Systems and methods for generating bills

Systems and methods for identifying charges on a bill are provided. Each charge category is assigned an associated symbol. The associated symbol appears in proximity to the corresponding charge category on the bill. If a charge category includes charge subcategories, the symbol can also appear on the bill in proximity to the charge subcategory.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Consumers receive bills for all types of goods and services. Consumer demand for detailed billing has resulted in bills including a section summarizing the charges and at least one other section, which provides a detailed break-down of specific charges. Due to deregulation, mergers, acquisitions and the like, a single service provider may now provide a number of services, all of which appear on the same bill. Additionally, a consumer may have a number of different accounts for the same or similar services, which appear on the same bill. For example, a wireless service provider's bill can include charge categories for interconnect voice, dispatch voice, data, third party services, equipment rentals or purchases, and government fees and taxes for a number of different wireless devices. Each of the charge categories can have one or more charge subcategories appearing on different portions of the bill. To a consumer, the names of the charge subcategories may not appear to be related to the corresponding charge categories. Accordingly, it may be difficult for a consumer to correlate charges for a charge subcategory with the corresponding charge category.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the above-identified and other deficiencies of conventional billing techniques by providing systems and methods for generating bills, which reduces consumer confusion when reconciling charges between different portions of a bill. In accordance with the present invention, bills are generated with symbols located in proximity to various charge categories and the corresponding charge subcategories. Each occurrence of a charge category and a corresponding charge subcategory throughout the different portions of the bill can include a symbol associated with the particular charge category. By providing unique symbols for each charge category, the present invention allows consumers to easily identify charges belonging to particular charge categories.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, charges for a plurality of charge categories are determined, and symbols associated with each of the plurality of charge categories are identified. A bill is then generated, which identifies the charges for the plurality of charge categories, and includes the associated symbols in proximity to the charges for each of the plurality of charge categories.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1a-1gillustrate exemplary portions of a wireless communication services bill in accordance with the present invention. The monthly account invoice portion of the bill illustrated inFIG. 1aprovides a brief summary of charges for a plurality of charge categories for a wireless communication service account. As illustrated inFIG. 1a, symbols are located in proximity to each of the plurality of charge categories, which are useful for identifying charges belonging to a particular charge category.

For the Access and Related Items charge category, a symbol1, which comprises an antenna and signal strength bars, is used to identify the charge category. The Cellular Services charge category is identified by symbol2, which is a person walking with a mobile telephone. The Dispatch Services charge category is represented by a mobile telephone symbol3. The Messaging Services charge category is represented by an envelope symbol4. The Data and Third Party Services charge category is represented by a globe symbol5. The Equipment and Retail Purchases charge category is represent by a shopping cart symbol6, and the Government Fees and Taxes charge category is represented by a building symbol7.

Although particular symbols are illustrated for particular charge categories, any type of symbol can be used, as long as the symbol is used to consistently identify charges belonging to the same charge category. For example, instead of the image symbols illustrated in the Figures, shapes, numerals (Roman or Arabic), other images, or the like can be used as symbols.

FIG. 1billustrates an exemplary account summary portion of a bill in accordance with the present invention. The account summary portion identifies charges for each subscriber on the account for each of the plurality of charge categories. The account summary portion also breaks down charges for the plurality of charge categories into one or more charge subcategories. For example, the Access and Related Items charge category includes Monthly Recurring Access Charges, Adjustment and other Charges, and Service Discount subcategories. Accordingly, the symbol associated with the Access and Related Items charge category is located in proximity to the aforementioned charge subcategories. Moreover, brackets or the like can be used to facilitate illustration of the relationship between the symbol and the category/subcategory.

FIGS. 1cand1dillustrate an exemplary account charges and adjustments portion of a bill in accordance with the present invention. The charges and adjustments illustrated in this portion of the bill are an aggregation of charges and adjustments for all of the subscribers on the account. This portion of the bill includes account summary, an account activity details, and account management reports sections. The account summary portion identifies the previous and current invoice activity for the account, and includes symbols associated with each charge category in proximity to the corresponding charge subcategory.

The account activity details portion identifies charges for third party service and equipment purchases, and includes symbols associated with each charge category in proximity to the corresponding charge subcategory. The account management report portion of the bill identifies charges for airtime and dispatch usage for the account.

FIGS. 1e-1gillustrate an exemplary subscriber charges and adjustments portion of a bill in accordance with the present invention. The charges and adjustments on this part of the bill are for a particular subscriber, and include a symbol associated with a charge category located in proximity to the corresponding charge subcategory. Although a subscriber charges and adjustments portion of the bill is illustrated for only one of the subscribers of the account, the bill will include similar portions for each of the other subscribers of the account.

The subscriber charges and adjustment portion of the bill includes subscriber activity summary, subscriber activity detail and service informational reports portions. The subscriber activity summary portion of the bill identifies charges and adjustments. The subscriber activity detail portion of the bill provides the details of each of the charges corresponding to some of the charge subcategories from the subscriber activity summary portion of the bill. The service informational reports section details a subscriber's rate plan and the amount of services used for the rate plan.

AlthoughFIGS. 1a-1gillustrate a bill for wireless communication services, the use of symbols to identify charge categories and corresponding subcategories can be employed on any type of bill.

FIG. 2illustrates an exemplary flowchart of a method for generating a bill in accordance with the present invention. Initially, an account is selected (step205) and each of the subscribers for the selected account are identified (step210). Data for charges and adjustments for the selected account and identified subscribers are collected (step215). If there is only one subscriber on an account or if the type of bill being generated does not relate to a service in which charges for multiple subscribers will appear on a bill, then step210may be omitted, and step215would only involve collecting data for charges and adjustments for the selected account. Next, symbols corresponding to each of a plurality of charge categories are identified (step220). A bill is generated identifying charges for each of the plurality of charge categories and charge subcategories, and including a corresponding symbol proximately located next to each of the plurality of charge categories and charge subcategories (step225). The method illustrated inFIG. 2can be performed by a processor with associated memory (such as a computer-readable medium), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA), or the like, in conjunction with an appropriate output device such as a bill printer. For electronic bills, the output device could be an appropriate display.