Interactive invoicer interface
First Claim
1. An automated electronic invoicing and payment consolidation system for providing remote customer review of customer account information from at least two invoicers having web sites or entities having web sites for acting on behalf of said invoicers, said system comprising:
- (a) a consolidated invoicer interface wherein said invoicer interface includes;
(i) at least one access point for at least one customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers;
(ii) means for setting said access point of each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers for at least one customer; and
(iii) means for authentication of each of said customers;
(b) a remote customer interface for accessing said consolidated invoicer interface, wherein said remote customer interface includes a dynamic inbox adapted to display a list of invoicers that is selectable for display in said dynamic inbox by the at least one customer;
(c) a payment engine for electronically transmitting invoice payment instructions from the customer to each invoicer or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers; and
(d) a data pulling component installable on said at least two invoicers'"'"' web sites or on web sites of entities working on behalf of said invoicers adapted to read each invoicer'"'"'s data, package said invoicer'"'"'s data and send said data to said remote customer interface in response to customer data requests.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automated electronic invoicing and payment consolidation system for providing remote customer review of customer account information from at least two invoicers. In the preferred embodiment, the system includes three primary components: a consolidated invoicer interface; a remote customer interface for accessing the consolidated invoicer interface; and a payment engine. In the preferred embodiment, the consolidated invoicer interface provides at least one access point to each of the invoicers; sets the access point of each of the invoicers for at least one customer; authenticates each of the customers; and automatically requests account information for the customers directly from each of the invoicers. Also, in the preferred embodiment, the payment engine sends the customer payment instructions from the customer directly to each of the invoicers.
135 Citations
153 Claims
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1. An automated electronic invoicing and payment consolidation system for providing remote customer review of customer account information from at least two invoicers having web sites or entities having web sites for acting on behalf of said invoicers, said system comprising:
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(a) a consolidated invoicer interface wherein said invoicer interface includes;
(i) at least one access point for at least one customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers;
(ii) means for setting said access point of each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers for at least one customer; and
(iii) means for authentication of each of said customers;(b) a remote customer interface for accessing said consolidated invoicer interface, wherein said remote customer interface includes a dynamic inbox adapted to display a list of invoicers that is selectable for display in said dynamic inbox by the at least one customer; (c) a payment engine for electronically transmitting invoice payment instructions from the customer to each invoicer or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers; and (d) a data pulling component installable on said at least two invoicers'"'"' web sites or on web sites of entities working on behalf of said invoicers adapted to read each invoicer'"'"'s data, package said invoicer'"'"'s data and send said data to said remote customer interface in response to customer data requests. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. A consolidated invoicer interface for an automated electronic invoicing and payment system for providing remote customer review of customer account information from at least two invoicers having web sites or entities having web sites for acting on behalf of said invoicers, said system comprising:
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(a) at least one access point for at least one customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers, wherein said at least one access point includes a dynamic inbox adapted to display a list of invoicers that is selectable for display in said dynamic inbox by at least one customer; (b) means for setting said access point of each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers for at least one customer; (c) means for authentication of each of said customers; (d) means for automatically requesting account information for said customers from each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers; (e) means for electronically transmitting invoice payment instructions from said customers to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers; and (f) means at said invoicer'"'"'s web site or entities'"'"' web site for acting on behalf of said invoicers for reading each invoicer'"'"'s data, packaging said invoicer'"'"'s data and sending said means for automatically requesting account information. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76)
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77. An automated electronic invoicing and payment consolidation system for providing remote customer review of customer account information from at least two invoicers having web sites or entities having web sites for acting on behalf of said invoicers, said system comprising:
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(a) a consolidated invoicer interface wherein said invoicer interface includes;
(i) at least one access point for at least one customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers;
(ii) means for setting said access point of each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers for at least one customer;
(iii) means for authentication of each of said customers; and
(iv) means for automatically requesting account information for said customers from each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers;(b) a remote customer interface for accessing said consolidated invoicer interface, wherein said remote customer interface includes a dynamic inbox adapted to display a list of invoicers that is selectable for display in said dynamic inbox by the at least one customer; (c) a payment engine wherein the customer payment instructions are sent from the customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers, said payment engine including;
invoice presentation electronics adapted to present an electronic invoice created by or on behalf of said invoicers from customer billing data stored on a server and only extracted by or on behalf of said invoicers for customer review and to request payment instructions relating to automated billing to said customer; and
a remote electronic customer authorization interface adapted to;
(i) receive the customer billing data for customer review and the request for payment instructions from said invoice presentation electronics;
(ii) provide the customer billing data and the request for payment instructions to the customer;
(iii) receive customer payment instructions from the customer in response to the request for payment instructions; and
(iv) transmit the customer payment instructions from the customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers; and(d) a data pulling component installable on said at least two invoicers'"'"' web sites or on web sites of entities working on behalf of said invoicers adapted to read each invoicer'"'"'s data, package said invoicer'"'"'s data and send said data to said remote customer interface in response to customer data requests. - View Dependent Claims (78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150)
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151. A method for automated electronic invoicing and payment consolidation for providing remote customer review of customer account information from at least two invoicers having web sites or entities having web sites for acting on behalf of said invoicers, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a consolidated invoicer interface wherein said invoicer interface includes;
(i) at least one access point for at least one customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers;
(ii) means for setting said access point of each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers for at least one customer;
(iii) means for authentication of each of said customers; and
(iv) a dynamic inbox adapted to display a list of invoicers that is selectable for display in said dynamic inbox by the at least one customer;(b) accessing said consolidated invoicer interface through a remote customer interface; (c) electronically transmitting invoice payment instructions from the customer to each invoicer or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers (d) installing a data pulling component on said at least two invoicers'"'"' web sites or on web sites of entities working on behalf of said invoicers; and (e) reading each invoicer'"'"'s data using said data pulling component, packaging said invoicer'"'"'s data and sending said data to said remote customer interface in response to customer data requests using said data pulling component.
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152. A method for automated electronic invoicing and payment consolidation for providing remote customer review of customer account information from at least two invoicers having web sites or entities having web sites for acting on behalf of said invoicers using a consolidated invoicer interface, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing at least one access point for at least one customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers, wherein said at least one access point includes a dynamic inbox adapted to display a list of invoicers that is selectable for display in said dynamic inbox by at least one customer; (b) setting said access point of each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers for at least one customer; (c) authenticating each of said customers; (d) automatically requesting account information for said customers from each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers; (e) electronically transmitting invoice payment instructions from the customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers; (f) installing a data pulling component on said at least two invoicers'"'"' web sites or on web sites of entities working on behalf of said invoicers; and (g) reading each invoicer'"'"'s data using said data pulling component, packaging said invoicer'"'"'s data and sending said data to said remote customer interface in response to customer data requests using said data pulling component.
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153. A method for automated electronic invoicing and payment consolidation for providing remote customer review of customer account information from at least two invoicers having a web site or entities having a web site for acting on behalf of said invoicers, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a consolidated invoicer interface wherein said invoicer interface includes;
(i) at least one access point for at least one customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers;
(ii) means for setting said access point of each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers for at least one customer;
(iii) means for authentication of each of said customers;
(iv) means for automatically requesting account information for said customers from each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers; and
(v) a dynamic inbox adapted to display a list of invoicers that is selectable for display in said dynamic inbox by the at least one customer;(b) installing a data pulling component on said at least two invoicers'"'"' web sites or on web sites of entities working on behalf of said invoicers; and (c) reading each invoicer'"'"'s data using said data pulling component, packaging said invoicer'"'"'s data and sending said data to said remote customer interface in response to customer data requests using said data pulling component; and (d) sending the customer payment instructions from the customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers using a payment engine including;
invoice presentation electronics adapted to present an electronic invoice created by or on behalf of said invoicers from customer billing data stored on a server and only extracted by or on behalf of said invoicers for customer review and to request payment instructions relating to automated billing to said customer; and
a remote electronic customer authorization interface adapted to;
(i) receive the customer billing data for customer review and the request for payment instructions from said invoice presentation electronics;
(ii) provide the customer billing data and the request for payment instructions to the customer;
(iii) receive customer payment instructions from the customer in response to the request for payment instructions; and
(iv) transmit the customer payment instructions from the customer to each of the invoicers or entities acting on behalf of said invoicers.
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Specification