System and method for securing a credit account
First Claim
1. A computer system for approving a commercial transaction between a user with account information and a merchant, said computer system comprising:
- a processing unit for processing data and code;
memory for storing said data and said code;
a merchant interface operative to receive one or more transaction approval requests from one or more merchants;
an account-holder interface operative to receive a series of activation and deactivation instructions from an account-holder associated with a credit account, whereby said account-holder can repeatedly activate and deactivate said credit account; and
an authorization module operative to deny ones of said transaction approval requests initiated during periods of deactivation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method is disclosed for verifying a commercial transaction between a card-holder, a merchant, and a credit card company. The card-holder makes a purchase with the merchant using a full credit card number. The merchant submits a transaction approval request for approval with the credit card company. The credit card company executes conventional credit approval of the transaction approval request, as well as verifies the transaction approval request with the card-holder. An approval is sent to the merchant only after the transaction approval request is both conventionally approved by the credit card company and verified by the card-holder. The card-holder, or the credit card company, may initiate verification of the transaction approval request. The transaction approval request can also be automatically verified if one or many pre-verification criteria is/are satisfied by data contained in the transaction approval request. The pre-verification criteria can be initially determined and/or modified by the card-holder. As another security feature, the card-holder may selectively activate and deactivate their credit card/account as desired. The credit card itself includes indicia of security measures.
20 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A computer system for approving a commercial transaction between a user with account information and a merchant, said computer system comprising:
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a processing unit for processing data and code;
memory for storing said data and said code;
a merchant interface operative to receive one or more transaction approval requests from one or more merchants;
an account-holder interface operative to receive a series of activation and deactivation instructions from an account-holder associated with a credit account, whereby said account-holder can repeatedly activate and deactivate said credit account; and
an authorization module operative to deny ones of said transaction approval requests initiated during periods of deactivation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. In a computer system, a method for facilitating commercial transactions between a user with account information and a merchant, said method comprising:
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receiving a series of separate communications from an account-holder associated with said account information, some of said communications including deactivation instructions and others of said communications including reactivation instructions, said deactivation instructions and said reactivation instructions defining interspersed periods of activation and deactivation of an account associated with said account information;
receiving a transaction approval request from said merchant, said transaction approval request including data indicative of said account associated with said account information;
determining whether said transaction approval request was initiated during one of said periods of deactivation; and
denying said transaction approval request if said transaction approval request was initiated during one of said periods of deactivation. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification