E-mail invoked electronic commerce

• US 7,533,064 B1
• Filed: 01/29/1999
• Issued: 05/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.), Paypal International Limited (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Boesch, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Cuong H.
• Application Number:
  US09/240,250
• Time in Patent Office: 3,756 Days
• Field of Search: 705 26- 27, 705 64- 65, 705/72, 705 75- 76, 705/67, 705/40, 709/227, 709/203, 726/4
• US Class Current: 705/67
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3821 Electronic credentials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/389 Keeping log of transactions for guaranteeing non-repudiation of a transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4012 Verifying personal identification numbers [PIN]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted

Abstract

A system and method for merchant invoked electronic commerce allowing consumers to purchase items over a network and merchants to receive payment information relating to the purchases. The system includes a server having software which gathers the purchasing information from a consumer to complete a purchasing transaction over a network. The system has a consumer data structure that stores purchasing information for registered consumers. The software is able to access the consumer data structure and enter the consumer'"'"'s purchasing information during subsequent purchases. Having the software obtain and enter the consumer'"'"'s purchasing information, the consumer does not have to enter the same information every time they purchase an item over the network. In alternate embodiments, the same technology can be applied to other arenas where a user may have to enter the same repetitive information. In addition, consumers can register with the consumer information server prior to making purchase. In an alternate embodiment, a merchant can gather the purchasing information from a consumer and pass the information to the consumer information server to allow the consumer to register with the consumer information server.

Claims

1. A method for conducting electronic transactions with any of a plurality of merchants over a network, the method comprising:

at a consumer information server;

receiving a connection request based on a communication from a merchant computer which has compiled purchase information based on a request for a consumer transaction,

determining whether the consumer information server contains registration information to complete the consumer transaction with the merchant computer,

if the consumer information server does not have the registration information, sending a request for the registration information,

receiving registration information in response to the request, the registration information including a consumer identification number, a consumer electronic mail address, and consumer payment information, and

storing the registration information for use in subsequent consumer transactions so that the consumer does not have to register separately with respective merchants.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the link includes an Internet address of the consumer information server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection request includes the Internet address of the consumer information server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the registration information includes a consumer electronic mail address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the registration information includes a consumer passphrase.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the registration information includes consumer payment information.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the registration information includes a consumer shipping address.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the registration information includes a consumer shipping method.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the consumer information server;

checking the registration information for errors; and

sending a cookie.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the consumer information server;

sending an electronic mail message indicating that the registration information was stored.

11. A method for conducting electronic transactions over a network, comprising:

at a merchant computer;

sending a first electronic mail message having a link including an Internet address of a consumer information server; and

at the consumer information server;

determining whether a consumer is registered with the consumer information server,

if the consumer is not registered with the consumer information server,

sending a request for registration information in response to a connection request,

receiving registration information in response to the request, the registration information including a consumer identification number, a consumer electronic mail address and a consumer passphrase,

storing the registration information for use in subsequent consumer transactions so that the consumer does not have to register separately with respective merchants, and

sending, a second electronic mail message indicating that the registration information was stored.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first electronic mail message includes purchase information associated with the electronic transaction.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the purchase information includes a merchant computer uniform resource locator.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first electronic mail message includes connection software to generate the connection request.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the electronic mail message includes purchase information associated with the electronic transaction.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the purchase information includes a merchant computer uniform resource locator.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the electronic mail message includes connection software to generate the connection request.