Multilingual prepaid telephone system

We claim:

1. A telecommunications apparatus, comprising:

means for making announcements in a predetermined one of a plurality of languages in response to entry of a predetermined one of a plurality of telephone numbers; and

means for calling a telephone number of a called party communicating in the one of a plurality of languages as a function of a speed dialing alias and the predetermined one of a plurality of telephone numbers.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the announcements are instructions directed to a user regarding how to make a prepaid telephone call.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the calling means comprises a means for translating the speed dialing alias into a routable telephone number.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, in which the calling means comprises a means for storing a routable telephone number for an entered telephone number and a speed dialing alias.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, in which the calling means further comprises means for outpulsing a predetermined one of the routable telephone numbers in response to entry of a speed dialing alias.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, in which the called party is a special information source which communicates in the predetermined one of a plurality of languages.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, in which the information source communicates weather information.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, in which the information source communicates news.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, in which the information source communicates language translations.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, in which the information source communicates currency exchange information.

11. A public switched telephone network, comprising:

at least one central office switching system; and

a multilingual prepaid services system associated with the central office switching system.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, in which the multilingual prepaid services system is connected to the at least one central office switching system by means of a T1 trunk.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, in which the multilingual prepaid services system is connected to the at least one central office switching system by means of at least one ISDN channel.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, in which the multilingual prepaid services system is connected to the at least one central office switching system by means of at least one analog line.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, in which the services system comprises an end office switching system trunked to the at least one central office switching system.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, in which the services system further comprises a host computer connected to and controlling the end office switching system.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, in which the services system comprises a backup computer for the host computer.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, in which the services system comprises another end office switching system which backs up the end office switching system.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, in which tile services system comprises at least one voice response unit computer capable of communicating with a user of the telephone network in a plurality of languages.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, in which the services system comprises at least one voice response unit computer connected by means of at least one tip and ring line to the end office switching system, the voice response unit computer capable of communicating with a user of the telephone network in a plurality of languages.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, in which the voice response unit computer contains stored representations of routable telephone numbers of information sources communicating in a plurality of languages.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, in which the voice response unit computer is capable of storing an access number entered by a prepaid user requesting communications in one of the plurality of languages and is capable of storing a speed dialing alias entered by the prepaid user, the voice response unit computer being responsive to the entered access number and the entered speed dialing alias for communicating with the prepaid user in the one of a plurality of languages and for outpulsing one of the routable telephone numbers of an information source which communicates in the one of the plurality of languages so that the prepaid user is connected with the information source associated with the outpulsed telephone number.

23. A multilingual prepaid telephone apparatus comprising:

a means for receiving one of a plurality of telephone numbers from a prepaid user, each of the telephone numbers representing operation of the multilingual prepaid telephone apparatus in one of a plurality of languages;

a means for storing a group of announcements in the plurality of languages;

a means responsive to a received one of the plurality of telephone numbers for directing at least one of the group of announcements to the prepaid user in the language represented by the received telephone number;

a means for receiving at least one signal from the prepaid user representing a user's account number in response to an announcement sent to the user in the language represented by the received telephone number;

a means for verifying the validity of the account number;

a means for determining if there is a predetermined amount of available credit associated with the account number;

a means for receiving a destination telephone number from the prepaid user;

a means for determining if there is sufficient credit available for a telephone call to the destination number for a predetermined minimum time;

a means for determining an available duration of a telephone call to the destination number in light of the available credit and nature of the destination telephone number;

a means for completing a telephone call from the prepaid user to the destination number if there is sufficient available credit for a telephone call to the destination number for the predetermined minimum time;

a means for setting a timer with the available duration of a telephone call to the destination number;

a means for starting the timer and running it during the telephone call to the destination number;

a means for disconnecting the telephone call to the destination number when the timer runs out; and

a means for computing a new available credit balance if the telephone call to the destination number ends prior to the timer running out.

24. The multilingual prepaid telephone apparatus of claim 23, further comprising

a means for receiving a speed dialing alias and outpulsing a routable telephone number of an information source communicating in the one of a plurality of languages represented by the received telephone number when account number is valid and when there is the predetermined amount of credit.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising a means for performing edit checks on the destination telephone number from the prepaid user.

26. A method of providing a multilingual prepaid telephone service comprising the steps of:

playing announcements to a prepaid user in one of a plurality of languages requested by the user regarding instructions about how to make a prepaid telephone call; and

completing a requested telephone call from the prepaid user to a destination number requested by the user in response to prompts made by the announcements.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of calling a destination number of a party who communicates in the requested language in response to entry of a speed dialing alias by the prepaid user.

28. The method of claim 26, in which the one of a plurality of languages is selected in response to entry of a predetermined toll free telephone number by the prepaid user.

29. A method of providing a multilingual prepaid telephone service, comprising the steps of:

receiving one of a plurality of telephone numbers from a prepaid user, each of the telephone numbers representing operation of a multilingual prepaid telephone apparatus in one of a plurality of languages;

storing a group of announcements in the plurality of languages;

directing at least one of the group of announcements to the prepaid user in the language represented by the received telephone number in response to a received one of the plurality of telephone numbers;

receiving at least one signal from the prepaid user representing a user's account number in response to an announcement sent to the user in the language represented by the received telephone number;

verifying the validity of the account number;

determining if there is a predetermined amount of available credit associated with the account number;

receiving a destination telephone number from the prepaid user;

determining if there is sufficient credit available for a telephone call to the destination number for a predetermined minimum time;

determining an available duration of a telephone call to the destination number in light of the available credit and nature of the destination telephone number;

completing a telephone call from the prepaid user to the destination number if there is sufficient available credit for a telephone call to the destination number for the predetermined minimum time;

setting a timer with the available duration of a telephone call to the destination number;

starting the timer and running it during the telephone call to the destination number;

disconnecting the telephone call to the destination number when the timer runs out; and

computing a new available credit balance if the telephone call to the destination number ends prior to the timer running out.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of:

receiving a speed dialing alias and outpulsing a routable telephone number of an information source communicating in the one of a plurality of languages represented by the received telephone number when account number is valid and when there is the predetermined amount of credit.

31. Method of making a multilingual prepaid telephone call, comprising the steps of:

calling a predetermined one of a plurality of telephone numbers, each of the plurality of telephone numbers corresponding to a different one of a plurality of languages;

receiving one or more announcements in a preselected language corresponding to the predetermined telephone numbers, the one or more announcements comprising one or more instructions on how to make a prepaid telephone call; and

making a prepaid telephone call in accordance with the one or more announcements.

32. The method of claim 31 in which the making step comprises the step of using a speed dialing alias to complete a prepaid telephone call to a party communicating in the preselected language.

33. Method of providing multilingual prepaid telephone service, comprising the steps of:

playing instructional announcements over a public switched telephone network to a prepaid telephone caller in one of a plurality of languages selected by the caller; and

completing a prepaid call to a called party via a public switched telephone network in answer to responses of the caller to the instructional announcements.

34. The method of claim 33 in which the completing step comprises the step of completing a telephone call to a party communicating in the one of the plurality of languages.

Description Submit all comments and votes

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to prepaid telephone service. More particularly, this disclosure relates to prepaid telephone service with multiple language service. This service will be of great use to foreign language travelers and tourists situated in geographical areas served by telecommunication service providers with which they do not have established business relationships.

BACKGROUND

Advances in transportation technology have made people around the world increasingly mobile. Larger numbers of people now travel greater and greater distances from home. For example, there is an increasing amount of international travel in which business travelers and tourists find themselves outside of the geographical regions where their native languages are normally spoken.

In addition to moving about more freely, people are becoming increasingly reliant on telephones as a means of communicating with each other and as a means of obtaining information and other services. The telecommunications services provided by each telecommunications service provider are usually limited to certain restricted geographical areas. Convenient contractual arrangements involving billing for past services rendered are in place only for those customers usually located in the area served by each service provider. All others must normally use prepay systems such as pay telephones to obtain service. This may be inconvenient for long distance calls as a large amount of currency or a particular credit card or phone card must be available. An international traveler who is not fluent in the language of the region served by a telecommunications service provider has an additional burden in using the telephone in that instructions in his native language on how to use the telephone are normally unavailable. An international traveler also is not easily able to obtain information such as weather or news from a local telephone system in his or her own language. International travelers thus have at least two significant hurdles to overcome before a local telephone system can be effectively put to use. First, a large amount of currency or a credit card not normally available to everyone must be used to gain access to the telephone system. Second, assistance and information is available only in a language foreign to the international traveler.

There have been attempts in the past to provide pre-paid telephone service said to be of use to travelers and tourists. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,275 issued to Kamil. These efforts fall short, however, because they do not involve multilingual capabilities of use to international travelers. They also involve rudimentary network architectures incapable of handling the high volume of call traffic on today's high capacity telephone networks. The customer verification procedures are also rudimentary, thereby making such systems subject to fraud.

There also have been efforts to develop a pay phone providing multilingual instructions to a user on how to complete a phone call. See, Maltezos U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,301 issued to Maltezos. These efforts are unsatisfactory because a specially configured pay phone must be provided and the multilingual capabilities are severely limited. This arrangement has all of the usual disadvantages of pay phones with a limited ability to provide a multilingual capability apart from merely making announcements about how to make a call.

SUMMARY

The problems outlined above are solved in one example of the invention by an apparatus and method which provides a telephone network architecture involving a special platform connected to a node in a public switched telephone network. The platform effectuates a multilingual prepaid calling service on the network. Not only is access to the usual calling services of the network easily provided without a need for a large amount of currency, but also users of this service are provided easy access to instructions in the user's native tongue on how to use the service. Additional useful information is easily obtainable via the network in the user's chosen language.

In a specific example of this invention, a telephone network is responsive to a prepaid user dialing a toll-free 800 telephone number which accesses a multilingual prepaid calling system in the network. There are a plurality of possible 800 numbers each of which connects a series of instructional announcements in a particular language to the user depending upon the 800 number chosen by the user. The user selects the language of the announcements by an appropriate selection of 800 number. The announcements instruct the user to enter appropriate codes to obtain access to the calling capability of the telephone network. A series of speed dialing aliases are provided to permit the user to obtain information from the telephone network in the language selected by the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a telephone network in accordance with this invention which provides multilingual prepaid telephone service.

FIG. 2 illustrates pertinent details of one of the voice response units shown in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3-11 are flow charts representing the operation of the circuit of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the example of the invention described here, a disposable prepaid card may be purchased from a telecommunications services provider. The card represents a predetermined number of calling units on the network of the services provider. Although such a prepaid card would be of use to anyone in need of telecommunications services, it would be particularly advantageous for foreign travelers, such as foreign tourists in the United States. The card may be obtained directly from the telecommunications services provider or may be obtained from an intermediary such as a travel agent or hotel which has purchased the card from the telecommunications services provider. The card holder will be able to use the card as a payment vehicle to make any kind of telephone call handled by the services provider, such as interlata, intralata, and international telephone calls.

To access a telecommunication system in accordance with this invention, a card holder dials a specific toll free number, such as an 800 number, to communicate with the system in his or her language of choice. The card may identify one or more of the possible 800 numbers along with the language associated with the 800 numbers. In one example of the invention, a different card may be sold for each of the languages supported by the system. In this example, only the 800 number for the language of each card needs to be printed on the card. Instructions about how to use the card may be given in that language on the card. The system may support any of a plurality of desired languages such as English, Spanish, French, Japanese, German, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Korean, Chinese, and other languages. The system will prompt the card holder in the selected language to enter a card number and a destination number. The card number is verified, the available balance is determined, and the desired call is completed, if there is a sufficient credit balance. If there is an insufficient credit balance, an appropriate announcement is played in the selected language and the caller is disconnected.

The system decrements the balance associated with the card while the call is in progress and keeps track of the call duration that the customer is allowed for the call which is being made. If the customer's balance depletes before the end of the call, an announcement is played in the selected language and the customer is disconnected. If the card still has an available credit balance when the call is finished, the customer is informed in the chosen language of the remaining available balance and the customer is disconnected.

In addition to communicating with the customer in a selected one of a plurality of languages in the course of setting up a desired call and terminating that call, the system provides convenient access to a number of special services which are also rendered in the selected language. For example, access to weather information and news reported in the chosen language may be provided. Access to a translation service may also be provided in accordance with the invention. In situations where the caller has obtained a prepaid calling card from a re-seller of such cards, for example, from a hotel or travel agent, the system may provide a mechanism for obtaining information put out by that reseller such as advertising and the like.

In addition, the system supports a number of antifraud related capabilities including screening of the station from which the caller originates the phone call, for example, automated number identification (ANI) screening, and other fraud detection mechanisms.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a circuit architecture which constitutes an example of a multilingual prepaid calling system in accordance with this invention. This system permits a calling party to make a telephone call to a called number without the need for having an established business relationship with a telecommunications service provider involving post payment for telephone calls and without the need for the caller to have a large amount of currency or a particular credit card which would permit currently available pay phones to be used. The calling party is connected to the called number through one or more nodes in a public switched telephone network (PSTN). One of those PSTN nodes 10 is shown in FIG. 1. The node 10 may comprise a telecommunications switching system located in a central office. The switching system may be a switching system located in a network provided by a local exchange carrier (LEC) such as one of the Regional Bell Operating Companies. The switching system in this case may be, for example, an AT&T 5ESS.RTM. switching system. Alternatively, the switching system may be a switching system located in the network of a long distance carrier such as AT&T. The switching system in this case may be, for example, an AT&T 4ESS.TM. switching system. There usually are a plurality of such nodes 10 in a typical public switched telephone network.

In addition to the network node 10, the architecture of FIG. 1 also includes a platform or adjunct 12 connected to the network node 10. The platform may be co-located with the network node 10 or remotely located with respect to the node 10. The platform effectuates the multilingual prepaid calling service of the invention in conjunction with the usual equipment contained in the rest of the public switched telephone network. The platform 12 contains an end office digital switching system 14 connected to the network node 10 via one or more central office trunk facilities collectively designated by reference numeral 16. For example, the switching system 14 may be connected to the central office switching system in node 10 via one or more conventional T1 trunks, ISDN channels, or analog lines, as needed. The switching system 14 performs call processing functions for telephone calls between the platform 12 and the network node 10. The call processing functions of the switching system 14 are controlled by a host computer 18 operating in conjunction with a call record data base 20. A back up host computer 22 serves a redundant system for the host computer 18. The switching system 14 may be a Summa Four SDS-1000 distributed digital switching system and the host computers 18 and 22 may be AT&T 6486 computers using the UNIX.RTM. System V, Release 3.2.3, operating system. The computers 18 and 22 may be connected to the switching system 18 by RS-232 asynchronous 9.6 Kbps data links using the Summa Four ADLC protocol.

A second switching system 24 similar to the switching system 14 is connected to the network node 10 in a fashion similar to the way switching system 14 is connected to the network node 10. The switching system 24 is controlled by a host computer 26 operating in conjunction with a call record data base 28 and backed up by another host computer 30. The switching system 24, host computers 26 and 30, and call record data base 28 may share the load imposed on the switching system 14 and its associated components. The switching system 24, host computers 26 and 30, and call record database 28 may also provide a back up capability for the switching system 14 and its associated components in the event of failure.

The multilingual prepaid services platform 12 also contains one or more voice response unit (VRU) computers 32.sub.1. . . 32.sub.n which perform voice response functions related to call setup and call takedown. These VRU computers 32.sub.1. . . 32.sub.n communicate with the caller in his or her language of choice to assist the caller in reaching a desired party. They are connected to the switching systems 14 and 24 through appropriate communications lines 34 and 36, respectively, which may be tip and ring lines connecting appropriate ports on the computers 32.sub.1. . . 32.sub.n to the switching systems 14 and 24. The VRU computers may be AT&T 6386 StarStation computers containing AT&T Voice Power IV (VP4) cards and appropriate software. The computers each may have a plurality of tip ring line ports capable of playing back 64K mu-law voice data to the caller through the switching systems 14 and 24 in the platform 12 and through the rest of the public switched telephone network between the caller and the platform 12. The computers 32.sub.1. . . 32.sub.n may also contain circuits which detect ringing on the lines connecting the computers 32.sub.1. . . 32.sub.n to the switching systems 14 and 24 in FIG. 1. The computers 32.sub.1. . . 32.sub.n also contain circuits for detecting on-hook and off-hook conditions on those lines, for example, a circuit operating in accordance with port loop current detection techniques. Each of the channels from the voice recognition unit computers 32.sub.1. . . 32.sub.n may terminate at a subscriber line interface card in the switching systems 14 and 24.

The architecture of FIG. 1 also contains a service management computer 38 which manages a card database 40 containing relevant information about each outstanding card such as the current balance for each card. In addition to managing the card data base 40, the service management computer 38 also performs operations, administration, and maintenance (OA&M) operations for the platform 12. The service management computer 38 also provides a gateway for remote access to the prepaid services platform 12. For example, there may be a customer support center 42 which is capable of reading the information contained in the platform 12 and a provisioning system 44 which is able to read the information already in the platform as well as write other information into the platform, such as updates to the information stored in the card database 40 and entry of new software into the platform 12. The customer support center 42 and provisioning system 44 may be in a remote location with respect to the platform 12 and may be connected to the service management computer 38 by means of 9600 baud modem connections 46 and 48, respectively. A second service management computer 50 and a second card database 52 may be provided in the architecture of FIG. 1 to provide a backup capability for the service management computer 38 and card database 40. The two computers 38 and 50 may be AT&T 6486 StarServers which serve as the primary and redundant administration machines, respectively.

The computers shown in FIG. 1 communicate with one another over a local area network 54 which may be an AT&T StarLAN 10 (Release 3.3) which performs a remote file sharing (RFS) function involving data sharing among the computers in FIG. 1. A backup local area network 56 is also provided in the architecture of FIG. 1.

The following description of a call flow represents the caller's interaction with the prepaid services platform 12. The caller is prompted to enter certain information into the platform and is given certain informational announcements. Communication from the platform is in a language selected by the caller from a plurality of different languages supported by the multilingual prepaid calling system.

The caller first dials a predetermined toll-free number, such as 1-800-LANGUAGE, to gain access to the prepaid platform 12. LANGUAGE is a unique number for each language supported by the system, for example, 1-800-SPANISH for a situation where the caller desires to be prompted in the Spanish language. If the prepaid calling system determines that prepaid calls are not allowed from the originating station used by the caller, an appropriate deny service announcement is played to the caller in the selected language and the caller is disconnected. Otherwise, the caller hears a welcome announcement and is prompted to enter a number which is printed on a prepaid calling card, or in an alternative embodiment, a number which appears on a card plus a personal identification number which is not on the card. The prepaid services platform then performs pre-validation checks on the card number. If the card fails these checks, the caller is prompted in the selected language to re-enter the card number or a card number plus PIN, as appropriate. The caller is allowed a predetermined number of attempts to enter a correct number, for example, three attempts. If the card fails validation or if there is insufficient credit associated with a valid card, then an appropriate announcement is played in the selected language indicating the reason for denial of service.

If a valid card number and PIN (if applicable) have been entered, the caller is informed of the available call balance in units associated with the card. In one example of the invention, the caller first may be prompted in the language of choice to enter a speed dialing alias. The speed dialing alias causes the caller to be automatically connected to an information source operating in the language of choice as determined by the original entry of a toll-free 800 number associated with that language. The caller next may be prompted in the language of choice to enter a destination telephone number by entering a "1" to place a call within the U.S. or by entering an appropriate country code to place an international call. The prepaid system performs editing checks on the alias or destination number. If the edit checks fail, the customer is prompted to re-enter the alias or destination number. The caller is allowed a predetermined number of attempts, for example, two attempts to enter a valid alias or destination. The caller is disconnected after entry of a predetermined number of invalid aliases or destination numbers.

If the edit checks are successful and there is sufficient credit available for the caller's card, then an announcement is played in the language of choice indicating that the call is being processed. If there is insufficient credit to complete the desired call, an announcement is played informing the caller that the available balance is insufficient to complete the call and the caller is disconnected. Once the call is set up, one or more of the following events can occur. A predetermined time, for example, one minute, prior to depletion of the call balance, a disconnect warning announcement may be directed to the caller and the call allowed to continue. Upon depletion of the call balance, a disconnect announcement may be played and the caller may be disconnected. In the alternative, the caller may be permitted to use another card with an undepleted call balance to continue the call after depletion of the call balance on a prior card. If the called party hangs up prior to depletion of the call balance, the caller is informed of the remaining available call balance and the call is disconnected. Alternatively, if there is a sufficient call balance, the caller may be prompted again in the chosen language to enter a speed dialing alias or a destination number.

The following is a more detailed technically oriented call flow more specifically descriptive of the operation of the circuitry of FIG. 1. As described above, a caller dials an 800 number to access the multilingual prepaid calling platform 12. There is an individual 800 number for each language supported by the platform 12. The switching system 14 and host computer 18 receive a call set up message over the trunks connecting the network node 10 to the switching system 14. The host computer 18 obtains the automatic number identification (ANI) of the station from which the call originates, if it is available, for example, from the D channel of an ISDN line. The host computer also receives the 800 number dialed by the caller and identifies the desired language in light of the identity of the 800 number. The host computer 18 may perform ANI screening by inspecting an ANI fraud table identifying certain stations from which calls will be denied, for example, because it has been determined that commission of fraud is particularly prevalent from the stations identified in the anti-fraud table. The host computer 18 then locates an available port in one of the VRU computers 32.sub.1. . . 32.sub.n and directs the switching system 14 to route the call to that available port. The host computer 18 also simultaneously sends an appropriate message to the selected VRU computer to inform that computer to process that call.

If the call fails ANI screening, the VRU computer plays an ANI fraud service deny announcement in the selected language and disconnects the caller. If the call passes ANI screening, the VRU computer plays a welcome announcement and prompts the caller to enter a card number, or a card number plus PIN in appropriate circumstances. The VRU computer collects the numbers entered by the caller and performs pre-validation processing. If the card fails pre-validation checks, the VRU computer prompts the caller to re-enter the card number. In one example of the invention, the caller is allowed three attempts to enter a valid card number including the initial attempt. After three unsuccessful attempts, an unrecognized card format announcement is played in the chosen language and the caller is disconnected. If analysis of the entered digits indicates that a card number plus PIN is needed, then the VRU computer prompts the caller to enter the PIN in addition to the card number.

If the card passes all pre-validation checks including PIN related checks, the VRU computer sends a query to the service management computer 38 and card database 40 for information about that particular card number. The database 40 receives the query and uses the card number to locate a set of card records associated with that number. The service management computer 38 retrieves the card record from the card database 40 and sends the card record to the appropriate VRU computer for validation. If there is no card record for the number involved in the query, then the service management computer 40 returns an invalid card number response to the VRU computer, which then plays an appropriate announcement to the user in the chosen language.

The VRU computer receives the response containing the card record and performs a series of card validation actions. The VRU computer first checks the expiration date of the card against a time clock maintained in the platform 12. If the card has expired, the VRU computer plays an expired card number announcement in the chosen language and disconnects the call. The VRU computer also inspects a fraud indicator or flag in the card record. If the fraud indicator is set to a deny state, the VRU computer plays a fraud deny announcement in the chosen language and disconnects the caller. The VRU computer similarly checks to see if a call-in-pro