Patents by Inventor Bruce A. Pryor

Bruce A. Pryor has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8929858
    Abstract: A banded billing system for telecommunication service is disclosed. A carrier's billing system maintains in data storage a banded-pricing schedule that divides a continuum of minutes of use into a series of contiguous, mutually-exclusive minute-ranges and that specifies for each minutes-range a respective cost. At the end of a billing period, the billing system determines a number of minutes of telecommunication service used by a given subscriber during the billing period. The billing system then queries the banded-pricing schedule to determine which minute-range the number of minutes falls into, and to determine the cost specified by the banded-pricing schedule for that minute-range. The billing system then bills the determined cost to the subscriber, for use of the telecommunication service in the billing period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Sprint Spectrum L.P.
    Inventor: Bruce A. Pryor
  • Patent number: 7603102
    Abstract: A banded billing system for data communication service is disclosed. A carrier's billing system maintains in data storage a banded-pricing schedule that divides a continuum of increments of data into a series of contiguous, mutually-exclusive increment-ranges and that specifies for each increment-range a respective cost. At the end of a billing period, the billing system determines a number of increments of data communicated by a given subscriber during the billing period. The billing system then queries the banded-pricing schedule to determine which increment-range the number of increments falls into, and to determine the cost specified by the banded-pricing schedule for that increment-range. The billing system then bills the determined cost to the subscriber, for data communication service in the billing period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2009
    Assignee: Sprint Spectrum L.P.
    Inventor: Bruce A. Pryor
  • Patent number: 7068996
    Abstract: A banded billing system for telecommunication service is disclosed. A carrier's billing system maintains in data storage a banded-pricing schedule that divides a continuum of minutes of use into a series of contiguous, mutually-exclusive minute-ranges and that specifies for each minutes-range a respective cost. At the end of a billing period, the billing system determines a number of minutes of telecommunication service used by a given subscriber during the billing period. The billing system then queries the banded-pricing schedule to determine which minute-range the number of minutes falls into, and to determine the cost specified by the banded-pricing schedule for that minute-range. The billing system then bills the determined cost to the subscriber, for use of the telecommunication service in the billing period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2006
    Assignee: Sprint Spectrum L.P.
    Inventor: Bruce A. Pryor