AUTOMATICALLY ADDING GRATUITY TO AMOUNT CHARGED IN ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION
First Claim
1. A method, comprising the steps of:
- (a) receiving, from a first party by a second party, a payment object bearing account information, for payment from an account associated with the payment object, of a certain amount owed;
(b) electronically communicating, by the second party for receipt by a third party, both (i) account information representative of information read from the payment object that was presented for payment and (ii) an identification of the second party;
(c) electronically receiving, by the second party in response to the electronic communication to the third party, data that is indicative of a gratuity to be charged against an account associated with the payment object that was presented for payment;
(d) printing, by the second party, a document that includes both (i) the certain amount owed and (ii) the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the second party from the third party; and
(e) presenting, by the second party to the first party, the printed document for signature by the first party.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method includes receiving a payment object for payment of a certain amount owed by a first party to a second party. The payment object carries sufficient account information for the payment from an account associated with the payment object. The second party communicates the account information from the payment object and an identification of the second party for receipt by a third party; and receives in return data that is indicative of a gratuity to be charged against the account. The second party prints a document that includes the certain amount owed and the gratuity, as indicated by the data received by the second party, and presents the document for signature by the first party. The printed document preferably includes the total of the amount owed and the gratuity. The payment object may be a credit card, charge card, debit card, rebate card, or stored-value card.
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Citations
163 Claims
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1. A method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving, from a first party by a second party, a payment object bearing account information, for payment from an account associated with the payment object, of a certain amount owed; (b) electronically communicating, by the second party for receipt by a third party, both (i) account information representative of information read from the payment object that was presented for payment and (ii) an identification of the second party; (c) electronically receiving, by the second party in response to the electronic communication to the third party, data that is indicative of a gratuity to be charged against an account associated with the payment object that was presented for payment; (d) printing, by the second party, a document that includes both (i) the certain amount owed and (ii) the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the second party from the third party; and (e) presenting, by the second party to the first party, the printed document for signature by the first party. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A point of sale (POS) terminal including machine-readable medium containing machine-executable instructions which, when executed, perform a method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving, from a first party by a second party, a payment object bearing account information, for payment from an account associated with the payment object, of a certain amount owed; (b) electronically communicating, by the second party for receipt by a third party, both (i) account information representative of information read from the payment object that was presented for payment and (ii) an identification of the second party; (c) electronically receiving, by the second party in response to the electronic communication to the third party, data that is indicative of a gratuity to be charged against an account associated with the payment object that was presented for payment; (d) printing, by the second party, a document that includes both (i) the certain amount owed and (ii) the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the second party from the third party; and (e) presenting, by the second party to the first party, the printed document for signature by the first party.
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38. A method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving, from a customer by a merchant, a card for payment from an account associated with the card of a certain amount owed; (b) electronically communicating, by the merchant for receipt by a card issuer for authorization to charge to the account associated with the card the certain amount owed, (i) card information representative of information read from the card that was presented for payment, (ii) an identification of the merchant, and (iii) the certain amount owed; (c) electronically receiving, by the merchant in response to the electronic communication to the card issuer, (i) authorization to charge the certain amount owed to the account associated with the card and (ii) data that is indicative of a gratuity to be charged to the account associated with the card; (d) printing, by the merchant, a document that includes both (i) the certain amount owed and (ii) the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the merchant from the card issuer; and (e) presenting, by the merchant to the customer, the printed document for signature by the customer. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 161, 162, 163)
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69. A method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving, from a first party by a second party, a payment object bearing account information, for payment from an account associated with the payment object, of a certain amount owed; (b) electronically communicating, by the second party for receipt by a third party, both (i) account information representative of information read from the payment object that was presented for payment and (ii) an identification of the second party; (c) electronically receiving, by the second party in response to the electronic communication to the third party, data that is indicative of a gratuity to be charged against an account associated with the payment object that was presented for payment; (d) presenting on a display, by the second party, an image of a document for review by the first party, the document including both (i) the certain amount owed and (ii) the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the second party from the third party; (e) electronically capturing a signature of the first party signifying approval of the certain amount owed and the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the second party from the third party; and (f) printing a receipt including the certain amount owed, the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the second party from the third party, and the electronically captured signature of the first party. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76)
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77. A point of sale (POS) terminal including machine-readable medium containing machine-executable instructions which, when executed, perform a method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving, from a first party by a second party, a payment object bearing account information, for payment from an account associated with the payment object, of a certain amount owed; (b) electronically communicating, by the second party for receipt by a third party, both (i) account information representative of information read from the payment object that was presented for payment and (ii) an identification of the second party; (c) electronically receiving, by the second party in response to the electronic communication to the third party, data that is indicative of a gratuity to be charged against an account associated with the payment object that was presented for payment; (d) presenting on a display, by the second party, an image of a document for review by the first party, the document including both (i) the certain amount owed and (ii) the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the second party from the third party; (e) electronically capturing a signature of the first party signifying approval of the certain amount owed and the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the second party from the third party; and (f) printing a receipt including the certain amount owed, the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the second party from the third party, and the electronically captured signature of the first party. - View Dependent Claims (78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84)
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85. A point of sale (POS) terminal for use by a merchant in processing electronic transactions, comprising:
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(a) a first interface configured to receive card information acquired from cards associated with accounts held at card issuers, (b) a second interface configured to electronically communicate over a network with each of the card issuers; and (c) a printer component configured to print a document; (d) wherein the POS terminal is configured to, (i) electronically send, through the second interface, over a network, to a particular one of the card issuers, (A) card information received through the first interface and acquired from a card issued by the particular card issuer, (B) an identification of the merchant, and (C) the certain amount owed, (ii) electronically receive, through the second interface, over a network, from the particular card issuer, (A) an authorization to charge to the account associated with the card the certain amount owed, and (B) data that is indicative of a gratuity to be charged to the account associated with the card; and (iii) cause the printer component to print a document that includes both, (A) the certain amount owed, and (B) the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the merchant from the particular card issuer. - View Dependent Claims (86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95)
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96. A machine-readable medium containing machine-executable instructions for performing a method comprising the steps of:
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(a) electronically sending, through a network interface, over a network, to a card issuer, (i) card information acquired from a card issued by the card issuer, (ii) an identification of the merchant, and (iii) the certain amount owed, (b) electronically receiving, through the network interface, over the network, from the card issuer, (i) an authorization to charge to the account associated with the card the certain amount owed, and (ii) data that is indicative of a gratuity to be charged to the account associated with the card; and (c) causing the printer component to print a document that includes both, (i) the certain amount owed, and (ii) the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the merchant from the particular card issuer.
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97. A computer configured as a point of sale (POS) terminal for use by a merchant in processing electronic transactions, comprising:
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(a) a first interface configured to receive card information acquired from cards associated with accounts held at card issuers; (b) a second interface configured to electronically communicate over a network with each of the card issuers; (c) a printer component configured to print a document; and (d) computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for performing a process comprising the steps of, (i) electronically sending, through the second interface, over a network, to a particular one of the card issuers, (A) card information received through the first interface and acquired from a card issued by the particular card issuer, (B) an identification of the merchant, and (C) the certain amount owed, (ii) electronically receiving, through the second interface, over a network, from the particular card issuer, (A) an authorization to charge to the account associated with the card the certain amount owed, and (B) data that is indicative of a gratuity to be charged to the account associated with the card; and (iii) causing the printer component to print a document that includes both, (A) the certain amount owed, and (B) the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the merchant from the particular card issuer. - View Dependent Claims (98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104)
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105. A machine-readable medium containing machine-executable instructions for performing a method comprising the steps of:
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(a) electronically sending, through the second interface, over the network, to a particular one of the card issuers, (i) card information received through the first interface and acquired from a card issued by the particular card issuer, (ii) an identification of the merchant, and (iii) the certain amount owed, (b) electronically receiving, through the second interface, over the network, from the particular card issuer, (i) an authorization to charge to the account associated with the card the certain amount owed, and (ii) data that is indicative of a gratuity to be charged to the account associated with the card; and (c) causing the printer component to print a document that includes both, (i) the certain amount owed, and (ii) the gratuity as indicated by the data received by the merchant from the particular card issuer.
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106. A method facilitating the automatic addition, in a financial transaction processing network, of a gratuity to an amount of an electronic financial transaction, comprising the steps of:
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(a) maintaining, in a computer database, (i) account information carried by a payment object, (ii) in association with data indicative of a gratuity to be charged against an account associated with the payment object; (b) electronically receiving, from a point of sale (POS) terminal, over a network by a first computer, account information acquired from the payment object and an identification of a party, which party has been presented the payment object for a payment of a certain amounted owed; (c) electronically accessing, by the first computer from the computer database, data indicative of a gratuity to be charged against the account associated with the payment object; and (d) electronically communicating, over the network by the first computer for receipt by the POS terminal, data indicative of a gratuity to be charged against the account associated with the payment object. - View Dependent Claims (107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147)
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148. A machine-readable medium containing machine-executable instructions for performing a method comprising the steps of:
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(a) maintaining, in a computer database, (i) account information carried by a payment object, (ii) in association with data indicative of a gratuity to be charged against an account associated with the payment object; (b) electronically receiving, over a network, account information acquired from the payment object and an identification of a party, which party has been presented the payment object for a payment of a certain amounted owed; (c) electronically accessing, from the computer database, data indicative of a gratuity to be charged against the account associated with the payment object; and (d) electronically communicating, over the network, data indicative of a gratuity to be charged against the account associated with the payment object.
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149. A method allowing a patron to set a percentage gratuity amount to automatically add to credit transactions, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) setting a percentage for an establishment; (b) receiving notification of a transaction; (c) identifying the establishment; (d) retrieving patron'"'"'s setting of gratuity; (e) calculating gratuity of the transaction; (f) recalculating total transaction; (g) transmitting total to establishment; and (h) reconciling the transaction. - View Dependent Claims (150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157)
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158. A system for allowing a patron to set a percentage gratuity amount for certain establishments which is added automatically to the patron'"'"'s credit transaction, comprising:
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(a) instructions for setting a percentage for an establishment; (b) instructions for notifying patron'"'"'s credit company of a transaction by an establishment that is charging a patron'"'"'s account; (c) instructions for identifying said establishment that is charging a patron'"'"'s account; (d) instructions for retrieving the patron'"'"'s settings for gratuity of said establishment that is charging a patron'"'"'s account; (e) instructions for calculating the gratuity of the transaction associated with said patron'"'"'s settings for gratuity of said establishment that is charging a patron'"'"'s account; (f) instructions for recalculating the total charge on the patron'"'"'s account of said establishment that is charging a patron'"'"'s account; (g) instructions for transmitting said total charge to said establishment that is charging a patron'"'"'s account; and (h) instructions for reconciling the transaction.
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159. A method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving, from a first party by a second party, a payment object bearing account information, for payment from an account associated with the payment object, of a certain amount owed; (b) electronically communicating, by the second party for receipt by a third party, both (i) account information representative of information read from the payment object that was presented for payment and (ii) an identification of the second party; (c) electronically receiving, by the second party in response to the electronic communication to the third party, data that is indicative of gratuity percentages predetermined by the first party; (d) printing, by the second party, a document that includes, (i) the predetermined gratuity percentages, and corresponding gratuity amounts and respective grand totals, for copying by the first party in completing the document, (ii) a place for writing in of a gratuity, and (iii) a place line for writing in of the total of the gratuity and the certain amount owed; and (e) presenting, by the second party to the first party, the printed document for completion of the document and signing by the first party.
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160. A method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving, from a first party by a second party, a payment object bearing account information, for payment from an account associated with the payment object, of a certain amount owed; (b) electronically communicating, by the second party for receipt by a third party, both (i) account information representative of information read from the payment object that was presented for payment and (ii) an identification of the second party; (c) electronically receiving, by the second party in response to the electronic communication to the third party, data that is indicative of gratuity percentages predetermined by the first party; (d) presenting on a display the predetermined gratuity percentages and the corresponding gratuity amounts and respective grand totals for selection by the first party in completing the transaction; (e) upon selection of a gratuity by the first party, electronically capturing a signature of the first party, thereby signifying approval of the certain amount owed, the selected gratuity percentage and corresponding gratuity amount and grand total; and (f) printing a document for the first party including the selected gratuity, the grand total, and the customer'"'"'s electronically captured signature.
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Specification