Many-to-many payments system for network content materials
First Claim
1. A method for transactions in merchandise which is content material on a network, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) a purchaser following a URL on the network, said URL including a guarantor address for a guarantor and also a specification of the merchandise;
(b) said guarantor receiving said URL and creating a voucher guaranteeing payment for purchase of said merchandise, adding said voucher to said URL, replacing said guarantor address in said URL with a vendor address for a vendor on the network, and redirecting said purchaser to said vendor on the network;
(c) said vendor receiving said URL and releasing the merchandise over the network to said purchaser.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A payment method (100) suitable for network (10) transactions in merchandise (12) between purchasers (14) and vendors (18), employing the services of guarantors (16) which issue vouchers (20) for payment. The vendors (18) offer the merchandise (12) on the network (10) as URLs (50), which optionally may include a URL address (52) separated from a URL request (56). The URL (50) or the URL address (52) initially includes the network (10) address of the guarantor (16), and the URL (50) or the URL request (56) specifies particular merchandise (12). By selecting the URL (50) the purchaser (14) is initially taken to the guarantor (16), where the voucher (20) is placed into the URL (50) or the URL request (56) and the network (10) address of the vendor (18) is placed into the URL (50) or the URL address (52). The purchaser (14) is then redirected to the vendor (18), where the voucher (20) is accepted as payment before the vendor (18) releases the merchandise (12) for communication over the network (10) to the purchaser (14). The guarantor (16) may optionally also query a database (28) to initially obtain, verify, or substitute an address of a vendor (18) on the network (10) before reformatting the URL (50).
400 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method for transactions in merchandise which is content material on a network, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) a purchaser following a URL on the network, said URL including a guarantor address for a guarantor and also a specification of the merchandise; (b) said guarantor receiving said URL and creating a voucher guaranteeing payment for purchase of said merchandise, adding said voucher to said URL, replacing said guarantor address in said URL with a vendor address for a vendor on the network, and redirecting said purchaser to said vendor on the network; (c) said vendor receiving said URL and releasing the merchandise over the network to said purchaser. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for transactions in merchandise available as content material on a network, the system comprising:
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(a) means for a purchaser to order the merchandise by following a URL on the network, where said URL includes a guarantor address for a guarantor and also a specification of the merchandise; (b) means for said guarantor to receive said URL, to create a voucher guaranteeing payment for said merchandise, to add said voucher to said URL, to replace said guarantor address in said URL with a vendor address for a vendor on the network, and to redirect said purchaser to said vendor on the network; (c) means for said vendor to receive said URL and to release the merchandise over the network to said purchaser. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification