System and method for inbound call billing
First Claim
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1. A method for billing expenses related to communication between a calling party and a receiving party, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a telephone switch, a billing code from a calling party during the communication;
allocating expenses of the communication, which expenses are unrelated to telecommunication services, to an account of the calling party based on the received billing code, the expenses unrelated to telecommunication services comprising professional service fees of a professional participating in the communication, the professional service fees calculated by multiplying a billing rate of the professional by a duration of the communication;
allocating expenses of telecommunication services based on the received billing code, the additional telecommunication services including two or more services selected from the group consisting of minutes used for calls, text messages, chats, and Internet access; and
generating an invoice for the calling party, the invoice specifying the expenses and the billing code.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for billing an incoming communication. A code is received from a calling party during the incoming communication. Expenses of the incoming communication are allocated to an account of the calling party in response to receiving the code. An invoice is generated for the calling party and a receiving party specifying the expenses.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for billing expenses related to communication between a calling party and a receiving party, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a telephone switch, a billing code from a calling party during the communication; allocating expenses of the communication, which expenses are unrelated to telecommunication services, to an account of the calling party based on the received billing code, the expenses unrelated to telecommunication services comprising professional service fees of a professional participating in the communication, the professional service fees calculated by multiplying a billing rate of the professional by a duration of the communication; allocating expenses of telecommunication services based on the received billing code, the additional telecommunication services including two or more services selected from the group consisting of minutes used for calls, text messages, chats, and Internet access; and generating an invoice for the calling party, the invoice specifying the expenses and the billing code. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system for billing expenses related to communication between a calling party and a receiving party, said system comprising:
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a telephone switch configured to receive a billing code from a calling party during the communication; and a server in communication with the telephone switch and configured to; allocate expenses of the communication, which expenses are unrelated to telecommunication services, to an account of the calling party based on the received billing code, the expenses unrelated to telecommunication services comprising professional service fees of a professional participating in the communication, the professional service fees calculated by multiplying a billing rate of the professional by a duration of the communication; allocate expenses of telecommunication services based on the received billing code, the telecommunication services including two or more services selected from the group consisting of minutes used for calls, text messages, chats, and Internet access; and generate an invoice for the calling party, the invoice specifying the expenses and the billing code. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification