Method for managing wireless telecommunication bills

• US 7,986,936 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2009
• Issued: 07/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Bill Police LLC
• Original Assignee: The Bill Police LLC
• Inventors: Zulager, Kae Kimberly, Carpenter, Ronald Vaiden
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah; Charles N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peaches; Randy
• Application Number:
  US12/360,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20090197568A1
• Time in Patent Office: 910 Days
• Field of Search: 455/406, 455/407, 455/405
• US Class Current: 455/406
• 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 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/44 Augmented, consolidated or itemized billing statement or bill presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/49 Connection to several service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/52 for operator independent billing system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/73 Validating charges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/735 Re-crediting user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/75 Account location specifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/765 Linked or grouped accounts, e.g. of users or devices
• 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 15/80 Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8044 Least cost routing
• 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 2215/0152 General billing plans, rate plans, e.g. charge rates, numbering plans, rate centers, customer accounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0188 Network monitoring; statistics on usage on called/calling number
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2026 Wireless network, e.g. GSM, PCS, TACS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/32 Involving wireless systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/46 : Connection to several service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7072 : Validate charges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/7081 : Re-credit user, e.g. repay user with the amount or free time after finding an error in calculating the charges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/72 : Account specifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/724 : Linked accounts
• 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 2215/745 : Least cost routing, e.g. Automatic or manual, call by call or by preselection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 : Accounting or billing

Abstract

A method manages wireless telecommunication bills for end user subscribers. The method includes complete bill management for the wireless subscribers including, for example, establishing a baseline report, receiving and analyzing a subscriber bill, and requesting and posting credits from wireless telecommunication providers. The method includes the creation of the baseline report in order to manage common billing components across all wireless carriers and carrier plans.

Claims

1. A method for managing bills for a subscriber over a network, where the bills are based on usage of a service and a time period for the availability of the service, the method comprising the steps of:

conducting an initial analysis of a subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements, wherein the initial analysis is based at least on the subscriber'"'"'s predicted service usage requirements and the subscriber'"'"'s historical service usage;

creating a report based on the initial analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements;

transmitting the report to the subscriber over the network;

selecting at least one service plan to conform to the initial analysis;

receiving a subsequent bill from the carrier corresponding to the subscriber'"'"'s actual service usage and containing an actual billed amount;

comparing the subscriber'"'"'s actual service usage to the initial analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements to identify differences between the actual usage and the initial analysis;

identifying instances in which such differences result in additional or unexpected charges;

updating the initial analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements based at least on the subscriber'"'"'s actual service usage, on the additional or unexpected charges, and on additional subscriber'"'"'s predicted service usage requirements;

comparing the updated analysis to the initial analysis to determine any differences between the updated analysis and the initial analysis, including whether the differences result in additional or unexpected charges;

determining whether a different service plan better conforms to the updated analysis based on the comparison of the updated analysis to the initial analysis;

selecting the different service plan when the determination indicates that the different service plan better conforms to the updated analysis;

determining an anticipated billed amount based on the actual usage;

creating an actual report for the subscriber;

comparing the anticipated billed amount to the actual billed amount to identify billing errors in the bill;

requesting billing credit from the service provider in the amount of the identified billing errors; and

reviewing a further subsequent bill from the service provider to insure that credit was posted to the subscriber account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the service is a telecommunications service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed on a periodic basis corresponding to the generation of bills by the service provider.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a new service plan;

comparing both the selected service plan and the new service plan to the analysis and the actual usage; and

determining whether the new service plan better conforms to the analysis and the subscriber'"'"'s actual usage.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting a service plan to correspond to the analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements comprises selecting a plurality of service plans to correspond to the analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of service plans is provided by a plurality of service plan providers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the analysis of a subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements includes identifying a plurality of service provider plans.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the analysis of a subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements corresponds to a plurality of service users and usage requirements for each user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the analysis is further based on an organizational departmentalization for each user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is the Internet.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting the actual report to the subscriber over the network.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer readable code causing a computer to manage service bills for a subscriber, where the bills are based on usage of the service and a time period for the availability of the service, the computer readable medium comprising:

code for conducting an initial analysis of a subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements, wherein the initial analysis is based at least on the subscriber'"'"'s predicted service usage requirements and the subscriber'"'"'s historical service usage;

code for creating a report based on the initial analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements;

code for transmitting the report to the subscriber over the network;

code for selecting at least one service plan to conform to the initial analysis;

code for receiving a subsequent bill from the carrier corresponding to the subscriber'"'"'s actual service usage and containing an actual billed amount;

code for comparing the subscriber'"'"'s actual service usage to the initial analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements to identify differences between the actual usage and the initial analysis;

code for identifying instances in which such differences result in additional or unexpected charges;

code for updating the initial analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements based at least on the subscriber'"'"'s actual service usage, on the additional or unexpected charges, and on additional subscriber'"'"'s predicted service usage requirements;

code for comparing the updated analysis to the initial analysis to determine any differences between the updated analysis and the initial analysis, including whether the differences result in additional or unexpected charges;

code for determining whether a different service plan better conforms to the updated analysis based on the comparison of the updated analysis to the initial analysis;

code for selecting the different service plan when the determination indicates that the different service plan better conforms to the updated analysis;

code for determining an anticipated billed amount based on the actual usage; and

s code for creating an actual report for the subscriber;

code for comparing the anticipated billed amount to the actual billed amount to identify billing errors in the bill;

code for requesting billing credit from the service provider in the amount of the identified billing errors; and

code for reviewing a further subsequent bill from the service provider to insure that credit was posted to the subscriber account.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the service is a telecommunications service.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the method is performed on a periodic basis corresponding to the generation of bills by the service provider.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

code for identifying a new service plan;

code for comparing both the selected service plan and the new service plan to the analysis and the actual usage; and

code for deciding whether the new service plan better conforms to the analysis and the subscriber'"'"'s actual usage.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the code for selecting a service plan to correspond to the analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements comprises code for selecting a plurality of service plans to correspond to the analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the plurality of service plans is provided by a plurality of service plan providers.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the analysis of a subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements includes identifying a plurality of service provider plans.

19. A system for managing bills for a subscriber, where the bills are based on usage of a service and a time period for the availability of the service, the system comprising:

a processor module configured to;

conduct an initial analysis of a subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements,

wherein the initial analysis is based at least on the subscriber'"'"'s predicted service usage requirements and the subscriber'"'"'s historical service usage; and

create a report based on the initial analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements;

compare the subscriber'"'"'s actual service usage to the initial analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements to identify differences between the actual usage and the initial analysis;

identify instances in which such differences result in additional or unexpected charges;

update the initial analysis of the subscriber'"'"'s service usage requirements based at least on the subscriber'"'"'s actual service usage, on the additional or unexpected charges, and on additional subscriber'"'"'s predicted service usage requirements;

compare the updated analysis to the initial analysis to determine any differences between the updated analysis and the initial analysis, including whether the differences result in additional or unexpected charges;

determine whether a different service plan better conforms to the updated analysis based on the comparison of the updated analysis to the initial analysis;

select the different service plan when the determination indicates that the different service plan better conforms to the updated analysis; and

determine an anticipated billed amount based on the actual usage; and

create an actual report for the subscriber;

a transmitter module for transmitting the report and the actual report to the subscriber;

selecting at least one service plan to conform to the initial analysis; and

a receiver module for receiving a subsequent bill from the carrier corresponding to the subscriber'"'"'s actual service usage and containing an actual billed amount,

wherein the processor module is further configured to;

compare the anticipated billed amount to the actual billed amount to identify billing errors in the bill;

request billing credit from the service provider in the amount of the identified billing errors; and

review a further subsequent bill from the service provider to insure that credit was posted to the subscriber account.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor module is further configured to:

identify a new service plan;

compare both the selected service plan and the new service plan to the analysis and the actual usage; and

determine whether the new service plan better conforms to the analysis and the subscriber'"'"'s actual usage.