Securely and efficiently processing telephone orders
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a communications module that establishes a telephonic connection between a customer service representative of a merchant and a customer;
an identification module that receives an identifier, the identifier alerting a computer system of the merchant that the customer is associated with a billing profile stored on a computer system external to the computer system available to the merchant and the customer service representative and notifying the customer service representative that the customer is associated with the billing profile, wherein the identifier is one or more of an image and a hyperlink to access the billing profile stored on the external computer system, wherein the billing profile is electronically accessible from the external computer system, the identifier received in conjunction with establishing the telephonic connection, the billing profile electronically stored on the external computer system previous to the telephonic connection;
a billing profile access module that receives electronic access to the billing profile, the billing profile comprising billing information of the customer, the billing profile being electronically accessed from the external computer system, via a network, by the computer system of the merchant to process a sales order between the customer and the merchant;
a confirmation module that receives a customer approval of the sales order, wherein the customer approval comprises one or more of verbal consent, a signature, a password, a personal identification number, and a biometric attribute;
a security module that verifies the customer approval of the sales order by matching the customer approval with a sample previously provided by the customer; and
a transaction module that processes the sales order using the billing profile of the customer in response to the customer approval of the sales order, the sales order for one or more of a product and a service offered by the merchant, wherein the transaction module shields the billing information of the billing profile from the customer service representative, wherein the billing information is unavailable for viewing in a display of a computing device associated with the customer service representative while the sales order is processed,wherein at least a portion of the communications module, the identification module, the billing profile access module, the confirmation module, the security module, and the transaction module comprise one or more of hardware and executable code, the executable code stored on one or more computer readable storage media.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for processing telephone orders includes a communications module that establishes a telephonic connection between a customer service representative of a merchant and a customer, and an identification module that receives an identifier linking the customer to a billing profile a billing profile access module that receives electronic access to the billing profile. The billing profile includes billing information of the customer. The apparatus includes a transaction module that processes a sales order using the billing profile of the customer in response to a customer approval of the sales order. The sales order is for a product and/or a service offered by the merchant. The billing information of the billing profile is unavailable for viewing by the customer service representative.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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a communications module that establishes a telephonic connection between a customer service representative of a merchant and a customer; an identification module that receives an identifier, the identifier alerting a computer system of the merchant that the customer is associated with a billing profile stored on a computer system external to the computer system available to the merchant and the customer service representative and notifying the customer service representative that the customer is associated with the billing profile, wherein the identifier is one or more of an image and a hyperlink to access the billing profile stored on the external computer system, wherein the billing profile is electronically accessible from the external computer system, the identifier received in conjunction with establishing the telephonic connection, the billing profile electronically stored on the external computer system previous to the telephonic connection; a billing profile access module that receives electronic access to the billing profile, the billing profile comprising billing information of the customer, the billing profile being electronically accessed from the external computer system, via a network, by the computer system of the merchant to process a sales order between the customer and the merchant; a confirmation module that receives a customer approval of the sales order, wherein the customer approval comprises one or more of verbal consent, a signature, a password, a personal identification number, and a biometric attribute; a security module that verifies the customer approval of the sales order by matching the customer approval with a sample previously provided by the customer; and a transaction module that processes the sales order using the billing profile of the customer in response to the customer approval of the sales order, the sales order for one or more of a product and a service offered by the merchant, wherein the transaction module shields the billing information of the billing profile from the customer service representative, wherein the billing information is unavailable for viewing in a display of a computing device associated with the customer service representative while the sales order is processed, wherein at least a portion of the communications module, the identification module, the billing profile access module, the confirmation module, the security module, and the transaction module comprise one or more of hardware and executable code, the executable code stored on one or more computer readable storage media. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method comprising:
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establishing a telephonic connection between a customer service representative of a merchant and a customer; receiving an identifier, the identifier alerting a computer system of the merchant that the customer is associated with a billing profile stored on a computer system external to the computer system available to the merchant and the customer service representative and notifying the customer service representative that the customer is associated with the billing profile, wherein the identifier is one or more of an image and a hyperlink to access the billing profile stored on the external computer system, wherein the billing profile is electronically accessible from the external computer system, the identifier received in conjunction with establishing the telephonic connection, the billing profile electronically stored on the external computer system previous to the telephonic connection; receiving electronic access to the billing profile, the billing profile comprising billing information of the customer, the billing profile being electronically accessed from the external computer system, via a network, and transmitted to a computer system of the merchant to process a sales order between the customer and the merchant; receiving a customer approval of the sales order, wherein the customer approval comprises one or more of verbal consent, a signature, a password, a personal identification number, and a biometric attribute; verifying the customer approval of the sales order by matching the customer approval with a sample previously provided by the customer; processing the sales order using the billing profile of the customer in response to the customer approval of the sales order, the sales order for one or more of a product and a service offered by the merchant; and shielding the billing information of the billing profile from the customer service representative wherein the billing information of the billing profile is unavailable for viewing in a display of a computing device associated with the customer service representative while the sales order is processed. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An apparatus comprising:
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a registration module that creates and stores a billing profile of a customer, wherein the billing profile comprises one or more of a credit card profile, a debit card profile, and a financial institution account profile; a phone connection module that establishes a telephonic connection between the customer and a customer service representative of a merchant; an identifier module that sends an identifier to the customer service representative in response to the phone connection module establishing a telephonic connection, the identifier linking the customer to the billing profile, the identifier alerting a computer system of the merchant that the customer is associated with the billing profile stored on a computer system external to the computer system available to the merchant and the customer service representative and notifying the customer service representative that the customer is associated with the billing profile, wherein the identifier is one or more of an image and a hyperlink to access the billing profile stored on the external computer system, wherein the billing profile is electronically accessible from the external computer system; and an approval module that sends a customer approval of a sales order, wherein the customer approval comprises one or more of verbal consent, a signature, a password, a personal identification number, and a biometric attribute; a billing profile module that provides the customer service representative electronic access to the billing profile of the customer, the billing profile being electronically accessed from the external computer system, via a network, and transmitted to the computer system of the merchant to process the sales order between the customer and the merchant, the customer service representative processing the sales order using the billing profile after verification of the customer approval of the sales order, wherein the customer approval of the sales order is verified by matching the customer approval with a sample previously provided by the customer, the sales order for one or more of a product and a service offered by the merchant, wherein the billing information is shielded from the customer service representative, wherein the billing information of the billing profile is unavailable for viewing in a display of a computing device associated with the customer service representative while the sales order is processed, wherein at least a portion of the registration module, the phone connection module, the identifier module, the approval module, and the billing profile module comprising one or more of hardware and executable code, the executable code stored on one or more computer readable storage media. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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24. A method comprising:
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creating and storing a billing profile, wherein the billing profile comprises one or more of a credit card profile, a debit card profile, and a financial institution account profile; establishing a telephonic connection between a customer and a customer service representative of a merchant; sending an identifier to the customer service representative in response to establishing the telephonic connection, the identifier linking the customer to the billing profile, the identifier alerting a computer system of the merchant that the customer is associated with the billing profile stored on a computer system external to the computer system available to the merchant and the customer service representative and notifying the customer service representative that the customer is associated with the billing profile, wherein the identifier is one or more of an image and a hyperlink to access the billing profile stored on the external computer system, wherein the billing profile is electronically accessible from the external computer system, the identifier is sent electronically; sending a customer approval of a sales order, wherein the customer approval comprises one or more of verbal consent, a signature, a password, a personal identification number, and a biometric attribute; providing the customer service representative electronic access to the billing profile, the billing profile being electronically accessed from the external computer system, via a network, and transmitted to the computer system of the merchant to process the sales order between the customer and the merchant, the customer service representative processing the sales order using the billing profile after verification of the customer approval of the sales order, wherein the customer approval of the sales order is verified by matching the customer approval with a sample previously provided by the customer, the sales order for one or more of a product and a service offered by the merchant; and shielding the billing information from the customer service representative, wherein the billing information of the billing profile is unavailable for viewing in a display of a computing device associated with the customer service representative while the sales order is processed. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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Specification