System and method for electronic prepaid account replenishment

• US 7,909,242 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2006
• Issued: 03/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EWI Holdings Inc. (Albertsons Cos., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EWI Holdings Inc. (Albertsons Cos., Inc.)
• Inventors: Paschini, Miles, Rose, Marshall
• Primary Examiner(s): Labaze; Edwyn
• Application Number:
  US11/552,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20070047703A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,609 Days
• Field of Search: 235/381, 235/380, 235/375, 235/379, 705/61, 705/66, 705/75, 705/39
• US Class Current: 235/379
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/346 Cards serving only as information carrier of service
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/349 Rechargeable cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/363 with the personal data of a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3672 initialising or reloading thereof
• 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: G07F 7/0866 by active credit-cards adapted therefor G07F7/1008 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/00 Prepayment of wireline communication systems, wireless communication systems or telephone systems using a coded card to authorise calls from a telephone set H04M1/675
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/20 with provision for recharging the prepaid account or card, or for credit establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/204 on-line recharging, e.g. cashless
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2017/24 with on-line recharging of an account or card, e.g. cashless

Abstract

A method for crediting a customer account maintained by a vendor of services in response to payment received from a customer is disclosed herein. The method includes issuing, to the customer, a membership account number associated with at least the customer account. A membership account number and a payment corresponding to a requested amount of a service offered by the vendor are received from the customer at a point-of-sale. The method further includes generating, at the point-of-sale, an authorization message including at least the membership account number and embedded transaction information identifying the service offered by the vendor and the requested amount. The embedded transaction information is then communicated from the point-of-sale to a database server. The customer account is credited, in response to the embedded transaction information, based upon an amount of the payment. The method also includes electronically transferring funds based upon the amount of the payment from a first account associated with the point-of-sale to a second account associated with the vendor.

Claims

1. A method for providing authorization to credit a customer account maintained by a vendor of services in response to payment received from a customer, the method comprising:

receiving, from the customer at a point-of-sale, a payment corresponding to a requested amount of a service offered by the vendor;

generating, at the point-of-sale, an authorization message including at least an account number associated with the customer account, transaction information identifying both the service offered by the vendor and the requested amount of the service and a virtual payment amount that encodes the transaction information; and

transmitting, from the point-of-sale, the authorization message over a network.

2. The method of claim 1 further including receiving, at the point-of-sale, a response indicating that the transaction information defines a valid transaction.

3. The method of claim 1 further including receiving, at the point-of-sale, a response indicating that the transaction information does not define a valid transaction.

4. The method of claim 1 further including receiving, at the point-of-sale, a response to the authorization message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the response is generated as a result of a request to credit the customer account.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the response is generated as a result of a determination that the vendor offers the service.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determination is based on the virtual payment amount.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determination is further based on a correspondence between the virtual payment amount and stored information relating to the vendor.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the response is generated as a result of a retrieval of customer account information specific to the customer account.

10. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for providing authorization to credit a customer account maintained by a vendor of services in response to payment received from a customer, the method comprising:

receiving, from the customer at a point-of-sale, a payment corresponding to a requested amount of a service offered by the vendor;

generating, at the point-of-sale, an authorization message including at least an account number associated with the customer account, transaction information identifying both the service offered by the vendor and the requested amount of the service and a virtual payment amount that encodes the transaction information; and

transmitting, from the point-of-sale, the authorization message over a network.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the method further includes:

receiving, at the point-of-sale, a response to the authorization message.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the response is generated as a result of a request to credit the customer account.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the response is generated as a result of a determination that the vendor offers the service.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the determination is based on the virtual payment amount.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the determination is further based on a correspondence between the virtual payment amount and stored information relating to the vendor.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the response is generated as a result of a retrieval of customer account information specific to the customer account.

17. A computer system for use in providing authorization to credit a customer account maintained by a vendor of services in response to payment received from a customer, the system comprising:

a processor operable to;

receive, from the customer at a point-of-sale, a payment corresponding to a requested amount of a service offered by the vendor;

generate, at the point-of-sale, an authorization message including at least an account number associated with the customer account, transaction information identifying both the service offered by the vendor and the requested amount of the service and a virtual payment amount that encodes the transaction information; and

transmit, from the point-of-sale, the authorization message over a network.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further operable to:

receive a response to the authorization message.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the response is generated as a result of a request to credit the customer account.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the determination is based on the virtual payment amount.

21. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the determination is further based on a correspondence between the virtual payment amount and stored information relating to the vendor.

22. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the response is generated as a result of a determination that the vendor offers the service.

23. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the response is generated as a result of a retrieval of customer account information specific to the customer account.

24. An apparatus for use in providing authorization to credit a customer account maintained by a vendor of services in response to payment received from a customer, the apparatus comprising:

one or more first input devices that receive, from the customer, a payment corresponding to a requested amount of a service offered by the vendor;

a processor that generates an authorization message including at least an account number associated with the customer account, transaction information identifying both the service offered by the vendor and the requested amount of the service and a virtual payment amount that encodes the transaction information; and

an output device that transmits the authorization message to a network.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the system further includes:

a second output device that receives a response to the authorization message from the network.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the response is generated as a result of a request to credit the customer account.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the response is generated as a result of a determination that the vendor offers the service.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the determination is based on the virtual payment amount.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the determination is further based on a correspondence between the virtual payment amount and stored information relating to the vendor.

30. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the response is generated as a result of a retrieval of customer account information specific to the customer account.