JP2003030565A - Charge payment agency system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a charge payment agency system in which a charge payment agent performs a procedure such as contract or charge claim and payment between a service and commodity providing company and a service and commodity provided person. SOLUTION: This system is constituted of service and commodity providing companies S1, S2, and so on, persons to be provided U1, U2, and so on, and a charge payment agent A. In this case, the agent A receives charge claims from the providing companies S1, S2, and so on to the provided persons U1, U2, and so on in a batch, and collects the charge from the provided persons U1, U2, and so on, and pays the charge to the providing companies S1, S2, and so on in a batch. The providing companies S1, S2, and so on are connected through a network N1 to the agent A, and the provided persons U1, U2, and so on are connected through a network N2 to the agent A. The agent A receives the charge claim data from the providing companies S1, S2, and so on through the network in a batch, and individually transmits the charge claim data to the provided persons U1, U2, and so on.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fee payment agent system in which a fee payment agent acts on behalf of a service / product provider company and a service / product provider to perform procedures such as contracts and fee payments. Yes, these procedures relate to a fee payment agent system that can also be performed via a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, there are companies that provide various services and products such as telephone, electric power, gas, water, etc., and services and products from these service / product providing companies (hereinafter sometimes referred to as providing companies). Each individual or each business entity (hereinafter, also referred to as a user or a user) who receives the provision of (1) individually pays a fee or makes a contract. The conventional system for this fee payment and contract will be described by taking a telephone company, an electric power company, and a gas company as examples of provider companies.

The telephone company makes a contract with an individual or group who desires to use the telephone line and other services accompanying it,
In addition to providing services, we also sell and lease equipment used for these services. Then, the telephone company, in advance, pays for the charges associated with the provision and sale of these.
Make a detailed bill / invoice for the fee to collect, a receipt for the previous month, and a payment paper if necessary, and send it to each user. In this case, the charge for using the service is generally collected on a monthly basis. In addition, there are methods of collecting fees, such as withdrawal from a bank account, collection at each destination, and direct payment by the user.The direct payment method by the user is mail, telephone company account. Transfer, convenience store using a special paper issued by the telephone company
There are payments at stores, etc.

The electric power company contracts with a user who desires to supply electric power, and provides electric power and other services. In the case of electric power companies, unlike Japan's current telephone companies,
We do not sell or lease electric power supply means, but regarding contracts and payment of charges when receiving electric power,
A mechanism similar to that of the above telephone company is adopted.

Gas companies have various gas supply methods,
Contracts and charges vary depending on each supply method, but in the case of city gas and rural propane gas, the same mechanism as that of the above electric power company and telephone company is adopted, and in the case of small gas cylinders, it is common. It may be sold individually at retail stores as well as consumables.

[0006]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, a service / commodity provider such as a telephone company or an electric power company may contract with a user who receives the service or the product for one month. Since charges are charged and received in units of each user, there are the following problems. (1) The amount of information managed by the service / commodity provider company is enormous, and enormous cost is required for this management. (2) In particular, the human costs, paper resources, and time consumption associated with the issuance / shipment of monthly bills / bills / receipts for billing / receipt of charges to each user are enormous. (3) Above The enormous cost required by the service / commodity providing company, such as (1) and (2), is added to the charge paid by each user, increasing the burden on each user. (4) Moreover, each user not only has to organize and manage documents such as invoices and receipts that are sent every month, but these unnecessary documents eventually become garbage, The disposal of this garbage also requires a huge amount of money.

[0007]

The present invention has been made in order to solve various problems existing in the above-mentioned conventional mechanism, and is to implement various procedures and managements currently performed by a provider company. It is an object of the present invention to provide a fee payment agent system that makes it unnecessary as much as possible and reflects the cost reduction resulting from this in the fee that the user should bear.

In order to achieve the above object, the fee payment agent system of the present invention comprises a service / commodity provider company, a user, and a fee payment agent, and the agent charges a fee to each user from the provider company. It is characterized in that it is received collectively and the fee is collected from each user and paid together to the providing company. At this time, the provider company and the agent, and the user and the agent are connected by a network, and the agent collects the billing data from the provider company to each user via this network. Then, the fee billing data may be received from the provider and transmitted individually to the corresponding users. Further, the agent may act on behalf of the contract between the provider company and the user, and this contract procedure may be performed via the network.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a flow of information and the like in a fee payment agency system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, A is a payment agent and S
1, S2, S3, ... are service / commodity providing companies, and these are collectively shown as a providing company group S.
1, U2, U3, ... are these providers S1, S
Each user who receives the services and products provided from S2, S3, ... Is collectively shown as a user group U. Agent A and each service / commodity provider S1, S2
Between S3, ..., and agent A and each user U
1, U2, U3, ... Between the network N
It is connected by 1, N2. In FIG. 1, for convenience, the agent A and the provider group S are connected by a line N1, and the agent A
, And the user group U are shown connected by a line N2, but in reality, the provider companies S1, S2, S within the provider company S are shown.
.. and the agent A, and between each of the users U1, U2, U3 ,. Are connected by.

As the above-mentioned networks N1 and N2, in the network N1 between the provider company group S and the agent A, an original network may be constructed by both terminals, or a normal Internet may be used. In N2 between the proxy A and the user group U, a normal telephone line or the Internet may be used as it is, or an independent network may be constructed by both terminals. Further, as network terminals, particularly terminals used by users U1, U2, U3, ..., Personal computers, PDAs, mobile phones, telephones capable of receiving character / image data can be connected to the Internet or telephone lines. , A game machine, a FAX, or any other device that can receive data.

Service / commodity providing companies S1, S2, S
In the present invention, 3, ... may be a trader of any type of industry as long as it is a trader who provides services and products to companies and general consumers. For example, a telephone company, a power company,
Public utilities such as waterworks, publishers, insurance companies, radio / cable broadcasting stations, transportation companies such as aviation / bus / taxi / railroad,
Transport / courier companies, hospitals, pharmacies, barber / beauty salons, bookstores, newspaper / milk delivery shops, supermarkets, convenience stores, etc. Also, the users U1 and U
2, U3, ... are such providers S1, S
2, S3, ... means a company or a general consumer who is provided with services or products, and the agent A is a provider company S1, S2, S3, ..., and a user U1, U2
A person who pays a fee or contracts on behalf of U3, ....

In FIG. 1, each of the users U1, U2, U3, ...
2, S3, ... Receives the provision of each service / commodity (indicated by a dotted double arrow in FIG. 1). This contract
Like a telephone company, electric power company, gas company, etc., the service charge including the basic charge etc. is set by the use of telephone lines, services and products such as electricity and gas from the beginning without establishing an end time limit. For example, a contract to pay every period (for example, every month), a deadline of 6 months or a year, such as newspaper and milk delivery shops and bookstores, and the type and quantity of products to purchase, A contract that purchases a specified product for a specified period and pays the purchase fee every specified period (for example, monthly), or if there is no deadline or product, such as in a supermarket, hospital, or pharmacy store, if necessary. Then, various services such as a contract for purchasing a service or a product and paying the service every predetermined period (for example, monthly) may be used.

Each of the users U1, U2, U3 ...
・ Details about the fees to be paid to each of the providers S1, S2, S3, and so on, and the data of the invoice, the line N1 of the network at a predetermined time (in this example, every month) Through each providing company S1, S2, S3, ...
・ From, it will be transmitted to the proxy A collectively. The agent A who has received the data of the details / invoice is the corresponding user U.
1, U2, U3, ..., and users U1, U2, U3 ,.
.. is transmitted to each terminal.

The above classification is performed by the computer possessed by the agent A, for example, in a mode as shown in FIG. FIG. 2 shows an example of a classification table created by using spreadsheet software. In the figure, columns for each provider company S1, S2, S3, ... User U
1, U2, U3, ... columns are provided respectively, and billing data from the respective providing companies S1, S2, S3 ,. ...
In the column of each user U1, U2, U3, ...
・ ・ The total amount to be paid by the current month and each provider S1, S
2, S3 ... and the total amount to be paid are calculated immediately. In addition, in each column, as shown in FIG.
There is a window with the "Details" displayed. By clicking this window, each provider S1, S2, S3
From each user U1, U2, U3
You can see the details of billing data. Figure 2
In the case of classification as follows, each user U1, U2, U
The detailed / invoice data to be transmitted to each of the users U1, U2, U3 ,. Receives the data as shown in FIG. 3, for example, based on the data in FIG.

The agent A is the above-mentioned users U1, U2, U.
3, ... Each user U1, U2, U3 ,.
To collect charges (each user U1, U2, U in FIG. 2)
The amount displayed in the total column of 3, ... can be collected). Various methods may be used to collect this fee, and for example, the agent A may use each user U1, U2, U3.
...... Visiting and collecting in cash, conversely, each user U1, U2, U3, ... Visiting agent A and paying in cash, each user U1, U2, U3・ ・ ・
.. How to transfer money to the financial account of agent A, each user U
1, U2, U3, ... A method of withdrawing from the financial account of the agent A to the financial account of the agent A, or the agent A receives the amount of money collected from each user U1, U2, U3 ,. It is possible to set aside and draw a predetermined amount from this.

The agent A is the above-mentioned users U1 and U.
2, U3, ..., and billing to each of the above-mentioned users U1, U2, U3, ... for each provider company S1, S2, S3, ... Sum the amount of data and pay it together (each provider S1, S2, S in FIG. 2)
Pay the amount shown in the total column of 3 ,. This payment method may also be various methods,
For example, from the financial account of the agent A, each providing company S1, S
2, S3, etc., to the financial account.

When a telephone company, an electric power company, a gas company or the like provides services or products, the user U1,
The charges to be paid by U2, U3, ... include a "basic charge" in addition to the usage charge, and this "basic charge" is generally constant regardless of the amount of the usage charge. . Therefore, in the present invention, the agent A collects only this "basic fee" portion in advance for each user U1 for a predetermined period.
U2, U3, etc. are collected and a predetermined period of this "basic charge" portion is provided by each of the above-mentioned telephone companies, electric power companies, gas companies, etc. S1, S2, S3, ...・
It is also possible to adopt the method of paying to. In this case, these providers S1, S2, S3, ...
... is the user U1, U2, U3, ...
If we decide to return to U1, U2, U3, ...
The burden on ... can be reduced.

In the above embodiment, each providing company S
1, S2, S3, ... and each user U1, U2, U
The agent A may make a contract with 3, ... (Indicated by a dotted double arrow in FIG. 1). The method of this contract may also be various methods, and each user U1, U
2, U, ...
Normal contract documents for each user U1, U2, U3, ...
・ Handing or mailing to, and after filling in and stamping the necessary information, bring or mail to each provider S1, S2, S3, etc., or network N1, N2
And the like.

According to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, each providing company S1, S2, S3 ,. It is not necessary to issue and send monthly bills, bills, and receipts for billing and receipt of fees, which can significantly reduce human costs, paper resources, and time, and ultimately The amount can also be significantly reduced. And each providing company S
1, S2, S3, ... and each user U1, U2, U
Further, if the agent A collects the contracts with the providers 3, 3, ... And if the contracts are made via the networks N1, N2, further provision of the respective providers S1, S2, S3 ,. It is possible to significantly reduce human costs, paper resources, time, and the amount of information. As a result of these, users U1, U2, U
It is possible to significantly reduce the fees that 3, ... In addition, as described above, the agent A collects a predetermined period of the “basic charge” portion in advance for the user U.
1, U2, U3, ...
1, S2, S3, ..., and the interest amount is returned to the users U1, U2, U3 ,. .. The burden on .. can be further reduced.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of information and the like in the fee payment agency system according to another embodiment of the present invention, and the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 have the same meaning as in FIG. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, a financial institution M is added to the embodiment of FIG.
The agent A is the financial institution M and the network line N.
3, the financial institution M is connected to each user U1, U2, U3, ... In the user group U and each provider S1, S2, S3 ,. Both are connected by network lines N4 and N5. This financial institution M has a convenient name and is used by users U1 and U.
2, U3, ... What kind of company can collect money from the collection company and pay the fee to the provider companies S1, S2, S3, ... based on this collection? , A post office, a securities company, an insurance company, or the like, or an affiliated company of the agent A or the same company as the agent A.

In FIG. 4, each of the provider companies S1, S2, S3, ... Received by the agent A through the line N1.
From the invoice data to each user U1, U2, U3, ... to each user U1, U2, U3, ... via the line N2 as in the case of FIG. At the same time, it is transmitted to the financial institution M via the line N3. The invoice data sent from the agent A to the financial institution M is classified into U1, U2, U3, ... For example, the data itself in the classification table as shown in FIG. It may be.

The financial institution M collects charges from the corresponding users U1, U2, U3, ... Based on the received data (each user U1, U2, U3 in FIG. 2).
The amount displayed in the total column of ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ should be collected). There may be various methods for collecting this fee, and the financial institution M uses the users U1, U2, U3, ...
.. may be used, or the accounts of the users U1, U2, U3, .. It may be a method. Then, the notification that the withdrawal or the withdrawal should be made is sent to each user U1, U2, U3 via the network line N4.
... is transmitted to the communication terminal.

The financial institution M uses the above-mentioned users U1 and U.
2, U3, ..., and billing to each of the above-mentioned users U1, U2, U3, ... for each provider company S1, S2, S3, ... Sum the amount of data and pay it together (each provider S1, S2, S in FIG. 2)
Pay the amount shown in the total column of 3 ,. This payment method may also be various methods,
For example, a method of transferring money from an account of each user U1, U2, U3, ... To a financial account to each provider company S1, S2, S3 ,.
2, S3, ... Accounts are also opened in the financial institution M, and each user U1, U2, U3 ,.
・ ・ The method of transferring directly from the account may be used. Then, the notification that the remittance (payment) has been made or that the remittance (payment) should be made is transmitted to each of the provider companies S1, S2, S3, ... Through the line N5 of the network.

According to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4, in addition to the effects obtained by the embodiment shown in FIG.
1, U2, U3, ... and each provider S1, S2
Since the specialized financial institution M exchanges money with S3, ... And the confirmation work such as the conventional documents accompanying the exchange can be omitted, the conventional fee It is possible to significantly reduce the enormous human costs, paper resources, time, and amount of information required for collection and delivery. The result of this reduction is
This leads to a large reduction in the charges that the users U1, U2, U3, ... Should bear and a large reduction in dust.

[0025]

As described above in detail, according to the fee payment agency system of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Companies that provide services and products S1, S2, S3
From each user U of these services / products
Since it is not necessary to issue / send monthly bills / bills / receipts for billing / receipt of charges to 1, U2, U3, ... Not only can it be reduced, but the amount of dust on the final paper can be greatly reduced. (2) The agent A collects the contracts between the providing companies S1, S2, S3, ... And the users U1, U2, U3 ,. Via each provider S1, S2, S3, ...
・ It is possible to further reduce human cost, paper resources, time and amount of information. (3) As a result of the above (1) and (2), the user U1,
U2, U3, ... can also be greatly reduced in fees to be paid. (4) The agent A collects a predetermined period of the "basic fee" portion from the users U1, U2, U3, ... In advance, and provides the provider companies S1, S2, S3 ,.・ If you pay to U1, U2, U3, ...
It is also possible to return to the user U1,
The burden of U2, U3, ... Can be further reduced. (5) A financial institution M, which specializes in handling financial transactions, exchanges money between each providing company S1, S2, S3, ... And each user U1, U2, U3 ,. By adopting the method, it is possible to omit the conventional confirmation work by documents etc. accompanying the exchange of money, and it is possible to further reduce the human cost, paper resources, time and amount of information. (6) As a result of the above (5), the users U1, U2, U
It is possible to significantly reduce the fees that 3, ... must bear and the garbage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a flow of information and the like for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a charge classification table (a table in which billing data from each providing company to each user is classified for each providing company and each user) used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of detail / billing data received by each user based on the data of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of information and the like for explaining another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

A Agent S Service / product provider companies S1, S2, S3 Service / product provider U Service / product recipients U1, U2, U3 Service / product recipients M Financial institutions N1, N2 N3, N4, N5 network lines

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A service / commodity providing company, a recipient, and a fee payment agent, wherein the agent collectively receives fee bills from the provider company to the respective recipients, and provides the respective recipients. A fee payment agent system which collects a fee from a person and collectively pays the fee to the provider. 2. The service / commodity provider company and the fee payment agent, and the service / commodity recipient and the fee payment agent are connected by a network, and the agent connects the network. Via the service / product providing company, collects the charge request data from the service / product providing company to the service / product providing company, and receives the charge request data individually for each applicable recipient. The fee payment agent system according to claim 1, wherein the fee payment agent system transmits. 3. The fee payment agent system according to claim 1, wherein the fee payment agent acts on behalf of the contract between the service / commodity providing company and the recipient.