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:
Aug. 01, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 17, 1998
Francois Sawyer, St-Hubert, CA;
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ), Stockholm, SE;
Abstract
A system and method for determining a charge rate for a call from a mobile station in a cellular telecommunications network in which a public system operates a macrocell which overlays a microcell operated by a private system. The private system reports whether it is operating normally to a mobile switching center (MSC) in the public system. The MSC sends a charging record to a billing center and includes a private system status indication (PSSI) which indicates whether the private system is operating normally. The charging record also includes an identity of the mobile station (MSID) and an identity of the cell where the call is placed (CELLID). The billing center determines from the MSID whether the mobile station belongs to the private system, determines from the CELLID which cell the call was placed in, and determines from the PSSI whether the private system is operating normally. The call is charged at the preferential rate upon determining that the mobile station belongs to the private system, the call was placed in the public macrocell, and the private system is not operating normally.