Real time bank-centric universal payment system
First Claim
1. An infrastructure for a real time bank-centric universal payment system comprising:
- a central processing unit defining an electronic commerce trust system, the system formed from a plurality of financial service provider members subscribing to a common standard having applicability throughout the trust system, the financial service provider members providing transaction processing services to pre-identified customer users and goods and services providers that are account subscribers with the financial service provider member and subject to the common standard of the system, the trust system being interconnected with a central monetary exchange mechanism having authority over the financial service provider members and the exchange of currency among the financial service provider members, the central processing unit further operatively interconnected to communicate with a correspondent processing unit at each one of the plurality of financial service provider members, the central processing unit maintaining a hot file means for authenticating users of the system and for restricting use of the system to subscribing members, said hot file including means for detecting identifications of accounts that are lost, stolen or discontinued and verification means for authenticating a customer user and a goods and services provider with respect to an account transaction, whereby access to the system is denied upon detection of a lost stolen or discontinued identification or the failure of verification of authenticity;
the correspondent processing units of the financial service provider members being operatively interconnected through a network of transaction access mechanisms linking customer users and goods and services providers with the financial service provider member;
the central processing unit providing non-revocable real time debit and credit transactions between and among accounts of the customer users and the goods and services provider account subscribers upon verification of;
(1) the authenticity of the originator and the recipient of a debit/credit instruction with regard to a transaction involving accounts of the user and provider account subscribers when the instruction is received by the central processing unit from a transaction access mechanism, and (2) the availability of funds in the account to be debited in an amount sufficient such that funds in the amount of the transaction are immediately available in real time from the account to be debited for transfer to the account to be credited;
the central processing unit further maintaining in substantially real time a record of the debits and credits incurred in the accounts of the customer users and the goods and services provider subscribers and a record of the aggregate debits and credits between and among the financial service provider members resulting from transactions of the member'"'"'s account subscribers;
a settlement mechanism within the central processing unit for maintaining an aggregate log of debits and credits with regard to customer user and goods and services provider subscriber transactions processed with regard to financial service provider members and for calculating respective debits and credits owing and payable among the provider members; and
a timer whereby at a predetermined time interval net settlement of accounts of the financial service provider members is effected by the transmission of the record of the aggregate debits and credits owing and payable by the provider members from the central processing unit to the central monetary exchange mechanism.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An infrastructure for a real time bank-centric universal payment system in which a central processing unit (CPU) defines an electronic commerce trust system formed from a plurality of financial service provider members subscribing to a common standard having applicability throughout the infrastructure. The central processing unit is operatively interconnected to the correspondent processing units of financial service provider members that in turn are operatively interconnected through access mechanisms to a network of customers and goods and services providers who are account subscribers with the financial service provider member and subject to the common standard of the system. The CPU provides non-revocable real time debit and credit transactions and effects provider net settlement between and among members through a central exchange monetary system. Features of the infrastructure include an ECTS hot file, bill presentment and payment options and provider designed services that enhance brand identity.
710 Citations
13 Claims
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1. An infrastructure for a real time bank-centric universal payment system comprising:
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a central processing unit defining an electronic commerce trust system, the system formed from a plurality of financial service provider members subscribing to a common standard having applicability throughout the trust system, the financial service provider members providing transaction processing services to pre-identified customer users and goods and services providers that are account subscribers with the financial service provider member and subject to the common standard of the system, the trust system being interconnected with a central monetary exchange mechanism having authority over the financial service provider members and the exchange of currency among the financial service provider members, the central processing unit further operatively interconnected to communicate with a correspondent processing unit at each one of the plurality of financial service provider members, the central processing unit maintaining a hot file means for authenticating users of the system and for restricting use of the system to subscribing members, said hot file including means for detecting identifications of accounts that are lost, stolen or discontinued and verification means for authenticating a customer user and a goods and services provider with respect to an account transaction, whereby access to the system is denied upon detection of a lost stolen or discontinued identification or the failure of verification of authenticity; the correspondent processing units of the financial service provider members being operatively interconnected through a network of transaction access mechanisms linking customer users and goods and services providers with the financial service provider member; the central processing unit providing non-revocable real time debit and credit transactions between and among accounts of the customer users and the goods and services provider account subscribers upon verification of;
(1) the authenticity of the originator and the recipient of a debit/credit instruction with regard to a transaction involving accounts of the user and provider account subscribers when the instruction is received by the central processing unit from a transaction access mechanism, and (2) the availability of funds in the account to be debited in an amount sufficient such that funds in the amount of the transaction are immediately available in real time from the account to be debited for transfer to the account to be credited;
the central processing unit further maintaining in substantially real time a record of the debits and credits incurred in the accounts of the customer users and the goods and services provider subscribers and a record of the aggregate debits and credits between and among the financial service provider members resulting from transactions of the member'"'"'s account subscribers;a settlement mechanism within the central processing unit for maintaining an aggregate log of debits and credits with regard to customer user and goods and services provider subscriber transactions processed with regard to financial service provider members and for calculating respective debits and credits owing and payable among the provider members; and a timer whereby at a predetermined time interval net settlement of accounts of the financial service provider members is effected by the transmission of the record of the aggregate debits and credits owing and payable by the provider members from the central processing unit to the central monetary exchange mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13)
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9. A process for providing non-revocable real time debit and credit transactions between accounts of financial service provider members and accounts of customers and goods and services provider users who are account subscribers with financial service provider members, comprising the steps of:
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providing a central processing unit interconnected in a system with a correspondent processing unit at each one of a plurality of financial service provider members, said financial service provider members subscribing to a common processing standard applicable throughout the system; linking the central processing unit with a central monetary exchange mechanism for exchanging monies between and among the financial service provider members in a correspondence with an account of the respective debit and credit balances between and among the financial service provider members; establishing a network of subscribing member customers and goods and services provider users who are account subscribers of financial service provider members, and providing said customers and goods and services providers with access to the system with regard to transactions between said customers and goods and services providers; authenticating, at the instance of a transaction, the customer and the goods and services provider and restricting use of the system to subscribing members, and with regard to a transaction; communicating with the central processing unit and querying the account record maintained by a financial services provider of the availability in real time of funds in an account in response to a transaction instruction to debit the funds in that account and upon a response from the unit verifying the availability of real time funds; transmitting an instruction from an account subscriber to the central processing unit via a correspondent processing unit to debit one subscriber'"'"'s account and credit another subscriber'"'"'s account by a corresponding amount; non-revocably transferring funds in real time from the one subscriber'"'"'s account to the recipient subscriber'"'"'s account in response to communications from the central processing unit to the correspondent processing units associated with the respective subscriber accounts upon verification of the authenticity of the originating and recipient subscribers and the availability of funds in the originating subscriber'"'"'s account; maintaining in substantially real time a record accessible by the central processing unit of the aggregate debits and credits between and among provider members resulting from transactions of the member'"'"'s account subscribers; and effecting net settlement of accounts of the provider members at predetermined time intervals by the transmission of the record of the aggregate debits and credits of the members by the central processing unit to the central monetary exchange mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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Specification