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US 12,309,315 B2Granted
Automated communications pool plan management robot
AssigneeTangoe US, Inc.
InventorsJoan Schrenkel, Robert King, Eric Sendelbach
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and computer implemented method which determines usage and available rate plans, at least some of which are pool eligible. Based on expected usage for a billing cycle, the system and method modifies rate plans for one or more devices to migrate devices in and out of the pool(s) and/or modify plans and data available to the pool in order to reduce cost of telecommunications services for the devices.
Claims14
A method of monitoring data usage of a plurality of telecommunications devices and modifying rate plans thereof comprising:
- gathering data usage information via a computer with software executing thereon by communicating with a plurality of telecommunications servers each associated with a different telecommunications provider, the data usage indicative of data usage of a plurality of telecommunications devices;
- determining via said software a plurality of rate plans available and which of said plurality of rate plans are associated with each telecommunications device, two or more of said rate plans being associated with a pool of shared telecommunications usage and two or more of said plurality of rate plans having a cost and a data limit associated therewith;
- determining an expected usage of said plurality of devices based on historical data usage;
- modifying one or more rate plans associated with said telecommunications devices based on the expected usage as compared to a sum of data limits for the modified rate plans associated with said telecommunications devices to reduce a total cost;
- migrating the devices in and out of telecommunications usage pools in accordance with the modified rate plans, wherein upon migration of the devices in and out of the telecommunications usage pools, one or more of the devices changes telecommunications provider.
2 more elements
A system for monitoring and modifying telecommunications usage pools for telecommunications devices comprising:
- a computer having software executing thereon, said software querying a plurality of telecommunications rate plans to determine rate parameters thereof, at least one of said plurality of rate plans relates to a pool of multiple devices which share a quantity of telecommunications resources based on usage of the multiple devices associated with said pool;
- said software identifies a current telecommunications rate plan for each of the plurality of devices, at least two of the plurality of devices associated with said pool;
- said software monitoring telecommunications usage of the plurality of devices using telecommunications resources and based on the telecommunications usage thereof, matching a selection of the one or more of said plurality of devices said pool based at least in part on an anticipated reduction in cost for the plurality of devices;
- said matching by said software automatically modifying which of the plurality of devices are associated with said pool and a rate plan for one or more of the plurality of devices based on the monitored telecommunications usage and the rate parameters in order to reduce telecommunications costs for said plurality of devices such that said software communicates with a different telecommunications provider server over a network to implement the modification to the matched rate plan for the one or more of the plurality of devices and such that the matching changes telecommunications provider for the one or more of the plurality of devices.
1 more element
A system for monitoring and modifying telecommunications usage pools associated with devices, comprising:
- a computer having software executing thereon, said software in communication with a telecommunications server in order to receive data therefrom, said data indicative of telecommunications usage of a plurality of telecommunications devices;
- said software querying a plurality of telecommunications rate plans to determine rate parameters thereof, at least one of said plurality of rate plans relates to a pool of multiple devices which share a quantity of telecommunications resources based on usage of the multiple devices associated with said pool;
- said software determining a current rate plan from said plurality of rate plans for each of said plurality of devices and further determining which of said plurality of devices are associated with said pool and which of said plurality of devices are not associated with said pool, if any;
- said software, based on a selected time in a billing cycle for a telecommunications provider associated with the telecommunications server, determining an expected usage for the plurality of devices for the billing cycle based on usage which has occurred between a beginning of the billing cycle and the selected time;
- said software determining from the plurality of rate plans, a selected rate plan for each of the plurality of telecommunications devices associated with said pool by iteratively modifying one or more of the selections until a cost based on the expected usage is minimized wherein at least one of the one or more selections changes telecommunications provider for at least one of the plurality of devices.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.