Micropayment system
First Claim
1. A network-based method for performing cashless payments between a customer and a vendor providing services in said network, whereby an amount from a customer'"'"'s account at a trusted third party is debited by said vendor for each access of said customer to said vendor'"'"'s services provided on said network, characterized in that said method comprises the step of assigning a limited maximum amount to said customer'"'"'s account and allowing said vendor to debit said customer'"'"'s account at said trusted third party for each access to said vendor'"'"'s network service until said limited maximum amount is reached by performing a single authorization step for said assigned limited maximum amount before the first access to said vendor'"'"'s network services.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A network-based method for performing cashless payments between a customer and a vendor providing services in the network is provided, whereby an amount from a customer'"'"'s account at a trusted third party is debited by the vendor for each access of the customer to the vendor'"'"'s services provided on the network. The method comprises the step of assigning a limited maximum amount to the customer'"'"'s account and allowing the vendor to debit the customer'"'"'s account at the trusted third party for each access to the vendor'"'"'s network service until the limited maximum amount is reached by performing a single authorization step for the assigned limited maximum amount before the first access to the vendor'"'"'s network services.
-
Citations
25 Claims
-
1. A network-based method for performing cashless payments between a customer and a vendor providing services in said network, whereby an amount from a customer'"'"'s account at a trusted third party is debited by said vendor for each access of said customer to said vendor'"'"'s services provided on said network, characterized in that
said method comprises the step of assigning a limited maximum amount to said customer'"'"'s account and allowing said vendor to debit said customer'"'"'s account at said trusted third party for each access to said vendor'"'"'s network service until said limited maximum amount is reached by performing a single authorization step for said assigned limited maximum amount before the first access to said vendor'"'"'s network services.
-
12. A method according to any one of the proceeding claims, characterized in that said trusted third party registers said limited maximum amount.
-
23. A system for performing cashless payments between a customer and a vendor providing services in said network, whereby an amount from a customer'"'"'s account at a trusted third party is debitable by said vendor for each access of said customer to said vendor'"'"'s services provided on said network, said system comprising
a) authentication means for authenticating said customer; -
b) limit setting and limit checking device means setting and checking a limited maximum amount to said customer'"'"'s account;
c) charging means for allowing said vendor to send billing requests; and
d) means for accessing said trusted third party by software. - View Dependent Claims (25)
-
Specification