Telephone providing automatic tracking of calling plan charges
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A telephone providing automatic tracking of calling plan charges, comprising:
- at least one time bin; and
a call time controller adapted for;
(a) receiving a set of calling plan rules defining a billing period and at least one calling period, (b) receiving time information and call occurrence information, (c) identifying at least one calling period associated with each call, and (d) determining the call duration for a call according to said set of calling plan rules,
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is directed to a telephone that provides for automatically and accurately tracking calling plan charges using carrier plan rules, for informing a user of accrued charges on request, and for providing messages and signals to a user so that the user may budget telephone use and thereby lower the user'"'"'s costs.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A telephone providing automatic tracking of calling plan charges, comprising:
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at least one time bin; and
a call time controller adapted for;
(a) receiving a set of calling plan rules defining a billing period and at least one calling period, (b) receiving time information and call occurrence information, (c) identifying at least one calling period associated with each call, and (d) determining the call duration for a call according to said set of calling plan rules, - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A telephone providing automatic tracking of calling plan charges, comprising:
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a call timer; and
a call time controller, wherein, for a call made or received with the telephone, said call having a duration, said time controller is adapted for;
(a) receiving a set of charge parameters and time information, (b) identifying a first charge parameter from said set of charge parameters that pertains to a first period of said duration by use of said time information, (c) causing said call timer to accumulate time over said first period, (d) receiving a predetermined time corresponding to the time of termination of a billing period, and (e) resetting said call timer at said predetermined time according to said time information. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for automatically tracking charges according to calling plan rules for calls made or received with at least one telephone comprising the steps of providing:
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a call timer; and
a call time controller, wherein, said call time controller is adapted for a call made or received with the telephone, said call having a duration, said time controller is adapted for;
(a) receiving a set of charge parameters and time information, (b) identifying a first charge parameter from said set of charge parameters that pertains to a first period of said duration by use of said time information, (c) causing said call timer to accumulate time over said first period, (d) receiving a predetermined time corresponding to the time of termination of a billing period, and (e) resetting said call timer at said predetermined time according to said time information. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A machine readable medium embodying a program of instructions for to be performed by a machine for automatically tracking charges according to calling plan rules for calls made or received with at least one telephone, said instructions comprising the steps of providing:
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a call timer; and
a call time controller, wherein, said call time controller is adapted for a call made or received with the telephone, said call having a duration, said time controller is adapted for;
(a) receiving a set of charge parameters and time information, (b) identifying a first charge parameter from said set of charge parameters that pertains to a first period of said duration by use of said time information, (c) causing said call timer to accumulate time over said first period, (d) receiving a predetermined time corresponding to the time of termination of a billing period, and (e) resetting said call timer at said predetermined time according to said time information. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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- 41. A telephone providing automatic tracking of calling plan charges, comprising a call time controller adapted for receiving and storing a set of calling plan rules and configuration data.
Specification