System and method for providing wireless communications services

• US 20070167150A1
• Filed: 12/07/2006
• Published: 07/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Cricket Communications Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hutcheson, S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,454,193 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/405
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8033 location-dependent, e.g. business or home
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/00 Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A method for providing wireless communications services including setting a given rate associated with a given period of time for the wireless communications services in a service area for at least one subscriber. Unlimited use of the wireless communications are enabled for the at least one subscriber within the service area for the period of time upon receipt of a corresponding payment of the given rate. The service area substantially coincides with a modeled geographic area indicative of anticipated participation of the at least one subscriber in at least one selected from the group consisting of living, working, playing, shopping and travelling, and system for implementing same.

Claims

1. A method for providing flat-fee wireless communications services, said method comprising:

setting a given rate associated with a given period of time for said wireless communications services in a service area for at least one subscriber; and

, enabling, for said at least one subscriber, unlimited use of said wireless communications services within said service area for said period of time upon receipt of a corresponding payment of said given rate;

wherein said service area substantially coincides with a modeled geographic area indicative of anticipated participation of the at least one subscriber in at least one selected from the group consisting of living, working, playing, shopping and travelling.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one subscriber comprises a plurality of subscribers.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of land-line local calling areas corresponding to at least a portion of said service area; and

,

defining a wireless local calling area corresponding to said service area so as to include at least a portion of said identified land-line local calling areas.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said wireless communications services are substantially limited to within said service area.

5. A method for providing wireless communications services to a plurality of users using a corresponding plurality of mobile communications devices within a geographic area, said method comprising:

modeling a demand for said wireless communications devices for a territory using localized data, including demographic data, indicative of at least a portion of said users; and

,

defining said geographic area based upon said modeled demand.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said modeling comprises estimating a percentage of prospective subscribers that, within a given time segment, will be at a place selected from the group consisting of living, working and playing locations.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said modeling further comprises estimating a percentage of said user'"'"'s locations within a given time segment.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said modeling further comprises determining a possible covered population.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein said modeling comprises using census block data.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein said modeling further comprises researching at least one of:

housing developments in the service area, access points to transportation avenues, employers in the service area, traffic patterns and expected traffic volumes, recreational areas, and locations of existing cell sites.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said research includes using at least one of:

at least one record at a Chamber of Commerce, at least one telephone book, at least one economic development center, at least one newspaper, at least one department of transportation and at least one education institution.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein said modeling comprises using demographic data indicative of distinguishable anticipated user groups.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said user groups includes at least one group selected from the group consisting of:

teenagers, students, secondary wage earners, blue collar workers, vector based vehicular traffic counts and hot spot locations.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said hotspot locations include at least one location selected from the group consisting of:

a mall, convention center, sporting venue, transportation center or recreational facility.

15. The method of claim 5, wherein said modeling comprises using digital elevation maps, “

night light”

maps, cluster maps, topographic maps, road maps or political boundary maps.

16. A method for providing wireless communications services to a plurality of users using a corresponding plurality of mobile communications devices within a predetermined geographic area, said method comprising:

setting a given price;

in response to receiving a payment of said given price corresponding to one of said mobile communications devices, enabling unlimited use of said corresponding one of said mobile communications devices substantially only within said predetermined geographic area for a given temporal period;

wherein at least a portion of costs associated with said providing said wireless communications services are substantially mitigated as the plurality of users are motivated to originate and receive wireless communications based at least in part upon said given price and said unlimited use.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said wireless communications services consist of services within the geographic area.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said wireless communications services are not available outside of said geographic area using one of the plurality of mobile communications devices.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein said wireless communications services consist of local calling.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein said wireless communications services comprise local calling.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein said wireless communications services further comprise at least one additional service selected from the group consisting of:

voice mail services, and pre-paid long distance services.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said pre-paid long distance services are provided using voice-over-IP communications.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising defining additional geographic areas of services, and enabling said wireless communications services in at least one other of said additional geographic areas.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said wireless communications services are substantially not available outside of said geographic area and at least one other geographic area.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein said wireless communications services are provided via transceivers each having a link budget designed primarily based upon system capacity.

26. The method of claim 16, wherein said temporal period is recurring.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising, for a subsequent one of said recurring temporal periods, if said payment is not received, disabling unlimited use of said corresponding one of said mobile communications devices in said predetermined geographic area.

28. The method of claim 16, wherein said costs are increasingly mitigated as said originating wireless communications increase as compared to said incoming wireless communications.

29. The method of claim 16, wherein said costs comprise at least one interconnect charge.

30. The method of claim 16, wherein said mobile communications devices are CDMA compatible.

31. The method of claim 16, wherein said mobile communications use a multiple access system.

32. A method for providing wireless communications services to a plurality of users using a corresponding plurality of mobile communications devices within a geographic area, said method comprising:

determining a predicted demand for said wireless communications devices for a territory in accordance with a plurality of localized data, wherein the plurality of localized data includes demographic data; and

,

defining said geographic area based upon said predicted demand.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein each of said regions corresponding to said defined geographic area include a number of potential users greater than a given threshold.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein said given threshold is about 10,000.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein said demographic data includes commercially available data.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein said demographic data is associated with at least one Ranally Trade Area.

37. The method of claim 32, further comprising dividing said defined geographic area into a plurality of service sectors, each sector defined so as to service at least about 10,000 users.

38. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

providing a plurality of cell sites positioned with respect to said geographic areas to service said geographic area;

determining a relative usage of at least two of said cell sites relative to at least one another; and

,

load balancing said at least two cell sites based upon said determining.

39. The method of claim 32, further comprising defining a local calling area including at least said geographic area.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

identifying at least one region outside of said geographic area; and

,

determining at least one cost associated with interconnecting to said at least one region outside of said geographic area;

wherein, if said at least one cost is below a given threshold, said at least one region outside of said geographic area is included in said local calling area.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein:

said geographic region is divided into at least two local exchanges each having an associated plurality of local calling exchanges; and

,

said local calling area further comprises said pluralities of local calling exchanges.

42. The method of claim 32, further comprising defining multiple ones of said geographic area, wherein said geographic areas are substantially geographically isolated from one another.

43. A method for providing wireless communications services to a plurality of users using a corresponding plurality of mobile communications devices within a geographic area, said method comprising:

monitoring for blockings of service; and

,

upon receipt of an output of said monitoring that said monitored blockings exceed a given threshold for a given temporal period, automatically increasing an acceptable Forward Error Rate to at least approximately 2%.

44. The method of claim 52, further comprising increasing said acceptable Forward Error Rate to at least approximately 3.

45. A method for providing wireless communications services to a plurality of users using a corresponding plurality of mobile communications devices within a geographic area, said method comprising:

identifying select ones of said plurality of users responsible for a given portion of overall wireless communications services provided within the geographic area; and

,

upgrading ones of said mobile communications devices associated with said identified select users.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein said upgrading comprises replacing said ones of said mobile communications devices and terminating services to said replaced ones of said mobile communications devices.

47. A method for providing wireless communications services to a plurality of users using a corresponding plurality of mobile communications devices within a geographic area, said method comprising bundling, in a common package, at least one mobile communications device, wherein said at least one mobile communications device includes thereon free local ones of said wireless communications services within the geographic area for a given temporal period commencing substantially contemporaneously with a registration of said at least one mobile communications device.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

setting a given price; and

,

in response to receiving a payment of said given price corresponding to one of said mobile communications devices, enabling unlimited use of said corresponding one of said mobile communications devices in said predetermined geographic area for a successive given temporal period;

wherein at least one cost associated with said providing said wireless communications services is substantially mitigated as users are motivated to originate and receive wireless communications based at least in part upon said given price and said unlimited use limited to within the geographic area.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

determining a predicted demand for said wireless communications devices using a localized demand model, wherein the localized demand model includes demographic data, and,

defining said geographic area based upon said predicted demand.

50. A system for providing wireless communications services to a plurality of users using a corresponding plurality of mobile communications devices within a geographically limited service area, said system comprising:

a plurality of cell sites positioned within said service area so as to transmit and receive RF signals indicative of said wireless communications within said service area;

wherein, said service area substantially coincides with a modeled geographic area indicative of anticipated participation of the at least one subscriber in at least one selected from the group consisting of living, working, playing, shopping and travelling.