System and method for managing mail/bills through a central location

• US 6,934,691 B1
• Filed: 02/09/1999
• Issued: 08/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fidelity Information Services, LLC (Fidelity National Information Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Metavante Corporation (Fidelity National Information Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Simpson, John S., Chirala, Murali
• Primary Examiner(s): Retta, Yehdega
• Application Number:
  US09/247,134
• Time in Patent Office: 2,387 Days
• Field of Search: 705/27, 705/40, 705/34
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

The present invention is a system and method for managing mail/bills from a central online location. Mail/bills are sent/forwarded to the central online location via electronically or traditional mailing service. Once the mail are received, they are sorted, and either discarded or stored in a database for further processing. The central online location further consolidates both electronic and paper formatted bills into an easily manageable and accessible manner. The subscriber can view the bills online and take appropriate action. Further, the subscriber saves time and money in not having to review unimportant mail because they are discarded in accordance with the subscriber'"'"'s instructions.

Claims

1. A method for allowing a plurality of subscribers to each manage mail stored in electronic form at a data storage location from remote locations, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving mail for the subscribers in paper and electronic format, wherein certain pieces of mail are bills in paper format and certain other pieces of mail are bills in electronic format;

sorting the received mail in paper format, wherein bills in paper format are saved and certain other mail in paper format is discarded;

storing data into a database at the data storage location, wherein the data is obtained from bills in paper format and bills in electronic format, the storing data step further includes determining if a template exists for a bill in paper format, and, if the template exists, scanning the paper bill to enter specific data contained in the paper bill into the database, and if a template does not exist and the bill in paper format has not been previously provided, creating a template to allow specific data contained on the paper bill in specific locations to be automatically identified before the bill is scanned into the database using the newly created template;

generating an electronic bill statement for each of the plurality of subscribers, each electronic bill statement including a first summary report that summarizes all bills for each subscriber based on the stored data corresponding to that subscriber; and

providing access to the electronic bill statement and the first summary report to each subscriber at a remote location.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the receiving step further comprises the step of transmitting the bills in electronic format to the data storage location over one of a public internet and a private network.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the sorting step further comprises the step of discarding unneeded information that is contained in the received bills in paper format.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first summary report uses a same first format for each bill summary.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the first summary report includes information regarding each of the bills for that subscriber, whether received in paper or electronic format, and wherein the information includes at least a merchant name, payment due date, payment received date, payment amount, balance, and status of payment.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first summary report includes information regarding each of the bills for that subscriber, whether received in paper or electronic format, and wherein the information includes at least a merchant name, payment due date, payment received date, payment amount, balance, and status of payment.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the generating step further comprises the step of generating a second summary report.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the second summary report uses a same second format for each bill summary.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic statement is assessed by each subscriber via one of a computer, a personal digital assistant (“

PDA”

), and an Internet TV device.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic bill is accessed by each subscriber via one of a public Internet and a private network.

11. A method according to claim 7, herein the second summary report includes more detailed information regarding each of the bills than in the first summary report, and wherein the more detailed information includes at least a link to a merchant web page.

12. A method for allowing a plurality of subscribers to manage mail stored in electronic form at a data storage location from remote locations, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving mail for the subscribers in paper and electronic format, wherein certain pieces of mail are bills in paper format and certain other pieces of mail are bills in electronic format;

sorting received mail according to predetermined rules, wherein certain mail are saved and other mail are discarded, the predetermined rules comprising;

(a) performing a shredding step when paper mail received at a mail receipt location are not bills and were sent bulk mail;

(b) performing a labeling and forwarding step when paper mail received at the mail receipt location are not bills and were sent first class; and

(c) performing a storing step when received paper mail are bills, the storing step comprising the step of storing data obtained from the bills electronically into a database by initially determining if a template exists for a bill in paper format, and if a template exists, scanning the paper bill to enter specific data contained in the paper bill into the database, and if the template does not exist and the bill in paper format has not been previously provided, creating a template for the bill to allow specific data contained on the paper bill in specific locations to be automatically identified and scanning the bill to enter specific data contained in the paper bill into the database using the newly created template; and

providing access to the stored data to each of the subscribers at a remote location.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the predetermined rules further comprise performing a first reviewing step on paper mail without opening the mail envelope to determine whether the paper mail is a bill.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the predetermined rules further comprise performing a second reviewing step on paper mail without opening the mail envelope to determine whether the paper mail is a bill if it cannot be determined that the paper mail is a bill in the first reviewing step.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the first reviewing step is performed using a computer-based system and the second reviewing step is performed using a human operator.

16. A method according to claim 12, wherein the data storage location and the mail receipt location are centrally located near each other.

17. A method according to claim 12 further comprising the step of generating an electronic bill statement for each subscriber, the electronic bill statement including a first summary report that summarizes all bills based on the stored data.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein the first summary report uses a same first format for each bill summary.

19. A method according to claim 17, wherein the first summary report includes information regarding each of the bills for that subscriber, whether received in paper or electronic format, and wherein the information includes at least a merchant name, payment due date, payment received date, payment amount, balance, and status of payment.

20. A method according to claim 17, wherein the generating step further comprises the step of generating a second summary report.

21. A method according to claim 20, wherein the second summary report uses a same second format for each bill summary.

22. A method according to claim 17, wherein the electronic bill statement is accessed by each subscriber via one of a computer, a personal digital assistant (“

PDA”

), and an Internet TV device.

23. A method according to claim 17, wherein the electronic bill statement is accessed by each subscriber via one of a public Internet and a private network.

24. A method according to claim 20, wherein the second summary report includes more detailed information regarding each of the bills than in the first summary report, and wherein the more detailed information includes at least a link to a merchant web page.

25. A system for electronically transmitting bill information to a plurality of subscribers and receiving requests from the subscribers at a remote location, the system comprising:

a location adapted to receive paper bills;

a computer system for generating an electronic bill statement, the computer system including;

a database for electronically storing data associated with the bills for each subscriber;

a template analysis system which determines whether a template exists for each paper bill to allow specific data contained on the paper bill in specific locations to be automatically identified, the template analysis system creating a template if a template does not exist and a paper bill has not been previously supplied, the template analysis system then entering data from each paper bill into the database by scanning each paper bill and transforming the data on each paper bill into electronic form which is then entered into the database; and

a bill generation system which generates an electronic bill statement from the data stored in the database for each subscriber, the bill generation system generating a first summary report and a second summary report for each subscriber, the first summary report including at least a merchant name, payment due date, payment received date, payment amount, balance, and status of payment for each bill, and the second summary report including at least a link to a merchant web page; and

an endstation coupled to the database and adapted to receive the electronic bill statement including the first summary report that summarizes all bills based on the stored data, whereby in response to subscriber input, the endstation transmits requests from the subscriber at the remote location to the data storage location.