prepaid and postpaid billing architecture

Prepaid billing, charging for services or product use information from accounts that have the value which is now available for use.

Prepaid communication services process used by service providers (for example, network operators) to be paid for the services they provide in the future. This allows the service provider to get revenue for services, without the risk of bad debts and it eliminates the need and cost of execution of payment transactions. Prepaid service is often associated with clients that may be credit opportunities or who want more control over the accounts.

This figure shows the real-time prepaid payment system. In this example, the client can initiate a call switching gateway ... Gateway prepaid collect account information or prompt the user to enter information or gathering information of an incoming call (for example, prepaid wireless phone number). Gateway sends your account information (dialed numbers and account number) real-time rating system. real-time rating system determines the correct table consumption (for example, peak or off peak time) and asked to determine the balance of the account. Use of the information of speed and balance, real-time rating system determines the maximum call duration time available. This information is sent back to the gateway and gateway terminates the call (connections). During the call, the gateway supports the timer so that the Subscriber may not exceed the maximum amount of time. After the call is finished (or the Subscriber hangs up), the gateway sends a real-time rating system, which contains the actual amount of time that is used in real-time rating system uses information about the time and speed for calculating the actual cost per call. The system updates the account balance (reduced the charge for the call).