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Third-party billing system and method

  • US 7,346,577 B1
  • Filed: 08/28/2000
  • Issued: 03/18/2008
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2000
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method of conducting a multiplicity of transactions between a consumer, at least one merchant computer, and a billing computer connected together over a computer network, wherein each transaction is for a product or service that the consumer purchases by using one of the at least one merchant computers, the method comprising:

  • (a) determining at a time of each transaction whether a transaction amount exceeds a pass-through amount and if so, charging the transaction amount directly to the consumer billing account and bypassing steps (b) and (c);

    (b) aggregating a multiplicity of transactions that involve the consumer;

    (c) upon the occurrence of an event, charging the aggregated multiplicity of transactions to a consumer billing account;

    (d) obtaining a first pre-authorization from the consumer billing authority that permits charging a predetermined amount to the consumer billing account; and

    (e) obtaining a second pre-authorization from the consumer billing authority within a predetermined period of time from said step of obtaining the first pre-authorization;

    wherein the first pre-authorization expires at the end of the predetermined period of time.

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