Method and apparatus for providing product survey information in an electronic payment system
First Claim
1. In an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, a method of generating survey information on the product, said method being performed by an evaluator distinct from the buyer and the seller and comprising the steps of:
- maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller;
receiving a survey response from an entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller, together with transaction information sufficient to identify an alleged purchase transaction;
determining, using the transaction information, whether the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller; and
incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller is enhanced to provide product survey information. An additional entity, an evaluator, collects product survey information from buyers that have previously purchased products from the seller and provides product survey information to prospective buyers upon request. Various schemes are disclosed for allowing the evaluator to verify that a buyer providing product survey information has actually purchased the product from the seller. In one verification scheme, the buyer generates an authentication code as a one-way function of a randomly generated secret value and includes the authentication code in the payment order. When the buyer later provides survey information to the evaluator, it includes the secret value along with the survey information. The evaluator verifies the purchase transaction by presenting the secret value along with information identifying the transaction to the buyer'"'"'s billing system. The buyer'"'"'s billing system retrieves the authentication code from the transaction information it received from the seller and compares it with the code regenerated from the secret value using the one-way function. The buyer'"'"'s billing system communicates the comparison results to the evaluator, which uses the survey information if it is verified as relating to an actual transaction between the buyer and the seller. In another verification scheme, the evaluator presents only transaction-identifying information to the buyer'"'"'s billing system. In yet another verification scheme, the seller signs the payment order and returns the signed payment order as a proof of purchase to the buyer, which presents the proof of purchase to the evaluator.
239 Citations
48 Claims
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1. In an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, a method of generating survey information on the product, said method being performed by an evaluator distinct from the buyer and the seller and comprising the steps of:
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maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; receiving a survey response from an entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller, together with transaction information sufficient to identify an alleged purchase transaction; determining, using the transaction information, whether the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller; and incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 18)
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9. In an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, a method of generating survey information on the product, comprising the steps of:
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maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; receiving a survey response from an entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller, together with an authentication code included in the electronic payment order to the seller and a secret value from which the authentication code was generated; determining whether the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller by regenerating an authentication code from the received secret value and comparing the regenerated authentication code with the received authentication code; and incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller. - View Dependent Claims (40)
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12. In an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller and reconciles purchase transactions with the seller through an intermediary entity, a method of generating survey information on the product, said method being performed by an evaluator distinct from the buyer and seller and comprising the steps of:
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maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; receiving a survey response from a responding entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller; determining whether the responding entity in fact purchased the product from the seller by communicating with the intermediary entity; and incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the responding entity in fact purchased the product from the seller. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 41)
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19. In an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, a method of generating survey information on the product, comprising the steps of:
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maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; receiving a survey response from an entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller, together with an unforgeable proof of purchase attesting that the entity purchased the product from the seller; validating the proof of purchase to determine whether the entity purchased the product from the seller; and incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller. - View Dependent Claims (42)
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20. In an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, apparatus for generating survey information on the product, said apparatus being associated with an evaluator distinct from the buyer and the seller and comprising:
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means for maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; means for receiving a survey response from an entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller, together with transaction information sufficient to identify an alleged purchase transaction; means for determining, using the transaction information, whether the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller; and means for incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for generating product survey information in an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, the method steps being performed by an evaluator distinct from the buyer and the seller and comprising:
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maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; receiving a survey response from an entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller together with transaction information sufficient to identify an alleged purchase transaction; determining, using the transaction information, whether the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller; and incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. In an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, a method comprising the steps of:
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receiving an electronic payment order from a buyer for the purchase of a product from a seller; and in response to receiving the electronic payment order, providing the buyer with an unforgeable proof of purchase attesting a purchase transaction. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. In an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, apparatus comprising:
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means for receiving an electronic payment order from a buyer for the purchase of a product from a seller; and means responsive to receiving the electronic payment order for providing the buyer with an unforgeable proof of purchase attesting a purchase transaction.
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39. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps in an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, the method steps comprising:
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receiving an electronic payment order from a buyer for the purchase of a product from a seller; and in response to receiving the electronic payment order, providing the buyer with an unforgeable proof of purchase attesting a purchase transaction.
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43. In an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, apparatus for generating survey information on the product, comprising:
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means for maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; means for receiving a survey response from an entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller, together with an authentication code included in the electronic payment order to the seller and a secret value from which the authentication code was generated; means for determining whether the entity in fact purchased the product -from the seller by regenerating an authentication code from the received secret value and comparing the regenerated authentication code with the received authentication code; and means for incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller.
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44. In an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller and reconciles purchase transactions with the seller through an intermediary entity, apparatus for generating survey information on the product, said apparatus being associated with an evaluator distinct from the buyer and seller and comprising:
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means for maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; means for receiving a survey response from a responding entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller; means for determining whether the responding entity in fact purchased the product from the seller by communicating with the intermediary entity; and means for incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the responding entity in fact purchased the product from the seller.
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45. In an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, apparatus for generating survey information on the product, comprising:
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means for maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; means for receiving a survey response from an entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller, together with an unforgeable proof of purchase attesting that the entity purchased the product from the seller; means for validating the proof of purchase to determine whether the entity purchased the product from the seller; and means for incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller.
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46. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for generating product survey information in an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, the method steps comprising:
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maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; receiving a survey response from an entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller, together with an authentication code included in the electronic payment order to the seller and a secret value from which the authentication code was generated; determining whether the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller by regenerating an authentication code from the received secret value and comparing the regenerated authentication code with the received authentication code; and incorporating the response into thc product survey information only if it is determined that the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller.
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47. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for generating product survey information in an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller and reconciles purchase transactions with the seller through an intermediary entity, the method steps being performed by an evaluator distinct from the buyer and seller and comprising:
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maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; receiving a survey response from a responding entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller; determining whether the responding entity in fact purchased the product from the seller by communicating with the intermediary entity; and incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the responding entity in fact purchased the product from the seller.
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48. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for generating product survey information in an electronic payment system in which a buyer purchases a product by sending an electronic payment order to a seller, the method steps comprising:
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maintaining product survey information based upon responses from buyers that have purchased products from a seller; receiving a survey response from an entity purporting to be a buyer of a product from the seller, together with an unforgeable proof of purchase attesting that the entity purchased the product from the seller; validating the proof of purchase to determine whether the entity purchased the product from the seller; and incorporating the response into the product survey information only if it is determined that the entity in fact purchased the product from the seller.
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Specification