System and method for electronic prepaid account replenishment
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method for crediting a customer account maintained by a vendor of prepaid services in response to payment received from a customer, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a server, a transaction request with embedded transaction information, including identifying information associated with a customer account, a payment amount corresponding to a requested amount of a prepaid service offered by the vendor, and a product number corresponding to the provider of prepaid service;
maintaining, within a database, an association between product numbers and prepaid services offered by a plurality of vendors, the embedded transaction information including at least a first product number;
determining, by a transaction processor configured for such determination, from the embedded transaction information, the vendor of the requested prepaid product;
wherein, subsequent to a determination that the embedded transaction information defines a valid transaction, facilitating the electronic crediting of the customer account with an amount corresponding to the requested amount of prepaid service; and
sending a message confirming the success of the transaction to the customer'"'"'s wireless communication device.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
378 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method for crediting a customer account maintained by a vendor of prepaid services in response to payment received from a customer, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a server, a transaction request with embedded transaction information, including identifying information associated with a customer account, a payment amount corresponding to a requested amount of a prepaid service offered by the vendor, and a product number corresponding to the provider of prepaid service; maintaining, within a database, an association between product numbers and prepaid services offered by a plurality of vendors, the embedded transaction information including at least a first product number; determining, by a transaction processor configured for such determination, from the embedded transaction information, the vendor of the requested prepaid product; wherein, subsequent to a determination that the embedded transaction information defines a valid transaction, facilitating the electronic crediting of the customer account with an amount corresponding to the requested amount of prepaid service; and sending a message confirming the success of the transaction to the customer'"'"'s wireless communication device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer implemented method for crediting a customer account maintained by a vendor of prepaid services in response to payment received from a customer, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a terminal, identification information associated with a customer account; sending, from the terminal to a transaction processor, a transaction request with embedded transaction information, including identifying information associated with a customer account, a payment amount corresponding to a requested amount of a prepaid service offered by the vendor, and a product number corresponding to the provider of prepaid service and the amount of prepaid service, wherein the transaction processor identifies the vendor based on the payment amount; receiving, by the terminal from the transaction processor, a message confirming the success of the transaction. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification