Method and system to facilitate financial settlement of service access transactions between multiple parties
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method to facilitate roaming between a plurality of network service providers, the method comprising:
- intercepting, in a first group of network service providers, authorization requests for accessing a network via the first group of network service providers, wherein the authorization requests are associated with service customers subscribed to ones of a second group of network service providers, wherein the authorization requests are not acceptable to the first group of network service providers;
transmitting, from the first group of network service providers, the authorization requests to the second group of network service providers;
receiving, in the first group of network service providers, authorization messages from the second group of network service providers, wherein the authorization messages cause the first group of network service providers to allow the service customers to access the network;
transmitting, from the first group of service providers to an access broker system, accounting information indicating time durations of the accesses to the network, wherein the accounting information is associated with the service customers and with the first and second groups of network service providers;
determining, in the access broker system, prices for allowing the service customers to access the network, wherein the determining includes,determining, based on the accounting information, identities for each of the service customers, and location identifiers for each of the first group of network service providers;
determining pricing plans based on the identities and the location identifiers;
determining the prices based on the time durations and the pricing plans;
updating, in the access broker system, account payable balances and account receivable balances for the service customers and for the first and second groups network service providers, the updating based on the prices.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method to facilitate the financial settlement of service access transactions between multiple parties commences with the automatic collection of data concerning multiple transactions from respective service providers (e.g., ISPs). The multiple transactions are between the multiple service providers and multiple service customers. Respective transaction values are automatically determined for each of the multiple transactions. Account payable balances are automatically updated for the multiple service providers, and account receivable balances are automatically updated for the service customers based on the respective transaction values for each of the multiple transactions.
100 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method to facilitate roaming between a plurality of network service providers, the method comprising:
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intercepting, in a first group of network service providers, authorization requests for accessing a network via the first group of network service providers, wherein the authorization requests are associated with service customers subscribed to ones of a second group of network service providers, wherein the authorization requests are not acceptable to the first group of network service providers; transmitting, from the first group of network service providers, the authorization requests to the second group of network service providers; receiving, in the first group of network service providers, authorization messages from the second group of network service providers, wherein the authorization messages cause the first group of network service providers to allow the service customers to access the network; transmitting, from the first group of service providers to an access broker system, accounting information indicating time durations of the accesses to the network, wherein the accounting information is associated with the service customers and with the first and second groups of network service providers; determining, in the access broker system, prices for allowing the service customers to access the network, wherein the determining includes, determining, based on the accounting information, identities for each of the service customers, and location identifiers for each of the first group of network service providers; determining pricing plans based on the identities and the location identifiers; determining the prices based on the time durations and the pricing plans; updating, in the access broker system, account payable balances and account receivable balances for the service customers and for the first and second groups network service providers, the updating based on the prices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A financial settlement system to settle service access transactions between multiple parties, the system comprising:
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a network server configured to intercept an authorization request being transmitted from a service customer of a plurality of service customers to a first network service provider of a plurality of network service providers, wherein the service customer is subscribed to a second network service provider of the plurality of network service providers, and wherein the first network service provider will not allow network access based on the authorization request; a transaction server configured to receive the authorization request from the network server, to transmit the authorization request to the second network service provider, to receive an authorization message from the second network service provider, and to transmit the authorization message to the first network service provider, the authorization message indicating the service customer is permitted to access the network; a loader application configured to collect data concerning a transaction performed by the service customer, the transaction pertaining to the network access; and a settlement application configured to determine a transaction value for the transaction based on pricing models associated with a multi-tiered grouping of customers that includes the plurality of service customers and the plurality of network service providers, and to update an account payable balance for the service customer and one or more account receivable balances for one or more of the plurality of network service providers, the updating based at least in part on the transaction value. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system to settle service access transactions between multiple parties, the system comprising:
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means for intercepting, in a first group of network service providers, authorization requests for accessing a network via the first group of network service providers, wherein the authorization requests are associated with service customers subscribed to ones of a second group of network service providers; means for transmitting, from the first group of network service providers, the authorization requests to the second group of network service providers; means for receiving, in the first group of network service providers, authorization messages from the second group of network service providers, wherein the authorization messages cause the first group of network service providers to allow the service customers to access the network; means for transmitting, from the first group of service providers to an access broker system, accounting information indicating time durations of the accesses to the network, wherein the accounting information is associated with the service customers and with the first and second groups of network service providers; means for determining, in the access broker system, prices for allowing the service customers to access the network, wherein the means for determining include, means for determining, based on the accounting information, identities for each of the service customers, and location identifiers for each of the first group of network service providers; means for determining pricing plans based on the identities, the location identifiers; means for determining the prices based on the time durations and the pricing plans; means for updating, in the access broker system, account payable balances and account receivable balances for the service customers and for the first and second groups of network service providers, the updating based on the transaction value. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification