Internet billing method
First Claim
1. An Internet billing method by a vendor, comprising:
- establishing a first communication session between equipment of the vendor and equipment of a third party;
establishing during the first communication session a remitting arrangement with the third party to remit to an account associated with the vendor a portion of a transaction amount billed to at least one billing account associated with at least one customer of the third party for products or services other than Internet access, purchased over the Internet by the at least one customer from the vendor;
establishing a second communication session over the Internet between the equipment of the vendor and the equipment of the at least one customer, wherein the second communication session over the Internet is enabled by a communications link of the equipment of the third party;
receiving during the second communication session at least one communication over the Internet indicating that the at least one customer initiated an order for a product or service from the vendor and authorized a purchase transaction for said product or service for a transaction amount;
directing the equipment of the vendor to initiate a delivery of the product or service to the at least one customer after receiving the at least one communication and without submitting a billing request to the equipment of the third party with respect to the purchase transaction; and
receiving a portion of the transaction amount at the account associated with the vendor in accordance with the remitting arrangement without submitting the billing request to the equipment of the third party.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, equipment operable to establish a communication session over the Internet between equipment of a vendor and equipment of a customer enabled by a communications link of equipment of a third party, receive during the communication session a communication indicating that the customer initiated an order for a product or service from the vendor, submit to the equipment of the third party transactional information relating to the purchase transaction without submitting a billing request to the equipment of the third party, and receive a portion of the transaction amount in accordance with a remitting arrangement without submitting the billing request to the equipment of the third party. Additional embodiments are disclosed.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An Internet billing method by a vendor, comprising:
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establishing a first communication session between equipment of the vendor and equipment of a third party; establishing during the first communication session a remitting arrangement with the third party to remit to an account associated with the vendor a portion of a transaction amount billed to at least one billing account associated with at least one customer of the third party for products or services other than Internet access, purchased over the Internet by the at least one customer from the vendor; establishing a second communication session over the Internet between the equipment of the vendor and the equipment of the at least one customer, wherein the second communication session over the Internet is enabled by a communications link of the equipment of the third party; receiving during the second communication session at least one communication over the Internet indicating that the at least one customer initiated an order for a product or service from the vendor and authorized a purchase transaction for said product or service for a transaction amount; directing the equipment of the vendor to initiate a delivery of the product or service to the at least one customer after receiving the at least one communication and without submitting a billing request to the equipment of the third party with respect to the purchase transaction; and receiving a portion of the transaction amount at the account associated with the vendor in accordance with the remitting arrangement without submitting the billing request to the equipment of the third party. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus managed by a vendor, comprising equipment operable to:
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establish a communication session over the Internet between equipment of the vendor and equipment of the at least one customer, wherein the communication session over the Internet is enabled by a communications link of equipment of a third party, wherein the third party and the vendor are different parties; receive during the communication session at least one communication over the Internet indicating that the at least one customer initiated an order for a product or service from the vendor; initiate a process to deliver the product or service to the at least one customer after receiving the at least one communication and without submitting a billing request to the equipment of the third party; submit to the equipment of the third party transactional information relating to the purchase transaction without submitting the billing request to the equipment of the third party; and receive a portion of the transaction amount in accordance with a remitting arrangement without submitting the billing request to the equipment of the third party, wherein the remitting arrangement directs the third party to remit to the vendor the portion of the transaction amount billed to at least one billing account associated with the at least one customer for products or services other than Internet access, purchased over the Internet by the at least one customer from the vendor. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium managed by a vendor, comprising computer instructions to:
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establish during a first communication session a remitting arrangement with equipment of a third party to remit to the vendor a portion of a transaction amount billed to at least one billing account of at least one customer of the third party for products or services other than Internet access, purchased over the Internet by the at least one customer from the vendor; establish a second communication session over the Internet between the equipment of the vendor and the equipment of the at least one customer, wherein the second communication session over the Internet is enabled by a communications link of the equipment of the third party, and wherein the equipment of the at least one customer is communicatively coupled with the equipment of the third party over an Internet access network; receive during the second communication session at least one communication over the Internet indicating that the at least one customer initiated an order for a product or service from the vendor; initiate a process to deliver the product or service without submitting a billing request to the equipment of the third party with respect to the purchase transaction; submit to the equipment of the third party transactional information relating to the purchase transaction without submitting the billing request to the equipment of the third party; and receiving a portion of the transaction amount according to the remitting arrangement. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification