Methods and systems for carrying out directory-authenticated electronic transactions including contingency-dependent payments via secure electronic bank drafts
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of carrying out an electronic transaction that includes a contingency-dependent payment via a secure electronic draft, comprising the steps of:
- establishing a secure computer site that is controlled by a bank and that is accessible only to authenticated parties to the transaction, the site being configured to provide a description of a contingency and to include an option to remove the contingency, the removal of the contingency being a precondition to the bank releasing payment on the draft to a payee of the draft;
authenticating each party to the draft requesting access to the computer site, and releasing payment on the draft to the payee only when a drawer of the draft is successfully authenticated by the bank and when the option to remove the contingency is timely exercised by an authenticated party that is authorized to remove the contingency.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed herein are computer-implemented methods and systems for securely carrying out electronic transactions including electronic drafts, wherein payment on at least one of the drafts is contingent upon the removal of an associated contingency. The method may include steps of establishing a secure computer site accessible only by authenticated parties to the transaction and by any authenticated contingency approver. The site includes a representation of the transaction that includes a representation of each of the plurality of drafts and an option to remove any contingencies associated therewith. Parties and contingency approvers requesting access to the computer site are authenticated by encrypting identification information provided by the requesting party or contingency approver over a secure channel and successfully matching the encrypted identification information with an encrypted identifier that is stored by a bank, the encrypted identifier being unique to the requesting party or contingency approver. Payment on the constituent drafts of the transaction are released by the bank only when the option to remove each contingency associated with the draft is timely exercised by an authenticated party or authenticated contingency remover that is authorized to remove the contingency. Complex transactions may thereby be carried out securely, remotely and without compromising personal and/or financial information. The invention obviates the need to disseminate identification surrogates such as credit card numbers over public networks as well as the need to rely upon in-person holographic signatures on paper documents for authentication purposes.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of carrying out an electronic transaction that includes a contingency-dependent payment via a secure electronic draft, comprising the steps of:
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establishing a secure computer site that is controlled by a bank and that is accessible only to authenticated parties to the transaction, the site being configured to provide a description of a contingency and to include an option to remove the contingency, the removal of the contingency being a precondition to the bank releasing payment on the draft to a payee of the draft;
authenticating each party to the draft requesting access to the computer site, and releasing payment on the draft to the payee only when a drawer of the draft is successfully authenticated by the bank and when the option to remove the contingency is timely exercised by an authenticated party that is authorized to remove the contingency. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer-implemented method of securely carrying out an electronic transaction including a plurality of electronic drafts, a payment on at least one of the drafts being contingent upon removal of an associated contingency, the method comprising the steps of:
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establishing a secure computer site that is controlled by a trusted entity and that is accessible only by authenticated parties to the transaction and by any authenticated contingency approver, the site being configured to provide a representation of each of the plurality of drafts and an option to remove any contingencies associated therewith;
authenticating parties and any contingency approver requesting access to the computer site, and releasing payment on a draft only when a drawer of the draft is authenticated and when the option to remove each contingency associated with the draft is timely exercised by an authenticated party or authenticated contingency remover that is authorized to remove the contingency. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A machine-readable medium having data stored thereon representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more computers coupled to a secure network, causes at least one of said computers to perform the steps of:
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establishing a secure computer site that is controlled by a bank and that is remotely accessible only by authenticated parties to the transaction and by any authenticated contingency approver over the secure network, the site including a representation of the transaction that includes a representation of each of the plurality of drafts and an option to remove any contingencies associated therewith;
authenticating parties and any contingency approver requesting access to the computer site, and releasing payment on a draft of the transaction only when a drawer of the draft is authenticated and when the option to remove each contingency associated with the draft is timely exercised by an authenticated party or authenticated contingency remover that is authorized to remove the contingency. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method of enabling secure electronic transactions over a computer network, comprising the steps of:
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establishing a secure computer site that is controlled by a financial institution, the secure computer site including a link to a computer site of each of a plurality of vendors with whom the financial institution has a relationship;
authenticating parties seeking access to the secure Web site to the satisfaction of the financial institution and providing access to the secure computer site only to authenticated parties;
establishing constraints for authenticated parties, and enabling authenticated parties to transfer from the secure computer site to the computer site of any of the plurality of vendors and to cause drafts to be executed and presented to the financial institution by one of the plurality of vendors, the financial institution honoring the presented drafts when the constraints are satisfied. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification