Financial transaction system
First Claim
1. A financial transaction system, for processing data representing a series of transactions requiring authorization from a credit agency which maintains a data base containing information for designating approval or denial of credit transactions, said system comprising:
- means for entering the data representing each of said series of transactions into the system for authorization, and for journaling at least the data relating to financial amount of each of the transactions entered;
means in association with said data base for accessing said data base responsive to data representing an operative transaction among data representing the series of transactions entered;
means in association with said data base for receiving authorization information from said data base in response to said accessing, and for displaying said authorization information as part of said processing; and
means for capturing journalled data representing complete and incomplete transactions among said series of transactions, for tallying only journalled data representing complete transactions among said series of transactions over a predetermined interval of time as another part of said processing and for closing out the tallied data in preparation for journalling new data over the next predetermined interval of time.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A financial transaction system makes use of an automated terminal or terminals in communication with a host computer which is capable of accessing any of a number of institutionalized or private label credit/debit card data bases, check verification data bases, and institutionalized automated clearing houses in accordance with records developed at the terminal as interpreted by the host computer. The terminal is capable of entering data identifying the credit/debit card provided by the customer, or the number of an offered check, in combination with financial information supplied by the retail merchant, to access a host computer which organizes the information supplied in addition to accessing the desired data base to determine whether or not the proposed transaction should be accepted or rejected. Operation of the terminal, as complemented by operation of the host computer with which it communicates, also enables the merchant'"'"'s financial transactions to be monitored and recorded throughout a given business day, making the host computer available to assist the retail merchant in collecting, organizing, resolving and settling a day'"'"'s receipts in automated fashion, for prompt and accelerated payment.
536 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A financial transaction system, for processing data representing a series of transactions requiring authorization from a credit agency which maintains a data base containing information for designating approval or denial of credit transactions, said system comprising:
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means for entering the data representing each of said series of transactions into the system for authorization, and for journaling at least the data relating to financial amount of each of the transactions entered; means in association with said data base for accessing said data base responsive to data representing an operative transaction among data representing the series of transactions entered; means in association with said data base for receiving authorization information from said data base in response to said accessing, and for displaying said authorization information as part of said processing; and means for capturing journalled data representing complete and incomplete transactions among said series of transactions, for tallying only journalled data representing complete transactions among said series of transactions over a predetermined interval of time as another part of said processing and for closing out the tallied data in preparation for journalling new data over the next predetermined interval of time. - 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)
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27. A method for prcessing a series of financial transactions requiring authorization from a credit agency which maintains a data base containing information regarding the approval and denial of credit transactions, said method comprising the steps of:
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entering digital data representative of each of said series of transactions as each transaction occurs, over a predetermined period of time, into an electronic system communicating with said data base, journalling at least a part of the data representative of each of the transactions entered, accessing said data base upon entry of data representative of each operative transaction forming part of the series of transactions entered, to elicit information from said data base as to whether the respective operative transaction represented by the entered data is approved or denied, displaying the elicited information respecting each operative transaction as part of said processing, within the time interval required for accessing and eliciting said information from said data base immediately following entry of data representative of the respective operative transaction, capturing entered data representative of both complete and incomplete transactions among said journalled series of transactions, tallying only the captured data representative of said complete transactions, and reconciling all of the data captured over said predetermined period of time as another part of said processing, and eliminating the data captured over said predetermined period of time by distribution thereof together with indicia representative of the source of said transactions through said system to the respective data base for automatic authorization of payment to said source for approved completed transactions represented among the distributed captured data, in preparation for entry of data representative of new transactions into said system over the next predetermined period of time.
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28. Apparatus for processing financial transactions representing prospective purchases of goods and services for which authorization is dependent on current status of customer credit and/or checking account information contained in data bases from which such authorization may be approved or denied, said apparatus comprising
point of sale terminal means for entering data identifying the prospective customer and transaction, central processing means communicating with said point of sale terminal means, for accessing said data bases to obtain information as to whether authorization for the respective transaction is approved or denied and for furnishing same to said point of sale terminal means, means responsive to said acccessed authorization information for compiling and storing data representing successive approved transactions respectively entered from each said point of sale terminal means over a predetermined time interval, and means responsive to instructional data entered from a respective point of sale terminal means, for reconciling data representing approved transactions compiled in said data storing means over said predetermined time interval from said respective point of sale terminal means, and responsive to reconciliation for authorizing payment for the transactions covered thereby.
Specification