Charge Management System for Fair Billing via Participation Duration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing charge management systems for communication services unfairly charge users who join or leave conversations mid-session, as they are billed for the entire conversation period, leading to unfair billing practices.
Innovation Solution
A charge management system that calculates participation charges based on actual duration of participation, using a processing rule management table to generate processed log information from raw log data, ensuring accurate billing by differentiating between participants and non-participants.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If communication charges are uniformly charged for the entire conversation period, then billing simplicity is improved, but billing fairness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the conversation period into multiple chargeable periods based on participant join and leave times. Instead of charging uniformly for the entire conversation duration, the system divides the total period into segments where each participant is charged only for the time they actually participated, thereby resolving the contradiction between billing simplicity and billing fairness.
2Reliability
If participation duration is tracked for each user, then billing fairness is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having participants register their join and leave times in advance during the conversation. This pre-registration of time periods allows the system to calculate charges based on recorded data rather than requiring complex real-time tracking, thus achieving billing fairness while minimizing system complexity.
3Measurement precision
If charge calculation is based on actual participation time, then billing accuracy is improved, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses copying by creating a simplified representation of participation data in a charge management database. Instead of processing complex real-time conversation data, the system copies essential join and leave time information into a structured format that can be easily processed for charge calculation, thereby achieving billing accuracy while reducing processing complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A charge management system includes a user managing unit configured to manage pieces of user identification information for identifying users and pieces of terminal identification information for identifying transmission terminals, each piece of user identification information being associated with pieces of terminal identification information for identifying transmission terminals used by a user identified by the each piece of identification information; and a calculating unit configured to calculate a participation charge to each of the transmission terminals, bases on a total participation duration in which the each of the transmission terminals has participated in a conversation during a predetermined period, and calculate a total participation charge to each of the users by summing up the participation charges to transmission terminals specified by the pieces of terminal identification information associated with the each piece of the user identification information.