System and method to determine and deliver quotes for distance-sensitive communication links from multiple service providers

• US 20050190901A1
• Filed: 09/30/2004
• Published: 09/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telarus, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Telarus, Inc.
• Inventors: Oborn, Patrick K., Lieberman, Aaron J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,496,184 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/114.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/145 trading network capacity or selecting route based on tariff
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/46 Real-time negotiation between users and providers or operators
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/49 Connection to several service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8044 Least cost routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8083 involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions or volume discounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0168 On line or real-time flexible customization or negotiation according to wishes of subscriber
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/42 Least cost routing, i.e. provision for selecting the lowest cost tariff
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/46 Connection to several service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/56 On line or real-time flexible agreements between service providers and telecoms operators
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/745 Least cost routing, e.g. Automatic or manual, call by call or by preselection

Abstract

To facilitate real-time pricing, an embodiment of the invention retrieves multiple quotes from multiple databases associated with multiple service providers. Information regarding a customer'"'"'s location, and the locations of multiple service providers are used to determine the cost of services associated with each of the multiple service providers in real-time. The retrieved quotes are compared, and quotes below a pre-determined price threshold are provided to a user in real-time (e.g., via the Internet). The user can select a desired quote from the quotes provided, and purchase or request more information regarding the desired quote online.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

sending a service request to a first service provider;

sending a service request to a second service provider, the second service provider being different from the first service provider;

receiving information associated with a distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider being received in response to the service request sent to the first service provider;

receiving information associated with a distance-sensitive communication link of the second service provider, the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the second service provider being received in response to the service request sent to the second service provider; and

outputting information based on the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider and the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the second service provider.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating, at least partially based on the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, a price associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating, at least partially based on the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, a price associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, the calculating being at least partially based on customer location information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating, at least partially based on the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, a price associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, the calculating being at least partially based on customer location information, the customer location information including coordinates of a ranging system, the calculating including converting the customer location information from the coordinates of the ranging system to coordinates configured to measure a distance between points on an ellipsoidal surface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating, at least partially based on the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, a price associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, the calculating being at least partially based on customer location information, the customer location information including a latitude coordinate and a longitude coordinate, the calculating including converting the customer location information from the latitude coordinate and the longitude coordinate to V/H coordinates.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider includes a price.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the outputting occurs less than one hour after the service request is sent to the first service provider.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the outputting occurs substantially in real-time.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a promotion associated with the first service provider, the outputting including outputting information associated with the promotion.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a promotion associated with the first service provider, the outputting including outputting a price at least partially based on the promotion.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a service plan associated with one of the first service provider and the second service provider.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the service request sent to the first service provider is configured to retrieve common language location identifier (CLLI) information associated with the first service provider, the received information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider including the retrieved CLLI information.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a feature associated with at least one of the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider and the distance-sensitive communication link of the second service provider, the outputting including outputting information based on the feature.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining information required by the first service provider for accessing the distance-sensitive communication of the first service provider; and

determining information required by the second service provider for accessing the distance-sensitive communication of the second service provider, the outputting including outputting the information required by the first service provider and the information required by the second service provider.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a commission amount associated the first service provider;

determining a commission amount associated the second service provider; and

outputting the commission amount associated with the first service provider and the commission amount associated with the second service provider.

16. A processor-readable medium comprising code representing instructions configured to cause a processor to:

send a service request to a first service provider;

send a service request to a second service provider, the second service provider being different from the first service provider;

receive information associated with a distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider being received in response to the service request sent to the first service provider;

receive information associated with a distance-sensitive communication link of the second service provider, the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the second service provider being received in response to the service request sent to the second service provider; and

output the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider and the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the second service provider.

17. The processor-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

calculate, at least partially based on the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, a price associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider.

18. The processor-readable medium of method of claim 16, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

calculate, at least partially based on the information associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, a price associated with the distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider, the code representing instructions to cause a processor to calculate being at least partially based on customer location information, the customer location information including coordinates of a ranging system, the code representing instructions to cause a processor to calculate including converting the customer location information from the coordinates of the ranging system to coordinates configured to measure a distance between points on an ellipsoidal surface.

19. The processor-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

determine a promotion associated with the first service provider, the code representing instructions to cause a processor to output being configured to cause a processor to output information associated with the promotion.

20. The processor-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

determine a promotion associated with the first service provider, the code representing instructions to cause a processor to output being configured to cause a processor to output a price at least partially based on the promotion.

21. The processor-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

receive a selection of a service plan associated with one of the first service provider and the second service provider.

22. The processor-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the code representing instructions to cause a processor to send a service request to the first service provider is configured to cause information to be dynamically retrieved from a remotely located database associated with the first service provider.

23. The processor-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the code representing instructions to cause a processor to send a service request to the first service provider is configured to cause information to be dynamically retrieved from a remotely located database associated with the first service provider, the code representing instructions to cause a processor to send a service request to the first service provider being configured to perform an operation on the retrieved information substantially simultaneously with the retrieval of the data.

24. A method, comprising:

receiving customer location information;

calculating a distance between a service point of a first service provider and a customer location associated with the customer location information; and

determining, substantially in real-time with the calculating, a price associated with the first service provider for the calculated distance.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

calculating a distance between a service point of a second service provider and the customer location associated with the customer location information;

determining, substantially in real-time with the calculating for the first service provider and the calculating for the second service provider, a price associated with the second service provider for the calculated distance associated with the second service provider; and

outputting the price associated with the first service provider and the price associated the second service provider.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the price associated with the first service provider is a price for a distance-sensitive communication link of the first service provider.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

converting the customer location information from coordinates of a ranging system to coordinates configured to measure a distance between points on an ellipsoidal surface.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

converting the customer location information from a latitude coordinate and a longitude coordinate to V/H coordinates.

29. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

determining a promotion associated with the first service provider; and

adjusting the determined price associated with the first service provider at least partially based on the determined promotion.