System and method for providing payment services in electronic commerce

• US 20060004670A1
• Filed: 05/04/2004
• Published: 01/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IdenTrust, Inc. (Assa Abloy AB)
• Original Assignee: IdenTrust, Inc. (Assa Abloy AB)
• Inventors: McKenney, Mary Keenan, Jetter, William John, Baker, Walter III, Walch, Markus, Landsmann, Peter Josef Eduard, Wong, Margaret Miu-Ling, Cameron, William Isaac, Storch, Oliver
• Granted Patent: US 7,765,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/64
• 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 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3829 involving key management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for providing a plurality of payment services to facilitate electronic commerce. In one embodiment, services are provided within the context of a four-corner trust model comprising a buyer and a seller that engage in an on-line transaction. The buyer is a customer of a first financial institution. The first financial institution acts as a certificate authority for the buyer and issues the seller a hardware token including a private key and a digital certificate signed by the first financial institution. The seller is a customer of a second financial institution. The buyer uses its private key to sign payment instructions that are forwarded to the first or second financial institution for execution. The message may be forwarded to the first financial institution indirectly via the seller and the second financial institution. Payment instruments supported by the present system may include a payment order, a payment obligation, a certified payment obligation, and conditional payments.

Claims

1. A method of providing payment services in a four-corner model, the four-corner model comprising a plurality of entities including a root entity, a first participant, a second participant, a first customer, and a second customer, the first customer being a customer of the first participant, the second customer being a customer of the second participant, each entity being provided with a digital certificate and an associated private key, the method comprising:

the first customer completing a buyer'"'"'s portion of a payment instruction, the payment instruction specifying a payment date;

the first customer signing the payment instruction with its private key;

the first customer transmitting the payment instruction to the second customer;

the second customer completing a seller'"'"'s portion of the payment instruction;

the second customer signing the payment instruction with its private key;

the second customer transmitting the payment instruction to the second participant;

the second participant completing a second participant portion of the payment instruction;

the second participant signing the payment instruction with its private key;

the second participant transmitting the payment instruction to the first participant;

the first participant executing the payment instruction on the payment date.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment instruction is a payment order instruction.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment instruction is a payment obligation instruction.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment instruction is a conditional payment order instruction.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment instruction is a conditional payment obligation instruction.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment instruction is a certified payment obligation instruction.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment instruction is a certified conditional payment obligation instruction.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first customer executes a contract with the first participant defining roles and responsibilities in connection with payment services.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the second customer executes a contract with the second participant defining roles and responsibilities in connection with payment services.

10. A method of providing payment services, the method comprising:

providing a buyer with a plurality of payment instruments, each payment instrument having associated therewith a payment instruction;

the buyer choosing one of the payment instruments;

the buyer completing at least a first portion of the payment instruction message associated with the payment instrument chosen by the buyer, the payment instruction message specifying a payment date;

the first customer signing the payment instruction message with a private key corresponding to a digital certificate of the buyer;

the signed payment instrument being received by a bank;

the bank executing the payment instruction on the payment date.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the selected payment instrument is a payment order.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the selected payment instrument is a payment obligation.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the selected payment instrument is a conditional payment order.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the selected payment instrument is a conditional payment obligation.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the selected payment instrument is a certified payment obligation.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the selected payment instrument is a certified conditional payment obligation.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the payment instrument is negotiable.

18. A method of providing payment services in a buyer to participant model, the model comprising a plurality of entities including a participant and a customer, the customer being a customer of the participant, each entity being provided with a digital certificate and an associated private key, the method comprising:

the first customer completing a buyer'"'"'s portion of a payment instruction, the payment instruction specifying a payment date;

the first customer signing the payment instruction with its private key;

the first customer transmitting the payment instruction to the participant

the participant completing a participant portion of the payment instruction;

the participant signing the payment instruction with its private key;

the participant executing the payment instruction on the payment date.

19. A method of providing payment services in a direct debit model, the direct-debit model comprising a plurality of entities including a participant, a first customer, and a second customer, the second customer being a customer of the participant, each entity being provided with a digital certificate and an associated private key, the method comprising:

the first customer completing a buyer'"'"'s portion of a payment instruction, the payment instruction specifying a payment date;

the first customer signing the payment instruction with its private key;

the first customer transmitting the payment instruction to the second customer;

the second customer completing a seller'"'"'s portion of the payment instruction;

the second customer signing the payment instruction with its private key;

the second customer transmitting the payment instruction to the participant;

the participant completing a participant portion of the payment instruction;

the participant signing the payment instruction with its private key;

the participant executing the payment instruction on the payment date.