Fee allocator system and method

• US 8,195,538 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2007
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Bloom, Corbett, Rozenwaser, Bill, Cooke, Corinna, Scarpaci, Frank, Berkley, John, Steury, Lisa
• Primary Examiner(s): SHEIKH, ASFAND M
• Application Number:
  US11/767,907
• Publication Number:
  US 20070276708A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,807 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A system is provided for automatically billing a designated account for fees associated with the costs of tickets and other similar services. Passenger Record Number data and similar data is provided through a Computerized Reservation System and an accounting system to a Fee Allocator program which automatically interprets the data, determines appropriate fees based on the data and a user profile, and bills the fees to an appropriate account based on the user profile. Billing data provided to the account also facilitates the process of reconciling the fees to the travel ticket costs. Enhanced descriptive billing statements can be created simplifying the process of reconciling fees to the travel ticket costs.

Claims

1. A method for receiving, in an account billing statement, an automated allocation of fees and costs associated with a single transaction, said method comprising:

conducting, by a computer-based system for receiving said account billing statement, said single transaction with a merchant which results in a single transaction cost for acquiring an item, wherein an agency fee to be charged for administrative assistance associated with said single transaction by an agency is identified based on said single transaction, wherein a user profile comprises allocation information, and wherein said allocation information defines said agency fee with a corresponding first billing account and said single transaction cost with a corresponding second billing account, and wherein said agency fee is charged to said first billing account and said single transaction cost is charged to said second billing account, according to said user profile; and

receiving, by said computer-based system, said account billing statement including said first billing account with said agency fee and said second billing account with said single transaction cost.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said conducting said single transaction comprises conducting a single travel-related transaction.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said user profile comprises user profile information to enable the acquisition of at least a portion of a Passenger Name Record from at least one of a computer reservation system or a travel reservation system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said account billing statement comprises fee reconciling information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a credit entity receives fee reconciling information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said agency fee is further identified by comparing at least a portion of a Passenger Name Record to information in said user profile.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said agency fee represents an extra charge related to said single transaction in addition to said single transaction cost.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said single transaction cost represents charges associated with a single travel-related transaction.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of said agency fee includes loyalty points.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of said single transaction cost includes loyalty points.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said first billing account or said second billing account comprises a plurality of billing accounts.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising reducing at least one of said agency fee or said single transaction cost in response to said transaction being in accordance with predefined rules.

13. A non-transitory memory and a data structure stored in said memory marshaled in an extensible mark-up language (XML) format to create an electronic account billing statement which includes an automated allocation of fees and costs associated with a single transaction, said data structure comprising:

a first field including indicia of an agency fee associated with a first billing account, wherein said agency fee is charged for administrative assistance associated with said single transaction by an agency based on said single transaction, wherein a user profile comprises allocation information, and wherein said allocation information defines said agency fee with a corresponding said first billing account and a single transaction cost for acquiring an item with a corresponding second billing account, and wherein said agency fee is charged to said first billing account and said single transaction cost is charged to said second billing account, according to said user profile;

a second field including indicia of said single transaction cost associated with said second billing account; and

a third field including indicia of a reconciliation of said agency fee with an associated said single transaction cost of said single transaction.

14. The data structure of claim 13, wherein said single transaction east is related to a single travel-related transaction.

15. The data structure of claim 13, wherein said user profile comprises information to enable the acquisition of at least a portion of a Passenger Name Record from at least one of a computer reservation system or a travel reservation system.

16. The data structure of claim 13, wherein said user profile comprises fee reconciling information.

17. The data structure of claim 13, wherein said user profile comprises fee reconciling information which is provided to a credit entity.