Patent ID: 8494935
Filing Date: 2013-07-23
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method of conducting expressive payment reconciliation for a buyer against expressive contracts on goods or services comprising: (a) storing in computer storage accessible to a processor of a computer data associated with a purchase transaction, wherein the purchase transaction data includes information about at least the following: (b) the processor identifying a first contract against which the purchase transaction is made and a first payment amount for the purchase transaction; (c) storing in computer storage data about the first contract, wherein this data specifies at least the following: at least one good or service, a payment rule to determine the payment for the purchase of at least one quantity of at least one good or service, information about a plurality of purchases made against the contract, and a trigger condition and associated effect, wherein the trigger condition is responsive to the information about the plurality of purchases, and the effect causes one of the following: a payment to occur, a payment associated with the purchase transaction in step (a) to change, a future payment to change, a future payment contingent on a future purchase transaction to change, or a constraint on allowable purchases to change; (d) based on the purchase transaction data in step (a) and the data about the first contract in step (c), the processor determining a second payment amount for the purchase transaction; and (e) in the event that the first payment amount and second payment amount are different, and in response to the processor automatically approving a reconciliation action subject to one or more predetermined rules or the processor receiving an external approval of a reconciliation action, the processor taking one of the following actions: