Method for the billing of transactions over the internet
First Claim
1. A method of billing an account associated with a user'"'"'s identity for a cost for a transaction conducted on a network between a provider and a user'"'"'s terminal, the user'"'"'s terminal being assigned a temporary address on the network that is used for the transaction, said billing and said transaction both being conducted on said network, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving an identifying signal that associated the user'"'"'s identity and the assigned temporary address;
storing the association between the user'"'"'s identity and the assigned temporary address;
receiving a billing signal to bill for the cost of the transaction, the billing signal including the cost of the transaction and the assigned temporary address of the terminal;
referencing the cost of the transaction in the billing signal to the account associated with the user'"'"'s identity from the stored association between the assigned temporary address and the user'"'"'s identity; and
billing the account associated with the user'"'"'s identity for the cost of the transaction.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for performing centralized billing for transactions conducted over the Internet between a user and an Internet Service Provider (ISP) (106) through an Internet Access Provider (IAP) (104) is disclosed. Upon connection of the user'"'"'s terminal (101) to the IAP, the IAP transmits to a billing platform (108) a message that associates the user'"'"'s identity and the temporary Internet Protocol (IP) address that is assigned by the IAP to the user'"'"'s session for use by to that user'"'"'s terminal. In response to a chargeable transaction with an ISP, the ISP transmits to the billing platform the IP address of the user making the transaction and the charge for the transaction. The charges for all such transactions are accumulated by a transaction server (109) and stored in an account on an associated database (110) identified with the IP address of the requesting terminal. At the end of the user'"'"'s session, the charges for all the transactions during the session that are stored on the transaction server database in the account identified with the IP address, are charged to an account associated with the user'"'"'s identity that is stored on a database (112) of a billing server (111) by cross-referencing the IP address to the user'"'"'s identity from the previously received and stored message.
647 Citations
53 Claims
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1. A method of billing an account associated with a user'"'"'s identity for a cost for a transaction conducted on a network between a provider and a user'"'"'s terminal, the user'"'"'s terminal being assigned a temporary address on the network that is used for the transaction, said billing and said transaction both being conducted on said network, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving an identifying signal that associated the user'"'"'s identity and the assigned temporary address; storing the association between the user'"'"'s identity and the assigned temporary address; receiving a billing signal to bill for the cost of the transaction, the billing signal including the cost of the transaction and the assigned temporary address of the terminal; referencing the cost of the transaction in the billing signal to the account associated with the user'"'"'s identity from the stored association between the assigned temporary address and the user'"'"'s identity; and billing the account associated with the user'"'"'s identity for the cost of the transaction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of conducting a transaction for which a charge is associated and billing of said charge on a network between a user'"'"'s terminal and a provider comprising the steps of:
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assigning a temporary address on the network for use during the transaction by the user'"'"'s terminal; receiving a request from the user'"'"'s terminal for the transaction; receiving an identifying signal that associates a user'"'"'s identity and the assigned temporary address; storing the association between the user'"'"'s identity and the assigned temporary address; providing the user with a response to the request for the transaction; receiving a billing signal to bill for the cost of the transaction, the billing signal including the cost of the transaction and the assigned temporary address of the terminal requesting the transaction; referencing the cost of the transaction in the billing signal to an account associated with the user'"'"'s identity from the stored association between the assigned temporary address and the user'"'"'s identity; and billing the account associated with the user'"'"'s identity for the cost of the transaction. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of billing an account associated with a user'"'"'s identity for the cost of one or more transactions within a session conducted on a network between one or more providers and a user'"'"'s terminal, the user'"'"'s terminal being assigned a temporary address on the network that is used for the session, said billing and said transactions both being conducted on said network, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving an identifying signal that associates the user'"'"'s identity and the assigned temporary address for the session; storing the association between the user'"'"'s identity and the assigned temporary address; receiving for each transaction within a session a billing signal to bill for the cost of the transaction, the billing signal including the cost of the associated transaction and the assigned temporary address of the terminal; for each transaction within the session, billing an account associated with the temporary address of the terminal for the cost of the transaction; referencing the account associated with the temporary address of the terminal to the account associated with the user'"'"'s identity from the stored association between the assigned temporary address and the user'"'"'s identity; at the end of the session, billing the account associated with the user'"'"'s identity for the one or more transactions within the session. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A method of billing an account associated with a user'"'"'s identity for a cost for a transaction conducted on the Internet between an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and a user'"'"'s terminal through an Internet Access Provider (IAP), the user'"'"'s terminal being assigned an Internet Protocol (IP) address that is used for the transaction, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving an identifying signal from the IAP that associates the user'"'"'s identity and the assigned IP address; storing the association between the user'"'"'s identity and the assigned IP address; receiving a billing signal from the ISP to bill for the cost of the transaction, the billing signal including the cost of the transaction and the assigned IP address of the terminal; referencing the cost of the transaction in the billing signal to the account associated with the user'"'"'s identity from the stored association between the assigned IP address and the user'"'"'s identity; and billing the account associated with the user'"'"'s identity for the cost of the transaction. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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Specification