Customer group billing

Details Customer group billing Customer group billing

1997-02-27

2001-01-09

Nguyen, Duc (Department: 2743)

Telephonic communications

With usage measurement

C379S127030, C379S112030, C379S114030, C379S115030, C379S119000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06173046

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system and method for group billing of telephone service customers having separate billing accounts.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Discount telephone billing plans have become commonplace. In a typical plan, a customer receives a discount on all calls made if total usage exceeds a predefined time or monetary limit. Such discount billing plans have been extended to organizational customers, such as companies and universities, which have multiple individuals placing calls, but which have only one billing account. Groups of customers who have separate billing accounts have been unable to participate in discount billing plans as a group because there is no way that calls made by such customers can be priced based on the group calling plan and on the usage by other members of the group.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a method and system in which calls made by customers who are members of a group of customers having a group calling plan, but who have separate billing accounts, are priced based on the group calling plan and on the usage by other members of the group. Typical groups may include customers in specific geographic locations, such as residents in an apartment building or in a residential neighborhood, and offices and stores in a commercial building. Other groups may include customers in widely separated geographic locations, such as members of a nation-wide club or organization, alumni association members, etc.
According to the present invention, in order to price a call made over a network by a customer of the network, the customer being a member of a billing group, information specifying a group billing plan of the billing group is stored. A call made by a member of the billing group is priced based on the group billing plan. Information specifying a plurality of members of a billing group, the members selected from among the customers of the network, is also stored. The call is then priced by generating a record that describes the call, receiving the record at a billing analysis system; and determining a priced call value for the call based on the record, the information specifying members of the billing group, and the information specifying the group billing plan based on the group billing plan.


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Bob Wallace, AT&T announces calling plan . . . its alternative to MCI's Preferred. Network World, Apr. 1, 1991.*

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