TRANSACTION METHOD AND APPARATUS
First Claim
1. A payment method for transactions conducted over a data network between a buyer and a seller, comprising:
- receiving via the data network a request related to the transactions, the request being directed to a payer different from the buyer; and
paying the seller at a payment time independent of a number of the transactions based on a buyer account.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides a transaction system in a data network that permits transactions among a buyer, a seller, and a billing device to occur independently. The transaction system may include authorizing tokens, seller cookies and purchase tokens to provide security, efficiency as well as independent operation. The purchase token is issued by the billing device to the buyer for transactions with sellers. The seller may issue a seller cookie to the buyer so that future transactions between the buyer and the seller may occur without interacting with the billing device. The billing device may issue an authorizing token to approve a buyer purchase order and to assure the seller that the buyer account is sufficient to cover prospective purchases. The authorizing token permits the seller to send an invoice to the billing device without being tied to specific transactions with the buyer. The billing device bills the buyer based on agreements between the buyer and the billing device which is independent of buyer-seller transactions. Thus, the transactions between the buyer and the seller, the seller and the billing device, and the billing device and the buyer may all occur at times that are independent of each other.
251 Citations
46 Claims
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1. A payment method for transactions conducted over a data network between a buyer and a seller, comprising:
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receiving via the data network a request related to the transactions, the request being directed to a payer different from the buyer; and
paying the seller at a payment time independent of a number of the transactions based on a buyer account. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A billing device that pays for transactions conducted over a data network between a buyer and a seller, comprising:
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a database; and
a controller coupled to the database, the controller receiving via the data network a request related to the transactions, the request being directed to a payer different from the buyer, and paying the seller at a payment time independent of a number of the transactions based on a buyer account stored in the database. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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14. The device of
claim 14 , wherein the controller authorizes a payment commitment between the buyer and the seller by issuing an authorizing token to the seller.
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15. The device of
claim 15 , wherein the request is one of an invoice from the seller for the transactions, or an approval request for a purchase order from either the buyer or the seller, the controller retrieving a buyer identification from the request based on either a purchase token or the authorizing token, and retrieving the buyer account based on the buyer identification.
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16. The device of
claim 16 , wherein if the request is an invoice, the controller pays the invoice if that the buyer account is sufficient to pay the invoice, indicates to the seller a later payment time if the buyer account is insufficient to pay the invoice when received but sufficient to pay the invoice a later time, or indicates to the seller that the buyer account is unable to pay the invoice.
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25. A method for billing a payer for a plurality of transactions conducted between a buyer and a seller over a data network, comprising:
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receiving approval for a first number of purchase orders from the payer different from the buyer;
conducting a second number of the transactions over the data network with the buyer; and
billing the payer for the transactions a third number of times, wherein the first, second and third numbers are independent of each other. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A seller device that billing a buyer for a plurality of transactions conducted with a seller over a data network, comprising:
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a database; and
a controller coupled to the database, the controller receiving approval for a first number of purchase orders from a payer different from the buyer, conducting a second number of the transactions over the data network with the buyer, and billing the payer for the transactions a third number of times, wherein the first, second and third numbers are independent of each other. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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Specification