System and method of registering a vendor with a subscriber account within an electronic bill payment system

• US 20050165680A1
• Filed: 11/24/2004
• Published: 07/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: America Online Inc. (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: America Online Inc. (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, Billy Gene, Gaitten, Steve, McAllister, Warren Denis, Keeling, John Ernest
• Application Number:
  US10/995,549
• Publication Number:
  US 20050165680A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/386 using messaging services or messaging apps using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS G06Q20/3255
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/102 applying security measure for e-commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data

Abstract

An intermediary host may enroll a user in a messaging-based transaction system. In particular, an intermediary host interfaces with a partner data store and compares a partner data store with an internal store. As a result, a user common to both the partner data store and the internal store may be identified. The user may be prompted to enroll in a messaging-based transaction system; or when the user already is enrolled in a messaging-based transaction system, receive a trusted transaction message to pay a bill for the partner using the messaging-based transaction system.

Claims

1. A method of registering a user with an electronic bill payment system, comprising:

discovering at least one vendor with whom a user has an account;

generating a message configured to solicit registration, by the user, with the electronic bill payment system;

configuring the message to include identification of at least the vendor with whom the user was discovered to have had an account;

configuring the message to include a selectable object configured to trigger, upon selection by the user, registration of the user with the electronic bill payment system; and

delivering the message to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein discovering the at least one vendor includes discovering the vendor via comparison of a customer list for the vendor to a bill payment system subscriber list to identify one or more customers that are not registered with the electronic bill payment system, and

generating and delivering the message to at least one of the customers not registered with the electronic bill payment system.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein discovering the at least one vendor includes discovering the vendor via comparison of a customer list for the vendor to a subscriber list for a messaging service provider.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein discovering the vendor via the comparison includes using a comparison between the customer list against the messaging service provider subscriber list, wherein the messaging service provider offers the bill payment service.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein discovering the vendor via the comparison includes comparing a user name against a customer list of the vendor.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein discovering the vendor via the comparison includes initiating the comparison in response to the user becoming a customer of the vendor.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein discovering the vendor via the comparison includes initiating the comparison in response to registration by the vendor with the bill payment system.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein discovering the vendor via the comparison includes:

comparing a partner data store with an internal data store; and

identifying a user common to both the partner data store and the internal data store.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein identifying the user common to both the partner data store and the internal data store includes performing a separate and distinct verification operation to verify that records determined likely to represent one identity actually represent one identity.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising configuring the message to include a special graphical appearance that is configured to reflect an authenticated status of the message.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein configuring the message to include the special graphical appearance includes configuring the message with a special graphical appearance reserved for use by the electronic bill payment system.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein configuring the message with the special graphical appearance reserved for use by the electronic bill payment system include specifying a reserved color, a reserved pattern, a reserved icon, a reserved graphic, a reserved font, or a reserved header.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether the user is configured to receive a notification message in advance of providing a message, and

if so, providing the notification message to the user.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether the user is configured to condition message delivery upon authorization in response to notification, and

if the user is configured to condition delivery upon such authorization, monitoring for such authorization responsive to notification, and delivering the message only upon receipt of such authorization.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising registering the user with the electronic bill payment system in response to user manipulation of the selectable object.