Web Interface for Wireless Account Billing Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
The limited interfaces of wireless devices complicate tasks such as entering billing information for purchases, and businesses face challenges in efficiently billing customers due to proprietary billing platforms from different wireless carriers, which lack flexibility in billing options like recurring billing.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that allows users to manage wireless account information through a web interface, enabling the selection and purchase of applications and services without using the limited interfaces of wireless devices, and providing flexible billing options independent of carrier platforms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users enter billing information via wireless device interface, then purchase can be completed, but the process becomes time-consuming and frustrating due to limited input capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a computer as an intermediary device between the user and the wireless device purchase system. The computer handles the time-consuming tasks of entering billing information and creating accounts, while the wireless device merely needs to display a verification code. This mediator approach resolves the contradiction by performing complex input operations on a device with full keyboard capabilities rather than on the limited wireless device interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically creating user accounts and storing billing information in advance, before the actual purchase moment. When a user wants to purchase an application, the billing information is already prepared and stored, requiring only verification rather than re-entry. This preliminary preparation eliminates the time-consuming data entry process during the purchase transaction.
2Adaptability or versatility
If businesses use proprietary carrier billing platforms, then billing can be conducted through carrier systems, but flexibility in billing options is lost and developers must tailor systems to each carrier
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the billing functionality from the carrier-specific platforms and consolidates it into a separate, independent billing system hosted on computers. This extraction removes the dependency on proprietary carrier systems, allowing businesses to implement flexible billing options without being constrained by carrier-specific limitations. The billing system becomes a standalone component that can serve multiple carriers and provide diverse billing models.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal billing system that can handle multiple billing models (one-time purchases, subscriptions, freemium) and serve multiple wireless carriers through a single platform. This universal system eliminates the need for developers to create separate billing integrations for each carrier, providing both flexibility in billing options and reducing system complexity through standardization.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for managing wireless account information. A list of applications is presented via a web interface on a computing device. The applications are operable to run on a wireless handheld device and a plurality of billing options are presented. In response to receiving a selection of an application, a wireless account is updated via a link between a web account and a wireless account according to the selected application, such that the selected application is available when a wireless account is accessed via a wireless handheld device.