Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Usage measurement
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-16
2001-11-20
To, Doris H. (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Usage measurement
C455S575100, C379S114030
Reexamination Certificate
active
06321078
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
I. Field of Invention
This invention relates to communications systems. Specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for tracking and displaying charges incurred by users of a wireless service.
II. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communications systems are used in variety of applications involving the transfer of voice and computer data files over a wireless channel via a wireless phone or other device such as a laptop computer. As the popularity of wireless services increases, so do the demands of wireless service customers. To remain competitive and meet the demands of customers, wireless service providers must continue to incorporate new user-friendly features into their wireless devices.
Features for reporting call duration and current expenses are particularly desirable as customers may wish to tailor their service usage in accordance with current expenditures. For example, customers such as attorneys may wish to keep track current call expenditures to facilitate client billing. Currently, to access expense information, a customer must wait for a statement in the mail or must make an additional phone call to the wireless service provider. Unfortunately, the additional phone call is often inconvenient may result in additional wireless charges, and waiting until a monthly billing statement arrives is undesirable, especially for customers wishing to budget usage in accordance with recently incurred expenses.
Some wireless phones include a call storage feature that stores information, such as call duration, pertaining to several most recent calls. Unfortunately, to determine call duration, customers often must navigate through a series of esoteric software commands. To estimate charges for a given call, a customer must manually calculate the charges by multiplying the call duration by the rate per minute. Manual expense calculation is often inconvenient and may result in reduced phone battery life as the user scrolls through menus to access information about the last call.
Hence, a need exists in the art for a user-friendly system and method for efficiently generating and displaying expense reports detailing a users current charges and call duration for a particular call.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The need in the art is addressed by the system for providing immediate access to detailed information about a wireless call of the present invention. In the illustrative embodiment, the inventive system is adapted for use with a wireless phone and includes a first mechanism for placing a wireless call. A second mechanism times the call and provides a call duration value in response thereto. A third mechanism computes the detailed information from the call duration value and a predetermined value associated with the call. A fourth mechanism displays the detailed information.
In a specific embodiment, the predetermined value is a billing rate associated with the call and the detailed information is expense information. The third mechanism includes a computer having a memory for storing the call duration value and the predetermined value. The computer runs software for computing the detailed information from the call duration value and the billing rate. The software includes a routine for detecting when the wireless phone is being used for a call and timing the call. The software also includes a mechanism for providing user-selectable parameters for controlling the third mechanism. The user-selectable parameters include a first parameter indicating use of one or more address book categories or lack thereof. The phone address book categories each indicate one or more calls to be tracked by the system. The user-selectable parameters further include a category for association with newly provided detailed call expense information, a per-minute billing rate corresponding to the predetermined value, and a type of currency to be used by the third mechanism for computing the expense information.
The software may receive identifiers, if available, indicating if the call is a standard incoming call, a standard outgoing call, an outgoing data call, an incoming call waiting call, an outgoing conference call, or a missed incoming call, a dialed number for outgoing calls, a caller ID number for incoming calls, an ID of a matching entry from an address book of the wireless phone, a time at which the call is placed, and the call duration. The software generates an expense report listing the detailed information in response to the receipt of the user selectable parameters and the identifiers. The detailed information includes a date on which the call was made, an expense category as chosen via a user-selectable parameter, a type of currency as chosen via an additional user-selectable parameter, and a cost associated with the call. The detailed information also includes an attendee list containing information pertaining to one or more parties involved in the call.
In the illustrative embodiment, the fourth mechanism includes mechanism for displaying the detailed information continuously in real-time and includes a mechanism for automatically displaying or storing the detailed information upon completion of the call.
The novel design of the present invention is facilitated by the use of unique software running on the computer within the wireless communications device of the present invention. The software maintains information pertaining to the call such as call duration and cost per minute that enable the software to readily display expense reports pertaining to each call. The expense reports may be categorized in accordance with an expense type, which facilitates accurate record keeping of calls made and received. The ability of a wireless phone to keep such records is particularly desirable as wireless phones are often employed in important business applications where accurate and timely expense records are important for billing purposes.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5577100 (1996-11-01), McGregor et al.
patent: 6026291 (2000-02-01), Carlsson et al.
Menelli Ronald J.
Seckendorf Paul M.
Sprigg Steve
Brown Charles D.
Poppas George C.
To Doris H.
Wadsworth Philip R.
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