NL1039814A - Online bill, receipt, invoice and subscription management service. - Google Patents

Description

Online bill, receipt, invoice and subscription management service

Short designation: Method for eliminating hardcopy bills, invoices and receipts which are printed when making transactions, purchases or payments by it sending it in a digital format into an user's online account.

Problem statement: Consumers daily receive several paper bills, receipt or invoices for payments or transactions made at e.g. ATM's, stores or service providers. Most of these printouts sooner or later end up as waste in the environment which makes them an unsustainable solution while they also consume ink and in some cases of invoices logistic costs to deliver them to the recipient. All by all bills, receipts and invoices do not contribute to a sustainable environment and costs businesses money to produce them.

Description

The main objective of the invention is to provide consumers with an alternative way to receive bills, receipts and invoices in a digital format. The invention is supplementary to existing point of sales systems, automatic teller machines and billing systems. The invention adds an option to send a bill, receipt or invoice in a digital format into a consumer's online account after payments, transactions or received services. The invention hereby eliminates the use of paper to print hardcopy receipts, bills or invoices and archives the digital versions in an accessible, secure and sustainable way in a consumer's online account. Besides storing and archiving bills, receipts and invoices the invention automatically separates bills, receipts and invoices into specific categories providing a clear overview of consumer's expenditures, spending behavior cash flow and cash balance. The invention provides consumers with an up to date overview of their fixed and variable expenditures which is made available and accessible through the internet and smartphone applications. The invention uses data gathered from bills, receipts and invoices to create valuable up to date information for consumers which they can consult when needed. This invention creates major benefits for businesses like e.g. savings on paper, print and in some cases logistic costs. The invention also produces valuable information which can inform businesses, stores and service providers with information about specific target groups which can help them adapt more to the needs of today's consumer. The invention aims at consumers who prefer to receive bills, receipts, proof of purchase and invoices in digital format while also want to obtain an up to date overview of their expenditures and cash flow. The invention targets stores and businesses that want to reduce the use of paper, print costs and postal service costs and also want to offer their customers an innovative way of storing bills, receipts and invoices. The invention is in no way an alternative to make payments or transactions but only provides a user with an overview of his expenditures and cash flow. The invention gives its users unlimited storage space to save receipts, bills, proofs of purchase and invoices in their online account. Systems supporting the invention must have access to the internet and support the interface that connects to the invented online service. All connections made by systems supporting the invention are encrypted and secured to ensure the privacy of the users. Users of this service will receive a card with a unique code printed in both barcode as numeric digits. Consumers can use the card when making payments at Point of Sales systems that support the invention and register the numeric code at businesses, banks and online stores that support the service to start receiving bills, receipts, proof of purchase and invoices digitally in their online account. The invention gives consumers the option to add budgets to specific categories to control their spending behavior. The invention allows users to enable instant alerts to budgets which can be sent immediately by e-mail and/or through the mobile application when a budget is exceeded. The invention generates monthly reports of a user's expenditures and cash flow. The invention provides different types of direct marketing strategies that businesses can use to reach their specific target groups. It also measures the effectiveness of direct marketing strategies executed using the direct marketing tools provided by the service. The invention at all times protects the privacy of consumers and will not make personal information of consumers available for businesses. The invention provides business to business archiving of bills, receipts and invoices and online accounting and administration services. The invention guarantees delivery and sends read confirmation to businesses when consumers have viewed new invoices in their online account. The invention automatically sends reminders to users of due dates of invoices in their account.

Brief description of drawings

Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which will clarify the basic functionality of the invention Figure 1 shows schematically how a consumer (1) uses his card (2) which is linked to his online account when making purchases at a Point of Sales system (3) that supports the invention. The Point of Sales system (3) is connected to the internet (4) and makes a secured connection (5) to the online database (6) to upload the digital receipt into the users account.

Figure 2 shows schematically how a consumer (1) can use different devices such as a smart phone (2), a computer (3) or a tablet device (4) with internet (5) capability to connect to the online database (6).

Claims (13)

1.) The invention is an addition to cash register systems, pin machines, billing systems, online stores and service providers that makes it possible to send receipts and invoices in digital format to online profiles of consumers, thereby reducing the use of paper for printing receipts and invoices become unnecessary. 2.) The invention offers encryption and secure connections between the POS systems, ATMs, billing systems, online stores and service providers that support the online service and the online database. 3.) The invention offers the users an updated direct representation of their cash flow, expenses, transactions, budgets and balance. 4.) The invention offers users the possibility to always have access to their receipts and invoices by means of a mobile device with internet access or via the website. 5.) The invention offers the user the possibility to manually register payments made at stores that do not support the service in their online profile. 6.) The invention is characterized by the innovative way in which receipts and invoices are automatically categorized into different groups in a user's online profile. The invention also allows users to adjust their profile to their preference. 7.) A major advantage of the invention is the possibility that it offers its users to budget different categories in their profile. Users can link different budgets to different categories in their profile to promote the manageability of their spending. Users of the invention can receive direct messages via e-mail or a mobile application to provide information when a budget is exceeded. 8.) The invention is not an alternative to realizing payments but keeps track of all transactions, expenses and variable costs in a user profile. 9.) A specific feature of the invention is the innovative way in which it makes consumers more aware of their spending while also providing the opportunity to define objectives that can be achieved as long as budgets are not exceeded. The invention gives users the ability to share their success with selected users. The invention allows users to vote for stores or service providers on different criteria and to indicate their favorite stores in their profile. This information can be shared with selected users who are linked to the user's profile. 10.) A specific feature of the invention is that multiple users can be linked to the same profile. The invention offers users the possibility to link friends, family or other users with the same interests to their profile in order to follow their objectives. The invention offers linked friends, family or other users the opportunity to encourage each other to achieve their goals. 11.) An important aspect of the invention is the value for companies and stores that it can generate in part by generating specific data about the spending behavior of the various target groups. The invention does not provide companies and stores with user information but only provides information about the behavior of specific target groups. The invention sells companies anonymous data on spending behavior, location, time of purchase of the various target groups. The invention is characterized by the direct marketing strategy techniques that companies and stores can use to inform consumers about sales, special discounts, offers or new products. The invention filters the transmission of messages to the users who have signed up to receive messages to keep the information of the users hidden from the companies and stores. The invention provides companies and stores with reports on the success rate of their direct marketing strategies. 12.) The invention uses a unique code for each user that can be used to make their profile known to companies, stores, banks, online stores, and service providers who use the invention to digitally send receipts and invoices. can receive. The unique code will be printed in both a barcode and numeric format on the user card that can be used with POS systems that support the invention. 13.) The invention offers business services to companies to be able to send and receive receipts, invoices and quotations in digital form to each other in a business profile. The invention offers administration services that can automatically generate administrative reports based on information in the profile.