SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS
First Claim
1. A system for use by a financial service institution to provide an account linked to a consumer payment instrument, the system comprising:
- a computer network for transmitting payment processing commands;
a point-of-sale station associated with a merchant and in communication with the computer network, wherein the point-of-sale station is configured to receive information from the payment instrument;
a transaction server associated with the financial service institution and in communication with the computer network, wherein the transaction server is configured to create the account, deposit value in the account, and to receive payment processing commands from the point-of-sale station;
wherein the account is linked to the payment instrument; and
wherein the information from the payment instrument provides access to the account.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A payment processing system to provide merchant-specific accounts to consumers that are accessed by payment instruments. In one embodiment, the payment processing system can create and provide a variety of payment methodologies for purchases, such as pay-as-you-go, virtual prepaid, virtual subscription, and post-paid purchases. The merchant may, in some embodiments provide consumers with merchant rewards accounts and an opportunity to earn reward points or other loyalty-based currencies through qualifying purchase transactions. The consumer may access their merchant-specific accounts for purchase payment using a preferred payment instrument, such as a credit or debit card.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A system for use by a financial service institution to provide an account linked to a consumer payment instrument, the system comprising:
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a computer network for transmitting payment processing commands; a point-of-sale station associated with a merchant and in communication with the computer network, wherein the point-of-sale station is configured to receive information from the payment instrument; a transaction server associated with the financial service institution and in communication with the computer network, wherein the transaction server is configured to create the account, deposit value in the account, and to receive payment processing commands from the point-of-sale station; wherein the account is linked to the payment instrument; and wherein the information from the payment instrument provides access to the account. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. In a payment processing system, a computer-implemented method for performing a transaction with a consumer'"'"'s payment instrument linked to a first account, the method comprising:
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receiving a request to open a merchant-specific second account; in response to the request, creating a merchant-specific second account; linking the merchant-specific second account to the payment instrument; depositing value in the linked merchant-specific second account to increase an account balance at a first transaction time; and at a second transaction time, after the first transaction time, accessing the linked merchant-specific second account with the payment instrument. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause at least one computer to perform a method of providing an account linked to a consumer-owned payment instrument, the method comprising:
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receiving information from the payment instrument at a point-of-sale station; receiving a request to open the account for future instrument-initiated payment transactions with the merchant; in response to the request, creating the account and linking the account to the payment instrument, wherein the account is the preferred payment account for future payment transactions; transferring funds from a consumer-owned funding source to the account; and accessing the account with the payment instrument during a purchase transaction. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. An apparatus for providing a merchant-specific account linked to a consumer-owned instrument to provide payment options for purchasing transactions, the apparatus comprising:
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an account activation module configured to receive a request from a merchant for merchant-specific account activation and linkage of the account to the instrument; a fund request module configured to communicate with a financial service institution processor, wherein the communication includes requesting a transfer of funds from a consumer-owned account to a merchant-owned account; an account management module configured to transmit a merchant-specific account verification status in response to a merchant request and provide access to the merchant-specific account; and a virtual debit module configured to debit an account balance associated with the merchant-specific account by a purchase transaction amount. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification