APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING A PAYMENT SYSTEM OVER A NETWORK

• US 20100280951A1
• Filed: 05/05/2010
• Published: 11/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox State & Local Solutions, Inc. (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ACS State & Local Solutions Incorporated (Conduent, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kach, Jeffrey F., Polk, John D., Selway, James K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,015,111 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/105 Human resources
• 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 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/22 Payment schemes or models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/26 Debit schemes, e.g. "pay now"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

Apparatus and methods provide an accumulator that processes electronic payments from an employer to a recipient via a network. The payments processed may be, for example, child support payments collected from an employee by the employer. The employer may submit one transaction made up of payments collected from multiple employees bound for multiple recipients and the accumulator may receive, translate, batch, and deliver the payments to the multiple recipients. The accumulator, employers, and recipients may communicate via a network such as the Internet.

Claims

1-42. -42. (canceled)

43. A method for processing a payment at an accumulator over a network, comprising:

receiving employer information from an employer via the network;

storing the employer information;

receiving employee information corresponding to an employee from the employer via the network;

storing the employee information;

verifying the employee information using verification information received from an intermediary; and

when the employee information is verified,

creating a payment corresponding to the employee information,

submitting the payment to a financial clearinghouse via the network, and

storing data related to the payment.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the employer information includes at least one of user information and employer account information.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the submitting further includes:

processing a debit to the financial clearinghouse, the debit to be applied against an account of the employer.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the submitting further includes:

receiving a credit from the financial clearinghouse, the credit to be applied to an account of the intermediary.

47. The method of claim 45, wherein the debit is processed using debit-based electronic funds transfer.

48. The method of claim 46, wherein the credit is processed using addendum-based electronic data interchange.

49. The method of claim 43, wherein the employee information relates to a child support payment.

50. The method of claim 43, further including:

generating a report based on the employee information.

51. The method of claim 50, further including:

sending the report based on the employee information to the employer.

52-58. -58. (canceled)

59. A system for processing a payment at an accumulator over a network, comprising:

a first receiving component configured to receive employer information from an employer via the network;

a first storing component configured to store the employer information;

a second receiving component configured to receive employee information corresponding to an employee from the employer via the network;

a second storing component configured to store the employee information;

a verifying component configured to verify the employee information using verification information received from an intermediary; and

when the employee information is verified,

a creating component configured to create a payment corresponding to the employee information,

a submitting component configured to the payment to a financial clearinghouse via the network, and

a third storing component configured to store data related to the payment.

60. The system of claim 59, wherein the employer information includes at least one of user information and employer account information.

61. The system of claim 59, wherein the submitting component further includes:

a processing component configured to process a debit to the financial clearinghouse, the debit to be applied against an account of the employer.

62. The system of claim 61, wherein the submitting component further includes:

a third receiving component configured to receive a credit from the financial clearinghouse, the credit to be applied to an account of the intermediary.

63. The system of claim 61, wherein the debit is processed using debit-based electronic funds transfer.

64. The system of claim 62, wherein the credit is processed using addendum-based electronic data interchange.

66. The system of claim 59, further including:

a first generating component configured to generate a report based on the employee information.

67. The system of claim 66, further including:

a first sending component configured to send the report based on the employee information to the employer.

68. The system of claim 59, further including:

a second generating component configured to generate a report based on the employer information.

69. The system of claim 68, further including:

a second sending component configured to send the report based on the employer information to the employer.

65. (canceled)

70-74. -74. (canceled)

75. A computer readable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for processing a payment at an accumulator over a network, the computer readable code comprising:

a first receiving module configured to receive employer information from an employer via the network;

a first storing module configured to store the employer information;

a second receiving module configured to receive employee information corresponding to an employee from the employer via the network;

a second storing module configured to store the employee information;

a verifying module configured to verify the employee information using verification information received from an intermediary; and

when the employee information is verified,

a creating module configured to create a payment corresponding to the employee information,

a submitting module configured to submit the payment to a financial clearinghouse via the network, and

a third storing module configured to store data related to the payment.

76-266. -266. (canceled)