Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Usage measurement
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-04
2001-12-18
Cumming, William (Department: 2684)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Usage measurement
C455S410000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332074
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to cellular or wireless phones, and more particularly to cellular phones which are inexpensive and initially programmed with a predetermined period of calling time such that when the calling time has expired the cellular phone is rendered inoperable, nonreusable and can therefore be disposable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Cellular telephones have recently exploded onto the marketplace for a number of reasons such as availability of better cellular reception and more expansive coverage areas, lower prices, smaller phones and more competition. In our modem society, a car phone or a hand-held cellular phone which was once a luxury is now becoming a business and personal necessity. Still, while cellular phones are becoming more and more popular, the vast majority of individuals do not yet own cellular phones, due to in large part the high cost of the cellular calls and the monthly service fees charged by the cellular phone companies. While sometimes cellular phones are given away for free or little cost, to obtain the free phone a yearly service contract must typically be purchased which more than offsets the cost of the telephone for the phone company. The consumer, however, must now pay hundreds of dollars a year for the service contract.
Once the consumer decides to purchase a cellular telephone, a number of difficult decisions still must be made such as choosing the cellular provider and the particular calling plan. Once these choices are made, however, the consumer oftentimes must remain with the chosen provider for at least one year or else pay a steep severance penalty.
The costs of owning a cellular telephone also increase for the consumer when the costs for accessories for cellular phones are added up. Accessories such as AC adapters, car adapters, rechargeable batteries and battery charging units can add hundreds of dollars to the cost of owning a cellular phone.
There are a number of worries that the owner of a cellular phone must also face such as the possibility of theft of the cellular phone or theft of the phone number assigned to the cellular phone, which can then be used on other “cloned” cellular phones. If a cellular phone is stolen, a replacement phone is expensive and the phone number must be changed resulting in additional expenses and disruption of service. Cellular phone theft is also a large problem for the phone companies, which typically absorb the costs of illegally-made calls when a cellular phone or phone number is stolen. However, this ultimately results in higher rates that are passed on to the consumer.
If cellular phones were available that could overcome at least some of the above problems, more people of lesser means could have access to them. Therefore, to increase the accessibility of cellular phones to the general public there is a great need to overcome the many problems that exist today with cellular phones. This need is addressed by the present invention which, in addition to solving many of the above problems, provides new benefits not achievable with current cellular phones and cellular service providers.
The foregoing and other objects, features and various advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments set forth below, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One aspect of the present invention provides a nonreusable cellular phone having programmable timer means for providing a predetermined period of calling time during which the cellular phone may be used for cellular communications. The cellular phone further includes monitoring means for monitoring the time remaining of the calling time and disabling means for permanently disabling the cellular phone when the calling time has expired such that the cellular phone is rendered inoperative and may be disposed of
Preferably, the cellular phone includes indicating means, such as a tone generator or LED for alerting the user of the cellular phone as to the status of remaining time of the calling time.
The monitoring means desirably includes rate means for calculating the remaining time of the calling time based upon the duration of a phone call multiplied by a rate factor determined by the phone number called on the cellular phone. The rate means may include a rate storage chip for storing a plurality of rate factors corresponding to area codes and dialing prefixes of possible phone numbers for calculating the remaining time of the calling time. The cellular phone can allow both incoming and outgoing calls or can be configured to allow only outgoing calls.
Preferably, the cellular phone is provided with only a limited number of keys on its keypad, and can therefore include a keypad consisting only of the number keys zero to nine, the pound key (#), the star key (*), a send key, a clear key, an end key and a power key. The cellular phone can include one or more non-rechargeable batteries for powering the cellular phone and indicating means for alerting the user of the cellular phone as to the status of remaining calling time.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a method of providing time-limited cellular communications comprising the steps of (a) providing to an end user a nonreusable cellular phone having a predetermined period of calling time during which the cellular phone may be used for cellular communications, the cellular phone including monitoring means for monitoring the time remaining of the calling time and disabling means for permanently disabling the cellular phone when the calling time has expired such that the cellular phone is rendered inoperative and may be disposed of; and (b) programming the cellular phone with the predetermined calling time before the step of providing the nonreusable phone to the end user whereby the cellular phone is provided to the user with limited, unextendable calling time.
The foregoing and other objects, features and various advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments set forth below, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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Spitaletta Edward C.
Spitaletta Robert E.
Cumming William
Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP
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