System and Method of Transferring Data Through Transaction Process

• US 20090077131A1
• Filed: 11/24/2008
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mtrex Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Mtrex Incorporated
• Inventors: Matthews, David J., Knowles, W. Jeffrey, Day, Russell Hales
• Granted Patent: US 8,170,928 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• 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 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/381 Currency conversion

Abstract

A transaction process system (10) provides for data transactions between parties. In a credit card transaction, the parties are the merchant (20), acquiring bank (24), card association (34), issuing bank (14), and cardholder (12). A transaction processing center (30) is positioned between the acquiring bank and the card association. The transaction processing center provides data processing channels for message-based processing (72) and filed-based processing (76). The file-based processing uses an incoming queue (80) and outgoing queue (84) to simplify the interface. The transaction processing center also provides for currency conversions and account reconciliation on a per transaction basis. The transaction processing center uses a scheduler (160) to efficiently manage the data processing resources.

Claims

1-26. -26. (canceled)

27. A computer implemented method of processing data through a transaction processing system, comprising:

acquiring transaction data from a data source over a file transfer protocol connection using a hard-wired or wireless communication line, the transaction data including a plurality of transaction files having a plurality of data formats, each transaction file having a file attribute, and one of the plurality of transaction files including a plurality of clearing and settlement transactions, the transaction data describing executed credit-card transactions for goods or services, each transaction entry including identification information retrieved from a magnetic strip of a credit card;

storing the plurality of transaction files into a first queue on a first computer system, wherein the first queue includes a register that can accommodate the transaction files of variable file length with associated start and stop locations for each of the transaction files;

selecting a first transaction file for processing from the first queue using a hierarchical prioritization scheme, the hierarchical prioritization scheme including a hierarchical listing of file attributes, and wherein selecting a first transaction file for processing includes comparing the file attributes associated with the transaction files in the first queue to the hierarchical listing of file attributes in the hierarchical prioritization scheme;

identifying a data processing path for the first transaction file according to data processing procedures and contents or attributes associated with the first transaction file, wherein the data processing path includes one of a plurality of data processing channels, wherein each of the data processing channels includes software for processing the transaction files in the first queue having particular contents or attributes;

processing the transaction data from the first transaction file through one of the plurality of data processing channels;

storing processed transaction data in a computer-readable medium; and

displaying the processed transaction data on a display screen.

28. The method of claim 27, including:

storing processed transaction data from the transaction processing system into a second transaction file; and

storing the second transaction file in a second queue for access by a data destination, wherein the second queue includes a register or a stack that can accommodate the second transaction files of variable file length with associated start and stop locations for each of the second transaction files.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein one of the plurality of transaction files is selected from the first queue based on a value of a data field stored in each of the plurality of transaction files.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein one of the plurality of transaction files is selected from the first queue based on a file attribute of each of the plurality of transaction files.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the file attribute is a file extension name.

32. The method of claim 27, including storing processed transaction data into a data storage medium.

33. The method of claim 27, including:

providing a first CPU, the first CPU interfacing only with the first queue; and

utilizing the first CPU to select the first transaction file based on a first selection criteria.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the first selection criteria includes a file number, status, or contents of the first transaction file.

35. The method of claim 33, including:

providing a second CPU, the second CPU interfacing only with the first queue; and

utilizing the second CPU to select a second transaction file from the first queue based on a second selection criteria.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the second selection criteria includes a priority.

37. A computer implemented method of processing data through a transaction processing system, comprising:

acquiring transaction data from a data source over a file transfer protocol connection using a hard-wired or wireless communication line, the transaction data including a plurality of transaction files having a plurality of data formats, each transaction file having a file attribute, the transaction data describing executed credit-card transactions for goods or services, each transaction entry including identification information retrieved from a magnetic strip of a credit card;

providing a first queue for storing the plurality of transaction files on a first computer system, wherein the first queue includes a register that can accommodate the transaction files of variable file length with associated start and stop locations for each of the transaction files;

providing a data processor to select a first transaction file from the first queue using a prioritization scheme, the prioritization scheme including a listing of file attributes, and wherein selecting a first transaction file from the first queue includes comparing the file attributes associated with the transaction files in the first queue to the listing of file attributes in the prioritization scheme;

using the data processor to identify a data processing path for the first transaction file according to data processing procedures and contents or attributes associated with the first transaction file, wherein the data processing path includes one of a plurality of data processing channels, wherein each of the data processing channels is dedicated to processing the transaction files in the first queue having particular contents or attributes;

using the data processor to process the transaction data from the first transaction file through one of the data processing channels;

storing processed transaction data in a computer-readable medium; and

displaying the processed transaction data on a display screen.

38. The method of claim 37, including:

storing processed transaction data from the transaction processing system into a second transaction file; and

providing a second queue for storing the second transaction file for access by a data destination, wherein the second queue includes a register or a stack that can accommodate the second transaction files of variable file length with associated start and stop locations for each of the transaction files.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein one of the plurality of transaction files is selected from the first queue based on a value of a data field stored in each of the plurality of transaction files.

40. The method of claim 37, including storing processed transaction data into a data storage medium.

41. The method of claim 37, including:

providing a first CPU, the first CPU interfacing only with the first queue; and

utilizing the first CPU to select the first transaction file based on a first selection criteria.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the first selection criteria includes a file number.

43. The method of claim 41, including:

providing a second CPU, the second CPU interfacing only with the first queue; and

utilizing the second CPU to select a second transaction file from the first queue based on a second selection criteria.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the second selection criteria includes a priority.

45. A transaction processing system, comprising:

means for acquiring transaction data from a data source over a file transfer protocol connection using a hard-wired or wireless communication line, the transaction data including a plurality of transaction files having a plurality of data formats, each transaction file having a file attribute, the transaction data describing executed credit-card transactions for goods or services, each transaction entry including identification information retrieved from a magnetic strip of a credit card;

means for storing the plurality of transaction files into a first queue on a first computer system, wherein the first queue includes a register that can accommodate the transaction files of variable file length with associated start and stop locations for each of the transaction files;

means for selecting a first transaction file from the first queue using a prioritization scheme, the prioritization scheme including a listing of file attributes, and wherein selecting a first transaction file from the first queue includes comparing the file attributes associated with the transaction files in the first queue to the listing of file attributes in the prioritization scheme;

means for identifying a data processing path for the first transaction file according to data processing procedures and contents or attributes associated with the first transaction file, wherein the data processing path includes one of a plurality of separate data processing channels, wherein each of the data processing channels is dedicated to processing the transaction files in the first queue having particular contents or attributes;

means for processing the transaction data from the first transaction file through one of the plurality of data processing channels;

means for storing processed transaction data in a computer-readable medium; and

means for displaying the processed transaction data on a display screen.

46. The transaction processing system of claim 45, including:

means for storing processed transaction data from the transaction processing system into a second transaction file; and

means for storing the second transaction file in a second queue for access by a data destination, wherein the second queue includes a register or a stack that can accommodate the second transaction files of variable file length with associated start and stop locations for each of the second transaction files.

47. The transaction processing system of claim 45, including:

a first CPU for selecting the first transaction file based on a first selection criteria, the first CPU interfacing only with the first queue; and

a second CPU for selecting a second transaction file based on a second selection criteria, the second CPU interfacing only with the first queue.

48. The transaction processing system of claim 47, wherein the first selection criteria includes a file number.

49. The transaction processing system of claim 47, wherein the second selection criteria includes a priority.

50. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon for execution by a processor to perform a method for processing data through a transaction processing system comprising:

acquiring transaction data from a data source over a file transfer protocol connection using a hard-wired or wireless communication line, the transaction data including a plurality of transaction files having a plurality of data formats, each transaction file having a file attribute, the transaction data describing executed credit-card transactions for goods or services, each transaction entry including identification information retrieved from a magnetic strip of a credit card;

storing the transaction data as a plurality of transaction files into a first queue on a first computer system, wherein the first queue includes a register that can accommodate transaction files of variable file length with associated start and stop locations for each of the transaction files;

selecting a first transaction file for processing from the first queue using a selection scheme, the selection scheme including a listing of file attributes or contents, and wherein selecting a first transaction file from the first queue includes comparing the file attributes or contents associated with the transaction files in the first queue to the listing of file attributes or contents in the selection scheme;

identifying a data processing path for the first transaction file according to data processing procedures and contents or attributes associated with the first transaction file, wherein the data processing path includes one of a plurality of separate data processing channels, wherein each of the data processing channels is dedicated to processing the transaction files in the first queue having particular contents or attributes; and

processing the transaction data from the first transaction file through one of the plurality of data processing channels;

storing processed transaction data in a computer-readable medium; and

displaying the processed transaction data on a display screen.