Patent ID: 8332378

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: polling, by a computer-based system capable of processing files, a source directory at periodic intervals for new files; determining, by the computer-based system, that a first file is a new file; calculating, by the computer-based system, a first file hash based upon the first file; retrieving, by the computer-based system, a second file hash associated with a second file from a database, wherein a second file entity identifier from the second file and a first file entity identifier from the first file are associated with a same entity; determining, by the computer-based system, that the first file is an expected file type for the same entity; determining, by the computer-based system, the first file is unique in response to the first file hash being unequal to the second file hash; examining, by the computer-based system, the first file to determine first file attributes; inserting, by the computer-based system, the first file attributes into the database; and parsing, by the computer-based system, the first file into payment file data.