Granted Patent B2

US 8,812,381 · App. 12/685,908 · Granted Aug 19, 2014

Abstract

Claims (70)

1. A central payment system for automatically paying cargo invoices, the central payment system comprising:

a shipper communications interface in communication with a shipper over a network, wherein the shipper is an importer or exporter of goods;

a carrier communications interface in communication with two or more carriers over the network, wherein the carrier communication interface receives invoice information from a carrier, wherein the carrier is hired by the shipper to move goods from one location to another and owns and operates the equipment used to ship the goods, wherein the invoice information comprises an invoice header that includes at least one member of a list of identifying information including: an invoice number, a date of an invoice, a time of the invoice, and a name of the invoice;

an invoice system in communication with the carrier communication interface and the shipper communications interface, wherein the invoice system associates the invoice information with a shipper identifier and a carrier identifier, wherein the invoice system determines which shipper to notice about the invoice information based on the shipper identifier associated with the invoice information, the invoice system comprising a computer configured to:

receive the invoice information from the carrier communication interface,

create a carrier registration structure upon receiving a request from the carrier to register via a central payment system, wherein the carrier registration structure comprises at least one of: a carrier identifier field, a carrier information field, and a carrier payment field,

associate the invoice information with the carrier identifier by storing the invoice information in the carrier registration data structure,

create a shipper registration structure upon receiving a request from the shipper to register via the central payment system, wherein the shipper registration structure comprises at least one of: a shipper identifier field, a shipper information field, and a shipper payment field,

associate the invoice information with the shipper identifier by storing the invoice information in the shipper registration data structure,

parse the invoice information via the central payment system to identify each shipper identifier in the invoice information, wherein parsed invoice information is organized and stored by pairs formed by one of each of the carrier identifiers and the shipper identifiers,

notice a shipper of the invoice information through the shipper communications interface,

receive approval of the invoice information from the shipper through the shipper communications interface,

synchronize, via a synchronization component in communication with the central payment system and an accounts receivable system of the carrier, invoice information at the accounts receivable system of a carrier with the invoice information stored by the invoice system such that any changes in either the invoice system or in the accounts receivable system can be reflected in the other system, and wherein the synchronization component operates by checking for invoice information that has changed since the last synchronization,

automatically pay the carrier for the approved invoice via a central payment system, wherein the central payment system retrieves payment information related to the shipper and sends a transfer request to an entity that processes debit or credit authorizations, and

report a disposition of the invoice via the central payment system by sending a status of the invoice to the shipper via the shipper communication interface or to the carrier via the carrier communication interface; and

a dispute resolution component operable to execute instructions for a method to conduct a dispute resolution, the instructions comprising:

instructions to receive a complaint about the invoice from the shipper;

instructions to identify a portion of the invoice associated with the complaint;

instructions to generate a dispute for the complaint;

instructions to store the dispute in a database; and

instructions to send an alert to the carrier about the dispute.

2. The central payment system as defined in claim 1 , wherein a broker negotiates the invoice for a shipper.

3. The central payment system as defined in claim 2 , wherein the broker provides the negotiated invoice to the shipper and the shipper approves the invoice.

4. The central payment system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the invoice system comprises a dispute resolution component operable to receive a complaint about an invoice, operable to create a dispute, and operable to report the dispute.

5. The central payment system as defined in claim 4 , wherein the dispute resolution component comprises:

a complaint and response receiver operable to receive the complaint from the shipper;

a dispute generator and responder in communication with the complaint and response receiver, the dispute generator and responder operable to generate a dispute and send the dispute to the complaint and response receiver to send to the carrier; and

a dispute database in communication with the dispute generator and responder to store the dispute.

6. The central payment system as defined in claim 5 , wherein complaint and response receiver is operable to receive a response from the carrier.

7. The central payment system as defined in claim 5 , wherein the dispute generator and responder is operable to receive the response and update the dispute.

8. The central payment system as defined in claim 7 , wherein the dispute generator and responder stores the updated dispute in the dispute database and sends the response to the complaint and response receiver to send to the shipper.

9. The central payment system as defined in claim 8 , wherein the complaint and response receiver receives a second response from the shipper in response to the response sent to the shipper.

10. The central payment system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise:

instructions to receive a response from the carrier, the response associated with the dispute;

instructions to determine if the dispute is resolved;

when the dispute is not resolved, instructions to determine a change to the dispute based on the response; and

instructions to alert the shipper about the response.

11. The central payment system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the dispute resolution component comprises:

a complaint and response receiver operable to receive the complaint from the shipper;

a dispute generator and responder in communication with the complaint and response receiver, the dispute generator and responder operable to generate a dispute and send the dispute to the complaint and response receiver to send to the carrier; and

a dispute database in communication with the dispute generator and responder to store the dispute.

12. The central payment system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the synchronization component is operable to synchronize two or more invoices for the carrier.

13. The central payment system as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a database in communication with the invoice system, the database operable to store information about a shipper and a carrier, the database also operable to store invoice information.

14. The central payment system as defined in claim 13 , wherein the information about the shipper is received and stored when the shipper registers with the invoice system and the information about the carrier is received and stored with the carrier registers with the invoice system.

15. The central payment system as defined in claim 14 , further comprising a payment system in communication with the invoice system, wherein the payment system is operable to automatically pay the invoice based on information about the shipper and the carrier stored in the database.

16. The central payment system as defined in claim 15 , wherein the information about the shipper includes account information for the shipper and the information about the carrier includes account information for the carrier.

17. The central payment system as defined in claim 16 , wherein the payment system is operable to make a first ACH money transfer from an account for the shipper to an intermediary account and make a second ACH money transfer from the intermediary account to an account for the carrier.

18. The central payment system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the shipper communications interface is in communication with two or more shippers.

19. A central payment system for automatically paying cargo invoices, the central payment system comprising:

a shipper communications interface in communication with a shipper over a network, wherein the shipper is an importer or exporter of goods;

a carrier communications interface in communication with two or more carriers over the network, wherein the carrier communication interface receives invoice information from a carrier, wherein the carrier is hired by the shipper to move goods from one location to another and owns and operates the equipment used to ship the goods, wherein the invoice information comprises an invoice header that includes at least one member of a list of identifying information including: an invoice number, a date of an invoice, a time of the invoice, and a name of the invoice;

an invoice system in communication with the carrier communication interface and the shipper communications interface, wherein the invoice system associates the invoice information with a shipper identifier and a carrier identifier, wherein the invoice system determines which shipper to notice about the invoice information based on the shipper identifier associated with the invoice information, the invoice system comprising a computer configured to:

receive the invoice information from the carrier communication interface,

translate the invoice information from a proprietary format from an accounts receivable from the carrier to a common format,

create a carrier registration structure upon receiving a request from the carrier to register via a central payment system comprises at least one of: a carrier identifier field, a carrier information field, and a carrier payment field,

associate the invoice information with the carrier identifier by storing the invoice information in the carrier registration data structure,

create a shipper registration structure upon receiving a request from the shipper to register via the central payment system, wherein the shipper registration structure comprises at least one of: a shipper identifier field, a shipper information field, and a shipper payment field,

associate the invoice information with the shipper identifier by storing the invoice information in the shipper registration data structure,

parse the invoice information via the central payment system to identify each shipper identifier in the invoice information, wherein parsed invoice information is organized and stored by pairs formed by one of each of the carrier identifiers and the shipper identifiers,

notice a shipper of the invoice information through the shipper communications interface,

receive approval of the invoice information from the shipper through the shipper communications interface,

synchronize, via a synchronization component in communication with the central payment system and an accounts receivable system of the carrier, invoice information at the accounts receivable system of a carrier with the invoice information stored by the invoice system such that any changes in either the invoice system or in the accounts receivable system can be reflected in the other system, and wherein the synchronization component operates by checking for invoice information that has changed since the last synchronization,

automatically pay the carrier for the approved invoice via a central payment system, wherein the central payment system retrieves payment information related to the shipper and sends a transfer request to an entity that processes debit or credit authorizations, and

report a disposition of the invoice via the central payment system by sending a status of the invoice to the shipper via the shipper communication interface or to the carrier via the carrier communication interface; and

a dispute resolution component operable to execute instructions for a method to conduct a dispute resolution, the instructions comprising:

instructions to receive a complaint about the invoice from the shipper;

instructions to identify a portion of the invoice associated with the complaint;

instructions to generate a dispute for the complaint;

instructions to store the dispute in a database; and

instructions to send an alert to the carrier about the dispute.

Assignments (8)