# US 10,375,003 B1 · System and method for establishing pricing for telecom services

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- Number: US 10,375,003 B1
- Document ID: US10375003B1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B1
- Application number: 15/011,571
- Filed: 2016-01-31
- Granted: 2019-08-06
- Earliest claimed: 2011-04-19
- Assignees: Tata Communications (America) Inc.
- Applicants: Tata Communiactions (America) Inc.
- Inventors: Jason Olsen; Edward Hirschman; Kaustubh Save; Scott Mizerek
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10375003B1

## CPC

- H04L 51/42: Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
- G06Q 10/10: Office automation; Time management
- G06Q 20/085: {involving remote charge determination or related payment systems}
- G06Q 20/10: specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
- G06Q 20/14: specially adapted for billing systems
- G06Q 20/405: {Establishing or using transaction specific rules}
- G06Q 40/02: Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance (credit or loans G06Q40/03)
- G06Q 40/10: Tax strategies
- G06Q 40/12: Accounting
- H04L 12/14: Charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting [AAA] framework
- H04L 51/08: Annexed information, e.g. attachments
- H04L 51/214: using selective forwarding
- H04M 15/00: Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication {; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP}
- H04M 15/70: {Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges}
- H04M 15/705: {Account settings, e.g. limits or numbers or payment}
- H04M 15/80: {Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects}
- H04M 17/02: Coin-freed or check-freed systems {, e.g. mobile- or card-operated phones, public telephones or booths}
- H04W 4/24: Accounting or billing
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

A system and method for processing new rate sheets in a telecommunications system are disclosed, wherein the method may include receiving an email message from a supplier at a communication network; determining whether the received email message includes rate information; if the received email message includes rate information, fetching details of a template for the supplier associated with the received message; parsing and storing information in a first rate sheet based on information from the template; and updating routing tables based on the parsed rate information.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system comprising:
an email server for receiving an email from a telecommunications services supplier, the email including identification information of the telecommunications services supplier;
a costing system in data communication with the email server, the costing system comprising a multilayered architecture of at least five layers including (a) a firewall configured to validate requests from valid IP addresses, (b) a network load balancer configured to balance HTTP requests using a Random/Load based algorithm, (c) a web layer comprising an HTTP server on each of at least two redundant servers, (d) an application service layer comprising an application server HTTP module on each of the at least two redundant servers, and (e) a database layer comprising
a costing database in data communication with a costing database server, the costing database configured to store data of at least one pre-approved telecommunications service supplier and telecommunications service rate information associated with the at least one pre-approved telecommunications service supplier, and
a current rate summary database in communication with the costing database, the current rate summary database configured to store updated telecommunication services rate information associated with pre-approved telecommunication services suppliers;
at least one costing interface in data communication with the costing database configured to one of view or replicate data in the costing database, the at least one costing interface including one or more of
a billing system interface,
a pricing and routing system interface,
a data warehouse system interface,
a contact management system interface, and
an order management system interface,
wherein the costing database server of the costing system:
determines whether the identification information of the telecommunications services supplier is one of the at least one pre-approved telecommunications services supplier stored in the costing database of the costing system;
determines whether the email includes a rate sheet containing telecommunications services rate information of the telecommunications services supplier;
classifies the email according to whether the telecommunications services supplier is one of the at least one pre-approved telecommunications services supplier and whether the email includes the rate sheet containing the telecommunications services rate information of the telecommunications services supplier;
if the email is classified as being received from the at least one pre-approved telecommunications services supplier and includes the rate sheet, transmits updates to the telecommunications services rate information of the at least one pre-approved telecommunication services supplier stored in the costing database according to the telecommunications services rate information contained in the rate sheet, thereby causing the costing database to be updated based in part upon the classification of the email;
outputs the updated current rates stored in the current rate summary database to the at least one costing interface, the at least one costing interface configured to one of view or replicate the updated current rates from the current rate summary database; and
queues the rate sheet based upon a Soonest Estimated Effective Date (SEED) of the rate sheet, the SEED based on a receive date of the rate sheet and a contractual notice period over which a rate in the rate sheet is contractually agreed upon to remain constant.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the costing database server outputs the updated telecommunications services rate to the at least one costing interface.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the current rate summary database is further configured to store current rates associated with all telecommunication service suppliers and destinations for a given time period.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The system of claim 3, wherein the costing database server updates the current rates stored in the current rate summary database with the updated telecommunications services rate stored in the costing database.

### Claim 5

A system comprising:
an email server for receiving an email from a telecommunications services supplier, the email including identification information of the telecommunications services supplier; and
a costing system in data communication with the email server, the costing system comprising a multilayered architecture of at least five layers including (a) a firewall configured to validate requests from valid IP addresses, (b) a network load balancer configured to balance HTTP requests using a Random/Load based algorithm, (c) a web layer comprising an HTTP server on each of at least two redundant servers, (d) an application service layer comprising an application server HTTP module on each of the at least two redundant servers, and (e) a database layer comprising
a costing database in data communication with a costing database server, the costing database configured to store data of at least one pre-approved telecommunications service supplier and telecommunications service rate information associated with the at least one pre-approved telecommunications service supplier, and
a current rate summary database in communication with the costing database, the current rate summary database configured to store updated telecommunication services rate information associated with pre-approved telecommunication services suppliers;
at least one costing interface in data communication with the costing database configured to one of view or replicate data in the costing database,
wherein the costing database server of the costing system:
determines whether the identification information of the telecommunications services supplier is one of the at least one pre-approved telecommunications services supplier stored in the costing database of the costing system;
determines whether the email includes a rate sheet containing telecommunications services rate information of the telecommunications services supplier;
classifies the email according to whether the telecommunications services supplier is one of the at least one pre-approved telecommunications services supplier and whether the email includes the rate sheet containing the telecommunications services rate information of the telecommunications services supplier;
if the email is classified as being received from the at least one pre-approved telecommunications services supplier and includes the rate sheet, transmits updates to the telecommunications services rate information of the supplier stored in the costing database according to the telecommunications services rate information contained in the rate sheet, thereby causing the costing database to be updated based in part upon the automatic classification of emails;
queues the rate sheet if the email is classified as being received from the at least one pre-approved telecommunications services supplier and includes the rate sheet; and
overrides the queue based upon a Soonest Estimated Effective Date (SEED) of the rate sheet, the SEED based on a receive date of the rate sheet and a contractual notice period over which a rate in the rate sheet is contractually agreed upon to remain constant.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The system of claim 5, wherein the costing database server places the rate sheet in the order it was received.

### Claim 7

A system comprising:
an email server for receiving an email from a telecommunications services supplier, the email including identification information of the telecommunications services supplier; and
a costing system in data communication with the email server, the costing system comprising a multilayered architecture of at least five layers including (a) a firewall configured to validate requests from valid IP addresses, (b) a network load balancer configured to balance HTTP requests using a Random/Load based algorithm, (c) a web layer comprising an HTTP server on each of at least two redundant servers, (d) an application service layer comprising an application server HTTP module on each of the at least two redundant servers, and (e) a database layer comprising
a costing database in data communication with a costing database server, the costing database configured to store data of at least one pre-approved telecommunications service supplier and telecommunications service rate information associated with the at least one pre-approved telecommunications service supplier, and
a current rate summary database in communication with the costing database, the current rate summary database configured to store updated telecommunication services rate information associated with pre-approved telecommunication services suppliers; and
at least one costing interface in data communication with the costing database configured to one of view or replicate data in the costing database,
wherein the costing database server of the costing system:
determines whether the identification information of the telecommunications services supplier is one of the at least one pre-approved telecommunications services supplier stored in the costing database of the costing system;
determines whether the email includes a rate sheet containing telecommunications services rate information of the telecommunications services supplier;
classifies the email according to whether the telecommunications services supplier is one of the at least one pre-approved telecommunications services supplier and whether the email includes the rate sheet containing the telecommunications services rate information of the telecommunications services supplier;
if the email is classified as being received from the at least one pre-approved telecommunications services supplier and includes the rate sheet, transmits updates to the telecommunications services rate information of the supplier stored in the costing database according to the telecommunications services rate information contained in the rate sheet, thereby causing the costing database to be updated based in part upon the automatic classification of emails; and
periodically reordering a queue, the periodic reordering comprising checking, at prescribed periods, Soonest Estimated Effective Dates (SEEDs) associated with each entry in the queue, and reordering the queue in ascending order of SEED, the SEED based on a receive date of the rate sheet and a contractual notice period over which a rate in the rate sheet is contractually agreed upon to remain constant.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7, wherein the costing database server updates the queue upon receipt of a new email with a rate sheet from one of the at least one pre-approved telecommunications services suppliers having a SEED value earlier than another rate sheet earlier in the queue.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein the update of the queue is based upon results of a prior update.