Electronic payment system utilizing intermediary account
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for effecting payment for goods or services comprising:
- providing a centralized payment processor;
establishing an intermediary account on the payment processor having a corresponding account identifier;
associating the intermediary account with an end-user'"'"'s account maintained by a vendor;
conducting a payment transaction comprising receiving a payment from the end-user at a point-of-sale together with the account identifier;
communicating data indicative of the payment transaction from the point-of-sale to the centralized payment processor;
in the payment processor, validating the payment transaction data and transmitting a response to the point-of-sale, said response including an indication of approval if the validating step results in approval of the transaction;
in the payment processor, if the validating step results in approval of the transaction, interfacing with the vendor so as to load value into the end-user'"'"'s associated account responsive to the payment transaction;
establishing an intermediary bank account at a financial institution for deposit of funds corresponding to the intermediary account established on the payment processor; and
collecting an amount of money equal to the payment amount, subject to adjustment, from the point-of-sale proprietor into the intermediary bank account by electronic funds transfer.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Payments in cash are submitted to a merchant at a point of sale. The payment transaction is effected electronically to credit the end user'"'"'s intermediary account. Subsequent electronic communications between the intermediary account and a vendor site effect payment to the vendor for goods or services on behalf of the end user. This system leverages the existing credit card payment system in reverse so as to provide the convenience of submitting cash payments at a multitude of merchant locations.
577 Citations
33 Claims
-
1. A method for effecting payment for goods or services comprising:
-
providing a centralized payment processor;
establishing an intermediary account on the payment processor having a corresponding account identifier;
associating the intermediary account with an end-user'"'"'s account maintained by a vendor;
conducting a payment transaction comprising receiving a payment from the end-user at a point-of-sale together with the account identifier;
communicating data indicative of the payment transaction from the point-of-sale to the centralized payment processor;
in the payment processor, validating the payment transaction data and transmitting a response to the point-of-sale, said response including an indication of approval if the validating step results in approval of the transaction;
in the payment processor, if the validating step results in approval of the transaction, interfacing with the vendor so as to load value into the end-user'"'"'s associated account responsive to the payment transaction;
establishing an intermediary bank account at a financial institution for deposit of funds corresponding to the intermediary account established on the payment processor; and
collecting an amount of money equal to the payment amount, subject to adjustment, from the point-of-sale proprietor into the intermediary bank account by electronic funds transfer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
communicating a transaction message indicating the amount of the payment from the point-of-sale to the POS merchant'"'"'s acquiring processor;
routing the transaction message from the acquiring processor into a financial network;
providing a network access point for the payment processor; and
routing the transaction message via the network access point to the payment processor.
-
-
21. A method according to claim 20 wherein the financial network is a credit card association network.
-
22. A method according to claim 1 wherein establishing the intermediary account includes producing a plurality of cards, each card corresponding to a respective intermediary account on the processor.
-
23. A method according to claim 22 including printing said cards in accordance with a predetermined design that displays a trademark associated with the customer.
-
24. A method according to claim 22 including receiving a card order from the customer for a specified number of cards;
- initializing in the processor a number of new intermediary accounts equal to the number of cards ordered; and
assigning unique account identifiers to each of the initialized accounts.
- initializing in the processor a number of new intermediary accounts equal to the number of cards ordered; and
-
25. A method according to claim 24 wherein said producing the cards includes affixing to each card an indication of the corresponding intermediate account identifier by embossing or by electronic storage.
-
26. A method according to claim 1 wherein said collecting step is carried out in a batch mode on a daily basis.
-
27. A method according to claim 1 wherein said collecting step is effecting via the ACH automated clearing house system.
-
28. A method according to claim 1 and further comprising settling the payment transaction by transferring an amount of money equal to the payment amount, subject to adjustment, from the intermediary bank account into the vendor'"'"'s bank account by electronic funds transfer.
-
29. A method according to claim 1 and further comprising providing a customer care interface between the payment processor and the vendor'"'"'s customer service provider.
-
30. A method according to claim 29 wherein the customer care interface comprises a world-wide web browser interface.
-
31. A method according to claim 1 wherein validating the payment transaction data includes communicating with the vendor to confirm that the end-user'"'"'s associated account number is valid.
-
32. A method according to claim 1 including, in the central processor, maintaining a database of intermediary payment accounts and a list of participating merchants.
-
33. A method according to claim 32 wherein the intermediary payment account database does not include personal identification of the end-user in order to protect the end-user'"'"'s privacy.
Specification