Traffic Shaping of Cellular Service Consumption Through Delaying of Service Completion According to Geographical-Based Pricing Advantages

Abstract

Changes in user behavior of usage of wireless services from a mobile device are encouraged in order to effect shaping of traffic and utilization patterns among a plurality of cells within a rate plan region, wherein a discount indicator disposed in said mobile device is provided to notify a user of a discount available for consuming wireless service from a given cell. A geo-cost policy established for that user or mobile device in which rules and conditions according to the available discounts and class of service are defined. A service completer queues services and automatically completes queued services upon present conditions meeting said geo-cost policy rules, such as delaying and later delivering messages when the mobile device relocates to a cell where discounts are being offered.

1 . A system for shaping of traffic and utilization patterns among a plurality of cells within a rate plan region, said system comprising:
 a traffic shaping server cooperative with a cellular telephone and data network, said traffic shaping server comprising at least one computer and one or more computer programs, and having and using behavior shaping rules, user rate plans, and customer profiles to define marked discounts in order to modify service consumption behaviors in favor of underutilized or cost-effective cells, wherein underutilization comprises a historical traffic level below a network service provider preference, and wherein cost-effectiveness comprises a cost by said network service provider to operate a cell, its associated equipment, and associated personnel;   a discount indicator portion of a user display disposed in a mobile communications device, said discount indicator configured to indicate a discount value available for consuming wireless service from a selected cell, said discount indicator comprising an iconic indicator, said discount value being a discount from said network service provider's rate plan for a user of said mobile communications device, said discount indicator being controlled by said traffic shaping server;   a geo-cost policy accessible by said traffic shaping server, said geo-cost policy defining a set of rules and conditions according to said network service provider's rate plan discount value;   an indicator control configured to allow said traffic shaping server to modify an appearance of said discount indicator according to said geo-cost policy; and   a service control portion of said mobile communications device configured:
 to delay and block completion of a service from said mobile communications device to said network initiated by a user of said mobile communications device while said mobile communications device is not in range of said selected cell, 
 to queue initiation of said service by receiving and storing user-input information on said mobile communications device, and 
 to automatically complete said queued services upon present conditions meeting said geo-cost policy rules including said mobile communications device arriving in range of said selected cell by delivering said stored information using network communications thereby delaying the use of user-initiated services until geo-cost policy conditions are met. 
   
   
   
       2 . The system as set forth in  claim 1  wherein said service control portion is configured to queue and automatically complete a wireless service selected from the group of sending a text message, receiving a text message, sending a voice message, receiving a voice message, sending picture, and receiving a picture. 
   
   
       3 . The system as set forth in  claim 1  wherein said service control portion is configured to automatically dial a telephone number. 
   
   
       4 . The system as set forth in  claim 1  wherein said service control portion is configured to queue and automatically complete a wireless service selected from the group of automatically connecting to a web address, automatically downloading a data structure, and refreshing a stored web page from a source web page. 
   
   
       5 . The system as set forth in  claim 1  wherein said discount indicator comprises an indicator selected from the group of a user icon, a text message, and a computer-readable data value. 
   
   
       6 . The system as set forth in  claim 1  wherein said geo-cost policy is accessed by evaluating service classes based upon a selection from the group of telephone number, buddy name, web address, and keyword. 
   
   
       7 . The system as set forth in  claim 1  wherein said service control portion is configured to automatically complete a queued service according to one or more geo-cost conditions selected from the group of currently offered discount value for a given cell, a mobile device battery low indicator, a mobile device power-off request, a clock time, a calendar day, and a mobile device low wireless signal strength indicator. 
   
   
       8 . The system as set forth in  claim 1  further comprising a geo-cost policy editor configured to edit said geo-cost policy. 
   
   
       9 . A set of interoperating computer memories, a first memory operable by a traffic shaping server computer, a second memory operable by mobile communications device, said memories encoding computer program code comprising:
 server code disposed in said first memory and configured to provide said traffic shaping server computer cooperative with a cellular telephone and data network which uses behavior shaping rules, user rate plans, and customer profiles to define marked discounts in order to modify service consumption behaviors in favor of underutilized or cost-effective cells, wherein underutilization comprises a historical traffic level below a network service provider preference, and wherein cost-effectiveness comprises a cost by said network service provider to operate a cell, its associated equipment, and associated personnel;   user display control code disposed in said second memory configured to display a discount indicator in a mobile communications device indicating a discount value available for consuming wireless service from a selected cell, said discount indicator comprising an iconic indicator, said discount value being a discount from said network service provider's rate plan for a user of said mobile communications device, said discount indicator being controlled by said traffic shaping server;   policy management code disposed in at least one of said memories, configured to access a geo-cost policy defining a set of rules and conditions according to said network service provider's rate plan discount value;   server display control code disposed in said first memory and configured to control said discount indicator by said traffic shaping server according to said geo-cost policy; and   service control code disposed in said second memory and configured:
 to delay and block completion of a service from said mobile communications device to said network initiated by a user of said mobile communications device while said mobile communications device is not in range of said selected cell, 
 to queue initiation of said service by receiving and storing on said mobile communications device information from said user; and 
 to automatically complete said queued services by said mobile communications device upon present conditions meeting said geo-cost policy rules including said mobile communications device arriving in range of said selected cell by delivering said stored information using network communications thereby delaying the use of user-initiated services until geo-cost policy conditions are met. 
   
   
   
       10 . The memories as set forth in  claim 9  wherein code configured to queue and complete a mobile service comprises code configured to queue and automatically complete a wireless service selected from the group of sending a text message, receiving a text message, sending a voice message, receiving a voice message, sending picture, and receiving a picture. 
   
   
       11 . The memories as set forth in  claim 9  wherein said code configured to queue and complete a mobile service comprises code configured to automatically dial a telephone number. 
   
   
       12 . The memories as set forth in  claim 9  wherein said code configured to queue and complete a mobile service comprises code configured to queue and automatically complete a wireless service selected from the group of automatically connecting to a web address, automatically downloading a data structure, and refreshing a stored web page from a source web page. 
   
   
       13 . The memories as set forth in  claim 9  wherein said discount indicator comprises an indicator selected from the group of a user icon, a text message, and a computer-readable data value. 
   
   
       14 . The memories as set forth in  claim 9  wherein said code configured to access a geo-cost policy comprises code configured to evaluate service classes based upon a selection from the group of telephone number, buddy name, web address, and keyword. 
   
   
       15 . The memories as set forth in  claim 9  wherein said code configured to queue and complete a mobile service comprises code configured to automatically complete a queued service according to one or more geo-cost conditions selected from the group of currently offered discount value for a given cell, a mobile device battery low indicator, a mobile device power-off request, a clock time, a calendar day, and a mobile device low wireless signal strength indicator. 
   
   
       16 . The memories as set forth in  claim 9  further comprising code configured to edit said geo-cost policy.