METHOD FOR CONDUCTING AN ELECTRONIC COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION

• US 20090125417A1
• Filed: 01/12/2009
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Inventors: Alfano, Nicholas P.
• Application Number:
  US12/352,340
• Publication Number:
  US 20090125417A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• 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 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/16 Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• 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 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A method for conducting an e-commerce transaction between a user and a merchant is disclosed. The user has a customer account with a communication provider operating a first communication network. The customer account includes personal information about the user. The method includes the steps of: a) establishing communication between the user and the communication provider over the first communication network; b) authenticating the user to the communication provider; c) selecting a product from the merchant for the e-commerce transaction; d) retrieving the personal information about the user from the customer account; and e) completing the e-commerce transaction.

Claims

1. A method for use by a communication provider in an e-commerce transaction comprising:

a) providing a customer account and access to a wireless network to a customer, the customer account including personal information pertaining to the customer;

b) forwarding a request for an e-commerce transaction transmitted from a wireless mobile device operated by the customer through the wireless network to a wired network for receipt by a merchant, the request including information pertaining to at least one of the merchant'"'"'s products and customer identification information, the customer identification information being provided using an application level protocol and automatically by the mobile device without the customer inputting the customer identification information with the request, the customer identification information not including financial instrument related information;

c) responding to a request from a credential verification server for personal information pertaining to the customer by providing the requested personal information from the customer account, the credential verification server having been selected by a consolidation server which selected an appropriate credential verification server from at least a first credential verification server and a second credential verification server, wherein the first and second credential verification server are operated by different communication providers, the consolation server having been contacted by the merchant, the merchant having detected the customer identification information in the request for an e-commerce transaction, in response to detecting the customer identification information the merchant having launched an application that recognizes that required personal information relating to the customer may be obtained from a credential verification server, wherein the customer is not contacted via a network connection that is different from the network connection used to forward the request for an e-commerce transaction to the merchant or another device to provide the required personal information or to approve the transaction, wherein the merchant receives the requested personal information from the credential verification server and completes the e-commerce transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the credential verification server caches the personal information of the customer thereon.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the required personal information further comprises the user'"'"'s name, address, and financial instrument information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the required personal information further comprises the user'"'"'s credit history.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the required personal information further comprises wireless network authentication information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of completing the e-commerce transaction comprises debiting a financial instrument received from the credential verification server as part of the required personal information for payment for the merchant'"'"'s product.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of completing the e-commerce transaction comprises submitting a purchase record to the communication provider for payment for the merchant'"'"'s product.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the application level protocol is an XML (Extensible Markup Language) based protocol.

9. A method for use by a credential verification server in an e-commerce transaction comprising:

a) receiving a request from a merchant for required personal information pertaining to a customer after the merchant receives via a network connection a request for an e-commerce transaction from a wireless mobile device operated by the customer over a wireless network and after being selected by a consolidation server as an appropriate credential verification server over a different credential verification server operated by a different communication provider, the request including information pertaining to at least one of the merchant'"'"'s products and customer identification information, the consolidation server having been contacted by the merchant, wherein the wireless network is operated by a communication provider, the customer having a customer account with the communication provider, the customer account including personal information pertaining to the customer, the merchant having detected the customer identification information in the request for an e-commerce transaction, the customer identification information having been provided using an application level protocol and automatically by the mobile device without the customer inputting the customer identification information with the request, the customer identification information not including financial instrument related information, the merchant in response to detecting the customer identification information having launched an application that recognizes that required personal information relating to the customer may be obtained from a credential verification server;

b) obtaining the required personal information from the customer account with the communication provider, wherein the customer is not contacted via a different network connection or another device to provide the required personal information or to approve the transaction;

c) transmitting the required personal information to the merchant, wherein the merchant completes the e-commerce transaction.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of caching the personal information of the customer.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the required personal information further comprises the user'"'"'s name, address, and financial instrument information.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the required personal information further comprises the user'"'"'s credit history.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the required personal information further comprises wireless network authentication information.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of completing the e-commerce transaction comprises debiting a financial instrument received as part of the required personal information for payment for the merchant'"'"'s product.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of completing the e-commerce transaction comprises submitting a purchase record to the communication provider for payment for the merchant'"'"'s product.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the application level protocol is an XML (Extensible Markup Language) based protocol.

17. A method for use by a consolidation server in an e-commerce transaction comprising:

a) receiving a request from a merchant for required personal information pertaining to a customer after the merchant receives via a network connection a request for an e-commerce transaction from a wireless mobile device operated by the customer over a wireless network, the request including information pertaining to at least one of the merchant'"'"'s products and customer identification information, wherein the wireless network is operated by a communication provider, the customer having a customer account with the communication provider, the customer account including the required personal information pertaining to the customer, the merchant having detected the customer identification information in the request for an e-commerce transaction, the customer identification information having been provided using an application level protocol and automatically by the mobile device without the customer inputting the customer identification information with the request, the customer identification information not including financial instrument related information, the merchant in response to detecting the customer identification information having launched an application that recognizes that the required personal information relating to the customer may be obtained from a credential verification server;

b) selecting a first credential verification server as an appropriate credential verification server over a second credential verification server wherein the first and second credential verification servers are operated by different communication providers;

c) forwarding the request from a merchant for required personal information to the selected credential verification server, wherein the selected credential verification server obtains the required personal information from the customer account with the communication provider, wherein the customer is not contacted via a different network connection or another device to provide the required personal information or to approve the transaction, and wherein the selected credential verification server transmits the required personal information to the merchant, wherein the merchant completes the e-commerce transaction.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of caching the personal information of the customer.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the required personal information further comprises the user'"'"'s name, address, and financial instrument information.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the required personal information further comprises the user'"'"'s credit history.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein the required personal information further comprises wireless network authentication information.

22. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of completing the e-commerce transaction comprises debiting a financial instrument received as part of the required personal information for payment for the merchant'"'"'s product.

23. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of completing the e-commerce transaction comprises submitting a purchase record to the communication provider for payment for the merchant'"'"'s product.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the application level protocol is an XML (Extensible Markup Language) based protocol.