The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 02, 2000
Filed:
Feb. 19, 1998
Applicant:
Inventors:
Robert F Penfield, Maynard, MA (US);
Patrick J MeLampy, Pepperell, MA (US);
Assignee:
LHS Group Inc., Atlanta, GA (US);
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H04M / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
379144 ; 379111 ; 379112 ; 379114 ;
Abstract
A software process setting time limits for telephone calls so that a subscriber's account balance is not exceeded. The method estimates the time when the subscriber's balance will expire by using total charges for all calls per second. The process accounts for time already paid for, reserving the minimum continuation time for adding a new call, reserving time for all calls up to the latest paid for time, dividing the remaining balance by total charges per second to estimate the time left before the subscriber's balance reaches zero, an setting the time limit for each call accordingly.