Abstract
Automated bill payments work so long as a bill has been generated and shared with the customer; such is the case for services such as broadband, mortgage payments, etc. However, for utility services (gas, electricity, water, etc.) to customers with legacy (e.g., not internet-enabled) meters, the service provider lacks the information required to generate the bill until a person tasked with reading meters visits the customer location and reports the meter reading. This disclosure describes techniques to enable a customer to self-generate a utility (or other service) bill by uploading a photo of the current meter reading via a payment app. The payment app validates and sends the photo to the service provider. The service provider calculates the amount due, generates the bill, and sends it to the customer. Upon receipt of the bill, and if configured by the customer, the payment app automatically pays the bill with approval from the customer. The need for meter-reading is thus eliminated and such functionality is conveniently integrated into a payment app or other suitable app.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Mamgain, Paras, "Image Capture for Bill Self-Submission and Automatic Cross Validation", Technical Disclosure Commons, (August 28, 2022)
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/5343