Method and apparatus for facilitating customer payments to creditors from a remote site
First Claim
1. Apparatus for enabling customers of a plurality of creditors to visit a remote site and manually tender payment in response to receiving from at least one of said creditors a creditor billing statement including a customer account balance owed to a corresponding creditor, wherein customer payments tendered at said remote site are applied to corresponding customer account balances and at least two of said customer payments are directed to different creditors, said apparatus comprising:
- agent processing means, disposed at said remote site, for processing said customer payments manually tendered at said remote site and storing customer payment information relating to said customer payments, wherein said agent processing means includes transmission means for transmitting to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times;
host processing means, disposed at said service provider site, for receiving said accumulated customer payment information from said agent processing means and including;
creditor report means for generating a creditor report for at least two of said creditors including creditor collection information relating to each of said customer payments tendered at said remote site for the respective creditors, wherein said creditor report means includes;
data extraction means for processing said received accumulated information to retrieve creditor collection information contained within said received accumulated information;
data examining means for examining creditor information contained within said retrieved information to identify a plurality of creditors associated with said retrieved information;
data format means for comparing creditor information associated with each customer payment contained within said retrieved creditor collection information to said identified creditors to arrange said retrieved information into at least two creditor sections with each creditor section including said creditor collection information associated with a different creditor, wherein said creditor collection information contained within the same creditor section is associated with the same creditor; and
report generation means for generating said creditor report for said at least two creditors to include the creditor section associated with that creditor; and
report transmission means for transmitting said creditor report for each of said at least two creditors to the corresponding creditor; and
a plurality of creditor processing means with each creditor processing means disposed at a respective creditor site for receiving said creditor report associated with said respective creditor from said host processing means and processing said creditor collection information to update said corresponding customer account balances based on the customer payments tendered at said remote site.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for facilitating customer payments to creditors from a remote site includes computer systems located at respective agent, service provider and creditor sites. The service provider or host computer system is in selective communication with the agent and creditor computer systems and processes transaction information. A customer typically visits an agent site (e.g., a retail establishment) and tenders payment, preferably manually, in response to receiving a billing statement from a creditor. The payment transaction is entered into the agent system wherein information for all payment transactions at that agent site is maintained in a transaction file. The agent system generates a receipt for the customer at the completion of the transaction. Each agent system transfers a respective transaction file to the host system daily at a specified time associated with the respective agent system, preferably at the end of a day, wherein the host system processes the transaction files to generate a closeout report and a creditor report for each creditor indicating the payment activity at the agent sites. The creditor reports are transferred to the creditor systems wherein customer accounts may be updated based on the payment information within the creditor reports. The closeout report includes information related to the payment activity at each agent site and is generated by the host system at another specified time, preferably after the transaction information has been received by the host system from each of the agent systems. The service provider typically pays the creditors via electronic fund transfer or other conventional payment methods. The agents pay the service provider in a similar fashion while remitting to the service provider a portion of a service fee charged to the customer.
437 Citations
28 Claims
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1. Apparatus for enabling customers of a plurality of creditors to visit a remote site and manually tender payment in response to receiving from at least one of said creditors a creditor billing statement including a customer account balance owed to a corresponding creditor, wherein customer payments tendered at said remote site are applied to corresponding customer account balances and at least two of said customer payments are directed to different creditors, said apparatus comprising:
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agent processing means, disposed at said remote site, for processing said customer payments manually tendered at said remote site and storing customer payment information relating to said customer payments, wherein said agent processing means includes transmission means for transmitting to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times; host processing means, disposed at said service provider site, for receiving said accumulated customer payment information from said agent processing means and including; creditor report means for generating a creditor report for at least two of said creditors including creditor collection information relating to each of said customer payments tendered at said remote site for the respective creditors, wherein said creditor report means includes; data extraction means for processing said received accumulated information to retrieve creditor collection information contained within said received accumulated information; data examining means for examining creditor information contained within said retrieved information to identify a plurality of creditors associated with said retrieved information; data format means for comparing creditor information associated with each customer payment contained within said retrieved creditor collection information to said identified creditors to arrange said retrieved information into at least two creditor sections with each creditor section including said creditor collection information associated with a different creditor, wherein said creditor collection information contained within the same creditor section is associated with the same creditor; and report generation means for generating said creditor report for said at least two creditors to include the creditor section associated with that creditor; and report transmission means for transmitting said creditor report for each of said at least two creditors to the corresponding creditor; and a plurality of creditor processing means with each creditor processing means disposed at a respective creditor site for receiving said creditor report associated with said respective creditor from said host processing means and processing said creditor collection information to update said corresponding customer account balances based on the customer payments tendered at said remote site. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. Apparatus for enabling customers to visit a remote site and manually tender payment to purchase money orders, wherein customer payments tendered at said remote site are associated with a money order provider located at a creditor site, said apparatus comprising:
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agent processing means, disposed at said remote site, for processing said customer payments manually tendered at said remote site and storing customer payment information relating to said customer payments, wherein said agent processing means includes; transmission means for transmitting to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times; and money order generation means for generating said money orders in response to each of said customer payments for said money orders; and host processing means, disposed at said service provider site, for receiving said accumulated customer payment information from said agent processing means and including; report means for generating a report for said money order provider including collection information relating to customer payments tendered at said remote site for said money orders; and report transmission means for transmitting said report to said money order provider located at said creditor site.
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13. Apparatus for enabling customers to visit a remote site and manually tender payment to purchase telephone cards, wherein customer payments tendered at said remote site are associated with a telephone company located at a creditor sites said apparatus comprising:
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agent processing means, disposed at said remote site, for processing said customer payments manually tendered at said remote site and storing customer payment information relating to said customer payments, wherein said agent processing means includes; transmission means for transmitting to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times; and telephone card generation means for generating said telephone cards in response to each of said customer payments for said telephone cards; and host processing means, disposed at said service provider site, for receiving said accumulated customer payment information from said agent processing means and including; report means for generating a report for said telephone company including collection information relating to customer payments tendered at said remote site for said telephone cards; and report transmission means for transmitting said report to said telephone company located at said creditor site.
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14. A method for enabling customers of a plurality of creditors to visit a remote site and manually tender payment in response to receiving from at least one of said creditors a creditor billing statement including a customer account balance owed to a corresponding creditor, wherein each said creditor is associated with a respective creditor site and customer payments tendered at said remote site are applied to corresponding customer account balances, and wherein at least two of said customer payments are directed to different creditors, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving customer payments at said remote site from customers visiting said remote site and manually tendering said customer payments; (b) processing said customer payments and storing customer payment information relating to said customer payments via a remote processing system disposed at said remote site; (c) transmitting to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times; (d) receiving at said service provider site said accumulated customer payment information from said remote site and processing said received customer payment information, via a host processing system, to generate a creditor report for at least two of said creditors including creditor collection information relating to each of said customer payments tendered at said remote site for the respective creditors, and wherein step (d) further includes; (d.1) processing said received accumulated information to retrieve creditor collection information contained within said received accumulated information; (d.2) examining creditor information contained within said retrieved information to identify a plurality of creditors associated with said retrieved information; (d.3) comparing creditor information associated with each customer payment contained within said retrieved creditor collection information to said identified creditors to arrange said retrieved information into at least two creditor sections with each creditor section including said creditor collection information associated with a different creditor, wherein said creditor collection information contained within the same creditor section is associated with the same creditor; and (d.4) generating said creditor report for said at least two creditors to include the creditor section associated with that creditor; (e) sending said creditor report for each of said at least two creditors from said host processing system to the corresponding creditor; and (f) receiving at each said respective creditor site said creditor report for the respective creditor associated with that creditor site and processing said creditor collection information at each said respective creditor site, via a creditor processing system, to update said corresponding customer account balances based on said customer payments tendered at said remote site. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for enabling customers to visit a remote site and manually tender payment to purchase money orders wherein customer payments tendered at said remote site are associated with a money order provider located at a creditor site, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving customer payments at said remote site from customers visiting said remote site and manually tendering said customer payments; (b) processing said customer payments and storing customer payment information relating to said customer payments via a remote processing system disposed at said remote site, wherein step (b) further includes; (b.1) generating said money orders in response to each of said customer payments for said money orders; (c) transmitting to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times; (d) receiving at said service provider site said accumulated customer payment information from said remote site and processing said customer payment information, via a host processing system, to generate a report for said money order provider including collection information relating to customer payments tendered at said remote site for the money orders; and (e) sending said report to said money order provider located at said creditor site.
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26. A method for enabling customers to visit a remote site and manually tender payment to purchase telephone cards, wherein customer payments tendered at said remote site are associated with a telephone card provider located at a creditor site, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving customer payments at said remote site from customers visiting said remote site and manually tendering said customer payments; (b) processing said customer payments and storing customer payment information relating to said customer payments via a remote processing system disposed at said remote site, wherein step (b) further includes; (b.1) generating said telephone cards in response to each of said customer payments for said telephone cards; (c) transmitting to a service provider site, at selected transmission times, said customer payment information accumulated between said transmission times; (d) receiving at said service provider site said accumulated customer payment information from said remote site and processing said customer payment information, via a host processing system, to generate a report for said telephone card provider including collection information relating to customer payments tendered at said remote site for the telephone cards; and (e) sending said report to said telephone card provider located at said creditor site.
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27. A method for enabling customers of creditors to visit a remote site and manually tender customer payments in response to receiving from a first creditor a creditor billing statement including customer account balance information wherein customer payments tendered at said remote site are applied to respective customer account balances, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving customer payments at said remote site from customers visiting said remote site and manually tendering customer payments; (b) processing said customer payments at said remote site, via a remote processing system, to store customer payment information relating to said customer payments and to transfer said customer payment information from said remote site to a central processing site; (c) disabling said remote processing system in response to determining that said remote processing system has failed to transfer said customer payment information to said central processing site within a predetermined time interval; and (d) processing said customer payment information received at said central processing site from said remote site and informing said first creditor that customer payments have been tendered at said remote site such that said first creditor updates said respective customer account balances based on the customer payments tendered at said remote site.
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28. Apparatus for enabling customers of creditors to visit a remote site and manually tender payment in response to receiving from a first creditor a creditor billing statement including customer account balance information wherein customer payments tendered at said remote site are applied to respective customer account balances, said apparatus comprising:
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agent processing means, disposed at said remote site, for processing said customer payments to store customer payment information relating to said customer payments, wherein said agent processing means includes transmission means for transferring said customer payment information from said remote site to a central processing site and termination means for disabling said agent processing means in response to determining that said agent processing means has failed to transfer said customer payment information to said central processing site within a predetermined time interval; host processing means, disposed at said central processing site, for processing said customer payment information received at said central processing site from said remote site and informing said first creditor of associated customer payments that have been tendered at said remote site; and creditor processing means, disposed at a site of said first creditor and responsive to said host processing means, for updating said respective customer account balances based on the associated customer payments tendered at said remote site.
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Specification