Method and system for family plan sharing of wireless services

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10313849-B2
Application number	US-201816215980-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2018
Priority date	Feb 20, 2015
Publication date	Jun 4, 2019
Grant date	Jun 4, 2019

Abstract

A system and process of sharing a wireless surface allotment in a wireless network includes implementing a metering system to meter wireless service usage by users of the wireless network and tracking wireless usage by a plurality of wireless devices associated with the metering system. The system and process further includes receiving a share request to reallocate the respective wireless service allotment for at least two of the plurality of wireless devices, forwarding modification instructions to the metering system, requesting confirmation from the metering system that the modification instructions have been received, and modifying the respective wireless service allotments for the at least two wireless devices in response to receiving confirmation from the metering system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process of sharing a wireless service allotment of a wireless service between a plurality of wireless users, the wireless service being provided by a wireless network, the process comprising:
implementing a metering system to meter wireless service usage of a plurality of wireless devices of the wireless network;
tracking wireless usage by the plurality of wireless devices with the metering system, the wireless usage comprising at least one of the following: voice wireless service, data wireless service, and messaging wireless service;
receiving a share request to the metering system from a user device to reallocate a wireless service allotment for at least two of the plurality of wireless devices, the share request being generated and transmitted to the metering system by one of the following: a web portal or a wireless application;
determining with the metering system whether the share request from the user device to reallocate the wireless service allotment for at least two of the plurality of wireless devices is in compliance by comparing the share request to the wireless service allotment remaining for the at least two of the plurality of wireless devices;
forwarding modification instructions to reallocate the wireless service allotment for the at least two of the plurality of wireless devices to the metering system when the share request is in compliance;
requesting confirmation from the metering system that the modification instructions to reallocate the wireless service allotment for the at least two of the plurality of wireless devices have been received; and
modifying the wireless service allotments to reallocate the wireless service allotment for the at least two of the plurality of wireless devices with the metering system for the at least two of the plurality of wireless devices in response to receiving confirmation from the metering system,
wherein the metering system is implemented at least in part in a network; and
wherein the share request to the metering system from the user device to reallocate a wireless service allotment for the at least two of the plurality of wireless devices comprises instructions sent as one of the following: data from the user device and non-data from the user device.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the share request to the metering system from the user device to reallocate a wireless service allotment for the at least two of the plurality of wireless devices comprises instructions sent as data from the user device.

3. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the share request to the metering system from the user device to reallocate a wireless service allotment for the at least two of the plurality of wireless devices comprises instructions sent as non-data from the user device.

4. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the metering system is further implemented in at least one of the plurality of wireless devices.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the metering system is further implemented at least in part in the wireless network.

6. The process according to claim 1 wherein the metering system is implemented in at least one of the plurality of wireless devices, the wireless network, and a network.

7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the receiving a share request comprises receiving a share request from one of the plurality of wireless devices.

8. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the receiving a share request comprises receiving a share request from an Internet-based account of one of the plurality of wireless devices via the web portal.

9. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the receiving a share request comprises receiving a share request from the wireless application associated with one of the plurality of wireless devices.

10. A wireless system configured to share a wireless service allotment of a wireless service between a plurality of wireless devices, the wireless service allotment being provided by a wireless network comprising:
a metering system configured to measure and track a wireless service usage of a plurality of wireless devices of the wireless network, the wireless service usage comprising at least one of the following: voice wireless service, data wireless service, and messaging wireless service;
the metering system being further configured to receive a share request from a user device to reallocate a wireless service allotment for at least two of the plurality of wireless devices, the share request being generated and transmitted to the metering system by one of the following: a web portal or a wireless application;
the metering system further configured to determine whether the share request from the user device to reallocate the wireless service allotment for at least two of the plurality of wireless devices is in compliance by comparing the share request to the wireless service allotment remaining for the at least two of the plurality of wireless devices; and
the metering system being further configured to modify the wireless service allotments for the at least two of the plurality of wireless devices when the share request is in compliance and in response to receiving confirmation from the at least two of the plurality of wireless devices,
wherein the metering system is implemented at least in part in a network; and
wherein the metering system is configured to modify respective wireless service allotments in response to modification instructions sent as one of the following: data from the user device and non-data from the user device.

11. The wireless system according to claim 10 , wherein the metering system is configured to modify respective wireless service allotments in response to modification instructions sent as data from the user device.

12. The wireless system according to claim 10 , wherein the metering system is configured to modify respective wireless service allotments in response to modification instructions sent as non-data from the user device.

13. The wireless system according to claim 10 , wherein the metering system is further implemented in at least one of the plurality of wireless devices.

14. The wireless system according to claim 10 , wherein the metering system is further implemented at least in part in the wireless network.

15. The wireless system according to claim 10 wherein the metering system is implemented in at least one of the plurality of wireless devices, the wireless network, and a network.

16. The wireless system according to claim 10 , wherein the metering system is configured to receive a share request that comprises receiving a share request from a one of the plurality of wireless devices.

17. The wireless system according to claim 10 , wherein the metering system is configured to receive a share request that comprises receiving a share request from an Internet-based account of one of the plurality of wireless devices via the web portal.

18. The wireless system according to claim 10 , wherein the metering system is configured to receive a share request that comprises receiving a share request from the wireless application associated with one of the plurality of wireless devices.

Assignees

• Tracfone Wireless Inc

Inventors

• Collier John

Classifications

• H04M15/765

  Linked or grouped accounts, e.g. of users or devices · CPC title

• H04W4/24 Primary

  Accounting or billing · CPC title

• H04M15/80

  Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects · CPC title

• H04M15/09

  Third party charged communications · CPC title

• G06Q20/322

  Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices] · CPC title