Bill payment payee information management system and method
First Claim
1. A method of managing information relating to a plurality of payees for an electronic bill payment system, said method comprising steps of:
- saving consumer/payee information in a consumer/payee database, wherein said consumer/payee information includes payee remittance information which is obtained from consumers;
storing proprietary payee remittance information in a biller remittance database;
receiving requests from consumers to pay bills to designated payees contained in said consumer/payee database;
creating a bill payment instruction for each request from a consumer to pay a bill based upon payee remittance information contained in said biller remittance database if payee remittance information for the designated payee exists in said biller remittance database, or based upon payee remittance information contained in said consumer/payee database if payee remittance information for the designated payee does not exist in said biller remittance database; and
sending bill payment instructions which have been created to a bill payment processor for execution by said bill payment processor.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An improved system and an associated method for entering, updating, and maintaining information relating to payees is disclosed which includes data supplied by consumers, data contained in biller invoices, and data relating to the mechanisms to be used for payment of billers. The payee information management system of the present invention maintains proprietary biller remittance information in a database which is separate from the database containing consumer/payee information which has been provided by consumers, eliminating the need to place remittance information in entries for each payee of each consumer, thereby making the consumer/payee database substantially smaller and more efficient. The payee information management system of the present invention also has a standard set of payee data which is available to send to third parties to obtain further bill payment business without requiring that proprietary biller remittance information be divulged.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of managing information relating to a plurality of payees for an electronic bill payment system, said method comprising steps of:
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saving consumer/payee information in a consumer/payee database, wherein said consumer/payee information includes payee remittance information which is obtained from consumers;
storing proprietary payee remittance information in a biller remittance database;
receiving requests from consumers to pay bills to designated payees contained in said consumer/payee database;
creating a bill payment instruction for each request from a consumer to pay a bill based upon payee remittance information contained in said biller remittance database if payee remittance information for the designated payee exists in said biller remittance database, or based upon payee remittance information contained in said consumer/payee database if payee remittance information for the designated payee does not exist in said biller remittance database; and
sending bill payment instructions which have been created to a bill payment processor for execution by said bill payment processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method of managing information relating to a plurality of payees for an proprietary electronic bill payment system, said method comprising steps of:
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storing consumer/payee information in a consumer/payee database, wherein said consumer/payee information includes payee remittance information which is obtained from consumers;
storing master payee information in a master payee database, wherein said master payee information includes payee remittance information which is available from payee billing statements;
storing payee remittance information in a biller remittance database which is accessible only by the electronic bill payment system;
receiving requests from consumers to pay bills to designated payees contained in said consumer/payee database;
determining whether payee remittance information exists in said biller remittance database for each designated payee to which a request from a consumer to pay a bill has been received;
creating a bill payment instruction for each request from a consumer to pay a bill based upon payee remittance information contained in said biller remittance database if payee remittance information for the designated payee exists in said biller remittance database;
if payee remittance information for the designated payee does not exist in said biller remittance database, determining whether payee remittance information exists in said master payee database for the designated payee to which a request from a consumer to pay a bill has been received;
if payee remittance information for the designated payee does not exist in said biller remittance database and payee remittance information for the designated payee does exist in said master payee information, creating a bill payment instruction for the request from a consumer to pay a bill based upon master payee information contained in said master payee database;
if payee remittance information for the designated payee does not exist in said biller remittance database and payee remittance information for the designated payee does not exist in said master payee information, creating a bill payment instruction for the request from a consumer to pay a bill based upon consumer/payee information contained in said consumer/payee database; and
sending bill payment instructions which have been created to a bill payment processor for execution by said bill payment processor.
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28. A method of managing payee information for a proprietary electronic bill payment system, said method comprising steps of:
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storing payee information which is obtained from consumers in a consumer/payee database;
storing proprietary payee remittance information in a biller remittance database;
storing master payee information which is available from payee billing statements in a master payee database;
receiving requests from consumers to pay bills to payees described in payee information contained in said consumer/payee database;
creating a bill payment instruction for each request from a consumer to pay a bill based upon payee remittance information contained in the first of said biller remittance database, said master payee database, and said consumer/payee database in which payee remittance information for the payee exists; and
sending bill payment instructions which have been created to a bill payment processor for execution by said payment processor.
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29. A method of managing payee information for a proprietary electronic bill payment system, said method comprising steps of:
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storing payee information which is obtained from consumers in a consumer/payee database;
storing master payee information which is available from payee billing statements in a master payee database;
storing proprietary payee remittance information in a biller remittance database;
determining payee remittance information to be used to pay a bill for designated payees from the first of said biller remittance database, said master payee database, and said consumer/payee database in which payee remittance information for the designated payees exists.
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30. A method of managing payee information for an electronic bill payment system, said method comprising steps of:
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storing proprietary payee remittance information as a first data set which is accessible only by the electronic bill payment system; and
storing master payee information as a second data set, wherein said master payee information includes remittance information obtained from payee statements;
storing consumer/payee information as a third data set, wherein said consumer/payee information includes payee remittance information which is obtained from consumers;
establishing links between at least two pairs of said first, second, and third data sets;
wherein payee remittance information used in paying bills to designated payees is available from the first of said first, second, and third data sets in which payee remittance information is available for the designated payees.
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31. A system for managing information relating to a plurality of payees in an electronic bill payment system, said system comprising:
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a consumer/payee database storing consumer/payee information which includes payee remittance information obtained from consumers;
a biller remittance database storing payee remittance information which is accessible only by the electronic bill payment system;
a bill payment construction element which receives requests from consumers to pay bills to payees contained in said consumer/payee database, said bill payment construction element creating a bill payment instruction for each request from a consumer to pay a bill based upon payee remittance information contained in said biller remittance database if payee remittance information for the payee exists in said biller remittance database, said bill payment construction element creating a bill payment instruction for each request from a consumer to pay a bill based upon payee remittance information contained in said consumer/payee database if payee remittance information for the payee does not exist in said biller remittance database, said bill payment construction element sending bill payment instructions which have been created to a bill payment processor.
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32. A system for managing information relating to a plurality of payees in an electronic bill payment system, said system comprising:
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a consumer/payee database storing consumer/payee information which includes payee remittance information obtained from consumers;
a master payee database storing payee remittance information which is available from payee billing statements;
a biller remittance database storing payee remittance information which is accessible only by the electronic bill payment system;
a bill payment construction element which receives requests from consumers to pay bills to payees contained in said consumer/payee database;
wherein said bill payment construction element creates a bill payment instruction for each request from a consumer to pay a bill based upon payee remittance information contained in said biller remittance database if payee remittance information for the payee exists in said biller remittance database; and
wherein bill payment construction element creates a bill payment instruction for each request from a consumer to pay a bill based upon master payee information contained in said master payee database if payee remittance information for the payee does not exist in said biller remittance database and payee remittance information for the payee exists in said master payer database; and
wherein said bill payment construction element creates a bill payment instruction for each request from a consumer to pay a bill based upon payee remittance information contained in said consumer/payee database if payee remittance information for the payee does not exist in said biller remittance database or in said master payee database.
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Specification