Method and apparatus for providing electronic accounts over a public network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for affecting a transfer of funds over a public network, comprising:
- an acquirer;
a gateway connected to said public network, said gateway comprising a plurality of individual accounts;
at least one individual account of said plurality of individual accounts comprising means for aggregating a first all or a portion of funds in said plurality of individual accounts until said aggregated funds are greater than or equal to a minimum acceptable transaction amount for said acquirer;
means within said gateway for supporting a plurality of authenticated transactions between holders of said plurality of individual accounts;
means within said gateway for transferring the first all or a portion of said aggregated funds between the individual account of said plurality of individual accounts and said acquirer;
means at said acquirer for defining said minimum acceptable transaction amount for said acquirer;
a first node on said public network, which first node purchases a second all or a portion of funds in said plurality of individual accounts from said gateway and which transfers all or a portion of said purchased funds;
a second node on said public network which receives at least all or a portion of said purchased funds from said first node;
means at said first node for transferring all or a portion of said purchased funds via said gateway;
means at said second node for transferring said received all or a portion of said purchased funds via said gateway;
at least one customer node; and
at least one merchant node comprising means for effecting at least one purchase transaction with said customer node;
means at said merchant node for transferring a plurality of purchase transactions for aggregation into an electronic money account at said gateway; and
an electronic payment protocol for implementing said transactions as secure courier messages.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system provides an efficient way of providing electronic accounts to customers over a public network, in which all payments are traceable, i.e. anonymity is available to the degree that the customer provides an account number for paying for the transaction, and that uses as much as possible of emerging public network payment protocols. One embodiment of the system handles small payment from customers to merchants without burdening the banks with each small transaction by aggregating the payment at a payment gateway from the customers and to the merchants.
351 Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A system for affecting a transfer of funds over a public network, comprising:
-
an acquirer; a gateway connected to said public network, said gateway comprising a plurality of individual accounts; at least one individual account of said plurality of individual accounts comprising means for aggregating a first all or a portion of funds in said plurality of individual accounts until said aggregated funds are greater than or equal to a minimum acceptable transaction amount for said acquirer; means within said gateway for supporting a plurality of authenticated transactions between holders of said plurality of individual accounts; means within said gateway for transferring the first all or a portion of said aggregated funds between the individual account of said plurality of individual accounts and said acquirer; means at said acquirer for defining said minimum acceptable transaction amount for said acquirer; a first node on said public network, which first node purchases a second all or a portion of funds in said plurality of individual accounts from said gateway and which transfers all or a portion of said purchased funds; a second node on said public network which receives at least all or a portion of said purchased funds from said first node; means at said first node for transferring all or a portion of said purchased funds via said gateway; means at said second node for transferring said received all or a portion of said purchased funds via said gateway; at least one customer node; and at least one merchant node comprising means for effecting at least one purchase transaction with said customer node; means at said merchant node for transferring a plurality of purchase transactions for aggregation into an electronic money account at said gateway; and an electronic payment protocol for implementing said transactions as secure courier messages. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
Specification