proper order of the billing data to be transmitted Days of the bill data storage means 12 and the bill data storage means 12 are stored as A transmission control means 14 for reading the data, controlling the transmission status, and recording the transmission result, and a transmission output means enabled when the transmission attempts of the subscriber network search means 10 and the transmission control means 14 are logical sums ( 16), a modem 18 for transmitting data output to the transmission output means, and the subscriber 18 via the connection exchange subsystem ASS by connecting the modem 18 to the central subsystem CCS. Various billing apparatuses using a telephone network, comprising the configuration of the charging data being transmitted to the modems (SS1 to SSn). The receiving means (20) of claim 5, wherein each subscriber (SS1 to SSn) receiving charging data of the remote notification issuing organization is configured with receiving means (20) for receiving and recording the charging data. A microcomputer (MPU) having a modem 22 connected to a subscriber telephone network and including a telephone network interface and an LED indicator, an arithmetic program for processing data received through the modem, and storing and storing the arithmetic results of the microcomputer. A storage means 24, a medium recording means 26 and a recording medium 28 for recording the received charging data on an extractable recording medium, and a charge, a type, a description of the received charging data and a telephone network. Various billing apparatus using a telephone network, characterized in that it comprises a display means (D) for indicating that data is being received through. 8. The various billing apparatuses using a telephone network according to claim 6, characterized in that the medium recording means (26) is a magnetic card. 8. The various billing apparatuses using a telephone network according to claim 6, wherein said medium recording means is an IC card.

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