| 摘要 |
<p>A billing service system and method in accordance with the invention includes a billing server (11), a payment system (17), a web site (28), a web browser (22) and a client program (25). The billing server generates invoices, captures and stores information relating to the generated invoices and store information on received payments. The payment system, a bank for example, receives payments (31) and notifies (32) the billing server of received payments. On the billing service provider's web site a client (18) enters billing information and can study his ledger. Billing information is sent from the client to the billing server in e-mail (24) or files over the Internet (12). The billing server connects to the Internet for the short periods during which it polls its Internet mailbox (27) or file-server and downloads received invoices. The billing server can be distributed over several processors that are interconnected by a data network.</p> |
