Electronic financial management and analysis system and related methods

• US 7,996,310 B1
• Filed: 07/19/2000
• Issued: 08/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Globys Inc
• Original Assignee: Globys Inc
• Inventors: Edwards, Derek J., Edwards, Duane S., Chalcraft, Michael G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Colbert; Ella
• Application Number:
  US09/619,248
• Time in Patent Office: 4,038 Days
• Field of Search: 713/156, 713/176, 705/1, 705/1.1, 705/35, 705 38- 40, 705/34, 705/44, 715/522, 715/530, 715/525, 707/500, 707/100, 379/114.1, 379/114.02, 379/114.12
• US Class Current: 705/40
• 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 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 40/10 Tax strategies
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A computing system facilitating electronic bill presentment and payment features for authorized users via a user interface is introduced including an analysis engine. The analysis engine, in response to user interaction with the user interface, selectively performs user-defined analysis on at least a subset of retrieved billing information associated with one or more billers. The analysis engine further generates one or more user-defined report(s) based, at least in part, on the user-defined analysis.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for presenting electronic billing, analysis and payment, comprising:

receiving billing information at a server from one or more billers for presentment to a plurality of users, wherein the billing information includes information for each of a plurality of individual transactions;

receiving at the server, from a user, a selection of one or more user-selected analysis parameters for customizing an analysis of at least a subset of the billing information;

analyzing at the server the subset of the billing information using at least the selected one or more user-selected analysis parameters to produce a customized report regarding the subset of the billing information;

producing on a computer the customized report for review by the user based upon the result of the analysis of the subset of billing information.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the billing information is telephone billing information for which the user has authorized access, and wherein the customized report denotes geographic distribution of telephone calls.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the customized report displays one or more of a chart, a textual report, and a geographic map denoting telephone call information based, at least in part, on the received billing information associated with the user.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein analyzing at the server the subset of the billing information comprises:

retrieving at least a subset of the received billing information required to perform the analysis based, at least in part, on the selected one or more user-selected analysis parameters; and

computing desired metrics based, at least in part, on the selected one or more user-selected analysis parameters.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the selected one or more user-selected analysis parameters include one or more of a billing category, date, time, location, recipient, department, user, phone number, credit card number, account number, account description, and number description.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein each of the selected one or more user-selected analysis parameters are defined by a user.

7. A method according to claim 4, wherein the billing information is retrieved from one or more data stores including one or more local data stores and remote data stores.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the one or more data stores comprise one or more databases, and the subset of the billing information is retrieved by selectively issuing appropriate commands to at least one of the databases.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the commands are issued in accordance with one or more database protocols.

10. A method according to claim 4, wherein the desired metrics include one or more of minimum billing values, maximum billing values, average billing values, and mean billing values.

11. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

downloading instructions to render the customized report from the server to a client computer accessible by the user.

12. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a billing statement to the user, wherein the billing statement is presented to the user in accordance with user-defined settings, the billing statement comprising an indication of debt at an amount of detail based on a user input; and

accepting payment authorization from the user to satisfy at least a portion of the debt with funds identified by the user.

13. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

presenting statement information in accordance with user-defined settings, wherein the statement information is presented to the user in a format defined by a service provider, the statement information comprising an indication of debt at an amount of detail based on an input by a user.

14. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

presenting statement information to the user in accordance with settings defined by the user or a service provider other than a service provider which provided the statement information, wherein the statement information comprises an indication of debt at an amount of detail based on an input by the user or an input by the service provider other than the service provider which provided the statement information.

15. A method according to claim 1, wherein the billing information includes telephone billing information for which the user has authorized access.

16. A method according to claim 1, wherein the customized report denotes a geographic distribution of telephone calls.

17. A method according to claim 1, wherein the customized report displays one or more of a chart, a textual report, and a geographic map denoting telephone call information based, at least in part, on the received billing information associated with the user.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for use in analyzing billing information, the computer-executable instructions causing a server apparatus to perform actions comprising:

receiving billing information from one or more billers, wherein the billing information includes information for each of a plurality of individual transactions, and wherein the received billing information is presented to a plurality of users;

receiving from a user a selection of one or more user-selected analysis parameters for customizing an analysis of at least a subset of the billing information;

analyzing the subset of the billing information at the server apparatus using at least the selected one or more user-selected analysis parameters to produce a customized report regarding the subset of the billing information; and

producing on a computer the customized report for review by the user based upon the result of the analysis of the subset of billing information.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 18, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the server to perform further actions comprising:

enabling customers of a telecommunications company to access and analyze billing information via a telecommunications company server by employing an Electronic Bill Presentment, Analysis and Payment (EBPAP) system associated with the telecommunications company.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 18, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the server to perform further actions comprising:

authorizing users of a service provider to access and analyze billing information from affiliated billers using one or more of an independent service provider'"'"'s servers.

21. A server having components for use in analyzing billing information, the server comprising:

a data store including the billing information;

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions; and

a processing unit, coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and the data store, that is configured to selectively execute at least a subset of the executable instructions to perform actions including;

receiving billing information from one or more billers, wherein the billing information includes information for each of a plurality of individual transactions, and wherein the received billing information is presented to a plurality of users;

receiving from the user a selection of one or more user-selected analysis parameters for customizing an analysis of at least a subset of the billing information;

analyzing the subset of the billing information at the server using at least the selected one or more user-selected analysis parameters to produce a customized report regarding the subset of the billing information; and

producing on a computer the customized report for review by the user based upon the result of the analysis of the subset of billing information.

22. A server according to claim 21, wherein the produced report presents a geographic map denoting a geographic distribution of telephone calls based, at least in part, on the subset of the billing information.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for use in analyzing billing information, the computer-executable instructions causing a server apparatus to perform actions comprising:

receiving billing information from one or more service providers for presentment to a plurality of users, wherein the billing information includes information for each of a plurality of individual transactions;

receiving from a user a selection of one or more user-selected analysis parameters for customizing an analysis of at least a subset of the billing information;

analyzing the subset of the billing information at the server apparatus using at least the selected one or more user-selected analysis parameters to produce a customized report regarding the subset of the billing information; and

producing on a computer the customized report for review by the user based upon the result of the analysis of the subset of billing information.

24. A server having components for use in analyzing billing information, the server comprising:

a data store including the billing information;

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions; and

a processing unit, coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and the data store, that is configured to selectively execute at least a subset of the executable instructions to perform actions including;

receiving billing information from one or more service providers for presentment to a plurality of users;

receiving from a user a selection of one or more user-selected analysis parameters for customizing an analysis of at least a subset of the billing information;

analyzing the subset of the billing information at the server using at least the selected one or more user-selected analysis parameters to produce a customized report regarding the subset of the billing information; and

producing on a computer the customized report for review by the user based upon the result of the analysis of the subset of billing information.