Method and system for interactive rate plan recommender

• US 8,005,726 B1
• Filed: 12/03/2002
• Issued: 08/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Data Services LLC (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Bao, Yulin
• Primary Examiner(s): BORISSOV, IGOR N
• Application Number:
  US10/308,690
• Time in Patent Office: 3,185 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/1, 705/35, 705/1.1, 705/7, 705/8, 705/9, 705/10, 705/11, 705/20, 705/22, 705 264- 2663, 705/26.64, 705/26.7, 705/26.8, 705/27.1, 705/27.2, 705 28- 30, 705/400, 379/111, 379/112.01, 379/112.06, 379/114.1, 379/114.12, 379/114.13, 379/114.17, 379/121.02, 379/121.04, 379/140
• US Class Current: 705/27.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• 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 15/51 for resellers, retailers or service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• 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 2215/0168 On line or real-time flexible customization or negotiation according to wishes of subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0176 Billing arrangements using internet

Abstract

A method and system for analyzing rate plans for communication services may include obtaining usage data for a user from a database of historical usage data for the user and determining rate plan costs based on the usage data. The method and system may include obtaining information from a user and determining, based on the user information, if usage data for the communication services may be available for the user and obtaining the usage data from inputs by the user, including uploads of electronic bills, when the usage data is not available from the database. The method may be implemented on a web-based site server, which can connect to a decision engine for analyzing the usage data and determining the costs for the rate plan. The decision engine may access the historical usage database through one or more Application Program Interfaces operating on one or more billing servers.

Claims

1. A service provider hosted method of analyzing rate plans for communication services, comprising:

obtaining rate structures from a plurality of sources;

storing the rate structures in a rate plan database;

electronically obtaining user input data from a user;

deriving, by a computer processor, a usage pattern from usage data for a consumer of communication services by determining, based on the user input data, whether a historical usage database reflecting prior use of communication services by the consumer is available, and

based on the determination that the historical usage database reflecting the prior use of communication services is available, selecting, by the computer processor, the usage data from the historical usage database, and

based on the determination that the historical usage database reflecting the prior use of communication services is not available, obtaining additional input data from the user and determining the usage data based on the additional input data;

determining, by the computer processor, a set of proposed rate plans for the consumer based on the usage pattern;

determining a type of the user;

based on the determination that the user is a consumer type, filtering out from the set of proposed rate plans, by the computer processor, a rate plan from a competitor of the service provider, and presenting the filtered proposed rate plans to the user; and

based on the determination that the user is a representative of the service provider, presenting the set of proposed rate plans without filtering out a rate plan from a competitor of the service provider.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining additional input data from the user and determining the usage data based on the additional input data further comprises:

obtaining access data from the user to access a usage database, and

selecting the usage data from the usage database using the access data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein selecting the usage data from either the historical usage database or the usage database further comprises:

accessing a first server to execute at least one application program interface to communicate with a second server for selecting the usage data from the database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the usage data based on the additional input data further comprises:

determining, based on the additional input data, whether the usage data is available from the user; and

based on the determination that the usage data is available from the user, obtaining the usage data from the user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein obtaining the usage data from the user further comprises at least one of:

enabling the user to upload an electronic version of the usage data;

enabling the user to submit estimates of the usage data as user inputs; and

enabling the user to transmit the usage data as a facsimile transmission.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to order the filtered proposed rate plan; and

transmitting information from the obtained user input data and the selected usage data to an order processor to process the information as an order.

7. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for executing, by operation of a processor, a service provider hosted method of analyzing rate plans for communication services, the method comprising:

obtaining rate structures from a plurality of sources;

storing the rate structures in a rate plan database;

electronically obtaining user input data from a user;

deriving a usage pattern from usage data for a consumer of communication services by determining, based on the user input data, whether a historical usage database reflecting prior use of communication services by the consumer of communication services is available, and

based on the determination that the historical usage database reflecting the prior use of communication services is available, selecting the usage data from the historical usage database, and

based on the determination that the historical usage database reflecting the prior use of communication services is not available,

obtaining access data from the user to access a usage database and selecting the usage data from the usage database, and

obtaining additional input data from the user to determine whether the usage data is available from the user, and based on the determination that the usage data is available from the user, obtaining the usage data from the user; and

determining a set of proposed rate plans for the consumer based on the usage pattern;

determining a type of the user;

based on the determination that the user is a consumer type, filtering out from the set of proposed rate plans, a rate plan from a competitor of the service provider, and presenting the filtered proposed rate plans to the user; and

based on the determination that the user is a representative of the service provider, presenting the set of proposed rate plans without filtering out a rate plan from a competitor of the service provider.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein obtaining the usage data from the user further comprises at least one of:

enabling the user to upload an electronic version of the usage data;

enabling the user to submit estimates of the usage data as user inputs; and

enabling the user to transmit the usage data as a facsimile transmission.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein selecting the usage data from either the historical usage database or the usage database further comprises:

accessing a first server to execute at least one application program interface to communicate with a database server to access one of the historical usage database and the usage database.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, the service provider hosted method further comprising:

enabling the user to order the proposed rate plan; and

transmitting information from the obtained user input data and the selected usage data to an order processor to process the information as an order.

11. A service provider hosted system for analyzing rate plans for communication services, comprising:

a web-based site server;

a rate plan database storing rate structures for the rate plans; and

a processor configured to connect to the web-based site server and the rate plan database for;

electronically obtaining user input data from a user;

deriving a usage pattern from usage data for a consumer of communication services;

determining a set of proposed rate plans for the consumer based on the usage pattern;

determining a type of the user;

based on the determination that the user is a consumer type, filtering out from the set of proposed rate plans, a rate plan from a competitor of the service provider, and presenting the filtered proposed rate plans to the user; and

based on the determination that the user is a representative of the service provider, presenting the set of proposed rate plans without filtering out a rate plan from a competitor of the service provider.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

at least one application program interface to facilitate communication between the processor and at least one database server for obtaining the usage data from the usage database.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the web-based site server enables the user to order the proposed rate plan, and the processor is further configured to transmit information from the obtained usage data to an order processor to process the information as an order.