TECHNICAL FIELD
[001] The present disclosure described herein, in general, relates to bill collection more particularly to collection of utility bill at automated bill collection counter.
BACKGROUND
[002] Collection and payment of utility bill is a major hassle for both payee and receiver. Conventionally the bill collection has been a manual process wherein the bill was paid at a counter in case amount. A receipt was then generated against the payment received. This conventional method has a major drawback of being time consuming, prone to malpractices and human dependent.
[003] With advancement of the technology and IT system online payment of utility bill was introduced. However, this process had pitfalls, like one could only make payment if he had access to internet. Based on the technical advancement point-of-sale (POS) machine were introduced, however they had a major restriction, that is payments could only be proceeded when the system was online. This affected the usability and efficiency of the POS.
SUMMARY
[004] This summary is provided to introduce aspects related to methods and systems for bill collection system wherein such aspects are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter nor is it intended for use in determining or limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
[005] In one implementation, a bill payment collection system is disclosed comprising, at least one collection device configured to receive payment of bill. The system is capable of automatically deducting availability of network and setting of online mode else it works in offline mode. , a payment gateway communicably connected to the at least one collection device, wherein the payment gateway may be further configured to authenticate the at least one collection device, and a server communicably connected to the payment gateway. The at least one collection device, of the bill payment collection system as disclosed, may be communicably connected to a means for reading and capturing details of a bill. The at least one collection device may be further configured to receive bill payment in at least one form that can be selected from cash, debit card, credit card, coupon, or online. The at least one collection device of the bill collection system as disclosed may be authenticated by a payment gateway. The authentication can be based on verification of a MAC ID of the at least one collection device or Volume ID of memory disk on the at least one collection device registered with the payment gateway. The authentication can also be based on pre-defined dates and time stamps.
[006] The at least one collection device can be further configured to receive updates via the payment gateway in the online mode. An acknowledgment receipt can also be printed upon receiving payment of bill, via a printing means. Further, the payment gateway may also validate each payment of bill.
[007] In another implementation, a processor implemented bill collection method is disclosed. According to disclosed method authenticating at least one collection device with a payment gateway may be authenticated. The first data set on the collection device may be synchronized with a second data set from the payment gateway. Further, bill details may be captured using a reading means. Based on the capturing of the bill details, payment could be received. The first data set may be then updated with the payment of bill. Further, an acknowledgement receipt with encrypted code can be generated for the payment received. The acknowledgement receipt could then be transmitted to the payment gateway.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[008] The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer like features and components.
[009] Figure 1 illustrates a bill collection system.
[0010] Figure 2, illustrates a bottom up method of bill collection system.
[0011] Figure 3, illustrates an exemplary implementation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0012] A system and method for bill collection system is disclosed. The present subject matter collection of bill from a collection device.
Figure 1 discloses a bill collection system 100. The bill collection system comprises at least one collection device (101), a payment gateway (102) and a server (103). The collection device (101) further may be connected to means for reading a bill. The means can be a bar code scanner, a QR code scanner, a digital scanner or an input device like a keyboard. The collection device can be configured to print acknowledgement receipt upon completion of a transaction, wherein the transaction may refer to payment of bill/s. ATCM supports multiple type of printers (Thermal/Dot Matrix & Slip Printer),With the provision to set one of the printer as a default printer.
[0013]
[0014] The at least one collection device (101) can be configured to receive payment in Offline mode or online mode. Further, the payment can be received in any form selected from cash, credit card, debit card, coupon or online. The present disclosure enables to receive the payment in offline mode thereby removing the dependency on the server (103). Further, this also help to keep triplicate copies of data.
[0015] The at least one collection device (101) may be communicably connected to a payment gateway (102). The at least one collection device (101) can be mapped to a specific payment gateway (102) for security purpose. MAC ID of the at least one collection device or the VOL ID of memory disk of the at least one collection device can be mapped or registered with the payment gateway.
[0016] The payment gateway (102) can further be configured to verify any acknowledgement receipt generated by the at least one collection device (101). The payment gateway may comprise of a second data set, wherein the second data set may consist of at least one database selected from a User Master, Machine Master, Parameter Master, Reason Master, or Bank Master. The second data set can be synced with a first data set of the at least one collection device (101). The synchronization of the first data set and the second set can be performed when the at least one collection device (101) and payment gateway (102) are online or when the at least one collection device (101) log on the system.
[0017] The payment gateway (102) can be further configured to communicably connect with the server (103). The server (103) synchronises a third data set in an incremental way or real-time with the second data set. Further the server (103) is configured to push critical updates to the payment gateway (102) and the at least one collection device (101). This ensures the bill collection system 100 is always updated.
[0018] Figure 2 illustrates a bottom up method of bill collection system 200. The method can be performed using a processor. According to the method disclosed at step 201 a collection device (101) is authenticated by a payment gateway (102). The authentication is performed when the collection device (101) logs on to the payment gateway (102) to perform a transaction or task. At step 202, synchronizing first data set on the collection device with a second data set from the payment gateway. At step 203 bill details can be captured using a means for reading. The bill details can also be retrieved from the first data set upon the capture of the bill details, which may be displayed to a user thorough a display means. At step 204 payment of bill is received against the bill details that were captured in the previous step. Upon receiving the payment of bill the first data set can be updated with payment receipt at step 205. The processor at step 206, generates an acknowledgment receipt of payment of bill received against the bill details. The acknowledgement receipt can be verified by the payment gateway (102) upon transmission of the acknowledgement receipt to the payment gateway (102) at step 207.
[0019] In another exemplary implementation of the present disclosure a top down approach to update data can be used. According to the exemplary implementation the server (103) synchronises its third data set with the second data set at the payment gateway (102). The payment gateway (102) then transfer updated data of the second data set to the first data set and synchronises the first data set and the second data set. The collection device (101) updates the first data set in consistence with the third data set from the server (103). The collection device can further be connected to a collection means and reader means. The reader means is configured to read information and then capture the information. The information captured is mapped with the information of the updated first data set. The information mapped with the first data set is verified. Further providing a gateway to accept payment based on the information. The payment maybe accepted and verified. According to the exemplary implementation updating the first data set with the payment received upon verification and sending an acknowledgement to the server and the payment gateway.
[0020] In another exemplary implementation of the present system can be used for pre-paid billing purpose. Figure 3 illustrates the implementation wherein at step 301, a query for token generation may be raised by the collection device. The query can then be transferred to the payment gateway along with pre-defined parameters required for token generation in the step 302. The query is then routed to the server according to step 303, wherein the server may be connected to a vendor server. The vendor server receives the query for token generation and based on the pre-defined parameters received generates a token in step 304. The detail of token issued is communicated back to the collection device, via the server (103) and the payment gateway (102) and a log is maintained by them.

CLAIMS:1. A bill payment collection system comprising:
at least one collection device configured to receive payment of bill.
a payment gateway communicably connected to the at least one collection device, wherein the payment gateway is further configured to authenticate the at least one collection device; and
a server communicably connected to the payment gateway.

2. The bill payment collection system of claim 1, wherein the at least one collection device is communicably connected to a means for reading and capturing details of a bill.
3. The bill payment collection system of claim 1, wherein the at least one collection device is further configured to receive bill payment in at least one form selected from cash, debit card, credit card, coupon, or online.
4. The bill collection system of claim 1, wherein the at least one collection device is authenticated by a payment gateway.
5. The bill collection system of claim 4, wherein the authentication is based on verification of a MAC Id of the at least one collection device or Volume ID of memory disk on the at least one collection device registered with the payment gateway.
6. The bill collection system of claim 1, wherein the at least one collection device it further configured to received updates via the payment gateway in the online mode.
7. The bill collection system of claim 1, wherein the at least one collection device is configured is further configured to be authenticated based on pre-defined dates and time stamps.
8. The bill collection system of claim 1, wherein the at least one collection device is configured to print an acknowledgment receipt upon receiving payment of bill, via a printing means.
9. The bill collection system of claim 1, wherein the payment gateway is configured to validate each payment of bill.
10. The bill collection system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to receive real-time update on payment of bill from the payment gateway.
11. A processor implemented bill collection method comprising:
authenticating at least one collection device with a payment gateway;
synchronizing first data set on the collection device with a second data set from the payment gateway;
capturing bill details;
receiving payment of bill against the bill details captured;
updating the first data set with payment of bill received;
generating an acknowledgement receipt and printing the acknowledgement receipt; and
transmitting the acknowledge receipt to the payment gateway.
12. The bill collection method of claim 11, further comprises real-time synchronization of the second data set with a third data set hosted in a server.
13. The bill collection method of claim 11, wherein the acknowledge receipt transmitted is verified by the payment gateway.
14. The bill collection method of claim 11, wherein the payment of bill is received in offline mode.