WO2012166065A1

WO2012166065A1 - Method and device for letting the consumer of a prepaid service continue using the service for a predefined measure of extention when their accounts fall in insufficient balance state

Info

Publication number: WO2012166065A1
Application number: PCT/TR2011/000217
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tolga ULAŞ; Mehmet IYIMEN
Original assignee: Ulas Tolga; Iyimen Mehmet
Priority date: 2011-10-06
Filing date: 2011-10-06
Publication date: 2012-12-06

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for enabling the consumer of a prepaid service including but not limited to communication networks (mobile telephony, land telephony, internet telephony, internet access, etc.), entertainment networks (video, music, games, etc.), toll gates (highways, bridges, tunnels, etc.), public transportation (busses, tubes, trains, ferries, etc.), utility meters (electric, gas, water, etc.), payments (loyalty cards, membership cards, etc.) continue the usage by extending the service by some predefined unitary measures (time, money, passes, etc.) when his/her account reaches insufficient balance. The reimbursement of the units consumed together with a service fee occurs at the time of next balance recharge by the subscriber through any other method. Said invention enables a large number of consumers of a prepaid service to extend the usage either by instantly activating the extension using a selected communication protocol (SMS, USSD, IVR, e-mail, internet chat, etc.) through the means of electronic communication devices (mobile phones, ATMs, POS terminals, kiosks, internet, call centers, etc.) or by subscribing to activate the extension later through the means of the existing service pre-payment mechanisms but with a bundled alternative manner, or as a bulk through the service provider through the means of electronic communication devices (client-server connections, server-server connections), printed lists, physical media (plastic cards, SIM cards, magnetic cards etc.) where the information regarding the service is stored. The information then is processed through the invented method and devices so that the consumer can use the prepaid service for some extended time even when the consumer's balance is at or below the limit that prevents the further desired usage of the service, and then either further or earlier to collect the fee and cost of the extension service when the consumer balance is increased by other means if it's not already subscribed for the extension service.

Description

DESCRIPTION

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR LETTING THE CONSUMER OF A PREPAID SERVICE CONTINUE USING THE SERVICE FOR A PREDEFINED MEASURE OF EXTENTION WHEN THEIR ACCOUNTS FALL IN INSUFFICIENT BALANCE STATE.

Field of Invention

This invention relates, in general, to prepaid services industries such as but not limited to communication, entertainment, transportation, utility where the consumers have to pay before the service usage and then can consume the service until their balance amount does not allow them for further usage.

Background

Prepaid services are becoming more and more preferred then the usual postpaid models. The prepaid consumption model was currently leaded by the mobile telecom industry, and immediately followed by gaming, debit cards and utility sectors. Considering another factor which is the half of the global adult consumers are unbanked (do not prefer current financial industry electronic payment service nor do not have a banking account) the prepaid consumption is a proven channel preferred by the consumers of various industries in an increasing pattern.

In a prepaid consumption, service providers usually allocate one (or sometimes more) account for each of their consumers having a balance amount of zero units in the beginning. The balance unit can be in variety form like currency, time, duration, volume etc. depending on the nature of the consumed service. The service providers present their consumers various ways of increasing their balance such as prepaid cards, electronic transfer, bonuses, cash-in in Point of sales. A consumer obtaining the unit via the conventional ways then transfer (or recharge) these units into his/her balance of his/her account in the service provider via various ways including but not limited to electronic devices (telephone short messages, internet, kiosks, Point of Sales [POS] devices). His/her account balance is being recharged, and then the consumer may start using the offered service. Depending on the nature of the service, the usage of the service is converted to the units and consumed through the balance of the consumer, which results a decrease in the amount of his/her/its balance. When the balance unit amaunt is less than the minimum allowed unit for the further usage of the service, then the consumers are not allowed to continue, and they are expected to repeat the recharge activity to increase their balance to the minimum amount required for the consumption.

Most common offerings of a service provider to its consumers in obtaining the recharge units are via online ways (internet, call centers, bank ATMs, call centers) or via offline ways like scratch cards. According to the reports of ... 50% of the world adult population are not using banking industry services for payments, instead making cash transactions. Especially in the emerging markets the availability of penetrated online payments systems are low therefore consumers prefer the offline ways more than the online ones. The offline methods usually delivered through a Point of Sales in retail shops (supermarkets, call shops, gas stations etc.) and requires the consumer to show at the sales point to purchase the recharge method. Considering the working hours or retail points, the geographic distribution of these points, the offline method is less convenient then the online method for the consumers of the service.

There are various methodologies offered to the consumers for them to be able to increase their balance at the time of consumption when they have insufficient balance, in the market. The most common way applied in the prepaid realm is to allow the consumer balance to go beyond the zero which results a negative balance in the consumer account. The negative balance may bring a financial load to the service providers in the businesses where the churn (the decision of a consumer to leave a service provider and then choose another competitive one) exists. In cases where the consumers are not obliged to close their balances before terminating the service usage, the financial burden caused by the bad debts of negative balances increases on the service provider's shoulder.

With the presented invention, a method is proposed which is executed with a device, for the provision of an alternative balance recharge method to the service providers that offer prepaid services where the service provider may both provide a more convenient channel for balance recharge and also turn its negative balance financial reserves into the solid revenue with a scientifically calculated and executed method, which details are reveled within the context of the invention.

The invention relates to a method for enabling the consumers of a prepaid service including but not limited to communication networks (mobile telephony, land telephony, internet usage), toll gates (roads, bridges, ferries etc.) , utility meters (electric, gas, water, etc.), payments (loyalty cards, subscription cards) to use the service for some defined extended appropriate measure (time, unit, pass, money etc.) when their balances does not allow them to use the desired service and/or there is no other way of increasing their account balances through the conventional methods (top-up, recharge, refill etc), with either further recollection with some extension fee after the moment of balance increase through the conventional methods, or the front collection of the extension fee while the consumer is using the conventional methods of the service provider to increase the service balance.

The goal of this invention is among other goals to increase the benefits of the used service by giving the consumer an opportunity to continue using the service when either the existing conditions do not allow the consumers to increase the related balance or as convenience when the conditions of increasing the balance less preferable with the conventional methods or an opportunity to use the service in emergency situations when there is no possibility to increase the balance..

Technically it results in enabling a large portion of the consumer with a chance to use the extension service either by requesting the extension for the defined consumers as bulk by the service provider, or by individual extension requests at each time or subscription for automatic extension from the consumers of the service. The requests are being input either individually by the means of electronic communication devices (mobile phones, ATMs, internet, call centers, IVR, e-mail, internet chat) or as bulk by the service provider through the means of electronic communication devices (client-server connections, server-server connections), printed lists, physical media (plastic cards, SIM cards, magnetic cards etc.) where the information regarding the service is stored, or through the alternative bundled feature of the existing balance increase methods (scratch cards, call center, point of sales, online payments) of the service (hereafter referred to as "Charging methods" and "Charging media" when appropriate). The requests or subscriptions are then converted in to the digital format when required and then are processed through the invented device whose outputs are the extension amounts and the optional extra information to the responder regarding result of the process. The extension amounts are then applied to the service by the invented device if/when its applicable, thus the consumers will be able to re-use or continue the consumption of the service until the extension is expired

This invention helps the consumers of the service provider to:

• Continue to use the service when there is no more faster method to increase their account balance in emergency times.

• They do not prefer to use the conventional methods as convenience. • Benefit from the service in emergency cases and their balance is not sufficient.

Also the invention helps the service provider to:

• Deploy faster changes in the existing service then using the existing methods of the service

• Benefit cheaper implementation by avoiding extra costs of any possible implementations.

• Generate more revenue since it will increase the consumption of the service.

• Increase the royalty of its consumers with the extended service.

• Provide an emergency condition handling feature.

Description of the prior art:

• Balance Exception Management

(Pub no: US2010/- 153247 Al; Pub date: Jun 17,2010; Appl no: 12/335,056; Inventors: Joanne DiPaolo, Bill Carey, Dan Caretta, Brad ,Arrowood, Jeanine Tabaczynski; Assignee: Wachovia Corporation.)

Abstract: Systems (and methodology) that put consumers in control of NSF/OD (Not

sufficient/Overdraft) fee management are provided. In accordance with the innovation, fees are solely dependent on time to cure a negative balance. In aspects, customers are charged a "per day" or "per diem rate for NSF and/or OD conditions. By charging a per diem rate, customers are incentivized to cure a negative balance as the fee amount increases as time elapses through the balance exception cycle. Additionally, customers can be notified of balance exception situations. The notifications can sent based upon policies, preferences, rules or interfaces.

Difference: Our method does not do a per diem rate, but provides a fixed service fee. Our method does not allow the consumer goes to negative balance but provides mechanisms that increase the balance when needed.

• Bad Debt Recovery System and Method in a prepaid services

(Pub no: US2007/0094131 Al; Pub date: Apr.26, 2007; Appl no: 11/553,418; Inventors: Richard E Wymore, Anthony Splaver; Assignee: Communications Product Devevelopment,Inc.)

Abstract: In a system and method for enabling bad debt recovery in a prepaid services

environment, a bad debt balance (acquired under a post-paid regime) is storied in a bad debt database associated with the customer who accumulated the bad debt. Deposits by the customer into a pre-paid account are then accepted and the balance tracked in a pre-paid account database. Requests for service by the customer, e.g. pre-paid telephone service, are tracked by the prepaid application server and the services rendered while debiting the pre-paid service database according to the services used. Such requests for pre-paid service also serve to trigger an automatic withdrawal of an additional amount from the pre-paid account which is then applied to the bad debt balance.

Difference: The said method mainly covers the post-paid services to pre-paid when the post-paid account has bad debt, by accumulating some amount of the payments in the consumers balance to use it in the pre-paid phase. In our method there is not only bad-debt triggering mechanism, but also a consumer may apply without having a pre-allocation, any time without having bad-debt. The bad debts of our system occur when the consumer takes an extension but do not recharge for a defined time. And our device has scoring and risk calculations mechanisms that the said invention does not have.

Prepaid Negative Balance Fee Processing And Fee Diversion

(Pub No: US 2008/0298569 Al; Pub date: Dec. 4, 2008; Appl No: 11/757,914; Inventors: Justin T. Monk; Assignee: N/A)

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for a prepaid card processing system wherein components or entities such as the acquirer, issuer or prepaid card processing network can dynamically determine, at the time of the transaction, whether a credit card transaction will be allowed - even where the fee associated with the transaction would cause the balance to fall below zero.

Difference: Our method is not limited with prepaid cards only; it can be applied to any service that can be used prepaid. Our device is calculating the bad debt risk and calculating the units then it extend the service by the calculated unit amount whereas the said method and device only calculates the risk of bad debt and then takes limited actions compared with our methods.

Credit Extension Process Using A Prepaid Card

(Pub no: US 2002/0194122; Pub date: Dec 19,2002; Appl no: 10/085,820; Inventors: David Knox, Josh Emanuel; Assignee: Datawave systems)

Abstract: A process determines whether a prepaid card customer is credit worthy by analyzing deposits and purchases transactions associated with the account of the customer. Credit is advanced on prepaid card purchases in response to the determination of creditworthiness. Prepaid card credit granting and repayment is made available other financial institutions for the establishment of more conventional credit. The prepaid card customer creditworthiness determination includes deposits and transactions made while the person was an anonymous prepaid card user. The process includes fraud and theft prevention measures including validation of the anonymous transaction using a biological identification such as finger print or retinal scan or by validation of anonymous and non- anonymous deposit and purchase profiles. Alternatively, prepaid card credit can be granted even if the customer is anonymous and has not provided a validated name and other personal and/or financial information.

Difference: The said invention works with plastic cards or debit cards while our invention is not limited with this media, it can be used in an extended way of transactions. Said invention works with currency while our invention works with any units. Said invention does not reveal any device details where our invention reveals a device in details. Our invention works repetitively on extending the service at the time of service consumption as soon as the previous extension is covered while the said invention works only for granting the requested cash amount, without involving into the balance adjustments. ^' • Adjustable Balance Limit Prepaid Presentation Instrument

(Pub no: US2009/0157517 Al; Pub date: Jun 18, 2009; Appl no: 11/957,034; Inventors: Stuart G. Davis; Assignee: The Western Union Company)

Abstract: This disclosure describes, generally, methods and systems for providing an adjustable balance limit prepaid presentation instrument is described. The method includes receiving a request for the adjustable balance limit prepaid presentation instrument and obtaining customer information. The method further includes, processing the customer information with a processor to determine a risk level associated with changing a funding limit associated with the prepaid presentation instrument. The method further funds the adjustable balance limit presentation instrument to up to a maximum of the assigned funding limit using a variety of funding sources

Difference: Said invention has no similarity with our invention other than some small similar activities within the methods, mostly related on the history check, credit scoring and reset of the limit. Said invention work on the upper limit of the prepaid presentation instruments, Our invention is working at the lowest limit of the prepaid services that uses many media including but not limited to prepaid presentation instruments.

• Negative Balance Management

(Pub no: US2009/0271299, Pub date: Oct 29, 2009; Appl no: 12/109,182; InventonBrett Vasten)

Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method for managing account data for accounts having a negative balance. The invention embodiment includes a method, process or workflow for processing data for accounts associated with a debit, credit, pre-paid card or other form of financial instrument that have a negative balance. The data processing includes application of issuer criteria or filters to determine if certain of the account having a negative balance are not suitable for chargeback processing and instead may be processed in bulk, thereby reducing administrative and data processing overhead. For each account that is potentially eligible for chargeback processing, the invention embodiment accesses the account date and determines if the data supports initiation of a chargeback procedure for one or more transactions described by the account data. If the account contains one or more transactions that are eligible for chargeback processing, then a provisional credit in the amount of the one or more transaction may be applied to the account.

Difference: Said invention is for letting a subscriber goes into the negative balance. Said invention handles only financial instruments. Our invention eliminates the need of negative balance management and provides an alternative method which is more efficient because of the absence of negative balance management complex algorithms and financial legislative situations. Our invention can work over any type of units such as distance, time, and amount.

Brief Descriptions of the drawings:

Fig.l reflects the process in extending the service usage, the collection of extension fee and reconciliation in accordance with this invention.

Fig.2 separately reflects the device and its sub modules for processing the service extension.

Fig 3 reflects the execution of process (Fig-1) within the device and its modules (Fig-2)

Fig-4 reflects various media for subscribing the extension feature. Fig-5 shows Service Provider Systems in detail.

Fig-6 shows Extension Device Integration and Interfacing layer in details

Fig-7 shows Extension Device Business Process Components in details

Fig-8 shows Business Support Components in details.

The method for extending the consumption the consumption of a prepaid service when there is insufficient balance to continue with the service (hereafter referred to as "Method") has three major components as shown in Fig-1: The consumer 10000, the service provider 20000 and the Extender Device 30000. These three components 10000, 20000 and 30000 perform various activities that can be categorized into 5 major phase, not necessarily consecutive: Enablement and/or request phase 00100, Preparation phase 00200, Allocation phase 00300, Collection and charging phase 0400, reconciliation phase 00500.

The Method is executed through various modules of different devices and applications both in digital and non-digital in nature (hereafter referred to as "System). The system is usually consist of components as shown in Fig-2: consumers 10000 and consumer devices 11000 (i.e.: mobile phones, digital consumption meters, plastic cards, handheld devices, laptops, kiosks); Service provider systems 21000 which are the systems that is either delivering or supporting the given services and 30000 the subject extension device which is involved by 21000 when the consumer 10000 has no balance for further use of the service. The detailed interaction is described in details in the following sections of this document and as a summary:

Consumers 10000 are people who uses a service (telephone, transportation, utility, entertainment, game etc.) that is prepaid in nature and that is delivered by a service provider 20000 (telephone operator, transportation companies, utility providers, casinos, electronic service providers etc.). This means that 10000 may be in relation with 20000's systems 21000 either directly as in relation 10010 or indirectly by interacting directly with an interim device 11000 (phone, kiosk, plastic card, toll machine etc.) as in relation 10020 which relays the interaction in various method (wireless, wired, sound waves, digital or analog transmissions) in between 10000 and 21000 as in relation 11010. The 11000 may be a property of 10000 such as mobile phones, service cards, special toll unit devices, pass cards or 1 1000 may be owned by 20000 and made available at 10000's disposal such as Kiosks, automatic toll gates, utility meters etc.

Service Provider systems 21000 may or may not consist of various sub modules which are out of scope of this patent. General functionality of 21000 in regard of this patent application is that the 21000 possesses the ability of service provision to 10000 by containing the balance of 10000 and additionally service related information for each member of 10000. 20000 provide the service authentication; authorization and accounting function to 10000 through 21000 during the consumption of the service. And 20000 decide the interaction of 21000 with 30000 when the 10000 are at a state where its balance level does not allow them to consume the service longer. For this purpose 21000 integrates with 30000 as shown in relation 21010 which may be in various forms including people to people relations, machine to machine relation through digital computer networks. The relation 21010 is two ways, 30000 may also contact 21000 for various information requests as well as for activities related to the extension of the service and recollection of the extended service furthermore.

30000 is the device subject to the patent and is made of various components that deliver some special feature along the purpose of delivering the method of this application. Although more detailed purpose and interaction method is explained further in this document the basic function and the inter-activity purposes are as below: o Integration and Interfacing components 31000 are responsible on all kind of integration and interfacing with 21000. 31000 does not only contains software applications but also contains some devices that converts analog data into digital information for further processing along the process, including but not limited to card readers, optical character recognition devices and operational staff that obtain information from the 30000 as reporting or monitoring purposes. Any information that 30000 produces to be sent to 21000 or vice-versa must reach 31000 before leaving 30000 or before entering 30000.

o Information Broker 32000 purpose of existence is to route the information to the various modules within 30000. It acts like a traffic police and or interpret the information in between various systems before relaying the information. The relation 31010, 32010 and 32020 may made of various industry specific protocols including but not limited to SOAP, Web services, File transfer, Data queue systems. The existence of 32000 and its role in the method is important when some components of 30000 may be replaced by different technologies along the lifecycle of the device and during the various implementations with different 20000.

o Business Process Components 33000 purpose is to execute the method steps in coordination and also to ensure the result of each execution of the method is coherent with the rest. 33000 will require access and storage of information, therefore it will access to Data System 35000 via a direct relation 33010 which is through various contemporary computer to computer protocols for similar purpose, including but not limited to SQL, CORBA, DCOM, web services.

o Business Support Components 34000 contains components that are not essential to the direct delivery of the method, but essential to the integrity of 30000 along its execution, such as authorization features or localization provision when dealing with various languages in different countries. 34000's relation with 35000 as in relation 34010 is similar to 33010 similar to its relation with 32000 as in relation 32020 is similar to 32010.

o Data System 35000 is a general data storage facility made of various technology and techniques that ensures the storage of information in forms of data, including but not limited to raw data, relational data, file system data. It is can use RDBMS techniques and technologies.

o Device Support Components 3(j000 has no role in execution of method, but it contains components that ensure the integrity of the 30000. These components are monitoring and reporting functionality and they have a very tight relationship with each and every component of 30000. The operator of 30000 will ensure the 30000 is functioning and delivering the method as expected through the inputs and outputs of 36000.

xample of Method execution over the System is defined in Fig-3 where;

In the beginning of Enablement and/or Request phase 00100,

o A consumer 10001 will be presented special Charging Media alternatives as seen in the given examples of Fig-4, having the Extension capabilities while charging its balance. A consumer either while Charging may optionally buy special Charging media which will enable the consumer's service extension capabilities when entered by 10001 in 21000 through the interactions of 11000, as activity 00101 and 00103 then 00105.

o If not subscribed the consumer may later manually perform some activities in 11000 (send a specific SMS or USSD message, ot dial a special number, or push a special button or interact with point of sales systems) for extension requests, as activity 00102 and 00104 then 00105. Or alternatively the 20000 may prepare a list of consumers for the Method to be applied and then send it to 21000 for bulk processing, as part of activity 00106.

The collected request will be deliwred to Integration and Interfacing components 31000 by 21000, as activity 00107 if it was initiated by 00101 or 00103, or as activity 00108 if it was initiated by 00102 or 00104.

31000 will preprocess the requests by initially converting the non-digitized requests such as printed lists, plastic cards as in activity 00109.

Then 31000 will continue it process and will do a series of activity for a preliminary controls:

^■ 31000 will contact Information Broker 32000 to ask whether the 10001 is authorized to make such a request as in activity 00110.

^■ 32000 may convert the request and then relays it to Business Process Component 33000 as in activity 00111.

^■ 33000 will start working on the request after receiving the input from 00111, by initiating proper queries in Business Support Components 34000 as in activity 00112.

^■ 34000 while being queried at 00112, gathers data from Data System 35000 as in activity 00113,

^■ Then 35000 return the requested data to 34000 as in activity 00113 in response to 00114,

^■ 34000, after being responded at 00114, translate the result in to grant or deny response then send this information to 33000 as in activity 00115

^■ 33000, smartly knows that the requested data was initially requested by 33000 at activity 00111, and thus send the answer to 32000 as in activity 00116

^■ 32000, in its turn, submit the information to the original requestor 31000 as in activity 00117

^■ If along the process the authorization fails or a problem is occurred preventing the process to continue, then 31000 may form the informing message and relay it to 21000 as in activity 00118

^■ Then 21000, depending on the origin of the request either may deliver the communique directly to 10001 as in activity 00119 if it was initiated via 00101 or 00102, or indirectly to 11100 first as in activity 00120. 11000 then displays the result to 10001 as in activity 00121

If the requests are ok to proceed, then 31000 will deliver the request information to the information broker 32000 as in activity 00122. 32000 will decide which node in 33000 to relay and relays it as in activity 00123

The phase 00100 ends and phase 00200 starts.

Preparation phase 00200 starts when 33000 receives a request:

o Upon receiving the request, 33000 performs various activities by involving other systems:

• 33000 asks 32000 the history of similar requests of 10000 or 10001 depending on the case as in activity 00201

■ 32000 starts gathering historical data :

• 32000 contacts 34000 as in activity 00202 and initiate a query in the local system

• 34000 as demanded in 00202, fetch the required data from 35000 as in activity 00203 and return the result back to 34000 as in activity 00204 • 34000 generates a meaningful response out of 00204 and send it to 32000 as in activity 00205

• 32000, in parallel to 00202, starts a similar activity in 21000 through 31000 as in activity 00206 ·

• 31000 converts and relays the request to 21000 as in activity 00207

• 21000 responds with the historical information as in activity 00208

• 31000 now possessing all the internal and external information, converts and respond to the initial request of 32000 as in activity 00210

Then 33000 perform calculations of consumer scoring based on the information obtained and of the risk amount if required to define the units to be extended as in activities 00211 and 00212

When the amount to be extended is determined the phase 00200 ends and Allocation phase 00300 starts. Allocation phase 00300 starts when 33000 initiates interaction with 21000 to extend the service with the predefined amount

o 33000 initiates interaction with 21000 to extend the service with the predefined amount

^■ 33000 asks 32000 to relay information to 31000 to initiate the charging as in activity 00301

^■ 32000 translates and delivers the request to 31000 as in activity 00302

^■ 31000 prepare the information and transmit the required change requests to 21000 either by increasing the balance of 10001 or by any other way that will extend the service those 10001 benefits, as in activity 00303.

^■ 21000 executing the requests and return a response back to 31000 as in activity 00304

^■ 31000 relays this message to 33000 through 32000 as in activity 00305

^■ 32000 deliver the results to 33000 as in activity 00306

o When the result of the 21000 operations has been received by 33000, 33000 records this progress and notify the requestor 10000 or 20000 depending on the case via various channels (SMS, USSD, voice, e-mail, human machine interfaces)

• 33000 asks 34000 to register the result of operation as in activity 00307

^■ 34000 in its turn generate appropriate data in the system as in activity 0000308

^■ 33000 in the same time ef 00307, initiate a communication to the requestor by contacting 32000 as in activity 00309

^■ 32000 translate the request and send it to 31000 as in activity 00310

^■ 31000 prepare the communication and deliver it to 21000 as in activity 0311

^■ 21000 depending on the requestor and request channel either

• Directly deliver the information to 10001 as in activity 00312

• Deliver the information to 11000 as in activity 00313 and then 11000 displays the information 10001 as in activity 00314

o At this phase 03000 optionally.

^■ 33000 may extend the service by defined extension amount as in phase 00200

^■ 33000 may extend the service by a fixed amount

^■ 33000 may not extend the service depending on the result of phase 00200

o When the requestor is informed about the outcome, the phase 00300 finishes.

Collection phase 00400 starts when customer 10001 increases its balance by Charging. o 10001 charging activity 00401 will be relayed by 21000 to the 31000 as in activity 00402 either in real-time or near real-time,

o 31000 transmit this information to 33000 via 32000 as in activities 00403 and 00404 consecutively.

o As in activities 00301, 00302 and 00303, 33000 initiates the charging activities by using 32000 as in activity 00405 which relays the request to 31000 as in activity 00406 and 31000 makes the operation at 21000 via activity 00407

o 21000 either by decreasing the balance or by deducting the service unit of 10001 finishes its operation then informs 31000 on the results as in activity 00408.

o 31000 then informs 32000 of the result as in activity 00409 and 32000 relays the message to

33000 as in activity to 00410

o The main task of the phase accomplished, 33000 then both records the event and inform the

10001:

^■ Similar to the series of activities 00118 - 00121, 33000 start by involving 32000 as in activity 00413

^■ 32000 relays the activity to 31000 as in activity 00414

^■ 31000 delivers the communique to 21000 as in activity 00415

^■ 21000 inform 10001 appropriately as in activity 00416

^■ 33000 in the same time of 00413, starts registration of the event by contacting 34000 as in activity 00411

^■ 34000 register the event by generating proper records in 35000 as in activity 00412 o Optionally 10001 may be discharged:

^■ Exactly the amount of extension,

^■ The amount of extension and some additional service amount (as in fee, cost etc.) if 10001 has not subscribed for the extension by paying the fee upfront.

^■ In either case, the discharging may not be full instead partial depending on the balance of 10001 and the business conditions of the service provider.

o Phase 00400 finishes when the event is registered and optionally the 10001 is informed on the event.

Reconciliation phase 00500 starts in the periods agreed by the service provider 20000:

o Either automatically by 34000 or by. human machine interfaces upon request of 21000 through

34000 as in activity 00501, the 30000 activity reports are generated and are submitted to the requester as in relaying activity 00502 and transmission activity 00503 consecutively, o The reports are then controlled by 20000 and inconsistencies with the report generated through the data in 21000 exist as in activity 00504, then the discrepancies are investigated and resolved as in activities 00505, 00506 and 00507 consecutively,

o Reconciliation phase ends when there are no information discrepancies between the systems

20000 and 30000.

Consumer and Consumer Devices:

As shown in Fig-5, The consumer devices 11000 may contain many devices including but not limited to cell phones, mobile terminals, swipe cards, electronic payment devices, contactless cards, smart cards, secure usb keys, set-top boxes, and computers which are out of scope of this application. These devices usually contain some information on the consumers owning the device and/or information about the services that the consumer will benefit from. The consumer 10001 may or may not use these devices to communicate with the service provider systems 21000 to perform various activities regarding the service which usually consumes the balance of the 10001 stored in the 21000. 10001 may also use these devices in performing the balance increase; similarly when 10001 increase his/her balance in the service provider via various methods, the devices 11000 may usually be used to store the new information. The 21000 and sub devices are also out of scope of this application except their behavior in relation with the claimed device, however its mentioned here to give the reader the full picture of the method delivered with the invented machine.

The common feature of 11000 is they contain unique information that helps them differ from the rest of the similar devices that makes them recognizable by the Service Provide 20000. When 11000 interact with 21000, 21000 use this unique information to recognize the consumer 10001 among all the consumers 10000. This information may be called various names depending on the devices, industry and purpose; some common names are MSISDN and IMEI for telecom industry, MAC for networking devices, Card number, Customer Number, Serial Number etc.

These devices 11000 may use a variety of media in communication with 21000 including but not limited to wireless network connections (GSM, WIFI, Bluetooth, VHF, UHF etc.), wired network connections (computers, set top boxes), either contacted or contactless interaction with 21000 extensions (POS, ATMs, Kiosks, Toll collections) and they exchange information by using various transmission/communication protocols (TCP/IP, HTML, XML, Ethernet etc.),

A consumption use case of 11000 is: 10001 uses its device 11000 in interaction of 21000 before consuming the service, then 21000 grants the usage of the service and deduct some amount of units from the 10001 balance, if the balance contains enough unit to perform the activity. 21000 may optionally submit additional information back to 11000 containing the information regarding the consumption and/or current balance.

A recharging use case of 11000 is: 10001 uses various channels of 20000 to increase its balance, and uses 11000 to identify it. 20000 when increases the balance of 10001 then may optionally submit additional information back to 11000 containing the information regarding the charging and/or current balance.

In various services, 11000 may not be required nor present, in this case 10001 uses other methods to identify himself (social security number, id cards etc.) and interacts with 21000 through the provided interfaces (kiosks, terminals, point of sales, call center agents, IVR). The same consumption and charging mechanisms would be valid and the 21000 may inform 10001 on the results through 21000 (on screen displays, receipts, postal mail etc.)

Service Provider Systems:

A prepaid service provider 20000 uses various systems 21000 during the service provision lifecycle as shown in Fig-5. Although these systems are out of scope of this application, their relation with the invention device will be important, therefore it's briefly described here so that the reader has the clear understanding of the method and the device. Some of the 21000 are used to interact with any consumer 10001 directly and some of them indirectly via the consumer devices 11000. These groups are called Consumer Facing Systems 21100 in Fig-5.

Optionally Service Provider Staff 21300 may also face with consumers 10000 to perform various Consumer Relationship Management activities during the service lifecycle such as invoicing, issue handling, charging etc. 21000 may consist of various systems that are based on various technologies including but not limited to telecom messaging systems (SMS, USSD), Point of Sales systems (Credit card readers, Retail shops, Kiosks, Web sites), Interactive Voice Systems (call centers, IVRs, Voice recognition and response systems), Payment Systems (Toll points, Credit Cards systems), Charging Systems (where 10001 can increase their balance).

22000 usually contains two important system among possible others; Accounting Systems which is responsible on all financial record keeping and Charging Systems which is responsible maintaining the balance of the consumers 10000. On various occasions 22000 can be made of a single system having the both functionality.

In a consumption use case the information received by 21100 is processed in the Back office systems 21200 and their results are displayed to the 10000 via 21100 by communicating accordingly per the response of 21200. In case of insufficient balance, 21200 may involve 30000 in the process for extending the service depending of the case.

In recharging use case, similar to the consumption use case, the recharging activity is usually processed by 21200 and additionally the result information may be displayed via 21200. Also 21200 will involve 30000 by alerting the recharging event.

Extension Device:

The extension device is made of 4 major group of components as seen in Fig-2: Integration and interfacing components 31000 which are responsible in successful and continuous information exchange with 11000 through 21000; Information Broker 32000 which is delivering the information exchange control with various modules in 30000; Business Process Components modules 33000 which are mainly responsible of the execution of the defined business logic; Business support components modules 34000 provide various inputs to 33000; Data system 35000 which contains all the related information in the format of electronic data.

Integration and Interfacing Components:

Integration and Interfacing Components 31000 are displayed in Fig-6 in details. These components are made of various technologies making them capable of performing in different conditions. 31000 can be examined under three group of functionality: Consumer Interaction Systems 31100 is responsible for the interaction with the 21100, System Interaction Systems 31200 is responsible for the interaction with the 21200 and Front Office Systems 31300 provides functionality for semi-automatic process where the human interaction is required.

Consumer Interaction Systems 31100 contains various modules to be able to integrate various channels of the 21100. These modules are categorized in the following groups:

Web/Wap server 31110 is responsible in communicating through HTTP HTTPS protocol, to receive and to send information. It can also contain various web services that will enable to enable features of the 30000 through industry standard XML/HTTP or XML/RPC, as shown in relation 31111. 31110 may also provide some content that will be enriched by 21000 in its communication with 10000.

Messaging server 31120 is responsible in handling the communication through the Messaging components in 21000. 31120 uses industry standard protocols like XML/HTTP, HTTP, HTTPS, SMPP, XMPP, SMTP,IMAP, POP3s in the form of SMS, MMS, Voice message, Instant message and e-mail but is also capable of being enabled for any propriety protocol and form that 21000 may require for proper communication, as shown in relation 31121.

IVR 31130 is used in interacting with the 21000 through voice or voice devices. 21000 may involve 31130 so that involvement of 30000 is required when.10000 or 11000 will interact with voice or dial tone when 21000 do not have this capability. Alternatively 21000 may use its own IVR components and may transfer the process to 31130 when required. 31130 use industry standard telecom protocols and interfaces like SS7, SIP, TCP/IP, El, Tl, VoIP, H323, RTP, INAP, ISUP as shown in relation 31131

Payment Systems 31140 are capable of handling secure and industry standard financial transaction protocols like Financial Information Exchange (FIX), Secure Electronic Transactions (SET), Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) or similar nodes in 21000 that may require the usage of special financial transactional Application Programing Interfaces (API) as shown in relation 31141.

System Interaction Systems 31200 is responsible for handling the communication with the back office systems 21200 for various activities that is required during the Method. It consists of these modules:

Transaction Gateway 31210 is responsible in handling all the financial or financial like transaction with the 21200 including but not limited to unit modifications or consumer information queries. 31210 is capable of using industry standard protocols like UCIP, RADIUS or DIAMETER. 31210 to accomplish this integration and interfacing may be in relation with 21100 and 21200 as shown in relation 31211 and 31212 respectively.

ParseT 31220 is responsible of converting the information coming from 21000 from a format to the format that is used by 30000 or will process information coming in batch. It may handle protocols and interfaces like HTTP, HTTPS, XML, FTP, SOAP, SQL, RPC as shown in relation 31221.

Front Office Systems 31300 are semi-automatic systems that require some human interaction while performing activities through the lifecycle of Method:

Any service provider staff 21300 (data processing staff, front desk staff, management staff, accounting staff) by using 31300 performs various activities within device within his access rights.

An Optical Character Recognition module 31310 helps the 21300 process the non-digital formats (i.e filled paper forms by customer, printed lists) into the ligital format, as shown in relation 31311, to feed into the device 30000 for further activities.

A plastic card reader/processer 31320 will read, write or print to the various plastic cards (prepaid cards, SIM cards, magnetic cards, debit cards etc.) containing information regarding the service and extension feature will be used to read and transfer data within the lifecycle of the methods as shown in relation 31321.

The report builder 31330 reads the data of the device 30000 and displays defined reports regarding the performance, status and history of the service, of the consumer or the process or a mixed of all to perform a business related task. Reports can be automatically generated as shown in relation 31332 per the defined conditions or can be generated by 21300 on demand as shown in relation 31331.

Information Broker 32000 is a general information exchange component having the main role is to deliver the information from one node to another within the device 30000. 32000 has the capability to convert one information format to another in order to the nodes within the device can contain various technologies with ease. 32000 also contains a queuing mechanism in delivering the message so that the overall system performance is not effected by the performance decrease from one of the nodes in the 30000 due to the various reasons (overload, failure, connection problems, unplanned changes). 32000 is able to use comply with different set of protocols required by the interconnected end. Thus relations 32001 to 32030 contain not only contemporary communication standards and protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, XML/RPC but may easily contain different protocols that can be adopted in 32000.

Business Process Components :

As shown in Fig-7, Business Process Components contains modules executing the business process logic and delivers the core business functionality of the device. It contains: Business Logic Server 33100, Scoring Server 33200, Risk Analysis Server 33300, and Accounting Server 33400.

Business Logic Server 33100 contains the scenario logic of the Method and it is responsible in executing various activities to the various request or feedback along the execution of the Method. It contains use case workflows and it's the main component initiating other components within the device to perform some activities. It's contains a core execution engine with a configurable workflow mechanism which can be programmed by the Service Provider 20000 per the business needs. 33100 uses the relation 32011 which is described earlier, for exchanging information with the other nodes in 30000.

Scoring Server 33200 is responsible in the determination of the various scores along the business logic. It contains formulas per the business case of the Service provider 20000 which differs with the parameters like geography, service industry, served customer profile, local and global market conditions. This programmable module responds with a score when requested by the Business Logic server 33100 along the execution of the Method. This module can easily be replaced with the systems of service provider 21000 if any. 33200 uses the relation 32012 which is described earlier, for exchanging information with the other nodes in 30000.

Risk Analysis server 33300 is responsible in calculating the extension duration with the inputs provided. This programmable module contains formulas and matrixes for calculating the extension after calculating the business risks with the input provided the Business Logic server 33100. This module can easily be replaced with the systems of service provider 21000 if any. 33300 uses the relation 32013 which is described earlier, for exchanging information with the other nodes in 30000.

Accounting server 33400 keeps a record of every unit transaction related to the Method per customer. It is invoked by the Business Logic Server 33100 for obtaining information per consumer 10001 of write unit transaction activity for a consumer 10001. This module can easily be replaced with the systems of service provider 21000 if any. 33400 uses the relation 32014 which is described earlier, for exchanging information with the other nodes in 30000. Additionally Accounting server may have an alternative access to 35000 for compliancy purposes in terms of accessing accounting data directly as shown in relation 33401.

Business Support Components:

As shown in Fig-9, Business Support Components 34000 contains modules that support the device during the execution, not directly involved in the execution of the method but providing the information to the modules along the execution of the method. It contains: Authorization Server 34100 and Communication Server 34200 Authorization Server 34100 contains all the access and authorization information of both the consumer of the service 10000 and the Staff of the Service Provider 21300. When one of the consumers 10000 or one of the staff from the service providers wants to execute an activity over the device, the related device components asks authorization from 34100 before proceeding with the execution. And during the execution the related modules may further refer to the 34100 for granting the display of the related information to the requestor. The access and authorization rights are defined and modified through the Device Support Components 36000. This module can easily be replaced with the systems of service provider 21000 if any. 34100 uses the relation 32021 which is described earlier, for exchanging information with the other nodes in 30000

Communication Server 34200 contains all the communique texts of the messages for the consumer, the information displayed to the Service Providers and the messages to the operator of the device. 34200 is capable of handling of supporting different language variations of the same text. The messages are created and modified through the Device Support Components 36000. This module can easily be replaced with the systems of service provider 21000 if any. 34200 uses the relation 32021 which is described earlier, for exchanging information with the other nodes in 30000

Device Support Components:

Device Support Components 36000 contains modules that help the operation of the device 30000 and monitoring the performance of the device 30000. It contains Monitoring Server 36700, Reporting Server 33700.

Monitoring Server 36700 constantly monitors the activity and the performance of all the components of the Device 30000 and performs defined activities per the defined scenarios, such as informing the Service Provider Staff 21300 when a module is not performing as expected. The monitoring server is also capable of performing the same functionality for the Service Provider Systems 21000 in order to be able to identify the root cause of any issues that may affect the execution of the Method. All the modules of the device 30000 and service provider systems 21000 are either able to feed their own performance to 36700 or they provide the performance information when they are queried by 36700. 36700 provides graphical user interfaces and/or Human Machine Interfaces to the service provider staff 21300 so that 21300 can create or modify rules of what is monitored and create or modify the events to be performed by 37600 when needed. 37600 supports industry standard protocols SNMP, WMI, SOAP, Syslog, and has capability to support other propriety protocols.

Activity server is the repository of activity logs which are generated by every activity performed by the modules of the device 30000. These activity logs are used for performance calculation, security controls and audit trails. Each module of the device 30000 is responsible in recording their activities to the Activity Server 36700. 36700 provide graphical user interfaces and/or Human Machine Interfaces and/or Machine to Machine Interfaces to the service provider staff 21300 or to the Service Provider Systems 21000 so that 21300 can monitor the activity of the device 30000. 37600 support industry standard protocols of SYSLOG, NETCONF, SOAP and has capability to support other propriety protocols.

Data System :

Data System 35000 is responsible of recording and storing of the data of the device. It is made of a Data provider 35100 and Data Storage 35200.

Data Provider 35100 is a database access system capable of handling the request for data and can handle various types of query over the existing data. Any module in device 30000 uses Data Provider 35100 either to store their information or to ask for information. The information is split in to the meaningful data components by 35100 and stored via sending it to 35200. 35100 is capable of responding to various industry protocol like MS-SQL, PL-SQL, SOAP, LDAP, XML/HTTP, HTTP etc.

Data Storage 35200 is responsible to actually store the physical data in Hardware environments. Data storage can handle not a single source of storage but also capable of distributing the data among many environments including but not limited to database servers, cloud servers, internal and external file systems. It can be accessed by various systems of device 30000 to record or read data. The 35100 is capable of responding to various industry protocols like MS-SQL, PL-SQL, SOAP, LDAP, XML/HTTP, HTTP, FTP, TCP/IP etc.

Rules of Interpretation:

Numerous embodiments are described in this disclosure, and are presented for illustrative purposes only. The described embodiments are not, and are not intended to be, limiting in any sense. The presently disclosed invention(s) are widely applicable to numerous embodiments, as is readily apparent from the disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the disclosed invention(s) may be practiced with various modifications and alterations, such as structural, logical, software, and logical flow modifications. Although particular features of the disclosed invention(s) may be described with reference to one or more particular embodiments and/or drawings, it should be understood that such features are not limited to usage in the one or more particular embodiments or drawings with reference to which they are described, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The present disclosure is neither a literal description of all embodiments nor a listing of features of the invention that must be present in all embodiments.

Neither the Title (set forth at the beginning of the first page of this disclosure) nor the Abstract (set forth at the end of this disclosure) are to be taken as limiting in any way as the scope of the disclosed invention(s).

The terms "an embodiment", "embodiment", "embodiments", "the embodiment", "the embodiments", "one or more embodiments", "some embodiments", "one embodiment" and the like mean "one or more (but not all) disclosed embodiments", unless expressly specified other-wise.

The terms "the invention" and "the present invention" and the like mean "one or more embodiments of the present invention."

A reference to "another embodiment" in describing an embodiment does not imply that the referenced embodiment is mutually exclusive with another embodiment (e.g., an embodiment described before the referenced embodiment), unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms "including", "comprising" and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to", unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms "a", "an" and "the" mean "one or more", unless expressly specified otherwise.

The term "plurality" means "two or more", unless expressly specified otherwise.

The term "herein" means "in the present disclosure, including anything which may be incorporated by reference", unless expressly specified otherwise.

The phrase "at least one of, when such phrase modifies a plurality of things (such as an enumerated list of things) means any combination of one or more of those things, unless expressly specified otherwise. For example, the phrase at least one of a widget, a car and a wheel means either (i) a widget, (ii) a car, (iii) a wheel, (iv) a widget and a car, (v) a widget and a wheel, (vi) a car and a wheel, or (vii) a widget, a car and a wheel.

The phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on", unless expressly specified otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" describes both "based only on" and "based at least on".

Where a limitation of a first claim would cover one of a feature as well as more than one of a feature (e.g., a limitation such as "at least one widget" covers one widget as well as more than one widget), and where in a second claim that depends on the first claim, the second claim uses a definite article "the" to refer to the limitation (e.g., "the widget"), this does not imply that the first claim covers only one of the feature, and this does not imply that the second claim covers only one of the feature (e.g., "the widget" can cover both one widget and more than one widget).

Each process (whether called a method, algorithm or otherwise) inherently includes one or more steps, and therefore all references to a "step" or "steps" of a process have an inherent antecedent basis in the mere recitation of the term 'process' or a like term. Accordingly, any reference in a claim to a 'step' or 'steps' of a process has sufficient antecedent basis.

When an ordinal number (such as "first", "second", "third" and so on) is used as an adjective before a term, that ordinal number is used (unless expressly specified otherwise) merely to indicate a particular feature, such as to distinguish that particular feature from another feature that is described by the same term or by a similar term. For example, a "first widget" may be so named merely to distinguish it from, e.g., a "second widget". Thus, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers "first" and "second" before the term "widget" does not indicate any other relationship between the two widgets, and likewise does not indicate any other characteristics of either or both widgets. For example, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers "first" and "second" before the term "widget" (1) does not indicate that either widget comes before or after any other in order or location; (2) does not indicate that either widget occurs or acts before or after any other in time; and (3) does not indicate that either widget ranks above or below any other, as in importance or quality. In addition, the mere usage of ordinal numbers does not define a numerical limit to the features identified with the ordinal numbers. For example, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers "first" and "second" before the term "widget" does not indicate that there must be no more than two widgets.

When a single device or article is described herein, more than one device or article (whether or not they cooperate) may alternatively be used in place of the single device or article that is described. Accordingly, the functionality that is described as being possessed by a device may alternatively be possessed by more than one device or article (whether or not they cooperate).

Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), a single device or article may alternatively be used in place of the more than one device or article that is described. For example, a plurality of computer-based devices may be substituted with a single computer- based device. Accordingly, the various functionality that is described as being possessed by more than one device or article may alternatively be possessed by a single device or article.

The functionality and/or the features of a single device that is described may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices that are described but are not explicitly described as having such functionality and/or features. Thus, other embodiments need not include the described device itself, but rather can include the one or more other devices which would, in those other embodiments, have such functionality/features. Devices that are in communication with each other need not be in continuous communication with each other, unless expressly specified otherwise. On the contrary, such devices need only transmit to each other as necessary or desirable, and may actually refrain from exchanging data most of the time. For example, a machine in communication with another machine via the Internet may not transmit data to the other machine for weeks at a time. In addition, devices that are in communication with each other may communicate directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries.

A description of an embodiment with several components or features does not imply that all or even any of such components and/or features is required. On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the present disclosure. Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no component and/or feature is essential or required.

Further, although process steps, algorithms or the like may be described in a sequential order, such processes may be configured to work in different orders. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be explicitly described does not necessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in any order practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously despite being described or implied as occurring non-simultaneously (e.g., because one step is described after the other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by its depiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process is exclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not imply that the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to the invention, and does not imply that the illustrated process is preferred.

Although a process may be described as including a plurality of steps, that does not indicate that all or even any of the steps are essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of the described invention(s) include other processes that omit some or all of the described steps. Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no step is essential or required.

Although a product may be described as including a plurality of components, aspects, qualities, characteristics and/or features, that does not indicate that all of the plurality are essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of the described invention(s) include other products that omit some or all of the described plurality.

An enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. Likewise, an enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of the items are comprehensive of any category, unless expressly specified otherwise. For example, the enumerated list "a computer, a laptop, a PDA" does not imply that any or all of the three"items of that list are mutually exclusive and does not imply that any or all of the three items of that list are comprehensive of any category.

Headings of sections provided in this disclosure are for convenience only, and are not to be taken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

The present disclosure frequently refers to a "system", "module" or "servers" (will be referred as term or terms within this paragraph) as these terms are used herein, may be a computer processor coupled with an operating system, device drivers, and appropriate programs (collectively "software") with instructions to provide the functionality described for the control system. The software is stored in an associated memory device (sometimes referred to as a computer readable medium). While it is contemplated that an appropriately programmed general purpose computer or computing device may be used, it is also contemplated that hard-wired circuitry or custom hardware (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) may be used in place of, or in combination with, software instructions for implementation of the processes of various embodiments. Thus, embodiments are not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software. In some embodiments, the control system may function as a computer server and may control the actions of embodied devices. Alternately or additionally, the terms may contain or otherwise be configured to read data from and/or write data to one or more databases regarding, among other things, historical data, accounting data, consumer data, and so on. In some embodiments, outcomes may be "centrally-determined" by such a control system and promulgated to one or more devices, such that they may be received by consumers. In one embodiment, the control system may in turn be in communication with another term that is distinct from a device, which electronic device may be operable to (i) direct the control term to perform certain functions and/or (ii) read data from and/or write data to the term. For example, the control term may comprise a payment server or Data Collection Unit (DCU) that controls and/or communicates with a set of consumer terms, which control term is in turn in communication with a service provider term that is in communication with a plurality of control terms. In another embodiment, the control term may be operable to communicate with the one or more consumer terms via another electronic term (e.g., a DCU), such as a server computer operable to communicate with a plurality of other term. For example, in one embodiment, the control term may be operable to communicate with a plurality of other terms, each term operable to communicate with a respective plurality of other terms.

A "processor" means any one or more microprocessors, CPU devices, computing devices, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, or like devices. Exemplary processors are the INTEL, AMD, APPLE, SUN, IBM CPUs.

The term "computer-readable medium" refers to any medium that participates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that may be read by a computer, a processor or a like device. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Nonvolatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile media include DRAM, which typically constitutes the main memory. Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled to the processor and wireless systems including GSM, GPRS, 3G, 4G, VHF, UHF, Satellite communications. Transmission media may include or convey acoustic waves, light waves and electromagnetic emissions, such as those generated during RF and IR data communications. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, flash memory, a USB memory stick, a dongle, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wa"ve, or any other medium from which a computer can read.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying sequences of instructions to a processor. For example, sequences of instruction (i) may be delivered from RAM to a processor, (ii) may be carried over a wireless transmission medium, and/or (iii) may be formatted according to numerous formats, standards or protocols. For a more exhaustive list of protocols, the term "network" is defined below and includes many exemplary protocols that are also applicable here.

It will be readily apparent that the various methods and algorithms described herein may be implemented by a control system and/or the instructions of the software may be designed to carry out the processes of the present disclosure. Where databases are described, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that (i) alternative database structures to those described may be readily employed, and (ii) other memory structures besides databases may be readily employed. Any illustrations or descriptions of any sample databases presented herein are illustrative arrangements for stored representations of information. Any number of other arrangements may be employed besides those suggested by, e.g., tables illustrated in drawings or elsewhere. Similarly, any illustrated entries of the databases represent exemplary information only; one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the number and content of the entries can be different from those described herein. Further, despite any depiction of the databases as tables, other formats (including relational databases, object- based models, hierarchical electronic file structures, and/or distributed databases) could be used to store and manipulate the data types described herein. Likewise, object methods or behaviors of a database can be used to implement various processes, such as those described herein. In addition, the databases may, in a known manner, be stored locally or remotely from a device that accesses data in such a database. Furthermore, while unified databases may be contemplated, it is also possible that the databases may be distributed and/or duplicated amongst a variety of devices.

As used herein a "network" is an environment wherein one or more computing devices may communicate with one another. Such devices may communicate directly or indirectly, via a wired or wireless medium such as the Internet, LAN, WAN or Ethernet (or IEEE 802.3), Token Ring, or via any appropriate communications means or combination of communications means. Exemplary protocols include but are not limited to: Bluetooth™, TDMA, CDMA, GSM, EDGE, GPRS, WCDMA, AMPS, D-AMPS, IEEE 802.11 (WI-FI), IEEE 802.3, SAP, , ATP, TCP/IP, gaming device standard (GDS) published by the Gaming Standards Association of Fremont Calif., the best of breed (BOB), system to system (S2S), or the like. Each of the devices or systems or modules is adapted to communicate on such a communication means. Any number and type of machines may be in communication via the network. Where the network is the Internet, communications over the Internet may be through a website maintained by a computer on a remote server or over an online data network including commercial online service providers, bulletin board systems, and the like. In yet other embodiments, the devices may communicate with one another over RF, cable TV, satellite links, and the like. Where appropriate security measures such as logins and passwords may be provided to protect proprietary or confidential information.

Communication among computers and devices and data stored in databases may be encrypted to insure privacy and prevent fraud in any of a variety of ways well known in the art. Appropriate cryptographic protocols for bolstering system security are described in C# DATA SECURITY HANDBOOK by. Matthew MacDonald; Erik Johansson, WROX PRESS,Dec-2002, ISBN: 1861008015 which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The present disclosure provides, to one of ordinary skill in the art, an enabling description of several embodiments and/or inventions. Some of these embodiments and/or inventions may not be claimed in the present disclosure, but may nevertheless be claimed in one or more continuing applications that claim the benefit of priority of the present disclosure.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1- The method for extending the consumption of a prepaid service when there is insufficient balance to continue with the service in an environment consist substantially only of

The consumer of the service,

The service provider and

The Extension Device

2- The method of Claim- 1 wherein the phases consists substantially only of

Enablement and/or request phase,

Preparation phase,

Allocation phase,

Collection and charging phase and

Reconciliation phase.

3- The phases of Claim-2 wherein the devices which transmits information, consists substantially only of

Any device used by consumers to send and receive information to and from the service provider, Devices used by the service provider to send and receive information both to and from the consumer of the service and to and from the extension Device and

Apparatus used by the extension device to send and receive information to and from the service provider.

4- The method used by the consumer of the service for subscription to the automatic service extension during the Enablement phase as said in Claim-2"compromising the steps of

Procurement of subscription at the service provider's designated points or

Submission the purchase request of subscription to the automatic service extension via the devices said in Claim-3

5- The method used by the consumer of the service for requesting the service extension during the Enablement and/or Request phase as said in Claim-2 compromising the steps of

Requesting a service extension at the service provider's designated points

Submission the request for a service extension via the devices said in Claim-3

6- The method according Claim-4 wherein the subscription to the automatic service extension consists substantially only of

Procurement of special prepaid cards containing the subscription feature by the consumer of the service

A list prepared by the service provider consisting the information on the consumers of the services whom the automatic service extension to be activated

7- The method used by the Apparatus of the service extension device after the receiving of the service extension request, during the Preparation phase as said in Claim-2 compromising the steps of

Query the consumer related actual information in the service provider systems to be used in further processing,

If the request is not for the consumer of the service who has previously subscribed to automatic service subscription then

Query the history of the consumer activities in the service provider systems if the information is not available at the Extension device,

Calculate a score for consumer to determine the eligibility for service extension,

Calculate the amount of extension based on the calculated scoring,

27 Transmit a message to the service provider if the request is not eligible for the extension, Transmit a service extension allocation order message to the service extension device for starting the allocation of the service extension by the calculated amount if the request is eligible for service extension.

Transmit a message to the Apparatus responsible in monitoring the service if an error occurs during the execution of the steps

Transmit a message detailing the information on executed activities to the Apparatus responsible in recording the log of activities

7- The method used by the Apparatus of the service extension device after the receiving of the subscription to the automatic service extension , during the Preparation phase as said in Claim-2 compromising the steps of

Calculate the amount of extension based on the subscription information

Transmit a subscription order message to the service extension device for subscribing the consumer of the service to automatic service extension by the calculated amount,

8- The method used by the Apparatus of the service extension device after the preparation, during the Allocation phase as said in Claim-2 compromising the steps of

Receives a service extension order message or a subscription order message containing the information regarding the consumer of the service and the amount of extension,

If the received message is a service extension order message then

Connect to the service provider and request for the service extension by the received amount,

Receives a response from the service provider,

If the service consumer was a subscriber for automatic service extension then removes the subscription of the service consumer

Transmit a message to sender of the message for informing the result of allocation

If the received message is a subscription order message then

Register the consumer of the service as being eligible for automatic service extension

Transmit a message to sender of the message for informing the result of subscription Transmit a message to the Apparatus responsible in monitoring the service if an error occurs during the execution of the steps

-— Collection

9- The method used by the Apparatus of the service extension device during the Collection phase as said in Claim-2 compromising the steps of

Receives the information of the payment activity of a consumer of the service from the service provider,

Analyses the information of the payment activity and make required analysis of the information for further activities, if required

Controls whether the consumer of the service has already given a service extension,

If it's found that the consumer of the service has already given a service extension and it hasn't been fully collected then

Query the actual service balance of the consumer of the service,

Depending on the balance amount of the consumer of the service

28 Deduct all the extended service amount and some service fee amount if there is enough balance,

Deduct some of amount of the extended service amount and some service fee amount from the balance of the service consumer if the balance of the service consumer is not enough for a full amount collection,

Deduct none if the balance of the service consumer is not enough even for a partial collection,

Transmit a message to the service provider about the result of the collection result,

-— - Reconciliation --

10- The method used by the Apparatus of the service extension device during the Reconciliation phase as said in Claim-2 compromising the steps of

At defined periods the service provider executes commands in the Apparatus of the service extension device or,

The apparatus of the service extension device is configured to execute commands automatically at defined periods.

The commands are executed and a historical report is generated by the service extension device containing a summary and detailed activity of the service extension and collection activities

The report is displayed if it's requested by the service provider or submitted to the service provider if it is automatically generated

The service provider generates a similar report based for the same period based on the information it possesses

The service provider matches the two reports

The service provider investigates the discrepancies in between the two reports,

If there is discrepancies then

The service provider fixes the error in the data of the service extension device causing the discrepancies,

Request the same report again and do the same control

Repeat the last two steps until no more discrepancies appear.

—— Service extension device

11- A service extension device for delivering the methods as said in Claim-1 consists substantially only of

Web/Wap apparatus compromising the features of

Communication through HTTP/HTTPS protocol,

Supporting web services format of XML/HTTP (REST), SOAP or XML/RPC. Extendibility to support future protocols and formats through new internal modules

Messaging apparatus compromising the¾atures of

Communicating with protocols of XML/HTTP, HTTP, HTTPS, SMPP, XMPP, SMTP,

IMAP, POP3s

Receiving and sending the message formats of SMS, MMS, instant message and e-mail Extendibility to support future protocols and formats through new internal modules

IVR apparatus compromising the features of

Interacting through voice or voice devices

Interacting with voice or dial tone

Communicating over telecom protocols and interfaces of SS7, SIP, TCP/IP, El, Tl, VoIP, H323, RTP, INAP, ISUP

29 Extendibility to support future protocols and through new internal modules

Payment Systems apparatus compromising the features of

Handling secure financial transaction communication

Communicating over protocols of Financial Information Exchange (FIX), Secure Electronic Transactions (SET), Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)

Extendibility to support future protocols through internal modules.

Transaction Gateway apparatus for compromising the features of

Handling the transaction related„to the service extension and collection of the extension per the subscriber of the service with the service provider

Unit modifications or consumer information queries

Communicating over protocols of UCIP, RADIUS and DIAMETER.

Extendibility to support future protocols and through new internal modules

Parser apparatus for converting the information from one format to the format that is used by the apparatus of service extension device compromising the features of

Communicating over protocols and interfaces of HTTP, HTTPS, XML, FTP, SOAP, SQL,

RPC,

Extendibility to support future protocols through internal modules.

Optical Character Recognition apparatus compromising the features of

Processing the non-digital formats (i.e. filled paper forms, printed lists) into the digital format

Feeding the service extension device with the converted digital information Extendibility to support future formats through internal modules.

Plastic card reader/processer apparatus compromising the features of

Reading, writing or printing to the various plastic cards (prepaid cards, SIM cards, magnetic cards, debit cards etc.)

Feeding the service extension device with the read digital information

Registering the information coming from the service extension device into the plastic cards

Extendibility to support future type of cards through internal modules.

The report builder apparatus compromising the features of

Reading the data and displaying defined reports regarding the performance, status and history of the service, of the consumer or the process or a mixed of all to perform a business related task.

Generating reports can automatically generated per the defined conditions

Generating reports on demand via a human machine interface

Extendibility to generate custom reports through internal modules.

Information Broker apparatus compromising the features of

Performing as general information exchange component

Delivering the information from one apparatus to another within the service extension device

Converting one information format to another in order to the nodes within the device can contain various technologies with ease.

Having a queuing mechanism in delivering the message so that the overall system performance is not effected by the performance decrease from one of the apparatus

Communicating via protocols of HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, XML/RPC

Extendibility to translate custom message formats and communicating through future protocols through internal modules

30 Business Logic apparatus compromising the features of

Executing the scenario logic of the Method as said Claims 4 to 9

Performing steps to the various request or messages along the execution of the Method as said in Claims 4 to 9.

Running workflows then initiating other apparatus within the service extension device accordingly

Workflows can be programmed per the business needs.

Extendibility to add new and to change existing workflows through internal modules

Scoring apparatus compromising the features of

Determination of the scores along the method as said in Claims 4 to 9

Contains formulas per the business case of the service provider which differs with the parameters of geography, service industry, served customer profile, local and global market conditions.

Contains programmable module which responds with a score when requested Extendibility to add new and to change existing scoring rules through internal modules

Risk Analysis apparatus compromising the features of

Calculating the extension duration with the inputs provided.

Containing formulas and matrixes for calculation of the extension by calculating the business risks with the input provided

Extendibility to add new and to change existing formulas and matrixes through internal modules

Accounting apparatus compromising the features of

Keeps a record of every transaction related to the Method as said in Claims 4 to 9.

Capability to be invoked by the Business Logic apparatus for obtaining information per consumer of the service of write extension transaction activity for a consumer of the service.

Having a secure data storage mechanisms

Extendibility to add new or to change existing features through internal modules

Authorization apparatus compromising the features of

Containing all the access and authorization information of both the consumer of the service and the staff of the Service Provider.

Responding to the authorization requests for the staff from the service providers who wants to execute an activity over the service extension device with a grant or deny answer

Integrating with similar services of the service provider

Extendibility to add or to change existing features through internal modules

Communication apparatus compromising the features of

Containing all the communique texts of the messages displayed to the consumer of the service, the information displayed to the Service Providers

Supplying different language variations of the same text.

Creation and modification of the new and existing texts.

Extendibility to add or to changcexisting features through internal modules

Monitoring apparatus compromising the features of

Monitoring constantly and periodically the activity and the performance of all the apparatus of the service extension device

Performing defined activities per the defined scenarios, such as informing the Service Provider when an apparatus is not performing as expected.

Performing the same functionality for the related points of the Service Provider in order to be able to identify the root cause of any issues that may affect the execution of the method as said in Claims 4 to 9

31 Receiving periodic updates on the performance counters from the apparatus of the service extension device and the related points of the service provider.

Querying and record periodically the performance counters from the apparatus of the service extension device and the related points of the service provider.

Recording all the measured performance counters for further reporting needs.

Supporting communication and messaging protocols SNMP, WMI, Syslog, XML, HTTP,

HTTPS

Providing a human machine interface where one can look at and see the status of the service extension device and the current information on the performance of the monitored apparatus

Providing the historical data of monitored points' performance counters for trend analysis.

Extendibility to add new or to,.change the existing monitoring points, monitoring rules, activities and scenarios through internal modules

Data Provider apparatus compromising the features of

Handling the request of recording of information by splitting it into the pieces and sending them to the data storage apparatus

Handling the request of creating the information from the recorded data in the ... apparatus and returning the result to the requestor

Supporting Relational Database Systems (RDBMS) related functions,

Capability to operate with protocols of MS-SQL, PL-SQL, SOAP, LDAP, XML/HTTP,

HTTP,

Extendibility to add new or to change the existing protocols and functions through internal modules

Data Storage apparatus compromising the features of

Storing the physical data in the media of hard disk, compact disk, magnetic tapes.

Distributing the data among many environments of database servers, cloud servers, internal and external file systems.

Capability to operate with protocols MS-SQL, PL-SQL, SOAP, LDAP, XML/HTTP, HTTP, FTP, TCP/IP.

32