FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
& The Patent Rules, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
1. TITLE OF THE INVENTION:
METHOD AND SYSTEM TO IMPLEMENT TELEPHONY BILLING TO INCENTIVISE SHARED PHONE USAGE
2. APPLICANT:
Name: MOVIRTU LIMITED
Nationality: UK
Address: 2nd Floor, 145-157 St. John Street, London Greater London EC1V 4PY, United Kingdom.
3. PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION:
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:

TECHANICAL FIELD
The present invention relates; generally to telephony com muni cations and services,; and more specifically, to a method of implementing billing to incentivise shared mobile phone usage.
BACKGROUMD ART
In many parts of the developing world, the high upfronit cost of a mobile phone prohibits them from buying n mobile phone and subscription; however these people- have a need to use mobile tebphone to keep in touch with friends and family, More and more families in the emerging markets are alao purchasing mobile phones for pooled or shared usage with a family unit. or amongst a group of friends. Typically those people pay the owner of the phone in cash for use of the device and 10 cover the physical cost ol' Lhe call or trail saai on.
There are a number of methods that enable a user to log into a separate phone billing account from a device, so that the owner of the phone is not charged for the actual phone call or related transaction. For example. U.S. Patent 02263M by Bala, et al. Subscriber-Initiated Automated 'fhird Party Billing team re, By implementing these types of systems the owner of die phone can be free from the concern that the charge of (Tie call or transaction will be deducted from their normal account and lhe subscribers can have a phone account and number without the need to have to purchase a handset. However this may not be enough incentive to enable the owner to share the phone since lhe owner of Lhe phone will not make any ptolil irom the Li ansae lion.
If the owner also expects a. fee to share the phone they will have to negotiate this additional fee upfront, or they may share on a. promise of a future payment because of their feeling of obligation to help the other user, lhe phone owner may also he concerned that their phone may be stolen during the sharing process, or that the sharer. may try and defraud the phone owner" by billing the cost of the call or other transact iuns to the phone owners billing account. TheTe is

therefore a reticence to share phones. Simple low cost access to mobile phones has huge economic and social impacts; industry ia therefore keen to find methods to encourage and support shared phone usage. By sharing the revenue Lhe telephony service provider mal;es to Lhe phone owner as described in this invention, to compensate them for allowing the subscriber co make a. call on their handset, the telephony service provider iticentivises subscribers to share phones.
The following USPTO patent documents reflect sucfi prior background art;
5602907, Method and system for accounting communication charges, Emi Hata et al, Assignee Fujitsu Limited, Issued Feb 11. 1997
5722067, Security cellular telecornmuni cations system. Douglas V. Fougnies et al, Assignee Freedom Wireless, Inc., Issued Feb 24,199S
5822411, Telecommunications charging, Richard P, Swale ct al, Assignee British Telecommunications public limited company, Ts.su.ed Oct I3: 1998
5826185, Cellular phone system wherein the air time use is predetermined, Andrew Wise et al, Assignee Banana Cellular, Inc., Issued Oct 20, 1998
5854975, Prepaid security cellular telecommunications system, Doug Jus V. Fougnies et al,
Freedom Wireless, Inc., Issued Dec 29. 1998
5937044, System and. method for alternate frilling arrangement during a telephone call, I lac If II-Kim. Assignee MCI Communications Corporation, Issued Aug 10, \999
5943405, Credit calling, service system. Toshihiro Morikawa et al, Assignee Fujitsu Limned, Issued Aug 24,1999
5995 822, Method for handling parallel transactions on telephone pre-paid accounts, Ola Smith at al. Assignee Telefonaktieholaget LM Ericsson, Issued Nov SO, 1999
6029062, Prepay telecommunications system with unnegistered roaming call processing, Daniel A. Hanson, Assignee National Telemanagement Corporation, Issued Feb 22, 2000

603 5025. System and method for a prepaid bundled telecommunications account. Daniel A. Hanson, Assignee Nations I Telemanagement Corporation, Issued Mar 7,2000
6049710. Wireless prepaid lelepnojie system wiih dispensable instruments, a. G Mlsson, Issued, April 11, 2000
6O5K300. Prepay Leleconmmnications system, Daniel A. Hanson, Assignee National I elemanagement Corpration, Issued May 2„ 2M0
6185414, Wireless telecommunication system with prepaid archiecture, Richard Rrunneret al, Assignee TelelonaLliebolageL LM Ericsson, Issued Feb 6, 2001
6208&51, Prepay telecommunications system, Daniel A. Hanson, Assignee National Tele management (Corporation, Issued Mar 27, 2001
6226166. Subscriber-initiated automated third party billing feature, Srinivas Bala ct al, Assignee AT&T Ctirp, Tsaued May I, 2001
6236851, Prepaid security cellular telecommunications system, Douglas V. b'otignics ct aL, Freedom Wireless, Inc., Issued May 22. 200J
629R250. Wireless prepaid telephone system with extended capability, Byard G. Nilsson, Issued Oct 2, 2001
6301472. Portable telephone system, J iro Nakastiet la, Assignee Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki K.aisha.lssuedOct9,200l
6337903. Call setup for prepaid services, Juha-PcVka Manner at al, A&signee Nokia Networks Oy, Issued Jan K, 2002
6373931, Method for allowing a called party to allocate call payment responsibility, Umesh J. Amin etaln Assignee AT&T Wireless Services, Inc., Issued Apr 16.. 2002
6381316, Enhanced communication platform and related communication method using the platform. Simon James Joyce et al, Assignee Unpaid Systems, Ltd,, Issued Apr 30, 2002

6381317. Subscriber-initiated automated third parry billing feature. Srinivas Bala cr al, Assignee AT&T Corp., Issued Apr 30, 2002
6400967. Mobile keyless Lei e phone insLrumenls and wireless telecommunications syslem .,,, Byard G. Kilsson, Issued Jun 4, 2002
6405029, Wireless prepaid telephone system with dispensable instruments, Byard G. NiLs-son, Issued Jun 11,2002
6418326, Method for lining applications in a mobile station, a mobile station, and a system for
effecting payments, Petri lleinonen et a], Assignee Nokia Mobile Phones Limited, Issued Jul 3,
2002
6463 J 39. Comb illation pic-paid and calling card, Davitt ct al, Assignee AT&T Corp,, Issued Oct 8,2002
6751475, SbiTed-revenue billing system for transmission of wireless data from n. vehicle, David
William Holmes el al, Assignee AT&T Wheless Services, Inc., Issued Jun 15, 2004
6950506. Method and system foi paying prepaid communications credit, lohn RucVatt et al. Assignee BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation. Issued Sep 27, 2005
71554 J 2, Billing for use of a telephony device. Michael W, Brown wr al, Assignee International Business Machines Corporal ion, hssued Dec 26, 2006
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The method and .system for implementing hilling to iriccntivisc shared mobile phone usage disclosed herein is an innovative concept which incentivises the owner of a phone to share their phone with other users, in return for a credit applied to their own mobile phone account from the network or service operator. This credit could cither be a one-off fixed amount, or could be a percentage of the cost of the call or other transaction the shared user makes.

In order to process the credit, "the billing system would nee d to have details of the phone owner and their device and a confirmation that the phone owner is sharing his phone. The subsc-ribcr who is using the phone would t hen also enler a code lo enable a virtual phone account. for use during the call or other mobile transaction hefore logging of the virtual phone system and returning the phone. In this example both the owner of the phone, and the subscriber trying to make a phone call using a virtual phone account are with the name telephony service provider. An alternative embodiment would he where the filiated phone user accesses a virtual prepaid phone account from an alternative communications supplier using a free phone access- number and the alternative communications supplier would lite to give credit to the phone owner for sharing his phone and allowing its subscriber to make a call or other transaction. In both these embodiments the feature of the cull credit is built into the rate plan that the subscriber who is using the shared phone has signed up to, it is not a. feature that is used on a. per request basis. The system will know if the user is. sharing a phone and will apply the credit appropriately. Of course an alternative form of the invention could be where this credit is done on a request only basis, again this would be a feature that the telephony service provider would, promote aa a paid sen-ice to subscribers that, do not. have this feature built into their service plans. In this example there is no need for the subscriber tti have a virtual phone account, the could huve a normal account but instead the owner of the phone has made a one off request to the telephony service provider to have a credit appLied to their account for sharing their phone with another subscriber.
The above examples illustrate the method and system whereby the telephony serviee provider provides a monetary credit to the phone owner from a share of the revenue the service provider makes for the call. Tf the phone owner and the subscriber using the phone are both with the same network provider this can be set up using the existing billing system or systems that the provider already has. If however the phone owner and subscriber using the phone have accounts with different service providers, the application of the monetary credit may not be allowed unless the two service providers have made a prior agreement to allow such a transaction and have the necessary methods and systems in place to process such a transaction. As an alternative form of compensation, the telephony service provider could to the owner of the phone a physical gift. re-wand points, or rcsfrictcd/non-rcstrictcd free minutes of phone usage instead, or alongside the credit applied to the account. In order to further rnccntivisc shared phone usage, the rate of revenue share from the telephony operator could also change depending on how often the phone

owner shares the phone, and/or how many different people they shares the phone with over a predefined period of time.
IT .should be noccd that the phone owner could use various methods to notify rhc system, that they arc sharing the phouo. Of course to minimise fraud there should be an acknowledgement from the sharer of the phone that the owner Li indeed sharing the phone. Further the method can include a predefined, time limit during which the shared, credit would be applied lo ensure that the phone is indeed just being shared for shore term usage and not being given to someone as a method to earn money fraudulently. The telephony operator would probably also want to ensure that the person .sharing the device is cither on a post-paid contract with up to date payments, or is a pre-paid subscriber who has recently, or regularly, loped up their credit, tins is to discourage phone owners from using these cash back plans instead ol their normal calling plan on their own phone. If the telephony operator wants to further restrict usage they could only allow phones located within a certain physical location, or sets of locations or regions to be able to use the service.
At the end of the phone call or other tranyaction, and after the credit has been applied to the phone owner's account it would be beneficial for the telephony service provider to send a confirmation of the credit applied to the phone owners account by some method, for example by SMS text message.
An illustrative embodiment of this method can include a. new type of mobile phone account which l.hc i riven lor has called "Share-paid", as opposed to Pre-paid or Post-paid. Post-pa id is a normal contractual obligation a user has with a mobile telephony provider, whereby the subscriber agrees a contractual commitment, in terms of duration and rales, acid the subscriber is billed in arrears each month. Pre-paid mobile telephony allows users to pay in advance for the cost of mobile services. Pre-paid is often used in preference to Post-paid in emerging markets because it negates the need to sign up to a contractual obligation and allows users to budget their phone usage spend. Share-Paid would be a Pre-paid account with Ihe feature that the subscriber would be only be able to make phone calls and mobile transactions using someone else's phone and by standard the phone sharer would always receive a credit, cither a one-off fixed amount or a percentage of the cost of the call or transaction, i.e. a revenue .share from the telecommunications service provider or operator.

The above examples illustrate the use of a shared phone 10 make a phone call to a third party, but the same method and system cun be employed for other services offered by the telephony service provider such as receiving a phone call acceding voicemail, accessing a list of missed calls, sending or receiving an SMS, email or MMS, internet browsing or making a financial transaction over the phone tor example mating a purchase of good or services from the operator or a third party, or transferring money to a third party. It should also be noted that the method and system can be applied to different types of telephony service providers .such as fixed line, mobile, cable or VOIP.
Although the method disclosed, by and large employs a series of general purpose network equipment:, databases, and systems such as billing systems to achieve its ends, the bona fide distinctiveness of the invention resides in the setup and management of the billing accounts for the phone owner that shares their phone and the subscriber that uses the service.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Of DRAWINGS
The foregoing summary of me invention, as well as the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, is better understood when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which arc included by way of example, and not by way of limitation with regard to the claimed invention:
Fig 1. Is an exemplary arehheclure of a wireless telecommunications network for processing calls and a system server hi accordance with the present invention; and
Fig 2 Is a flowchart depiting the operation of the share-paid feature according to one embodiment of the present invention.
BFST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Fig 1. Depicts an exemplary wireless telecommunications network which can be used for processing calls. The operation of the telecommunication system in general will be described
followed by a description of implementing the share-paid feature in the network.

In Fig 1. User A 1 owns Motile Device 2 and inside the mobile device is a personal SIM (Subscriber Identity Modulo) Card supplied by tho network operator. The SIM card uniquely identifier the subscriber and their mobile phone number and allows the Mobile Device 2 to be registered and authenticated on the network. The Mobile Device 2 itself is identified by an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), which can be obtained by the network upon request. Telephony calls, and other services used by the device, arc billed to the account holder of the SIM Card.
The Home Luxation Register (HLR) 5 is a database which stones data, about the subscribers, including the Authentication Key (Ki) for each SIM. The Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC) 6 is the network element which performs the telephony .switching functions of the network. The MSC is responsible for network interfacing and common channel signalling. The Visitor Location Register (VLR) 7 is a.database whith stores temporary informatum about roaming subscribers. Base Station Controller (BSC) 4 is the network element, which provides all the control functions and physical links between the MSC and the radio interface. The BSC provides functions sueh as handover; cell configuration data, and control of radio frequency power levels.
The Intelligent Network (IN) H allows operators to oiler enhanced services omup of the basic voice services. The Service Control Point (SCP) is one of the elements of the FN which contains service logic which implements a desired behaviour. The Prepaid Billing system 9 contains information on subscribers account balances, their tariff plans and contains a rating engine which calculates the cost of individual calls or transactions depending on the nature of the event, and the raLe. plan associated with the subscriber.
In order to implement the share-paid service, the network operator would install the System ScrvcT 10. Any subscribers registered with the shiire-paid servicer word d be registered on the subscri her database. When a phone call or other transaction is made by one of these subscribers, Lhe raLing engine flow is changed so that once the call or other transaction is completed, either a portion of the cost of the call is credited back: to the owner's account, or the call is re-rated a second time to provide the credit to the phone owner. Depending on the exact configuration required by the operator, information on other subscriber who own a phone, and their ability to be eligible for a credit depending on the criteria set by the operator, may be held either on the Prepaid Billing Server 9 or the System Server 10,

It the owner of the owner of "the phone id located on an alternative network. the two different network operators would define a suitable interface using the VLR, whereby the sharing of the phone would be authenticated and a credit passed from one operator lo the other as part of the normal interconnect settlements.
Fig 2 shows a flowchart of haw the .system would work in the preferred embodiment- A nocification 12 would be received by die system Irom die phone owner that they wish lo share rheir phone. The system would authenticate 13 that the phone owner is allowed to use the .shared phone feature. The subscriber wishing to use tlie phone would make a request to use their share paid account 14 and if authenticated the call would be allowed to proceed 16. Once the call or transaction is finished 17 the Prepaid Hilling System would rate and charge the call to User A or User B 18 depending on how die account billing lias been set up. For example if User B has a virtual account, and the operator has implemented a system to stop the billing to User A, then the cost of the call would be applied to User B' s account, The call would then cither be re-rated, or as part of the rating engine logic a separate fixed amount or share of the cost of the call would be credited bach to User A's account 19 from, the operator. Note the credit does not come from the user of the handset, the credit is made from the network operator to incentivise the phone sharing.
While the foregoing describes what are considered to be the preferred embodiments of the invention, it is understood that various modifications may be made therein and that the invention may be implemented in various forms and alternate embodiments, and indeed that it may be applied in numerous applications, only some of" which have been described. The claims are intended to cover all such modifications and variations which tall within the true scope of the invention,
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, mobile operators may implement the system to enable then incentivise the shared usage of phone handsets. The mobile operators benefit economically since users will be more willing to share handsets and therefore users who do not own. a phone will have more opportunity to make more outgoing calls, increasing the amount of

airtime they spend and increasingly will be able to use mobile remittances. The mobile operator will also benefit from increased loyalty.
The implementation of the system will also have three primary social benefits: 1) Enabling people on low incomes to communicate more easily; reducing the costs of travelling and money spent on messengers by giving them a phune iiLimher; 2) Reducing the costs spent by friends and family trying to contact them or trying to sending remittances using mobile bunking and 3)
Creating employment and new revenue streams for Village Payphone Operators and also from friends and family willing to share phones.
In alternative embodiments the system may be used to pay tor shared "usage of other items such as a phone eharger or, for example, may be used by mobile: operaiors to ineemivise the use of shared phoned fur people who already have a htmdset, and a- mobile phone number, but require virtual access to their account and use of their phone number from another handset

We claim:
1, A method of implemecnting telephony user account billing comprising associating two or more user accounts involved m a shared transaction involving a phone such as storing a phone to anotlher user to allow them to make a phone call or Other user initiated method of communication where the telephony operator give a credit to tlie owner of the phone accc-nding to a predefined revenue share, or fixed rate, to facilitate the transaction whereby the rate is built into the subscriber that wishes to make the call's billing account:
The method comprises the steps of:
both users wishing to share have accounts already established; owner of handset shares it with another subscriber; subscriber makes a phone cull using the phone owners account; subscriber returns the handset; cost of call is decremented from
subscriber's account as normal;
the method is characterized in that it further comprises the step of:
billing system gives credit from the telephony operator to the owner of the handset by increasing his account balance by an agreed portion of the cost of the call, or by a fixed amount.
2. The method of claim I wherein the subscribers accesses a virtual calling system provided by
the same telephony operator using their own account so that there is oo charge to ihe phone
owner, but the phone owner still receives a credit from the telephony operator.
3. The method of claim 1 and 2 wherein die predefined revenue share, or fixed rate, is not build into the snbsci'iber'& rate plan and the owner of the phone requests a one off credit, either revenue share, or fixed amount from tlie telephony operator tor snaring his handset
4. 'The method of claim 1 and 2 wherein the owner of the phune and the subscriber have accounts
with two different telephony operators.

5, The method of claim 1 and 2 wherein the telephony operator provides the owner of the handset restricted or non-restricted free minutes of usage, a physical gift, or reward points.
6, The method of claim 1 and 2 wherein the telephony operator changes the revenue-share or fixed amount payable depending on how often the phone owner shares the phone, or how many people they share the phone with over a predefined period of lime.
S. The method of claim 1 and 2 wherein the subscriber using the shared phone receives a phone call Instead of making a phone call.
9. The method of claim 1 and 2 wherein the subscriber using the shared phone accesses their
voicemail account,
10. The method of claim 1 and 2 wherein the subscriber using the shared phone sends an SMS message.
11. The method ofclaim. 1 and 2 wherein the subscriber using The shared phone send an MMS message,
12. The method of claim 1 and 2 wherein the subscriber using the shared phone accesses a web page or browses the internet.
13. The method uf claim I and 2 wherein the subscriber using the shared phone makes a financial transaction using the phone either purchasing goods or services, or transferring money
to a third, parly.
14. A computer program comprising code means adapted to perform the steps of the method of
and one of the claims J3 2S 3,4, 5,6,7,8, 9 or 10 when said program is run on a computer.
15h A billing sewer comprising: a network interface for communication with at least one switching centre; a tariff table and a rating engine to enable a credit as per claim 1 or 2.
16, The server ofclaim 15 wherein the predefined revenue share isi stored as a fixed amount.
17. The server of claim 15 wherein the switching centres arc located in two different telephony
networks.

18. The server of claim 15 wherein the server is connected to a loyalty points system.
19. Ther server of claim 15 wherein the predefined revenue-share is calculated depending on how often The phone owner shares the phone, or how many people they share the phone with over a. predefined period of rime.