Electronic bill processing with multi-level bill information storage

• US 7,636,688 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2001
• Issued: 12/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Checkfree Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Checkfree Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bringardner, Clarence M., Moses, Ginger B., Kitchen, Bill, Bradley, Kenneth W. III, Au, Ralph
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamilton; Lalita M
• Application Number:
  US09/820,805
• Publication Number:
  US 20020002535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,189 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/38, 705/40, 705/39
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• 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 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

A method of electronically presenting billing information, includes receiving billing information associated with a plurality of different billers, different portions of which represent bills for different payors. Requests are received from respective payors for current billing information, responsive to which bill presentment information corresponding to the applicable portion of the billing information is transmitted to the requesting payor.

Claims

1. A method:

receiving bill information from a biller;

transforming, by an electronic bill presentment computing system comprising one or more server computers, the received bill information into normalized bill information, wherein the normalized bill information is stored for subsequent processing, and wherein the electronic bill presentment computing system is at a location remote from both a customer associated with the received bill information and the biller;

processing, by the electronic bill presentment computing system, the received bill information to generate bill summary information;

processing, by the electronic bill presentment computing system, the normalized bill information to generate bill detail information; and

transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information for display;

wherein the bill summary information represents a subset of the bill detail information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the normalized bill information comprises:

merging the normalized bill information with a template to generate the bill detail information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing at least one of the received bill information, the bill summary information, or the bill detail information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein storing at least one of the received bill information, the bill summary information, or the bill detail information includes storing at least one of the received bill information, the bill summary information, or the bill detail information in a cache.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request, via a network, for a bill on behalf of the customer,

wherein at least one of (i) the processing the received bill information, (ii) the processing the normalized bill information, and (iii) the transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information is performed responsive to the request.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving the request includes receiving the request from the customer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information for display includes transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information for display in a webpage over the Internet.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the bill summary information comprises a plurality of bills.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of bills is from a plurality of billers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information includes transmitting the bill summary information and the bill detail information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information includes one of:

transmitting the bill summary information and the bill detail information together or transmitting the bill summary information and the bill detail information separately.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a first request for the bill summary information; and

receiving a second request for the bill detail information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information comprises transmitting both the bill summary information and the bill detail information, wherein transmitting the bill summary information occurs responsive to the first request, and wherein transmitting the bill detail information occurs responsive to the second request.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting at least one of the bill summary or the bill detail information for display comprises transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information to the customer.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a bill notification associated with the received bill information to the customer prior to transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information for display comprises:

receiving a first request for the bill summary information;

transmitting the bill summary information responsive to the first request;

subsequent to transmitting the bill summary information, receiving a second request for the bill detail information; and

transmitting the bill detail information responsive to the second request;

wherein processing the normalized bill information to generate the bill detail information occurs subsequent to receiving the first request.

17. A system, comprising:

a network interface configured to receive and transmit bill related information;

a memory configured to store bill related information; and

a processor in communication with the network interface and the memory and operative to execute instructions to

     1) receive bill information from a biller,

     2) transform the received bill information into normalized bill information, wherein the normalized bill information is stored in the memory for subsequent processing,

     3) process the received bill information to generate bill summary information,

     4) process the normalized bill information to generate bill detail information,

     5) transmit at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information for display;

wherein the processor is located at a location remote from both a customer associated with the bill data and the biller; and

wherein the bill summary information represents a subset of the bill detail information.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions to process the normalized bill information by merging the normalized bill information with a template to generate the bill detail information.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further operative to execute instructions to store at least one of the received bill information, the bill summary information, or the bill detail information in the memory, wherein storing is performed after receipt of the bill information or after generation of the bill summary information or the bill detail information.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein:

the memory includes a cache portion; and

at least one of the received bill information, the bill summary information or the bill detail information is stored in the cache portion.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further operative to execute instructions to receive a request, via a network and from the network interface, for a bill on behalf of the customer, wherein at least one of (i) the processing the received bill information, (ii) the processing the normalized bill information, and (iii) the transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information is performed responsive to the request.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the request is from the customer.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the bill summary information comprises a plurality of bills.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the plurality of bills is from a plurality of billers.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions to transmit at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information by transmitting the bill summary information and the bill detail information.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the processor is further operative to execute instructions to transmit the bill summary information and the bill detail information together or transmit the bill summary information and the bill detail information separately.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions to transmit at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information by:

transmitting the bill summary information and the bill detail information together or transmitting the bill summary information and the bill detail information separately.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein, prior to at least transmitting at least one of the bill summary or the bill detail information for display, the processor is further operative to execute instructions to:

receive a first request, via a network and from the network interface, for the bill summary information; and

receive a second request, via the network and from the network interface, for the bill detail information.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions to transmit at least one of the bill summary or the bill detail information for display by transmitting the bill summary information responsive to receiving the first request, and transmitting the bill detail information responsive to receiving the second request.

30. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions to transmit at least one of the bill summary or the bill detail information for display by transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information to the customer.

31. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further operative to execute instructions to transmit a bill notification associated with the received bill information to the customer prior to transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information.

32. The system of claim 17, wherein, when transmitting at least one of the bill summary or the bill detail information for display, the processor is operative to execute instructions to:

receive a first request for the bill summary information;

transmit the bill summary information responsive to the first request;

subsequent to transmitting the bill summary information, receive a second request for the bill detail information; and

transmit the bill detail information responsive to the second request;

wherein the normalized bill information is processed to generate the bill detail information subsequent to receiving the first request.

33. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor is operative to execute instructions to transmit at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information for display by transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information for display in a webpage over the Internet.

34. A system, comprising:

a means for receiving bill information from a biller;

a means for transforming the received bill information into normalized bill information. wherein the normalized bill information is stored for subsequent processing;

a means for processing the received bill information to generate bill summary information, wherein the means for processing the received bill information is located at a location remote from both a customer associated with the bill information and the biller;

a means for processing the normalized bill information to generate bill detail information, wherein the means for processing the normalized bill information is located at a location remote from both the customer and the biller; and

a means for transmitting at least one of the bill summary information or the bill detail information for display;

wherein the bill summary information represents a subset of the bill detail information.