Electronic statement presentment system

• US 6,385,595 B1
• Filed: 06/25/1999
• Issued: 05/07/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Occhino, Michael, Roughgarden, Jeffrey D., Kolling, Ray, Hayward, James T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Choi, Kyle J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jeanty, Romain
• Application Number:
  US09/344,829
• Time in Patent Office: 1,047 Days
• Field of Search: 705/30, 705/34, 705/35, 705/39, 705/40, 705/42, 705/44, 705/45
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• 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 20/1085 involving automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

An electronic statement presentment (ESP) system replaces the preparation and mailing of paper statements and invoices from a biller with electronic delivery. Electronic statements have the same look as paper statements as well as including video, audio, graphics, and custom enclosures. Statements are segmented into mandatory and optional components to minimize download time. The ESP system operates independently or is an enhancement to any suitable electronic bill payment system. A central switch computer coordinates template storage, validation, routing and message passing between billers, workstations and consumer financial institutions (CFI). A template authoring workstation (TAWS) creates a template of static biller information to serve as a basis for the electronic statement. The template is stored in a template library at the switch. The switch validates the template by sending it to a template validation workstation (TVAL). Batches of customer statement data are sent from a biller'"'"'s legacy invoicing system to a statement origination workstation (SORG) along with a template identifier.

Claims

1. A method for generating an electronic statement for delivery to a customer of a biller, said method comprising:

receiving customer statement data including an associated customer identifier, a template identifier selected by said biller, and periodic information desired by said biller to be delivered to said customer;

selecting a template from a plurality of templates based on said template identifier, whereby said customer statement data identifies a template for use;

receiving said template associated with said customer statement date, said template including static information desired by said biller to be delivered to said customer;

delivering said customer statement data and said template to a consumer service provider who has a previously established service relationship with said customer;

combining said customer statement data and said template at said consumer service provider to generate an electronic statement for said customer, said electronic statement including said periodic information and said static information; and

providing said electronic statement from said consumer service provider to said customer via a medium utilizing said associated customer identifier, said medium being previous established along with the previously established service relationship,

wherein customer statement data also consists of mandatory data and optional data and only mandatory data is transmitted to said consumer service provider when the amount of template data and customer statement data is greater than a certain threshold amount whereby the transmission of only mandatory data minimizes a time required for a customer to download said electronic statement.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said template includes instructions for formatting said customer statement data, said method further comprising:

formatting said customer statement data using said instructions included with said template to produce formatted customer statement data in a form expected by said template for subsequent generation of an electronic statement.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said generated electronic statement provided to said customer includes an invoice from said biller, remittance data for said biller and a biller identification, said method further comprising:

receiving electronically an invoice pay instruction from said customer including said remittance data; and

routing said remittance data to said biller based upon said biller identification, whereby said customer may electronically pay said invoice included in said electronic statement.

4. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said combining is performed by:

executing a generation program included with said template.

5. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said selecting a template includes:

determining whether said template identified by said template identifier is present locally; and

wherein when it is determined that said template is not present locally, said method includes requesting said template identified by said template identifier from a template library located within a central computer, whereby said template library serves as a central repository of templates for at least said biller.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving customer statement data for a plurality of customers originating from a plurality of billers, said customer statement data being routed to one of a plurality of consumer service providers using a consumer service provider identifier associated with each customer statement data;

generating electronic statements for said customers; and

providing said electronic statements to said customers utilizing said associated customer identifiers, whereby said electronic statements for said plurality of billers are delivered to said customers.

7. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said combining includes:

said identifying an enclosure from a plurality of enclosures within said static information of said template corresponding to said customer identifier; and

producing said enclosure within said generated electronic statement.

8. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said consumer service provider is a consumer bank.

9. A method as recited in claim 8 wherein said previously established service relationship is a home banking service.

10. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

comparing and verifying that said customer statement data and said template can be properly combined, said comparing and verifying being performed by said biller.

11. A generation computer for generating an electronic statement for delivery to a customer of a biller, said generation computer comprising:

customer statement data embodied in a computer-readable medium including an associated customer identifier, a template identifier selected by said biller, and periodic information desired by said biller to be delivered to said customer;

a template embodied in a computer-readable medium and being associated with said customer statement data, said template including static information desired by said biller to be delivered to said customer, said template selected from a plurality of templates based on said template identifier;

a transmitting software program for delivering said customer statement data and said template to a consumer service provider who has a previously established service relationship with said customer;

a combining software program for combining said customer statement data and said template to generate an electronic statement for said customer, wherein customer statement data also consists of mandatory data and optional data and only mandatory data is transmitted to said consumer service provider when the amount of template data and customer statement data is greater than a certain threshold amount whereby a transmission of only mandatory data minimizes a time required for a customer to download said electronic statement,

said electronic statement including said periodic information and said static information, whereby said electronic statement is delivered from said consumer service provider to said customer via a medium utilizing said associated customer identifier, said medium being previous established along with the previously established service relationship.

12. A generation computer as recited in claim 11 wherein said customer statement data is from a customer record of said biller, and said template includes:

a template database indicating a subset of data fields from said customer record that represent a portion of said customer record that said biller desires to deliver to said customer in said electronic statement;

placement instructions indicating data locations for said portion of said customer record within said electronic statement; and

a generation program arranged to generate said electronic statement utilizing said template database, said placement instructions and said portion of said customer record, whereby said template is subsequently combined with said portion of said customer record to generate said electronic statement for said customer.

13. A generation computer as recited in claim 12 wherein said template further comprises:

parsing instructions for formatting said portion of said customer record into a format compatible with said template database, wherein said generation program is further arranged to utilize said formatted portion of said customer record to generate said electronic statement.

14. A generation computer as recited in claim 12, wherein said template further comprises:

a graphical resource for inclusion in said electronic statement, wherein said generation program is further arranged to utilize said graphical resource to generate said electronic statement.

15. A generation computer as recited in claim 12 wherein said template further comprises:

an enclosure; and

a condition for including said enclosure in said electronic statement, wherein said generation program is further arranged to utilize said condition to generate said electronic statement.

16. A generation computer as recited in claim 12 wherein said template further comprises:

remittance data fields identifying remittance data to be included in said electronic statement, wherein said generation program is further arranged to utilize said remittance data fields to generate said electronic statement, whereby said customer may pay an invoice included in said electronic statement using said remittance data in said remittance data fields.

17. A computer-readable medium comprising computer code for generating an electronic statement for delivery to a customer of a biller, said computer code for said computer-readable medium effecting the following:

receiving customer statement data including an associated customer identifier, a template identifier selected by said biller, and periodic information desired by said biller to be delivered to said customer;

selecting a template from a plurality of templates based on said template identifier, whereby said customer statement data identifies a template for use;

receiving said template associated with said customer statement data, said template including static information desired by said biller to be delivered to said customer;

delivering said customer statement data and said template to a consumer service provider who has a previously established service relationship with said customer;

combining said customer statement data and said template at the consumer service provider to generate an electronic statement for said customer, said electronic statement including said periodic information and said static information; and

providing said electronic statement from said consumer service provider to said customer via a medium utilizing said associated customer identifier, said medium being previous established along with the previously established service relationship,

wherein customer statement data also consists of mandatory data and optional data and only mandatory data is transmitted to said consumer service provider when the amount of template data and customer statement data is greater than a certain threshold amount whereby a transmission of only mandatory data minimizes a time required for a customer to download said electronic statement.

18. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17 wherein said template includes instructions for formatting said customer statement data, including computer code for:

formatting said customer statement data using said instructions included with said template to produce formatted customer statement data in a form expected by said template for subsequent generation of an electronic statement.

19. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17 including computer code for:

executing a generation program included with said template.

20. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17 including computer code for:

determining whether said template identified by said template identifier is present locally; and

wherein when it is determined that said template is not present locally, requesting said template identified by said template identifier from a template library located within a central computer, whereby said template library serves as a central repository of templates for at least said biller.

21. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17 including computer code for:

receiving customer statement data for a plurality of customers originating from a plurality of billers, said customer statement data being routed using a consumer service provider identifier associated with each customer statement data;

generating electronic statements for said customers; and

providing said electronic statements to said customers utilizing said associated customer identifiers, whereby said electronic statements for said plurality of billers are delivered to said customers.