MX2008004519A - Method and system using bill payment reminders - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for automatic bill payment is disclosed. The method includes providing for an automatic bill payment process for a user of a portable consumer device, where the automatic bill payment process automatically pays periodic bills of the user at predetermined times. The method also includes providing for an automatic reminder process, where the automatic reminder process automatically sends reminders to the user of the portable consumer device prior to the automatic payment of the bills at the predetermined time intervals.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM USING REMINDERS FOR PAYMENT OF INVOICES CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED REQUESTS This application is non-provisional and claims the benefit of the filing date of the US Provisional Patent Application. Serial Number 60 / 724,497, filed on October 7, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Both manual and automatic invoice payments can be made with credit or debit cards. The difference is that manual bill payments are typically initiated individually by the cardholder each time. Automatic invoice payments are initiated by the merchant on a recurring basis according to parameters established with the cardholder, in advance. Both consumers and small businesses are currently making bill payments with both methods. Some small businesses (and for that reason consumers) are reluctant to establish automatic invoice payments due to a fear of losing control of the process, and potential issues of service interruption due to failures in the automatic payment of invoices. If the payments Automatic transactions are attempted and are not processed for any reason (for example, there are insufficient funds in your accounts), chains or supply services of small business owners can become disrupted, thus disrupting their business. Therefore, many small business owners continue to use manual bill payment methods. By manually paying bills, they are reminded that they need to make sure there are sufficient funds in their accounts before paying bills. It would be convenient to provide a method and system that uses an automatic bill payment process, which is more likely to be used by people such as small business owners. Modes of invention deal with this and other problems. COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION Modalities of the invention are directed to methods, means readable by computers, servers and systems, which use automatic reminders in conjunction with automatic invoice payment processes. One embodiment of the invention is directed to a method comprising: providing a process for automatic bill payment for the user of a portable consumer device, wherein the automatic bill payment process automatically pays bills the user's periodic at predetermined times; and provide an automatic reminder process, wherein the automatic reminder process automatically sends reminders to the user of the portable device the consumer before the automatic payment of the invoices at predetermined times. Another embodiment of the invention is directed to a method comprising: initiating an automatic invoice payment process, wherein the automatic invoice payment process automatically pays periodic invoices of a user of a portable consumer device at predetermined times; and initiate an automatic process of reminders, where the automatic process of reminders, automatically sends reminders to the user before the automatic payment of the invoices in the predetermined times. Other embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, computer readable media and servers that are associated with these methods. These and other embodiments of the invention are described in greater detail below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 shows a flow diagram illustrating a method according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIGURE 2 shows a system according to one embodiment of the invention. FIGURES 3-9 show shots or snapshots of pages of the network, according to embodiments of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION A method for automatic invoice payment is described. The method includes providing an automatic bill payment process for a user of a portable consumer device, where the automatic invoice payment process automatically pays the user's periodic invoices, at predetermined times. The method also includes providing an automatic reminder process, wherein the automatic reminder process automatically sends reminders to the user of the portable consumer device before the automatic payment of the invoices at predetermined times (for example predetermined time intervals). These stages can be carried out by one or more entities including a corporation, an organization (for example a non-profit organization), and / or a server computer operated by a corporation or an organization. The invoice payment process can be executed by an invoice payment system while the reminder process can be operated by a system of reminders. Each process and system can be executed by different entities or the same entity. In embodiments of the invention, a user (for example, a business owner or an employee of a business) can initiate an automatic invoice payment process. The user can then initiate a reminder process and a bill payment notification process. As used here, the "start" of the reminder process, the automatic invoice payment process and / or the invoice payment notification process include situations where the user only initiates these processes or initiates these processes after being notified. by another entity such as a merchant. For example, a merchant can ask a customer via the Internet or through the mail (in this case from the US) if the customer wants to pay the consumer's bills automatically using a credit card number or similar . The user can then initiate the process by providing an affirmative response to the merchant, either through the mail or through the Internet. In embodiments of the invention, the reminder function can be a totally free form and depending on the consumer's portable device (for example there is no interaction with a merchant). For example, the user can inform the system to send a reminder to the user (for example by mail or send to the network site) at the time and / or date specified and in accordance with a recurring program. The user can also name the reminder and provide specific text for the reminder. Thus, for example, a user of a portable device of a consumer can configure a reminder in such a way that it is generated by a server on the 15th of each month to say "the monthly insurance premium is due on the 20th." This reminder message can be sent to the user's email mailbox or can be changed to the user's web page. Once the user receives the reminders that the payment of merchants' bills is due, the user can 'make sure there are funds' enough to pay the merchants. In this way, the user can be sure that the supply chains for the user are not interrupted. In addition to the reminder function, a separate or integrated service for bill payment notification may allow a user to select from a list of merchants with whom they have interacted (for example, in the last 120 days). The system can then notify the user if there is a future transaction from the same merchant. The notification may come from a server or a system operated by a payment processing organization, or from the merchant who sends the user's invoices. The reminder process is particularly beneficial for business consumers who use portable consumer devices such as debit and / or credit cards. Compared to ordinary consumers, business consumers have many payments that need to be made and managed. Some payments may be more important than others and some payments may be delayed while others may not be delayed. By providing reminder systems, users are provided with a way to manage the thematic payment processes for their 'bills. Providing an electronic reminder process with an automatic bill payment process is not necessarily intuitive or obvious. It will be expected that automatic bill payment processes do not require reminders, since the payers or parties responsible for the payments are supposed to know or know when those payments will occur. However, when using systems of Automatic reminder, automatic payment processes are more likely to be used by users of portable consumer devices. FIGURE 1 is a flow diagram illustrating a method according to one embodiment of the invention. In the method, the user of one or more portable consumer devices initiates an automatic bill payment process (step 12). The automatic invoice payment process can automatically pay invoices in the name of the user of the electronic portable device. Invoices can be paid in periodic times including weekly, monthly, bi-weekly, bi-monthly, annual, etc. In some modalities, the automatic invoice payment process can be established by a cardholder and a merchant, completely outside a reminder system that executes the automatic invoice payment reminder service. The current payment of an invoice can occur outside the reminder system according to parameters established directly between a user (for example a consumer) and a merchant. The reminder system can allow the user to select from commercial transaction records previously invoiced in order to receive future notifications when payments are made to those select merchants. At the same time after the automatic invoice payment process is started, a reminder is created for automatic payment of invoices (step 14). The reminder can be created by the user of the consumer's portable device and can remind the consumer before an automatic payment is made. The reminder can be an automatic reminder once for a particular automatic payment. The reminder can alternatively be a reminder in a set of automatically recurring reminders that occur respectively between periodic automatic payments. The reminder can be created or sent at any convenient time interval before the date the automatic payment is made. For example, a reminder can be created or sent 1 day or 1 week before the automatic payment date. If the user is reminded that the automatic payment will be made, the user can check if there are enough funds or there is sufficient credit in the user's account before the payment of the invoice is made. If there are not enough funds or credit, then the user can stop the automatic payment process. The user may alternatively provide funds to the appropriate account (s) or take steps to establish sufficient credit to this or these accounts. If there are sufficient funds and / or credit the user's account, then the user can simply let the automatic payment process proceed. After the reminder process has been initiated by the user, the reminders can be received by the user before the automatic payment is made (step 16). In some cases, the reminders may be in the form of electric mails sent to the user. In another example, reminders can be sent on a network page that is accessible to the user. The accessible page of the network can be a secure network page that can be password protected. Reminders may also be customized by the user or may be pre-prepared in advance by another entity, and may also include any convenient information. For example, the user can tailor the reminder to indicate to the merchant providing the invoice, the amount of the invoice and / or the automatic payment date. In another example, the reminder may be paid in advance by another entity such as an issuing bank or a payment processing organization such as Visa or MasterCard. For example, an organization can prepare the list of reminder messages prepared in advance, and the user can select one or more of those messages to use as reminders of the user. After the reminder is sent and the reminder is received and / or viewed by the user of the consumer's portable device, the automatic payment is made if the consumer's portable device user does not stop the automatic payment process (step 18) . Automatic payment can be made using an account associated with a consumer's portable device. The account can be a debit or credit card account. The consumer portable devices according to embodiments of the invention may be in any convenient way. For example, portable consumer devices can be manual and compact so that they fit in a consumer's wallet or purse (bag size). For example, portable consumer devices may include smart cards, ordinary credit or debit cards (with a magnetic strip and without a microprocessor), a keychain device (such as Speedpass ™ commercially available from Exxon-Mobil Corp.), etc. Other examples of portable devices of the consumer include cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs = personal digital assistants), radiolocators, payment cards, security cards, access cards, smart media, transponders and the like. Portable consumer devices can also be debit devices (for example, a debit card), credit devices (for example, a credit card), or stored value devices (for example, a stored value card). In this way, in forms of 'invention the account can be a debit or credit card account. After the automatic invoice payment is made, the user can be notified that an automatic payment of an invoice has been made (step 20). The notification, like the reminder, can be sent to a web page to which the user has access. Alternatively, the user can choose to receive emails that notify him that automatic payments have been made in his name. The invoice payment notification process may or may not be operatively linked to the reminder process previously described. Figure 2 shows a system according to an embodiment of the invention. The system includes one or more client computers 36 in operational communication with a server computer 32, by means of communications means 34. The server computer 32 may have access to a database 30. The server computer 32 may also communicate directly or indirectly with an issuer 48, an acquirer 44, and a merchant 42. An "acquirer" is typically a business entity, for example a commercial bank, that has a business relationship with a particular merchant. An "issuer" typically is a business entity (e.g., a bank) that issues a portable consumer device such as a credit or debit card to a consumer. Some entities such as American Express have both the issuer and acquirer or buyer functions. Modalities of the invention cover these issuers-acquirers of a single entity. The server computer 32 is typically a powerful computer or swarm of computers. For example, the server computer can be a large computer, a swarm of minicomputers, or a group of servers that function as a unit. In one example, the server computer can be a database server coupled to a network server. The communications means 34 may comprise or use a payment processing network such as VisaNet. The communications medium 34 can use any convenient wired or wireless network, including the Internet. Although the communications medium 34 is illustrated separately from the server computer 32 in Figure 2, the communications medium 34 may alternately include the server computer 32 in other embodiments. The one or more client computers 36 may include any convenient commercially available computing devices with convenient commercially available Network displays. The user 38 of the portable consumer device (not shown) can be any convenient individual or entity. For example, user 38 may be a person who works for a business such as a purchasing agent, or another employee or officer or business executive. The merchant 42 can be any convenient entity that sells goods or services. In a typical method using the system shown in Figure 2, the user 32 of a portable consumer device can use a client computer 36 to make contact with a Web site operated by the server computer 32, by means of the communication means 34. On the network site, user 32 can initiate an automatic invoice payment process. The user can then identify the particular merchant (s) to whom they will be automatically paid using the account number of the consumer's portable consumer device. For example, user 32 may use the web site to indicate that the user would like to automatically pay his utility bill the month of each month, using his credit card number. The user then provides his credit card number on a web page of the network site. User 38 can also use the web site to indicate that user 38 would like to receive notifications after automatic payments are made. . For example, Figure 3 shows an exemplary page of the Network of an exemplary site of the Network. The Network page 'in Figure 3 allows a person to select from a list of links 60 the accounts of various users. The number of invoice payment notifications associated with the accounts and reporting methods used can also be displayed on the website. In this specific example, the automatic invoice payment process, the reminder process payment of invoices, and / or the bill payment notification process can be linked through the same or similar web site and / or can be linked or linked operationally. Nevertheless, in other modalities, the automatic invoice payment process, the reminder process, and the invoice payment notification process are not linked through the same website and / or are not operationally linked. For example, in other modalities, the automatic invoice payment process can first be established by a user and a merchant without considering the reminder process. The automatic invoice payment process can be established between a customer and a merchant using the Internet, or communication modes such as regular mail (in this case US air mail) After, a Network page for payment notification configuration of invoices can be displayed to the user. As illustrated in Figure 4, the user can then select one or more merchants from a list of merchants. As illustrated in Figure 4, the user can filter a specific subset of merchants by entering a merchant name, selecting a merchant type and / or displaying traders for a predetermined period of time (for example 30 days). After one or more merchants are chosen, the user can then be sent to a notification settings page. For example, as illustrated in Figure 5, user 38 can then indicate how user 38 will receive notifications and reminders. As indicated by the entry form box 62, the user 38 may indicate that he would like to receive notifications on a web site or via email. As illustrated, a window can display the user's current notifications for specific merchants. The window in Figure 5 currently indicates "You do not have notifications". All these selections and other information necessary to facilitate notifications and reminders can be stored in the system database 30. Figure 6 shows a web page that shows various notifications for automatic invoice payments for various users. The Network page displays the date on which the automatic payment was made, the card account number, the merchant, and the amount of the charge. Other web pages may show debit and credit charges made by a particular user in a single report. Charges can also be categorized (for example, for fuel, utilities, food, etc.), so that small business owners can better manage their expenses. These embodiments are described in detail in the U.S. patent application. Serial No. 60 / 715,455, filed on September 8, 2005 and entitled "Method and System for Manipulating Purchase Information." This application here is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. The user '38 can subsequently create, modify and / or delete any convenient number of reminders. Using a drop-down menu 68 (see Figure 7), user 38 can select when viewing these notifications and current reminders. The user can see a summary list of reminders for a predetermined period of time (for example, the last seven days). As shown, the user can see the list of reminders created and the user will see the text description of the reminders and the frequency of the reminders. For example, as shown on the Network page in Figure 7, the reminder "Electric current bill expires 15" was created by user 38. As shown, the reminder is programmed to be provided to user 38 on the day 10 of each month.

As illustrated on the Network page in Figure 8, user 38 can indicate how often reminders will be received (see reference number 74). Reminders can happen once, every week, month, quarter, etc. An area 76 of the Web page may allow the user 38 to choose the particular mode for receiving the reminders (e.g., by e-mail or sent to a Network page). Figure 9 shows a Network page with a current reminder to pay an electric bill on the 15th of the current month. This reminder may have been sent to the user's Web page on the 10th day of the current month. After the user 38 has received a reminder that an automatic payment will be made on the first day of the following month, automatic payment can be made. The server computer 32 can automatically send a message that the user's credit card will be charged to the acquirer 44 and / or the sender 48. The merchant 42 can also be notified of the payment. During the settlement and clearing process, the acquirer 44 and the issuer 48 settle their accounts, and the user 38 of the portable consumer device is billed by the issuer 48 for the automatic payment made to the merchant 42. The user 38 can then pay the bill (in the case of a credit card). In other modalities, there is no communication between the reminder system and any acquirer or merchant. The current payment of the invoice can be carried out without considering any function performed by the reminder system. The software or software components or functions described in this application can be implemented as software code or program to be executed by a processor using any suitable computer language such as Java, C ++ or Perl, for example using techniques conventional or object oriented. The software code or program can be stored as a series of instructions or commands on a computer-readable medium, such as a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a magnetic medium such as a hard disk drive or a flexible disk drive, or an optical medium such as CD-ROM. Any computer-readable medium or similar may be received on or within a single computing device, and may be present on or within different computing devices within a system or network. The present invention can be implemented in the form of control logic in software or equipment physical or a combination of both. The control logic can be stored in an information storage means as a plurality of instructions adapted to direct an information processing device to perform a set of steps described in the embodiment of the present invention. Based on the description and teachings herein provided, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate other forms and / or methods for implementing the present invention. All the 'applications' for patents, patents and publications mentioned hereinabove are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. Any description of "a", or "the" is intended to mean "one or more" unless specifically indicated to the contrary. The above description is illustrative but not restrictive. Many variations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art when reviewing the description. The scope of the invention should therefore be determined not with reference to the foregoing description, but on the contrary shall be determined with reference to the pending claims together with their full scope or equivalents.

Claims (19)

1. CLAIMS 1. A method, characterized in that it comprises: providing an automatic invoice payment process for a user of a consumer portable device, wherein the automatic invoice payment process automatically pays the user's periodic invoices at predetermined times; and provide an automatic reminder process, wherein the automatic reminder process automatically sends reminders to the user of the portable consumer device before the automatic payment of the invoices at predetermined times. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises: providing an automatic invoice payment notification process, wherein the automatic invoice payment notification process automatically notifies the user that automatic payment has occurred. of invoices at predetermined times. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the automatic bill payment process uses an account number associated with the user's portable consumer device. 4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the portable consumer device is in the form of a credit or debit card. 5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the predetermined times are monthly intervals or other intervals. 6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the reminders are sent to a Network page to which the user has access. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the reminders are e-mail reminders sent to the user's e-mail account. 8. A computer readable medium comprising computer codes for performing the method of claim 1. 9. A server computer characterized in that it comprises the computer readable medium according to claim 8. 10. A system, characterized in that it comprises : the server computer of claim 9; and one or more client computers in operational communication with the server computer. A method, characterized in that it comprises: initiating an automatic invoice payment process, wherein the automatic invoice payment process automatically pays periodic invoices from a user of a portable consumer device at predetermined times; and initiate an automatic reminder process, where the automatic reminder process automatically sends reminders to the user before the automatic payment of the invoices at the predetermined times. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that it further comprises: selecting an automatic bill payment notification process, wherein the automatic invoice payment notification process, automatically notifies the user that the automatic payment of the bill has occurred. invoices at predetermined times. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the automatic bill payment process uses an account number associated with the user's portable consumer device. 14. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the device The consumer's laptop is in the form of a credit card or a debit card. 15. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that it also comprises: see the reminders on a Network page to which the user has access. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the reminders are e-mail reminders sent to the user's e-mail account. 17. A computer readable medium comprising computer codes for performing the method of claim 11. 18. A server computer comprising the computer readable medium of claim 17. 19. A system, characterized in that it comprises: the computer server of claim 11 and one or more client computers in operational communication with the server computer.