The deregulation of the telecommunications industry has resulted in an environment where subscribers are given many choices of telecommunications service providers. Each service provider typically offers different rate plans that govern the cost the subscriber pays for various voice and data transmissions. In addition, the network over which the telecommunication services are provided, may be only partially owned or leased by the subscriber's particular service provider. To keep track of subscriber billing or network usage and communication services, service providers rely upon records created for each subscriber transaction on the network. For example, a call detail record (CDR) is generated when a telephone call is placed by a subscriber across the network. Groups of CDRs are stored in files of various formats and sizes for periodic retrieval and processing by a computer-based billing system.
For example, a CDR is created when a subscriber uses a calling card to place a telephone call. An example of a platform for processing such calling card accounts is the InterVoice Brite system used by SBC Telecommunications. The calling card system creates CDRs which are available for downstream processing systems to provide billing for network time or create customer billing records for network usage or generate network usage reports for the service provider. In a typical busy hour such systems can create files containing more than 5,000 CDRs. Currently, the available reporting functions from the calling card platform are limited. Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved reporting system to manage customer accounts and provide network auditing and statistical measures for service provider analysis and business planning.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds