System, method and article of manufacture for a gateway system architecture with system administration information accessible from a browser

• US 6,304,915 B1
• Filed: 05/17/1999
• Issued: 10/16/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Subramanian, Mahadevan P., Nguyen, Trong, Haller, Daniel R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US09/313,122
• Time in Patent Office: 883 Days
• Field of Search: 709/250, 709/230, 709/216, 709/217, 709/218, 380/24
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems

Abstract

Secure transmission of data is provided between a plurality of computer systems over a public communication system, such as the Internet. Secure transmission of data is provided from a customer computer system to a merchant computer system, and for the further secure transmission of payment information from the merchant computer system to a payment gateway computer system. The payment gateway system receives encrypted payment requests from merchants, as HTTP POST messages via the Internet. The gateway then unwraps and decrypts the requests, authenticates digital signatures of the requests based on certificates, supports transaction types and card types as required by a financial institution, and accepts concurrent VPOS transactions from each of the merchant servers. Then, the gateway converts transaction data to host-specific formats and forwards the mapped requests to the host processor using the existing financial network. The gateway system architecture includes support for standard Internet access routines which facilitate access to system administration information from a commercial web browser.

Claims

1. A method for processing information accumulated at a gateway between a network application and a host system utilizing a gateway administrative interface, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving information at the gateway from the network;

(b) processing the information;

(c) storing gateway transaction and administrative information at the gateway in a database;

(d) receiving requests for gateway information from a network application at the gateway administrative interface and translating the requests into a query for the database;

submitting the query to the database;

(g) receiving gateway information from the database in response to the query; and

(h) transmitting the gateway information to the network application.

2. A method, as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of processing requests for gateway from a browser utilizing the Internet.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the gateway information includes dynamic tracing of transactions.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the gateway information includes status information.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the gateway information includes exception information associated with transactions.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the network communication utilizes HTTP for information exchange.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the gateway administrative interface provides system configuration parameters to the gateway.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the gateway administrative interface activates gateway functions.

9. A system for processing administrative information accumulated at a gateway between a network application and a host system utilizing a gateway administrative interface, comprising:

(a) a network adaptor that receives encrypted information at the gateway from the network;

(b) a software code segment that decrypts the information;

(c) a first application program interface to access custom modules and process the information;

(d) a database that stores gateway administrative information at the gateway;

(e) a gateway administrative interface that receives requests for gateway information from a network application and translates the requests into a query for the database;

(f) a software code segment that submits the query to the database;

(g) a software code segment that receives gateway information from the database in response to the query; and

(h) a software code segment that transmits the gateway information to the network application.

10. A system as recited in claim 9, further comprising the step of processing requests for gateway information from a browser utilizing the Internet.

11. A system as recited in claim 9, wherein the gateway information includes dynamic tracing of transactions.

12. A system as recited in claim 9, wherein the gateway information includes status information on transactions.

13. A system as recited in claim 9, wherein the gateway information includes exception information associated with transactions.

14. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the network communication utilizes HTTP for information exchange.

15. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable for processing administrative information accumulated at a gateway between a network application and a host system utilizing a gateway administrative interface, comprising:

(a) a code segment that receives encrypted information at the gateway from the network;

(b) a code segment that decrypts the information;

(c) a first application program interface to access custom modules and process the information;

(d) a code segment that stores gateway administrative information at the gateway;

(e) a code segment that receives requests for gateway information from a network application and translates the requests into a query for the database;

(f) a code segment that submits the query to the database;

(g) a code segment that receives gateway information from the database in response to the query; and

(h) a code segment that transmits the gateway information to the network application.

16. A computer program as recited in claim 15, further comprising a code segment that processes requests for gateway information from a browser utilizing the Internet.

17. A computer program as recited in claim 15, wherein the gateway information includes dynamic tracing of transactions.

18. A computer program as recited in claim 15, wherein the gateway information includes status information on transactions.

19. A computer program as recited in claim 15, wherein the gateway information includes exception information associated with transactions.

20. A computer program as recited in claim 15, wherein the network communication utilizes HTTP for information exchange.