Patent ID: 8103541

Claim:
A method of communicating to a customer pricing information corresponding to a desired service, the method comprising: receiving information relating to a plurality of services, said information including an individual price and an expected frequency of performance for each of the services; grouping the services into a plurality of pricing categories fewer in number than the plurality of services, at least one of said pricing categories including at least two unrelated services, and at least one of said pricing categories including at least two services for which the individual prices are different; determining, for each of the pricing categories, a unique price for any of the services in the respective pricing category as a function of the individual prices and the frequencies of performance for the services in the respective pricing category; generating, by a computer processor, a price list, said price list including each of the pricing categories and the determined unique prices for the pricing categories, the unique price associated with a particular pricing category representing the price of each service included in that particular pricing category; and displaying to the customer the price list, thereby enabling the customer to determine the price to be charged to the customer for the desired service by identifying in the price list the unique price associated with the pricing category which includes the desired service; wherein the price list is displayed to the customer before determining which of the plurality of services is the desired service.