Patent ID: 8812381
Filing Date: 2014-08-19
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A central payment system for automatically paying cargo invoices, the central payment system comprising: a shipper communications interface in communication with a shipper over a network, wherein the shipper is an importer or exporter of goods; a carrier communications interface in communication with two or more carriers over the network, wherein the carrier communication interface receives invoice information from a carrier, wherein the carrier is hired by the shipper to move goods from one location to another and owns and operates the equipment used to ship the goods, wherein the invoice information comprises an invoice header that includes at least one member of a list of identifying information including: an invoice number, a date of an invoice, a time of the invoice, and a name of the invoice; an invoice system in communication with the carrier communication interface and the shipper communications interface, wherein the invoice system associates the invoice information with a shipper identifier and a carrier identifier, wherein the invoice system determines which shipper to notice about the invoice information based on the shipper identifier associated with the invoice information, the invoice system comprising a computer configured to: automatically pay the carrier for the approved invoice via a central payment system, wherein the central payment system retrieves payment information related to the shipper and sends a transfer request to an entity that processes debit or credit authorizations, and report a disposition of the invoice via the central payment system by sending a status of the invoice to the shipper via the shipper communication interface or to the carrier via the carrier communication interface; and a dispute resolution component operable to execute instructions for a method to conduct a dispute resolution, the instructions comprising: