Telephone-linked commodity-billing method

• US 6,240,167 B1
• Filed: 01/19/1999
• Issued: 05/29/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Raymond Joseph Michaels
• Original Assignee: Raymond Joseph Michaels
• Inventors: Michaels, Raymond Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duc
• Assistant Examiner(s): Taylor, Barry W
• Application Number:
  US09/232,959
• Time in Patent Office: 861 Days
• Field of Search: 379/106.03-106.11, 379/114, 340/870.02, 340/870.01, 340/870.05, 324/142
• US Class Current: 379/106.03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/16 Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 15/00 Coin-freed apparatus with meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method for billing consumers of on-demand commodities consumed at a site remote from the site at which they are produced. It is modeled after certain contemporary telephone-company billing practices, though it is not limited to use with telephone companies. In one embodiment the method uses a telephone service provider to bill and collect for monies owed to the producer of the commodity for the amount of the full commodity units consumed during a billing period. In a simple embodiment of the method, commodity-consumption information is sent to the billing service by an automatically reading meter located at the point where the commodity is delivered for consumption. In particular, this commodity meter—such as an electric power meter—is designed to generate a discrete signal each time that a predetermined commodity-billing-unit has been consumed. Further in this particular embodiment, a coupling device for coupling the meter to the telephone line of the consumer is designed to receive this discrete signal and, each time that it does, to call a predetermined telephone number. The coupling device then disconnects the telephone connection immediately upon receiving verification of a telephone connection, without the transfer of any data. In that manner, the billing facility at the telephone is able to record that the particular customer identified by the number from which the call came had consumed one more billing-cost-unit of the commodity. This information is then utilized by the accounting computer at the telephone company to generate a line item or a billing section on the next telephone bill sent to that particular customer, a line item or a billing section corresponding to the cost of the commodity in question consumed by that customer during the billing period.

Claims

1. A method of automatic billing for consumption of a commodity provided on an on-demand basis by a commodity supplier to a user remote from said supplier, wherein a metering device is provided for measuring a consumption of said commodity and a coupling device is connected to said metering device, and wherein a connection to a billing service, using telecommunications services of a telephone service provider, is initiated by said coupling device, said method comprising the steps of:

a. defining a billing unit of a commodity and a billing value for said billing unit, wherein said billing unit is a quantity of commodity consumed;

b. defining a user telephone number that identifies a particular user;

c. defining a billing telephone number that represents said billing value that is applied to said billing unit for each instance a connection is made between said user telephone number and said billing telephone number;

d. monitoring a metering device for consumption of said billing unit of said commodity;

e. notifying a billing service of said consumption of one said billing unit of said commodity by establishing a connection between said user telephone number and said billing telephone number, wherein said telephone service provider sets a flag for each instance said connection is made; and

f. generating a user invoice for said consumption of said commodity by tallying each said flag to obtain an invoice tally that is equivalent to a total billing amount for all instances said connection was established.

2. The method of automatic billing of claim 1, said step of notifying said billing service further comprising the steps of:

a. sending a billing unit consumption signal upon consumption of one complete billing unit from said metering device to said coupling device;

b. making a connection between said user telephone number and said billing telephone number;

c. determining that said connection is successfully established between said user telephone number and said billing telephone number and then immediately breaking said connection, wherein a transfer of data other than said setting of said flag by said telephone service provider expressly does not take place before said connection is disconnected.

3. The method of automatic billing of claim 1, said step of generating said user invoice further comprising the steps of:

a. determining a billing period;

b. tallying each said flag set during said billing period to obtain said invoice tally for said billing period; and

c. generating an invoice for a commodity billing amount that includes at least said invoice tally for said billing period.

4. The method of automatic billing of claim 3, wherein said flag set for said connection between a particular user telephone number and a particular billing telephone number represents a particular monetary value, and wherein said commodity billing amount is determined by summing said flags to obtain said invoice tally, expressly without need of any conversion of said invoice tally from a quantity to a monetary value.

5. The method of automatic billing of claim 3, wherein said billing service is notified only when a complete billing unit is consumed.

6. The method of automatic billing of claim 1, wherein said step of determining said billing unit of said commodity includes:

a. determining a plurality of commodities to be included in said automatic billing method;

b. determining a specific billing unit for each one of said plurality of commodities;

c. associating a particular billing telephone number with each respective one of said specific billing units included in said plurality of commodities; and

d. providing a connection from each respective one of said metering devices of said plurality of commodities to said coupling device.

7. The method of automatic billing of claim 6, wherein said step of determining a specific billing unit includes determining differentiated uses for a particular commodity.

8. The method of automatic billing of claim 7, wherein said step of determining differentiated uses includes the steps of:

a. determining at least two time-of-day uses including a peak-time of consumption and an off-peak time of consumption;

b. associating identical billing units with each of said time-of-day uses;

c. associating a particular time-of-day billing value with each respective one of said time-of-day uses; and

d. associating a different billing telephone number with each respective one of said billing units for said at least two time-of-day uses of said particular commodity.

9. The method of automatic billing of claim 7, wherein said step of determining differentiated uses includes the steps of:

a. determining at least two time-of-day uses including a peak-time of consumption and an off-peak time of consumption;

b. defining a different billing unit for each one of said at least two time-of-day uses; and

c. associating an identical billing value with each said billing unit of said respective time-of-day uses; and

d. associating a single billing telephone number with each one of said billing units for said at least two time-of-day uses of said particular commodity.

10. The method of automatic billing of claim 7, wherein said step of determining differentiated uses includes the steps of:

a. determining at least two time-of-day uses including a peak-time of consumption and an off-peak time of consumption;

b. associating an identical billing unit with each one of said at least two time-of-day uses;

c. recording said time-of-day by said telephone service provider for each instance of said connection between said user telephone number and said billing telephone number, along with said flag; and

d. defining said identical billing unit sufficiently small such that said connection between said user telephone number and said billing telephone number is initiated frequently enough to provide sufficiently accurate time-of-day information to said billing service.

11. The method of automatic billing of claim 6, wherein said step c includes providing a plurality of coupling devices, one for each respective one of said metering devices, and wherein said step d includes providing a connection from each one of said respective metering devices to a respective one of said plurality of coupling devices.

12. The method of automatic billing of claim 3, wherein a telephone service provider provides an invoice for telephone services to said user, and wherein said step of generating said user invoice includes the step of including said commodity billing amount on said invoice for telephone services provided by said telephone service provider.

13. The method of automatic billing of claim 3, wherein said step of generating said user invoice includes forwarding said commodity billing amount from said telephone service provider that provides telephone services to said user to said commodity provider, wherein said commodity provider generates said user invoice.

14. The method of automatic billing of claim 1, wherein said commodity is electric energy, said metering device is an automatically reading electric power meter, and wherein said unit consumption signal is a discrete signal emitted by said meter each time said billing unit of electric energy has been consumed.

15. The method of automatic billing of claim 14, wherein a monetary value is associated with said consumption of said electric energy and said unit consumption signal is sent to said coupling device each time that a predetermined billing unit value of said electric energy has been consumed.

16. The method of automatic billing of claim 8, wherein said step of determining at least two time-of-day uses includes providing a metering device that has multiple recording means.

17. The method of automatic billing of claim 16, wherein said multiple recording means includes recording consumption associated with a time-of-day consumption that differentiates between at least two consumption billing rates for two respective billing units, a Peak-Time consumption billing rate for consumption of a Peak-Time billing unit and an Off-Peak-Time consumption billing rate for consumption of an Off-Peak-Time billing unit, wherein a Peak-Time consumption is recorded in a first recording means and an Off-Peak Time consumption is recorded in a second recording means, said step of determining a billing unit of said commodity including determining a first monetary value for a Peak Time billing unit and a second monetary value for an Off-Peak Time billing unit, and wherein said step of notifying said billing service includes sending respectively a first unit consumption signal to said coupling device upon consumption of said Peak-Time billing unit and a second unit consumption signal to said coupling device upon consumption of said Off-Peak-Time billing unit.

18. The method of automatic billing of claim 16, wherein a first billing telephone number is allocated to said Peak-Time billing unit and a second billing telephone number is allocated to said Off-Peak-Time billing unit, and said telephone connection with said first billing telephone number notifies said billing service of consumption of one billing unit of said commodity at a Peak-Time billing rate and said telephone connection with said second billing telephone number notifies said billing service of consumption of one billing unit of said commodity at an Off-Peak-Time billing rate.

19. The method of automatic billing of claim 17, wherein said billing unit is 100kWh.

20. The method of automatic billing of claim 19, wherein said billing unit is determined by a billing rate per 100 kWh of consumption.

21. The method of automatic billing of claim 1, wherein said coupling device connected to said metering device is a first coupling device connected between said metering device and said user telephone line and wherein a second coupling device is connected between said supplier and said metering device, and said supplier has access to said second coupling device via a supplier telephone line, wherein said method includes the step of said supplier adjusting said billing rate by controlling said second coupling device via said supplier telephone line.

22. The method of automatic billing of claim 1, wherein said connection is a telephone connection and wherein each time said metering device generates said unit consumption signal, said coupling device initiates a telephone call between said user telephone number and said billing telephone number.