Internet billing method
DCFirst Claim
1. An Internet billing method for a plurality of customers and a plurality of vendors of products and services for purchase transactions between a purchasing customer of the plurality of customers and a selling vendor of the plurality of vendors, wherein, for each purchase transaction of a product or service, the method comprising the steps of:
- an Internet access provider which is neither the selling vendor nor the purchasing customer connecting the purchasing customer to the Internet for a period of time during which the purchase transaction is initiated; and
the Internet access provider charging the purchasing customer a transaction amount for the purchase transaction by the Internet access provider billing the transaction amount to an account of the purchasing customer.
2 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An Internet billing method comprises establishing an agreement between an Internet access provider and a customer, and an agreement between the Internet access provider and a vendor, wherein the Internet access provider agrees with the customer and the vendor to bill the customer and remit to the vendor for products and services purchased over the Internet by the customer from the vendor. The provider creates access to the Internet for the customer. When the customer orders a product or service over the Internet from a vendor, transactional information transmitted between the customer and the vendor is also transmitted to the provider. The provider then bills the transaction amount to the customer and remits a portion of the transaction amount to the vendor, keeping the differential as a fee for providing the service. As a result of this method, there is no need for any customer account numbers or vendor account numbers to be transmitted over the Internet, thereby maintaining the security of that information.
51 Citations
94 Claims
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1. An Internet billing method for a plurality of customers and a plurality of vendors of products and services for purchase transactions between a purchasing customer of the plurality of customers and a selling vendor of the plurality of vendors, wherein, for each purchase transaction of a product or service, the method comprising the steps of:
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an Internet access provider which is neither the selling vendor nor the purchasing customer connecting the purchasing customer to the Internet for a period of time during which the purchase transaction is initiated; and
the Internet access provider charging the purchasing customer a transaction amount for the purchase transaction by the Internet access provider billing the transaction amount to an account of the purchasing customer. - 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)
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27. An Internet billing method for a plurality of customers and a plurality of vendors of products and services for purchase transactions between a purchasing customer of the plurality of customers and a selling vendor of the plurality of vendors, wherein, the purchasing customer is connected to the Internet by an Internet access provider and for each purchase transaction of a product or service, the method comprising the steps of:
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the selling vendor initiating the purchase transaction with the purchasing customer over the Internet; and
the selling vendor receiving at least a portion of a transaction amount billed by the Internet access provider to an account of the purchasing customer for the purchase transaction. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. An Internet billing method for a plurality of customers and a plurality of vendors of products and services for purchase transactions between a purchasing customer of the plurality of customers and a selling vendor of the plurality of vendors, wherein, for each purchase transaction of a product or service, the method comprising the steps of:
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an Internet access provider which is neither the selling vendor nor the purchasing customer connecting the purchasing customer to the Internet for a period of time;
the Internet access provider delivering the product or service of the purchase transaction over the connection to the Internet during the period of time; and
the Internet access provider charging the purchasing customer a transaction amount for the purchase transaction by billing the transaction amount to an account of the purchasing customer. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94)
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Specification