Banded billing system for telecommunication service

摘要

A banded billing system for telecommunication service is disclosed. A carrier's billing system maintains in data storage a banded-pricing schedule that divides a continuum of minutes of use into a series of contiguous, mutually-exclusive minute-ranges and that specifies for each minutes-range a respective cost. At the end of a billing period, the billing system determines a number of minutes of telecommunication service used by a given subscriber during the billing period. The billing system then queries the banded-pricing schedule to determine which minute-range the number of minutes falls into, and to determine the cost specified by the banded-pricing schedule for that minute-range. The billing system then bills the determined cost to the subscriber, for use of the telecommunication service in the billing period.

主权项

1. A banded billing method for telecommunication services comprising:
maintaining in data storage a banded-pricing schedule that divides a continuum of minutes of use into a series of contiguous, mutually-exclusive minute-ranges and that specifies for each minute-range a single respective cost to be charged for any number of minutes of use falling within that minute-range, wherein each of the minute-ranges defined by the banded pricing schedule spans a plurality of minutes; determining a number of minutes of telecommunication service that were used by a given subscriber during a given period; querying, by a microprocessor, the banded-pricing schedule to determine which minute-range the determined number of minutes falls into, and to determine the cost specified by the banded-pricing schedule for that minute-range; and billing the determined cost to the given subscriber, for use of the telecommunication service during the given period.