Pooling groups of wireless communication users

• US 20060014519A1
• Filed: 06/08/2005
• Published: 01/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tangoe US, Inc. (Asentinel Holdings LP)
• Original Assignee: Tangoe Incorporated
• Inventors: Marsh, William, Dutton, James, Langworthy, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,664,484 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• 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 15/42 Dynamic individual rates per user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/49 Connection to several service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• 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 2215/0104 Augmented, consolidated or itemised billing statement, e.g. additional billing information, bill presentation, layout, format, e-mail, fax, printout, itemised bill per service or per account, cumulative billing, consolidated billing
• 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 2215/0152 General billing plans, rate plans, e.g. charge rates, numbering plans, rate centers, customer accounts
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/32 Involving wireless systems
• 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 2215/745 : Least cost routing, e.g. Automatic or manual, call by call or by preselection

Abstract

Systems and methods for pooling a plurality of telecommunication users into groups is disclosed. One method includes ranking the telecommunication users in an order based on a usage parameter. The usage parameter, for example, may be the average service usage time per billing period. Once ranked, the telecommunication users are pooled into at least two groups, each group comprising at least one telecommunication user within a range of ranks. The method may further include calculating estimated costs for the users to use cost-effective rate plans selected from a group of available rate plans and re-pooling the users into other possible combinations to determine the most cost-effective pooling combination and respective rate plans.

Claims

1. A method for pooling telecommunication users to reduce telecommunication service costs, the method comprising:

ranking a plurality of telecommunication users in an order based on service time usage per month;

pooling the telecommunication users into first and second groups such that the first group includes the highest ranked telecommunication user and the second group includes the remaining telecommunication users;

averaging the service time usage for the telecommunication users in each group to obtain a service time usage average for each group;

selecting, for each group, a cost-effective rate plan from a number of available rate plans, the cost-effective rate plan selected on the basis of the service time usage average;

applying the service time usage average to the selected rate plan for each telecommunication user in the respective group to obtain an estimated cost for each telecommunication user;

mathematically combining the estimated costs for each telecommunication user to obtain a total estimated cost;

moving the highest ranked telecommunication user in the second group to the first group;

repeating the averaging, selecting, applying, combining, and moving until only one telecommunication user remains in the second group; and

determining one or more of the most cost-effective pooling combinations and corresponding rate plans based on the respective total estimated costs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein pooling the telecommunication users further comprises pooling the telecommunication users into three or more groups.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein pooling the telecommunication users further comprises pooling the telecommunication users into a number of groups not more than the number of available rate plans.

4. A method for pooling telecommunication users into groups, the method comprising:

ranking a plurality of telecommunication users in an order based on a usage parameter; and

pooling telecommunication users into at least two groups, wherein each group comprises at least one telecommunication user within a range of ranks based on the usage parameter.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising calculating a total estimated cost for the telecommunication users within each group to use a cost-effective rate plan selected from a group of available rate plans.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein calculating the total estimated cost further comprises:

averaging the usage parameter for the telecommunication users within each group;

selecting a cost-effective rate plan from a plurality of available rate plans based on the usage parameter averages for each group;

applying the respective usage parameter averages to the respective selected rate plans for each user within each group; and

calculating a total estimated cost for the plurality of telecommunication users.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

re-pooling the telecommunication users into other possible pooling combinations and calculating the respective total estimated costs for the telecommunication users within each re-pooled group to use a cost-effective rate plan; and

determining the most cost-effective pooling combination and respective rate plans.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein re-pooling further comprises re-pooling the telecommunication users into a same number of groups, whereby each re-pooled group comprises at least one telecommunication user and further comprises a different range of ranks.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

averaging the usage parameter for the telecommunication users within each re-pooled group;

selecting a cost-effective rate plan from the plurality of available rate plans based on the usage parameter averages for each re-pooled group; and

calculating an estimated cost for the plurality of telecommunication users based on the respective usage parameter averages for the respective re-pooled group.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

repeating the re-pooling, averaging, selecting, and calculating for each possible range of ranks; and

determining the most cost-effective pooling combination and respective rate plans based on the estimated costs.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein ranking further comprises:

receiving a plurality of call detail records representing telecommunication service usage by the plurality of telecommunication users during a predetermined period;

calculating a calling profile record for each telecommunication user based on the call detail records; and

determining the usage parameter from the calling profile records.

12. The method of claim 4, wherein the usage parameter is the average number of minutes of telecommunication service used by a telecommunication user during one billing period.

13. The method of claim 4, wherein the usage parameter is a parameter related to wireless telecommunication service.

14. A system comprising:

means for ranking a plurality of telecommunication users in an order based on a telecommunication service usage parameter; and

means for pooling the telecommunication users into a plurality of groups, each group comprising at least one telecommunication user having a rank based on the telecommunication service usage parameter within a defined range.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

means for re-pooling the telecommunication users to determine the most cost-effective pooling combination with respect to a plurality of available rate plans.

16. A computer program stored on a computer readable medium, the computer program comprising:

logic configured to pool a plurality of telecommunication users into at least two groups, each group comprising at least one telecommunication user having a usage parameter within a defined range; and

logic configured to determine the most cost-effective rate plans based on the pooling of telecommunication users.

17. The computer program of claim 16, wherein the logic configured to pool is further configured to optimize a pooling combination with respect to a plurality of available rate plans for reducing telecommunication service costs.

18. The computer program of claim 16, wherein the logic configured to determine further comprises:

logic configured to average the usage parameter for the telecommunication users in each group to obtain a usage parameter average for each group;

logic configured to select a cost-effective rate plan for each group on the basis of the usage parameter average;

logic configured to apply the usage parameter average to the selected rate plan for each telecommunication user in each respective group; and

logic configured to calculate a total estimated cost for the plurality of telecommunication users.

19. The computer program of claim 18, further comprising logic configured to re-pool the telecommunication users to obtain the pooling combination with a relatively low total estimated cost.

20. The computer program of claim 16, wherein the usage parameter is defined as the service time usage per billing period.