System and method for providing expense reports to wireless service subscribers

• US 6,321,078 B1
• Filed: 06/16/1999
• Issued: 11/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Seckendorf, Paul M., Sprigg, Steve, Menelli, Ronald J.
• Primary Examiner(s): TO, DORIS HA
• Application Number:
  US09/334,586
• Time in Patent Office: 888 Days
• Field of Search: 455/405, 455/406, 455/407, 455/408, 455/409, 455/575, 455/566, 455/550, 455/418, 379/111, 379/112, 379/114
• US Class Current: 455/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications

Abstract

A system for providing immediate access to detailed information about a wireless call. The system includes a first mechanism for placing a wireless call. A second mechanism times the call to provide a call duration value. A third mechanism computes the detailed information from the call duration value and a predetermined value associated with the call. A fourth mechanism displays the detailed information. In a specific embodiment, the predetermine value is a billing rate associated with the call and the detailed information is expense information. The third mechanism includes a computer that runs software for computing the detailed information from the call duration value and the billing rate. The software includes a routine that detects when the wireless phone is being used for a call and times the call. The software also includes a mechanism for providing user-selectable parameters for controlling the third mechanism.

The user-selectable parameters include a first parameter that indicates use of one or more address book categories or lack thereof. The address book categories each indicate one or more calls to be tracked by the system. The user-selectable parameters further include a category for association with newly provided detailed call information, a per-minute billing rate corresponding to the predetermined value, and a type of currency to be used by the third mechanism for computing expense information. The software generates an expense report listing the detailed information in response to the receipt of the user selectable parameters and any other received call identifiers. In the illustrative embodiment, the fourth mechanism includes mechanism for displaying the detailed information in approximately real-time and includes a mechanism for automatically displaying or storing the detailed information upon completion of the call.

Claims

1. In a wireless device, a method of selectively tracking and recording charges incurred by a user of the wireless device, comprising:

identifying when the wireless device is involved in a call;

identifying a user-defined category associated with the call;

calculating current call cost as a function of call duration;

displaying, on the basis of user-selectable features, at least the current call cost while call is in progress;

identifying when the call is ended;

recording final call cost in an expense database record corresponding to the user-defined category;

adding the final call cost to a previous final cost value associated with the category to generate an updated value; and

displaying, at user request and as a function of the associated user-defined category, the updated value to facilitate tracking and displaying charges for the user-defined category.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising uploading from the wireless device at least a portion of the expense database for access by another device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-selectable features includes type of currency.