Telecommunication Billing Group Charge Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods of organizing and implementing charging and payment systems for telecommunications often fail to hold the entity benefiting from communication resource consumption responsible for the associated payments.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that determine whether both the service subscriber and recipient are part of billing groups, processing charges based on their group membership, allowing for shared payment responsibilities within social or business groups.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional billing schemes are used where the service subscriber pays for telecommunications, then the service provider receives payment, but the entity that actually benefits from the communication resources is not necessarily responsible for the payment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the billing entity from the service consumer by introducing a separate paying entity (service subscriber) who may or may not be the same as the benefiting entity (recipient). The system divides the communication participants into distinct roles: service subscriber who initiates the call and recipient who receives it, with separate billing logic for each role. This segmentation allows the benefiting entity to be held financially responsible while maintaining operational simplicity through automated role-based billing determination.
2Adaptability or versatility
If billing groups are implemented to enable shared payment responsibilities, then entities benefiting from telecommunications can cover costs, but the system complexity increases due to group membership determination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing billing groups and assigning members to specific groups before telecommunications occur. The system pre-defines payment relationships, group hierarchies, and billing rules in advance. When a communication occurs, the system simply queries pre-stored group membership data rather than performing complex real-time calculations. This preliminary setup enables flexible payment models where groups can share costs or allow sponsored communications, while keeping the actual billing process simple through lookup-based determination.
3Reliability
If the recipient is held responsible for payment when they benefit from the communication, then payment responsibility aligns with benefit, but the conventional service subscriber payment model must be changed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic billing models where payment responsibility can shift between service subscriber and recipient based on communication type, group membership, and pre-configured rules. The system dynamically determines who pays for each communication event rather than applying a static model. For example, in sponsored data sessions or group-shared billing scenarios, the recipient or group becomes the paying entity. This dynamic approach aligns payment with actual benefit while maintaining adaptability across different communication scenarios through rule-based determination.
Data Source
AI summary
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for processing a charge for a telecommunication. In use, a telecommunication from a service subscriber to a recipient is received. Additionally, it is determined whether both the service subscriber and the recipient are included within one or more billing groups. Further, a charge for the telecommunication is processed, based on the determining.