Did You Know...
...that Charles Goodyear performed some of his experiments on rubber while in debtor's prison? He was there so often he referred to it as his "hotel". Chronically in debt because of poor business sense and ill health, Goodyear depended on the generosity of friends and family. Even after he unlocked the secret to vulcanizing rubber, he was unable to improve his financial situation. When he died, his estate was $200,000 in debt.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8126123 | Pre-biller in internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) charging gateway function (CGF) This invention relates to apparatus and a method for assembling and coordinating call data records from a plurality of network elements of an Internet Protocol Multimedia System call to generate charging information. A pre-biller stores an integrated charging record... | 02/28/2012 |
| 8086486 | Method for managing information and rendering discounts A method for managing information and rendering discounts in a billing system utilizes a rule-based engine. Customer records are processed with a rule-based accumulation engine to accumulate the data in a plurality of predetermined target accumulators. A plurality o... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8073116 | Interactive handling of disputes Embodiments of a method for handling disputed items include enabling a user to submit information regarding an item being disputed by the user in an interactive forum. The item may involve a service provided by a service provider for the user, where the information ... | 12/06/2011 |
| 7986774 | Method and system for detecting a change in at least one telecommunication rate plan A call schedule is received that includes a plurality of sample calls to be made by an automated calling station. The plurality of sample calls are automatically placed on the network using the automated calling station. At least one final billing record correspondi... | 07/26/2011 |
| 7831027 | Configurable charging system for a telecommunications service provider A system extension for a billing system adapted to generate customer bills associated with the delivery of telecommunications products and services, wherein the billing system includes software instructions adapted to be executed on a computer server platform, a dat... | 11/09/2010 |
| 7804945 | Enterprise application based multi-billing integration system A telecommunications messaging architecture efficiently routes messages to the appropriate support systems which process the messages. The messaging architecture is a partially merged architecture in which selected previously independent processing systems (e.g., cu... | 09/28/2010 |
| 7729483 | Methods, systems, and computer programs for generating a billing statement from detailed usage file records Methods, systems, and computer programs for constructing a billing statement from detailed usage file (DUF) records received from an Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC). A master file contains routing information associating each of a plurality of telephone numb... | 06/01/2010 |
| 7697672 | Configurable rating system for a telecommunications service provider A configurable rating system provides the flexibility to define rating tariffs based on any number of input parameters, such as a service identifier, origin number, destination number, event type, or other parameter. At the same time, the configurable rating system ... | 04/13/2010 |
| 7697671 | Enhanced-software defined data network A method and system of providing data calls to a subscriber having a data network, such as an integrated services digital network (ISDN), connected to a network switch to enable communication with another party at a fixed rate are disclosed. The methodology discover... | 04/13/2010 |
| 7623636 | System for generating service-oriented call-charge data in a communication network A system generates service-oriented call-charge data for at least one service in a communication network, the system having in at least one first area (charge metering domain), network elements for charge metering—metering points—and in at least one second area ... | 11/24/2009 |
| 7606354 | Method and system for dynamic tariffing and billing A method and a system for dynamic tariffing and billing where tariffs of telecommunication services are adapted based on the usage of telecommunication services between members of a group account. ... | 10/20/2009 |
| 7526075 | Method of implementing account charging and account charging system A method for realizing charging includes setting up mapping relation between service attribute and charging rule acquiring service attribute of the to-be-charged service when it is demanded to charge the to-be-charged service acquiring charging rule of the to-be-cha... | 04/28/2009 |
| 7440557 | System and method for auditing a communications bill A computer-assisted system and method for auditing a communications bill wherein billing information is collected, reformatted and stored for use in a set of automated audits. The system and method for auditing a communications bill further collects data from other ... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7430286 | Method and system for generating a billing record A transaction record is received including transaction data corresponding to at least one telephone call placed by a subscriber. The transaction data is processed by a plurality of rate plans, each rate plan generating a toll amount corresponding to the telephone ca... | 09/30/2008 |
| 7403603 | Method of billing in an abbreviated dialing service A telecommunications service translates an abbreviated dialing code into a toll free number, routes the call to an interexchange carrier, and manages the billing associated with the call. A billing system processes the billing such that a subscriber of the abbreviat... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7398084 | Method and system of correlating dissimilar call records to a high level aggregated view A method of monitoring, and a system to perform the method of monitoring, a mobile network, the method including generating detail records of information transactions in the mobile network; correlating dissimilar detail records from different ones of the monitoring ... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7366683 | Methods and apparatuses for offline selection of pay-per-call advertisers Methods and apparatuses to connect telephone calls and track information about the telephone calls resulting from advertisements for groups of advertisers. In one embodiment, a method includes: determining a geographic area after receiving a telephone call to a firs... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7359715 | Method and system for detecting a preferred wireless network for a mobile device A method and system for detecting a wireless network includes receiving at a mobile device a signal having data indicative of a location of the mobile device. A determination is made whether the mobile device is within the coverage area of a specified network based ... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7337221 | System and method for managing information for elements in a communication network The invention provides a system and method of managing service information in a network management system. The method includes the steps of loading the service information from a database into objects in a structure stored in a memory, receiving a change to be made ... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7313230 | General charging method The present invention provides a general charging method applicable to a charging system in the communication field, comprising steps of establishing a charging strategy and performing the charging based upon the charging strategy. The charging strategy comprises a ... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7313382 | Method for automatic wireless replenishment using DTMF The invention provides a method for replenishing call-use authorization to a mobile vehicle. A call-use authorization request is received from a user. User credit availability information is determined. A replenishment amount request is received from the user. Call-... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7305073 | Rate modelling A method and apparatus are provided for generating a rate model (115) for use in determining a rate to be applied with respect to an instance of a product or service, system or process. The rate may relate for example to utilisation of a resource, for example... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7305074 | Communication system control method A method of controlling the operation of a communication system is described, where the system comprises a first entity 2 for sending a first data object 21 to a terminal device 4 and a second entity 3 for sending a second data object to ... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7289787 | System and method for calculation of telecommunication charges The present invention relates to a method and a communication system for the current calculation of fees for a user of the telecommunication system. The present system includes a fee calculation station which is adapted to calculation the fees in accordance with a c... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7283624 | Idle detection for answer supervision A network device has the capability of monitoring voice over data networks calls. The network device includes a voice activity detector that detects voice activity on a voice channel. If no voice activity is detected, the network device disconnects the call. The net... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7269407 | Validating an invoice in a wireless telecommunication system A method that provides improved invoice validation in a wireless telecommunication system comprises receiving billing input data for a circuit and indicating a discrepancy if a billed amount and a calculated amount differ by greater than a threshold amount, the bill... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7260195 | Call management service A system and method that enables a telecommunications consumer to define groups to be included in a monthly bill, and then periodically generate a bill in accordance with the consumer's specifications. In one embodiment, the invention includes a plurality of portabl... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7257209 | Calling-party-pays call processing for cellular and paging An enhanced Calling Party Pays (CPP) or Paging Party Pays (PPP) system that enables 1) billing of calls originating from traditionally non-billable sources, 2) routing of incoming calls to voicemail if the caller does not wish to incur the additional charges, 3) all... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7257206 | Skip tracing system A system for performing skip tracing provides a first user interface including an area for presenting at least one telephone number associated with account information of a customer retrieved from a mainframe computer system, a documentation area for inputting skip ... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7248678 | Methods and apparatus for routing and accounting of revenue generating calls using natural language voice recognition Techniques and systems for routing and information collection for telephone calls are described. Upon initiation of a revenue generating call, a data management module creates a call interaction record, including a unique call identifier and information generated by... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7239873 | Shared information system in network A terminal A which is an owner of contents transmits a request to share contents downloaded from a contents provider with terminals B and C to an Application Service Provider (ASP). The ASP obtains permission that a license can be shared from the contents provider, ... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7239862 | Method of and system for processing prepaid wireless data communications A prepaid communications system includes a wireless call handling device for receiving wireless calls from wireless customers, a packet data serving node for receiving wireless packet data calls from the wireless call handling device and transmitting the calls to a ... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7222293 | Professional time tracking and reporting system An apparatus and a method for tracking time spent on one or more Internet sites. The tracked information may then be used to generate detailed records containing the Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) of the sites visited, the exact time spent on each site, and a reco... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7215750 | System and method for providing custom caller-ID messages Systems and methods for providing a message in Caller-ID information are described. In one embodiment of the present invention, an applications server, such as service control point (SCP), substitutes a message for Caller-ID information when a switch serving the cal... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7213030 | Web-enabled transaction and collaborative management system A method and apparatus for a Web-enabled transaction and collaborative management application are described. In one embodiment, the application is centered around a user-friendly home navigation page designed to facilitate convenience for the user in accessing infor... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7203290 | Monitoring usage of telecommunications services Call detail records are generated for usage of a telecommunications service established in a telecommunications network, by monitoring messages in a signalling system for co-ordinating operation of the network and carried over signalling links in the signalling syst... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7191219 | Self-destructing document and e-mail messaging system A self-destruction document or e-mail massaging system is provided that automatically destroys documents or e-mail messages at a predetermined time by attaching a “virus” to the document or e-mail message. A virus in the form of a Trojan horse is attached to fil... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7184749 | System and method for analyzing wireless communication data In general, a system and method for analyzing wireless communication data for determining an optimal wireless communication service plan is disclosed. A transceiver is configured to receive billing information associated with a subscriber of a telecommunications ser... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7180989 | Method and system for detecting a change in at least one telecommunication rate plan A call schedule is received that includes a plurality of sample calls to be made by an automated calling station. The plurality of sample calls are automatically placed on the network using the automated calling station. At least one final billing record correspondi... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7181420 | Methods and systems for online self-service receivables management and automated online receivables dispute resolution A computer-implemented and Internet-based method of managing Accounts Receivable (AR) information includes steps of receiving a customer request for remote Internet access to AR information (such as pending invoices) owned by vendor; retrieving the customer's AR inf... | 02/20/2007 |
