DE29820005U1 - Information carrier - Google Patents

Description

Spitz, ^Klinger & Partner GbR

Lawyers · Auditors · Tax advisors

Spite, Klinger & Partner GbR · Bavariaring 20 · D-80336 Munich Dr. jur. Volker Spitz, LLM. Dr. jur. Alfred N. Klinger Alexander Gaul
Mathias K. Stenger Johannes M. Krüger Lawyers .

Dipl.-Kfm. Robert Thalhauser Auditor - Tax Advisor

Telephone: (089) 544 25 40 Fax: (089) 543 90 40 e-mail: skpmuc@aol.com

Your Reference / Your Ref.

Our Ref.

5830G 1058 EN

Date

09.11.1998

Applicant:

Günter Möhrke Oltmannstrasse 26316 Varel DE

Information carrier

Law firm / Office.

Bavariaring 20 D-80336 Munich 09.11.1998^58301109.anm.doc

Bank details / Bank Account Reuschel & Co. Munich

Bank code 700 303 00 Account no. / Account 1138625

VAT number

VAT Registration No.

DE sd 901 653

Information carrier

The present invention relates to an information carrier, in particular a machine-readable information carrier, for cashless payment transactions, as well as an electronic data processing system.

Cashless payment transactions as an alternative to handing over cash have long dominated large areas of economic life. The associated advantages in terms of the security and convenience of payments are obvious. Due to advances in information technology, particularly data transmission, data processing and data storage, the importance of cashless payment transactions is currently increasing.

In cashless payment transactions, a client pays a specific amount to a payee, whereby the client uses a contractor, e.g. a credit institution such as a bank, which handles the actual money transfer by bank transfer.

. In a first aspect, the invention is based on an information carrier, in particular a machine-readable information carrier, for cashless payment transactions and for transmitting payment order information from a client to a contractor, comprising information fields for recording information about the payment recipient and the payment amount.

To date, simple transfer order forms have mostly been used as information carriers, in which the client enters the information necessary to process a payment order. The machine readability of such forms is only limited, especially if such forms are filled out by hand. For this reason and also for convenience, storage media familiar from computer technology are increasingly being used as information carriers, for example magnetic storage media such as computer diskettes.

The information about the payment recipient (e.g. name or company, account number, credit institution, bank code) serves to clearly identify the payment recipient. The information about the payment amount (e.g. amount, currency, purpose of payment) serves primarily to determine the amount to be paid. Known information carriers usually also record information about the client (e.g. name or company, account number).

In a second aspect, the present invention relates to an electronic data processing system for processing orders for cashless payments. Such systems are usually used in the area of the contractor (credit institution), with an input area of the data processing system being designed to read information from the information carrier.

The invention can be used for a method for processing orders for cashless payments.

Every payment order inevitably means a certain amount of work, particularly for clients who are concerned about profitability, especially companies such as tradespeople or companies. In addition, many clients in their area want to keep track of the payment orders made or are even legally obliged to do so (bookkeeping, financial statements). What is important in this context is the so-called "accounting" of payment transactions, i.e. the allocation of a money transfer amount to a corresponding accounting account. Accounting therefore consists of determining and updating a corresponding, internal company account in the client's area. In the commercial sector, such accounts are known, for example, as financial accounting accounts (in short: financial accounting accounts), which are listed and specified in a chart of accounts. ■

Usually, the account assignment is carried out as a separate step after the payment order, whereby it is usually advisable not to carry out the account assignment of a payment immediately after each payment, but to account a large number of payments retrospectively and together from time to time. This requires further organizational measures, for example the separate filing of already accounted and not yet accounted documents for the respective payments. Another disadvantage is that it is up to the client to create an overview of the payments made (e.g. cash book, monthly overview, business analysis, sales tax overview or balance sheet). This is particularly time-consuming and expensive for those clients who do not use an electronic data processing system, e.g. smaller commercial enterprises.

The applicant has recognised the existing problems associated with cashless payment transactions and has set itself the task of simplifying cashless payment transactions, including the account allocation of payment transactions.

This object is achieved according to the invention by an information carrier according to claim 1 or an electronic data processing system according to claim 11. Advantageous developments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.
20

The invention is based on the idea of a mandatory link between the payment amount and accounting account information, e.g. financial accounting account number.

The information carrier according to the invention comprises an information field for recording an accounting account information of the client, e.g. a financial accounting account number. This ensures that the information carrier can simultaneously record an accounting account information of the client when recording information about the payment recipient and the payment amount. In practice, this means an extremely small additional effort for providing the information carrier with the corresponding accounting account information. In contrast, subsequent account assignment or creation of a payment overview is considerably simplified, since

Due to the inventive design of the information carrier, an essential part of the account assignment, namely the allocation of the accounting account information to the corresponding accounting account of the client, can already be carried out at this stage. Another significant advantage is that the account assignment and, if required, the creation of a payment overview can be carried out easily by the contractor, since the information required for this is transmitted with the information carrier. It is expedient to use an electronic data processing system in the contractor's area, which is already available for processing payment orders.

Accordingly, the electronic data processing system according to the invention is characterized in that it has an input area which is designed to read information from an information carrier according to the invention and a storage area in which the read accounting account information is stored at least temporarily, preferably together with further information about the payment in question (e.g. payment amount).

It is preferred that the data processing system has a processing area in which the payment amounts of the payment orders processed over a predetermined period of time by a specific client and a specific accounting account information are cumulatively added. This measure means that current information about the account balance of a specific accounting account is always available in the data processing system area, which can be used advantageously when creating a payment overview or a business overview. Business overview here means a

25. Overview obtained by further processing the payment information (e.g. business analysis). For example, the results of the cumulative additions of several accounting accounts can be added together in groups and form the basis for creating a business overview.

The invention is by no means limited to the use of physical information carriers (e.g. diskettes, checks, transfer forms), but can also use electronic information transmission (e.g. home banking via telephone, fax or the like).
5

The invention is described in more detail below using some embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of an information carrier according to the invention,
10

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the process of a cashless payment using the invention, and

Fig. 3 an information carrier in the form of a payment order sheet.

■15 .

Fig.1 shows an information carrier according to the invention, designated overall by 10 in the form of a machine-readable magnetic storage medium such as a computer diskette. The information carrier 10 is used to transmit payment order information from a client to a contractor in the context of cashless payment transactions. For this purpose, the information carrier 10 comprises an information field 12, shown schematically in Fig. 1, for recording information about the payee, which allows the payee to be clearly identified. The information carrier 10 also comprises an information field 22 for recording information about the payment amount, so that the contractor, usually a credit institution, is able, after receiving the information carrier 10, to process the payment order using the information stored in fields 12 and 22.

According to the invention, the information carrier 10 additionally comprises an information field 42 for receiving the client's accounting account information. This information preferably consists of a four-digit accounting account number (e.g. financial accounting account number of an internal company chart of accounts).

Fig. 2 illustrates in four sub-images from top to bottom the chronological sequence of the processing of a payment order as well as the retransmission of a payment overview to the client.
5

In Fig. 2 on the right, an electronic data processing system 50 of the contractor is shown, which has an input area 52, a storage area 54 and a processing area 56.

The client of a company 60 who wants to make a cashless payment provides an information carrier 10 according to the invention with the above-mentioned information about the payment recipient, the payment amount and accounting account information. '

The client then transmits this information carrier 10, which contains the payment order information, to the contractor (arrow A). The input area 52 of the data processing system 50 then reads all the information stored on the information carrier 10 and processes the payment based on the information about the payee and the payment amount stored in the information fields 12 and 22. If the payee does not have a corresponding account with the contractor, the contractor uses another contractor, namely the credit institution with which the payee has set up the corresponding account. The input area 52 also reads the accounting account information from the information carrier 10 and stores it, associated with the other order information, in the storage area 54. The processes described up to this point run in an analogous manner for all payment orders received by the client.

In the processing area 56 of the data processing system 50, the payment amounts of the processed payment orders of each client and each accounting account that occurred are cumulatively added up and the result is stored as an accounting account overview in the storage area 54. At the request of the client or at certain time intervals (e.g. monthly), the contractor sends the currently stored accounting account overview back to the client in question using any data carrier 70 (e.g. diskette or printout) (arrow B), preferably together with an account statement.

This accounting account overview sent to the client provides the client with a convenient overview of the payment orders processed in a predetermined period of time or an evaluation of the payment orders obtained through further processing, so that the effort previously required for this in the client's business can be completely eliminated.

Fig. 3 shows an information carrier according to the invention in the form of a machine-readable, form-like payment order sheet 10a (e.g. transfer form or check form). The order sheet 10a comprises an information field 12a for recording the name of the payee, an information field 14a for recording an account number of the payee, an information field 16a for recording the bank code of the credit institution with which the payee has set up his account, and an information field 18a for recording information that identifies the commissioned credit institution. In addition, the order sheet 10a contains an information field 22a for recording the payment amount, an information field 24a for recording the purpose of the payment, and an information field 26a for recording further information about the purpose of the payment. The order sheet 10a also comprises information fields 32a, 34a for recording information about the client.

According to the invention, the payment order sheet 10a finally comprises an information field 42a for receiving a financial accounting account number (accounting field), wherein this field 42a is divided into four subfields, each of which is intended to receive a digit of a four-digit accounting account number.
5

As can be seen from Fig. 3, further fields are provided on the order sheet 10a. An information print 44a is also advantageously provided, which facilitates the use of the order sheet with regard to the accounting field 42a.

10. The payment order sheet 10a shown is made of paper, with the information fields mentioned being designed as areas with a limited area that are formed by appropriate printing. The inside of a field is generally lighter than the outside, so that the machine readability of the order sheet is increased, since the information fields can be found relatively easily when the sheet is optically scanned and their information can then be easily read out. In addition, one or more carbon sheets (not shown) can be provided, which together with the payment order sheet form a carbon set. It is particularly advantageous if, in this carbon set, the accounting account information is automatically copied onto at least one carbon sheet.

Claims (12)

Expectations 1. Information carrier, in particular a machine-readable information carrier, for cashless payment transactions and for transmitting payment order information from a client to a contractor, comprising information fields for recording information about the payment recipient and the payment amount, characterized in that the information carrier comprises an information field for recording accounting account information of the client. 2. Information carrier according to claim 1, characterized in that the information field for receiving the accounting account information is provided for receiving an accounting account number. 3. Information carrier according to claim 2, characterized in that the information field for receiving the accounting account information is provided for receiving a four-digit accounting account number. 4. Information carrier according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the information carrier is a magnetic storage medium. 5. Information carrier according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the information carrier comprises a paper payment order sheet. 6. Information carrier according to claim 5, characterized in that the payment order sheet has areas formed by printing and limited in area as information fields. 7. Information carrier according to claim 6, characterized in that the interior of a region is brighter than the exterior of the region. 8. Information carrier according to claim 7, characterized in that the interior of the area is unprinted. 9. Information carrier according to one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that the payment order sheet is machine-readable. 10. Information carrier according to one of claims 5 to 9, characterized in that the information carrier is designed as a carbon copy set with at least one carbon copy sheet onto which the accounting account information is copied when the payment order sheet is provided with the counting order information. 11. Electronic data processing system for processing orders for cashless payments, characterized in that the system has an input area which is designed to read information from an information carrier according to one of claims 1 to 10, and has a storage area in which the read accounting account information is stored at least temporarily. 12. Electronic data processing system according to claim 11, characterized in that the system has a processing area in which the payment amounts of the payment orders processed over a predetermined period of time from a specific client and a specific accounting account information are cumulatively added.