Smart Device Cost Apportionment via Operation Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a challenge in accurately apportioning the costs of smart device operations between work and personal purposes, making it difficult for employees to be reimbursed appropriately and for employers to bill employees for personal use, as existing methods lack efficient categorization and billing systems.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilizes a monitoring application on smart devices to record operation information and a metering and tariffing application to categorize and calculate costs based on purpose, using rules and categorization information from enterprise IT and personal cloud environments, allowing for automated apportionment and reporting of costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single smart device is used for both work and personal purposes, then device utility and convenience are improved, but cost apportionment accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments device operations into distinct categories (work-related and personal) by implementing a monitoring application that tracks individual operations and a metering application that applies categorization rules. This segmentation enables accurate cost apportionment while maintaining single-device versatility for both work and personal use.
2Measurement precision
If manual tracking of device operations is implemented, then cost categorization accuracy is improved, but time consumption and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring categorization rules in the metering application that automatically classify operations as work-related or personal based on predetermined criteria. This eliminates the need for manual real-time tracking while maintaining accurate cost categorization through automated rule-based classification.
Solution Approach 2:
The monitoring and metering applications operate autonomously to track, categorize, and calculate costs of device operations. The system self-services by automatically generating cost reports and apportioning expenses without requiring manual intervention, thus achieving accurate cost tracking with minimal time investment.
3Productivity
If automated monitoring and categorization systems are implemented, then cost apportionment efficiency is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a multi-functional system where the monitoring application performs operation tracking, the metering application handles categorization and cost calculation, and the integrated system generates comprehensive reports. This universal system consolidates multiple functions into an integrated solution that improves efficiency without proportionally increasing complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system, smart device and method for apportioning costs of smart device operations between purposes. Operation information concerning operations performed by the smart device is recorded. The operations are apportioned between purposes based on categorization information and the operation information. The cost of the apportioned operations performed by the device is determined for the purposes based on the operation information and tariff information.