Banded billing system for telecommunication service
First Claim
1. A banded billing method for telecommunication services comprising:
- maintaining in data storage a banded-pricing schedule that divides a continuum of minutes of use into a series of contiguous, mutually-exclusive minute-ranges and that specifies for each minute-range a single respective cost to be charged for any number of minutes of use falling within that minute-range, wherein each of the minute-ranges defined by the banded pricing schedule spans a plurality of minutes;
determining a number of minutes of telecommunication service that were used by a given subscriber during a given period;
querying, by a microprocessor, the banded-pricing schedule to determine which minute-range the determined number of minutes falls into, and to determine the cost specified by the banded-pricing schedule for that minute-range; and
billing the determined cost to the given subscriber, for use of the telecommunication service during the given period.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A banded billing system for telecommunication service is disclosed. A carrier'"'"'s billing system maintains in data storage a banded-pricing schedule that divides a continuum of minutes of use into a series of contiguous, mutually-exclusive minute-ranges and that specifies for each minutes-range a respective cost. At the end of a billing period, the billing system determines a number of minutes of telecommunication service used by a given subscriber during the billing period. The billing system then queries the banded-pricing schedule to determine which minute-range the number of minutes falls into, and to determine the cost specified by the banded-pricing schedule for that minute-range. The billing system then bills the determined cost to the subscriber, for use of the telecommunication service in the billing period.
52 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A banded billing method for telecommunication services comprising:
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maintaining in data storage a banded-pricing schedule that divides a continuum of minutes of use into a series of contiguous, mutually-exclusive minute-ranges and that specifies for each minute-range a single respective cost to be charged for any number of minutes of use falling within that minute-range, wherein each of the minute-ranges defined by the banded pricing schedule spans a plurality of minutes; determining a number of minutes of telecommunication service that were used by a given subscriber during a given period; querying, by a microprocessor, the banded-pricing schedule to determine which minute-range the determined number of minutes falls into, and to determine the cost specified by the banded-pricing schedule for that minute-range; and billing the determined cost to the given subscriber, for use of the telecommunication service during the given period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A banded billing system for telecommunication services comprising:
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a microprocessor; data storage; reference data stored in the data storage, wherein the reference data defines a banded-pricing schedule that divides a continuum of minutes of use into a series of contiguous, mutually-exclusive minute-ranges and that specifies for each minute-range a single respective cost to be charged for any number of minutes of use falling within that minute-range, wherein each of the minute-ranges defined by the banded pricing schedule spans a plurality of minutes; usage program logic stored in the data storage and executable to determine a number of minutes of telecommunication service that were used by a given subscriber in a given period; and pricing program logic stored in the data storage and executable to query the banded-pricing schedule so as (i) to determine which minute-range the determined number of minutes falls into and (ii) to determine the cost specified by the banded-pricing schedule for that minute-range, whereby the microprocessor of the banded billing system executes the usage program logic to determine the number of minutes used by the given subscriber in the given period and executes the pricing program logic to determine a cost to charge for that number of minutes, and whereby the banded billing system then charges the determined cost to the given subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A banded billing method for telecommunication services comprising:
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maintaining in data storage a banded-pricing schedule that divides a continuum of increments of use into a series of contiguous, mutually-exclusive increment-ranges and that specifies for each increment-range a single respective cost to be charged for any number of increments of use falling within that increment-range, wherein each increment comprises a group of minutes; determining a number of increments of telecommunication service that were used by a given subscriber during a given period; querying, by a microprocessor the banded-pricing schedule to determine which increment-range the determined number of increments falls into, and to determine the cost specified by the banded-pricing schedule for that increment-range; and billing the determined cost to the given subscriber, for use of the telecommunication service during the given period. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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Specification