Wireless subscriber billing and distribution

• US 20060270386A1
• Filed: 05/31/2005
• Published: 11/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Prast, Sandra L., Nguyen, Phil Tien, Horel, Gerald Charles, Oliver, Mitchell B., Patwari, Jaiteerth, Yu, Julie
• Granted Patent: US 9,350,875 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• 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 15/68 Payment of value-added services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/00 Prepayment of wireline communication systems, wireless communication systems or telephone systems using a coded card to authorise calls from a telephone set H04M1/675
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0196 Payment of value-added services, mainly when their charges are added on the telephone bill, e.g. payment of non-telecom services, e-commerce, on-line banking
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

Systems and methods for generating and responding to billing requests in a wireless subscriber billing system are disclosed. A billing request can be generated at a trusted service. The billing request including billing information is communicated to a wireless subscriber billing system. A validation response to the billing request is generated in the wireless subscriber billing system and the validation response is communicated to the trusted service.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating a billing request at a trusted service;

communicating the billing request including billing information to a wireless subscriber billing system;

generating a validation response to the billing request in the wireless subscriber billing system; and

communicating the validation response to the trusted service.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

authenticating the trusted service prior to processing the billing request.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

digitally signing the billing request at the trusted service prior to transmitting the billing request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the billing information comprises at least one of subscriber ID, provider payee, item ID, retail price, and billing description.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

returning an error code in response to the billing request being invalid.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing the validation response at the trusted service.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding an item associated with the billing request from a main catalog to a group directed to a subscriber ID (SID-directed group) associated with the billing request.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

delivering the item from the SID-directed group.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

associating information in a delivery table with the item in the SID-directed group.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

generating transaction data upon the delivery of the item using the information in delivery table; and

generating a billing event based on the transaction data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information in the delivery table includes a zero value retail price for the item and wherein the transaction data and billing event each include a zero value retail price for the item.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

recording a delivered state in the delivery table indicating a delivery of the item.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

preventing further downloads when the information in the delivery table associated with the item in the SID-directed group is set to the delivered state.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

including a tracking ID with the billing request;

generating first transaction data including the tracking ID based on the billing request; and

processing the first transaction data.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein processing the first transaction data further comprises:

generating a subscriber bill;

distributing payment to a provider; and

transmitting reporting data based on the first transaction data to at least one of an operator and the provider.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein processing further comprises:

storing the tracking ID with the transaction data.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

adding an item from the main catalog to a subscriber ID directed (SID-directed) group associated with a client device; and

associating the tracking ID to the item in the SID-directed group.

18. The method claim 17, further comprising:

delivering the item and the tracking ID from the SID-directed group.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

generating second transaction data on the delivery of the item including the tracking ID; and

processing the second transaction data.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein processing the second transaction data further comprises:

preventing billing a subscriber when processing the first transaction data includes generating a subscriber bill.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a service value billing (SVB) module in a wireless subscriber billing system configured to receive a billing request from a trusted service and to authenticate the trusted service; and

validation logic configured to generate a validation response in response to the billing request.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising:

a transaction manager (TXN) configured to receive transaction data related to the billing request and generate a billing event;

a client billing module configured to receive the billing event from the transaction manager and generate a bill; and

a settlement module configured to receive the billing event from the transaction manager, to invoice a carrier, and to pay a provider.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the TXN associates additional billing information with the billing request to generate the billing event.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the trusted service is configured to generate the billing request.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the trusted service is configured to digitally sign the billing request.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the billing request comprises at least one of subscriber ID, provider payee, item ID, retail price, and billing description.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising:

logic configured to add an item associated with the billing request from a main catalog to a group directed to a subscriber ID (SID-directed group) associated with the billing request.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising:

a delivery table including information associated with the item in the SID-directed group.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the information in the delivery table includes a zero value retail price for the item.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising:

logic configured to record the delivery of the item in the delivery table; and

logic configured to prevent further downloads when the information in the delivery table associated with the item in the SID-directed group is set to the delivered state.

31. A system comprising:

means for receiving a billing request including billing information from a trusted service at a wireless subscriber billing system;

means for generating a validation response to the billing request in the wireless subscriber billing system; and

means for communicating the validation response to the trusted service.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

means for authenticating the trusted service prior to processing the billing request.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the billing information comprises at least one of subscriber ID, provider payee, item ID, retail price, and billing description.

34. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

means for adding an item associated with the billing request from a main catalog to a subscriber ID (SID) directed group.

35. The system of claim 34, further comprising:

means for delivering the item from the SID-directed group; and

means for associating information in a delivery table with the item in the SID-directed group.

36. The system of claim 35, further comprising:

means for generating transaction data upon delivery of the item using the information in delivery table; and

means for generating a billing event based on the transaction data.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein the information in the delivery table includes a zero value retail price for the item and wherein the transaction data and billing event each include a zero value retail price for the item.

38. The system of claim 37, further comprising:

means for recording a delivered state in the delivery table indicating a delivery of the item; and

means for preventing further downloads when the information in the delivery table associated with the item in the SID-directed group is set to the delivered state.

39. A computer-readable medium on which is stored a computer program for processing billing requests in a wireless subscriber billing system, the computer program comprising instructions which, upon being executed, causes the computing device to perform a process of:

receiving a billing request from a trusted service, wherein the billing request billing information to the wireless subscriber billing system;

generating a validation response to the billing request in the wireless subscriber billing system; and

communicating the validation response to the trusted service.

40. The computer-readable medium further comprising instructions which, upon being executed, causes the computing device to perform a process of:

adding an item associated with the billing request from a main catalog to a group directed to a subscriber ID (SID-directed group) associated with the billing request.

41. A method of processing multi-party billing events in a wireless subscriber billing system, the method comprising:

generating a billing event including a provider fee and payee, and at least one source fee and payee associated with a transaction; and

processing the transaction to distribute payment to the provider payee and the at least one source payee.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the provider fee is greater than or equal to the at least one source fee.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

transmitting transaction reporting data to at least one of the provider payee and the at least one source payee.

44. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

generating a subscriber bill based on a retail price for an item provided, wherein the retail price is greater than or equal to the provider fee.

45. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

storing transaction data;

accessing the stored transaction data;

generating an adjustment transaction that contains a negative provider fee and at least one negative source fee based on the stored transaction data; and

processing the adjustment transaction to debit the provider payee and the at least one source payee based on the negative provider fee and the at least one negative source fee.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

determining the negative provider fee and the at least one negative source fee based on a proportional basis and the stored transaction data related to the payment of the provider payee and the at least one source payee.

47. The method of claim 46, further comprising:

generating a subscriber credit based on the adjustment proportion and a retail price for the item.

48. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

storing the adjustment transaction.

49. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

transmitting adjustment transaction reporting data to at least one of the provider payee and the at least one source payee.