Electronic billing with flexible biller controlled electronic bill presentment
First Claim
1. A network for electronically presenting bill related information, comprising:
- a central network station configured to transmit bill availability information identifying available bills of a plurality of different billers for a plurality of different users, information associated with each of the identified bills of a respective one of the plurality of different billers being available at one of a first network address associated with the respective biller and a second network address associated with the respective biller; and
a plurality of different user stations, each associated with a respective one of the plurality of different users, and configured to receive the transmitted bill availability information for its associated user and to select one of the identified bills;
wherein the central network station is configured to (1) associate a first user of the plurality of different users with information to be presented with a first bill, wherein an indicator of the association is stored, and (2) in response to a first request received from the first user, determine the information to be presented with the first bill based on the indicator associated with the first user, and (3) transmit the information to be presented with the first bill to the first user, andwherein a first of the plurality of user stations, associated with the first of the plurality of different users, is linked to the first network address associated with a first of the plurality of different billers based on a first bill selection by the first user station, and a second of the plurality of user stations associated with a second of the plurality of different users is linked to the second network address associated with the first biller based on a second bill selection by the second user station.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic bill presentment network includes a central network station and a plurality of different user stations. The central network station transmits bill availability information to the user stations to identify available bills of different billers for the different users. Information associated with each available bill of a respective biller is available at one of multiple networks addresses associated with that biller. The associated information could, for example, be the bill itself and/or promotional information. Each user station is associated with a respective one of the users and receives the transmitted bill availability information for its associated user and selects one of the identified available bills, such as for viewing or payment. A user station associated with a first user is linked to the first network address associated with the bills of the first biller, based on a bill selection by the first user station. A second user station associated with a second user is linked to the second network address associated with the bills of the first biller based on a bill selection by the second user station.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A network for electronically presenting bill related information, comprising:
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a central network station configured to transmit bill availability information identifying available bills of a plurality of different billers for a plurality of different users, information associated with each of the identified bills of a respective one of the plurality of different billers being available at one of a first network address associated with the respective biller and a second network address associated with the respective biller; and a plurality of different user stations, each associated with a respective one of the plurality of different users, and configured to receive the transmitted bill availability information for its associated user and to select one of the identified bills; wherein the central network station is configured to (1) associate a first user of the plurality of different users with information to be presented with a first bill, wherein an indicator of the association is stored, and (2) in response to a first request received from the first user, determine the information to be presented with the first bill based on the indicator associated with the first user, and (3) transmit the information to be presented with the first bill to the first user, and wherein a first of the plurality of user stations, associated with the first of the plurality of different users, is linked to the first network address associated with a first of the plurality of different billers based on a first bill selection by the first user station, and a second of the plurality of user stations associated with a second of the plurality of different users is linked to the second network address associated with the first biller based on a second bill selection by the second user station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of electronically distributing bill related information, comprising the steps of:
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centrally receiving initial requests for bills of a plurality of different billers for a plurality of different users; transmitting, responsive to the received initial requests, bill availability information, identifying available bills of the plurality of different billers for the plurality of different users, including a first bill of a first of the plurality of different billers for a first of the plurality of different users and a second bill of the first biller for a second of the plurality of different users; associating the first user of the plurality of different users with information to be available with the first bill; storing an indicator of the association; receiving a first request relating to the identified first bill of the first biller at a first network address and a second request relating to the identified second bill of the first biller at a second network address, different than the first network address, wherein the first request is received from the first user; in response to the first request, determining the information to be available with the first bill based on the indicator associated with the first user; transmitting the information to be available with the first bill from the first network address responsive to the receipt of the first request; and transmitting information associated with the second bill from the second network address responsive to the receipt of the second request. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for electronically distributing bill related information, comprising:
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a memory configured to store identifiers of available bills of a plurality of different billers for a plurality of different users, and network addresses at which information associated with the identified bills is available, including a first bill identifier which identifies a first of the available bills of a first of the plurality of billers for a first of the plurality of users and a second bill identifier which identifies a second of the available bills of the first biller for a second of the plurality of users; and a processor configured to (1) associate the first user with information to be presented with the first bill, wherein an indicator of the association is stored, and (2) in response to a first request received from the first user, determine the information to be presented with the first bill based on the indicator associated with the first user, and (3) direct the transmission of the stored first bill identifier and the information to be presented with the first bill to the first user with a first of the network addresses, and the transmission of the stored second bill identifier to the second user with a second of the network addresses, the first network address being different than the second network address; wherein the information associated with the first bill is available at the first network address and the information associated with the second bill is available at the second network address. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A database for storing bill related information, comprising:
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identifiers of a plurality of available bills of a biller for a plurality of different users; an association indicator indicating a relationship between a user of the plurality of different users and information to be available with a bill of the plurality of available bills, wherein the bill is for the user; a network location indicator associated with the information to be available with the bill and indicating that a network location at which the information to be available with the bill is available is different than a network location at which information associated with an other of the plurality of available bills is available.
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21. An article of manufacture for electronically transmitting bill related information, comprising:
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a computer readable storage medium; and computer programming stored on the medium and configured to be readable from the medium by a computer processor and thereby cause the processor to operate so as to; direct transmissions of a plurality of identifiers of available bills of a plurality of different billers for a plurality of different users, including a first of the plurality of bill identifiers which identifies a first of the available bills of a first of the plurality of different billers for a first of the plurality of different users and a second of the plurality of bill identifiers which identifies a second of the available bills of the first biller for a second of the plurality of users; associate the first user with information to be presented with the first available bill, wherein an indicator of the association is stored; in response to a first request received from the first user, determine the information to be presented to be with the first available bill based on the indicator associated with the first user, and direct transmissions of a plurality of different network addresses at which information associated with the identified available bills is available, including a first of the plurality of network addresses at which information to be presented with the first available bill is available to the first user, and a second of the plurality of network addresses, different than the first network address, at which information associated with the second available bill is available to the second user. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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Specification