Television commerce payments

• US 7,003,789 B1
• Filed: 12/21/1999
• Issued: 02/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Linehan, Mark H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kelley, Chris
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOSSAIN, FARZANA E
• Application Number:
  US09/469,007
• Time in Patent Office: 2,254 Days
• Field of Search: 725/1, 725/60, 725/51, 725/40, 725/5, 725/6, 235/379, 705/26, 705/14, 705/27, 705/78
• US Class Current: 725/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/306 using TV related infrastructures external card used for payment with client device H04N21/4185
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/38 Arrangements for distribution where lower stations, e.g. receivers, interact with the broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/63 for services of sales data processing systems or methods specially adapted for electronic commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2542 for selling goods, e.g. TV shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2547 Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A method, system, and computer readable code for extending payment protocols to include information related to the television context of commercial activity between a consumer using a television (or a set-top box) and a merchant, thereby enabling “TV commerce” to generate additional revenue streams which may include payments to the operator of the television system, as well as to various other parties (such as a cable or satellite provider who is providing the broadcast, the ad agency responsible for creating the advertisement from which the consumer made his purchase, etc.) involved with television advertisements and programs. A number of different payment protocols may be used for these TV commerce transactions, where the protocol messages are then augmented according to the present invention to include TV context data. Upon receiving the funds for a TV commerce purchase, the revenue is allocated and distributed to one or more parties associated with the television program or advertisement the consumer was viewing at the time of his purchase.

Claims

1. A method for enabling television (“

TV”

) commerce to generate revenue streams for TV originators in an interactive television environment, said environment having a connection to a computer network and said method comprising the steps of;

initiating a TV commerce transaction by a consumer using a device in said interactive television environment, wherein;

said transaction pertains to an offering of a merchant;

said device is communicably coupled to a computer of said merchant and to an issuer of a payment account of said consumer; and

said computer of said merchant is further communicably coupled to an acquirer that is distinct from, and that processes payments for, said merchant;

gathering, at said device, TV context information related to a TV context in which said offering is presented to said consumer, wherein said TV context information enables identifying one or more TV originators, each of which is distinct from said merchant;

digitally signing said gathered TV context information, at said device;

transmitting said digitally-signed TV context information with a payment authorization request sent from said device to said issuer of said payment account, wherein said payment authorization request requests authorization of payment, using said payment account, for said transaction;

determining, by said issuer, whether said issuer authorizes said payment using said payment account, and if so, performing steps of;

including said digitally-signed transmitted TV context information in an authorization token created by said issuer;

digitally signing, by said issuer said authorization token; and

sending, from said issuer to said device, a payment authorization, wherein said payment authorization comprises said authorization token, with said TV context information included therein;

forwarding said payment authorization from said device to said computer of said merchant;

transmitting said digitally-signed authorization token with a payment capture request sent from said computer of said merchant to said, wherein said payment capture request requests said acquirer to collect, from said issuer, said payment for said transaction;

verifying, by said acquirer, that said issuer authorized said payment and that said TV context information has not been altered by verifying said issuer'"'"'s digital signature on said authorization token and said digital signature on said TV context information, respectively; and

collecting, by said acquirer upon a successful outcome of said verifying step, said payment for said transaction from said issuer, and for automatically allocating a portion of said collected payment to one or more of said TV originators, according to said TV context information received in said digitally-signed authorization token from said issuer and reducing an amount of said collected payment to be paid to said merchant by said automatically allocated portion.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said collecting step further comprises the steps of:

extracting an identification of each of said one or more TV originators from said TV context information received in said digitally-signed authorization token; and

determining said portion using a predetermined percentage of said collected payment, for each of said TV originators for whom said identification is extracted.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

extracting, by said acquirer, said TV context information from said digitally-signed authorization token upon said successful outcome; and

sending said extracted TV context information from said acquirer to at least one of said one or more TV originators.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of sending said extracted information from said acquirer to said computer of said merchant.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said TV context comprises an identification of a TV program in which said offering is presented to said consumer and said gathered TV context information comprises information from a data stream transmitted with said TV program.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said TV context comprises an identification of an advertisement shown during a TV program, said offering being presented to said consumer during said advertisement, and wherein said gathered TV context information comprises information from said advertisement.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said gathered TV context information further comprises an identification of said consumer.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said gathered TV context information comprises an identification of a TV program, channel, and/or station being displayed when said transaction was initiated.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said gathered TV context information comprises an original broadcast date and/or time of a TV program being watched by said consumer when said transaction was initiated.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein said gathered TV context information further comprises TV viewing records of said consumer.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein said gathered TV context information comprises an identification, date, and/or time of an advertisement from which consumer initiated said transaction.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein said gathered TV context information further comprises an indication that said transaction was initiated from said interactive television environment.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein said determining step further comprises verifying, by said issuer, said digital signature of said device as a condition of authorizing said payment.

14. A system for enabling television (“

TV”

) commerce to generate revenue streams for TV originators in an interactive television environment, said environment having a connection to a computer network and said system comprising;

means for initiating a TV commerce transaction by a consumer using a device in said interactive television environment, wherein;

said transaction pertains to an offering of a merchant;

said device is communicably coupled to a computer of said merchant and to an issuer of a payment account of said consumer; and

said computer of said merchant is further communicably coupled to an acquirer that is distinct from, and that processes payments for, said merchant;

means for gathering, at said device, TV context information related to a TV context in which said offering is presented to said consumer, wherein said TV context information enables identifying one or more TV originators, each of which is distinct from said merchant;

means for digitally signing said gathered TV context information, at said device;

means for transmitting said digitally-signed TV context information with a payment authorization request sent from said device to said issuer of said payment account, wherein said payment authorization request requests authorization of payment, using said payment account, for said transaction;

means for determining, by said issuer, whether said issuer authorizes said payment using said payment account, and if so, means for;

including said digitally-signed transmitted TV context information in an authorization token created by said issuer;

digitally signing, by said issuer, said authorization token; and

sending, from said issuer to said device, a payment authorization, wherein said payment authorization comprises said authorization token, with said TV context information included therein;

means for forwarding said payment authorization from said device to said computer of said merchant;

means for transmitting said digitally-signed authorization token with a payment capture request sent from said computer of said merchant to said acquirer, wherein said payment capture request requests said acquirer to collect, from said issuer, said payment for said transaction;

means for verifying, by said acquirer, that said issuer authorized said payment and that said TV context information has not been altered by verifying said issuer'"'"'s digital signature on said authorization token and said digital signature on said TV context information, respectively; and

means for collecting, by said acquirer upon a successful outcome of said means for verifying, said payment for said transaction from said issuer, and for automatically allocating a portion of said collected payment to one or more of said TV originators, according to said TV context information received in said digitally-signed authorization token from said issuer and reducing an amount of said payment to be paid to said merchant by said automatically allocated portion.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said means for collecting further comprises:

means for extracting an identification of each of said one or more TV originators from said TV context information received in said digitally-signed authorization token; and

means for determining said portion using a predetermined percentage of said collected payment, for each of said TV originators for whom said identification is extracted.

16. The system according to claim 14, further comprising:

means for extracting, by said acquirer, said TV context information from said digitally-signed authorization token upon said successful outcome; and

means for sending said extracted TV context information from said acquirer to at least one of said one or more TV originators.

17. A computer program product for enabling television (“

TV”

) commerce to generate revenue streams for TV originators, said program product embodied on computer readable media readable by one or more computing systems in an interactive television environment having a connection to a computer network and comprising;

computer-readable program code means for initiating a TV commerce transaction by a consumer using a device in said interactive television environment, wherein;

said transaction pertains to an offering of a merchant;

said device is communicably coupled to a computer of said merchant and to an issuer of a payment account of said consumer; and

said computer of said merchant is further communicably coupled to an acquirer that is distinct from, and that processes payments for, said merchant;

computer-readable program code means for gathering, at said device, TV context information related to a TV context in which said offering is presented to said consumer, wherein said TV context information enables identifying one or more TV originators, each of which is distinct from said merchant;

computer-readable program code means for digitally signing said gathered TV context information, at said device;

computer-readable program code means for transmitting said digitally-signed TV context information with a payment authorization request sent from said device to said issuer of said payment account, wherein said payment authorization request requests authorization of payment, using said payment account, for said transaction;

computer-readable program code means for determining, by said issuer, whether said issuer authorizes said payment using said payment account, and if so, computer-readable program code means for;

including said digitally-signed transmitted TV context information in an authorization token created by said issuer;

digitally signing, by said issuer, said authorization token; and

sending, from said issuer to said device, a payment authorization, wherein said payment authorization comprises said authorization token, with said TV context information included therein;

computer-readable program code means for forwarding said payment authorization from said device to said computer of said merchant;

computer-readable program code means for transmitting said digitally-signed authorization token with a payment capture request sent from said computer of said merchant to said acquirer, wherein said payment capture request requests said acquirer to collect, from said issuer, said payment for said transaction;

computer-readable program code means for verifying, by said acquirer, that said issuer authorized said payment and that said TV context information has not been altered by verifying said issuer'"'"'s digital signature on said authorization token and said digital signature on said TV context information, respectively; and

computer-readable program code means for collecting, by said acquirer upon a successful outcome of said computer-readable program code means for verifying, said payment for said transaction from said issuer, and for automatically allocating a portion of said collected payment to one or more of said TV originators, according to said TV context information received in said digitally-signed authorization token from said issuer and reducing an amount of said collected payment to be paid to said merchant by said automatically allocated portion.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein said computer-readable program code means for collecting further comprises:

computer-readable program code means for extracting an identification of each of said one or more TV originators from TV context information received in said digitally-signed authorization token; and

computer-readable program code means for determining said portion using a predetermined percentage of said collected payment, for each of said TV originators for whom said identification is extracted.

19. The computer program product according to claim 17, further comprising:

computer-readable program code means for extracting, by said acquirer, said TV context information from said digitally-signed authorization token upon said successful outcome; and

computer-readable program code means for sending said extracted TV context information from said acquirer to at least one of said one or more TV originators.

20. A method of allocating revenue for television (“

TV”

) commerce, comprising steps of;

gathering contextual information related to a TV context in which a transaction between a consumer and a merchant is initiated, wherein the transaction is initiated in an interactive TV environment and wherein the contextual information enables identifying one or more TV originators, each of which is distinct from the merchant;

including a digitally-signed version of the contextual information, digitally signed at a device of the consumer, when requesting authorization of payment for the transaction;

including the digitally-signed version with a digitally-signed authorization token that is created and digitally signed, by an issuer of an account of the consumer, and sent to an acquirer that processes payments for the merchant and that is distinct from the merchant to signify that the issuer authorizes the payment from the account; and

upon determining, by the acquirer, that it has received authenticated digitally-signed authorization token pertaining to the transaction and an authenticated digitally-signed version of the contextual information, programmatically allocating a portion of the payment authorized by the authenticated digitally-signed authorization token to one or more of the TV originators identified by the authenticated digitally-signed version of the contextual information.