US Patent 7251656 Electronic payments using multiple unique payee identifiers

To make a payment to a payee on behalf of a payor, the payment service provider receives, via a network, a first payment request to make a first payment to a payee on behalf of a first payor and a second payment request to make a second payment to the payee on behalf of a second payor. The first request has first identity information identifying the payee and the second request has second identity information identifying the payee. The payment service provider accesses first data associated with the first payor to identify a first unique payee identifier associated with the payee based on the first payee identity information and second data associated with the second payor to identify a different second unique payee identifier associated with the payee based on the second payee identity information. The payment service provider retrieves first electronic payment information for the payee based on the identified first unique payee identifier and different second electronic payment information for the payee based on the identified second unique payee identifier. The payment service provider can then direct a first electronic payment to the payee on behalf of the first payor based upon the retrieved first electronic payment information and a second electronic payment to the payee on behalf of the second payor based upon the retrieved second electronic payment information.