VENDOR PAYMENT CONSOLIDATION SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A method for providing a payment to a common payee from a plurality of related paying entities, comprising:
- determining a payment amount due by each of a plurality of paying entities to a common payee using an automated processing system, wherein each of the plurality of paying entities are controlled by a single legal entity;
providing the determined payment amounts for each of the paying entities to a third-party payment processing entity using an automated processing system, wherein the single legal entity does not control the payment processing entity;
directing the payment processing entity to aggregate the determined payment amounts to define a single total amount due to the payee; and
directing the payment processing entity to remit payment to the payee in the single total amount.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Several related entities can owe payments to a single vendor. For example, several related companies can owe payments to developers who sell software using several storefronts operated by the related companies. To limit the number of payments made to the developer, a third-party payment processing entity can receive individual payments from each of storefronts for a developer, can aggregate he payments and convert their respective currencies if necessary, and provide a single payment on behalf of all of the storefronts to the developer. Because the payment processing entity is a third party (e.g., a bank) and not related to the storefronts, the tax or other advantages procured from having several storefronts can be preserved while reducing the costs of paying the developer (e.g., fewer transaction fees).
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for providing a payment to a common payee from a plurality of related paying entities, comprising:
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determining a payment amount due by each of a plurality of paying entities to a common payee using an automated processing system, wherein each of the plurality of paying entities are controlled by a single legal entity; providing the determined payment amounts for each of the paying entities to a third-party payment processing entity using an automated processing system, wherein the single legal entity does not control the payment processing entity; directing the payment processing entity to aggregate the determined payment amounts to define a single total amount due to the payee; and directing the payment processing entity to remit payment to the payee in the single total amount. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for providing payment to a payee from a plurality of entities to a single payee, comprising:
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receiving with an automated processing system, for each of a plurality of related paying entities, an amount due to a single payee, wherein the related paying entities are controlled by a common legal entity; aggregating the received amounts with the automated processing system to determine the total amount due to the single payee using a payment processing entity, wherein the payment processing entity is not controlled by the common legal entity; and providing a payment in the total amount to the single payee with the automated processing system. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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20. A system for providing payments from a plurality of paying entities to a plurality of payees, comprising:
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a plurality of paying entities, wherein the plurality of paying entities are controlled by a single entity; a plurality of payees, wherein at least two of the plurality of paying entities owe payments to one of the plurality of payees; and a payment processing entity that is not controlled by the single entity, the payment processing entity comprising a processor operative to; receive, from each of the plurality of payees, an amount due to each of the plurality of payees; aggregate the received amounts to determine a total amount due to each of the plurality of payees; and provide a single payment to each of the plurality of payees in the determined total amount due to each of the plurality of payees.
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Specification