Systems and methods for improved billing and ordering

Abstract

A price-generation system exemplary of the present invention reduces reliance on synchronization of rating and billing information, simplifies and speeds up commercial implementation of such systems, and reduces computational costs associated with real-time cost calculations by pre-computing rating data that can be automatically applied to subscriber usage. In one embodiment, a price-generation system comprises an analysis component configured to automatically generate at least one rate cube, wherein the at least one rate cube is configured to store rate plan information, an order entry component configured to pre-compute recurring charge information associated with at least one service based on at least a first set of rules, and a billing component configured to calculate total charges based on at least the pre-computed recurring charge information and usage charge information, wherein the usage charge information is calculated using the at least one rate cube.

1 . A computer-implemented price-generation system, comprising:
 an analysis component configured to automatically generate at least one rate cube, wherein the at least one rate cube is configured to store rate plan information;   an order entry component configured to pre-compute recurring charge information associated with at least one service based on at least a first set of rules; and   a billing component configured to calculate total charges based on at least the pre-computed recurring charge information and usage charge information, wherein the usage charge information is calculated using the at least one rate cube.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented price-generation system of  claim 1 , wherein the first set of rules and a second set of rules are not synchronized. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented price-generation system of  claim 1 , wherein the analysis component is further configured to determine whether rate data may be pre-calculated. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented price-generation system of  claim 1 , wherein the analysis component is further configured to pre-fill at least part of the at least one rate cube. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented price-generation system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one rate cube is filled using statistical information related to at least one of a subscriber or rate plan information. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented price-generation system of  claim 1 , wherein the order entry component is further configured to transform at least one rate plan into an optimized form. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented price-generation system of  claim 6 , wherein the order entry component is further configured to transmit the optimized form of the at least one rate plan to the billing component. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented price-generation system of  claim 1 , wherein the analysis component is further configured to locate at least one stored rate cube. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented price-generation system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one service is at least one of television, home phone, Internet, or wireless phone service. 
     
     
         10 . A computer-implemented price-generation method, comprising:
 analyzing whether rate data may be pre-calculated;   generating at least one rate cube for storing rate plan information;   transforming at least one rate model into an optimized form;   calculating usage charges using the at least one rate cube; and   combining non-usage charges and usage charges, wherein the non-usage charges and usage charges are computed independently.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented price-generation method of  claim 10 , wherein analyzing whether rate data may be pre-calculated further comprises identifying a rate and subscriber pair that can be pre-calculated. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented price-generation method of  claim 11 , further comprising pre-calculating at least one rate based at least in part on test data or historical data. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented price-generation method of  claim 10 , further comprising filling the at least one rate cube using statistical information. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented price-generation method of  claim 13 , wherein the statistical information comprises subscriber usage information. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented price-generation method of  claim 10 , further comprising locating the at least one rate cube using a hash value. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented price-generation method of claim of  claim 10 , wherein combining recurring charges and usage charges further comprises receiving pre-calculated recurring charge information. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented price-generation method of  claim 10 , further comprising computing in real-time total charge information based at least in part on estimated usage charge data. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented price-generation method of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one rate cube comprises at least one multi-dimensional OLAP cube associated with at least one of a service or subscriber. 
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon to cause a computer to execute a process comprising:
 analyzing whether rate data may be pre-calculated;   generating at least one rate cube for storing rate plan information;   transforming at least one rate model into an optimized form;   computing usage charges using the at least one rate cube; and   combining recurring charges and usage charges, wherein the recurring charges and usage charges are computed independently.