Automated billing consolidation system and method

Claim 1

A computer system for consolidating a plurality of bills into a single integrated bill for subsequent payment by a consumer, comprising: a host computer including a host processor; a first remote computer, disposed at a first site, configured to transmit a first data packet over a first link to said host computer; and a second remote computer, disposed at a site remote from said first site, configured to transmit a second data packet over a second link to said host computer, wherein: said first data packet comprises indicia of the identity of a first entity utilizing said first computer and a first billed amount associated with a first billing cycle and a first payment date; said second data packet comprises indicia of the identity of a second entity utilizing said second computer and a second billed amount associated with a second billing cycle, which is not synchronized with said first billing cycle, and a second payment date; said first and second remote computers are configured to independently effect transmission of said first and second data packets, respectively, to said host computer; said host processor is configured to receive said first data packet from said first remote computer and said second data packet from said second remote computer, and to consolidate said first and second data packets into a single integrated bill for subsequent payment by a consumer; said host processor is further configured to produce a human-readable copy of said bill, said copy comprising indicia of said first and second entity identities, said first and second billing cycles, said first and second billed amounts, and a single payment date upon which said single bill is due to be paid by said consumer; and said host processor is configured to compute said single payment date as an optimum payment date as a function of said first payment date associated with said first billed amount and said second payment date associated with said second billed amount.