METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING DATA AND ENABLING PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN MULITPLE ENTITIES

• US 20120215693A1
• Filed: 02/17/2012
• Published: 08/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Faith, Patrick, Carlson, Mark, Harris, Theodore D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,856,043 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/027 involving a payment switch or gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification

Abstract

A system for conducting payment transaction includes a network-enabled server that communicates with one or more user devices, other network-enabled server computers, and a payment processing network server computer. The network-enabled server facilitates transactions between one or more merchants and users by a managing data flow and interactions between the merchants and the users, providing storage area for storing of all transaction related documents, and providing seamless integration with a payment processing network for payment processing.

Claims

1. A system for processing transactions, the system comprising:

a payment processing network server computer configured to communicate with an issuer to process payment requests; and

a network-enabled server computer configured to communicate with one or more external systems, wherein the network-enabled server computer is further configured to;

receive a payment request from a merchant computer for authorizing payment for a transaction;

request, from the merchant computer, additional information associated with the transaction;

send a validation request to a user device to validate the payment request;

receive, from the user device, a response to the validation request;

receive, from the user device, an alias identifier for a user associated with the transaction;

determine payment account information for the user based at least in part on the alias identifier; and

communicate the payment account information to the payment processing network server computer.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the network-enabled server computer is further configured to:

receive information from the payment processing network server computer indicating successful processing of the payment transaction; and

communicate the information to the merchant computer and/or the user device.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the payment processing network server computer is configured to:

communicate with an issuer associated with the payment account to authorize the payment; and

communicate with an acquirer associated with the merchant to complete the payment transaction.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the network-enabled server computer communicates with the user device and the merchant computer using WSDL or JSON messaging techniques.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the network-enabled server computer communicates with the user device and the merchant computer using RESTful computing techniques.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the additional information associated with the transaction comprises audio, video, an image, text, or a graphic.

7. A network-enabled server computer comprising:

an alias database comprising information about one or more aliases;

an alias hierarchy database comprising association information between an alias and one or more objects associated with the alias;

an application interface configured to communicate with one or more external devices; and

a data storage configured to store data.

8. The network-enabled server computer of claim 7 wherein the one or more aliases comprise identifiers associated with a plurality of entities, wherein an entity includes an individual or a company.

9. The network-enabled server computer of claim 7 wherein the alias database includes payment account information associated with an alias.

10. The network-enabled server computer of claim 7 wherein the one or more objects include mobile communication devices, televisions, and gaming consoles.

11. The network-enabled server computer of claim 7 wherein the application interface is configured to communicate with the one or more external devices using WSDL and/or JSON messaging techniques.

12. The network-enabled server computer of claim 7 wherein the data storage stores information related to a transaction except payment account information.

13. The network-enabled server computer of claim 12 wherein the information related to the transaction includes audio, video, images, text, or graphics.

14. A method for processing a payment transaction, the method comprising, by a server computer:

receiving a first message from a merchant server computer, the first message requesting authorization for a transaction;

sending a second message to the merchant server computer, the second message requesting additional information related to the transaction;

receiving a third message from the merchant server computer, the third message including the requested information;

sending a fourth message to a user device, the fourth message requesting validation of the transaction;

receiving a fifth message from the user device, the fifth message including validation information for the transaction;

receiving a sixth message from the user device, the sixth message providing an alias associated with a user of the user device;

sending a seventh message to a payment processing network server computer, the seventh message including payment account information associated with the alias and transaction information;

receiving an eighth message from the payment processing network server computer, the eighth message including results of payment transaction processing; and

sending a ninth message to the merchant server computer, the ninth message including the results of the payment transaction processing.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein additional information related to the transaction includes documents, images, audio, video, or graphics.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the first message, the second message, the third message, the fourth message, the fifth message, the sixth message, and the ninth message are sent using WSDL and/or JSON techniques.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the first message, the second message, the third message, the fourth message, the fifth message, the sixth message, and the ninth message are sent using RESTful computing techniques.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the first message includes alias information of the user.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein prior to sending the fourth message, consulting an alias database to determine the user device associated with the alias.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein the payment account information is stored in the server computer.