A method and system for managing financial risk through the use of postpaid processing during use of wireless services is presented within the scope of the following invention. The present invention uses credit card authorization to pre-reserve credit card funds for wireless services in excess of planned usage. Authorizations eliminate the credit risk associated with overages and payment timing, and also maintain a customer experience identical to postpaid processing. The authorizations are invisible to the customer and no charge is brought to a customer's credit card until the monthly bill is settled. Separating the authorization and settlement stages of retail wireless payment processing allows the branded wireless provider to avoid inherent areas of credit risk during the tenure of a customer's wireless service, while maintaining a familiar customer experience.

A user service processing method in a charging system is as follows: A charging trigger device provides initial quota application mode indication information for a charging processing device, so as to indicate an initial quota request mode previously applied by the charging trigger device for a user service. The charging processing device performs charging processing on the user service based on the indication information, and delivers a charging processing result to the charging trigger device, to enable the charging trigger device to change a charging operation on the user service. In this way, by changing a cooperation relationship between the charging processing device and the charging trigger device, a balance between performance of the charging system and a credit control risk, or between an access delay and a credit control risk is implemented.

A method and system of detecting a delinquent mobile user device. An international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) of a subscriber identity module (SIM) card of the user device is determined by the user device. The IMSI is sent to a Remote Recovery Server (RRS). A message is received from the RRS as to whether the IMSI is authorized for the user device. Upon determining that the IMSI is not authorized for the user device, a notification is displayed on a display of the user device.

A node of a charging system associated with a communication network grants a charging request, with the response including a granted quota of units for authorizing consumption of the involved communication service by a user device, along with an indication of whether the granted quota applies on an immediate basis or on a deferred basis. For example, the response indicates whether quota management is active for the involved communication service, with the granted quota applying immediately to consumption of the service if quota management is active and applying on a deferred basis if quota management is inactive. Providing a granted quota while quota management is inactive offers several advantages, such as proactively providing individual charging sessions with granted units of service consumption that may be used subsequently, upon quota management becoming active, thereby avoiding the “flood” of charging session requests that would otherwise be generated upon quota management becoming active.

Systems and methods described herein include receiving, at a network device and from a session management device, a first message that includes a first identifier associated with a subscriber and a second identifier associated with a first service that is charged using an online charging system. The network device transmits a second message that indicates a first time period in which to report data usage associated with the first service and a second time period in which to report data usage associated with one or more second services that are charged using an offline charging system. The network device receives first data usage information associated with the first service after the first time period and second data usage information associated with the one or more second services after the second time period. The network device processes the data usage information.

Various communication systems may benefit from improved network signaling or attachment. A method, in certain embodiments, may include receiving at a network node an initial attachment request message from a user equipment. The method may also include issuing a back-off timer when accepting the initial attachment request from the user equipment. The back-off timer may include a duration of time in which the user equipment is not allowed to reattach to a network. In addition, the method may include receiving at the network node another attachment request message from the user equipment. Further, the method may include determining whether the duration of the back-off timer has lapsed, and rejecting the another attachment request from the user equipment when the duration of time of the back-off timer has not lapsed.

A technique involves modular storage of network service plan components and provisioning of same. A subset of the capabilities of a service design system can be granted to a sandbox system to enable customization of service plan offerings or other controls.

A method performed by an application function, AF, for a communication network, wherein the AF has been informed, in a first notification, about an out-of-credit event associated with a user of a service provided by the AF, the method comprising sending subscription request, to a network function, NF, for requesting notifications about reallocation-of-credit events associated with one or more users of a service provided by the AF; receiving, from the NF, a second notification of a reallocation-of-credit event associated with the user of the service provided by the AF for which the AF has been informed about the out-of-credit event, such that the AF can perform one or more second actions with respect to the service.

Security techniques for device assisted services are provided. In some embodiments, secure service measurement and/or control execution partition is provided. In some embodiments, implementing a service profile executed at least in part in a secure execution environment of a processor of a communications device for assisting control of the communications device use of a service on a wireless network, in which the service profile includes a plurality of service policy settings, and wherein the service profile is associated with a service plan that provides for access to the service on the wireless network; monitoring use of the service based on the service profile; and verifying the use of the service based on the monitored use of the service.

Disclosed is a voice message exchange system and method for improving communication between an inmate and a third party by enabling the inmate to leave a message when a call is not answered and further allowing the third party who receives the message to reply with a message to the inmate. Additionally, outside parties that meet the institution's requirements can leave messages for inmates at any time. The present invention can be used as an add-on to legacy inmate call management systems or incorporated internally into an inmate call management system. The system also provides monitoring, controlling, recording, and billing means.