Systems and methods for prerating costs for a communication event
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method, comprising:
- identifying a monetary account balance associated with a request for a communications event,associating a rate plan with the request, the rate plan being associated with at least two predetermined connection rates, each of the at least two connection rates defining the respective relationship between services provided by a communications service provider and the fees retained by the communications service provider in exchange therefor,computing a rate schedule based on the rate plan, anddetermining a maximum allowable duration of the communications event by comparing the rate schedule to the monetary account balance.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for preparing communication events, such as telephone calls, for prepaying customers are described. The systems and methods permit, at the beginning of a communication event, the determination of a time limit for the event based on the available balance in a prepayment account associated with the event.
333 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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identifying a monetary account balance associated with a request for a communications event, associating a rate plan with the request, the rate plan being associated with at least two predetermined connection rates, each of the at least two connection rates defining the respective relationship between services provided by a communications service provider and the fees retained by the communications service provider in exchange therefor, computing a rate schedule based on the rate plan, and determining a maximum allowable duration of the communications event by comparing the rate schedule to the monetary account balance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system, comprising:
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at least one communications interface to receive information representative of a request to initiate a communications event, at least one database to store; information representative of rate plans for a plurality of communications service providers, each rate plan associated with at least two predetermined connection rates, each of the at least two connection rates defining the respective relationship between services provided by a communications service provider and the fees retained by the communications service provider in exchange therefor, and information associated with a plurality of accounts, and at least one processor coupled to the at least one database and the at least one communications interface, to identify a monetary account balance associated with the request, to associate a rate plan with the request, to compute a rate schedule based on the at least two connection rates from the associated rate plan, and to compare the rate schedule to the monetary account balance to determine a maximum allowable duration for which an accrued cost of the communications event is approximately equal to the monetary account balance. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method, comprising:
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storing information representative of rate plans for at least two communications service providers, each of the rate plans having at least two predetermined connection rates, each of the at least two connection rates defining the respective relationship between services provided by a communications service provider and the fees retained by the communications service provider in exchange there for, storing information associated with at least two user accounts including a respective account balance for each user account, identifying a request to initiate a communications event, determining the account balance associated with the request, associating a rate plan with the request, computing a rate schedule based on the at least two connection rates of the associated rate plan, and determining a maximum allowable duration of the communications event for which an accrued cost of the communications event is approximately equal to the account balance based upon the computed rate schedule. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of:
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identifying a monetary account balance associated with a request for a communications event, associating a rate plan with the request, the rate plan being associated with at least two predetermined connection rates, each of the at least two connection rates defining the respective relationship between services provided by a communications service provider and the fees retained by the communications service provider in exchange therefor, computing a rate schedule based on the rate plan, and determining a maximum allowable duration of the communication event by comparing the rate schedule to the monetary account balance.
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Specification