Consumer-based system and method for managing and paying electronic billing statements
First Claim
1. A consumer-based electronic bill management system implemented on a user interface unit, comprising:
- a notification module to notify a consumer when electronic bills arrive;
a cashflow analysis module to enable the consumer to manage payment of the electronic bills based on impact to the consumer'"'"'s cashflow, the cashflow analysis module presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) on the user interface unit that allows the consumer to arrange representations of unpaid bills according to different payment schedules, the GUI showing a list of unpaid electronic bills and a date line with dates in the bill payment cycle;
the cashflow analysis module being confirmed to enable the consumer to drag and drop the unpaid bill icons from the list onto certain dates of the date line to define the payment schedules and automatically adjust the consumer'"'"'s cashflow during the bill payment cycle as the consumer drops the unpaid bill icons on selected dates; and
a payment analysis module to enable the consumer to determine how much of the electronic bill the consumer is willing to pay and when that payment should occur.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A consumer-based bill management and payment system is configured to receive, analyze, manage and pay electronic billing statements received from the biller over the Internet. The system includes a notification manager that detects when the electronic bill arrives and notifies the consumer. The bill is stored in memory with other unpaid electronic bills. According to another aspect of the invention, the system has a cashflow analyzer that enables the consumer to coordinate the unpaid electronic bills according to different payment schedules for a bill payment cycle (e.g., a month). The goal of the manipulation is to permit the consumer to analyze how the different payment schedules affect the consumer'"'"'s cashflow with an aim toward minimizing overdraft during the bill payment cycle. The cashflow analyzer can automatically compute an optimized payment schedule that minimizes overdraft of the consumer'"'"'s account, while maximizing the balance to generate the most interest. When the consumer desires to pay a particular bill, the bill is presented to the consumer through a graphical user interface (UI). The bill management and payment system supports a payment analyzer to enable the consumer to determine how much of the electronic bill to pay. The payment analyzer provides a venue to challenge certain items on the bill.
881 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A consumer-based electronic bill management system implemented on a user interface unit, comprising:
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a notification module to notify a consumer when electronic bills arrive; a cashflow analysis module to enable the consumer to manage payment of the electronic bills based on impact to the consumer'"'"'s cashflow, the cashflow analysis module presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) on the user interface unit that allows the consumer to arrange representations of unpaid bills according to different payment schedules, the GUI showing a list of unpaid electronic bills and a date line with dates in the bill payment cycle; the cashflow analysis module being confirmed to enable the consumer to drag and drop the unpaid bill icons from the list onto certain dates of the date line to define the payment schedules and automatically adjust the consumer'"'"'s cashflow during the bill payment cycle as the consumer drops the unpaid bill icons on selected dates; and a payment analysis module to enable the consumer to determine how much of the electronic bill the consumer is willing to pay and when that payment should occur. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for handling an electronic bill received electronically from a biller, comprising the following steps:
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receiving an electronic bill; notifying a consumer that the electronic bill has arrived; storing the electronic bill in a store of unpaid electronic bills; presenting a list of icons representing the unpaid electronic bills in the store; presenting a graphical user interface having a date line with dates in the bill payment cycle; enabling the consumer to drag and drop the unpaid bill icons from the list onto certain dates of the date line to define different payment schedules for a bill payment cycle so that the consumer can analyze how the different payment schedules affect the consumer'"'"'s cashflow during the bill payment cycle; automatically adjusting a consumer'"'"'s cashflow during the bill payment cycle as the consumer drops the unpaid bill icons on selected dates to define the pament schedules; and enabling the consumer to specify amounts to be paid on the electronic bills. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A consumer-based electronic bill management system implemented on a user interface unit, comprising:
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a cashflow analysis module to enable the consumer to manage payment of electronic bills based on impact to the consumer'"'"'s cashflow, the cashflow analysis module presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) on the user interface unit, the GUI having a list of icons representing the unpaid electronic bills and a date line with dates in a bill payment cycle, the GUI enabling a consumer to drag and drop the unpaid bill icons from the list onto certain dates of the date line to define the payment schedules; the cashflow analysis module automatically adjusting the consumer'"'"'s cashflow during the bill payment cycle as the consumer drops the unpaid bill icons on selected dates to define the payment schedules; and a payment analysis module to enable the consumer to determine how much of the electronic bill the consumer is willing to pay and when that payment should occur. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A consumer-based electronic bill management system implemented on a user interface unit, comprising:
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a notification module to notify a consumer when electronic bills arrive; a cashflow analysis module to enable the consumer to manage payment of the electronic bills based on impact to the consumer'"'"'s cashflow, the cashflow analysis module presenting a graphical user interface (GUI) on the user interface unit, the GUI having a list of icons representing the unpaid electronic bills and a date line with dates in a bill payment cycle, the GUI enabling a consumer to drag and drop the unpaid bill icons from the list onto certain dates of the date line to define the payment schedules; and the cashflow analysis module automatically adjusting the consumer'"'"'s cashflow during the bill payment cycle as the consumer drops the unpaid bill icons on selected dates to define the payment schedules. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification