Methods, systems, and products for sharing usage plans
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorsJames Carlton Bedingfield, Sr., Quenton Lanier Gilbert
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Shared usage plans are popular with families, friends, and small businesses. These shared usage plans share some cumulative utilization of resources, such as communications services. Even though multiple devices may share a monthly allotment of resources, an individual threshold is established for each device. The multiple individual thresholds may then be dynamically regulated to maintain the monthly allotment of resources.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- identifying, by a server, multiple identifiers associated with multiple devices sharing a plan of usage;
- querying, by the server, an electronic database for each one of the multiple identifiers, the electronic database electronically associating shares in the plan of usage to the multiple identifiers;
- identifying, by the server, each share of the shares in the electronic database that is electronically associated with each identifier of the multiple identifiers sharing the plan of usage;
- determining, by the server, individual usages associated with the multiple devices sharing the plan of usage;
- comparing, by the server, the shares in the plan of usage to the individual usages associated with the multiple devices;
- and
- generating, by the server, a short messaging system text message in response to any one of the individual usages exceeding a corresponding one of the shares.
A system, comprising:
- a hardware processor;
- and
- a memory device, the memory device storing code, the code when executed causing the hardware processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
- identifying multiple devices sharing a plan of usage;
- querying an electronic database for an identifier associated with each one of the multiple devices, the electronic database electronically associating shares of the plan of usage to identifiers associated with the multiple devices sharing the plan of usage;
- retrieving each share of the shares in the electronic database that is electronically associated with the identifier associated with the each one of the multiple devices;
- determining individual usages associated with the multiple devices sharing the plan of usage;
- comparing the each share to a corresponding one of the individual usages associated with the multiple devices sharing the plan of usage;
- and
- generating a short messaging system text message in response to any of the individual usages exceeding a corresponding share.
A memory device storing instructions that when executed cause a hardware processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
- identifying multiple devices sharing a plan of usage;
- querying an electronic database for an identifier associated with each one of the multiple devices, the electronic database electronically associating shares of the plan of usage to identifiers associated with the multiple devices;
- retrieving the shares in the electronic database that are electronically associated with the identifiers associated with the multiple devices;
- determining individual usages associated with the multiple devices sharing the plan of usage;
- comparing the individual usages to the shares retrieved from the electronic database;
- and
- generating a short messaging system text message in response to any one of the individual usages exceeding a corresponding one of the shares.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.