U.S. patent application number 12/913343 was filed with the patent office on 2011-02-17 for real-time charge calculation system.
This patent application is currently assigned to CGI Technologies and Solutions Inc.. Invention is credited to Olivier de Kerdrel, Arnoud Ekker.
Application Number | 20110040704 12/913343 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 23389903 |
Filed Date | 2011-02-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110040704 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ekker; Arnoud ; et
al. |
February 17, 2011 |
REAL-TIME CHARGE CALCULATION SYSTEM
Abstract
The above objects can be attained by a system that creates
system-created events at an optimal time independent of the billing
process, and performs a continuous pricing process so that as
events become available to the system they can be priced and
summarized in real-time, allowing the billing process to be
performed more efficiently. Usage and one-time events become
available for pricing as soon as they are delivered to the system.
System-created events, such as recurring, minimum charge summary,
and maximum charge summary events, are created by the system based
on a schedule defined by a subscription to which a customer has
subscribed. Charges for events are re-calculated, if necessary,
when information in the system, which impacts the charge of an
event, changes. On demand pricing is performed when a charge for
summary event, such as, a tiered discount plan summary, minimum
charge summary, or maximum charge summary, is to be displayed or
billed.
Inventors: |
Ekker; Arnoud; (Dusseldorf,
DE) ; de Kerdrel; Olivier; (Dusseldorf, DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
STAAS & HALSEY LLP
SUITE 700, 1201 NEW YORK AVENUE, N.W.
WASHINGTON
DC
20005
US
|
Assignee: |
CGI Technologies and Solutions
Inc.
Fairfax
VA
|
Family ID: |
23389903 |
Appl. No.: |
12/913343 |
Filed: |
October 27, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
09353625 |
Jul 15, 1999 |
7849008 |
|
|
12913343 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/400 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 40/12 20131203;
H04M 2215/018 20130101; G06Q 30/04 20130101; H04M 15/00 20130101;
G06Q 30/06 20130101; G06Q 30/0283 20130101; H04M 2215/0112
20130101; G06Q 20/102 20130101; H04M 15/81 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/400 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00 |
Claims
1. A method of continuous bill calculation using a computer,
comprising: determining whether a non-usage event independent of a
user initiated event and a usage event initiated by a user are
available for pricing; and executing the pricing for the non-usage
event and the usage event based on determination of availability
for pricing, where the non-usage event is available for pricing at
a first billing period and the usage event is available for pricing
at a second billing period.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a Continuation Application of and claims
the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/353,625, inventor
Arnoud Ekker, et al., titled A REAL-TIME CHARGE CALCULATION SYSTEM,
filed Jul. 15, 1999, in the United States Patent and Trademark
Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by
reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention is directed to a system that
calculates prices for, and summarizes events in real time and, more
particularly, to pricing events, including system created events,
at an optimum time before a billing process is performed.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] The telecommunications industry has traditionally performed
the pricing process during the billing process to ensure all
charges appearing on a bill are priced correctly. Another process
traditionally performed during the billing process is the process
of creating system-created events, such as recurring charges. The
time and expense (i.e., processing power) required to perform these
processes is increasing because the telecommunications industry
continues to expand, offering more complicated services, more
combinations of services, and more pricing models, in addition to
simply generating a growing number of events to be created, priced
and billed. This results in a shrinking time window for the billing
process to be completed.
[0006] Also, as competition increases in the telecommunications
industry, customers (residential and business, alike) are demanding
immediate access to, more accurate, and up-to-date information on
charges that will appear on their next bill. With widely used tools
such as the Internet, self-customer care, and on-line banking,
these types of customer demands (on-demand requests) are likely to
increase.
[0007] Traditional telecommunications billing systems are based on
the approach that charges are only calculated for services that
have been rendered, with the exception of recurring charges, which
are typically billed in advance. This approach results in
performing the pricing process at the latest possible moment, which
is during the billing process.
[0008] What is needed is a system where system-created events are
created independent of the billing process and charges for events
are calculated real-time such that pricing is performed at the
earliest reasonable and practical time. This offers both the
telecommunications company and the customers of the
telecommunications company the most immediate and accurate access
to unbilled charges possible, as well as improves the billing
process by reducing the computational demands of the billing
process.
SUMMARY
[0009] It is an object of the present invention to provide an
architecture that supports the calculation of charges as the
calculations can be performed rather than during the billing
process.
[0010] It is another object of the present invention to provide a
system that calculates charges for system-created events, such as
recurring events, minimum charge summary, and maximum charge
summary events at an optimal time prior to and independent of the
billing process.
[0011] It is also an object of the present invention to
recalculate, independent of the billing process, the charge for any
event based on changes to information in the system that directly
impact the event.
[0012] It is a further object of the present invention to price
usage events as they become available.
[0013] It is an object of the present invention to perform
summarization of charges in real-time.
[0014] It is another object of the present invention to provide
on-demand pricing of summary records.
[0015] It is an additional object of the present invention to
enable system-created events such as recurring, minimum charge
summary, and maximum charge summary events to be created using a
frequency (e.g., quarterly vs. monthly) independent of the billing
process that bills the charges for those events.
[0016] It is a further object of the present invention to enable
the charges for recurring, minimum charge summary, and maximum
charge summary events to be applied towards discount plans in the
same manner as usage and one-time events that are processed
throughout the period.
[0017] The above objects can be attained by a system that creates
system-created events independent of the billing process, and
performs a continuous pricing process so that as events become
available to the system they can be priced and summarized in
real-time. Usage and one-time events are priced when they become
available to the system. System-created events, such as recurring,
minimum charge summary, and maximum charge summary events are
created, and charges calculated, based on the schedule determined
by a customer's subscriptions, independent of and outside the
billing process and its frequency. One-time events are created, and
charges calculated, once for the life of a subscription, typically
the same day the subscription is activated or terminated. Summary
events, such as minimum charge summary, maximum charge summary, and
tiered, and tapered summaries, are created/updated by the system
each time an event that impacts the summary is processed by the
pricing process, i.e., real-time summarization. The present
invention is implemented to price a summary event only when the
summary event is to be displayed (for a CSR, customer, or on a
bill), but the architecture of the present invention also supports
pricing summary events each time the summary event is updated so
that pricing activities for summary events are not required at
display time, similar to usage, recurring, and one-time events.
[0018] These together with other objects and advantages which will
be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and
operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed,
reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part
hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0019] FIG. 1 depicts a preferred hardware and software
architecture for the present invention.
[0020] FIG. 2 is a process and data flow diagram highlighting the
pricing and billing processes performed by the present
invention.
[0021] FIG. 3 illustrates a recurring event creation and billing
process time line for monthly recurring charges and a monthly
billing process.
[0022] FIG. 4 illustrates a recurring event creation and billing
process time line for monthly recurring charges and a bi-monthly
billing process.
[0023] FIG. 5 is an example of a tiered pricing plan with examples
that illustrate the impact of having system-created events
available for the summaries of pricing plans.
[0024] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the pricing and real-time
summarization processes performed by the present invention.
[0025] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the billing and extract
processes.
[0026] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the event creation process
performed by the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0027] Before discussing the invention in detail a summary of the
terms used is provided. A billing period is a segment of time,
defined by specific beginning and ending dates, used to help
identify charges to be billed to a customer in a specific billing
process. A billing process is a critical path, end-of-cycle process
that organizes and formats all charges to appear on a specific
physical or electronic invoice or bill. An event is a generic term
used to identify a rendered, or a prediction of a rendered product
or service. Summaries of events are also considered events. An
event contains enough information for the system to be able to
calculate a charge and bill the charge to the correct customer. A
final price is the result of the final calculation of a charge for
an event. An event that is final priced is ready for the billing
process. A maximum charge summary event stores, in addition to
summary totals, which can be zero, an amount charged a customer
when the customer's total applicable charges for a given period
exceed the maximum charge as specified by a price plan to which the
customer has subscribed. An example is a $10,000 maximum charge
that a medium-sized national retailer must pay for a toll free
number. A minimum charge summary event stores, in addition to
summary totals, which can be zero, an amount charged a customer
when the customer's total applicable charges for a given period do
not meet the minimum charge requirement as specified by a price
plan to which the customer has subscribed. An example is a $100
minimum charge on an international calling plan where the customer
can call any country in the world for $0.25/minute, but the
customer is subject to a minimum usage charge of $100 per billing
period. One-time events are delivered to the pricing process by the
system that owns the subscriptions. One-time events result in
charges that are billed and collected exactly one time. Examples of
charges for one-time events are a service activation fee ($60 to
activate a residential line) or the purchase of a hardware item
($175 charge for a new mobile phone). A price plan is a generic
term used to describe the terms and conditions on which any given
event is priced. A priceable event is an event that is available to
the system, also has not been final priced, and for which pricing
information, such as customer information and price plan
information is known. Any event can be marked for re-processing, at
which point it is again considered priceable. The pricing process
accepts an event, identifies the price plan(s) that applies to the
event, and calculates the price for the event. The pricing process
can be performed as a part of, or independent of, the billing
process. The term real-time is used in the present invention
description in reference to when the system processes events
(including summary events). As soon as an event is received, it is
processed in real-time. In other words, events are not "batched up"
and processed using a back-end process. Recurring event charges are
system-created and result in charges that are billed on a regular,
recurring interval. Examples of charges for recurring events are
the fees charged for a discount plan ($3.95/month for the privilege
of making unlimited long distance calls in the continental US or
Canada for $0.10/minute anytime of day) or monthly access fees
($16.95/month for unlimited residential phone service). A
subscription is a generic term used to describe a specific instance
of a product or service provided to a customer, such as a mobile
phone number or call waiting. The subscription references a price
plan used to calculate charges for priceable events related to the
subscribed product or service. A summary event is an accumulator
for charges or some other metric, such as minutes, for events that
are processed by the pricing plans. For the invention, the
accumulators of summary events are used for calculating the final
price of charges or discounts in real time. Maximum charge summary
events and minimum charge summary events are system-created based
on a schedule. All other summary events are created real-time as
other events that contribute to the summary event are processed.
Usage events are created by a network when a customer uses a
metered service, such as making long distance calls, and then
delivered to the system for pricing and billing. Charges for usage
events are typically calculated based on a pre-determined metering
algorithm.
[0028] The invention described herein includes a software
architecture that supports several techniques used to maintain
accurate up-to-date unbilled charge information for a
telecommunications company and its customers. In the invention,
charges for events are final priced as early as possible rather
than waiting for the billing process to perform the pricing process
to calculate final prices for charges. One significant advantage of
calculating charges in real-time (final pricing as early as
possible) is that the impact of the pricing process on the billing
process is minimized or eliminated altogether, i.e., freeing the
system from performing all or most of the pricing process during
the billing process. Another major advantage of real-time charge
calculation is that at any point in time, a customer service
representative (CSR) or a customer may (on-demand) view all
unbilled charges-to-date for a customer that will appear on the
customer's next bill. Finally, a third significant advantage of
finalizing charges prior to the billing process is that any and all
charges can be considered for discount plans. Using the
architecture and techniques described herein the charges-to-date
will be as complete and accurate as possible at any point in time
throughout the billing period.
[0029] In the telecommunications industry, there are three basic
charge types. They are usage, one-time, and recurring. Usage
charges are for metered services and are typically calculated based
on a pre-determined metering algorithm. One-time charges are
charges that are billed and collected exactly one time. Recurring
charges are charges that are billed on a regular, recurring
interval.
[0030] The present invention provides techniques that can be used
to ensure all unbilled charges and discounts can be calculated
real-time (i.e., as early as possible after an event is received in
the system).
[0031] The techniques used include:
[0032] Performing the pricing process continuously, independent of
and outside the billing process so all events can be final
priced/discounted as they become available to the system.
[0033] Creating and maintaining summary totals real-time within the
pricing process as events impacting the summary totals are
processed.
[0034] Creating recurring, minimum charge summary, and maximum
charge summary events using a frequency (e.g., quarterly vs.
monthly) independent of that of the billing processes that bill the
charges for those events.
[0035] Re-calculating charges for events based on changes to
information in the system that directly impact the events.
[0036] These techniques are described in detail below.
[0037] The present invention preferably operates in a hardware and
software environment as depicted in FIG. 1. The environment is a
three-tier client/server architecture. A user interface is
implemented on the client 10 using MFC framework operating on
Windows NT. There is also a client architecture (not shown) for
allowing customer access over the Internet. The application server
20 component is implemented using C++ for the applications running
on an HP-UX platform. The system uses an Oracle database system,
also on an HP-UX platform, to store persistent objects on the
database server 30. The client to server communication is based on
Orbix. The system also includes storage, such as disk storage (not
shown), in which the processes of the invention can be stored and
distributed. The processes of the invention can also be distributed
over a network, such as the Internet. The processes of the
invention, such as the pricing process and the billing process, are
stored and executed on the application server 20. Events that are
received from a network (i.e., usage events) are stored on the
database server 30 with events that are created by the system. The
database server 30 also stores information, such as information on
customers and their subscriptions. CSRs and customers make requests
for viewing information via distributed procedures on the client 10
machines. These distributed procedures invoke processes on the
application server 20 to service the requests. The processes of the
present invention are discussed below and are described in more
detail in the included Appendix.
[0038] The present invention includes an architecture that allows a
pricing process to be active and running continuously. FIG. 6,
which will be discussed in more detail later, illustrates the basic
pricing process flow. A pricing process is in an idle state, i.e.,
not consuming any hardware resources, unless it is processing
events, so this architecture has no negative impact on the
performance of other processes that may be running on the same
physical machine. Events are delivered to a pricing process using a
message queue. When an idle pricing process detects that a message
exists in its queue, it immediately begins processing the message
by reading it from the queue and processing the event(s) contained
within the message. Upon completion of processing all the events in
a message, the pricing process returns to an idle state unless
there are subsequent messages in its queue, in which case the
process repeats itself.
[0039] The physical architecture on which the pricing process runs
is considered scalable, which means additional processors or
machines can be added in order to support more pricing processes
running simultaneously. If more than one pricing process is
running, they are run in parallel, independent of each other. Such
scalability is useful when the volume of messages and events to be
processed exceeds the capacity of the current number of available
pricing processes. Utilizing the scalability feature is an
effective way to minimize the time any given event must wait before
it is processed, which results in timely pricing of events and
accurate up-to-date charge information.
[0040] The process and architecture described above for the pricing
process provides a consistent, real-time means for calculating
charges for events. Whether an event is a usage event received from
the network, a recurring event created by the system, or an event
that is tagged for re-processing as a result of a change to a
subscription, it need only to be placed in the message queue of a
pricing process and the event is priced and ready for billing (or
viewing) immediately.
[0041] As discussed earlier, there are three basic types of events.
Referring to the operation and data flow 60 diagram in FIG. 2, they
are usage 62, one-time 64, and recurring 66. Events are generated
from a variety of places inside and outside the system. Usage
events 62 are generated by the customer while using a subscribed
service, and generally come from a telecommunications network.
Usage events are priceable immediately after they are received by
the system. One-time events 64 can be generated by the system or
received by the system. Examples of one-time events 64 created by
the system are fees resulting from the activation or cancellation
of a subscription, and an example of a one-time event 64 received
by the system is an event created by the network to capture the
information for operator assistance on a long distance call.
One-time events 64 are priceable immediately after they are
received or created by the system. Recurring events 66 can be
created by the system or received by the system. Examples of
system-created recurring events are, as discussed previously,
charges that are billed on a regular, recurring interval. An
example of a recurring event 66 that is received by the system is
an event created by the network to capture configuration
information entered by a customer via a touch tone phone. Recurring
events 66 are priceable immediately after they are received or
created by the system.
[0042] Regardless of where or when events are generated, they
eventually must go through a pricing process for the system to be
able to bill them to a customer. The approach of the present
invention is to final price events in real-time (as soon as they
are received) using a pricing process 68 that runs
continuously.
[0043] As an event is received into the system or created by the
system, it is immediately placed into the message queue 67 of a
pricing process 68. During processing, the pricing process 68
checks to see if the event applies to any price plans that require
a summary. If the event applies to a summary, then it is forwarded
70 to a summarize process 72. The summarize process 72
creates/maintains summaries in real-time (i.e., real-time
summarization). The summarize process 72 first attempts to retrieve
74 an existing, applicable summary, from the unbilled events
database 76, to which the charge can be added. If an applicable
summary exists, it is updated 78. If an applicable summary does not
exist, then a new summary is created and stored 78 in the unbilled
events database 76. The summary record, if necessary, is also
returned 80 to the pricing process 68 and evaluated as part of the
price plan. The pricing process 68 final prices the event and
stores 82 it in the unbilled events database 76 for future
reference and billing. The real-time summarization process 72 is
illustrated in more detail as a flow in the inset of FIG. 6.
[0044] If desired, the pricing process 68 is also capable of
pricing impacted summary records each time they are updated,
although the embodiment discussed herein does not price summary
events until they are extracted for display, either to a CSR, a
customer, or for a bill.
[0045] All events are stored in the unbilled events 76 database
until they are billed by the billing process 94. Since the
processes to generate bills and to display unbilled events to a CSR
or customer are similar, the billing process 94 is used for both of
these features. When a CSR or customer requests to view the charges
that will appear on the customer's next bill, the application
server receives a request 104 from the client for the billing
process 94. The billing process 94 then issues a request 100 to the
extract process 86 for the customers unbilled events, which first
extracts 90 the applicable unbilled summary events from the
unbilled events 76 database. When all applicable unbilled summary
events have been extracted 90, the extract process 86 then
determines if any of the summary events need to be priced. If so,
then those summary events are inserted 92 into the message queue 67
for the pricing process 68 and priced immediately. When all the
summaries have been priced, the extract process 86 then extracts 90
all applicable unbilled events and delivers 102 the unbilled events
to the billing process 94 for formatting. Once the billing process
94 has formatted the unbilled events, the information is returned
106 to the client for display.
[0046] The process flow for creating a bill is the same as
displaying unbilled events with the following exceptions: the
extract process 86 also marks 88 the unbilled events 76 as billed,
which results in the migration of those events from the unbilled
events 76 database to another database, such as a billed events
database, the billing process 94 is initiated based on time (not
shown) rather than a client request 104, and the formatted events
are forwarded 96 to the bills 98 database rather than returning 106
them to the client. The billing process 94 and extract process 86
are illustrated in more detail in FIG. 7.
[0047] Recurring events can be created by the system (one-time and
usage events are delivered to the system). In addition to creating
recurring events, the system also creates minimum charge summary
and maximum charge summary events. This is done to preserve the
intent of the invention by making all known charges available for
contribution to pricing plans and for display, either to a CSR, a
customer, or on a bill, at any point in time.
[0048] The present invention creates recurring, minimum charge
summary, and maximum charge summary events when the schedule
determined by the subscription dictates it. As described earlier,
once these events are available to the system, they are placed in
the message queues of a pricing process for immediate pricing and
summarization.
[0049] Recurring, minimum, and maximum charges are calculated in
traditional systems when the pricing process is performed during
the billing process. This is the latest possible moment in which to
calculate charges to be billed by the current billing process. This
traditional approach may provide the advantage of pricing each
charge only once since everything (e.g., cancellation date,
suspension date, price plan change date, etc.) necessary to
calculate accurate charges is known, however, there are several
disadvantages. The disadvantages of such a traditional approach
are:
[0050] the billing process is burdened with the overhead of the
pricing process which performs a significant number of calculations
to create recurring, minimum, and maximum charges, which are
repetitive, predictable, and could have been performed earlier;
[0051] the charges are not available for inquiry until the billing
process has completed, so anyone viewing the charges for a customer
prior to billing may not know that a recurring, minimum, or maximum
charge applies or what the charge is;
[0052] the creation of the charges is linked to the billing process
in which the bill is produced, thereby placing an unnecessary
restriction on the system; and
[0053] the charges are not available to be applied to summaries for
discount plans in the same manner as other events that are
processed throughout the period, so customers are not given timely
credit for these charges in summaries for discount plans.
[0054] The present invention creates recurring, minimum charge
summary, and maximum charge summary events based on a schedule
defined by the customer's subscription which is stored on the
database server. The schedule is independent of the billing process
and allows for events to be created and priced independent of the
billing process. In this way, the invention fully supports the
traditional approach of creating recurring events whose frequency
is equal to that of the billing period, as is illustrated in FIG.
3, as well as supporting creating recurring events where the
frequency of the recurring charge period is different than the
frequency of the billing period, as is illustrated in FIG. 4. Note
that FIG. 4 illustrates an example where the recurring charge
period (monthly) is more frequent than the billing period
(bi-monthly), but an equally valid example (not shown), which is
also fully supported by the invention, is one where the recurring
charge period is longer (e.g., bi-monthly or quarterly) than the
billing period (e.g., monthly).
[0055] The event creation process in FIG. 8 illustrates how this is
accomplished, again by utilizing a continuously running process,
which identifies the system-created events due to be created. When
an event is created, it is placed in the message queue of a pricing
process for immediate pricing and summarization.
[0056] The present invention uses attributes of the subscription
such as period frequency (monthly, quarterly, etc.), period start
date, and billed through date to dictate when system-created events
are to be created. Refer to the time line 140 in FIG. 3 to help
illustrate an example where the period frequency for a recurring
charge is the same as that of the billing period. Dates A, C, E and
G represent days when the billing process runs. Dates B, D, F and H
mark the first days of the recurring charge period.
[0057] Recurring charges are typically billed in advance. For
example, on bill Date C, the recurring charge that covers the
period beginning on Date D and ending one day before Date F is
billed.
[0058] A traditional implementation would calculate the recurring
charge that covers the period beginning on Date D in the pricing
process performed during the billing process on Date C. This
includes at a minimum a process that identifies the recurring
charges that must be billed, and determines the period to be billed
and the amount to be billed.
[0059] The approach of the present invention is to examine all the
information required to create the recurring event and price it
outside of the billing process. The same edits and calculations
performed for the traditional approach must still be performed, but
the invention's approach is to perform them in event and pricing
processes independent of when the billing process is performed. For
example, when Date B arrives (Date A<Date B<=Date C), the
recurring event for the period beginning with Date D is created,
and the charge is immediately calculated and applied to any
applicable summaries. This charge is immediately available in the
system, and can be viewed by a CSR or a customer. More importantly,
the charge is also available when the billing process on Date C
commences, so the billing process does not have to wait for the
event creation and pricing processes as is the case for a
traditional implementation. Similarly, the recurring event for the
period beginning with Date F is created, and the charge calculated,
on Date D (Date C<Date D<=Date E).
[0060] While the approach of the invention for creating
system-created charges is completely flexible, the preferred and
optimal implementation of this is to define the schedule in such a
way that recurring, minimum charge summary, and maximum charge
summary events to be billed during the next billing process are
created as soon as practical after the previous billing process has
completed (i.e., on Date D remains after Date C, but is probably
the following day and optimally, that night). The event creation
process of the present invention includes the ability to specify a
time, in addition to a date, when to create a system-created
event.
[0061] To illustrate the flexibility of the present invention,
refer to the time line 150 in FIG. 4 to help illustrate an example
where the period frequency for a recurring charge is different than
that of the billing period. In this example, the recurring events
are still created and priced on a monthly basis, but the billing
process is run bi-monthly. Dates I, M, and Q represent days when
the billing process runs. Dates J, L, N, P, R, and T mark the first
days of the recurring charge periods.
[0062] To preserve the industry standard of billing recurring
charges in advance, in this example recurring events are created to
cover a period two months in advance, rather than one month in
advance, so that the customer is billed sufficiently to cover
recurring charges at least until the next billing process is run.
For example, on bill Date M, the recurring charges that cover the
one-month periods beginning on Date N and Date P are billed.
[0063] As described before, even if a traditional implementation is
sophisticated enough to support billing periods that differ from
recurring charge periods, the recurring charges covering the
periods beginning on Date N and Date P would be calculated in the
pricing process performed during the billing process on Date M.
This includes at a minimum a process that identifies the recurring
charges that must be billed, and determines the periods to be
billed and the amounts to be billed.
[0064] Again, the approach of the present invention is to examine
all the information required to create the recurring event and
price it outside of the billing process. The same edits and
calculations performed for the traditional approach must still be
performed, but the invention's approach is to perform them in event
creation and pricing processes independent of when the billing
process is performed. For example, when Date J arrives (Date
I<Date J<Date L), the recurring event for the period
beginning with Date N is created, and the charge is immediately
calculated. This charge is immediately available in the system, and
can be viewed by a CSR or a customer. Similarly, on Date L (Date
J<Date L<=Date M), the recurring event for the period
beginning with Date P is created, and the charge calculated. Both
of the recurring events and their charges are also available when
the billing process on Date M commences, so the billing process
does not have to wait for the event creation and pricing processes
as described for a traditional implementation.
[0065] Creating system-created events and pricing them independent
of the billing process also makes the charges for those events
available to be applied to summaries for discount plans in the same
manner as other events that are processed throughout the period,
such as usage and one-time events. This means charges for
system-created events can be applied to discount summaries, and
customers are given timely credit for those charges towards their
discount plans. This is most visible when a CSR or customer makes a
request to view the customer's unbilled charges. By applying the
charges for system-created events to applicable summaries, a
complete and accurate picture of discounts earned can be displayed
for the CSR or customer along with the unbilled charges.
[0066] For example, consider the example in FIG. 5 that defines the
discounting parameters for a simple tiered pricing plan, which
offers a single lump discount based on the sum of all charges for
applicable events. Referring to table 152, if the total of
applicable charges is less than or equal to $20, then no discount
has been earned. If the sum of all applicable charges is greater
than $20 and less than or equal to $50, the total sum of charges
would have earned at least a 5% discount. And, if the sum of all
applicable charges is more than $50, a discount of 10% is awarded
when the summary is billed. Consider an example where a customer is
responsible for $12 of recurring charges in a billing period, in
addition to their accumulated usage charges, which are, for
example, $18 on a particular day. That same day, when a CSR or
customer views the customer's unbilled charges they will see that
the recurring charges are included 154 in the calculation of the
discount and that the customer has already earned at least $1.50
discount. The flexible architecture of the present invention
supports accomplishing this in several ways. The present invention
preferably prices a summary event, i.e., in this case to calculate
the current discount earned by a summary of all contributing
events, only when the summary event is to be displayed (for a CSR,
customer, or on a bill). However, the architecture of the present
invention also supports pricing summary events each time the
summary event is updated, so that pricing activities for summary
events are not required at display time, and the architecture of
the present invention also supports real-time re-processing of each
impacted contributing event, so that the corresponding discount
earned by each contributing event is maintained on the event itself
rather than just on a discount summary event. A less sophisticated
system that does not create system-created events independent of
the billing cycle would not have the opportunity to include the
recurring charges in the discount summary, and therefore any
display of unbilled charges would not show 156 that a discount had
been earned. The method of the invention provides a complete and
accurate representation of unbilled charges to date, while a less
sophisticated system provides incomplete and inaccurate
information.
[0067] The advantages of creating system-created events independent
of the billing process, and performing a pricing process that
calculates charges for recurring events, minimum charge summary
events, and maximum charge summary events independent of the
billing process are:
[0068] the overhead of the event creation and pricing processes,
which perform a significant number of calculations to calculate
charges for events, no longer impacts the billing process;
[0069] complete and accurate events with charges are available to
the billing process, and available for customer inquiry,
immediately after the events are created and before the billing
process runs;
[0070] the events are created, and charges calculated, independent
of the billing process, which enables subscriptions to be defined
using frequencies (i.e., monthly, quarterly) that are independent
of the customer's billing frequency; and
[0071] the charges are available to be applied to summaries for
discount plans in the same manner as other events that are
processed throughout the period, so customers are given timely
credit for charges in summaries for discount plans.
[0072] For the system to maintain priced unbilled events, the
system needs to be able to identify and act on changing information
that impacts the charges for unbilled events. The present invention
also captures changes in the system that affect unbilled events,
including summary events, and then re-calculates the charges for
those events.
[0073] For example, referring again to FIG. 3, as explained above,
the recurring event for the period beginning on Date D is created,
and the charge calculated, on Date B. Given this, there are several
possible scenarios that can impact this recurring event, three of
which are illustrated below as examples:
[0074] If the customer calls before Date C (and after Date B) to
terminate the service represented in FIG. 3 on Date E, then this
information is captured and used to identify any events that may
have been impacted. The potentially impacted events are marked for
re-processing, and inserted in a message queue of a pricing
process. In this example, the pricing process will delete the
recurring event created on Date B, create a new recurring event,
and calculate its charge, for the period from Date D to Date E.
[0075] If the customer calls before Date C (and after Date B) to
terminate the service on Date C, then this information is captured
and used to identify any events that may have been impacted. The
potentially impacted events are marked for re-processing, and
inserted in a message queue of a pricing process. In this example,
the pricing process will delete the recurring event created on date
B, and calculate a credit for the period from date C to date D (as
the recurring period from date B to date D was already billed as
part of the billing process of date A).
[0076] If the customer calls before Date C (and after Date B) to
terminate the service on Date G, then this information is captured
and used to identify any events that may have been impacted. The
potentially impacted events are marked for re-processing, and
inserted in a message queue of a pricing process. In this example,
the pricing process will do nothing to the recurring event for the
period beginning on Date D, because the full period is still
billable. On Date D, when the subsequent recurring event is created
and the charge is calculated, the termination of service on Date G
will be taken into account and a final, partial recurring charge
from Date F to Date G will be calculated.
[0077] The pricing process 160 resides in an idle state 62 until a
message exists or appears in the message queue at which point the
idle state 162 is exited and the message is read 164. A
determination is made 166 as to whether the message refers to an
event file and if so an event is read 168 from the file. Then the
system checks 170 to see if the end of the file has been reached.
If so, the system returns to the idle state 162. Otherwise, the
system identifies 172 the subscription for the event and identifies
174 the price plan for the event. Control is then passed to a real
time summarization process 176 to be discussed later. After the
summarization process 176 is complete the event is priced 178 and
saved 182. The system then determines 182 whether the event came
from a file and, if so, returns to reading events 168.
[0078] In the summarization process 176, a check 184 is made to
determine whether a summary applies to the price plan. If so, the
system checks 186 to see if a summary already exists by looking in
the unbilled events database. If a summary does not exist, a
summary is created 188 and saved 190. If a summary does exist, a
determination 192 is made as to whether the event is being
reprocessed and, if not, the summary is updated 194 and saved 190.
If the event is being reprocessed, then the impact of the original
event is essentially erased 196 from the summary before the summary
is updated 194 using the new charge for the event and saved
190.
[0079] A billing process 210, as shown in FIG. 7, starts 212 when a
bill cycle is due 214 or when an on-demand request occurs 216. The
accounts to be billed are identified 218 and the dates that govern
the extraction are identified 220. The system then checks 222 to
see if any accounts were identified to be billed and, if not, stops
224. Otherwise, an extraction process 226 discussed later is
performed. Once the events are extracted, they are formatted 228.
The system then determines 230 whether there has been an on-demand
request for charge information by the client and, if so, the data
is returned 232 to the client for display. Otherwise, the system
stores 234 the bills in the database, sends 236 the billed amounts
to an accounts receivable system and the events are marked 238 as
billed to prevent extraction during the subsequent billing process
for this account. The system then checks 222 to see if there are
still more accounts to be billed and, if not, stops 224.
[0080] In the extract process 226 the system extracts 240 the
unbilled summary events according to the extract dates and current
account filter and determines 242 whether the summary events need
to be priced. If so, the summary events needing pricing are sent
244 to a pricing process. After any summary events requiring
pricing have been priced, all unbilled events according to the
extract dates and the current account 246 are extracted and
returned to the billing process for formatting 228.
[0081] The event creation process 260, as depicted in FIG. 8 and
described in more detail in the Appendix, is essentially a
continuously executing process that obtains 262 a future-dated
chronologically ordered entry from an event creation table. The
current date and time is obtained 264 and compared 266 to the date
of the entry from the table. If the current date and time is after
the date of the entry from the table, the system checks 268 to see
if a recurring event is to be created. If so, the recurring event
is created 270 and placed 272 in a pricing process queue.
Otherwise, a minimum/maximum charge event summary is due to be
created. The system checks 273 to see whether the minimum/maximum
charge summary event to be created has not already been created (as
a result of the normal pricing and real-time summarization
processing described for FIG. 6) and, if not, the minimum/maximum
charge summary event is created 274 and placed 276 in the unbilled
events database. After the appropriate event is created or verified
to already exist, the next event creation time is calculated 278 by
the system and stored 280 as a new entry in the table.
[0082] The many features and advantages of the invention are
apparent from the detailed specification and, thus, it is intended
by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of
the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the
invention. Further, since numerous variations, modifications and
changes will be readily identifiable or occur to those skilled in
the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact
construction and operation illustrated and described, and
accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be
resorted to falling within the scope of the invention.
[0083] The present invention has been described with respect to a
preferred software and hardware architecture but the invention can
be implemented in a number of different architectures. Also, the
present invention is not limited to the telecommunications
industry. The present invention can be applied to any other
industry that requires a high throughput of priced information,
such as an insurance claims processing system, for example. The
present invention can also be used in such activities as pro-rating
recurring charges or estimating usage charges through the end of
the period when an implementation requires such activities to
display information to a user. The present invention, as described
herein, also frequently refers to recurring, minimum charge
summary, and maximum charge summary events as system-created
events. These types of events were selected for their simplicity,
and should not be considered a comprehensive list of system-created
events. For example, the event creation process 260 described in
FIG. 8 can easily be expanded to include other types of
system-created events.
* * * * *