AU2004100007A4 - Business method and System for Billing of Usage and Charges Across Multiple Customer Accounts - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Business method and System for Billing of Usage and Charges Across Multiple Customer Accounts PP Australia 2 0 FEB 2004 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: Personal handheld devices and other services, such as mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants, Handheld computers and so on, are an important business tool for many individuals and businesses. Historically it has been common for employers to issue staff with such devices or services with the employer bearing the costs involved, whereby the supplier of the service (for example a telecommunications carrier) bills the employer on a corporate or business account.

However it is an increasing trend that such devices are becoming more of a lifestyle choice for the general population. This means that individuals increasingly like to exercise personal choice over the type, features, design and use of these devices. Employers have also recognised that employees will inevitably use these devices for personal, or non-business related purposes. This has led to a trend where employers adopt one of the following approaches: The employer continues to bear the total cost of the devices The employer seeks a fixed cost contribution for the use of the device from the employee The employer seeks a contribution from the employee if the monthly cost of use exceeds some threshold The employer utilises a reporting system so that employees can review, identify and pay for their personal use of the devices or services and the employer continues to be billed direct by the supplier The employer expects employees to hold the device or service in their own name and for them to be billed direct by the supplier. The employee then recovers any business-use costs from the employer, usually by means of a paper-based expense claim process.

The invention described in this document seeks to provide a streamlined mechanism for billing devices and services where the costs are to be shared between several parties, for example between an employee and employer, or between a contractor and one or more clients. It thereby allows all of the above approaches to be made available to users of the system.

The invention is in the form of a business process encapsulated within a computer system that utilises the internet to deliver a billing process for use by suppliers or resellers of these devices and services.

The components of the billing process are as follows: Supplier The body that provides the service or device to the account holder. Eg: A Telecommunications carrier.

Account An account held in the name of an Account Holder, listing the services assigned to the account and listing charges payable by the Account Holder.

Account Holder An entity that has an account with a supplier and who is responsible for paying all charges billed to that account. Eg: An employer or an employee.

Service A device or service that is being billed and which is billed on a particular account. Eg: a mobile phone. The service is said to be "directly linked" to that account.

Service Number A Service Number is the unique identifier for a particular Service.

Billing Cycle The period of time in which usage and other charges are accrued before a Page 2 bill is produced and sent to the account holder.

End User The person who is the primary user of a service and who may or may not be the Account Holder.

Billing System The computer system that performs pricing and bill generation for the Supplier. In addition to the supplier, the Account Holders and End Users are able to access billing data relevant to their account and/or services via the a web browser. Invoices may be generated on paper or electronically and delivered via email.

Allocation The assignment of costs relating to a particular service to a particular account.

Verified Service A list of service numbers, which are not directly linked to an Account List Holders own account, but which have been verified by the Account Holder as being legitimate originators of charges that the Account Holder is prepared payment responsibility. In other words, the Account Holder is prepared to accept charges from the Service Numbers on the Verified Service List.

The billing process and features are as follows: a) Account holders establish accounts with a supplier. Each account may have multiple services directly linked to it.

b) An Account holder can set up a list of Service Numbers from which they are prepared to accept charges. This is known as a Verified Service List. Note that this list is in addition to the Service Numbers already directly linked to the account.

c) An Account Holder can set up "User Groups" and assign one or more Service Numbers to a particular User Group. These will usually be services that are not directly linked to the account. Each User Group has a day-of-week and time-of-day set of rules which govern the allocation of costs for services within that User Group.

For example a rule might state that after 6PM on weekdays all charges for services within the User Group are allocated to their own linked account, but between 9AM and 6PM all charges are allocated to their employers account.

d) Additional rules may be set by the Account Holder, including Threshold values, Maximum Charges, Number Presets and Exclusion lists: If the total cost of a directly linked service exceeds a threshold value, the charges in excess of the threshold will be allocated to a nominated account (provided of course that the Service number exists within a User Group under that account).

Number Presets particularly related to telephony services. They are stored destination numbers and contain instructions on the account to which costs for calls to that destination are to be allocated. A Number Preset will also contain other data such as a project or client code and a description. Number Presets can also be used to easily identify destination numbers when call details are viewed.

The Account Holder may specify the maximum amount of charges in any given billing period it is prepared to accept from a particular Service Number on its Verified Service List.

The Account Holder may specify date ranges for a particular Service Number on its Verified Service List, where the date ranges represent billing periods during which costs incurred may be accepted on to the Account Holders account.

Alternatively the Account Holder may allow charges generated on any date to be Page 3 allocated.

The Account Holder may specify specific dates or days-of-the-week on which it is not prepared to accept charges from a particular service number on its Verified Service List.

e) During each billing cycle the end user performs activities that generate usage records within the Billing System.

f) The Billing System recognises the Account to which the service is directly linked and assigns usage records for the service to that account. The billing system may generate fixed charges and/or charges based on usage of the service. The billing system can then determine the account to which charges should be allocated using the rules described above.

g) As the billing cycle progresses or at some point during the billing cycle, Account Holders and End Users can utilise a web site to view and monitor the usage and charges of the services to which they have access.

h) By utilising the web site, the End Users will be able to check the validity of the system generated cost allocations and if necessary over-ride them by allocating usage charges to either their own account or other accounts.

i) When the billing system generates invoices, each Account Holder will see all the usage and other charges related to services linked to their account. However any costs for these services that have been allocated to another account will not be payable by the Account Holder. Instead, they will be payable by the Account Holder of the account to which they have been allocated.

j) In addition, the Account Holder will see charges and usage related to services that are not directly linked to their account but that have been allocated to their account by the system or the end users of those services.

k) From time to time an End User may re-allocate a usage cost record after it has been invoiced to its allocated Account Holder. When this occurs the system will generate a credit for the account to which the record was originally allocated and a new charge for the account to which it is now allocated. These credits and debits will appear on the invoices to be generated at the end of the next billing cycle.

I) Any fixed charges non-usage related) relating to a service may be split between accounts on a nominated percentage basis or other reasonable basis.

m) The unique features of this invention are as follows. Prior art does exist that allows dual-accounts for specific services such as mobile phones, whereby usage costs during designated time periods are allocated to one or the other of the dual accounts.

The mobile phone users may also dial a specific number prefix on their phone prior to making a call to determine which account will receive the billing for the subsequent call charge. This invention differs in the following respects: 1. The End User of the Service can utilise the web site to allocate costs after the usage record has been generated, including afterthe Account Holder has been sent an invoice for that charge.

2. Charges can be allocated to any number of accepting accounts, not just one. For example a consultant may wish to allocate costs to a number of client accounts for work performed on their behalf.

3. The automatic allocation of charges generated by a particular service to nominated accounts can be based on rules such as Number Presets and/or Threshold values as well as User Group time-of-day profiles and other rules as Page 4 described above.

4. This invention allows potentially any service type that has fixed and/or usage based billing, not just mobile phones, to be billed across several accounts.

Usage and charges are visible across multiple accounts as required. End Users continue to see all the usage generated on their services, even if the cost has been allocated to another account. Account Holders can see all charges allocated to their account from other accounts.

6. The invention is also significant in that it enables a new generation of billing platforms that can provide seamless, integrated electronic commercial transactions, via the internet, between accounts whereby usage costs can be diverted to other Account Holders before or after that transaction has been invoiced.

This business process represents a significant advance on other billing systems currently being used in the market. The inventive and/or innovative steps described above represent significant intellectual property that requires patent protection.

A specific example of one possible application of this invention, with the working title of "Mobile-Connect", follows. Other examples might include: Billing data usage for teleworkers who perform work at home on personal internet connections and who wish to bill their employer for that data usage Telephone connections used for both personal use and employer business use Laptop or other computers issued to staff for use at home but where the employee is expected to share the cost Credit card transactions where purchases are made on behalf of another party Motor Vehicle costs to be shared between an employee and employer or client Almost any process where a business expense claim might be processed by an employer Mobile-Connect Mobile-Connect is an e-business tool that enables call costs associated with one or more mobile phones to be shared or split between accounts. So, for example, an employer can have a central corporate account for business related call costs, and each employee can have a personal mobile phone account.

The unique feature of Mobile-Connect is that it can be used either as a traditional mobile phone account, or an employer can elect to use the facilities described below as a means to streamline the process of determining who pays for business and personal call costs.

Mobile-Connect ensures that costs of employee personal use of mobile phones remain the responsibility of each employee.

How Mobile-Connect Works Once a mobile phone is transferred to Mobile-Connect it is connected to either a Personal Account or a Corporate Account. Personal Accounts are held in the name of an individual and are paid each month by a credit card facility. The personal mobile account stays with the employee should they leave their employer. Corporate Accounts are held by an employer and are set up to accept call charges from a specific list of Personal Account mobile phone numbers.

Each month an invoice is sent to each employee for their Personal account and a separate invoice is sent to the employer for the Corporate Account.

Page Each month, call costs for a mobile phone are allocated by default to the account to which it is directly connected. However, by the use of automated rules outlined below, or manual override by the mobile phone user using the Mobile-Connect website, call costs can be reallocated to either the Personal or Corporate Account.

Call costs are posted against either the personal or the corporate account according to various rules: User Group Number Presets Threshold Each mobile is allocated to a user group. Each User Group is allocated a Time-of-Day Day-of-Week profile, which is used to determine which account will carry a particular call.

The "Manager" user group sets all calls as "Business" and allocates them to the Corporate Account on weekdays between 8am and 7pm each day. Calls made outside those hours or on weekends are allocated to the users Personal Account.

Each user can set up a list of stored destination numbers on the Mobile- Connect web site. Each number can be given a description to help identify the destination on the customer invoices. In addition, the destination can be designated with the Corporate Account which is to carry call costs for that destination.

A user sets a Number Preset for "0398774743" as "Business" with the Corporate account as the receiving account. All calls to that number will default to the corporate account, over-riding any User Group rules already set.

If the total cost of all calls made by a mobile exceeds a preset level, the additional costs can be automatically allocated to a specified account.

An employer operates 10 mobile phones directly under the Corporate Account but sets a limit for each phone of $50.00. If any of the mobile phones have a monthly charge exceeding that limit, the additional calls are allocated to employees Personal Account.

When a user receives their monthly invoice, it will list all calls made on mobiles operated directly under their Personal Account. The invoice will also show the account to which the cost of each call has been allocated. They may visit the web site at any time to re-allocate calls as required. So, for example, a user in the "Manager" group realizes a call made at 11PM one night was actually a business call, so they simply log in to the web site and reallocate that call to the Corporate Account.

When the Corporate Account holder receives their invoice, they will see a section labeled "Allocated Calls from Other Accounts" which will list each call allocated to that account that was not made by a phone operated directly under that account.

Billing Date Cut-Off Each bill cycle has a cut-off date. All calls allocated prior to the cut-off date will be billed to the allocated account holder. If an employee re-allocates the cost of a call to either their Personal Account or the Corporate Account after the billing cut-off date, the call will be payable by the original account holder. However, the following month, a credit or debit will show up under a section of the Account invoice labeled "Call Adjustments from Previous Bill Period".

Visibility of Call Details The Corporate Account holder the employer) will only be able to view call details of calls that are allocated to that account. Employee personal calls will therefore not be visible to the employer.

Page 6 All calls made by a mobile directly connected to a Personal Account or allocated to that account will be visible by the account holder. This means that an employee will be able to see both business and personal call listings, but will only need to pay for the personal calls.

The Benefits of Mobile-Connect Mobile-Connect enables an employer to provide mobile phones to staff, with confidence that personal calls will be paid by the employee.

Mobile-Connect eliminates the need for expense claim processing for mobile phone calls where the phone account is held in the name of the employee.

Employees get the benefit of significantly discounted corporate rates and are free to use their mobile phone as much as required after hours.

Employees are free to select the mobile handset of their choice or use an existing handset.

Customer Invoices are delivered by email with payments direct from a customer credit card or direct debit.

Mobile-Connect can provide services to family members or other associates purely on a Personal Account basis and without the facility to re-allocate call costs to the Corporate Account. Mobile services provided this way are strictly a commercial arrangement between the account holder and Mobile-Connect.

In addition to the split-account facility, corporate clients get access to all the reporting provided as part of the normal CMS Bureau Service, except that CMS is now acting as the carrier.

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Claims (4)

1. A business system, comprising billing software for use with information processing equipment and systems including the internet, that enables usage and fixed charges for equipment and services to be allocated to any number of accepting accounts, provided that the Account Holders of those accounts have included the Service Number generating the charges in a Verified Service List, which is dynamically maintained by the Account Holder on the billing system web site.

2. A business system comprising billing software for use with information processing equipment and systems including the internet, that enables the End User of a Service to utilise the system, via the internet, to dynamically allocate costs accrued after billing records for that Service have been generated by the billing system, including afterthe Account Holder has been sent an invoice for that charge.

3. A business system according to any one of the preceding claims that enables the automatic allocation of charges generated by a service to a directly-linked account and to other accepting accounts by the billing system, automatically, based on various rules that may be built into the system and activated via parameters set by the respective Account Holders using the billing system web site, including but not limited to, Verified Service Lists, Number Presets and/or Threshold values, Maximum Charges, Date Range Inclusions/Exclusions as well as User Group time-of-day profiles.

4. A business system according to any one of the preceding claims that allows potentially any service, equipment or product type that has fixed and/or usage based billing, not just mobile phones, to be billed across several accounts. A business system according to any one of the preceding claims that makes usage costs and other charges are visible across multiple accounts so that End Users are able to view all the charges generated by their own services, even if the those charges have been allocated automatically or manually to another account, whereas Account Holders can view only those charges allocated to their account from other accounts plus all charges from services directly linked to their own accounts. HAROLD CHESNEY GIBBS JANUARY 7TH 2004 INVENTOR/APPLICANT Page 8