Systems, methods and computer program products for performing mass transit merchant transactions

• US 8,504,478 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2012
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Oh, John J., Chuang, I-Hsin, Leggatt, Lesley, Saunders, Peter D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kazimi, Hani M
• Application Number:
  US13/342,576
• Publication Number:
  US 20120109722A1
• Time in Patent Office: 581 Days
• Field of Search: 705/44, 705/21
• US Class Current: 705/44
• 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 20/352 Contactless payments by cards
• 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 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/02 taking into account a variable factor such as distance or time, e.g. for passenger transport, parking systems or car rental systems G07B15/06 takes precedence; taximeters G07B13/00; parking meters per se G07F17/24; car rental systems per se G07B15/00

Abstract

Methods, systems and computer program products are provided for enabling access to mass transit systems using a financial transaction instrument including reading an identifier including financial payment information from the financial transaction instrument and determining whether the identifier is stored in a database. Access to a holder of the financial transaction instrument is provided based on the determining.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a computer based fare collection system, a status of an alias account code;

adding, by the computer based system and in response to the alias account code not being active, the alias account code to a permanent database table; and

removing, by the computer based system and in response to the alias account code being active, the alias account code from a temporary database table of restricted alias account codes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the alias account code is associated with a mass transit registration account.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the alias account code is an alias for a transaction account code issued by a transaction account issuer and wherein the alias account code is translated by a transaction account issuer based upon the transaction account code.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the computer based system, whether the alias account code is in the temporary database table.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising allowing, by the computer based system, access to a mass transit vehicle, in response to the alias account code not being in the temporary database table, prior to obtaining authorization of the alias account code.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating, by the computer based system, the temporary database table by including the alias account code in the database table in response to a ride limit being reached.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining, by the computer based system, authorization of the alias account code based on at least one of (i) authorization for at least one of a single ride pass or a multi-ride pass, (ii) confirming that a single ride pass associated with the alias account code, was not previously used, (iii) confirming that an amount of rides does not exceed a ride limit of a multi-ride pass associated with the alias account code.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding, by the computer based system, the alias account code to the temporary database table of restricted alias account codes, in response to the authorization being rejected.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding, by the computer based system, the alias account code to the temporary database table of restricted alias account codes, in response to a status request resulting in the alias account code being inactive.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing, by the computer based system, the alias account code from the temporary database table of restricted alias account codes, in response to a status request resulting in the alias account code being active.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling, by the computer based system, viewing of a ride history associated with the alias account code.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling, by the computer based system, viewing of a ride history associated with the alias account code, wherein the viewing is via a webpage.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling, by the computer based system, viewing of a ride history associated with the alias account code, in response to registration of a transaction account code associated with the alias account code.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting, by the computer based system, the status of the alias account code from a transaction account issuer.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the alias account code is within a limited range of numbers.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the alias account code is an alias for a transaction account code issued by a transaction account issuer, and wherein the transaction account code is within a limited range of numbers.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the alias account code from a radio frequency identification (RFID) device.

18. A tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium, having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, if executed by a computer based fare collection system, cause the computer based system to perform operations comprising:

obtaining, by the computer based system, a status of an alias account code;

adding, by the computer based system and in response to the alias account code not being active, the alias account code to a permanent database table; and

removing, by the computer based system and in response to the alias account code being active, the alias account code from a temporary database table of restricted alias account codes.

19. A computer based fare collection system, comprising:

a network interface communicating with a memory;

the memory communicating with a fare collection processor; and

the processor, when executing a computer program, performs operations comprising;

obtaining, by the processor, a status of an alias account code;

adding, by the processor and in response to the alias account code not being active, the alias account code to a permanent database table; and

removing, by the processor and in response to the alias account code being active, the alias account code from a temporary database table of restricted alias account codes.