DE4133149C2 - Telephone device - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a telephone terminal in Preamble of claim 1 specified type.

There are such telephone devices in the form of so-called called card telephones known, which it an operator  Allow user to make phone calls using to be charged to a credit card. To do this, a Credit check of the credit card can be made, whereby one that is probably sufficient for the intended conversation Amount requested from the credit card institute and for the be appropriate use is reserved. In this To context is also available from an "authorization" for a certain amount by the credit institution spoken.

A corresponding problem exists with all offices stungen, in which the amount of the ultimately billed Be is indefinite since this does not differ from that in advance specified use is dependent, the service Not or only if the credit card is not covered difficult to withdraw. This applies, for example refers to the gastronomic trade and accommodation drive to. But this also applies to petrol stations and the like Farms.

From DE-PS 35 31 173 is an arrangement for alternating transmission of data and voice signals from one Terminal and one accessible via a telephone line ren calculator known. The data terminal part and the voice Transmission parts are switched via a switch circuit wise with a common subscriber line a remote Connectable speech line and another on the computer orderly switch is used to separate a data path from that Speech path provided. Thereby during a conversation next a data connection (DATEX) to the central computer switched through before the voice connection after the test will be produced.

The specified in the characterizing part of claim 1 In contrast, the invention is based on the object Telephone device to create what means of data transmission and by means of its credit rating inquiries and amount reservations at banks and also the subsequent amount entries are made can, without it being necessary, an elaborate additional data connection via a separate data network to manufacture. The number of dial-up connections should continue be minimized in the telephone network.

This task is carried out with the characteristic features of the Claim 1 solved.

The invention is based on the knowledge that just at repetitive services whose billable The countervalue is only determined when the service has ended, unnecessary communication connections can be avoided if not before any further service an amount reservation by requesting the associated Computer of the credit card institute must be made. This is particularly the case with Tele using credit cards talks the case.

So the previous service can be done by one Holders of a credit card from the same institution Amounts together with the next or further service arranged with the same credit card be settled.

If the further money amount information is also in the Memory in association with the ID read from the card  tification information is recorded, the all assigned to a later billing transaction Information in common within the memory can be selected.

To the distance between the respective services and the following necessary billing process to hold, is the Erfin preferred training courses tion provided that the transfer and subsequent Deletion of the further money amount information in the memory based on one of various criteria is taken. These criteria can be that on reading the nth card with the same group identification information that depends on the the computer selected group identification information associated associated first amount of money saved is saved or that a fixed predetermined time is reached or a fixed predetermined minimum Period after reading a diesel for the first time or again be card carrying card identification information. These criteria are especially for every credit card institute separately in association with the associated Gen ID information can be specified. The transfer The billing data is carried out in particular with the for the amount reservation of another credit card tenant of the same card institute affiliated com communication link.

The effort associated with the billing can in particular which are kept low by the fact that the transmission the first amount of money information to the calculator  there is a modem and a normal dial-up line. So who not only the requests according to the invention relied on connections within the conventional Telephone network is limited, but it decreases at the same time the number of additional rakes Connections to be established by the credit card institutes to less than half.

It is also particularly advantageous in the invention that they opt for any Lei billing over the phone can be used at the beginning of the credit rating the recipient of the service should be known, the final one The amount of the amount to be settled is determined later becomes. This applies to many gastro services nomical or accommodation industry. In this way flight bookings or force vehicles can be rented.

In an advantageous development of the invention, he follows the design so that the memory in one in Depending on the group information addressable Storage area both the first money amount information mation at the first time as well as the further money amount information at the second point in time where preferably depending on the groups information addressable memory area a first Has storage area, in each of which the first Amount of money information is recorded and a second Storage area in which the further monetary information mation is held. This way the address sation simplified because the individual memory cells  can be summarized in group memories and the Er with conventional memory-programmed microprocessors ren is executable.

If with the transfer of further monetary information tion together with the card identification information in the second section is written and through which it Most of the money amount information is an earlier one in which he Most partial area of the store first available money is overwritten, the Spei Simplify your organization. Because of the simple Transfer operations and a few necessary memory addresses microprocessors can also be used, which work with a low clock frequency or - at high clock frequency - in multitasking mode, by the way do other (administrative) tasks.

In a preferred application as a card phone bil detects the second amount of money information after a two between the first and the second point in time within the Settlement of the normal conversation conducted over the telephone network de fee.

Here, the memory preferably has an assignment to one stored identification on a number information. The identifier forms a credit card in each case stitut-assigned unique identification feature, see above that the selection of the memory area after reading the information on the credit card telbar can be done.  

In the case of a magnetic card telephone, it is preferred that a deco of the implementation of the fee impulses received in the more money amount information is provided so that directly a conversion into the amount of money to be debited can. An intended comparator for comparing that in the Storage of the amount of money with the used The amount of the fee enables the call to be ended Consumption of the released amount.

Other advantageous developments of the invention are in the subclaims or are identified below along with the description of the preferred embodiment illustrated the invention with reference to the drawing. The only figure shows a schematic block diagram an embodiment of the remote according to the invention talking device.

In the illustrated embodiment, a normal telephone 1 - as a separate device or together with the rest of the subscriber-side arrangement in a ge common housing - is provided, with which telephone calls can be established and conducted in the usual way. The exemplary embodiment shown in the drawing represents a public card telephone system (ÖKART), with which a conversation can be held after a corresponding amount of money has been released in response to a query from the credit card institution associated with the credit card used, which is then settled with the credit card institution .

The telephone 1 is connectable as required via a switching module 2 with the connecting line Asl net angeord. The connecting line is linked via a usual selector switch coupling network with target subscribers 4 to 6 , with whom connections can optionally be made. The target participants 4 to 6 are credit card institutes in the illustrated embodiment, of which inquiries about the creditworthiness of credit card holders are answered after transmission of the card data by notification of an available amount. At the same time, the relevant amount is blocked by the credit card institution within the total liquidity of the cardholder concerned. Accordingly, used amounts can also be settled and credited to a third account. The processes are not handled by an oral request, but by data communication using a suitable processor and a modem.

For this data communication, the suitable switching devices are also available in the terminal device according to the invention. These have a control part 4 , which, depending on a - not shown - software-controlled processor, the individual switching and control processes can run according to a predetermined scheme. Messages and requests to an operator are also transmitted from the control part 4 by means of a display 7 . In the normal course of an inquiry to be described here for an amount for the equivalent of which a telephone call is to be made, the signal lines (right side of control part 4 ) and the operator displays on the display (left side of control part 4 ) are in the order from top to bottom activated.

When the function of a block "Start" 8 is triggered, the control part 4 is activated and the display 9 shows "Enter card" switched on. This can be done either manually by pressing a corresponding key or - as shown in the drawing - by lifting the handset on the telephone set 1 and the signal "GU" given by the fork switch.

The user then pushes his credit card 10 into the reading device 11 , with the control part 4 activating a data evaluation and transmission part 12 which seles the data read from the credit card and both the card identification data and identification information from the credit card institute as grouping information at its outputs.

The identification information controls an addressing part 13 which, in a memory 14 , in association with the group identification information of the credit card institute in corresponding assigned storage areas (one line in each case in the illustration of the drawing), the telephone number of the credit card institution concerned and storage locations for two card identifications (1 . and 2nd partial data record), which in turn is assigned a respective amount of money in a further memory location related partial data record. In the exemplary embodiment described so far, the identification information read from the credit card contains the addressing information. Each possible credit card institute is assigned a corresponding memory area.

This function can, however, also be solved in another way: The additional storage spaces (not shown) in the drawing in the memory 14 indicate that further information can also be stored in association with a credit card institution or the respective use case. If a Kenninfor mation in association with each of the data for a Kreditkar teninstitut receiving memory area, the addressing part is preferably designed in such a way that the identification information is transferred from the credit card in the addressing part 13 and the memory 14 cyclically addressed until the identification information contained in the memory (left column in the illustration according to the drawing) matches the identification information read out by the credit card.

In the embodiment of the invention described here Each credit card company now has several "lines" of the memory shown, which each the group identification information and the phone number of the In stituts assigned included. There are so many each To provide lines within the memory area, such as Be Users are expected to have their data before the final one Billing by sending the data to the computer should be kept "open".

When the identification information of a credit card institute is addressed, a comparator 30 is used to determine whether the memory location of the first partial data record in which the identity features contain the card identification information of the credit card now entered from a previous use case is already present. If this information is found, the comparator 30 causes a stop at this data record, an amount reservation with a credit rating request (as described in the following) no longer has to be made. The amount in the first partial data record is then assumed.

If the card identification information of the entered credit card is not available in the memory (or if the storage location corresponding to the card identification information of the user is met, the condition for transferring the amount to be debited in the form of the unused remaining amount is fulfilled and a corresponding signal is emitted by a decision module 31 described below ), if a free storage space is found that contains the group ID of the credit card institution but does not yet contain any identity information, this storage space is occupied with the card identification information and a (possibly new) amount reservation is carried out - as described below. Here, however, it is first determined whether a storage space provided with the card identification information of another credit card holder is available, who has used a service at a previous point in time, but in which a further condition has now occurred, which requires the transmission of the used up Amount to the credit card institute he requests. These conditions are explained in more detail below and determined by a decision module 31 as a function of a timer 32 and, if applicable as a signal “condition fulfilled”, are forwarded to the comparator 30 , which in this case also stops the addresser and the memory location now addressed ( which also has the identifier of the same credit institution).

In this case, the further data are transmitted to and from the memory locations belonging to this credit card institute. If the group identification information in question is not found - that is, communication with the credit card institution concerned is not provided or the credit card used is invalid - then no memory area is addressed and the control unit gives the "End" display prematurely after a specified period of time Display 8 off.

From the control part 4 , a dialing signal generator 15 is now activated for outputting the number available in the addressed memory location of the memory 14 . The phone number is given via link module 2 on the Asl line.

After the connection in question has been established, which can be determined via control means which are not shown for reasons of clarity, a data exchange is carried out with the credit card institute called which belongs to the credit card used. By means of a now activated by the control part 4 modem 16 is - before the card identification of the first corresponding partial data record in the addressed memory area (shown on the left in the drawing) is read - the simultaneously addressed second partial data record (shown on the right in the drawing) Card identification and the associated amount of money information transmitted. This is the amount used in a previous telephone call of the last user who used a credit card from the institute, which also includes the credit card now used. (The further details of the determination and storage of this data are shown below using the data of the current user as an example.)

After submitting the consumption for call charges amount of the previous user of the same loan karteninstitut will reserve the amount for the actu ellen user prompted, so that no separate Connection establishment is necessary. For every amount reserve tion including booking is therefore per person to be booked Amount on average only one connection required.

With the amount reservation for the current user, an amount made available by the credit card institute, which is either fixed or can correspond to a requested amount or can also be less, is released for consumption during a telephone call. (When requesting a specific amount, additional amount of money information, which is stored in a memory (not shown) and corresponds to the maximum value of the services usually mediated - here telephone calls - would additionally be transmitted as request amount by means of the modem 16 ).

After an amount has now been reserved for a telephone call to be carried out, the control part 7 on the display 9 triggers the display "making a call". So that the telephone set 1 is released via a corresponding signal line from the control module 7 for a telephone call and switched through the link module 2 to the connecting line AsL, so that the desired conversation can be conducted.

This operating state is also switched on directly in this case if the credit card holder has already made one Service and has yet another amount needed in the corresponding storage space of the 1. Partial data record is included.

During the call, a fee receiver 17 is activated, which records the fee impulses and converts them into monetary information. A simultaneously controlled comparator 18 compares the fees incurred (output signal of the comparator 18 ) with the reserved amount as the content of the corresponding memory location of the addressed area of the memory 12 . If the amount of fees used exceeds the reserved amount, the comparator emits an output signal which is fed to the control part as an "end" signal via an OR gate 19 . Thereupon the telephone call is forcibly ended.

If the phone call is ended by the user beforehand, a corresponding signal generated by the hook switch of the telephony apparatus 1 passes through an inverter 20 to the other input of the OR gate 19 as a sign that the signal "GU" is no longer present, that is, the receiver is hung up has been. In this case too, the control part 4 shows a message indicating the end of the call via the display 7 . In addition to triggering the call billing, necessary control functions are also triggered:

The last amount issued by the fee recipient 17 is deducted from the reserved amount and the unused remaining amount is copied by means of a transmission module 21 together with the card identification information contained in the addressed 1st partial data record into the corresponding 2nd partial data record. The billing information is thus available when a credit rating request is made for one of the next users with a credit card from the same credit card institute. Here, the card identification of this user can be found in the first partial data record, so that even with any number of users from different card institutes, there is always a simple and securely functioning billing method with a minimal number of call connections to be established.

This process also takes place in this way if it is a repeated call by the same credit card holder. In this case, however, the data recorded in the storage space designated "Condition" are also taken into account. On the one hand, this is an absolute or relative time specification, which is either permanently contained in the storage space or was set in cooperation with a clock 32 . The transfer and subsequent deletion of the further monetary information in the memory is carried out in each case for one of the following events forming a criterion:

after the reading of the nth card with the same group identification information, storing the associated first money amount information transmitted by the computer selected as a function of the group identification information;
after reaching a fixed predetermined time;
after a fixed predetermined minimum period of time after the first or rereading of a card carrying the same card identification information;
the temporarily stored first amount of money falls below, if necessary several times, a reduction by an amount resulting from the billing of a service, a predetermined minimum amount.

These conditions are in the form of criteria in particular re individually or in combination in each case in association with egg ner group identifier information set. So that at for example in association with the group identifier information stipulated that each reserved amount at the latest nem (periodically in the calendar) stipulated time or at the latest after a certain time after the  First use of the reserved amount is to be settled. Here, after reaching the cut-off time (after Er filling the amount set by the credit card institute condition), triggered by the next one amount reser four users of the same credit card institute, the Ab invoice caused. (If necessary, additional absolute conditions are set, which according to indicate the times located at the former times, to those without a subsequent amount reservation billing through a separate communication link is made.)

Because in the amount field of the first partial data record only the unused balance of the previous amount reservation is held, the billing is used moderately by reporting the remaining amount made, which may also be "0". On this way the space requirement is minimized, which at a large number of users, for example in the area public card phones, definitely play a role can. In a preferred variant of the system because a storage unit for several telephone devices provided so that the user with repeated use (for example in the area of an airport) not on the repeated use of the same apparatus is. With the measures according to the invention prefers all communication devices such as telephone, Te lefax, database access and all other mail handle services without cash. The same applies to orders of all kinds, are handled by telephone sets at which be an amount on the communication device used  burdens and the proper reservation of the concern the amount can be monitored remotely.

The invention is not restricted in its implementation to the preferred embodiment given above game. Rather, a number of variants are conceivable which of the solution shown also in principle makes use of different types.

Claims (9)

1. Telephone device ( 1 ) with a card reader ( 11 ) and means for selectively transmitting data or voice signals to or from a counter device ( 4 to 6 ), which means for selectively transmitting data or voice signals from or to the telephone device ( 1 ) has
with means for transmitting data readable from a card ( 10 ) to a computer connected to the counter device ( 4 to 6 ), the counter device ( 4 to 6 ) and the computer connected to it being a group of cards ( 10 ) which have an identical Group identification information is assigned, a memory ( 14 ) being provided in which, after reading the card ( 10 ) and then depending on the group identification information read from the card ( 10 ), the connection to the associated counter device ( 4 to 6 ) and the computer, the identification information readable by the card reader ( 11 ) from the card ( 10 ) and a first amount of money information reserved for upcoming services and transmitted to the assigned computer on request are recorded in association with the read group identification information and a second time issued amount of money information together with the vo identification information read on the card ( 10 ) is transmitted to the assigned computer, characterized in that
that the memory ( 14 ) receives the first amount of money information in one of several similar memory areas of the memory ( 14 ) which are addressable as a function of or in association with the identification information of the card ( 10 ),
that the temporarily stored first amount of money information is reduced after each rereading of the same card ( 10 ) before the second point in time, if necessary, by an amount which has been transmitted by a transmission module ( 21 ) and is due to the billing of a service performed, and
that the release of another service by means of a control part ( 7 ) is blocked if it is determined by means of a comparator ( 18 ) that the amount resulting from the billing of the last service reaches the amount of the temporarily stored first amount of money information or is less than a predetermined difference. 2. Telephone device according to claim 1, characterized in that the further money information is also recorded in the memory ( 14 ) in association with the identification information read from the card ( 10 ). 3. Telephone device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the transmission and subsequent deletion of the further amount of money information in the memory ( 14 ) is carried out in each case on one of the following events forming a criterion:
after the reading of the nth card ( 10 ) with the same group identification information, the associated first money amount information transmitted by the computer selected as a function of the group identification information and / or
after reaching a fixed predetermined time and / or
after a fixed predetermined minimum period of time after the first or a new reading of a card ( 10 ) carrying the same identification information and / or
if the temporarily stored first monetary information after, possibly repeated, reduction by an amount resulting from the billing of a service falls below a predetermined minimum amount. 4. Telephone device according to one of the preceding An sayings, characterized in that  the one or more criteria to be met in combination because in association with group identification information are set. 5. Telephone device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the transmission of the first amount of money information to the computer via a modem ( 16 ) and a normal dial-up line (AsL). 6. Telephone device according to one of the preceding An sayings, characterized in that depending on the identification information addressable memory area a first memory part area in which the first monetary amount in each case formation is held and a second memory subarea in which the further monetary information is held. 7. Telephone device according to one of the preceding An sayings, characterized in that with the transfer of the further money amount information this together with the identification information in the second section is written. 8. Telephone device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, if the service is able to make telephone calls, a charge receiver ( 17 ) is provided as a decoder for converting the received charge pulses into the further monetary information. 9. Telephone device according to claim 8, characterized in that a transmission module ( 21 ) is provided to limit the call time, which interrupts the call when the further amount of money information reaches the value of the first amount of money information.