Controlling a shared service

Abstract

A method includes obtaining a liability limit indicative of an available funding, determining whether a first amount of liability contributed by a first subscriber during a provision of a service to the first subscriber exceeds a first balance indicative of a first portion of the available funding that may be consumed by the first subscriber, determining whether a second amount of liability contributed by a second subscriber during a provision of a service to the second subscriber exceeds a second balance indicative of a second portion of the available funding that may be consumed by the second subscriber, issuing a first communication to a device to affect the provision of a service to the first subscriber if the first amount of liability exceeds the first balance, and issuing a second communication to the device to affect the provision of a service to the second subscriber if the second amount of liability exceeds the second balance.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 266,102, filed Oct. 24, 2011, which was the National Stage of International Application No. PCT / US2009 / 002650, filed Apr. 30, 2009. U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 266,102, filed Oct. 24, 2011 and International Application No. PCT / US2009 / 002650, filed Apr. 30, 2009 are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present disclosure relates to a technique for controlling usage of a shared service, such a mobile telephone service being provided to a group of subscribers or group of accounts in real time.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, the approaches described in this section may not be prior art to th...

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