Abstract:
A method of paying a debt. A creditor prepares a payment notice corresponding to the debt, which has a scannable portion including account information thereon. The debtor attaches the scannable unit to a payment instrument when paying the debt.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a method of generating and paying a bill, and more particularly, to a method in which a bill includes payment information in the form of a bar code, to be attached to a check when the bill is paid.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    Conventionally, bills such as phone bills, electric bills, credit card bills, and loan payment notices are sorted according to account number. Referring to FIG. 1, a creditor generates the bill  100 , which includes the account number  130 , and sends the bill  100  to a debtor. Typically, the debtor pays the bill with a check  108 . Since creditors such as utility companies receive a large number of checks  108 , payments are sometimes not credited to the proper account due to inadvertent mishandling by the creditor. Thus, in order to ensure proper processing by the creditor, it is necessary for the debtor to write the account number  130  on the check, typically in a blank, or “memo” area  120  of the check  108 .  
           [0005]    The above method has the following disadvantages. First, it is inconvenient for the debtor to have to write the account number  130 .  
           [0006]    Furthermore, the debtor may inadvertently write the wrong account number  130 , which will create errors and processing delays at the creditor side. Also, due to poor penmanship, the creditor may not be able to read the account number  130  written on the check  108 . In either of these cases, the problem may be overcome by referring to a returned portion  102  of the bill  100 , which often accompanies the check  108  and has the account number  130  printed thereon, sometimes in the form of a bar code  106 . This returned portion  102  is detached from a records portion  104 , which is kept by the debtor for his own personal records, until it is lost in a drawer somewhere or thrown out. However, since the proper account number  130  is not on the check  108 , additional work is created by having to refer to the returned portion  102 , which is separate from the check  108 . A fastening means  110 , such as a paper clip, may be used to attach the returned portion  102  and the check  108 .  
           [0007]    For the creditor, these disadvantages may result in delayed receipt of payment by the creditor. Additional bill processing costs are incurred due to the labor and machinery necessary to properly process payments which include both the check  108  and the returned portion  102 . Thus, even though the creditor may scan the bar code  106  to speed up processing time, time is lost since the bar code  106  is on a different paper from the check  108 . Also, the size of the returned portion  102  obscures information on the check  108 .  
           [0008]    For the debtor, these disadvantages result in lost time, additional aggravation, and inadvertently missed payments.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bill payment method which overcomes the above disadvantages of the conventional method.  
           [0010]    Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.  
           [0011]    The foregoing an other objects of the invention are achieved by providing a method, including preparing a payment notice corresponding to a debt, the payment notice including a first portion including information regarding the debt, the first portion being self-attachable to a payment instrument.  
           [0012]    The foregoing an other objects of the invention are also achieved by providing a method, including generating an account corresponding to a debt owed to a creditor by a debtor; generating a payment notice corresponding to the account, the payment notice including a first portion including information corresponding to the account, and a second portion attached to the first portion; preparing a payment instrument to pay the debt; detaching the first portion from the payment notice; and self-attaching the first portion to the payment instrument.  
           [0013]    The foregoing an other objects of the invention are also achieved by providing an apparatus, including a first side, including information regarding a debt and self-attachable to a payment instrument to pay the debt.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 1 is a diagram of a conventional bill according to the present invention;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 2 is a diagram of a payment notice  10  according to the present invention; and  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]    Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 2 is a diagram of a payment notice  10 , such as a bill, according to the present invention. The payment notice  10  includes a first portion  12  which is detachable from a second portion  14 . The first portion includes information  12  regarding a debt owed to a creditor. The information  12  may be an account number, an amount due, a due date, other information, or any combination of these types of information. The information  12  may be in the form of a bar code (as illustrated) to facilitate scanning or deter fraud, however, the information may also be in plain text, which may also be scanned by the appropriate apparatus (not shown).  
         [0020]    The first portion  12  is easily removable from the second portion  14 , and is self-attachable to a payment instrument  18 , for example, a bill or a money order. “Self-attachable” means the first portion may be easily attached without any additional or external device. For example, the first portion  12  may be a label including a glue or other adhesive backing  16  to attach first portion  12  to the payment instrument  18 . Other methods of self-attaching would be readily understood. The payment instrument may include a blank portion, for example, a “memo” portion  20 . The first portion  12  is small enough to fit in the memo portion  20  and thus does not obscure the information printed on the remainder of the payment instrument  18 . The second portion  14  may be retained for the debtors records, or used for other purposes such as paper airplanes or kindling.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method according to the present invention. The creditor generates an account corresponding to the debt (S 200 ), and generates the payment notice  10  corresponding to the debt (S 210 ). The debtor prepares the payment instrument  18  (S 220 ), and detaches the first portion  12  from the second portion  14  (S 230 ). The debtor then self-attaches the first portion  12  to the payment notice  18 .  
         [0022]    For the debtor, the present application is more convenient as compared to the conventional method, since it is not necessary to write a lengthy and easily forgettable account number. For the creditor, processing speed is increased because the payment information is in an easily scannable form. Furthermore, all of the necessary information is on a single piece of paper, and the information on the payment information is not obscured.  
         [0023]    Although a few preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.