Automated transaction processing system and approach

A transaction-processing system for facilitating transactions involving merchant offerings among parties including buyers and sellers, aspects of each transaction being characterized by transaction-based documents, the system comprising:

• a transaction databank having a plurality of anchor locations, each anchor location for storing a plurality of transaction-profile attributes that correspond to one of the transactions;
• and
• a computer arrangement adapted to:
• parse attribute fields from at least two incoming documents and, in response to finding matching information in selected ones of the parsed attribute fields, automatically identify the at least two incoming documents as belonging to a transaction for which payment has not been made, generate a new anchor identification number as a function of the data in the parsed attribute fields, store data from the parsed attribute fields in an anchor location in the transaction databank and identify the anchor location with the new anchor identification number;
• and
• in response to another transaction-based document carrying data in attribute fields matching data in selected ones of the attribute fields stored in the anchor location identified with the new anchor identification number, use the data stored in the attribute fields and in the other transaction-based document to process payment for the transaction.

In an environment of multiple parties to a transaction, a transaction terminal for processing transaction information related to an active transaction pursuant to a contract between one of the parties and another one of the parties, the transaction terminal comprising:

• at least one computer-based circuit being software-programmed and configured and arranged to
• compare attribute values of transaction-based documents and identify common attribute values between at least two of the transaction-based documents;
• define an anchor identification (ID) as a function of the identified common attribute values, the anchor ID being used to identify a new transaction also pursuant to the contract;
• label the at least two transaction-based documents with the anchor ID and store the labeled transaction-based documents in a database;
• and
• in response to receiving another transaction-based document having attribute values that match attribute values in at least one of the at least two of the transaction-based documents, and prior to payment for the active transaction being made, use the stored transaction-based documents and the other transaction-based document to advance progress toward completion of the active transaction.

In an environment of multiple parties to a transaction, a transaction terminal for processing transaction information related to a transaction pursuant to a contract between one of the parties and another one of the parties, the terminal comprising:

• at least one computer-based circuit being software-programmed and configured and arranged to
• compare elements of transaction-based documents and identify common elements between at least two of the transaction-based documents;
• compare the common elements with stored profile information associated with the one and the other one of the parties;
• and
• define an anchor identification (ID) with the identified common elements and the profile information, the anchor ID being used to identify a new active transaction also pursuant to the contract for which performance of the transaction has not been completed by both parties to the transaction.

A method for facilitating transactions involving merchant offerings among parties including buyers and sellers, aspects of each common transaction being characterized by transaction-based documents that are respectively provided by different parties to the common transaction, the method comprising:

• for each common transaction, identifying attributes that define the common transaction, the identified attributes being carried by respective transaction-based documents as respectively provided from the different parties to the common transaction, the different parties to the common transaction having different party-identifying attributes;
• assigning an anchor identification (ID) to each common transaction for which attributes carried by respective transaction-based documents have been identified;
• for each common transaction, using the identified attributes to construct a plurality of transaction-profile attributes in a particular anchor location of a transaction databank having a plurality of anchor locations and identifying the particular anchor location with the anchor ID;
• parsing incoming transaction-based documents for the identified attributes of anchor locations stored in the transaction databank and, in response to finding insufficient matching attributes carried by one of the incoming transaction-based documents and stored in the transaction databank under an existing anchor location, establishing a new anchor location in the transaction databank and storing the attributes from the transaction-based document in the new anchor location;
• and
• in response to another transaction-based document carrying transaction-profile attributes for a particular one of the anchor locations, using the constructed transaction-profile attributes in the particular anchor location to advance progress toward completion of the common transaction for the particular anchor location by generating and outputting electronic payment data for initiating payment to a seller on behalf of a buyer for the transaction.

A method for facilitating transactions involving merchant offerings among parties including buyers and sellers, aspects of each common transaction being characterized by transaction-based documents that are respectively provided by different parties to the common transaction, the method comprising:

• for each common transaction, identifying primary and secondary attributes that define the common transaction and assigning higher weight to the primary attribute, relative to the secondary attribute, the identified attributes being carried by respective transaction-based documents as respectively provided from the different parties to the common transaction, the different parties to the common transaction having different party-identifying attributes;
• assigning an anchor identification (ID) to each common transaction for which attributes carried by respective transaction-based documents have been identified;
• for each common transaction, using the identified attributes to construct a plurality of transaction-profile attributes in a particular anchor location of a transaction databank having a plurality of anchor locations and identifying the particular anchor location with the anchor ID;
• and
• in response to another transaction-based document carrying transaction-profile attributes for a particular one of the anchor locations, using the constructed transaction-profile attributes in the particular anchor location to advance progress toward completion of the common transaction for the particular anchor location by matching the other transaction based document with the attributes in the particular anchor location as a function of the primary and secondary attributes and their corresponding weight and by generating and outputting electronic payment data for initiating payment to a seller on behalf of a buyer for the transaction.

A transaction-processing system for facilitating transactions involving merchant offerings among parties including buyers and sellers, aspects of each common transaction being characterized by transaction-based documents that are respectively provided by different parties to the common transaction, the system comprising:

• means for storing a plurality of transaction-profile attributes that correspond to a transaction;
• means, for each common transaction for which at least one party to the transaction has not performed, for identifying attributes that define the common transaction, the identified attributes being carried by respective transaction-based documents as respectively provided from the different parties to the common transaction, the different parties to the common transaction having different party-identifying attributes;
• means for assigning an anchor identification (ID) to each common transaction for which attributes carried by respective transaction-based documents have been identified;
• means, for each common transaction, for using the identified attributes to construct a plurality of transaction-profile attributes in a particular one of the anchor locations identified by the anchor ID;
• means for parsing incoming transaction-based documents for the identified attributes of anchor locations stored in the transaction databank and, in response to finding insufficient matching attributes carried by one of the incoming transaction-based documents and stored in the transaction databank under an existing anchor location, establishing a new anchor location in the transaction databank and storing the attributes from the transaction-based document in the new anchor location;
• and
• means, responsive to another transaction-based document carrying transaction-profile attributes for a particular one of the anchor locations, for using the constructed transaction-profile attributes in the particular anchor location to advance progress toward completion of the common transaction for the particular anchor location.