System and method for prepay account management system

• US 8,095,475 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2006
• Issued: 01/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Exceleron Software, LLC
• Original Assignee: Exceleron Software, Inc.
• Inventors: Gaines, Chris, Hanson, Daniel A., Hutson, Craig D.
• Primary Examiner(s): JABR, FADEY S
• Application Number:
  US11/387,611
• Publication Number:
  US 20070260562A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,119 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/412, 705/1.1, 340/870.02
• US Class Current: 705/412
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 15/001 for gas
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 15/003 for electricity
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 15/06 with means for prepaying basic charges, e.g. rent for meters
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 15/10 with alarm or warning devices, e.g. indicating the interrupting of the supply

Abstract

A prepay account management system comprises a secure data link operable to transmit a prepay customer account and meter data, a prepay server operable to receive the transmitted customer account data, the prepay server operable to update a balance of a prepay customer account in response to usage charges and replenishing payment amounts, and a notification server operable to deliver a notification to the prepay customer in response to specific triggers associated with the prepay customer account according to the prepay customer preferences.

Claims

1. A prepay account management system for use with a legacy post-pay billing system, the legacy post-pay billing system having a customer account database operable to store customer account data the system, and the prepay account management system comprising:

a prepay account database operable to store prepay customer account data and estimated usage charges for each prepay customer;

a secure data link operable to transmit the prepay customer account data and actual usage charges of a prepay customer between the prepay account management system and the legacy post-pay billing system, wherein the actual usage charges of the prepay customer are extracted from the legacy post-pay billing system;

a prepay server operable to;

receive the transmitted prepay customer account data and actual usage charges, the prepay server having at least one interface that is operable to receive a replenishing payment amount;

update in the prepay account database a balance of a prepay customer account in response to the estimated usage charges and the replenishing payment amount;

reconcile a balance of a prepay customer account with the actual usage charges of the prepay customer extracted from the legacy post-pay billing system by comparing the estimated usage charges with the actual usage charges; and

a notification server operable to deliver a notification to the prepay customer in response to specific triggers associated with the prepay customer account according to prepay customer preferences.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification server is operable to deliver a low balance notification to the prepay customer in response to the customer'"'"'s account balance being below a certain amount, a daily usage notification in response to one of daily estimated usage charges and daily actual usage charges, and a suspend notification in response to the customer account balance being below a certain suspend threshold.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification server is operable to deliver the notification according to method and timing preferences specified by the prepay customer.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a secure communication server affecting the secure data link and operable to receive the prepay customer account data and transmitting the data to the prepay server.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising an actual usage server operable to receive actual usage data of the prepay customer.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising an interactive voice response system in communication with the notification server operable to deliver pre-recorded voice messages and data from the prepay server to the prepay customer.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification server is coupled to the Internet for transmitting electronic notifications to the prepay customer.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a prepay card management system operable to manage prepaid cards purchased by the prepay customer as payment to the prepay customer account.

9. The prepay account management system of claim 1, wherein the prepay server is operable to deduct from the balance of a prepay customer account in response to daily estimated usage charges, daily actual usage charges, daily option charges, and taxes.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the prepay server is operable to update a balance of a prepay customer account in response to estimated usage charges and/or taxes based on a time-of-day and/or day-of-week the usage occurred.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the prepay server is operable to reconcile a balance of a prepay customer account by performing a true-up of the prepay customer account balance based on estimated usage charges applied in a billing cycle with actual usage charges applied in the same billing cycle.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the estimated usage charges include daily estimated usage charges and wherein the prepay server is operable to update on a daily basis in the prepay account database a balance of a prepay customer account in response to the daily estimated usage charges and the replenishing payment amount.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the prepay server is operable to update on a real-time basis in the prepay account database a balance of a prepay customer account in response to the estimated usage charges and the replenishing payment amount.

14. A prepay account management system in use with a post-pay billing system, the prepay account management system comprising:

a prepay customer database operable to store the prepay customer account balance, prepayment, preferences and estimated usage data of the prepay customer,

a data link operable to transmit a prepay customer account balance, prepayment, preferences and actual usage data of a prepay customer between the prepay account management system and the post-pay billing system, wherein the actual usage data of the prepay customer is extracted from the post-pay billing system;

a prepay server operable to;

receive the transmitted prepay customer account balance, prepayment, preferences and actual usage data, the prepay server having at least one interface that is operable to receive replenishing payment amounts;

update a current balance of a prepay customer account in response to the estimated usage data and the replenishing payment amounts; and

reconcile a balance of a prepay customer account with the actual usage data of the prepay customer extracted from the post-pay billing system by comparing the estimated usage data with the actual usage data.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a notification server operable to generate a low balance notification to a specified customer in response to the customer'"'"'s account balance being below a certain amount, a daily usage notification order in response to daily usage charges, and a suspend notification in response to the customer account balance being below a certain suspend threshold, the notifications being delivered in a manner consistent with the prepay customer preferences.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising a secure communication server affecting the data link and operable to receive the prepay customer account balance, prepayment, preferences and actual usage data and transmitting the data to the prepay server, and wherein the data link is a secure data link.

17. The system of claim 14, further comprising an actual usage server operable to receive actual usage data of the prepay customer from a remote automated meter reading database.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising an interactive voice response system in communication with the notification server operable to deliver pre-recorded voice messages and data derived from the prepay server to the prepay customer.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the notification server is coupled to the Internet for transmitting electronic notifications to the prepay customer.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the prepay server is operable to reconcile a balance of a prepay customer account by performing a true-up of the prepay customer account balance based on estimated usage charges applied in a billing cycle with actual usage charges applied in the same billing cycle.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the estimated usage data includes daily estimated usage data and wherein the prepay server is operable to update on a daily basis in the prepay customer database a current balance of a prepay customer account in response to the daily estimated usage data and the replenishing payment amounts.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the prepay server is operable to update on a real-time basis a current balance of a prepay customer account in response to the estimated usage data and the replenishing payment amounts.

23. An apparatus comprising:

a tangible computer-readable storage structure storing a computer program that includes a plurality of computer instructions executable by a processor, the plurality of computer instructions including;

instructions for receiving prepay customer account data including actual utility usage amount for a prepay customer from a customer account database of a post-pay billing system;

instructions for storing the prepay customer account data in a prepay account database;

instructions for receiving a payment amount for utility services corresponding to a prepay customer;

instructions for updating a prepay customer account balance in the prepay account database, in response to the payment amount;

instructions for receiving an estimated utility usage amount for a prepay customer;

instructions for updating the prepay customer account balance in the prepay account database in response to the estimated utility usage amount;

instructions for reconciling the prepay customer account balance in the prepay account database with the actual utility usage amount of the prepay customer extracted from the post-pay billing system by comparing the estimated utility usage amount with the actual utility usage amount; and

instructions for notifying the prepay customer in response to predetermined triggers associated with the prepay customer account.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the plurality of computer instructions further includes instructions for notifying the prepay customer of low account balance in response to the prepay customer account balance being below a low threshold.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the plurality of computer instructions further includes instructions for notifying the prepay customer of imminent suspension in response to the prepay customer account balance being below a suspend threshold.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the plurality of computer instructions further includes instructions for notifying the customer in a manner that is consistent with prepay customer preferences in delivery time and frequency.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the instructions for receiving a payment include instructions for receiving a payment made via at least one of a money transfer service, bill payment service, a credit card or debit card online or over the telephone with the customer service representative, automated clearing house fund transfer networks, an authorized agent, and a prepaid card.

28. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the plurality of computer instructions further includes instructions for generating a suspend order in response to the prepay customer account balance being below a suspend threshold.

29. The apparatus of claim 23,

wherein the instructions for receiving the estimated utility usage amount of the prepay customer include instructions for receiving daily estimated utility usage amount;

and

wherein the instructions for updating the prepay customer account balance include instructions for updating the prepay customer account balance in the prepay account database in response to the daily estimated utility usage amount.

30. The apparatus of claim 23,

wherein the instructions for receiving the actual utility usage amount include instructions for receiving real-time utility usage data;

and

wherein the instructions for reconciling the prepay customer account balance include instructions for reconciling the prepay customer account balance in the prepay account database in response to the real-time utility usage data.

31. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the instructions for notifying the prepay customer includes instructions for notifying the prepay customer via one of email, text messaging, interactive voice response and a customer service representative call.

32. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the instructions for reconciling the prepay customer account balance includes instructions for reconciling the prepay customer account balance based on estimated usage charges in a billing cycle with actual usage charges applied in the same billing cycle.

33. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the instructions for receiving the payment amount for utility services corresponding to the prepay customer includes:

instructions for validating a prepaid card having the prepayment amount, the instructions for validating the prepaid card including;

instructions for checking a serial number of the prepaid card against a list of valid serial numbers, wherein if the serial number is not within the list the prepaid card is invalid;

instructions for determining whether the prepaid card has been previously activated, wherein if the prepaid card has not been previously activated then the prepaid card is invalid;

instruction for verifying a personal identification number (PIN) associated with the prepaid card, the PIN being different than the serial number, wherein if the PIN is not verified then prepaid card is invalid; and

instructions for determining whether the prepaid card has been previously used, wherein if the prepaid card has been previously used then the prepaid card is invalid.

34. A prepay account management system for use with a legacy post-pay billing system, the legacy post-pay billing system having a customer account database operable to store customer account data the system, and the prepay account management system comprising:

a prepay account database operable to store prepay customer account data;

a secure data link operable to transmit a prepay customer account data and usage charges of a prepay customer between the prepay account management system and the legacy post-pay billing system;

a prepay server operable to;

receive the transmitted prepay customer account data, the prepay server having at least one interface that is operable to receive a replenishing payment amount;

update in the prepay account database a balance of a prepay customer account in response to the usage charges and the replenishing payment amount;

reconcile a balance of a prepay customer account with the legacy post-pay billing system; and

a notification server operable to deliver a notification to the prepay customer in response to specific triggers associated with the prepay customer account according to prepay customer preferences.