Aggregated postal billing and payment methods and systems
First Claim
1. A method for the United States Post Office to process bills, the method comprising:
- receiving, at one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office, a first electronic list of bill recipients from a first biller and corresponding first amounts owed to the first biller by each bill recipient in the first electronic list;
receiving, at the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office, a second electronic list of bill recipients from a second biller and corresponding second amounts owed to the second biller by each bill recipient in the second electronic list;
generating, for each bill recipient in the first and second electronic lists of bill recipients, an electronic aggregated listing of the first and second amounts owed to each of the first and second billers by each corresponding billing recipient with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office;
making, using the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office, the electronic aggregated listing available to each corresponding bill recipient over a computer network;
receiving, at the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office, from one of the bill recipients in the first and second electronic lists of bill recipients, an electronic order instructing the United States Post Office to cause a payment of at least one of the first and second amounts listed in the electronic aggregated listing;
sequestering, using the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office, funds at least equal to the payment specified in the received order from a predetermined numbered account designated by the bill recipient; and
communicating, from the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post office to one or more computer systems associated with a financial service provider, information instructing the financial service provider to effectuate the payment specified in the received order from the sequestered funds.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer-implemented method for a trusted entity such as a Post Office to process bills from a plurality of billers includes generating aggregated listings of bills to be submitted each identified customer and making the aggregated listings available to each identified customer. The trusted entity may then receive orders to effectuate payment of selected ones of the bills in the aggregated listings from customers. The first trusted entity may request that a second trusted entity designated by each identified customer (such as a bank) guarantee availability of funds sufficient to cover payment of the bills selected for payment. A third trusted entity (a central bank) may then be instructed to carry out the payments specified in each of the received orders in batch mode by transferring the payments from the second trusted entities designated by the customers to respective fourth trusted entities (e.g., banks) designated by the billers.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method for the United States Post Office to process bills, the method comprising:
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receiving, at one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office, a first electronic list of bill recipients from a first biller and corresponding first amounts owed to the first biller by each bill recipient in the first electronic list; receiving, at the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office, a second electronic list of bill recipients from a second biller and corresponding second amounts owed to the second biller by each bill recipient in the second electronic list; generating, for each bill recipient in the first and second electronic lists of bill recipients, an electronic aggregated listing of the first and second amounts owed to each of the first and second billers by each corresponding billing recipient with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office; making, using the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office, the electronic aggregated listing available to each corresponding bill recipient over a computer network; receiving, at the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office, from one of the bill recipients in the first and second electronic lists of bill recipients, an electronic order instructing the United States Post Office to cause a payment of at least one of the first and second amounts listed in the electronic aggregated listing; sequestering, using the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office, funds at least equal to the payment specified in the received order from a predetermined numbered account designated by the bill recipient; and communicating, from the one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post office to one or more computer systems associated with a financial service provider, information instructing the financial service provider to effectuate the payment specified in the received order from the sequestered funds. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A machine-readable storage medium having data stored thereon representing sequences of instructions executable by one or more computer systems associated with the United States Post Office to process bills, the machine-readable storage medium comprising:
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instructions for receiving a first electronic list of bill recipients from a first biller and corresponding first amounts owed to the first biller by each bill recipient in the first electronic list; instructions for receiving a second electronic list of bill recipients from a second biller and corresponding second amounts owed to the second biller by each bill recipient in the second list; instructions for generating, for each bill recipient in the first and second lists of bill recipients, an electronic aggregated listing of the first and second amounts owed to each of the first and second billers by each corresponding billing recipient; instructions for making the aggregated listing available to each corresponding bill recipient over a computer network; instructions for receiving, from one of the bill recipients in the first and second electronic lists of bill recipients, an order instructing the United States Post Office to cause a payment of at least one of the first and second amounts listed in the electronic aggregated listing; instructions for sequestering funds at least equal to the payment specified in the received order from a predetermined numbered account designated by the bill recipient; and instructions for communicating information instructing a financial service provider to effectuate the payment specified in the received order from the sequestered funds. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A computer-implemented method for postal services to process bills, comprising the steps of:
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receiving, at one or more computer systems associated with a postal service, a list from each of a plurality of billers, each list including bills to be submitted to identified customers; from the received lists, generating an electronic aggregated listing for each identified customer with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems associated with the postal service, the electronic aggregated listing including the bills to be submitted by each of the plurality of billers to each identified customer; making, using the one or more com ms associated with the postal service, each generated electronic aggregated listing available to each corresponding identified customer over a computer network; receiving, at the one or more computer systems, from one or more of the identified customers, one or more electronic orders to effectuate payment of selected ones of the bills in the aggregated listings; for each received order, communicating, from the one or more computer system associated with the postal service to one or more computer systems associated with a first trusted entity, information instructing the first trusted entity designated by each identified customer to guarantee availability of funds sufficient to cover payment of the bills selected for payment by sequestering funds, from accounts of the identified customers, that are at least sufficient to cover payment of the bills selected for payment; communicating, from the one or more computer system associated with the postal service to one or more computer systems associated with a second trusted entity, information instructing the second trusted entity to carry out the payments specified in each of the received orders by transferring the payments from the funds sequestered by the first trusted entities designated by the customers to respective third trusted entities designated by the billers. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41)
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Specification