Secure on-line payment system

• US 20050049963A1
• Filed: 06/04/2002
• Published: 03/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mainline Patent Holdings, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Mainline Patent Holdings, Ltd.
• Inventors: Barry, Gerard J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,219,488 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/351 Virtual cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of e-commerce and in particular to making purchases on-line using payment card, for example debit, charge or credit cards. The concept of the present invention adopts an alternative approach to security methods presently employed to protect cardholders. The concept obviates the need for a cardholder to transmit Card Numbers along with other purchasing details at the time of purchase and couples this with the use of a password feature. This renders the transaction akin to a Bank Cash withdrawal that Bank/card Schemes are totally happy with from a security point of view but are reluctant to allow e-commerce and/or any others access to their “network” to ensure Security.

Claims

1-25. -25. (Cancelled).

26. a computer data processing method for processing an on-line payment transaction, comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a payment card cardholder to connect to a network, said request including a cardholder password,

authenticating said cardholder request and providing access by said cardholder to the network,

receiving a payment request associated with the cardholder, said payment request identifying merchant information including a merchant code identifier and a transaction value,

retrieving payment card details for the cardholder from a cardholder details database,

submitting a payment authorisation request for the payment card details, the authorisation request including the merchant code and transaction value, to an authorisation host for authorising the transaction, and

upon receipt of an authorisation, forwarding confirmation of the authorisation to the merchant.

27. The computer data processing method according to claim 26, further comprising the step of requesting a merchant code identifier from the merchant.

28. The computer data processing method for processing an on-line payment transaction of claim 26, further comprising the step of posting the payment request to a payment host for processing of the payment transaction.

29. The computer data processing method for processing an on-line payment transaction according to claim 28, further comprising the step of delaying posting the payment request until a confirmation of delivery has been received.

30. The computer data processing method of claim 26, further comprising the step of verifying to ensure that the cardholder information provided to a merchant matches cardholder information stored in the cardholder'"'"'s details database.

31. A computer data processing method for processing an on-line payment transaction, comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a cardholder to connect to a network, said request including a cardholder password,

authenticating said cardholder request and providing access by said cardholder to the network,

receiving a first transaction request associated with a transaction between a merchant and the cardholder,

retrieving payment card details for the cardholder from a database,

submitting a payment authorisation request for the payment card details, the authorisation request including a system merchant code and transaction value, to an authorisation host for authorising the transaction, and on receipt of an authorisation, forwarding a transaction request to the merchant, the request including a cardholder payment card code.

32. The computer data processing method according to claim 31, further comprising the step of requesting a merchant code identifier from the merchant.

33. The computer data processing method for processing an on-line payment transaction according to claim 31, further comprising the step of posting the payment request to a payment host for processing of the payment transaction.

34. The computer data processing method for processing an on-line payment transaction according to claim 33, further comprising the step of delaying posting the payment request until a confirmation of delivery has been received.

35. The computer data processing method for processing an on-line payment transaction according to claim 31, wherein a further verification is performed to ensure that the cardholder information provided to a merchant matches cardholder information stored in the database.

36. A system for processing an on-line payment transaction, the system having a connection to the Internet and a further connection via a local network to the terminal of a cardholder comprising:

receiving means for receiving a request from a cardholder to connect to a network, said request including a cardholder password,

authentication means for authenticating said cardholder request and providing access by said cardholder to the network,

receiving means for retrieving payment card details for the cardholder from a database,

authorising means for submitting a payment authorisation request for the payment card details, the authorisation request including a system merchant code and transaction value to an authorisation host for authorising the transaction, and

transaction means responsive to receipt of an authorisation from the authorisation host and adapted to forward a transaction request to the merchant, the request including a master cardholder account code.

37. The system of claim 36, further comprising merchant request means for requesting a merchant code identifier from the merchant.

38. The system of claim 36, further comprising a payment posting means for posting the payment request to a payment host for processing the payment transaction.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the payment posting means delays posting the payment request until a confirmation of delivery has been received.

40. The system according to claim 36, wherein the verification means is adapted to perform a second verification to ensure that the cardholder information provided to a merchant matches cardholder information stored in the database.

41. A payment processing system for processing an on-line payment transaction between a merchant and a cardholder comprising:

means for receiving a payment transaction request, said payment request identifying merchant information including a merchant code identifier and a transaction value,

association means for associating a cardholder with the received payment request,

means for retrieving payment card details for the cardholder from a datastore of cardholder card details,

authorisation means for submitting a payment authorisation request for the retrieved payment card details, the payment authorisation request including the retrieved payment card details, the merchant code of the payment request and the transaction value of the payment request to an authorisation host for authorising the transaction, and

confirmation means which is adapted to forward confirmation of an authorisation received in response to a submitted authorisation request.

42. The system of claim 41, further comprising merchant request means for requesting a merchant code identifier from the merchant.

43. The system of claim 41, further comprising a payment posting means for posting the payment request to a payment host for processing of the payment transaction.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the payment posting means delays posting the payment request until a confirmation of delivery has been received.

45. The system according to claim 41, wherein the verification means is adapted to perform a second verification to ensure that the cardholder information provided to a merchant matches cardholder information stored in the database.

46. A payment processing system for processing an on-line payment transaction between a merchant and a cardholder, comprising:

means for receiving a payment transaction request, said payment request identifying merchant information including a merchant code identifier and a transaction value,

association means for associating a cardholder with the received payment request,

means for retrieving payment card details for the cardholder from a datastore of cardholder details,

authorisation means for submitting a payment authorisation request for the retrieved payment card details, the payment authorisation request including the retrieved payment card details, a system merchant code and the transaction value of the payment request to an authorisation host for authorising the transaction, and

response means responsive to receipt of an authorisation and adapted to forward a transaction request to the merchant, the request including a system cardholder account code.

47. The system of claim 46, further comprising merchant request means for requesting a merchant code identifier from the merchant.

48. The system of claim 46, further comprising a payment posting means for posting the payment request to a payment host for processing of the payment transaction.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein the payment posting means delays posting the payment request until a confirmation of delivery has been received.

50. The system according to claim 46, wherein the verification means is adapted to perform a second verification to ensure that the cardholder information provided to a merchant matches cardholder information stored in the database.