Service Plan Manager for Prepaid Balance Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Prepaid mobile phone users, especially children and teenagers, often run out of communication time and incur unexpected high bills due to excessive usage, leading to financial burdens for parents and service providers, as existing service plans lack effective management mechanisms to prevent unapproved usage.
Innovation Solution
A service plan manager system that includes a processor, manager engine, and storage device to monitor prepaid and postpaid service plans, discontinuing service when the prepaid balance falls below a threshold, sending requests for balance increases to associated devices, and adding the increase to invoices, allowing parents to approve or deny requests, thereby controlling expenses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a pre-paid service plan is provided to a communication device, then the service provider can avoid unexpected high bills and financial burdens, but the customer may run out of communication time and not have the capability to add additional time when needed
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a parent account as an intermediary between the child's prepaid account and the service provider. The parent account manages the child's balance by receiving notifications when balance falls below a threshold and automatically adding funds, thus resolving the contradiction between financial control and ease of balance management.
2Reliability
If a pre-paid service plan with usage limits is provided, then the service provider can control excessive usage, but the customer may not have the capability to communicate when the usage limit is reached
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by automatically adding funds to the prepaid account before the communication need arises. When the balance falls below the threshold, the system proactively adds funds and notifies the parent, ensuring communication availability is maintained without requiring reactive intervention.
3Reliability
If a pre-paid service plan is provided to a child's communication device, then the service provider can prevent unapproved usage, but the child may use the phone in ways that parents do not approve
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by notifying the parent when the child's prepaid balance falls below the threshold. This feedback mechanism enables parents to monitor and control their child's usage patterns by being informed when intervention may be needed, thus maintaining usage approval while improving monitoring capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A service plan manager is provided, including a manager engine and a storage device to store data for a service account that comprises a pre-paid service plan associated with a first communication device and a post-paid service plan associated with a second communication device. The manager engine determines whether a balance associated with the pre-paid service plan is below a threshold, and communicates a request for increasing the balance to a device associated with the service account if the balance associated with the pre-paid service plan is below the threshold. The manager engine discontinues service for the first communication device until an approval of the request for increasing the balance is received, increases the balance in response to a receipt of the approval of the request for increasing the balance, and adds an amount associated with increasing the balance to an invoice associated with the service account.