WO2006046235A2

WO2006046235A2 - Method and apparatus for swapping charges

Info

Publication number: WO2006046235A2
Application number: PCT/IL2005/001109
Authority: WO
Inventors: Naftali Ungar
Original assignee: Naftali Ungar
Priority date: 2004-10-25
Filing date: 2005-10-24
Publication date: 2006-05-04
Also published as: WO2006046235A3

Abstract

Disclosed are a system, an application and a method enabling a party of a phone call to unilaterally request to take the charge of the call upon himself. The request may be made by any of the phone call paraticipants and the requesting participants may only take the charges upon themselves. The requesting party may take a portion of the cost of the call or the full cost. The request is selectively accepted according to a billing component. The request may be sent by the requesting party at any point during the phone call by dialing a designated code, sending an SMS message or by any other type of data message. According to the preferred embodiments the disclosed invention may be integrated into existing networks or added to them as an external component

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SWAPPING CHARGES

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to the field of managing phone call charges and more particularly to the field of dynamically changing the call billing scheme during a phone call conversation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

According to prior art, when a calling party of a phone call establishes a connection with the called party, at least one of these parties is charged according to a predefined charging scheme that is defined before the call is established. This charging scheme is usually defined by one or more telecommunication service providers that facilitate the call. However, in particular circumstances any participating party in the phone call may want to change the billing scheme. Such instances may occur when a person calls a calling center and the sales person in the calling center wants to take the cost of the call in order to prolong the conversation. This need may also arise when members of the same family are talking to each other and they may want to change the call billing scheme according to their preferences. Similarly, when two people are conducting a long end expensive conversation, they may want to split its cost between them.

Known in the art are several solutions to this problem. British Patent No. 2,369,971 discloses a reverse charge call identifier in a Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) signal is received by a controller, which connects to the requested telephone number. Information extracted from the USSD signal, relating to the calling mobile telephone number is passed to the requested number. Both the calls from mobile to controller and controller to acceptor of the reverse charge call, may be charged to the acceptor.

US Patent No. 6,639,977 is a system and method that allows a calling party to call a destination number and, upon approval of the called party, reverse the billing of the telephone call so that it is deducted from an account owned and maintained by the called party other than the account associated with the destination number. The method of the present invention includes the steps of receiving a predetermined access number from a calling party; prompting for a destination number; notifying a called party of the call they are receiving; allowing the called party to accept the call and enter a number associated with an account other than the telephone service account of the destination telephone number; verifying the account number and whether the account has sufficient value available; completing the telephone call to the destination number; and processing the charges associated with the call to be charged against the account.

US Patent No. 6,792,261 discloses systems and methods for providing collect call service. In a preferred embodiment, the system includes: at least one mobile switching center (MSC) configured to service a first mobile station and a second mobile station. The MSC (MSC-O) among the at least one MSC which services the first mobile station is also configured to receive a collect call indication from the first mobile station, and an intelligent network configured to receive a collect call indication from the MSC-O. An intelligent peripheral configured to establish a first channel with the first mobile station and a second channel with the second mobile station in accordance with indications received from the intelligent network. The intelligent peripheral is configured to receive via the first channel an audio caller identification. Via the second channel the intelligent peripheral is configured to transmit the audio caller identification and to subsequently receive an acceptance or refusal of a collect call. The intelligent peripheral is configured to join the first and second channels and thereby connect the first and second mobile stations if acceptance is received.

International Patent Application No. 0038403 discloses techniques and systems for rate charge reversing in radio communication systems. Capabilities for charge reversing at initiation of a call or during a call are provided. The reverse charged party is informed of the deviation from standard charging practices and may accept, decline or negotiate the offered billing strategy. This dynamic rate adaptation permits truly per-call rate adaptation in a manner which allows end users to more flexibly allocate costs. International Patent Application No. 03039127 includes a reverse charges interface of a service provider. The reverse charge interface is responsive to calls from the telephones to a first predetermined number for allowing a reverse charge call to be placed with another of the telephones. The reverse charge call is placed following the number of the telephones calling a second predetermined number. The invention also includes a billing system is responsive to the reverse charge call being placed to determine a call cost that is to be levied to the carrier of the network to which the another device is lined.

All of the patents and patent applications which enable dynamically chang ing the billing during a call relate to reverse charging, which is analogous to making a collect call. These patents and patent applications allow the party of a phone call who is charged with the cost of the call to request to transfer the costs to the other parties of the call. None of the above mentioned patents and patent application enables a participant in a phone call conversation to dynamically take any portion of the cost of a call upon him- or herself. There is therefore a need for the means which would allow participants in phone call conversations to request to be charged with at least a portion of the cost of a call. Since the change in the billing scheme will increase the portion of the requesting party in the overall cost of the call, the requesting party should be able to make the request in a unilateral manner, in an easy to operate fashion and at any point during the call. In addition, the proposed solution should be able to be integrated into existing network communication infrastructure as well as to be an integral part of such systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method, a server, an application and a computer program product stored on a computer useable medium for changing the charging scheme of at least one participating party of a phone call said phone call executed through a communication network. The invention is comprised of receiving a unilateral request from a requesting party that participates in a phone call to be charged with at least a portion of a cost of the call, wherein said request is processed in real-time through the phone call session. Additionally it includes selectively accepting the unilateral request, by a swap charge application which is associated with said communication network.

At least part of the communication network may be a wireless, a wired or a data network, and at least two participating parties are connected to the communication network through different billing service providers. The invention may also include the step of converting call inform ation data format in accordance with the different service providers formats. At least two participating parties may be connected to different communication networks.

The unilateral request may be initiated by dialing at least one predefined digit or by sending an electronic message through the communication network. The electronic message may be a USSD message that includes a predefined content. The unilateral request may include cal I parameters which define the charging scheme to be applied.

The step of selectively accepting the unilateral request may be followed by a step of sending a swap charge indication to any of the participating parties or by sending a real time swap charge indication to a prepaid entity of at least one of the parties and receiving a confirmation from the prepaid entity. The step of selectively accepting the unilateral request may also be followed by a step of processing at least one call information data record to reflect the acceptance and a step of generating at least one new call information data record to reflect the acceptance. The new call information record may include refunding information of at least a portion of a cost of a phone call. Determining the cost of a call may be performed in response to swap charge operations and of the requesting party parameters. The swap charge operations of at least one party may be analyzed. The invention may also include the step of requesting the requesting party to acknowledge a swap charge operation, and the step of confirming the unilateral request. The step of selectively accepting the unilateral request may occur in real-time. At least one call information record may be tagged to reflect an acceptance of a unilateral request. Call information records received from the communication network may be filtered for the purpose of selecting information which relates the charging scheme. The change in the charging scheme may relate to at least a portion of the call which occurred before the unilateral request was initiated. It may also include charging an entity having a predefined agreement with the requesting participants. The communication network includes hybrid networks, local networks such as BPX or VPN networks and internet-base networks, wherein the call information is received directly from the network. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, a preferred embodiment will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 illustrates a wireless network and a swap charge application, according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 illustrates a swap charge server, according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 3 illustrates various signals that are exchanged during a swap charge operation, according to an embodiment of the invention; Figure 4 illustrates various signals that are exchanged during a swap charge operation, according to another embodiment of the invention;

Figure 5 illustrates various signals that are exchanged during a swap charge operation, according to a further embodiment of the invention; and

Figure 6 is a flowchart of method for swap charging according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The following abbreviations are used in the following description: CDR- CaII Detailed Record GSM - Global System for Mobile Communication AUC - Authentication Center EIR - Equipment Identity Register HLR - Home Location Register

VLR - Visitor Location Register

PSTN - Public Switching Telephone Network

POTS - Plain Old Telephone Service USSD - Unstructured Supplementary Service Data

MSN - Mobile Service Node

IN - Intelligent Network

SMS - Short Message System

MSC - Mobile Switching Center GMSC - Gateway Mobile Services Switching Center

IP - Internet Protocol

SGSN - Serving General Packet Radio Service Support Node

GGSN - Gateway General Packet Radio Services Support Node

DTMF - Dual Tone Multi Frequency SS - Supplementary Service

SS7 - Signaling System Number 7

MAP - Mobile Application Part

TCAP - Transaction Capabilities Application Part

MTP - Message Transfer Part SCCP - Signaling Connection Control Point

TAP - Transferred Account Procedure

RAP - Returned Accounts Procedure TTEN - Transparent Transfer External Node VPN - Virtual Private Network PBX - Private Branch Exchange

The present invention, which relates to phone call charges, allows participants in a phone call to request to be charged for at least a portion of the cost of the call. The request may be made by any of the phone call participants and the requesting participants may only take the charges upon themselves. The requesting participants may request to be charged for any portion of the cost of the call, and they may perform the request unilaterally. The request may be made at any point during the phone call and the cost may be determined according to a set call duration or according to a predefined amount.

According to various embodiments of the invention a calling party can unilaterally request to be charged with at least a portion of a cost of a call. According to another embodiment of the invention a called party can unilaterally request to be charged with at least a portion of a call. According to various embodiments of the invention multiple unilateral requests can be received and selectively accepted during one phone call. In it noted that the unilateral requests can originate from the calling party and the called party. According to various embodiments of the invention the number of parties that participate in a call as well as the number of parties that can unilaterally request to be charged with at least a portion of a call may be greater than two. According to various embodiments of the invention if a unilateral request was accepted then the requesting party is charged with a cost that can be responsive to at least one requesting party parameter. These parameters can reflect the type of customer the requesting party is, previous uses of various services (including but not limited to swap charge services) and the like, it is noted that the cost can be determined by applying various rating schemes. The invention is not limited to wireless networks. The calling party and/or the called party can use any type of telecommunication (or data) network including a wired network. According to various embodiments of the invention a call participant may unilaterally request to transfer at least a portion of the call to a third party, provided that the requesting party and the third party have a predefined agreement relating to phone call costs transference.

For convenience of explanation only, the following descriptions relate to a call between two parties using a GSM compliant network; whereas the called party performs a single unilateral request to perform a swap charge operation. As indicated from the preceding paragraphs, these descriptions only illustrate few non-limiting examples of the invention.

According to an embodiment of the invention the requesting party is requested to acknowledge the swap charge operation. The following description relates to a method, swap charge applications and computer readable mediums that enable a party to be charged for a certain phone call. The party unilaterally informs a swap charge application that it is willing to be charged for a phone call or for a portion of the phone call, and is charged accordingly.

According to an embodiment of the invention the swap charge is implemented by using hardware and/or software components that are connected to the components of a telecommunication network. These components can be located near one or more components of the telecommunication network or located remotely from the components of the telecommunication network. It is further noted that the swap charge scheme can be implemented by components that belong to the telecommunication network. The following description illustrates a swap charge server that communicates with the network scheme but other swap charge application can be used.

The invention is described in the context of a GSM compliant wireless network. For example, the wireless network is described as including an HLR, a MSC/VLR (or MSC/GMSC) and the like. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the invention can be applied mutatis mutandis to other wireless networks, other wired networks as well as to combinations of networks of various types. For example, in a wired network such as a PSTN network a PSTN switch generates the CDR. Yet for another example, in a IP based network the edge units can include SGSN components and GGSN units in addition to the MSC/VLR and GMSC components. It is also important to note that CDR is only one possible type of call information records holding network information. The disclosed system may be implemented using other types of call information service data, such as SS7 messages. Also within the scope of the present invention is an interface which is adapted to directly receive information in real time from privately managed networks including hybrid networks, local networks such as BPX or VPN networks and internet-base networks,. The information may include a unilateral swap charge request, call information call initiation, service and call termination indication. Thus, the disclosed method may manage the swap charge requests without relying on network CDRs.

According to an embodiment of the invention a party initiates a swap charge operation by sending a unique USSD message. It is noted that this is not necessarily so and that the initiation can be executed in other manners. For example, the party can dial a unique combination of digits or symbols, send a SMS, use the internet, and the like. According to various embodiments of the invention a party can decide to be charged with a part of a certain phone call or the entire phone call. The party can limit the length of the call, request to be charged for portions of the call that already ended, and the like. According to other embodiments of the invention a swap charge server is adapted to process call detail records, add information and/or remove information and provide new and/or updated call detail records (including refund CDRs and/or charge CDRs) to a billing system of a telecommunication network, or to a billing mediator of a telecommunication system.

According to other embodiments of the invention the swap charge server (or a monitor connected to the swap charge server) is capable of analyzing the usage of various services of the telecommunication network including the usage of the swap charge service, and provide analysis information to other entities such as the telecommunication network. According to an embodiment of the invention the method can include a stage of confirming a unilateral request to perform a swap charge operation, specifically if the customer may take the charge upon himself or herself. For example, the method verifies if the customer is pre paid or post paid, or if the customer is allowed to make out going calls, long distance calls and the like. Conveniently, the wireless network includes a confirmation unit or is connected to a confirmation unit such as but not limited to a MSN/IN. The confirmation unit can be included within the swap charge server.

According to an embodiment of the invention the method can include a stage of authenticating the requesting party before performing a swap charge operation. Conveniently, the wireless network includes an authentication unit or is connected to an authentication unit such as but not limited to an AUC. The AUC can be included within the swap charge server or connected to the swap charge server. According to an embodiment of the invention the swap charge operation can be performed after determining that the requesting party can request the swap charge operation (for example has enough credit) and after receiving an acknowledgement from the requesting party.

According to an embodiment of the invention a swap charge operation includes tagging or marking a terminating CDR and/or an originating CDR to reflect the swap charge operation. The system or method then can wait to receive updated CDRs from a swap charge component that can replace the original terminating and/or originating CDRs or add new CDR's. It is noted that using tags is not a necessity. According to an embodiment of the invention a swap charge operation includes tagging or marking a terminating CDR and/or an originating CDR to indicate the time of activation of the swap charge operation. This allows the network billing system to receive the charging or the refunding of the swap charge operation.

It is further noted that although the following descriptions refers to CDRs, other records, files or other formats of call related information can be used without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The invention can be implemented by utilizing a computer readable medium that includes a computer readable program, wherein when the computer readable program is executed on a computer it causes the computer to perform various operations. This medium may include portable disks, diskettes, digital video discs (DVDs), compact discs (CDs), an integrated circuit and the like.

Figure 1 illustrates a wireless network 11 and a swap charge server 300, according to an embodiment of the invention. A swap charge application such as swap charge server 300 is connected to HLR 100 and to a billing mediator 220. It is noted that other configurations can be used without departing from the scope of the invention, even when trie swap charge server 300 interfaces with a GSM network. For example, the swap charge server 300 can interface with the MSCs. and receive the CDRs and the activation messages directly from it. The latter configuration may require a more complex interconnecting scheme, as the number of MSCc exceeds the number of HLRs. In addition, by interfacing with the billing mediator 220 the swap charge server 300 does not have to verify and validate the generation, the distribution and the content of the various CDRs, as this is done by the billing mediator 220.

Figure 1 illustrates a post-paid scenario in which both the calling party 10 and the called party 20 belong to the same wireless network, but are wirelessly connected to different MSC/VLRs. The MSC/VLRs can be regarded as being responsible for these parties. The invention can be applied in other scenarios, some are further illustrated in figure 3 and figure 4. Swap charge server 300 is connected to HLR 100, billing mediator 220 and monitor 500.

HLR 100 is connected to MSC/VLRs 40 and 210. MSC/VLR 40 is connected to base station 30 that is wirelessly connected to calling party 10. MSC/VLR 210 is connected to base station 50 that is wirelessly connected to called party 20. MSC/VLR 40 and MSC/VLR 210 are connected to the billing mediator 220 and are adapted to generate originating CDRs and terminating CDRs. A call between calling party 10 and called party 20 causes MSC/VLR 40 to generate an originating CDR and causes MSC/VLR 210 to generate a terminating CDR. Both CDRs can be provided to billing mediator 220. The swap charge server 300 receives these CDRs from the billing mediator 220 or from the MSC/VLRs 40, and generates updated and/or new CDRs that reflect a swap charge operations initiated by the called party 20. Conveniently, the HLR 100, billing mediator 220, MSC/VLRs 40 and 210, base station 30 and base station 50 belong to wireless network 11. The swap charge server 300 can be regarded as part of the wireless network 11 but it may also be an independent server. Conveniently, the swap charge server 300 can be assigned with a wireless network identifier such as a point code and a global title address. HLR 100 includes multiple components such as USSD application component 110, a TTEN application component 120 and USSD handler component 130. MSC/VLR 210 includes a USSD handler component 211. According to an embodiment of the invention the identity of the called party 20 may be authenticated before a unilateral request to swap charges is accepted. A typical telecommunication network is adapted to perform network authentication using an authentication component. Any one of prior art authentication standards can be used to perform the authentication. The authentication component can be included within the HLR 100, connected to the HLR 100 or located elsewhere in the wirel ess network 11 or outside the wireless network 11.

The called party 20 can send a unilateral request to be charged with at least a portion of a cost of the call in various manners. Conveniently, the called party 20 uses the USSD mechanism. It is noted that other signaling mechanisms can be used, for example other mechanisms based upon DTMF, I P or SS7 protocols. The TTEN application component 120 allows the called party 20 to operate services in other nodes than the ones specified by GSM. In the external nodes, the subscriber can interrogate service data for specific services or register, erase, activate, or deactivate services. According to various embodiments of the invention the HLR 100 can include (or be connected to) at least one of the following components: EIR, AUC, SMSC, MSC, and MSN. According to various embodiments of the invention the swap charge server 300 receives

CDRs from the MSC 210. According to other embodiments of the invention the swap charge server interacts with the MSC 210 and especially with a USSD handler component 211 within the MSC 210. This interaction can be in addition to an interaction with HLR 100 (especially with USSD component 130) or instead of that interaction.

Figure 2 illustrates a swap charge server 300, according to an embodiment of the invention. Swap charge server 300 includes an interface such as input/output (I/O) interface 310, SS7 gateway 330, IP gateway 320, CDR mediator 350, bad CDR database 360, output CDR formatter 340, internal bus 312, CDR processor 400, call control handler 410, output CDR database 390, input CDR database 380, and raw CDR database 380. I/O interface 310 is connected to the SS7 gateway 330, IP gateway 320, CDR mediator 350 and raw CDR database 370. Conveniently, an internal bus 312 interconnects between the various components of swap charge server 300.

I/O interface 310 can be connected to one or more networks. Conveniently, I/O interface 310 is the only interface between the mobile network 11 and the swap charge server 300. For example, the I/O interface 310 can be connected to the billing mediator 220, to the MSC/VLR 210 and to the HLR 100. Both inputs signals and outputs signals to HLR 100 can be transferred via the I/O interface 310. It is noted that other entities can be connected to the I/O interface 310. This may include a component (such as an SMS component) that sends the calling party an indication of the swap charge operation (also referred to as swap charge indication). The SS7 gateway 330 can support all SS7 messages required for the operation of the swap charge server 300. The Swap charge server 300 can support communication in the SS7 up to the MAP and TCAP layers (conveniently via MTP and SCCP).

The IP gateway 320 can support all the IP traffic that is exchanged with the swap charge server 300 and for activating & maintaining the swap charge service. The CDR mediator 350 includes a CDR parser 352, a CDR filter 354 and a CDR formatter 356. The CDR parser 352 receives various CDRs such as, but not limited to, terminating CDRs from the billing mediator 220, via the I/O interface 310. It then performs parsing operations according to a predefined parsing scheme. The parsing can involve differentiating between records within a file, differentiating between fields within a record and differentiate between values within a field.

The CDR filter 354 is connected between the CDR parser 352 and the CDR formatter 356. It applies various filtering mechanisms, based upon the parsed information, and rejects CDRs that are not relevant. For example, rejected CDRs can include CDRs that are associated with services that differ from phone calls. Rejected CDRs can be associated with SMS services, handover operations, clients that cannot request a swap charge operation, and the like. The filtering can be based upon the value of one or more parsed information fields. For example, if the swap charge operation is signaled by a "use of supplementary services" flag then the filter can reject each CDR that includes a negated "use of supplemental service" flag.

The CDR formatter 356 can format either all CDRs parsed by the CDR parser 352 or only the non-rejected CDRs. The CDR formatter 356 can format the CDRs in various manners, such as but not limited to: alter the size of information fields, alter the order of information fields, add information fields or remove information fields.

It is noted that the swap charge server 300 can perform a first formatting operation from an input format to an intermediate format and then a second formatting operation from the intermediate format to an output format. This multi-stage formatting scheme can be very effective when the swap charge server 300 interacts with different billing mediators 220 that have different

CDR formats. According to an embodiment of the invention the CDR formatter 356 performs a conversion between the input format and an intermediate format while another formatter (referred to as output CDR formatter 340) performs a conversion to an output CDR format. It is noted that both formatters can be merged to a single formatter. Conveniently the output CDR format complies with the format of the billing mediator 220 that receives the output CDRs. It is noted that the output CDRs can be sent directly to the billing system without passing through the billing mediator 220.

According to an embodiment of the invention the output CDR formatter 340 can add information fields to the output CDR, whereas the added information can originate from various entities including a CRM entity, other components of the wireless network 11 or other components of swap charge server 300. The information can provide information about the called party client type (premium client, regular client and the like), the called party identity type (company, individual and the like), called party billing scheme (discount, premium, and the like). Conveniently, either one of the CDRs formatters can manipulate, covert or translate values within the received CDRs. These operations can provide a more meaningful CDR.

The input CDR database 380 includes input CDRs that passed through the CDR mediator 350. These CDRs can be in an intermediate format, in the original input format and the like. Conveniently, the intermediate format includes information that is required for the swap charge operation. Other information included within the received input CDR can be removed. The intermediate format information can include the numbers of the calling party and the called party phones, a unique identifier for the received input CDR, date of call, time of call, and the like. For convenience of information these CDRs are referred to as intermediate CDRs.

The output CDR database 390 includes CDRs that were outputted by the swap charge server 300. These output CDRs include charge CDRs and refund CDRs. The charge CDRs cause the called party to be charged for the call or a portion of the call while the refund CDRs prevent the calling party from being charged for a call (or a portion of the call) that the called party accepted to pay for. The raw CDR database 370 includes the received input CDRs at their original format, before being formatted by the CDR mediator 350. It can include all received input CDRs, only input received CDRs that were not rejected, and the like. It is noted that these databases can be refreshed in various prior art methods including cyclic refreshing. The bad CDRs database 360 stores CDRs which failed the basic validation in the swap charge mediation.

CDR processor 400 receives intermediate CDRs, receives additional call information from the call control handler 410 and generates the charge CDR and the refund CDR.

An exemplary output CDR has the following format:

Field Name Field Content Field Type Field Size

Calling Number (calling party) MSISDM string 16

Called Number (called party) MSISDN string 16

Start Date Time DateTime

End Date Time DateTime

Prepaid Indicator O - Post Paid bit 0.125 1 - Prepaid

Unique ID string 20

Charge Indicator 0 - Refund bit 0.125 1- Charge

IMSI string 16 Swap charge Indicator Const 1 bit 0.125

The call control handler 410 is adapted to control the operation of the swap charge server 300. One of its tasks is to associate input CDRs and cost swapping operations. This association is especially required when the swap charge server 300 does not receive an indication (from the calling party 10 or from the called party 20) that the call has ended. The association includes monitoring unilateral requests, from a called party, to be charged with at least a portion of a cost of the call, and storing unilateral request information (such as called party phone number, time of unilateral request). The unilateral request information is then compared to input CDRs that include the called party phone number, beginning of a call, end of the call and the like.

When the call control handler finds a match, the swap charge server 300 can determine when the call started, when the unilateral request to be charged with at least a portion of a call was received and when the call ended. Thus, the swap charge server 300 can determine, for example, the amount of calling party refund, the amount of called party charge and the like. If, for example the called party wants to be charged with the total cost of the phone call then the start time and the end time of the call are taken into account. If for example, the called party unilaterally requests to be charged for a portion of the call that starts when it sends a unilateral request then the time of unilateral request and the end time of the call are taken into account. It is noted that the called party can unilaterally request to be charged for a certain time period, for a certain fraction of the call and the like.

Conveniently, the call control handler 410 is adapted to perform at least some of the following operations: (i) establish a communication session with HLR 100 or with MSC 40 regarding unilateral requests for swap charge, (ii) acknowledge a beginning of a swap charge operation to the HLR 100, (iii) monitor the call in progress, while the swap charge duration time is being updated, (iv) generate additional call information that is sent to the CDR processor 400, and (v) handle USSD messages during the activation of the swap charge operation, and the like.

The swap charge server 300 can be connected to a monitor 500. The monitor 500 can monitor the swap charge server 300 as well as analyze swap charge operations. The monitor 500 can be remotely located from the swap charge server 300. The monitor 500 and/or the swap charge server 300 can also analyze other operations performed by either one of the parties, as well as the usage of other services by either one of the parties.

Monitor 500 can exchange information with the swap charge server 300 and can access the various databases of the swap charge server 300 and generate different types of reports. It is also adapted to monitor various processes that are executed by the swap charge server 300.

These processes may include receiving input CDRs, outputting output CDRs, generating intermediate CDRs₁ processing CDRs, and the like. The monitor 500 can control various operational parameters of the swap charge server 300 including CDR processing parameters, CDR filtering parameters, inputting confirmation syntax and the like.

The monitor 500 can generate various reports including at least one of the following reports: (i) number of swap charge operations per specific dates, (ii) number of swap charge operations per specific times, (iii) number of swap charge operations per specific area codes, (iv) number of swap charge operations per specific customer type, (v) average call duration for a swap charge user.(vi) average call duration for a user before swap charge was activated, (vii) number of swap charge operations per specific location area, (viii) average swap charge operations per hour,

(ix) average swap charge operations per day, (x) average swap charge operations per week, (xi) average swap charge operations per month. It is noted that some of these reports can be generated per user, per a group of users, per MSC/VLR, per HLR, per wireless network, per swap charge server 300 and the like.

Figure 3 illustrates various signals exchanged during a swap charge operation, according to an embodiment of the invention. It is assumed that a called party 20 receives a call from a calling party 10. It is further assumed that the called party 20 decides to be charged for at least a portion of that phone call. Arrow A illustrates that the called party 20 sends a unique USSD message to USSD handler 211. For example the called party can dial "7send" to activate the swap charge service and then use the USSD protocol . It is noted that the called party can send any other type of signaling such as a SS7 message or a DTMF.

Arrow B illustrates that USSD handler 211 transfers the unilateral request to the USSD handler 130 in the HLR. Arrow C illustrates that the USSD handler 130 processes the unilateral request and identifies a USSD application 110 that participates in the swap charge operation. Arrow D indicates that USSD Application 110 informs swap charge server 300 that the called party unilaterally requested to initiate a swap charge operation, either directly or via the TTEN application.

Arrow E indicates that swap charge server 300 (especially the call control handler 410) received the unilateral request. It is also assumed that the swap charge server 300 accepted the unilateral request. If the swap charge server rejects the unilateral request the called party can be informed. A rejection can be based upon various parameters including the entitlement of the called party to perform a swap charge operation, and the like. If the unilateral request is accepted then the call control handler 410 starts to gather additional call information and can monitor the call. Arrows F indicate that in response to the acknowledgement from the swap charge server

300 the USSD application 110 virtually informs the USSD handler 130. The USSD handler 130 informs USSD handler 211 and it can inform the called party 20. It is noted that the called party may be requested to acknowledge the swap charge operation at this stage. It is further noted that the USSD handler 130 can interact with the swap charge server 300.

Arrow G indicates that the call ends. Usually, once the call ends the MSC/VLR 210 receives signaling messages indicating that the call ended. MSC/VLR 210 then generates a terminating CDR. At the same time, MSC/VLR 40 generates an originating CDR. Arrow H indicates that the MSC/VLR 210 sends to the billing mediator 230 the terminating CDRs. Arrow I indicates that the terminating CDR (and optionally the originating CDRs) are sent to the swap charge server 300. It is noted that the originating CDR generated by MSC/VLR 40 and terminating CDR generated by MSC/VLR 210 can also be sent directly to the charge server 300.

The swap charge server 300 can perform various operations on the received CDRs including storing them in the raw CDR data base, processing them by the CDR mediator 350 to provide intermediate CDRs and storing them in the input CDR database 380. Eventually the swap charge server 300 processes the intermediate CDRs in view of the additional call information in order to generate a refund CDR and a charge CDR. Both can be stored in the output CDR database 390.

Arrow J indicates that the swap charge server 300 sends the refund CDR and the charge CDR to the billing mediator 220 (could be in one CDR). Optionally one or more CDRs are sent to the billing system 230. Arrow K indicates that the billing mediator 220 sends the refund CDR and the charge CDR to a billing system 230 that then charges the called party and refunds at least a portion of the cost of the call of the calling party 10.

Figure 4, which illustrates various signals exchanged during a swap charge operation, according to an embodiment of the invention, illustrates a scenario in which the calling party 1O and the called party 20 belong to different wireless networks. Thus, the calling party 10 is wirelessly connected to base station 30. Base station 30 is connected to MSC/VLR 42 and HLR 102 that belong to another wireless network. This other wireless network includes other billing systems 323. The other billing system 323 receives (arrow W) the refund CDR generated by the swap charge server 300. It is noted that the refund CDR can be sent by the billing mediator 220 and/or the billing system 230 and/or the swap charge server 300 and can be received by the billing mediator 222, billing system 323. This refund CDR can be sent to the other billing system 232 in various manners know in the art, such as but not limited to TAP or RAP. It is noted that if the calling party 10 is a prepaid customer then the refund CDR can be used for control of monitoring purposes.

Figure 5 illustrates various signals exchanged during a swap charge operation, according to an embodiment of the invention. Both calling party 10 and the called party 20 belong to the same wireless network but the calling party 1 0 is a prepaid user. Thus, once the swap charge operation is activated the swap charge server 300 sends a real time swap charge indication (arrow Y) to a prepaid entity 240 (such as but not limited to a MSN/IN) of the calling party, either directly or indirectly. This prepaid entity 240 stops charging the calling party 10 after receiving the swap charge indication. In addition the prepaid entity 240 sends an indication (arrow X) to the swap charge server 300. Figure 6 is a flowchart of a method for swap charging according to an embodiment of the invention. The method starts at step 600 of establishing a call between a calling party and a called party. It is noted that step 600 can be implemented by one or more devices or components while other steps of the method can be executed by other components. Step 600 is followed by step 610 of receiving a unilateral request from a requesting party (the called party or the calling party) to be charged with at least a portion of a cost of the call. This step can occur at any point during the phone call after deciding to generate the unilateral request. The unilateral request can be generated in various manners, depending upon the network that is connected to the called party. For example, in a GSM network the unilateral request can be a USSD message that includes a predefined content. In POTS the unilateral request can be a combination of various tones. For example, the party can enter a code or a special code, (for example use the flash button followed by DTMF sequence), send an SMS, press a button or a button sequence that may create a combination of tones, press a dedicated button, especially devised for this purpose by the manufacturer or by the network provider, etc. Step 610 is followed by step 620 of determining whether to accept the unilateral request.

The request can be selectively accepted by a swap charge application such as but not limited to a swap charge server. Conveniently, the acceptance can be responsive to various parameters such as the credit of the requesting party, whether the requesting party can unilaterally request a swap charge operation, and the like. If the request is rejected then step 620 is followed by End step 595. According to an embodiment of the invention step 620 can include a step of authenticating the identity of the called party before accepting the unilateral request. Step 620 is followed by step

630. Step 630 includes requesting a confirmation request to the requesting party. At step 640 the method checks whether the request was confirmed. If a confirmation was not received the the unilateral request is declined and the method ends at step 695. The confirmation can be a set of tones or of dialed numbers, a code, a vocal response, a handset soft key and the like. If the request is accepted at step 640 then step 640 is followed step 650. Step 650 includes checking whether one of the parties is prepaid. If one of the parties is found to be prepaid at step 650, step 660 follows. Step 660 includes sending a real time swap charge indication to one or more prepaid entity (such as but not limited to a MSN/IN) that is associated with of the parties. If, for example the requesting party is a prepaid customer then the indication can cause a prepaid entity associated with the requesting party to charge it with at least a portion of the call. If, for example the other party is the prepaid customer then the indication can cause a prepaid entity associated with the other party to stop charging it for the call.

Step 670 includes processing at least one call detail record to reflect the acceptance of the swap charge request. Conveniently, step 670 includes generating a refund CDR and a charge CDR. The refund CDR is sent to a billing system that bills the other party while the charge CDR is sent to the billing system that bills the requesting party.

Step 670 conveniently may include determining the cost of the call or a portion of the call that the requesting party will pay. This cost can be responsive to the length of the call (or the portion of the call), as well as to at least one requesting party parameter. This parameter can reflect the usage of various services or other operations including but not limited to swap charge operations of the requesting party. This parameter can also reflect the client type of the requesting party, the date or time of the call and the like. Step 670 conveniently includes converting input CDRs to intermediate CDRs. These intermediate CDRs can be later converted to output CDRs. The conversion can include removing information, adding information, formatting and the like. Step 670 is followed by step 680 where call details records are processed. At step 690 analysis of various operations is performed and services used by the requesting party (or even by the other party), including the usage of swap charge operations by the requesting party. It is noted that the analysis can be executed in various manners, in periodical manner, in response to various events, in a random manner, per user request and the like. The method may also include a step of sending an indication of the swap charge operation to one or more parties that participate in the call. The present invention can be practiced by employing conventional tools, methodology and components. Accordingly, the details of such tools, component and methodology are not set forth herein in detail. In the previous descriptions, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it should be recognized that the present invention might be practiced without resorting to the details specifically set forth. Only exemplary embodiments of the present invention and a few examples of its versatility are shown and described in the present disclosure. It is to be understood that the present invention is capable of use in various other combinations and environments and is capable of changes or modifications within the scope of the inventive concept as expressed herein.

Claims

WE CLAIM

1. A method for changing the charging scheme of at least one participating party of a phone call said phone call executed through a communication network, the method comprises the steps of: receiving a unilateral request from a requesting party that participates in a phone call to be charged with at least a portion of a cost of the call, wherein said request is processed in real-time through the phone call session; and - selectively accepting the unilateral request, by a swap charge application which is associated with said communication network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein at least part of the communication network is a wireless network.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein at least part of the communication network is a wired network.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein at least part of the communication network is a data network.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein at least two participating parties are connected to said communication network through different service providers further comprising the step of converting call information data format in accordance with the different service providers formats.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein at least two participating parties are connected to different communication networks, further comprising the step of converting call information data formats in accordance with the different networks records formats.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the unilateral request is initiated by sending a communication signal .

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the unilateral request is initiated by sending an electronic message through the communication network.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the electronic message is a USSD message that includes a predefined content.

10. The method of clai m 1 wherein the unilateral request includes call parameters which define the charging scheme to be applied.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of selectively accepting the unilateral request is followed by a step of sending a swap charge indication to any of the participating parties .

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of selectively accepting the unilateral request is followed by sending a real time swap charge indication to a prepaid entity of at least one of the parties and receiving a confirmation from the prepaid entity.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of selectively accepting the unilateral request is followed by a step of processing at least one call information data record to reflect the acceptance.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of selectively accepting the unilateral request is followed by a step of generating at least one new call information data record to reflect the acceptance.

15. The method of claim 15 wherein the new call information record includes refunding information of at least a portion of a cost of a phone call.

16. The method of claim 1 further including the step of determining the cost of a call in response to swap charge operations and of the requesting party parameters.

17. The method of claim 1 further including the step of analyzing swap charge oparations of at least one party.

18. The method of claim 1 further including the step of requesting the requesting party to acknowledge a swap charge operation.

19. The method of claim 1 further including the step of confirming the unilateral request.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of selectively accepting the unilateral request occurs in real-time.

21. The method of claim 1 further including the step of tagging at least one call information record to reflect an acceptance of a unilateral request.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of filtering call information records received from the communication network for selecting information which relates the charging scheme.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the change in the charging scheme relates to at least a portion of the call which occurred before the unilateral request was initiated.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the change in the charging scheme include charging an entity having a predefined agreement with the requesting participants.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication network includes a privately managed network further comprising a step of receiving call information from said privately managed network.

26. A swap charge application associated with a communication network, comprising an interface module adapted to receive a unilateral request from a requesting party to be charged with at least a portion of a cost of the call, wherein said request is processed in real time through the call session; and a processing module, associated with the interface module, adapted to selectively accept the unilateral request.

27. The application of claim 26 wherein at least part of the communication network is a wireless network.

28. The application of claim 26 wherein at least part of the communication network is a wired network.

29. The application of claim 26 wherein at least part of the communication network is a data network.

30. The application of claim 26 wherein at least two participating parties are connected to said communication network through different service providers further comprising a conversion module for adjusting call information data format in accordance with the different service providers formats.

31. The application of claim 26 wherein at least two participating parties are connected to different communication networks, further a conversion module for adjusting call information data formats in accordance with the different networks records formats.

32. The application of claim 26 wherein the unilateral request is initiated by sending a communication signal.

33. The application of claim 26 wherein the unilateral request is initiated by sending an electronic message through the communication network.

34. The application of claim 26 wherein the electronic message is a USSD message that includes a predefined content.

35. The application of claim 26 wherein the unilateral request includes call parameters which define the charging scheme to be applied.

36. The application of claim 26 wherein the change in the charging scheme include charging a this entity having predefined agreement with the requesting participants.

37. The application of claim 26 wherein the communication network include privately managed network further comprising a step of receiving call information from said privately managed network.

38. The swap charge application of claim 26 wherein the swap charge application is adapted to send a swap charge indication to at least one party.

39. The swap charge application of claim 26 wherein the swap charge application is adapted to send at least one real time swap charge indication to a prepaid entity of at least one of the parties.

40. The swap charge application of claim 26 wherein the swap charge application is adapted to process at least one call information record to reflect the acceptance of the swap charge request.

41. The swap charge application of claim 26 wherein the swap charge application is adapted to determine the cost of a call in response to at least one requesting party parameter.

42. The swap charge application of claim 26 wherein the swap charge application is adapted to provide information to enable analysis of swap charge operations of participating parties.

43. The swap charge application of claim 26 wherein the swap charge application is adapted to confirm the unilateral request.

44. The swap charge application of claim 26 wherein the swap charge application is adapted to request the requesting party to acknowledge a swap charge operation.

45. The swap charge application of claim 26 wherein the swap charge application is adapted to selectively accept said request in real time.

46. A swap charge server enabling a change in a charging scheme of at least one participant party of a phone call, said server is associated with at least one communication network and at least one service provider, said server comprised of: an interface module adapted to receive a unilateral request from a requesting party to be charged with at least a portion of a cost of the call, wherein said request is processed in real time through the call session; and - a processing unit, associated with the interface module, adapted to selectively accept the unilateral request.

47. A computer program product stored on a computer useable medium which is associated with a communication network, said medium includes a computer readable program which enable changing the charging scheme of at least one party participating in a phone call, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to: receive a unilateral request from at least one requesting party to be charged of at least a portion of a cost of a call between a called party and a calling party; and to selectively accept the unilateral request.

48. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer further causes the computer to send a swap charge indication to at least one of the parties.

49. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein at least part of the communication network is a wireless network.

50. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein at least part of the communication network is a wired network.

51. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein at least part of the communication network is a data network.

52. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein at least two participating parties are connected to said communication network through different service providers, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer further causes the computer to convert call information data format in accordance with the different service providers formats.

53. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein at least two participating parties are connected to different communication networks, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer further causes the computer to convert call information data formats in accordance with the different networks records formats.

54. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein the unilateral request is sending a communication signal.

55. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein the unilateral request is initiated by sending an electronic message th rough the communication network.

56. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein the electronic message is a USSD message that includes a predefined content.

57. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein the unilateral request includes call parameters which define the charging scheme to be applied.

58. The computer product of claim 47 wherein the change in the charging scheme include charging a this entity having predefined agreement with the requesting participants.

59. The computer product of claim 47 wherein the communication network include privately managed network, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer further causes the computer receive call information from said privately managed network.

60. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer further causes the computer to send a real time swap charge indication to a prepaid entity of at least one of the parties.

61. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer further causes the computer to process at least one call detailed record to reflect the acceptance.

62. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer further causes the computer to determine the cost of a call in response to previous swap charge operations and requesting party parameters.

63. The computer program product of claim 47 wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer further causes the computer to request the requesting party to acknowledge a swap charge operation