Consolidated billing in a wireless network

• US 7,392,035 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2001
• Issued: 06/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: LaBombard, Bruce M., Rahman, Mohamed Anisur
• Primary Examiner(s): RAMPURIA, SHARAD K
• Application Number:
  US09/842,899
• Publication Number:
  US 20020160748A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,615 Days
• Field of Search: 455/461, 4554141-4143, 455405-409, 4554321-433, 455/406, 37922108- 11, 37911405-11409, 379133-134, 37911428-11429, 379/121.06, 37920102-20103, 379/201.01, 370352-356, 370/259, 370/338, 709/226
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/46 Real-time negotiation between users and providers or operators
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/53 using mediation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/68 Payment of value-added services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/745 Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/7655 shared by technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/772 per service, e.g. prepay or post-pay
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/773 per technology, e.g. PSTN or wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8016 based on quality of service [QoS]
• 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 2215/0108 Customization according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. customer preferences, friends and family, selecting services or billing options, Personal Communication Systems [PCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0168 On line or real-time flexible customization or negotiation according to wishes of subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0172 Mediation, i.e. device or program to reformat CDRS from one or more switches in order to adapt to one or more billing programs formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0196 Payment of value-added services, mainly when their charges are added on the telephone bill, e.g. payment of non-telecom services, e-commerce, on-line banking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/22 Bandwidth or usage-sensitve billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/32 Involving wireless systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/56 : On line or real-time flexible agreements between service providers and telecoms operators
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/725 : Shared by technologies, e.g. one account for different access technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7263 : per service, e.g. prepay and post-pay
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7268 : per technology, e.g. PSTN or wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7414 : QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 : Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 : Accounting or billing
• 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

Consolidated billing in a wireless network is achieved by employing a processing node having storage capabilities for facilitating service creation and/or negotiation, and billing for those services in a wireless network, by associating user information and/or service information with network information. User information, service information, and network information, and their associated billing information, are provided periodically and dynamically into the storage. Using the processing node, user information and/or service information are associated with network information without having to access various network elements located throughout the network, to facilitate service creation and/or negotiation, and billing of services, to thus minimize network processing and network resources.

Claims

1. A system of billing in a user configurable wireless network, comprising:

a base station controller to establish and maintain communication between a wireless unit and the wireless network;

a home location register in operative communication with the base Station controller to support applications and services;

a service data node module in direct operative communication with the base station controller and the home location register to coordinate the applications and services supported by the home location register, the service data node module storing user information, service information, and network information, wherein the service data module associates the user information and the service information with the network information, and allows the user to implement service creation and service negotiation without service provider intervention, the service data node module including a database to store quality of services, a dynamic billing information processor in operative communication with the database, to determine actual use of a service on a call-by-call or session-by-session basis; and

a radius accounting server in operative communication with the dynamic billing information processor to correlate the determined actual use from the dynamic billing information processor; and

a billing manager in operative communication with the service data node module, to bill the user based on the user implemented service creation and service negotiation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the billing manager further comprises:

a billing mediator in operative connection with the service data node to receive and distribute data from the service data node;

a billing processor in operative connection with the billing mediator to process the data from the billing mediator;

a billing order manager in operative connection with the billing processor to manage the processed data from the billing processor; and

a customer information processor in operative connection with the billing order manager to process customer information.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the service data node module further comprises:

a service creation environment configured to store the service information and network information.

3. A method of billing in a wireless network communications system, the method comprising:

establishing a service data node module in the wireless network, the service data node storing user information, service information, and network information in a database;

associating the user information and the service information with the network information;

providing services into the service data node module;

determining actual use of a service on a call-by-call or session-by-session bases through a dynamic billing information processor in operative communication with the database; and

correlating the determined actual use through a radius accounting service in operative communication with the dynamic billing information process;

allowing a user to select a service by accessing the service data node module without service provider intervention; and

billing the user based on the selected service.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the billing is based on a wireless packet call of the selected service.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the billing is based on a quality of service of the selected service.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the billing is based on a profile change of the user.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the selected service comprises content push services.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the selected service comprises transaction based services.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the billing is performed on a call-by-call or session-by-session basis.