Systems and methods for monetary transactions between wired and wireless devices

• US 7,840,494 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2001
• Issued: 11/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Verizon Business Global LLC (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Wiederin, Shawn
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEUNG, MARY DA ZHI WANG
• Application Number:
  US09/950,025
• Publication Number:
  US 20030050896A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,359 Days
• Field of Search: 705 64- 68, 705 70- 79, 705 16- 18, 705 26- 27, 705/30, 705 34- 35, 705 38- 44, 455/3, 340/5, 380270-272, 725/81, 725/123, 725/1, 725/5, 707/607, 707705-706, 707/713, 707769-771, 707781-786, 370/310, 370/310.1
• US Class Current: 705/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• 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 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction

Abstract

A monetary transaction system allows one or more wireless or wired devices, or a combination of these devices, to perform a transfer of currency or monetary funds from one online financial account to another financial account. After a user'"'"'s profile is created, all of the necessary steps to verify the profile, availability of funds, security related issues and debiting and crediting of the appropriate account can be performed quickly and easily from the user'"'"'s device. Thus, the transaction system will allow the transfer of funds between wired or wireless devices or appliances.

Claims

1. A monetary transaction system comprising:

a payment processing system to;

associate a profile with a user, the profile including security information, historical information, and at least one of financial information, device information, transaction information, or authorized recipient information,

receive, from a wireless device associated with the, a request for a monetary transaction,

identify, in response to receiving the request for the monetary transaction, the profile associated with the user,

receive, from the wireless device, information identifying a payee and information identifying an amount, of the monetary transaction,

verify identification information of the wireless device based on an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the wireless device and one or more IP addresses, of one or more devices associated with the user, included in the identified profile,

determine, in response to receiving the information identifying the amount, whether sufficient funds exist in a first account associated with the user, whether the first account has been disabled, and whether a previous fraudulent activity of a user has been detected,

determine, in response to receiving the information identifying the payee, whether a profile associated with the payee exists, the profile associated with the payee including information identifying a second account associated with the payee,

request the profile associated with the payee when the profile associated with the payee does not exist,

transfer funds between the first account and the second account, based on the information identifying the amount, and based on determining whether sufficient funds exist in the first account associated with the user, whether the first account has been disabled, and whether a previous fraudulent activity of a user has been detected, and

send, in response to transferring the funds, a notification of the transfer of the funds to the wireless device, the notification including an itemization of goods or services associated with the transfer.

2. The system of claim 1, where the payment processing system includes a profile determination device that determines the profile associated with the user and the profile associated with the payee.

3. The system of claim 2, where the profile determination device determines the profile associated with the payee based on at least one of a look-up technique, identification information, or a profile database.

4. The system of claim 1, where the payment processing system includes a transaction database that records information about the transfer of the funds.

5. The system of claim 1, where the wireless device includes at least one of a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a wireless pager, a PC tablet, a television, a personal computer, a wireless e-mail device, a wireless telephone, an appliance, a refrigerator, a washing machine, or a distributed network access device.

6. The system of claim 1, where the profile associated with the user further comprises user information, and where the user information comprises at least one of personal information about the user including a name, an age, an address, a city, a state, a phone, a fax, an e-mail address or a wireless phone number.

7. The system of claim 1, where the payment processing system includes a security device that monitors passwords, encrypts information, or monitors user information.

8. The system of claim 1, where the security information includes fraud related information associated with the first account and password information, and where the historical information includes historical transaction information, historical spending information, and historical purchase information.

9. A method for performing a monetary transaction, the method comprising:

identifying, by a server device, a profile associated with a user, in response to receiving a request for a monetary transaction from a wireless device associated with the user;

receiving, at the server device and from the wireless device, in response to identifying the profile associated with the user, payee identification information, and amount information, associated with the monetary transaction;

verifying, by the server device, identification information associated with the wireless device based on an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the wireless device and at least one IP address, of one or more devices associated with the user, included in the identified profile;

identifying, by the server device, a first account associated with the user based on the identified profile;

determining, by the server device and based on the identified first account, whether a previous fraudulent activity has been detected for the identified first account, and at least one of whether the identified first account has been disabled, or whether sufficient funds exist in the identified first account;

prompting, by the server device, a payee device associated with the payee, for information relating to a second account associated with the payee, based on the payee identification information; and

transferring, by the server device, funds between the identified first account and the second account, based on the amount information, the verified identification information associated with the wireless device, and the determining.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining a payee profile.

11. The method of claim 10, where the payee profile is based on the information relating to the second account associated with the payee.

12. The method of claim 9, where the profile associated with the user comprises at least one of financial information, device information, security information, historical information, transaction information, or authorized recipient information.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising recording information about the transfer of funds.

14. The method of claim 9, where the wireless device includes at least one of a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a wireless pager, a PC tablet, a television, a personal computer, a wireless e-mail device, a wireless telephone, an appliance, a refrigerator, a washing machine, or a distributed network access device.

15. The method of claim 9, where the profile associated with the user comprises at least one of personal information about the user including a name, an age, an address, a city, a state, a phone, a fax, an e-mail address, or a wireless phone number.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising at least one of monitoring passwords, encrypting information, or monitoring user information.

17. A tangible computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling at least one processor to perform a method for conducting a monetary transaction, the tangible computer-readable medium comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving transaction information from a wireless device associated with a user, where the transaction information includes payee identification information, a profile associated with the user, and amount information;

one or more instructions for verifying information identifying the wireless device, based on an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the wireless device and at least one IP address, of at least one device associated with the user, included in the profile,

one or more instructions for identifying a first account associated with the user based on the transaction information;

one or more instructions for determining whether sufficient funds exist in the identified first account, whether the identified first account has been disabled, and whether a previous fraudulent activity of a user has been detected for the first account,

one or more instructions for prompting a payee device associated with the payee, for information relating to a second account associated with the payee, based on the transaction information; and

one or more instructions for transferring funds between the first account and the second account, based on the transaction information, the verified information identifying the wireless device, and the determining.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further-comprising one or more instruction for determining the profile associated with the user and a payee profile.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the profile associated with the user comprises at least one of financial information, device information, security information, historical information, transaction information, or authorized recipient information.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the payee profile is based on the information relating to the second account associated with the payee.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising one or more instructions for recording information about the transfer of the funds.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the wireless device includes at least one of a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a wireless pager, a PC tablet, a television, a personal computer, a wireless e-mail device, a wireless telephone, an appliance, a refrigerator, a washing machine, or a distributed network access device.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the transaction information comprises at least one of personal information about the user including a name, an age, an address, a city, a state, a phone, a fax, an e-mail address, or a wireless phone number.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further-comprising one or more instructions for at least one of monitoring passwords, encrypting information, or monitoring user information.

25. A network device comprising:

a first component to receive monetary transaction information from a device associated with a payer, the monetary transaction information including at least payee identification information, user information, device identification information associated with the device, and amount information;

a second component to verify the device identification information, based on an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the device and one or more IP addresses, of one or more devices associated with a payer, included in a profile of the payer,

where the profile is identified based on the received monetary transaction information;

a third component to identify a first account associated with the payer and a second account associated with a payee, based on the received monetary transaction information;

a fourth component to determine whether sufficient funds exist in the identified first account, and at least one of whether the identified first account has been disabled, or whether a previous fraudulent activity of a user has been detected for the first account;

a fifth component to transfer funds between the first account and the second account, based on the amount information and the fourth component; and

a sixth component to notify a wireless device associated with the payer of the transfer of funds, the notification including an itemization of goods or services associated with the transfer.

26. The network device of claim 25, further comprising a profile determination device that determines the profile of the payer and a payee profile.

27. The network device of claim 26, where the profile of the payer comprises at least one of financial information, device information, security information, historical information, transaction information, or authorized recipient information.

28. The network device of claim 26, where the profile determination device determines the payee profile based on the information relating to the second account associated with the payee.

29. The network device of claim 25, further comprising a transaction database that records information about the transfer of the funds.

30. The network device of claim 25, where the device includes at least one of a household appliance, a television, a vending machine, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a heater, an air conditioner, or a refrigerator.

31. The network device of claim 25, where the monetary transaction information that comprises at least one of personal information about the payer including a name, an age, an address, a city, a state, a phone, a fax, an e-mail address, or a wireless phone number.

32. The network device of claim 25, further comprising a security device that at least one of monitors passwords, encrypts information, or monitors payer information.

33. The network device of claim 25, where the device identification information comprises one or more of a serial number, an electronic number identifier, or the IP address associated with the device.