Parcel manager for distributed electronic billing system

• US 20050187875A1
• Filed: 04/27/2005
• Published: 08/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/1998
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Keith, Jeffrey L., Jakstadt, Eric G., Saliba, Bassam A.
• Application Number:
  US11/115,470
• Publication Number:
  US 20050187875A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

A parcel management system is provided to reliably transfer parcels from one computer to another and track the parcels as they are transferred. The parcel management system is implemented in a distributed electronic billing system in which billers submit billing data to a service center and the service center generates billing statements from the billing data and electronically distributes the billing statements to consumers on behalf of the biller. The electronic billing system includes a biller integration system resident at each of the billers. The biller integration system is a set of software tools that integrate with the biller'"'"'s existing billing and accounting systems. The biller integration system sends the billing data and a statement template to the billing service center, where they are stored. The service center generates customized billing statements by inserting the data into the template and distributing the billing statements electronically to consumers. The biller integration system and service center are each equipped with a gateway to facilitate the exchange of the statement template, the billing data, resources, and rules. Each gateway has a parcel manager to reliably transfer parcels and track the parcels as they go from one computer at the biller to another computer at the service center. Through this parcel handling and monitoring system, the biller integration system keeps the biller informed as to the location and status of the statement templates, the billing data, any forthcoming payments, and so forth.

Claims

1. In an electronic system for transferring data from a local computer to a remote computer, a software program embodied on a computer readable medium for execution on the local computer, the software program presenting an application program interface to handle requests for services from an external application, the application program interface being responsive to separate commands to perform services comprising:

creating a new parcel to carry the data from the local computer to the remote computer, wherein the created new parcel is particularized to contain a particular type of data;

searching a group of parcels according to a date;

searching the group of parcels according to a state;

searching the group of parcels according to parameters supplied by the external application;

locating a particular parcel from the group; and

initiating a notification service that supports a monitoring function to track the parcel as it is transferred from the local computer to the remote computer.

2. The parcel manager as recited in claim 1, wherein the particular type of data is batch statement data.

3. The parcel manager as recited in claim 1, wherein the particular type of data is selected from the group consisting of consumer information data, payment data, batch statement data, and statement template data.

4. In an electronic system for transferring data from a local computer to a remote computer, a software program embodied on a computer readable medium for execution on the local computer, the software program having a parcel object that is responsive to separate commands to perform services comprising:

creating a parcel component to hold at least part of the data to be transferred from the local computer to the remote computer, wherein the created parcel component is particularized to hold a particular type of data;

sending one or more of the parcel components to the remote computer;

creating a bulletin to hold status information regarding transfer of the parcel components;

searching a group of bulletins according to a date;

searching the group of bulletins according to a state;

locating a particular bulleting from the group; and

receiving a parcel component from the remote computer.

5. The parcel manager as recited in claim 4, wherein the particular type of data is batch statement data.

6. The parcel manager as recited in claim 4, wherein the particular type of data is selected from the group consisting of consumer information data, payment data, batch statement data, and statement template data.