SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VERIFYING AND PROCESSING TRANSACTIONS USING VIRTUAL CURRENCY

• US 20140330721A1
• Filed: 05/02/2014
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Quan Wang
• Inventors: WANG, QUAN
• Granted Patent: US 11,055,710 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A payment processing system may be integrated with a centralized virtual currency issuing and transaction processing system to provide a standardized and more efficient virtual currency that can provide easier tracking of and use of a consumer'"'"'s virtual currency balance. The payment processing system may implement a network communications systems that may allow the payment processing system to obtain additional consumer, merchant and transaction information for a transaction by data fields transmitted in a network header portion of a network communications protocol packet. The additional information may be stored and cross-referenced to provide greater transaction tracking data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a server computer, a network protocol packet including a network protocol header and a transaction payload for a transaction conducted using virtual currency, the network protocol header including a network header portion, the network header portion including an issuer identifier, a virtual currency token identifier, and a consumer identifier;

parsing, by the server computer, the issuer identifier, the consumer identifier, and the virtual currency token identifier from the network header portion;

determining, by the server computer, a consumer profile using the consumer identifier;

verifying, by the server computer, the issuer identifier and the virtual currency token identifier are associated with the consumer profile;

processing, by the server computer, the transaction using virtual currency data in the consumer profile;

generating, by the server computer, a response message indicating authorization of the transaction; and

transmitting, by the server computer, the response message to a mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the server computer, a request for issuance of a virtual currency token for a virtual currency amount from the mobile device, the virtual currency token being usable for performing the transaction using the virtual currency;

determining, by the server computer, an account balance for a consumer account associated with the consumer identifier received in the request;

generating, by the server computer, a first authentication value when the account balance for the consumer account is greater than the virtual currency amount;

sending, by the server computer, the first authentication value to the mobile device;

receiving, by the server computer, a second authentication value generated by the mobile device using an algorithm and the first authentication value;

verifying, by the server computer, that the received second authentication value matches a stored authentication value generated using the algorithm and the first authentication value;

generating, by the server computer, the virtual currency token identifier, the virtual currency token identifier usable for the virtual currency amount; and

sending, by the server computer, the virtual currency token identifier to the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the transaction using the virtual currency data further comprises:

determining, by the server computer, a transaction total retrieved from the transaction payload;

determining, by the server computer, a virtual currency amount associated with the virtual currency token identifier;

determining, by the server computer, if the virtual currency amount is greater than a converted transaction total;

authorizing the transaction, by the server computer, when the virtual currency amount is greater than the converted transaction total; and

storing, by the server computer, a transaction identifier associated with the transaction.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the virtual currency amount associated with the virtual currency token identifier comprises:

querying, by the server computer, the consumer profile with the consumer identifier;

identifying, by the server computer, a consumer profile entry associated with the virtual currency token identifier; and

retrieving, by the server computer, the virtual currency amount associated with the virtual currency token identifier from the virtual currency data in the consumer profile entry.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein determining that the virtual currency amount is greater than the converted transaction total comprises:

determining, by the server computer, a value exchange rate between a unit of the virtual currency and the transaction currency for the transaction;

calculating, by the server computer, the converted transaction total using the value exchange rate and the transaction total; and

comparing, by the server computer, the virtual currency amount to the converted transaction total.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving, by the server computer, a settlement file for the transaction, including a transaction identifier for the transaction;

querying, by the server computer, a transaction database with the transaction identifier to retrieve a transaction record for the transaction, the transaction record including the issuer identifier, the consumer identifier and the transaction data associated with the transaction;

evaluating, by the server computer, the transaction record to retrieve the virtual currency token identifier associated with the transaction based on the transaction identifier, issuer identifier and the consumer identifier;

issuing, by the server computer, a credit to a merchant account for the transaction total; and

updating, by the server computer, a consumer account in the consumer profile entry by deducting the converted transaction total from the consumer account.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating, by the server computer, an issuer profile with the transaction data for the transaction; and

sending, by the server computer, a notification message to an issuer of the virtual currency indicating the virtual currency was used in the transaction.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual currency amount associated with the virtual currency token identifier is represented by a number of units, each unit having a fixed monetary value.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the network header portion further includes a device identifier, a location identifier, and a merchant identifier for verifying the consumer.

10. A server computer comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable medium coupled to the processor, the computer readable medium comprising code, executable by the processor implementing a method comprising;

receiving a network protocol packet including a network protocol header and a transaction payload for a transaction conducted using virtual currency, the network protocol header including a network header portion, the network header portion including an issuer identifier, a virtual currency token identifier, and a consumer identifier;

parsing the issuer identifier, the consumer identifier and the virtual currency token identifier from the network header portion;

determining a consumer profile using the consumer identifier;

verifying the issuer identifier and the virtual currency token identifier are associated with the consumer profile;

processing the transaction using virtual currency data in the consumer profile;

generating a response message indicating authorization of the transaction; and

transmitting the response message to a mobile device.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, by a server computer, a virtual currency issuance request message for issuance of virtual currency for a consumer from an issuer;

generating, by the server computer, an issuer identifier for the issuer;

generating, by the server computer, a virtual currency identifier for the virtual currency, the virtual currency identifier being associated with the issuer identifier;

storing, by the server computer, the issuer identifier and the virtual currency identifier in an issuer profile associated with the issuer; and

providing, by the server computer, the issuer identifier and the virtual currency to the consumer;

wherein the server computer is configured to verify and process a transaction initiated by the consumer using the virtual currency by evaluating transaction data including a virtual currency token associated with the consumer.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein providing the issuer identifier and the virtual currency to the consumer further comprises:

determining, by the server computer, from the virtual currency issuance request message, a virtual currency amount requested by the issuer for the consumer;

generating, by the server computer, a consumer profile entry in the consumer profile, the consumer profile entry including a consumer identifier, the issuer identifier, a device identifier, the virtual currency identifier, and virtual currency data; and

crediting, by the server computer, the virtual currency amount to a consumer account associated with the consumer profile entry.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the virtual currency issuance request message further includes an account identifier for an issuer account for funding of the virtual currency amount requested by the issuer.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

initiating, by the server computer, the debit of funds from the issuer account for the virtual currency amount requested by the issuer.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the virtual currency is generated having a number of units equivalent to the requested virtual currency amount, wherein each unit has a fixed monetary value.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

performing, by the server computer, an authentication process for the issuer based on a merchant identifier and a location identifier received in the virtual currency issuance request message, the merchant identifier and a location identifier being received in the network header portion of a network protocol header of the virtual currency issuance request message.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein storing the issuer identifier and the virtual currency identifier in the issuer profile associated with the issuer comprises:

generating, by the server computer, an issuer profile entry in the issuer profile, the issuer profile entry including the issuer identifier, the virtual currency identifier, a consumer identifier, and virtual currency data including a virtual currency amount.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the issuer identifier is associated with the issuer, is reusable in future virtual currency issuance requests, and is unique to the issuer.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the issuer is one of a merchant, a consumer, or a payment network.

20. A server computer comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable medium coupled to the processor, the computer readable medium comprising code, executable by the processor implementing a method comprising;

receiving a virtual currency issuance request message for issuance of virtual currency for a consumer from an issuer;

generating an issuer identifier for the issuer;

generating a virtual currency identifier for the virtual currency, the virtual currency identifier being associated with the issuer identifier;

storing the issuer identifier and the virtual currency identifier in an issuer profile associated with the issuer; and

providing the issuer identifier and the virtual currency to the consumer,

wherein the server computer is configured to verify and process a transaction initiated by the consumer using the virtual currency by evaluating transaction data including a virtual currency token associated with the consumer.