Method and apparatus for verification/authorization by credit or debit card owner of use of card concurrently with merchant transaction

• US 20030061163A1
• Filed: 09/27/2001
• Published: 03/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Richard C. Durfield
• Original Assignee: Richard C. Durfield
• Inventors: Durfield, Richard C.
• Application Number:
  US09/966,336
• Publication Number:
  US 20030061163A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• 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 20/425 using two different networks, one for transaction and one for security confirmation

Abstract

A method and apparatus for protecting against the unauthorized use of a credit card called CardSafe™ allows the credit card holder to finally approve any credit card transaction. When a credit card is used at a remote merchant'"'"'s terminal, the credit card company is notified of the transaction amount and the credit card account number. The named card holder is concurrently notified of the transaction by a wireless device, such as a telephone call, pager notification, or the like. Upon notification, the card holder can approve or disapprove of the credit card transaction. Unless approved or denied by the credit card holder, the transaction remains uncompleted. The approval or disapproval by the credit card holder can be accomplished in real time or on a pre-selected basis. An unauthorized person would not be able to complete a transaction The credit card owner can also deactivate the CardSafe™ system.

Claims

1. A method for effectuating charge card protection by allowing the card holder to exert a final pre-approval of charge card transactions associated with a credit card or debt cards at the time that the charge card is entered at a merchant'"'"'s modem terminal, consisting of the steps of:

a. swiping a credit card at a merchant'"'"'s modem terminal to enter the credit card'"'"'s coded information;

b. transmitting the credit card'"'"'s coded information from the merchant'"'"'s modem to the public switch telephone network;

c. transmitting the credit card'"'"'s coded information from the public switch telephone network concurrently to the credit card center modem and to the card holder modem;

d. the credit card'"'"'s coded information is fed through the credit card center modem to verify and re-transmit the verified coded to the public broadcast exchange which, in turn, communicates to a secure database server, consisting of a high speed, large mainframe computer which, in turn, receives the digital stream of signals into a database which. in which the entire transaction is stored by recording the card identification (account) number, the merchant transactional information, and the card holder'"'"'s identification, and the pre-transactional approval or authorization by the CardSafe™

Customer 21 all in a single transactional file or group of files which is recorded on the magnetic media, either magnetic tape drivers, or hard disk drivers, operatively connected to the secure database server, whereby either an authorization or denial or delay of the transaction occurs as follows;

once the credit card center is in receipt of the transactional information from the merchant, it awaits for a digitally encoded authorization or denial or delay signal from the cardsafe customer who has been simultaneously notified by the merchant modem independently of the modem signal notification through the pstn to the modem located at the credit card center and once notified, the cardsafe customer enters his selection(s) pursuant to the previously discussed transactional program and the modem translates the cardsafe customer'"'"'s selections through the pstn to the modem of the merchant and concurrently to the modem connected to the credit card center, and also to the database through the modem, the pbx and the secure database server where all of the transactional elements via digital signals are recorded, and in the event that there is insufficient funds in the debit card account, or the credit card limit has been exceeded, the credit card center is programmed to transmit a digital signal through the modem through the pstn to the modem to the merchant to deny the entire transaction independently of the instructions of the cardsafe™

customer through the modem.

2. A method for effectuating charge card protection by allowing the card holder to exert a final pre-approval of charge card transactions associated with a credit card or debt cards, consisting of the steps of:

(a) an electronic signal created by a merchant initiated charge card transaction is

(b) At the time that a particular credit card is used in a credit card transaction at a remote terminal, the credit card processing company is contacted with the amount of the transaction and the account number. Concurrently, the card holder is immediately notified by one or more of the currently available electronic or wireless technologies, such as a telephone call, pager notification, wireless, Bluetooth®

, Blackberry®

, Research In Motion (“

RIM®

”

), Wireless Application Protocol (“

WAP”

) or the Internet. Upon receipt of this notification, the credit card holder will either approve or disapprove of the credit card transaction by using one or more of the currently available electronic or wireless technologies, such as a telephone call, pager notification, wireless, Bluetooth, Blackberry®

, Research In Motion (“

RIM®

”

), Wireless Application Protocol (“

WAP”

), satellite or the Internet. Unless or until the transaction is approved by the credit card holder, the transaction is not completed. Following notification to the credit card holder, approval or disapproval by the credit card holder can be real time or on a pre-approval or pre-disapproval basis. No credit card transactions can be effectuated without providing the named owner of the credit card an opportunity to approve of, or disapproved of, the credit card transaction. In this way, an unauthorized person who gains access to a particular account would not be able to complete a transaction At the choice of the credit card owner, the CARDSAFE™

system can also be deactivated if desired. The CARDSAFE™

system is designed to work with any and all types of wireless, and wired, systems such as telephones, pagers, microwave, Internet and computers.