Abstract:
A system for routing electronic account data, includes: a first provider of account services having a first user service provider for communicating account data initiated from a first set of users and a first customer service provider for communicating the account data with a first set of customers; a second provider of account services having a second user service provider for communicating account data initiated from a second set of users and a second customer service provider for communicating the account data with a second set of customers; and an electronic account exchange system communicating with the first and second user service providers and the first and second customer service providers, the electronic account exchange system being operable to permit one or more of the first set of users to communicate its account data with one or more of the second set of customers.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]    This application is based on and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/115,925, filed Jan. 14, 1999, entitled ELECTRONIC ACCOUNT DATA OR TRANSACTIONS ROUTING SYSTEM, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    The present invention relates to electronic presentment of financial statements from one party to another party over a network and, more particularly, to a system in which service providers create a network for connecting a plurality of providers of goods or services with a plurality of customers such that account data, financial statements, and/or transactional information may be electronically transmitted over the network.  
           [0004]    2. Related Art  
           [0005]    The electronic presentment of bills from a party who provides goods and services to a customer of that party is becoming increasingly important. Indeed, the costs associated with providing hard copy bills through the mails is becoming increasingly costly and, therefore, it is becoming more attractive for a billing party to electronically deliver its bills to its customers. Similarly, as customers become more technologically advanced, the customers are likely to demand that bills be provided in an electronic form.  
           [0006]    Referring now to FIGS. 1 a  and  1   b , it is possible to provide electronic bills from a billing party  16  to a customer  18 . A conventional electronic billing system  10  includes a billing service provider  12  and a customer service provider  14 . The billing service provider  12  may be, for example, a bank which enters into agreements with one or more billing parties  16  to provide billing information in electronic form to customers  18  of the billing parties  16 .  
           [0007]    The billing service provider  12  typically contracts with the customer service provider  14  to transfer the electronic billing information from the billing service provider  12  to one or more customers  18 .  
           [0008]    As is known in the art, the customer service provider  14  may provide a branded website on the internet which the customers  18  may access. The branded website, although maintained and controlled by the customer service provider  14 , can exhibit at least some billing party specific information such that it looks as if being provided by the billing party  16  who initiated the bill for the customer  18 . Thus, from the customer&#39;s  18  standpoint, the branded website provided by the customer service provider  14  appears to be provided directly from the billing party  16 .  
           [0009]    In some circumstances, the billing service provider  12  may itself be capable of providing customer service and, therefore, act as both a billing service provider  12  and a customer service provider  14 . For example, as shown in FIG. 1 a , customers  3  and  4  may access, for example, a website provided by the billing service provider  12  on which to receive billing information from one of the billing parties  16 .  
           [0010]    Unfortunately, not all customers  18  subscribe to the electronic billing system  10  shown in FIG. 1 a . Indeed, some customers  18  may subscribe to a different electronic billing system  20 . The electronic billing system  20  may include a billing service provider  22  and a customer service provider  24 . Thus, a billing party  16  (such as biller  1 ) may be required to subscribe to both billing service provider  12  and billing service provider  22  in order to access more of its customers  18 . In particular, biller  1  may desire to present electronic bills to both customer  1  and customer  5 . Since customer  1  subscribes only to electronic billing system  10  and customer  5  subscribes only to electronic billing system  20 , biller  1  must subscribe to the services of both billing service provider  12  and billing service provider  22 .  
           [0011]    Similarly, a particular customer  18  may desire to receive electronic bills from more than one billing party  16  and, therefore, may be required to subscribe to more than one customer service provider ( 14 ,  24 ). For example, customer  2  may desire to receive electronic bills from biller  2  and biller  3 . Accordingly, as biller  2  only subscribes to billing service provider  12  and biller  3  only subscribes to billing service provider  22 , customer  2  must subscribe to both customer service provider  14  and customer service provider  24  to receive electronic bills from both biller  2  and biller  3 .  
           [0012]    Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a new electronic billing system which is capable of networking a larger number of billing parties with customers which does not require a particular billing party to contract with numerous billing service providers and also does not require a particular customer to contract with numerous customer service providers.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0013]    In order to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art, the present invention includes a system for routing electronic account data, comprising:  
           [0014]    a first provider of account services having a first user service provider for communicating account data initiated from a first set of users, and a first customer service provider for communicating the account data with a first set of customers,  
           [0015]    a second provider of account services having a second user services provider for communicating account data initiated from a second set of users, and a second customer service provider for communicating the account data with a second set of customers; and  
           [0016]    an electronic account exchange system communicating with the first and second user service providers and the first and second customer service providers, the electronic account exchange system being operable to permit one or more of the first set of users to communicate its account data with one or more of the second set of customers.  
           [0017]    According to another aspect of the present invention, a system for routing electronic account data, includes:  
           [0018]    a first provider of account services having a first billing service provider for communicating bills initiated from a first set of billing parties, and a first customer service provider for communicating the bills to a first set of customers;  
           [0019]    a second provider of account services having a second billing service provider for communicating bills initiated from a second set of billing parties, and a second customer service provider for communicating the bills to a second set of customers; and  
           [0020]    an electronic bill exchange system communicating with the first and second billing service providers and the first and second customer service providers, the electronic bill exchange system being operable to permit the first and second providers of account services to communicate settlement information which includes amounts of funds released by at least one of the customer service providers to pay bills on behalf of one or more customers for whom the one or more customer service providers does not hold a financial account.  
           [0021]    Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description of the invention as presented hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawing. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
       [0022]    For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawing a form which is presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangement and instrumentality shown.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIGS. 1 a  and  1   b  are block diagrams illustrating an electronic billing system according to the prior art;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic billing system according to the present invention;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the components included in the electronic bill exchange system of the present invention;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating the control sequence employed by the present invention for billing requests;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating the control sequence employed by the present invention for bill payment; and  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating the control sequence employed by the present invention for customer enrollment. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0029]    Referring now to the drawing wherein like numerals indicate like elements, there is shown in FIG. 2 an electronic account data or transactions routing system  40  in accordance with the present invention. For the purposes of illustrating the invention, the electronic account data or transactions routing system  40  is discussed in terms of presenting bills from a plurality of billing parties  16  (biller  1 , biller  2 , biller  3 , etc.,) to a plurality of customers  18  (customer  1 , customer  2 , customer  3 , etc.). The billing parties  16  may represent the providers of goods and services utilized by the customers  18 , for example, telephone providers, utility providers, food services providers, credit services providers, etc.  
         [0030]    Those skilled in the art will recognize that the electronic account data or transactions routing system  40  of the present invention is not limited to providing bills from billing parties to customers, but rather may be extended to providing electronic account information relating to other services, for example, financial information (such as credit history, invoices and/or trade transactions), marketing information (such as unique customer information obtained from value added marketing, cookies, e.g., java programs), financial securities information (including 401(k) data, proxy statements, prospectuses, etc.), government related information (including tax reporting data, social securities financial data, medicare data, etc.), medical information, insurance account information, other business information (for example, airline ticketing—scheduling—purchasing data, etc.).  
         [0031]    The electronic account data or transactions routing system  40  of the present invention includes one or more billing service providers  12 ,  22  and one or more customer service providers  14 ,  24  defining a network through an electronic bill exchange system  50 . While only two billing service providers  12 ,  22  and two customer service providers  14 ,  24  are shown, any number may be employed without departing from the scope of the invention.  
         [0032]    Those skilled in the art will recognize that, the term “billing” is used in this example of the invention to define the parties  16 , the service providers  12 ,  22  and the service providers  14 ,  24  because the example concerns the presentation and/or payment of bills. Of course, the parties  16 , and the service providers  12 ,  22  and  14 ,  24  may be defined in other ways when the electronic account data or transactions routing system  40  is used in the other contexts listed above.  
         [0033]    In this example of the invention, billing service provider  12  and customer service provider  14  are preferably related entities within a financial services provider  15 , such as a bank. Similarly, it is preferred that billing service provider  22  and customer service provider  24  are related within a financial services provider  25  (for example, another bank). In forming the network, financial services provider  15  and financial services provider  25  jointly agree to exchange billing information related to the plurality of billing parties  16  and customers  18 . Once the agreement is in place, the billing information may flow from a particular billing party  16  to any one of the customers  18  through the electronic bill exchange system  50 .  
         [0034]    As will be described below in more detail, the electronic bill exchange system  50  permits, for example, customer service provider  14  to request billing information from one or more of the billing parties  16  of billing service provider  22  even though it is not otherwise associated with billing service provider  22 . Thus, a bill may be presented from, for example, biller  3  to customer  1 .  
         [0035]    Reference is now made to the block diagram of FIG. 3 which illustrates the components of the electronic bill exchange system  50 . In particular, the electronic bill exchange system  50  includes a biller directory  52 , an electronic bill routing system  54 , and a messaging and settlement system  56 .  
         [0036]    The biller directory  52  includes details on the billing parties  16  subscribing to the network through the billing service providers  12 ,  22 . The details on each billing party  16  contained in the biller directory  52  include the names of the billing service provider for the billing party  16  and the customer service providers subscribing to the routing system  40 . Among other things, the biller directory  52  facilitates cross referencing when billing information requests are made. Table 1 provides an example of other types of information included in each record contained in the biller directory  52 .  
                       TABLE 1                                       Biller Directory:           Biller Identifier;           Biller Name;           Customer service contact information (name, address,           customer support contact);           Payment mechanism information (payment instruments           accepted, remittance (name and address) ;           Presentation information (bill-specific information,           URL address, biller&#39;s logo or trademark, biller&#39;s           enrollment requirements);           Account information (account format etc.);           Billing service provider routing information (used for           routing requests);           Biller&#39;s remittance information                      
 
         [0037]    Those skilled in the art will appreciate from the above that the electronic bill routing system  54  provides the function of receiving electronic billing information from and delivering the electronic billing information to any of the billing service providers  12 ,  22  and customer service providers  14 ,  24  in accordance with stored or dynamic routing information. Preferably, the routing information is obtained from the biller directory  52 . Any of the known hardware and software solutions may be employed to obtain the necessary functions of the electronic bill routing system  54 . For example, known servers, routers and data bases may be employed which operate under the control of known software programs.  
         [0038]    Those skilled in the art will understand that the electronic bill exchange system  50  provides the requisite platform for facilitating messaging and settlement functions utilizing any of the known hardware and software solutions. As all of the billing services providers  12 ,  22  and customer service providers  14 ,  24  are linked through the electronic bill exchange system  50 , the messaging and settlement system  56  can readily facilitate the communications necessary to transfer electronic information over the routing system  40  such that messaging and settlement between (i) the billing service providers  12 ,  22  and customer service providers  14 ,  24 ; and/or (ii) the financial service providers  15 ,  25  is obtained.  
         [0039]    The messaging and settlement system  56  preferably includes a means for providing settlement information between (i) the customer service providers  14 ,  24 ; the billing service providers  12 ,  22 ; and/or the financial service providers  15 ,  25 . Advantageously, such settlement information is more quickly provided between the above listed entities through the electronic billing and exchange system  50  and, thus, settlement instruments (such as money) may be more quickly routed between the entities to settle any outstanding accounts. The process of settlement through the electronic billing and exchange system  50  will be discussed in terms of an example hereinbelow.  
         [0040]    Reference is now made to the flow diagram of FIG. 4 which illustrates the control sequence utilized by the electronic account data or transactions routing system  40  to facilitate bill presentment and payment between any of the billing parties  16  and customers  18 . At step  100 , a particular customer service provider, for example customer service provider  14 , requests bills from the electronic bill exchange system  50  as a function of a particular time period and/or one or more of its customers  18 . For example, the customer service provider  14  may request all outstanding bills for customer  1 . Alternatively, the customer service provider  14  may request bills for all of its customers  18  during a particular time period, for example, a specified month or day. Those skilled in the art from the above teaching will understand that many permutations in specifying customers and/or time periods exist which fall within the scope of the invention.  
         [0041]    The electronic bill exchange system  50  receives the request from the customer service provider  14  at step  102  and searches the biller directory  52  for the billing services providers which correspond with the requested bills. At step  104 , the electronic bill exchange system  50  routes the request from the customer service provider  14  to the associated billing service provider, for example billing service provider  22 , that hold bills for the customer service provider  14 .  
         [0042]    At step  106 , the particular billing service provider (here, billing service provider  22 ), may already possess all billing information necessary to process the billing request made by the customer service provider  14 . In the event that the billing service provider  22  requires more information from one or more of the billing parties  16  to process the billing request, it may obtain same at step  106 .  
         [0043]    When the billing service provider  22  is in possession of the requisite billing information to process, for example an electronic bill, it processes the electronic bill and passes at least a subset of information relating to the electronic bill to the electronic bill exchange system  50  for routing to the customer service provider  14  (steps  108  and  110 ).  
         [0044]    It is preferred that the billing service provider  22  include an electronic address with the billing information at step  108  which identifies an electronic location where the detailed billing information may be found and/or viewed. For example, when the detailed billing information may be obtained over the internet, it is preferred that the billing service provider  22  provide a URL address with the subset of information relating to the electronic bill to the electronic bill exchange system  50  for delivery to the customer service provider  14 . Thus, a particular customer  18  may access the URL provided by the billing service provider  22  to review the details of the subject electronic bill.  
         [0045]    It is noted that a detailed electronic bill may include such information as a billing party name and address, customer service contact information, detailed customer account information, a customer name and address, a detailed description of goods and service provided, customer account payment information, the billing party&#39;s billing service provider information, advertising, etc. When the customer service provider  14  requests billing information, however, all of the electronic bill information need not be transmitted. Indeed, only a subset of the detailed information need be transmitted to the customer service provider  14 , such as the customer name, total remittance, URL address, etc.  
         [0046]    Reference is now made to the flow diagram of FIG. 5 which illustrates the control flow utilized by the electronic account data or transactions routing system  40  when bill payment is carried out. At step  200 , a particular customer  18  is notified by its customer service provider  14  that a bill is outstanding. This notification may take the form of a brief message indicating the billing party  16  and the total remittance due. It is preferred that the notification take place on an information network such as the internet. When the internet is utilized to notify the customer  18  of an outstanding bill, the URL address provided by the billing service provider  22  is included with the notification, thereby permitting the customer  18  to access the electronic location (the URL address) to view the details of the outstanding bill (step  102 ).  
         [0047]    When the customer  18  has reviewed the details of the bill, for example, the details of the goods and services provided and the total remittance for those goods and services, the customer  18  may accept or reject the bill (step  204 ). If the customer  18  rejects the bill, then at step  206  the billing party  16  is notified through the electronic account data or transactions routing system  40 .  
         [0048]    If the customer  16  accepts and wishes to pay the bill (step  204 ), then the customer  18  notifies and instructs the customer service provider  14  to make the appropriate financial transactions to pay the bill. Preferably, this is accomplished by providing the customer  18  with a trigger or activator (e.g., a phone DTMF code, an electronic code, etc.) which, when activated, indicates the customer&#39;s  18  desire to pay the bill. It is most preferred to provide the customer with an ICON located at the internet screen which indicates that payment is desired.  
         [0049]    It is noted that the trigger may be presented to the customer  18  when the customer service provider  14  presents the subset of billing information to the customer  18  (i.e., at step  200 ). Advantageously, a customer  18  need not view all of the details of the bill prior to making payment, rather he or she may initiate payment only having received a notification from the customer service provider  14  that a bill is outstanding.  
         [0050]    Those skilled in the art understand that there are a plurality of methods to pay a billing party  16  for goods and services (for example, by debiting a financial account, by credit card, etc.). These methods are usually established by the billing parties  16  and agreed to when a customer  18  enrolls in the system. Steps  208 - 219  illustrate the specific procedures for paying a bill by debiting a direct deposit account, it being understood that other methods of payment are available without departing from the scope of the invention.  
         [0051]    At step  208 , it is determined whether the customer service provider  14  is the holder of a direct deposit account for the particular customer  18  desirous of making payment on the electronic bill. If the customer service provider  14  is the holder of the direct deposit account for the customer  18 , then process flow transfers to step  210 . If the customer service provider  14  is not the holder of the direct deposit account for the customer  18 , control proceeds to step  214 .  
         [0052]    At step  210 , the customer service provider  14  simply debits the customer&#39;s  18  direct deposit account and credits the biller&#39;s  16  account through established payment channels and processes. At step  212 , the customer service provider  14  sends a notification (including financial reconciliation information) to the billing service provider  22  through the electronic bill exchange system  50  which indicates that the customer  18  accepted the bill and made a payment. Thus, among other things, when the customer service provider  14  next requests bills from the billing service provider  22 , paid bills may be omitted.  
         [0053]    When the customer service provider  14  is not the holder of the customer&#39;s  18  direct deposit account, the customer service provider  14  sends a request for a so-called good funds debit notice to the electronic bill exchange system  50  (step  214 ). In essence, a good funds debit notice indicates whether a customer  18  has adequate funds to cover a particular transaction and whether that customer  18  is in good standing with the holder of the direct deposit account.  
         [0054]    At step  216 , the electronic bill exchange system  50  searches the billing directory  52  for the direct deposit account holder for the customer  18  and routes the request for the good funds debit notice to the billing service provider associated with the direct deposit account holder At step  218 , the direct deposit account holder prepares the good funds debit notice and sends the same to the customer service provider  14  through the electronic bill exchange system  50 . Process flow then is transferred to step  219  where the customer&#39;s  18  direct deposit account is debited by the holder of the direct deposit account.  
         [0055]    It is noted that the customer service provider  14  may temporarily provide the funds to pay the billing party  16  even though it is not the holder of the customer&#39;s  18  direct deposit account. Subsequently, when the holder of the direct deposit account debits the customer&#39;s direct deposit account (step  219 ), the customer service provider  14  will be reimbursed for the payment (i.e., a settlement will occur which is substantially similar to settlements which occur in ATM transactions).  
         [0056]    Advantageously, the electronic account data or transactions routing system  40  is capable of connecting and paying on accounts between billing parties  16  and customers  18 , where a customer  18  is associated with a customer service provider (e.g., customer service provider  14 ) who does not hold that customer&#39;s  18  direct deposit account to be debited.  
         [0057]    It is noted that the above-mentioned settlements between, for example: (i) the holder of a customer&#39;s  18  direct deposit account and that customer&#39;s customer service provider  14 ; or (ii) financial service providers  15 ,  25 , may be facilitated via the electronic account data or transactions routing system  40 .  
         [0058]    In particular, for a settlement to occur, a service provider who has paid a billing party  16  on behalf of a customer  18  and who does not hold that customer&#39;s direct deposit account (for example, financial service provider  15 ) must exchange settlement information with a service provider who holds that customer&#39;s direct deposit account (for example, financial service provider  25 ). This settlement information includes the payment amount(s) that service provider  25  owes service provider  15 . The settlement information may also include amounts of funds released, identities of the customers for whom bills have been paid, identities of customer service providers holding the respective debit accounts for the customers for whom bills have been paid.  
         [0059]    The settlement information between service providers may be exchanged over the electronic bill exchange system  50  by means of, for example, the messaging and settlement system  56 , provided that both service providers  15 ,  25  are part of the network.  
         [0060]    Any of the one or more customer service providers  14 ,  24  who release funds to pay bills on behalf of respective customers  18  for whom they do not hold direct deposit accounts (or debit accounts) may communicate settlement information over the electronic bill exchange system  50  during a single transmission, where the settlement information includes (i) more than one amount of funds released, (ii) more than one customer, and (iii) more than one identity of customer service provider holding a debit account for a customer for whom a bill has been paid.  
         [0061]    Thus, the customer service providers  14 ,  24  need not transmit settlement information each time they release funds on behalf of a customer  18  for whom they do not hold a debit account. Rather, the customer service providers  14 ,  24  may combine settlement information for all such released funds during a particular period (e.g., a day) and transmit the information once to the electronic bill exchange system  50 . The electronic bill exchange system  50  is operable to automatically route subsets of the combined settlement information to respective service providers  15 ,  25  holding debit accounts for the customers for whom bills have been paid.  
         [0062]    Once the settlement information has been exchanged between service providers  15 ,  25 , service provider  25  may release funds sufficient to cover the amount owed to provider  15  through the Federal Reserve as is well known in the art. It is preferred that settlement between service providers occur on a substantially regular basis (e.g., daily).  
         [0063]    Advantageously, settlement information may be exchanged between service providers by way of the single network of the present invention without requiring a plurality of networks between two or more service providers as is the case in the prior art.  
         [0064]    As discussed above, other methods of paying the bill are within the scope of the invention. For example, when the customer  18  pays a bill using a credit account (e.g., using a credit card), then the customer service provider  14  causes the customer&#39;s  18  credit card account to be debited any payment made to the respective billing party  16  by way of well known credit card channels.  
         [0065]    Reference is now made to FIG. 6 which illustrates the process flow utilized by the electronic bill exchange system  50  when a potential new customer  18  is desirous of receiving electronic bills through the electronic account data or transactions routing system  40 . At step  300 , the customer service provider of the potential new customer  18  requests approval to receive electronic bills from one or more of the billing parties  16 . The electronic bill exchange system  50  searches the billing directory  52  for billing service providers associated with the subject billing parties  16  and presents the request for approval to the billing service provider(s) (step  302 ). If the billing parties  16  approve the request of the new customer, the customer service provider(s) are notified through the billing service provider(s) and the billing directory  52  is appropriately updated (step  303 ).  
         [0066]    Advantageously, a particular billing party  16  need only associate itself with a single billing service provider to gain access to all of the customers  18  on the network. Similarly, a particular customer  18  need only subscribe to one customer service provider to facilitate receiving electronic bills from any of the billing parties  16  subscribing to the electronic account data or transactions routing system  40 .  
         [0067]    Although the present invention has been described in relation to a particular embodiment thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.