Method and system for user payment account management

• US 7,860,784 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Issued: 12/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Bedier, Osama Mostafa
• Primary Examiner(s): Colbert; Ella
• Assistant Examiner(s): OJIAKU, CHIKAODINAKA
• Application Number:
  US11/617,975
• Publication Number:
  US 20080162343A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,460 Days
• Field of Search: 705/38, 705/14, 235/380
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• 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 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• 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 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Embodiments of a method and system for user payment account management in a networked system are disclosed. User information regarding a user, an account identifier, and a server location may be received from a merchant application. The account identifier may identify the user to the merchant application. An underwriting process may be initiated using the user information to determine whether to establish a user payment account for the user. The user payment account may enable the user to perform at least one of making a payment and receiving a payment in a networked system. The user payment account may be established for the user in response to a result of the underwriting process. Establishment information may be provided regarding the user payment account and the account identifier at the server location designated by the merchant application. The establishment information may include information regarding functionality available through use of the user payment account.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving user information regarding a user, an account identifier, and a server location from a merchant application, the account identifier identifying the user to the merchant application, at least a portion of the user information being obtained by the merchant application from an existing merchant user account, the existing merchant user account allowing the user associated with the existing merchant user account to communicate with the merchant application in order to participate in selling or buying of an item, the merchant application to provide marketplace functionalities independent from payment services;

initiating an underwriting process using the user information to determine whether to establish a user payment account for the user, the user payment account to enable the user to perform at least one of making a payment and receiving a payment in a networked system;

establishing the user payment account for the user in response to a result of the underwriting process; and

providing establishment information of the established user payment account and the account identifier at the server location designated by the merchant application, the establishment information including information regarding functionality available through use of the user payment account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the user information comprises:

receiving collected information regarding the user, the account identifier, and the server location from a sender;

requesting further information regarding the user; and

receiving additional information regarding the user, wherein the initiating of the underwriting process uses the collected information and the additional information to determine whether to establish the user payment account for the user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

verifying the merchant application.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

linking the user payment account with the merchant user account of the merchant application, the linking providing the merchant application with access to at least a portion of the user payment account.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user payment account comprises at least one of:

an account type field to provide an account identifier to identify whether the user payment account is associated with a person or a business,

an account id field to provide an account id to enable identification of the user payment account,

an electronic payment field to provide access to an account value from a payment source, and

an authorized user field to designate the user as being authorized to access the user payment account.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the electronic payment field is at least one of:

a balance field for access to the account value of the user payment account,

a bank account field for access to the account value in a bank account, and

a credit card account field for access to the account value from a credit card account.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

linking the user payment account with the merchant user account of the merchant application, the linking enabling the user to perform the at least one of making a payment and receiving a payment in a networked system using a user application of a client device of the user.

7. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a user application in a networked system for payment functionality, the payment functionality including processing of a credit card payment;

accessing user information regarding a user, the user associated with the user application, at least a portion of the user information being obtained from an existing merchant user account, the existing merchant user account allowing the user associated with the existing merchant user account to communicate with a merchant application in order to participate in selling or buying of an item, the merchant application to provide marketplace functionalities independent from payment services;

providing the user information, an account identifier, and a server location to a payment application, the payment application capable of providing the payment functionality to the user application;

receiving establishment information of a user payment account from the payment application, the establishment information including information regarding the payment functionality available through use of the user payment account; and

configuring the user application to access the user payment account for the payment functionality.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising:

notifying the user of receipt of the establishment notification and configuration of the user application.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a payment processing request from a user application in a networked system;

accessing an account identifier associated with the user application and a user payment account, the account identifier being accessed from an existing merchant user account, the existing merchant user account allowing a user associated with the existing merchant user account to communicate with a merchant application in order to participate in selling or buying of an item, the merchant application to provide marketplace functionalities independent from payment services;

providing the payment processing request and the account identifier to a payment application, the payment application capable of processing the payment processing request;

receiving a notice regarding processing of the payment processing request and the account identifier from the payment application; and

updating the user application from receipt of the notice.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the updating comprises:

updating the user application to reflect that processing of the payment processing request was completed successfully.

11. A method comprising:

using one or more processors to perform at least some portion of the following

receiving a processing request in a networked system from a requestor, the processing request being a request to process one or more representative requests from the requestor for at least one of a user payment account or a user profile associated with the user payment account;

identifying a merchant associated with the requestor from a merchant identifier stored in a user profile of the requestor;

accessing account relationship information of the identified merchant, the account relationship information being stored in a database, the account relationship information identifying whether the user payment account is a sub-account of a merchant account of the identified merchant; and

processing the one or more representative requests from the requestor when the user payment account is identified as a sub-account of the merchant account for which the requestor has permission to access, the merchant account allowing a user associated with the merchant account to communicate with a merchant application in order to participate in selling or buying of an item, the merchant application to provide marketplace functionalities independent from payment services.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving and processing comprises:

receiving an information request for at least one of the user payment account or the user profile, the information request being a request for information retained in a field of at least one of the user payment account or the user profile;

accessing a permission of the requestor, the permission indicating a right of the requestor to access the requested information; and

providing the requested information to the requestor when the permission indicates the right of the requestor to access the requested information.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving and processing comprises:

receiving a modification request for at least one of the user payment account or the user profile, the modification request being a request to modify information retained in a field of at least one of the user payment account or the user profile;

accessing a permission of the requestor, the permission indicating a right of the requestor to modify the requested information; and

modifying the requested information when the permission indicates the right of the requestor to modify the requested information and a modification criterion is met.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the modification criteria comprises that the modification request is below a certain number of total modification requests received from the requestor during a time period.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving and processing comprises:

receiving a credit request for the user payment account, the credit request being a request to provide credit to the user payment account;

accessing a permission of the requestor, the permission indicating a right of the requestor to provide credit; and

providing credit from a merchant account when the permission indicates the right of the requestor to provide the credit and the credit criterion is not met.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the credit criterion comprises that the credit request is below a credit threshold.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the user profile includes at least one of:

an e-mail address field to provide an e-mail address of a user associated with the user account,

a personal/business information field to provide at least one of a name, a street address, a city, a state, a zip code, a phone number, a social security number, or an employee identification number,

a security question response field to provide a security question response,

a pin number field to provide a pin number for the user account,

an account id field to provides an account id to associate the user profile with the user payment account,

a permissions field to enable the user to have at least one of certain access, modification, or use rights.

18. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a request from a user application in a networked system for payment functionality, the payment functionality including processing of a credit card payment;

means for accessing user information regarding a user, the user associated with the user application, at least a portion of the user information being obtained from an existing merchant user account, the existing merchant user account allowing the user associated with the existing merchant user account to communicate with a merchant application in order to participate in selling or buying of an item, the merchant application to provide marketplace functionalities independent from payment services;

means for providing the user information, an account identifier, and a server location to a payment application, the payment application capable of providing the payment functionality to the user application;

means for receiving establishment information of a user payment account from the payment application, the establishment information including information regarding the payment functionality available through use of the user payment account; and

means for configuring the user application to access the user payment account for the payment functionality.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for notifying the user of receipt of the establishment information and configuration of the user application.

20. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving user information regarding a user in a networked system, an account identifier, and a server location from a merchant application, the account identifier identifying the user to the merchant application, at least a portion of the user information being obtained by the merchant application from an existing merchant user account, the existing merchant user account allowing the user associated with the existing merchant user account to communicate with the merchant application in order to participate in selling or buying of an item, the merchant application to provide marketplace functionalities independent from payment services;

initiating an underwriting process using the user information to determine whether to establish a user payment account for the user, the user payment account enabling the user to perform at least one of making a payment or receiving a payment in a networked system;

establishing the user payment account for the user in response to a result of the underwriting process; and

providing establishment information of the established user payment account and the account identifier at the server location designated by the merchant application, the establishment information including information regarding functionality available through use of the user payment account.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the method further comprises associating the user payment account with a merchant account of the merchant application.

22. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a processing request in a networked system from a requestor, the processing request being a request to process one or more representative requests from the requestor for at least one of a user payment account of a user or a user profile associated with the user payment account of the user;

identifying a merchant associated with the requestor from a merchant identifier stored in a user profile of the requestor;

accessing account relationship information of the merchant based on identification of the merchant, the account relationship information defining a sub-account associated with a merchant account of the merchant; and

processing the one or more representative requests of the requestor when the user payment account is a sub-account associated with the merchant account for which the requestor has permission to access, the merchant account allowing the merchant associated with the merchant account to communicate with a merchant application in order to participate in selling or buying of an item, the merchant application to provide marketplace functionalities, the marketplace functionalities independent from payment services.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving an information request for at least one of the user payment account or the user profile, the information request being a request for information retained in a field of at least one of the user payment account or the user profile;

accessing a permission of the requestor, the permission indicating a right of the requestor to access the requested information; and

providing the requested information to the requestor when the permission indicates the right of the requestor to access the requested information.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a credit request for the user payment account, the credit request being a request to a request to provide credit to the user payment account;

accessing a permission of the requestor, the permission indicating a right of the requestor to provide credit; and

providing credit from a merchant account when the permission indicates the right of the requestor to provide the credit and the credit criterion is not met.