Enforcing limits on free and/or discounted electronic communications
US8660524B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 29, 2013 |
| Grant date | Feb 25, 2014 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 29, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04M15/8083
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Limits are placed on the number of free and/or discounted communications (such as voice calls and text messages) available to a user, based on the number of communications received by the user. A user is given an allotment of credits, each worth one or more free and/or discounted communications. A credit balance is established and is continually adjusted as follows: it is increased whenever qualifying communications of a given type are received, and is decreased whenever free and/or discounted communications of the given type are initiated by the user. Once the credit balance has been depleted, the user may be blocked from initiating additional free or discounted communications, until the credit balance is increased. In at least one embodiment, different types of credits can be earned and/or used for different types of communications. In at least one embodiment, exchanges between the different types of credits may be permitted.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.