Multiple access internet portal revenue sharing

• US 7,127,232 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2003
• Issued: 10/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: O'Neil, Douglas R., Rivera, Jose F.
• Primary Examiner(s): TIEU, BINH KIEN
• Application Number:
  US10/431,828
• Publication Number:
  US 20040224662A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,265 Days
• Field of Search: 455405-408, 455/414.1, 455/414.3, 455/414.4, 379/111, 379/114.01, 379/114.2, 379/121.01, 705 39- 40, 705 52- 53
• US Class Current: 455/408
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• 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: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0104 Augmented, consolidated or itemised billing statement, e.g. additional billing information, bill presentation, layout, format, e-mail, fax, printout, itemised bill per service or per account, cumulative billing, consolidated billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/22 Bandwidth or usage-sensitve billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/32 Involving wireless systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

Multiple access internet portal billing systems are provided. A representative system, among others, includes a communication facility, a wireless internet server, and a transaction billing system. The communication facility includes a billing platform, and is operable to connect to a plurality of wireless device platforms through a mobile network, and to connect to the wireless internet server. The wireless internet server provides internet access to the wireless devices and communicate at least one billing information record including a usage time to a transaction billing system. The transaction billing system receives the billing information record from the wireless internet server, formats the billing information record, and communicates the formatted record to the communication facility billing platform. Methods and other systems for multiple access internet portals are also provided.

Claims

1. A multiple access internet portal billing system comprising:

a communication facility comprising at least one billing platform, wherein the communication facility is operable to connect to a plurality of wireless devices on different platforms through a mobile network;

a wireless internet server operable to provide internet access to the plurality of wireless devices and communicate at least one billing information record including a usage time; and

a transaction billing system operable to receive said at least one billing information record from the wireless internet server, format the billing information record, and communicate the formatted record to said at least one billing platform, the at least one billing platform being operable to bill at least one customer of a wireless carrier for usage of the wireless internet server, wherein the transaction billing system is further operable to generate billing reports for a wireless carrier and a content provider and the wireless carrier shares revenue collected through said at least one billing platform with the content provider according to usage of content provided by the content provider.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of devices comprises at least one of a wireless access protocol enabled phone, a short message service enabled phone, an analog phone, and a computer with high speed wireless internet access.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one billing platform comprises a pre-paid billing platform.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one billing platform comprises a post-paid billing platform.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said at least one billing platform further comprises a pre-paid billing platform.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein transaction billing system is further operable to provide a content provider with the formatted billing information record.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the communication facility further comprises an interactive voice response unit, and a customer can call the communication facility interactive voice response unit to provision an account associated with the customer to allow access to the wireless internet server and authorize billing for usage of the server.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless internet server is accessed via a mobile network of the wireless carrier and the at least one billing platform is further operable to bill the at least one customer of a wireless carrier for time spent on the mobile network of the wireless carrier, the wireless carrier receiving proceeds of mobile network billing in addition to the revenue shared with the content provider.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication facility is not co-located with the mobile network.

10. A usage based system for a multiple access portal, comprising:

a wireless internet server operable to provide a plurality of internet applications from a content provider to a plurality of users through a telephone interface, the wireless internet server being further operable to provide identification and usage information to a transaction billing system; and

the transaction billing system operable to receive the identification and usage information from the wireless internet server, and format the identification and usage information into a transaction record compatible with an existing carrier billing platform, wherein the transaction billing system is further operable to transmit the transaction record to the existing carrier billing platform and the transaction billing system is configured to charge a customer of the existing carrier differently based upon a type of content accessed through the wireless internet server.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the transaction billing system is further operable to store billing rules to apply to each of the plurality of users.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the transaction billing system is further operable to apply the billing rules in generating the transaction record compatible with the existing carrier billing platform.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the transaction billing system is further operable to generate reports for a wireless carrier and a content provider.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the wireless internet server is operable to route a text message to a short message service center at the communication facility.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the wireless internet server is operable to route a wireless access protocol packet to a wireless access protocol gateway at the communication facility.

16. A method of billing clients for use of a service, the method comprising:

providing a server operable to transfer internet data to a mobile user;

tracking a time period associated with the usage of the server by the mobile user;

formatting a transaction record associated with the mobile user including the time period;

sending the transaction record to a billing platform;

billing the mobile user for use of the server; and

sharing the revenue generated from billing the mobile user for use of the server with a content provider, wherein a wireless carrier receives a higher percentage of proceeds from the revenue than the content provider receives.

17. The method of claim 16, the method further comprising:

generating at least one usage report based upon usage by a mobile user.

18. The method of claim 17, the method further comprising:

transferring said at least one usage report to a content provider.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the mobile user is using a telephone to receive the internet data.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the telephone is cellular and enabled to receive a short message service.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the cellular telephone is cellular and enabled to receive a wireless access protocol.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the cellular telephone is cellular and an analog mobile phone.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the mobile user is using a high speed wireless internet connection through a computer to receiver the internet data.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of:

billing the mobile user for time spent on a mobile network, wherein the server is accessed via the mobile network, wherein a provider of the mobile network receives proceeds of mobile network billing in addition to the revenue shared with the content provider.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein the billing platform is not co-located with a mobile network of the wireless carrier.