Method and system for processing a transaction

• US 20070199985A9
• Filed: 04/04/2005
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jolly Seven, Series 70 of Allied Security Trust I (Allied Security Trust)
• Original Assignee: Paymentone Corporation
• Inventors: Truitt, Jennifer, Philbin, M., Dawson, Ken, Lynam, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 7,527,194 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/16 Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

A method of, and system for, processing payment for a transaction is provided. The method includes providing a user with an option to select payment for the transaction from an account associated with a communication line via which an electronic terminal is connected to a communication network. The communication line is typically a subscriber line and, accordingly, the account is a telephone account associated with the subscriber line. When a user transacts with a vendor for goods and/or services, the user may request to process payment using the telephone account instead of using a credit or debit card. The method includes investigating data using the telephone number associated with the subscriber line and, selectively approving the transaction dependent upon an outcome of the investigation. The invention extends to a transaction processor interface and to and a transaction validation module. The invention also extends to computer program products including the invention.

Claims

1. A method of processing a transaction record, the method including:

receiving a credit card authorization request associated with a transaction, the credit card authorization request being received from a computer system and selectively including a telephone number associated with a subscriber line;

obtaining the telephone number from the credit card authorization request;

performing a validation process based at least in part on the telephone number and generating a transaction validation indicator;

generating a credit card authorization response including the transaction validation indicator; and

communicating the credit card authorization response to the computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, in which the telephone number replaces a credit card number.

3. The method of claim 1, in which the computer system includes a Customer Management System.

4. The method of claim 1, in which performing the validation process includes:

creating a line identification database (LIDB) request record;

communicating the LIDB request record to a line identification database (LIDB);

receiving LIDB data from the line identification database (LIDB); and

generating the transaction validation indicator at least partially based on the LIDB data.

5. The method of claim 1, which includes:

at a vendor computer system,

identifying the telephone number of the subscriber line using automatic number identification (ANI) techniques;

providing a credit card authorization request for communication via a network to a transaction processing facility;

inserting the telephone number into the credit card authorization request; and

communicating the credit card authorization request to the transaction processing facility.

6. The method of claim 1, which includes routing the credit card authorization request to a financial card gateway when the credit card authorization request does not include a telephone number.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction is billed to an account associated with the subscriber line.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein if a billing failure occurs in which the account associated with the subscriber line is not billable, the method includes:

creating a credit card billing failure record; and

communicating the credit card billing failure record via a network to the computer system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the credit card authorization request includes a tracking ID field, a name field, at least one address field, a city field, a state field, a ZIP code field, a billing telephone number field, an amount field, and a credit card number field that includes the telephone number.

10. The method of claim 1, which includes:

receiving a plurality of credit card transaction records from a Customer Management System, each credit card transaction record being associated with an approved credit card authorization request;

identifying which one or more credit card transaction records of the plurality of credit card transaction records includes a telephone number replacing a credit card number;

communicating each identified credit card transaction record to at least one telephone account transaction processing computer to process payment in an account associated with the subscriber line; and

communicating a credit card record to the Customer Management System to indicate that the transaction has been processed.

11. A machine-readable medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the method of claim 1.

12. A system to process a transaction record, the system including:

an interface to receive a credit card authorization request associated with a transaction, the credit card authorization request being received from a computer system and selectively including a telephone number associated with a subscriber line;

an extraction module to obtain the telephone number from the credit card authorization request; and

a processing module to;

perform a validation process based at least in part on the telephone number and generate a transaction validation indicator; and

generate a credit card authorization response including the transaction validation indicator,

wherein the credit card authorization response is communicated to the computer system.

13. The system of claim 12, in which the telephone number replaces a credit card number.

14. The system of claim 12, in which the computer system includes a Customer Management System.

15. The system of claim 12, in which the processing module:

creates a line identification database (LIDB) request record for communication to a line identification database (LIDB); and

in response to LIDB data received from the line identification database (LIDB), generates the transaction validation indicator at least partially based on the LIDB data.

16. The system of claim 12, which includes a vendor computer system, wherein the vendor computer system:

identifies the telephone number of the subscriber line using automatic number identification (ANI) techniques;

provides a credit card authorization request for communication via a network to a transaction processing facility;

inserts the telephone number into the credit card authorization request; and

communicates the credit card authorization request to the transaction processing facility.

17. The system of claim 12, which routes the credit card authorization request to a financial card gateway when the credit card authorization request does not include a telephone number.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein if a billing failure occurs in which the account associated with the subscriber line is unbillable, the processing module creates a credit card billing failure record for communication to the computer system.

19. The system of claim 12, which is configured to:

receive a plurality of credit card transaction records from a Customer Management System, each credit card transaction record being associated with an approved credit card authorization request;

identify which one or more credit card transaction records of the plurality of credit card transaction records includes a telephone number replacing a credit card number;

communicate each identified credit card transaction record to at least one telephone account transaction processing computer to process payment in an account associated with the subscriber line; and

communicate a credit card record to the Customer Management System to indicate that the transaction has been processed.

20. A system to process a transaction record, the system including:

means for receiving a credit card authorization request in response to a transaction, the credit card authorization request being received from a computer system and selectively including a telephone number associated with a subscriber line;

means for obtaining the telephone number from the credit card authorization request;

means for performing a validation process based at least in part on the telephone number and generating a transaction validation indicator;

means for generating a credit card authorization response including the transaction validation indicator; and

means for communicating the credit card authorization response to the computer system.