# US 2021/0342902 A1 · Automated billing verification system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2021/0342902 A1 - Document ID: US20210342902A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/307,823 - Filed: 2021-05-04 - Published: 2021-11-04 - Earliest claimed: 2020-05-04 - Assignees: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC - Applicants: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC - Inventors: Steven W. Lundberg - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210342902A1 ## CPC - G06Q 30/04: Billing or invoicing - G06F 40/42: Data-driven translation - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Disclosed herein are a system and method for creating client formatted billing entries by receiving billing information including an activity description, associating a universal code with the billing information based on the activity description, applying a customer code to the billing information associated with the universal code, and substituting a revised activity description for the activity description. The revised activity description may correspond to the customer code to produce a client formatted billing entry. The billing information also may be analyzed by language recognition or other natural language processing software to detect and categorize key words or phrases in the activity description for association with the universal code. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computerized method of creating a customer formatted billing entry in a computerized billing system, comprising: receiving billing information including an activity description; associating a universal code with the billing information based on the activity description; applying a customer code to the billing information based on the universal code; and substituting a revised activity description for the activity description, the revised activity description corresponding to the customer code to produce the customer formatted billing entry. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the activity description comprises free text. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein receiving billing information comprises receiving data from a billing entry utility. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the billing information by detecting and categorizing key words or phrases in the activity description for association with the universal code. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein associating the universal code comprises applying one or more rules to the billing information, each of the one or more rules indicating a universal code to associate with the billing information. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein applying the customer code comprises applying one or more customer rules to the billing information, each of the one or more customer rules associated with one or more customer codes. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the billing information further comprises one or more fields containing additional information. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein the additional information comprises at least one of a customer name, a matter number, one or more associated entry codes, or a timekeeper name. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, further comprising standardizing text in the one or more fields of the billing information based on at least one of the universal code or the customer code. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein the additional information further comprises a number of hours worked and a timekeeper rate. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, further comprising calculating a billing amount based on the number of hours works and the timekeeper rate, and including the billing amount in the customer formatted billing entry. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, further comprising the additional information including information specifying at least a portion of a history of activities associated with the billing information. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising formatting the billing entry by altering an appearance of the customer formatted billing entry according to a customer rule associated with the customer code. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein associating the universal code comprises applying one or more rules to the billing information, each of the one or more rules indicating the universal code to associate with the billing information. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a machine readable invoice containing machine readable data specifying the customer code and the customer formatted billing entry. ### Claim 16 A system for creating a customer formatted billing entry, the system comprising: a memory that stores instructions for implementing a billing entry utility, a billing entry transfer engine, and a billing entry coding engine; and one or more processors that execute the instructions to perform operations including: the billing entry utility receiving an uncoded billing entry comprising an activity description; the billing entry transfer engine associating a universal code with the uncoded billing entry based on the activity description to produce a universally coded billing entry; and the billing entry coding engine associating a customer code with the universally coded billing entry to produce a customer coded billing entry comprising a customer formatted activity description. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the billing entry utility comprises at least one of a docketing program, a billing program, or a timekeeping program. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the billing entry utility comprises a user interface for receiving one or more uncoded billing entries. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the billing entry transfer engine and the billing entry coding engine are integrated with each other. ### Claim 20 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, wherein the billing entry transfer engine comprises one or more rules associating the uncoded billing entry with the universal code.