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US 9,143,622 B2Granted
Prepay accounts for applications, services and content for communication devices
AssigneeQUALCOMM Incorporated
InventorsStephen A. Sprigg, Brian Minear, Mitchell B. Oliver, Richard Wayne Gardner, III
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for managing a billing account including a client device, a transceiver, logic configured to establish at least one primary account wherein the at least one primary account represents periodic fees that are charged to the billing account on a periodic basis; and logic configured to establish at least one secondary account wherein the at least one secondary account represents an amount of prepaid service that is available for the billing account.
Claims32
A client device configured to manage a billing account comprising:
- a transceiver;
- logic configured to establish at least one primary account associated with a first type of service, wherein periodic fees charged to the billing account on a periodic basis include a first portion allocated to the at least one primary account;
- and
- logic configured to establish at least one secondary account associated with a second type of service, wherein the at least one secondary account represents an amount of prepaid service that is available for charging usage of the second type of service to the billing account, wherein the amount of prepaid service represented by the at least one secondary account is calculated by:
- adding a second portion of the periodic fees charged to the billing account on the periodic basis to the at least one secondary account as a prepaid service credit at the start of each of a set of billing periods;
- and
- deducting charges from the at least one secondary account based on the usage of the second type of service during the set of billing periods.
4 more elements
A method for billing prepay accounts comprising:
- establishing at least one primary account associated with a first type of service, wherein periodic fees charged to a billing account on a periodic basis include a first portion allocated to the at least one primary account;
- and
- establishing at least one secondary account associated with a second type of service, wherein the at least one secondary account represents an amount of prepaid service that is available for charging usage of the second type of service to the billing account, and wherein the amount of prepaid service represented by the at least one secondary account is calculated by:
- adding a second portion of the periodic fees charged to the billing account on the periodic basis to the at least one secondary account as a prepaid service credit at the start of each of a set of billing periods;
- and
- deducting charges from the at least one secondary account based on the usage of the second type of service during the set of billing periods.
3 more elements
A client device, comprising:
- a transceiver;
- a user interface;
- and
- a billing manager, configured to perform operations within the client device, for managing at least one primary account and at least one secondary account, the at least one primary account associated with a first type of service, wherein periodic fees charged to a billing account on a periodic basis include a first portion allocated to the at least one primary account, and the at least one secondary account representing an amount of prepaid service that is available for charging usage of a second type of service to the billing account, wherein the amount of prepaid service represented by the at least one secondary account is calculated by:
- adding a second portion of the periodic fees charged to the billing account on the periodic basis to the at least one secondary account as a prepaid service credit at the start of each of a set of billing periods;
- and
- deducting charges from the at least one secondary account based on the usage of the second type of service during the set of billing periods.
4 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions encoded thereon, which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations related to management of a billing account, the operations including:
- establishing at least one primary account associated with a first type of service, wherein periodic fees charged to the billing account on a periodic basis include a first portion allocated to the at least one primary account;
- and
- establishing at least one secondary account associated with a second type of service, wherein the at least one secondary account represents an amount of prepaid service that is available for charging usage of the second type of service to the billing account, wherein the amount of prepaid service represented by the at least one secondary account is calculated by:
- adding a second portion of the periodic fees charged to the billing account on the periodic basis to the at least one secondary account as a prepaid service credit at the start of each of a set of billing periods;
- and
- deducting charges from the at least one secondary account based on the usage of the second type of service during the set of billing periods.
3 more elements
A server for enabling a billing account comprising:
- means for establishing at least one primary account associated with a first type of service, wherein periodic fees charged to the billing account on a periodic basis include a first portion allocated to the at least one primary account;
- and
- means for establishing at least one secondary account associated with a second type of service, wherein the at least one secondary account represents an amount of prepaid service that is available for charging usage of the second type of service to the billing account, wherein the amount of prepaid service represented by the at least one secondary account is calculated by:
- adding a second portion of the periodic fees charged to the billing account on the periodic basis to the at least one secondary account as a prepaid service credit at the start of each of a set of billing periods;
- and
- deducting charges from the at least one secondary account based on the usage of the second type of service during the set of billing periods.
3 more elements
A client device configured to manage a billing account comprising:
- means for establishing at least one primary account associated with a first type of service, wherein periodic fees charged to the billing account on a periodic basis include a first portion allocated to the at least one primary account;
- and
- means for establishing at least one secondary account associated with a second type of service, wherein the at least one secondary account represents an amount of prepaid service that is available for charging usage of the second type of service to the billing account, wherein the amount of prepaid service represented by the at least one secondary account is calculated by:
- adding a second portion of the periodic fees charged to the billing account on the periodic basis to the at least one secondary account as a prepaid service credit at the start of each of a set of billing periods;
- and
- deducting charges from the at least one secondary account based on the usage of the second type of service during the set of billing periods.
3 more elements
A server for enabling a billing account comprising:
- logic configured to establish at least one primary account associated with a first type of service, wherein periodic fees charged to the billing account on a periodic basis include a first portion allocated to the at least one primary account;
- and
- logic configured to establish at least one secondary account associated with a second type of service, wherein the at least one secondary account represents an amount of prepaid service that is available for charging usage of the second type of service to the billing account, wherein the amount of prepaid service represented by the at least one secondary account is calculated by:
- adding a second portion of the periodic fees charged to the billing account on the periodic basis to the at least one secondary account as a prepaid service credit at the start of each of a set of billing periods;
- and
- deducting charges from the at least one secondary account based on the usage of the second type of service during the set of billing periods.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.