Patent ID: 7155412

Claim:
A method for billing for telephone usage, said method comprising: tracking, at a telephony device, usage of at least one measurable element of said telephony device itself by an identifiable individual, wherein said identifiable individual is distinct from an owner of said telephony device, wherein said usage of said measurable element is separate from any use of telephone service to said telephony device for a call; calculating, at said telephony device, a tariff for a cost of said amount of usage of said measurable element of said telephony device by said identifiable individual based on a cost per unit of actual usage of said measurable element specified by said owner of said telephony device; and transferring said tariff to bill a billing plan for said identifiable individual for said tracked usage of said measurable element of said telephony device from said telephony device via a telephone network to a billing service, wherein said billing service is enabled to facilitate transfer of an electronic payment between an account provider designated in said billing plan for said identifiable individual and an account for said owner of said telephony device, such that said owner of said telephony device is electronically compensated for usage of the actual telephony device by said identifiable individual.