Notification of charging rate adjustments in regions of a mobile network to control bandwidth usage in the regions

摘要

Systems and methods are disclosed that notify end users of mobile devices of charging rate adjustments within a mobile network. A rate notification system receives bandwidth usage data for the mobile network, and identifies a region within the mobile network having a bandwidth usage that exceeds a threshold. The bandwidth usage is processed per media type (i.e., voice calls, text messages, etc) based on the bandwidth usage data. The rate notification system then identifies a mobile device located within the region, and identifies one or more contacts of the end user of the mobile device. The rate notification system then identifies an adjusted charging rate per contact per media type for this end user, and provides the adjusted charging rates to the end user of the mobile device.

主权项

1. An apparatus comprising:
a rate notification system for a mobile network that provides mobile communications to mobile devices, wherein the mobile devices consume bandwidth of the mobile network through a plurality of different media types; the rate notification system including a processor configured to receive bandwidth usage data from base stations of the mobile network, wherein the bandwidth usage data includes media type descriptions indicating the bandwidth usage of the mobile devices for each of the media types used to consume the bandwidth of the mobile network; the rate notification system is configured to process the bandwidth usage data to identify a region within the mobile network where the bandwidth usage exceeds a threshold, and to identify mobile devices located in the region; the rate notification system is configured to transmit a query to a rating engine, wherein the query indicates the media types used to consume the bandwidth of the mobile network in the region; the rate notification system is configured to receive a response from the rating engine indicating an increased charging rate for at least one of the media types used to consume the bandwidth of the mobile network in the region, and to broadcast a notification to the mobile devices in the region indicating charging rates for each of the media types, wherein the charging rates include the increased charging rate for the at least one of the media types.