System and method for transferring credits as an incentive for prompt payment
First Claim
1. A process for awarding a credit to a Recipient as an incentive for the timely payment of a billed charge, wherein the billed charge is identified on a Sponsor'"'"'s books as an account receivable, comprising:
- receiving an identification of an eligible Recipient;
receiving an identification of at least one qualified account receivable associated with the eligible Recipient;
generating an award based upon the amount of the at least one qualified account receivable; and
rewarding the award to the Recipient.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a system and process for creating incentives for a customer to timely pay billed charges identified on a Sponsor'"'"'s books as an accounts receivable by offering a credit redeemable with a third party vendor via an Internet or other telecommunications link based system. The present invention generates credits, which are preferably travel vouchers, based upon an identification of qualified accounts receivables by at least one Sponsor. The process includes the steps of identifying a Recipient, identifying the qualified accounts receivables associated with the Recipient, and generating a travel voucher redeemable with a travel agency based upon the value of the qualified accounts receivables. The system of the present invention is preferably implemented using an Application Service Provider (ASP) accessible via an Internet or other network connection.
69 Citations
62 Claims
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1. A process for awarding a credit to a Recipient as an incentive for the timely payment of a billed charge, wherein the billed charge is identified on a Sponsor'"'"'s books as an account receivable, comprising:
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receiving an identification of an eligible Recipient;
receiving an identification of at least one qualified account receivable associated with the eligible Recipient;
generating an award based upon the amount of the at least one qualified account receivable; and
rewarding the award to the Recipient. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A process for awarding credits used to reduce the cost of travel related services, wherein the credit is awarded by a Sponsor to a customer for timely payment of billed charges, wherein the billed charges appear as accounts receivables on the Sponsor'"'"'s accounting books, comprising:
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receiving a payment from a customer for a billed charge;
determining whether payment is timely;
identifying the customer to a system providing credits to designated recipients when the payment is timely;
identifying the amount of accounts receivables qualified to receive a credit, wherein the accounts receivables are associated with the customer and the billed charges;
generating a credit for the customer, wherein an amount of the credit is determined based upon the qualified accounts receivables;
saving the credit in an account accessible by the recipient; and
providing a selected number of credits to a travel agency when the customer submits a request to redeem the selected number of credits from the account;
whereupon redeeming the selected number of credits, the system transfers payment of an amount equal to the selected number of credits to the travel agency to offset the cost of travel requested by the customer. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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16. A process for utilizing credits to offset the costs of acquiring goods/services, wherein the credits are awarded by a Sponsor based upon the timely payment of accounts receivables, comprising:
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determining a number of credits saved in an account administered by a system providing credits for the timely payment of accounts receivable for a Sponsor subscribing to the system;
determining a goods/services to be purchased from a third party vendor;
identifying to the system the third party vendor;
requesting an amount of credits to be applied to a purchase of the goods/services from the third party vendor; and
completing the purchase of the goods/services from the third party vendor upon receiving notification from the system that the requested credits have been paid to the third party vendor;
wherein the credits are awarded and saved in the account based upon the timely payment of billed charges identified by a Sponsor as an account receivable.
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19. A process for communicating to a credit administering system an identification of a Recipient and qualified accounts receivables upon which credits are based, comprising:
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establishing a communications link with a system for administering credits to a Recipient;
identifying to the system a Recipient eligible to receive a credit; and
identifying qualified accounts receivables associated with the Recipient;
wherein the system upon receiving the identification of the Recipient and the identification of the qualified accounts receivables awards a credit to an account associated with the Recipient, wherein the credits may be utilized by the recipient to offset the cost of acquiring goods/services provided by a third party vendor.
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26. A system for providing credits to a Recipient, wherein the Recipient has timely paid an account receivable for a Sponsor, comprising:
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a Sponsor system;
an Administrating system connected to the Sponsor system;
a Recipient system, connected to the Administrating system; and
a third party vendor system;
whereupon receiving an identification of a Recipient and at least one qualified account receivable associated with the Recipient from the Sponsor system, the Administering system determines a credit to award to a Recipient, the Recipient accessing the credit via the Recipient system and identifying the third party vendor to whom the credit is to be paid to offset a cost of acquiring goods/services from the third party vendor.
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34. The system for administering the awarding of credits to a Recipient based upon the timely payment of billed charges identified by a Sponsor as an account receivable, comprising:
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an input port for receiving an identification of a Recipient and a qualified account receivable associated with the Recipient from a Sponsor;
a processing system for determining a credit to award to the Recipient based upon the qualified account receivable;
a database for storing the credit until redeemed by the Recipient for the acquiring of a good/service from a third party vendor; and
a communications port for communicating an amount of at least one credit selected by the Recipient for redemption to the third party vendor;
wherein the credit is utilized to offset the cost of goods/services provided by the third party vendor as an incentive to continue to timely pay billed charges appearing on a Sponsors books as an account receivable.
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43. A method for creating incentives for paying billed charges on a timely basis, comprising:
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identifying a customer who pays billed charges on a timely basis, wherein the billed charges are identified on a Sponsor'"'"'s books as an account receivable;
determining an amount of the account receivable which qualify for the awarding of a credit; and
awarding a credit to the customer based upon the outcome of the determination;
wherein the credit creates a monetary incentive for the customer to timely pay billed charges. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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47. A system for awarding credits to a Recipient for the timely payment of billed charges from a Sponsor, comprising:
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a means for identifying a Recipient, wherein the Recipient timely paid at least one billed charge from a Sponsor;
a means for identifying an amount of the at least one billed charge;
a means for generating a credit based upon the amount of the at least one billed charge;
a means for notifying the Recipient of the credit; and
a means for saving the credit until the Recipient identifies a third party vendor with whom the credit is to be redeemed;
whereupon redemption of the credit the third party vendor receives a payment equal to the value of the credit from the means for generating a credit.
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57. A computer readable medium containing instructions for generating a credit to a Recipient based upon qualified accounts receivables associated with the Recipient received from a Sponsor, by:
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receiving an identification of an eligible Recipient;
receiving an identification of at least one qualified account receivable associated with the eligible Recipient;
generating an award based upon the amount of the at least one qualified account receivable; and
rewarding the award to the Recipient.
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Specification