Field

[0001 ] The present invention relates to an online platform for creating, presenting and paying bills.

Background

[0002] Small to medium businesses create, send, receive and pay many bills (or invoices) on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The bills are typically created and managed in accounting applications, sent and received by email or mail, and paid using separate electronic payment systems.

[0003] Conventional electronic payment systems suffer from various drawbacks. They are biller-centric and do not allow small to medium businesses to pay multiple bills in batches. Small to medium businesses are instead forced to pay all of their many bills on bill-by-bill basis. This is inconvenient, time-consuming and inefficient for small to medium businesses. Furthermore, conventional electronic payment systems do not allow small to medium businesses to create and send bills to others for payment.

[0004] In this context, there is a need for improved solutions for creating, presenting and paying bills.

Summary

[0005] According to the present invention, there is provided a computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by one or more computing devices, one or more billing instructions from one or more payees that correspond to one or more bills for payment by one or more payers; transforming, by the one or more computing devices, the one or more billing instructions into the one or more bills;

presenting, by the one or more computing devices, the one or more bills to the one or more payers;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, one or more payment instructions from the one or more payers that correspond to one or more payment instruments for paying the one or more bills;

sending, by the one or more computing devices, the one or more payment instructions to one or more electronic payment systems to use the one or more payment instruments to pay the one or more bills.

[0006] The method may further comprise receiving, by the one or more computing devices, one or more payment confirmations that correspond to the one or more bills from the one or more electronic payment systems.

[0007] The method may further comprise presenting, by the one or more computing devices, the one or more payment confirmations that correspond to the one or more bills to the one or more payees, or the one or more payers.

[0008] The method may further comprise sending, by the one or more computing devices, one or more bill notifications that correspond to the one or more bills to the one or more payers.

[0009] The one or more bill notifications may comprise one or more of an email, an instant message, an SMS, and a text.

[0010] The one or more bills may comprise a plurality of bills, and the one or more payment instructions comprise one or more batch or group payment instructions that correspond to the plurality of bills.

[001 1 ] The method may further comprise allocating or splitting, by the one or more computing devices, the one or more payment instructions among or between the plurality of bills, or the one or more payment instruments. [0012] The one or more payment instruments may comprise one or more of a bank account, a credit card, a debit card, and a digital wallet.

[0013] The one or more payers and the one or more payees may comprise members of an online community of users, and the method may further comprise providing to the members a bill paying service, a bill aggregating service, a bill discounting service, a bill factoring service, an online marketplace for goods and/or services offered by other members, and combinations thereof.

[0014] The bill paying service may comprise the bill payment service described above.

[0015] The bill aggregating service may comprise aggregating bills individually issued to the members by other members, one or more third party payees, or both via email addresses individually associated with the members.

[0016] The bill discounting service may comprise enabling the members to negotiate paying percentages of the one or more bills within shortened payment periods to other members, the one or more third party payees, or both.

[0017] The bill factoring service may comprise enabling the members to sell the one or more bills at percentages of the one or more bills to other members, one or more third party factoring companies, one or more third party factoring pools, or combinations thereof.

[0018] The present invention also provides a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

receive one or more billing instructions from one or more payees that correspond to one or more bills for payment by one or more payers;

transform the one or more billing instructions into the one or more bills;

present the one or more bills to the one or more payers; receive one or more payment instructions from the one or more payers that correspond to one or more payment instruments for paying the one or more bills; send the one or more payment instructions to one or more electronic payment systems to use the one or more payment instruments to pay the one or more bills.

Brief Description of Drawings

[0019] Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system for implementing a method for creating, presenting and paying bills according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a flow chart of the method implemented by the system; and

Figures 3 to 8 are user interfaces presented by the system during implementation of the method;

Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a bill aggregating service provided by the method and system;

Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of a bill discounting service provided by the method and system;

Figures 1 1 to 13 are schematic diagrams of a bill factoring service provided by the method and system; and

Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of an online community marketplace provided by the method and system.

Description of Embodiments

[0020] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system 100 for implementing a method 200 for creating, presenting and paying bills according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system 100 may generally comprise one or more computing devices that implement one or more computer program products (ie, one or more modules of computer program instructions) to perform the method 200. The one or more computing devices of the system 100 may comprise a payer (or customer) client 1 10, a payee (or biller) client 120 securely connected via a network to one another and an application server 130. The payer and payee clients 1 10, 120 may comprise one or more mobile, laptop or desktop computing devices. The application server 130 may be configured to implement a secure web and/or mobile application that provides web and/or mobile services to the payer and payee clients 1 10, 120 for creating, presenting and paying bills 140. The web and/or mobile application may provide the services as SaaS (software-as-a service) services to subscribers. The web and/or mobile application may provide application programming interfaces (APIs) to interface with other web or mobile applications, such as accounting applications, invoice creation applications, social media applications, etc. The application server 130 may be further securely connected via the network to an electronic payment system 150 of a financial institution for transferring bill payments between a payer account 160 and a payee account 170.

[0021 ] Figure 2 is a flow chart of a method 200 for creating, presenting and paying bills implemented by the system 100. The method 200 begins by receiving one or more billing instructions from one or more payees that correspond to one or more bills for payment by one or more payers (210). Figure 3 is an example user interface presented by the system 100 that collects billing instructions from a payee for an existing or new payer. The billing instructions may, for example, comprise payer name and email address, bill number, bill date, payment terms, late payment fees, payment due date, and bill amount. Optionally, the billing instructions may further comprise a printable file of the bill, such as a PDF file.

[0022] The method 200 continues by transforming the one or more billing instructions into the one or more bills (220). One or more bill notifications that correspond to the one or more bills may then be sent to the one or more payers. The one or more bill notifications may comprise one or more of an email, an instant message, an SMS, and a text. Figure 4 is an example email notification sent to a payer that summarises a bill which was newly created by a payee.

[0023] Next the one or more bills are presented to the one or more payers (230). Figure 5 is an example user interface presented by the system 100 to a payee showing a list of recent bills that have been created by a payee and sent to multiple different payers. Figure 6 is an example user interface presented to a payer showing a list of recent bills received from multiple different payees. The user interface may indicate the payment status of individual bills, for example, by colour coding unpaid bills red and paid bills green.

[0024] The method 200 continues by receiving one or more payment instructions from the one or more payers that correspond to one or more payment instruments for paying the one or more bills (240). The one or more payment instruments may, for example, comprise one or more of a bank account, a credit card, a debit card, and a digital (or virtual) wallet (eg, PayPal). The provider of the method 200 and system 100 may also provide a digital wallet, for example, a "Billzy Wallet" illustrated in Figures 9 to 14 described below. The one or more bills may comprise a plurality of bills, and the one or more payment instructions may comprise one or more batch or group payment instructions that correspond to the plurality of bills. Figure 7 is an example user interface presented to a payer to input a batch payment instruction to pay a selected batch of multiple different bills using selected multiple different payment instruments. The batch payment instruction may allocate or split payments among or between multiple different bills and/or multiple different payment instruments. For example, a payer that receives a bill may choose to pay by credit card, bank transfer, direct debit (eg, BPay), digital wallet (eg, PayPal), and combinations thereof. Further, payment of a single bill may be split across multiple payment instruments, for example, across multiple credit and/or debit cards or multiple payment methods such as credit card and bank transfer.

[0025] Next the one or more payment instructions are sent to one or more electronic payment systems to use the one or more payment instruments to pay the one or more bills and transfer payments between payer and payee accounts (250). The method 200 may further comprise receiving one or more payment confirmations that correspond to the one or more bills from the one or more electronic payment systems. The one or more payment confirmations may be sent to either the one or more payees, and/or the one or more payers. Figure 8 is an example payment confirmation presented to a payee. [0026] Embodiments of the present invention provide an online platform that is useful for centrally creating, presenting, managing and paying bills. Embodiments of the invention may be used by businesses and customers of any size in business-to- business (B2B) or business-to-customer (B2C) billing transactions. It will be appreciated, however, that embodiments of the invention are particularly useful for B2B billing transactions between small to medium sized businesses and/or in specific industries, for example, the building and construction industry.

[0027] Embodiments of the present invention provide an online environment bringing billers and payers together with advantages for both sides to use the billing application. For the bill payer (payer), the platform involves managing payment instruments (credit card, debit card and bank account details) and bill information in a secure web or mobile application integrated to one or more financial institutions. The billing application is designed to securely manage the bill payer's payment instruments so the payer does not need to continually enter their payment details. The billing application is further designed to make is very simple to pay a bill, pay multiple bills and to split payments of a bill across different payment instruments.

[0028] Referring to Figures 9 to 14, the one or more payers 1 10 and the one or more payees 120 may comprise members 320 of an online community of users, and the method 200 and system 100 may, optionally, further comprise providing to the members 320 a bill paying service, a bill aggregating service 300, a bill discounting service 400, a bill factoring service 500, an online community marketplace 600 for goods and/or services offered by other members, and combinations thereof. The bill paying service may comprise the method 100 described above.

[0029] Referring to Figure 9, the bill aggregating service 300 optionally provided by the method 200 and system 100 may comprise aggregating bills 310 individually issued to the members 320 by other members 320, one or more third party payees 330, or both via email addresses 340 individually associated with the members 320. For example, the bill aggregating service 300 may allow the members 320 to receive bills 310 from non-member third party payees (eg, telecommunication providers, councils, utility providers, etc) to a specific email address which then automatically populates the bill 310 into the member's 320 "bills received column" within the platform 100 and reads the bill 310. The method 200 and system 100 may therefore aggregate all bills for members 320 including not only those issued by other members 320 but also non-members 330. The bill aggregating service 300 may receive and issue any format of bill 310 received from inside or outside the community and transform them to a common, community format using tools such as automatic lookup of member details, auto-complete of bills and payment instructions, automatic transfer of values to the member's 320 records, reporting, etc.

[0030] Referring to Figure 10, the bill discounting service 400 optionally provided by the method 200 and system 100 may comprise enabling the members 320 to negotiate paying discounted percentages of the one or more bills 310 within shortened payment periods to other members 320, the one or more third party payees 330, or both. Transaction fees 410 expressed as a percentage of the discounted bills 410 may be charged to one or both of the respective members 320 by the provider of the method 200 and system 100. For example, the method 200 and system 100 may allow members 320 (eg, bill senders and recipients) to negotiate interactively the terms and amount of the bill 310 via a "bill discount" button (not shown) provided in a dashboard user interface presented by the method 200 and system 100. For example, the member 320 may decide to offer to pay a 5% discount if the bill 310 is paid within a shortened payment period of 5 days rather than the standard terms of 30 days. This is communicated between the members 320 via an interactive dial (not shown) provided in the dashboard user interface presented by the method 200 and system 100 that is visible to both members 320 and which can be adjusted by either. An agreement is formed when respective payer and payee members 320 select the "offer" and "accept" buttons provided in the dashboard user interface presented by the method 200 and system 100. The bill 310 is then automatically removed and replaced in the dashboard user interface with an updated version reflecting the discounted bill amount and shortened payment period that have been agreed.

[0031 ] Referring to Figures 1 1 to 13, the bill factoring service 500 optionally provided by the method 200 and system 100 may comprise enabling the members 320 to sell the one or more bills 310 at percentages of the one or more bills 310 to other members 320, one or more third party factoring companies 510, one or more third party factoring pools 520, or combinations thereof. As illustrated in Figure 1 1 , the bill factoring may be provided to the members 320 either individually or as a factoring pool 520 (or factoring marketplace) of the members 320. Transaction or referral fees 530 expressed as a percentage of the factored bills 410 may be charged by the provider of the method 100 and system 200. Where the provider of the bill factoring is one or more factoring pools, management fees 530 expressed as a percentage of the factored bills 410 may be charged by the provider of the method 200 and system 100. Figure 12 illustrates a variant of the bill factoring service where the bill factoring is provided by the one or more third party factoring companies 510. Figure 13 illustrates a further variant where the bill factoring is provided by one or more third party factoring pools 520. For example, a payee member 320 upon issuing a bill 310 via the platform provided by the method 200 and system 100 may decide to sell that bill 310 to the bill factoring service 500 by selecting the "bill factoring" button (not shown) presented in the dashboard user interface. The member 320, who is already pre-approved by the provider of the bill factoring service 500, may be able to sell the bill 310 seamlessly with a few clicks. For example, the provider of the bill factoring service 500 may pay a percentage (eg, 80%) of the bill 310 upfront to the payee member 320, with the balance, less factoring fees, payable on full payment of the invoice by the payer member 320.

[0032] Referring to Figure 14, the online marketplace 600 for goods and/or services 610 offered by the online community of members 320 optionally provided by the method 100 and system 200 may comprise offering the goods and/or services 610 to other members 320 to buy, sell, hire, exchange, or share the good and/or services 610 between one another. Transaction costs for communal marketplace transactions of the goods and/or services 610 may be processed using the method 200 and system 100 described above. Transaction or referral fees 620 for the communal marketplace transactions may be charged to the respective members 320 by the provider of the method 200 and system 100. [0033] Embodiments of the billing application of the present invention are designed to work on all mobile and desktop browsers allowing the bill payer to pay bills at their convenience. The site is designed to easily adapt to future mobile platforms (eg, smart watches) and to integrate into social media platforms (eg, Facebook). For the biller it is important to make it easy to do their daily, weekly or monthly billing. The billing application of embodiments of the invention allows the biller to store payer information and automatically notifies the payers when a new bill has been raised.

[0034] Embodiments of the present invention are integrated with at least one financial institution ensuring the payer's money is transferred to the biller's bank account. The payer's bank account details are managed by the billing application and hidden from the payer. When the biller raises bills in the billing application, it stores this information and notifies the payer of the details of the bill. The payer may choose to pay a single bill or multiple bills, and the billing application takes care of instigating the payment transaction(s) to ensure the biller promptly receives the money from the payer.

[0035] Embodiments of the invention provide a responsive billing application available to any user with an internet connection and a modern browser. The billing application will also expose an API (application programming interface) allowing integrations from mobile (or other) applications, integrations from invoice creation systems (accounting packages) or integration into other presentation or social media applications.

[0036] Embodiments of the present invention advantageously provide a single site (supported by an API and web pages) for the exchange of billing and payment information. By having a single standard integration point, the current many-to-many billing becomes many-to-one billing. This consolidation provides a great basis and potential marketplace for further customisation and integration. Embodiments of the present invention therefore provide a convenient one-stop shop for small businesses to conduct business-to-business (B2B) transactions. It embodies many aspects of a brokerage or exchange with the ability to become a standard payment exchange system. This feature is most clearly defined in the usability of the billing application design and the creation of the API.

[0037] For the purpose of this specification, the word "comprising" means "including but not limited to," and the word "comprises" has a corresponding meaning.

[0038] The above embodiments have been described by way of example only and modifications are possible within the scope of the claims that follow.