Controlling billing for use of one system based on device location in other system

• US 9,037,109 B1
• Filed: 03/02/2012
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Singh, Jasinder P., Shah, Maulik K., Oroskar, Siddharth S., Vargantwar, Sachin R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Application Number:
  US13/411,207
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 Days
• Field of Search: 455/403, 455406-408, 455/432.1, 4554561-4566
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/49 Connection to several service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/56 for VoIP communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8022 Determining tariff or charge band
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8033 location-dependent, e.g. business or home
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8038 Roaming or handoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method and corresponding system for controlling billing for communication service. An area of coverage of a first wireless serving system is dynamically determined based on signals from one or more mobile stations served by the first wireless serving system. A determination is then made as to whether a mobile station was within the determined area of coverage of the first wireless serving system when the mobile station was being served with communication service by a second wireless serving system. And a billing rate, for billing for the communication service, is selected based at least in part on the determination.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

wirelessly receiving signals into first wireless serving system from one or more mobile stations served by the first wireless serving system, using the received signals as a basis to determine locations of the one or more mobile stations, and using the determined locations of the one or more mobile stations as a basis to determine an area of coverage of the first wireless serving system;

making a determination of whether a given mobile station was within the thereby determined area of coverage of the first wireless serving system when the given mobile station was being served with communication service by a second wireless serving system; and

using the determination as a basis to select a billing rate for billing an account of the given mobile station for the communication service served by the second wireless serving system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising billing the account of the given mobile station at the selected billing rate for the communication service served by the second wireless serving system.

3. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first wireless serving system is operated by a first wireless carrier to which the given mobile station subscribes, and

wherein the second wireless serving system is operated by a second wireless carrier to which the given mobile station does not subscribe but that serves the given mobile station in accordance with a roaming agreement with the first wireless carrier.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein making the determination of whether the given mobile station was within the thereby determined area of coverage of the first wireless serving system when the given mobile station was being served with communication service by the second wireless serving system comprises:

the first wireless carrier receiving from the second wireless carrier a report that the communication service was provided to the given mobile station;

the first wireless carrier determining where the given mobile station was positioned when the reported communication service was provided to the given mobile station; and

the first wireless carrier determining that where the mobile station was positioned when the reported communication service was provided to the given mobile station was within the thereby determined area of coverage of the first wireless serving system.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first wireless serving system is a femtocell providing private coverage and connectivity for a wireless carrier to which the given mobile station subscribes, and

wherein the second wireless serving system is a macro base station providing public coverage and connectivity for the wireless carrier to which the given mobile station subscribes.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein making the determination of whether the given mobile station was within the thereby determined area of coverage of the first wireless serving system when the given mobile station was being served with communication service by the second wireless serving system comprises:

the wireless carrier determining where the given mobile station was positioned when the macro base station was providing the communication service to the given mobile station; and

the wireless carrier determining that where the mobile station was positioned when the macro base station was providing the communication service to the given mobile station was within the thereby determined area of coverage of the femtocell.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein using the determination as a basis to select a billing rate for billing an account of the given mobile station for the communication service served by the second base station comprises:

if the determination is that the given mobile station was within the thereby determined area of coverage of the first wireless serving system when the given mobile station was being served with communication service by the second wireless coverage system, then selecting a first billing rate as the billing rate; and

if the determination is that the given mobile station was not within the thereby determined area of coverage of the first wireless serving system when the given mobile station was being served with communication service by the second wireless serving system, then selecting a second billing rate as the billing rate, the second billing rate being different than the first billing rate.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the given mobile station was not being served by the first wireless serving system when the mobile station was being served with the communication service by the second wireless serving system.

9. The method of claim 1,

wherein the signals from the one or more mobile stations carry raw data usable as a basis to derive locations of the one or more mobile stations, the raw data comprising at least one of satellite positioning system data and dead-reckoning data.

10. The method of claim 1,

wherein the signals from the one or more mobile stations carry data specifying the locations of the one or more mobile stations, and

wherein using the received signals as a basis to determine locations of the one or more mobile stations comprises reading the data from the received signals to determine the specified locations.

11. A method comprising:

dynamically determining a geographic scope of coverage of a femtocell based on signals wirelessly received by the femtocell from one or more mobile stations served by the femtocell;

making a determination of whether a given mobile station was within the dynamically determined geographic scope of coverage of the femtocell when the given mobile station was being served with communication service by a macro network base station; and

using the determination as a basis to select a billing rate for use to bill an account of the given mobile station for the communication service served by the macro network base station.

12. The method of claim 11,

wherein dynamically determining the geographic scope of coverage of the femtocell based on signals wirelessly received by the femtocell from one or more mobile stations served by the femtocell comprises (i) determining round trip delay based on at least one such signal, (ii) using the determined round trip delay to determine a distance of at least one of the mobile stations from the femtocell, and (iii) dynamically determining the geographic scope of coverage based on the determined distance of the at least one mobile station from the femtocell.

13. The method of claim 11,

wherein the signals carry at least one of (i) location coordinates of the one or more mobile stations and (ii) raw data usable to determine location coordinates of the one or more mobile stations.

14. The method of claim 11,

wherein the femtocell and macro network base station both function to provide service for a wireless carrier to which the given mobile station subscribes.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein using the determination as a basis to select a billing rate for use to bill an account of the given mobile station for the communication service comprises:

if the determination is that the given mobile station was within the dynamically determined geographic scope of coverage of the femtocell when the mobile station was being served with communication service by a macro network base station, then selecting a first billing rate for use to bill the account of the given mobile station for the communication service; and

if the determination is that the given mobile station was not within the dynamically determined geographic scope of coverage of the femtocell when the mobile station was being served with communication service by a macro network base station, then selecting a second billing rate for use to bill the account of the given mobile station for the communication service, the second billing rate being different than the first billing rate.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first billing rate is zero, and the second billing rate is non-zero.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the given mobile station was not being served by the femtocell when the mobile station was being served with the communication service by the macro network base station.

18. A wireless carrier system comprising:

at least one base station for serving mobile stations;

a first processing unit arranged to determine based on signals that the at least one base station wirelessly received from one or more of the mobile stations, a geographic scope of coverage of the at least one base station;

a second processing unit arranged to make a determination of whether, when a given mobile station was being served with communication service by a particular base station that is not one of the at least one base station, the given mobile station was located within the determined geographic scope of the at least one base station; and

a billing system arranged to bill an account of the given mobile station for the communication service served by the particular base station at a billing rate selected based on the determination.

19. The wireless carrier system of claim 18,

wherein the second processing unit is the first processing unit.

20. The wireless carrier system of claim 18,

wherein the at least one base station is a femtocell providing connectivity for a wireless carrier network, and wherein the particular base station is a macro network base station also providing connectivity for the wireless carrier network.