System and method for automatic analysis of rate information

• US 7,801,783 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2001
• Issued: 09/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: James G. Gatto, Michael Kende, Robert Christian Macdonald
• Original Assignee: James G. Gatto, Michael Kende, Robert Christian Macdonald
• Inventors: Kende, Michael, MacDonald, Robert Christian, Gatto, James G.
• Primary Examiner(s): APPLE, KIRSTEN SACHWITZ
• Application Number:
  US09/997,273
• Publication Number:
  US 20020120540A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,217 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 45, 705/14.67, 705/14.7, 705/14.71
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0274 Split fees
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• 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 15/8044 Least cost routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8083 involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions or volume discounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/00 Prepayment of wireline communication systems, wireless communication systems or telephone systems using a coded card to authorise calls from a telephone set H04M1/675
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0168 On line or real-time flexible customization or negotiation according to wishes of subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0184 involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions, volume discounts, cell discounts, group billing, frequent calling destination(s) or user history list
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0188 Network monitoring; statistics on usage on called/calling number
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/42 Least cost routing, i.e. provision for selecting the lowest cost tariff
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/54 Resellers-retail or service providers billing, e.g. agreements with telephone service operator, activation, charging/recharging of accounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/745 : Least cost routing, e.g. Automatic or manual, call by call or by preselection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 : Accounting or billing

Abstract

A multi-factor rate analysis system and method for analyzing service plan rates, service providers, and savings other information is provided. Rate information may be based on one or more of historical and other user specific usage information and preferences, current rate information for one or more services as well as other information. This information may be used to identify one or more rate plans that are advantageous to a user, enable the user to select from the identified plans, facilitate the ability of the user to switch from one rate plan to another and provide other benefits and advantages.

Claims

1. A computer implemented multi-factor rate analysis system for analyzing service provider rate plan information, the system comprising:

a user module for accessing user information including a user'"'"'s prior usage information and the user'"'"'s preferences;

a service provider database for storing service provider information wherein service provider information comprises rate plan information associated with one or more service providers;

a multi-factor rate analysis engine module for analyzing on a per user basis user information and service provider information to generate one or more savings suggestions based on the rate plan information, the user'"'"'s prior usage information and at least one user preference; and

wherein the user information further includes a threshold amount of savings that would cause the user to switch rate plans.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the user'"'"'s prior usage information includes information regarding a user'"'"'s usage patterns for a service over two or more periods of time.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein prior usage information comprises prior usage information that is electronically extracted from an electronic bill payment system to avoid the need for a user to manually enter at least some prior usage information.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a savings module for providing personalized savings information to a user wherein the personalized savings information is generated by the analysis engine module based on the user'"'"'s prior usage data and at least one of the user'"'"'s preferences.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein savings information comprises incentives or discounts available to the user based on equipment owned by the user.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein savings information comprises proactive savings information including user behavior change recommendation information.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising an external data module for storing user independent data wherein the analysis engine module further analyses user independent data in generating one or more savings suggestions.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a switching module for facilitating the ability for the user to switch to a new rate plan.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a demand aggregation module for aggregating one or more users who are willing to transfer to an identified service provider.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising a demand aggregation module for aggregating one or more users who are willing to transfer to an identified rate plan.

11. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for automatically monitoring rate plans for a subscriber user and a delivery module for delivering alerts to a subscriber user when a better rate is available to the subscriber user.

12. A computer implemented multi-factor rate analysis system for analyzing service provider rate plan information, the system comprising:

a user module for accessing user information including a user'"'"'s prior usage information and the user'"'"'s preferences;

a service provider database for storing service provider information wherein service provider information comprises rate plan information associated with one or more service providers;

a multi-factor rate analysis engine module for analyzing on a per user basis user information and service provider information to generate one or more savings suggestions based on the rate plan information, the user'"'"'s prior usage information and at least one user preference;

the user information further including rate plan switching criteria and further comprising a switching module for automatically switching the user to a new rate plan when the rate plan switching criteria is met.

13. A computer implemented method for analyzing service provider rate plan formation, the method comprising the steps of:

accessing user information including a user'"'"'s prior usage information and the user'"'"'s preferences;

storing service provider information wherein service provider information comprises rate plan information associated with one or more service providers;

analyzing, on a per user basis, user information and service provider information to generate one or more preferred savings suggestions based on the rate plan information, the user'"'"'s prior usage information and at least one of the user'"'"'s preferences; and

wherein user information further includes a threshold amount of savings that would cause the user to switch rate plans.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the user'"'"'s prior usage information includes information regarding a user'"'"'s usage patterns for a service over two or more periods of time.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the prior usage information comprises prior usage information that is electronically extracted from an electronic bill payment system to avoid the need for a user to manually enter at least some prior usage information.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of providing personalized savings information to a user wherein the personalized savings information is generated based on the user'"'"'s prior usage information and at least one of the user'"'"'s preferences.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein savings information comprises incentives or discounts available to the user based on equipment owned by the user.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein savings information comprises proactive savings information including user behavior change recommendation information.

19. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of storing user independent data and wherein analyzing user information and service provider information comprises the step of analyzing the user independent data to generate one or more savings suggestions.

20. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of facilitating the ability for the user to switch to a new rate plan.

21. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of aggregating one or more users who are willing to transfer to an identified service provider.

22. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of aggregating one or more users who are willing to transfer to an identified rate plan.

23. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of enabling the user to specify one or more modes of delivery.

24. A computer implemented method for analyzing service provider rate plan formation, the method comprising the steps of:

accessing user information including a user'"'"'s prior usage information and the user'"'"'s preferences;

storing service provider information wherein service provider information comprises rate plan information associated with one or more service providers;

analyzing, on a per user basis, user information and service provider information to generate one or more preferred savings suggestions based on the rate plan information, the user'"'"'s prior usage information and at least one of the user'"'"'s preferences; and

wherein the user information further includes rate plan switching criteria, and further comprising the step of automatically switching the user to a new rate plan when the rate plan switching criteria is met.