Authenticated payment

• US 7,983,993 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2010
• Issued: 07/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: VeriSign, Inc.
• Original Assignee: VeriSign, Inc.
• Inventors: Graves, Michael E., Frank, Peter E., Plambeck, Thane, Whitehead, Gregory R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Worjloh, Jalatee
• Application Number:
  US12/842,270
• Publication Number:
  US 20100293100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 361 Days
• Field of Search: 705 50- 79, 380/277, 235/389, 713/150, 726/26
• US Class Current: 705/67
• 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 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping 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 20/3825 Use of electronic signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3829 involving key management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• 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 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A buyer (110) wishes to use a payment instrument as part of an online commerce transaction with a seller (120) and it is desired to authenticate that the buyer (110) has authority to use the payment instrument. A separate authentication service (130) determines whether the buyer (110) has access to certain secret information without revealing the secret information to the seller (120). Access to the secret information would verify that the buyer (110) has authority to use the payment instrument. The authentication service (130) informs the seller (120) whether the buyer (110) is authorized to use the payment instrument.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, performed by a computer system comprising one or more processors and computer memory, for authenticating an electronic payment transaction over a communications network, comprising:

at a payment authentication service operated by the computer system, linking secret information to at least a first payment instrument of a buyer in computer memory, the secret information being known only to the buyer;

receiving an electronic request to authenticate the buyer as being authorized to use the first payment instrument in an electronic payment transaction;

subsequent to the step of linking the secret information to the first payment instrument in computer memory and in response to receiving the electronic request to authenticate the buyer, sending a challenge request to the buyer over the network, the challenge request including a summary of the payment transaction;

subsequent to the step of linking the secret information to the first payment instrument in computer memory, receiving an electronic indication of a selection of the first payment instrument from the buyer;

receiving a challenge response from the buyer over the network, the challenge response proving that the buyer has access to the secret information;

in response to receiving the challenge response, determining that the buyer has access to the secret information and that the buyer is authorized to use the first payment instrument; and

notifying a seller that the buyer is authorized to use the first payment instrument.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the secret information is a secret encryption key of the buyer, and wherein said step of linking the secret information further comprises linking a corresponding public key to the first payment instrument in computer memory.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic request to authenticate the buyer as being authorized to use the first payment instrument is received from the seller.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic request to authenticate the buyer as being authorized to use the first payment instrument is received from the buyer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a digitally signed record of the transaction once the transaction is complete.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the secret information is a secret encryption key of the buyer, and wherein the record of the payment transaction is digitally signed using the buyer'"'"'s secret encryption key.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the record of the online transaction is digitally signed using a private key of the payment authentication service.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising, subsequent to generating the signed record of the transaction:

storing the signed record of the transaction in computer memory;

in response to a dispute related to the payment transaction, retrieving the stored signed record of the transaction from computer memory; and

based upon the contents of the signed record of the transaction, resolving the dispute related to the payment transaction.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining that the buyer has access to the secret information comprises decrypting a portion of the received challenge response using a public key of the buyer.

10. A tangible computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

at a payment authentication service, linking secret information to at least a first payment instrument of a buyer, the secret information being known only to the buyer;

receiving a request to authenticate the buyer as being authorized to use the first payment instrument in a payment transaction;

subsequent to the step of linking the secret information to the first payment instrument and in response to receiving the request to authenticate the buyer, sending a challenge request to the buyer over the network, the challenge request including a summary of the payment transaction;

subsequent to the step of linking the secret information to the first payment instrument, receiving a selection of the first payment instrument from the buyer;

receiving a challenge response from the buyer over the network, the challenge response proving that the buyer has access to the secret information;

in response to receiving the challenge response, determining that the buyer has access to the secret information and that the buyer is authorized to use the first payment instrument; and

notifying the seller that the buyer is authorized to use the first payment instrument.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the secret information is a secret encryption key of the buyer, and wherein said step of linking the secret information further comprises linking a corresponding public key to the first payment instrument.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the method specified by the stored instructions further comprises:

generating a digitally signed record of the transaction once the transaction is complete.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the method specified by the stored instructions further comprises:

subsequent to generating the signed record of the transaction;

storing the signed record of the transaction;

in response to a dispute related to the payment transaction, retrieving the stored signed record of the transaction; and

based upon the contents of the signed record of the transaction, resolving the dispute related to the payment transaction.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the step of determining that the buyer has access to the secret information comprises:

decrypting a portion of the received challenge response using a public key of the buyer.

15. A system for authenticating a payment transaction over a network, comprising:

a transaction archive; and

an authentication service web server coupled to the transaction archive and the network, the authentication service web server configured to;

link secret information to at least a first payment instrument of a buyer, the secret information being known only to the buyer;

receive a request to authenticate the buyer as being authorized to use the first payment instrument in a payment transaction;

subsequent to the step of linking the secret information to the first payment instrument and in response to receiving the request to authenticate the buyer, send a challenge request to the buyer over the network, the challenge request including a summary of the payment transaction;

subsequent to the step of linking the secret information to the first payment instrument, receive a selection of the first payment instrument from the buyer;

receive a challenge response from the buyer over the network, the challenge response proving that the buyer has access to the secret information;

in response to receiving the challenge response, determine that the buyer has access to the secret information and that the buyer is authorized to use the first payment instrument; and

notify the seller that the buyer is authorized to use the first payment instrument.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the secret information is a secret encryption key of the buyer, and wherein the authentication service web server is configured to link the secret information by linking a corresponding public key to the first payment instrument.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the authentication service web server is further configured to:

generate a digitally signed record of the transaction once the transaction is complete.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the authentication service web server is further configured to:

subsequent to the step of generating the signed record of the transaction;

store the signed record of the transaction;

in response to a dispute related to the payment transaction, retrieve the stored signed record of the transaction; and

based upon the contents of the signed record of the transaction, resolve the dispute related to the payment transaction.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the authentication service web server is further configured to determine that the buyer has access to the secret information by decrypting a portion of the received challenge response using a public key of the buyer.