BILLING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CHARGING USERS FOR UTILIZATION OF SHARED RESOURCE
First Claim
1. A billing system comprising, a data acquisition section that acquires data representing a resource utilization rate;
- a first calculation section that calculates a utilization rate difference between the acquired resource utilization rate and a reference resource utilization rate; and
a second calculation section that substitutes said utilization rate difference for the argument of a predetermined math function to produce an adjustment payment.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a billing system that charges resource users for the utilization of a shared resource. The billing system acquires data representing a resource utilization rate at intervals, calculates a utilization rate difference between the acquired resource utilization rate and a reference (average) resource utilization rate, and substitutes the utilization rate difference for the argument of a predetermined math function, such as linear function, to produce a collective adjustment payment (surcharge or discount). Individual adjustment payments are obtained from the collective adjustment payment respectively for resource users.
26 Citations
41 Claims
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1. A billing system comprising,
a data acquisition section that acquires data representing a resource utilization rate; -
a first calculation section that calculates a utilization rate difference between the acquired resource utilization rate and a reference resource utilization rate; and
a second calculation section that substitutes said utilization rate difference for the argument of a predetermined math function to produce an adjustment payment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A billing system comprising;
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a resource utilization rate data acquisition section that acquires a record of data representing resource utilization rates obtained over a period of time;
a first calculation section that calculates an average value of resource utilization rates of said acquired record to produce a reference resource utilization rate;
a second calculation section that calculates a utilization rate difference between each of said acquired resource utilization rates and said reference resource utilization rate; and
a third calculation section that substitutes said utilization rate difference for the argument of a predetermined math function to produce an adjustment payment. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of billing comprising:
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acquiring data representing a resource utilization rate;
calculating a utilization rate difference between the acquired resource utilization rate and a reference resource utilization rate; and
substituting said utilization rate difference for the argument of a predetermined math function to produce an adjustment payment. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of billing comprising the steps of;
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a) acquiring a record of data representing a plurality of resource utilization rates obtained at predetermined intervals over time;
b) calculating an average value of said acquired resource utilization rates to produce a reference resource utilization rate;
c) calculating utilization rate differences between said acquired resource utilization rates and said reference resource utilization rate; and
d) substituting each of said utilization rate differences for the argument of a predetermined math function to produce an adjustment payment. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A computer-readable storage medium that stores a billing program comprising the instructions of:
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acquiring data representing a resource utilization rate;
calculating a utilization rate difference between the acquired resource utilization rate and a reference resource utilization rate; and
substituting said utilization rate difference for the argument of a predetermined math function to produce an adjustment payment.
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41. A computer-readable storage medium that stores a billing program comprising the instructions of:
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a) acquiring a record of data representing resource utilization rates obtained over a period of time;
b) calculating an average value of resource utilization rates of said acquired data to produce a reference resource utilization rate;
c) calculating a utilization rate difference between each of said acquired resource utilization rates and said reference resource utilization rate; and
d) substituting the utilization rate difference for the argument of a predetermined math function to produce an adjustment payment.
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Specification