Billing for abbreviated dialing plan service

• US 20040190696A1
• Filed: 04/05/2004
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SBC Technology Resources, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Technology Resources, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stroud, Kenneth Robert, Fleischer, Harold C. III, Simino, John E., Morales, Louis Michael
• Granted Patent: US 6,985,568 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/114.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/41 Billing record details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure of call data record [CDR]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8083 involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions or volume discounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/90 using Intelligent Networks [IN] or Advanced Intelligent Networks [AIN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0108 Customization according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. customer preferences, friends and family, selecting services or billing options, Personal Communication Systems [PCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/016 Billing using Intelligent Networks [IN] or Advanced Intelligent Networks [AIN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0164 Billing record, e.g. Call Data Record [CDR], Toll Ticket[TT], Automatic Message Accounting [AMA], Call Line Identifier [CLI], details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0184 involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions, volume discounts, cell discounts, group billing, frequent calling destination(s) or user history list

Abstract

A telecommunications system includes a control point and a switching point for discounting a customer'"'"'s billing for telephone calls completed in a wide area centrex/PBX network that includes an abbreviated dialing plan. The control point receives, from the switching point, a query that is generated based upon receiving a telephone call. The control point determines a call type code that is based upon a calling station type and a called station type. When the call type code is eligible for discounted billing, the control point generates a billing record of a first type for the call. The billing record of the first type is used to discount the billing for the call. The control point forwards, to the switching point, the billing record of the first type for the call. The switching point generates a billing record of a second type for the call and, when the call type code is eligible for discounted billing, the billing record of the first type is used to modify the billing record of the second type.

Claims

1. A control point for discounting a customer'"'"'s billing for telephone calls completed in a wide area centrex/PBX network that includes an abbreviated dialing plan, the control point receiving, from a switching point, a query that is generated based upon receiving a telephone call;

the control point determining a call type code that is based upon a calling station type and a called station type and, when the call type code is eligible for discounted billing, generating a billing record of a first type for the call, the billing record of the first type being used to discount the billing for the call;

the control point forwarding, to the switching point, the billing record of the first type for the call, wherein the switching point generates a billing record of a second type for the call and, when the call type code is eligible for discounted billing, the billing record of the first type is used to modify the billing record of the second type.

2. The control point of claim 1, wherein the call type code is further based upon a determination whether a billing discounting feature is active for at least one of PBX stations and centrex stations.

3. The control point of claim 1, the billing record of the second type for the call being discarded when the call type code for the call is eligible for billing suppression, so that the customer is charged a periodic flat rate charge for eligible calls in lieu of per-call billing.

4. The control point of claim 1, wherein the discounting is based upon a determination whether the telephone call comprises an intraLATA call.

5. The control point of claim 4, wherein the discounting is further based upon a determination whether the telephone call comprises a voice call.

6. The control point of claim 1, the billing record of the first type being rated in accordance with a preestablished agreement, the discounting being based upon the rating when the customer receives a reduced periodic charge for eligible calls.

7. A switching point for discounting a customer'"'"'s billing for telephone calls completed in a wide area centrex/PBX network that includes an abbreviated dialing plan, the switching point generating a query based upon receiving a telephone call, and forwarding the query to a control point that determines a call type code based upon a calling station type and a called station type, the control point generating a billing record of a first type for the call;

the switching point receiving the billing record of the first type from the control point when the call type code is eligible for discounted billing, the billing record of the first type being used to discount the billing for the call,

wherein, the switching point generates a billing record of a second type for the call and, when the call type code is eligible for the discounted billing, modifies the billing record of the second type using the billing record of the first type.

8. The switching point of claim 7, wherein the call type code is further based upon a determination whether a billing discounting feature is active for at least one of PBX stations and centrex stations.

9. The switching point of claim 7, the billing record of the second type for the call being discarded when the call type code for the call is eligible for billing suppression, so that the customer is charged a periodic flat rate charge for eligible calls in lieu of per-call billing.

10. The switching point of claim 7, wherein the discounting is based upon a determination whether the telephone call comprises an intraLATA call.

11. The switching point of claim 10, wherein the discounting is further based upon a determination whether the telephone call comprises a voice call.

12. The switching point of claim 7, the billing record of the first type being rated in accordance with a preestablished agreement, the discounting being based upon the rating when the customer receives a reduced periodic charge for eligible calls.

13. A switching point for discounting a customer'"'"'s bill for telephone calls completed in a wide area centrex/PBX network that includes an abbreviated dialing plan, the switching point generating a query based upon receiving a telephone call;

the switching point forwarding the query to a control point; and

the switching point generating a billing record, the control point determining a general class of service of the calling station that places the telephone call and a general class of service of a called station, the control point determining whether the customer subscribes to billing discounting for the determined class of service, and the control point determining whether the call is an intraLATA call and a voice call;

wherein, when the general class of service of the calling station and the general class of service of the called station are eligible for the billing discounting, and the customer subscribes to the billing discounting for the general class of service of the calling station, and the call is an intraLATA voice call, the billing record is modified and the billing for the completed call is discounted based upon the modified billing record.

14. The switching point of claim 13, wherein, when the general class of service of the calling station and the general class of service of the called station are eligible for billing suppression, and the customer subscribes to the billing suppression for the general class of service of the calling station, and the call is an intraLATA voice call, the billing record is discarded and the customer is charged a periodic flat rate charge for eligible calls.

15. The switching point of claim 13, the billing for the telephone call being rated in accordance with a preestablished agreement, the discounting being further based upon the rating when the customer receives a reduced periodic charge for eligible calls.

16. A control point for discounting a customer'"'"'s bill for telephone calls completed in a wide area centrex/PBX network that includes an abbreviated dialing plan, the control point receiving, from a switching point that generates a billing record, a query that is generated based upon receiving a telephone call;

the control point determining a general class of service of the calling station that places the telephone call and a general class of service of a called station;

the control point determining whether the customer subscribes to billing discounting for the determined class of service; and

the control point determining whether the call is an intraLATA call and a voice call,

wherein, when the general class of service of the calling station and the general class of service of the called station are eligible for the billing discounting, and the customer subscribes to the billing discounting for the general class of service of the calling station, and the call is an intraLATA voice call, the billing record is modified and the billing for the completed call is discounted based upon the modified billing record.

17. The control point of claim 16, wherein, when the general class of service of the calling station and the general class of service of the called station are eligible for billing suppression, and the customer subscribes to the billing suppression for the general class of service of the calling station, and the call is an intraLATA voice call, the billing record is discarded and the customer is charged a periodic flat rate charge for eligible calls.

18. The control point of claim 16, the billing for the telephone call being rated in accordance with a preestablished agreement, the discounting being further based upon the rating when the customer receives a reduced periodic charge for eligible calls.