Consumer-based system and method for managing and paying electronic billing ...

(54) CONSUMER-BASED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING AND PAYING ELECTRONIC BILLING STATEMENTS

(75) Inventors: Warren T. Dent, Redmond, WA (US);

Judy Kaethler, Redmond, WA (US);
Darren B. Remington, Issaquah, WA
(US); Bassam Saliba, Kirkland, WA
(US)

(73) Assignee: Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term ol this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.

(21) Appl. No.: 09/460,256

(22) Filed: Dec. 13, 1999

Related U.S. Application Data

(62) Division of application No. 08/926,156, filed on Sep. 9, 1997, now Pat. No. 6,128,603.

(51) Int. CI.7 G06F 17/60

(52) U.S. CI 705/40; 705/33; 705/42;

705/70; 902/24; 708/106

(58) Field of Search 705/34, 40, 42,

705/33; 235/379

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EP 0 745 947 A2 5/1996

A consumer-based bill management and payment system is configured to receive, analyze, manage and pay electronic billing statements received from the biller over the Internet. The system includes a notification manager that detects when the electronic bill arrives and notifies the consumer. The bill is stored in memory with other unpaid electronic bills. According to another aspect of the invention, the system has a cashflow analyzer that enables the consumer to coordinate the unpaid electronic bills according to different payment schedules for a bill payment cycle (e.g., a month). The goal of the manipulation is to permit the consumer to analyze how the different payment schedules affect the consumer's cashflow with an aim toward minimizing overdraft during the bill payment cycle. The cashflow analyzer can automatically compute an optimized payment schedule that minimizes overdraft of the consumer's account, while maximizing the balance to generate the most interest. When the consumer desires to pay a particular bill, the bill is presented to the consumer through a graphical user interface (UI). The bill management and payment system supports a payment analyzer to enable the consumer to determine how much of the electronic bill to pay. The payment analyzer provides a venue to challenge certain items on the bill.

6 Claims, 9 Drawing Sheets

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