Threshold billing

• US 20050144099A1
• Filed: 12/24/2003
• Published: 06/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Wang, Xingheng T., Sanches, Newton Cunha, Gallelli, John R., Narasimhan, Rangaprasad, Yin, Jun, Brennan, David J., Deb, Indrojit, Shyam, Bharat, Marshall, Stuart H.
• Application Number:
  US10/746,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20050144099A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/29 characterised by micropayments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4037 Remote solvency checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/08 by coded identity card or credit card or other personal identification means without personal verification means G07F7/02

Abstract

The present invention involves a system and method that facilitate a purchasing experience in part by consolidating any number of purchases and their respective charge amounts until the purchases or charge amounts reach a threshold level. The threshold level can be based in part on resources used (consumed or purchased) or on the corresponding monetary value. The threshold level can be determined based at least in part on several factors such as the type of resource being purchased, the volume of resources purchased at a time or over a period of time, customer'"'"'s payment history, customer'"'"'s usage history, feedback received from the customer'"'"'s payment provider, the type of payment vehicle (e.g., credit card, stored value card), time of the purchase, etc. When the threshold is reached, payment is requested asynchronously. The customer'"'"'s account can be suspended or cancelled if payment cannot be secured within a desired amount of time.

Claims

1. A debit system comprising:

a detection component that detects events initiated by an entity to determine whether such events are subject to a threshold resource value; and

a debit component that charges the entity upon at least a subset of the events reaching the threshold resource value.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the events are one of pre-rated or not pre-rated.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource value corresponds to a monetary value.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource value corresponds to a consumable unit.

5. The system of claim 1, the events referring to at least one purchase

6. The system of claim 1, the events comprising one or more resources for use by an entity whereby the detection component detects whether such resources are subject to the threshold resource value.

7. The system of claim 1, the events comprising at least a first event, the first event comprising at least a first resource, the first resource having at least one of a monetary value and a consumable unit value.

8. The system of claim 7, the events comprising at least a second event, the second event being different from the first event, the second event comprising at least a second resource, the second resource being different from the first resource and having at least one of a monetary value and a consumable unit value that is different from the first resource.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein any one event comprises a plurality of different resources having a plurality of different monetary values or consumable unit values.

10. The system of claim 1, the entity is a customer, the customer being any one of an individual, more than one person, a company, and a machine.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a tracking component that correlates a current event with previous events to track resource usage until the threshold resource value is reached.

12. The system of claim 1, the debit component requests payment from the entity'"'"'s payment provider when the threshold resource value is at least reached.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein events incoming to the detection component are suspended at least until notification that payment was made is received to mitigate economic losses.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a notification component that notifies the entity of at least one of the following:

that payment has been made;

that payment has not been made;

that the entity is suspended from further usage; and

that the threshold resource value is within Q units, wherein Q is an integer greater or equal to one.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a query component that allows an external component to determine a state of the entity'"'"'s account relative to the threshold resource value.

16. A system that facilitates online purchasing and bill management comprising:

a component that determines whether resource usage is associated with a threshold charge;

a resource usage recorder component that records the resource usage;

an analysis component that compares accumulated resource usage to a threshold resource value to determine whether the threshold resource value is reached; and

a payment component that requests payment for the resource usage when the threshold resource value is reached.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a resource balance that refers to a running total of the resource usage, whereby additional resource usage is added to the resource balance which is compared to the threshold resource value to determine whether to request payment for resources used thus far.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising a component that consolidates at least one previous event of resource usage with a current event of resource usage.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising a database operatively coupled to the resource usage recorder that stores at least one of purchase records, payment records, total purchase records, and resource usage records.

20. The system of claim 19, the database is a non-local queue.

21. The system of claim 19, the database is an unrestricted buffer that can store any amount of resources used or purchased.

22. The system of claim 16, further comprising a component that processes payment requests received from the payment component and that suspends accounts for which the payment request was declined.

23. The system of claim 22, the component is a message processing facility.

24. The system of claim 16, the threshold resource value is based at least in part upon one or more of the following factors:

type of resource;

volume of resource;

payment instrument;

feedback from payment provider;

entity'"'"'s historical resource usage;

payment history;

goods or service provider preferences;

entity'"'"'s preferences; and

time of resource usage.

25. The system of claim 16, the threshold resource value is adjusted periodically or randomly and manually or automatically.

26. A method that facilitates threshold billing comprising:

detecting at least a first event has been initiated by an entity;

determining that the first event is subject to a threshold resource value;

recording resource usage corresponding to the first event to a respective resource balance maintained in a database; and

determining whether the resource balances reaches the threshold resource value.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising sending a payment request to payment provider when the threshold resource value is reached;

and recording the payment request to the database.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising resetting the respective resource balance when the payment request is sent.

29. The method of claim 27, the payment request comprises at least a portion of an amount due.

30. The method of claim 29, the amount due corresponding to at least a portion of the resource usage or the resource balance.

31. The method of claim 27, initiating the payment request comprising:

locating charge code corresponding to pending payment request, the payment request being associated with a charge record;

calling the charge code;

reading the charge record; and

attempting settlement of the payment request against the payment provider.

32. The method of claim 27, further comprising suspending access to resources when the payment request from the payment provider is declined.

33. The method of claim 27, the database is any one of the following:

a non-local queue and an unrestricted buffer able to hold numerous events until the threshold resource value is reached.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising scheduling at least one subsequent attempt to satisfy the payment request.

35. The method of claim 27, further comprising recording the payment request

36. A system that facilitates threshold billing comprising:

means for detecting at least a first event has been initiated by an entity;

means for determining that the first event is subject to a threshold resource value;

means for recording resource usage corresponding to the first event to a respective resource balance; and

means for determining whether the resource balances reaches the threshold resource value.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising means for sending a payment request to payment provider when the threshold resource value is reached.

38. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon the computer executable components, the components comprising:

a detection component that detects events submitted by an entity to determine whether such events are subject to a threshold resource value; and

a debit component that charges the entity upon at least a subset of the events reaching the threshold resource value.

39. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon the computer executable components, the components comprising:

a component that determines whether resource usage by an entity is subjected to a threshold charge;

a resource usage recorder component that records the resource usage;

an analysis component that compares accumulated resource usage to a threshold resource value to determine whether the threshold resource value is reached; and

a payment component that requests payment for the resource usage when the threshold resource value is reached.

40. A data packet adapted to be transmitted between two or more computer processes facilitating identify potential spammers, the data packet comprising:

information associated with determining whether resource usage is associated with a threshold charge, wherein the resource usage is recorded and analyzed to ascertain whether accumulated resource usage reaches a threshold resource value; and

information corresponding to a request for payment for the resource usage when the threshold resource value is reached.