System and method for verification, authentication, and notification of a transaction

• US 20040078340A1
• Filed: 01/30/2003
• Published: 04/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: St. Isidore Research, LLC
• Original Assignee: Alexander W. Evans
• Inventors: Evans, Alexander William
• Granted Patent: US 7,904,360 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/64
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3255 using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/386 using messaging services or messaging apps using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS G06Q20/3255
• 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 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

A system and method for verifying, authenticating, and providing notification of a transaction, such as a commercial or financial transaction, with and/or to at least one party identified as engaging in the transaction and/or identified as having a potential interest in the transaction or type of transaction, are provided. A central system accepts information regarding a transaction, including information about at least one party identified as engaging in the transaction, such as by a credit account number or Social Security number or merchant account number, and/or identified as having a potential interest in the transaction. Based on the information regarding the transaction and any supplemental information the central system determines, the central system communicates with and/or to at least one party and/or additional or alternative parties, via at least one communications device or system having a communications address, such as a telephone number or Short Message Service address, predetermined as belonging to the at least one party and/or additional or alternative parties. Via said communications, at least one party having an interest or a potential interest in the transaction may be notified of it, and may further be enabled or required to supply additional verifying or authenticating information to the central system. If the transaction was initiated or engaged in via a communications link, such as via the Internet, said communications preferably occur over at least one different communications link and/or protocol, such as via a wireless voice network. The central system may then compute a result based on the outcomes of said communications, and may then transmit the result to the user and/or to a second system or device.

Claims

1. A system that establishes at least one communication with and/or to at least one party identified as engaging in or having an interest or potential interest in a transaction, using at least one communication device associated with said at least one party, to notify said at least one party of said transaction and/or to authenticate and verify said at least one party'"'"'s identity and intentions regarding said transaction, comprised of:

a) One or more computing elements which receive data regarding said transaction, said computing elements having one or more central processors that execute programmed instructions, one or more memories for storing programmed instructions to be executed and storing interim and/or terminal values related to the execution of said programmed instructions, and non-volatile storage for storing other data received, obtained, or generated by the inventive system in the course of its operation;

b) One or more logical and/or physical communications-related processing elements connected to or embedded within said one or more computing elements, comprised of;

i. An application programming interface means;

ii. At least one processor;

iii. At least one memory for storing a plurality of programmed instructions to be executed and storing interim and/or terminal values related to the execution of said programmed instructions;

iv. Programmed instructions residing in said at least one memory which when executed by said at least one processor perform the steps of initiating, maintaining, controlling, logging, and/or terminating communications over at least one communications link with and/or to at least one communications device, and

v. At least one logical and/or physical communications port enabling said communications.

c) A plurality of programmed instructions residing in said one or more memories and said at least one memory, which cause said one or more computing elements and said one or more logical and/or physical communications-related processing elements to perform the steps of;

i. Accept incoming information about a transaction from an external source involved in or relating to the processing of said transaction;

ii. Generate derivative information about said transaction based on any or all of the following content found to have been included or encoded in said incoming information;

1. Identity-related information, such as account numbers or other identifiers, of at least one party identified thereby as engaged in or having an interest or a potential interest in said transaction;

2. A plurality of other parameters regarding the transaction, which may include parameters that define or guide the behavior of said one or more computing elements and/or said one or more logical and/or physical communications-related processing elements;

iii. Communicate with and/or to at least one party identified in said incoming information and/or in said derivative information as engaged in or having an interest or potential interest in said transaction, by establishing or utilizing at least one communications link with and/or to at least one communication device whose communications address is associated with said at least one party through said incoming information and/or said derivative information;

iv. Deliver at least one message to said at least one party using said at least one communications link, wherein the contents of said at least one message are based on said incoming information and/or said derivative information, and

v. Generate or look up result information based on said incoming information and/or said derivative information and/or the outcomes of said communications.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of programmed instructions residing in said one or more memories and/or said at least one memory contain further instructions causing said one or more computing elements and said one or more logical and/or physical communications-related processing elements to perform the further steps of prompting for and accepting at least one authenticating and/or verifying response from said at least one party.

3. A system according to claim 2, wherein said at least one communications link occurs via at least one of a plurality of communications media, said media comprising at least one of a landline telephony network such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a wireless telephony network, a wireless text messaging and Short Message Service messaging network or service, an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony network, a telex network or service, a paging network or service, an Instant Messaging network or service, an EDI/EDIFACT/EDI-INT network or service, an electronic mail network or service, an IBM Systems Network Architecture/Remote Job Entry (SNA/RJE) network or connection, and the Internet, including via the protocols HTTP/HTTPS, UDP, FTP, and SMTP and including content formatting in accordance with generalized markup languages including HTML, XHTML, and XML.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein said at least one communications link and/or medium is different from the communications link and/or medium used to initiate said transaction.

5. A system according to claim 3, further adapted to incorporate additional and/or alternative types of communications links without redesign or re-architecture of said system, as said additional and/or alternatives types of communications links become available and desirable.

6. A system according to claim 3, further adapted to remove and/or disable one or more enabled types of communications links without redesign or re-architecture of said system, as such types of communications links cease to be available or desirable.

7. A system according to claim 3, further adapted to establish simultaneous contact with a plurality of communications devices on a plurality of communications addresses through a plurality of communications links.

8. A system according to claim 7, further adapted to identify the first successful communication from among a plurality of simultaneous communication attempts and select and perpetuate said first successful communication to the exclusion of the other, as-yet unsuccessful communication attempts.

9. A system according to claim 3, further adapted to establish sequential communications with and/or to a plurality of communications devices on a plurality of communication addresses through a plurality of communications links.

10. A system according to claim 3, wherein procedures to follow for said transaction, based on said incoming information and/or said derivative information, are encoded as stored scripts of programming instructions using an executable scripting language.

11. A system according to claim 3, further adapted to block concurrent processing of multiple distinct transactions accepted by the system, when such concurrent processing would require communicating with and/or to the same communications device or devices for more than one distinct transaction at the same time.

12. A system according to claim 3, further adapted to establish communications with and/or to a plurality of communications devices on a plurality of communication addresses through a plurality of communication links according to user-defined sequences and timing patterns of communications attempts.

13. A system according to claim 12, further adapted to wait for an initial, predetermined, userdefined delay period prior to beginning said sequences and timing patterns of communications attempts to a given communication device.

14. A system according to claim 12, further adapted to allow said sequences and timing patterns to be daisy-chained into meta-sequences and meta-patterns of arbitrary length.

15. A system according to claim 14, further adapted to allow self-referencing chains of said sequences and timing patterns.

16. A system according to claim 12, wherein sequences and patterns of communication attempts are automatically self-adjusting and self-optimizing based on the results of prior communication attempts and on the overall progress of the processing of said transaction by said system.

17. A system according to claim 12, wherein, if communications with and/or to a given party is not achieved within a predefined number of attempts or a predefined time period, the sequence and timing pattern of communications attempts for that party is terminated.

18. A system according to claim 3, further adapted to wait for, accept, and verify incoming communications from at least one of plurality of communications devices over at least one of a plurality of communications links.

19. A system according to claim 18, further adapted to match said incoming communications to a transaction being processed by the system.

20. A system according to claim 18, further adapted to cease waiting for said incoming communications from a given party for a given transaction once a predefined time period for that party and transaction has elapsed.

21. A system according to claim 3, further adapted to adapt the content of said communications and/or said at least one message according to the capabilities and limitations of the communications device being communicated with and/or to.

22. A system according to claim 2, further adapted to communicate distinctly with and/or to each of said at least one party in accordance with a role ascribed to each of said at least one party in said incoming information and/or said derivative information.

23. A system according to claim 2, further adapted to adapt the content of said communications and/or said at least one message in accordance with a role ascribed to each of said at least one party in said incoming information and/or said derivative information.

24. A system according to claim 2, further adapted to adapt the content of said communications according to a message template and/or stored script defined or referenced in said incoming information and/or in said derivative information.

25. A system according to claim 24, wherein said message template and/or said stored script is userdefined.

26. A system according to claim 25, wherein said message template and/or said stored script includes a mechanism for the substitution by the system of other inputs and stored values into said at least one message.

27. A system according to claim 26, wherein said mechanism provides for the inclusion of additional content via a querying or reference means into said at least one message and/or into said message template.

28. A system according to claim 27, wherein formatting and additional content may be retrieved and included in or applied to said at least one message via reference to an external content and/or format source through at least one of a plurality of mechanisms including Universal Resource Locator (URL), Universal Resource Identifier (URI), and Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI).

29. A system according to claim 28, wherein such external content and/or format source is an XML stylesheet or XLS document.

30. A system according to claim 25, wherein each of said at least one message is composed using one of a plurality of regional settings including at least one of language, currency, time zone, numeric format, currency format, and date format, in accordance with predefined preferences regarding said plurality of regional settings associated with the party who is to receive that message.

31. A system according to claim 2, wherein said derivative information includes information retrieved via a querying or referencing means from an external information source or service.

32. A system according to claim 2, wherein said derivative information includes predetermined information identifying additional parties having an interest or potential interest in a given transaction, who were not otherwise identified or referenced in said incoming information.

33. A system according to claim 2, further adapted to communicate differently with and/or to each of said at least one party, based upon said incoming information and/or said derivative information, which incoming and/or derivative information includes or encodes at least one role ascribed to each of said at least one party.

34. A system according to claim 33, wherein said at least one role is user-defined.

35. A system according to claim 33, wherein each of said at least one party may have multiple roles in a given transaction.

36. A system according to claim 34, wherein said at least one role comprises a plurality of roles including at least one of “

Confirm”

when the party is to confirm his/her identity and intentions regarding the transaction;

“

Notify”

when the party is to receive notification of the transaction only; and

“

Present”

when any data associated with the party in the incoming transaction-describing data are only to be verified against stored, predefined information about the party without any communications occurring with and/or to said party.

37. A system according to claim 2, further adapted to prompt for and obtain from said at least one party during said communications at least one response comprising at least one data value which confirms said at least one party'"'"'s identity and additionally or alternatively said at least one party'"'"'s intention to approve and conclude the transaction.

38. A system according to claim 37, wherein said at least one data value is received via at least one of a plurality of input means, based on the capabilities of the communications device being used, said input means comprising at least one of dialing or pressing or touching of digits including the use or generation of DTMF tones, vocalizations, data entry via a computing device, data entry via a terminal, data entry via a web browser, data entry via a WAP browser, facsimile transmission interpretable by a character-recognizing computer program, EDI/EDIFACT/EDI-INT transmission, electronic mail transmission, Instant Messaging transmission, and Internet transmissions wherein the message content is formatted in accordance with generalized markup languages including HTML, XHTML, and XML.

39. A system according to claim 37, wherein said at least one input includes at least one of a plurality of data values, said data values comprising at least one of a PIN code;

a Social Security Number or portion thereof;

a government or tax ID number or portion thereof;

a telephone number;

a CVC2, CVV2, or CID credit card or debit card code;

a user-defined ID number;

a serial number;

a user-defined password, and a user-defined security word (such as a mother'"'"'s maiden name) or portion thereof.

40. A system according to claim 2, wherein information regarding any given party and his/her associated communications devices, communications addresses, roles, and communications preferences is organized and stored in a user-defined profile.

41. A system according to claim 40, wherein such profiles may be added or modified singly or in bulk over the Internet or an intranet or extranet using a web-browser.

42. A system according to claim 40, wherein such profiles may be added or modified singly or in bulk over the Internet or an intranet or extranet using an application programming interface means.

43. A system according to claim 2, wherein rules which govern the system'"'"'s behavior for a given transaction type and a given party or group of parties are organized and stored in a user-defined rules profile.

44. A system according to claim 43, wherein such rules may be added to or modified singly or in bulk over the Internet or an intranet or extranet using a web-browser.

45. A system according to claim 43, wherein such rules may be added to or modified singly or in bulk over the Internet or an intranet or extranet using an application programming interface means.

46. A system according to claim 2, wherein said external source for said incoming information is an external computer system or computing device utilizing a communications link.

47. A system according to claim 46, wherein said communications link utilizes the Internet Protocol (IP).to

48. A system according to claim 46, wherein said communications link utilizes middleware having a message queuing capability.

49. A system according to claim 46, wherein said external source may specify in the incoming information additional parameters to be used additionally or alternatively to any internally predetermined parameters and/or to any of said derivative information, so as to cause the inventive system to adapt its processing of said incoming information and/or its communications in accordance with said additional parameters.

50. A system according to claim 46, further comprising a normalization module, wherein said system receives said incoming information said external source and said normalization module normalizes said incoming information into a standardized format to create normalized information, and wherein said system processes said normalized data in lieu of said incoming information.

51. A system according to claim 2, further adapted to communicate said result information back to said external source.

52. A system according to claim 51, further adapted to communicate said result information additionally or alternatively to an external second system or device.

53. A system according to claim 52, wherein said external second system or device is identified by a user-defined parameter.

54. A system according to claim 52, wherein said external second system or device is identified or encoded in said incoming information and/or identified in said derivative information.

55. A system according to claim 46, said system monitoring a plurality of external sources involved in to the processing of transactions via a plurality of communications links, each external source having its own identification and/or authentication code, and said system further comprising

at least one memory in which said identification codes and/or authentication codes are stored, and

a comparator comprising further programmed instructions executed by said system,

wherein said identification codes and/or authentication codes as supplied by said external sources are checked by said comparator against said stored identification codes and/or authentication codes stored in said at least one memory to validate the origin of any incoming information received from said external sources and thereby to reject any incoming information wherein the identification code and/or authentication code is not valid, or is missing.

56. A system according to claim 3, further adapted to retain in said one or more memories and/or said non-volatile storage a transaction log, comprising said incoming information and any said derivative information, and any interim and final result information from any or all steps performed by said one or more computing elements and/or said one or more logical and/or physical communications-related processing elements.

57. A system according to claim 56, further adapted to present said transaction log and/or information based on and/or derived from said transaction log locally or remotely via a user interface, such as a web-browser.

58. A system according to claim 56, further adapted to communicate said transaction log and/or information based on and/or derived from said transaction log via an application programming interface means.

59. A scripting language for encoding a script which, upon its execution by said one or more computing elements executing said programmed instructions, controls and/or amends the steps taken by said system, based on a) the contents of said incoming information and/or said derivative information, b) subsequent events and occurrences resulting from and/or relating to the execution of said scripts, c) changes of state of said system during the execution of said script, and d) the progress and results of said communications with said at least one party, comprising:

executable instructions for composing, formatting, delivering, and managing messages and communications with and/or to said at least one party,

environment variables and objects having object properties, which variables and properties being set case-by-case by said one or more computing elements and/or said one or more logical and/or physical communications-related processing elements for a given transaction based on said incoming information and/or said derivative information,

a lookup capability for retrieval of additional or alternative information based on said incoming information and/or said derivative information, and

a branching and control capability for determining the sequence and choice of steps to perform, based on interim and final results, progress indicators, system states, and events which occur during the execution of said script.

60. A method for verifying, authenticating, and providing notification of a transaction, such as a commercial or financial transaction, with and/or to at least one party identified as engaging in said transaction and/or having a potential interest in said transaction or type of transaction, comprising the steps of:

a) Obtaining or accepting primary information regarding a transaction from an external source;

b) Generating secondary information regarding said transaction based on any or all of the following primary information available in regard to said transaction;

i. Identity-related information, such as account numbers or other identifiers, of at least one party identified thereby as engaged in or having an interest or a potential interest in said transaction, and

ii. A plurality of other parameters and/or characteristics of the transaction,

c) Communicating with and/or to at least one party identified in said primary information and/or in said secondary information as engaged in or having an interest or potential interest in said transaction, by establishing or utilizing at least one communications link with and/or to at least one communication device whose communications address is associated with said at least one party through said primary information and/or said secondary information;

d) Delivering at least one message to said at least one party using said at least one communications link, wherein the contents of said at least one message are based on said primary information and/or said secondary information, and

e) Generating or looking up result information based on said primary information and/or said secondary information and/or the outcomes of said communications.

61. A method according to claim 60, further comprising the steps of prompting for and accepting at least one authenticating and/or verifying response from at least one of said at least one party.

62. A method according to claim 60, further comprising the steps of prompting for and accepting at least one authenticating and/or verifying response from either none or at least one of said at least one party based on said primary information and/or said secondary information.

63. A method according to claim 62, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of establishing or utilizing at least one communications link via at least one of a plurality of communications media, said media comprising at least one of a landline telephony network such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a wireless telephony network, a wireless text messaging and Short Message Service messaging network or service, an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony network, a telex network or service, a paging network or service, an Instant Messaging network or service, an EDI/EDIFACT/EDI-INT network or service, an electronic mail network or service, an IBM Systems Network Architecture/Remote Job Entry (SNA/RJE) network or connection, and the Internet, including via the protocols HTTP/HTTPS, UDP, FTP, and SMTP and including content formatting in accordance with generalized markup languages including HTML, XHTML, and XML.

64. A method according to claim 63, wherein said at least one communications link and/or medium is different from the communications link and/or medium used to initiate said transaction.

65. A method according to claim 63, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of establishing communications simultaneously with and/or to a plurality of communications devices on a plurality of communications addresses through a plurality of communications links.

66. A method according to claim 65, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of identifying the first successful communication from among a plurality of simultaneous communication attempts and select and perpetuate said first successful communication to the exclusion of the other, as-yet unsuccessful communication attempts.

67. A method according to claim 63, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of establishing communications sequentially with and/or to a plurality of communications devices on a plurality of communication addresses through a plurality of communications links.

68. A computer-implemented method according to claim 63, wherein procedures to follow for said transaction, based on said primary information and/or said secondary information, are encoded as stored scripts of programming instructions using an executable scripting language.

69. A computer-implemented method according to claim 63, further comprising the step of blocking concurrent processing of multiple distinct transactions accepted by the system, when such concurrent processing would require communicating with and/or to the same communications device or devices for more than one distinct transaction at the same time.

70. A method according to claim 63, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of establishing communications with and/or to a plurality of communications devices on a plurality of communication addresses through a plurality of communication links according to at least one sequence and timing pattern of communications attempts.

71. A method according to claim 70, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of waiting for an initial, predetermined delay period prior to beginning said at least one sequence and timing pattern of communications attempts to a given communication device.

72. A method according to claim 70, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of concatenating said at least one sequence and timing pattern into meta-sequences and meta-patterns of arbitrary length.

73. A method according to claim 72, wherein said meta-sequences and meta-patterns include self-references by and among said at least one sequence and timing pattern making up said metasequences and meta-patterns.

74. A method according to claim 70, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of altering said at least one sequence and timing pattern of communication attempts based on the results of prior communication attempts and on the overall progress of the processing of said transaction by said system.

75. A method according to claim 70, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of terminating the sequence and timing pattern of communications attempts for a given party if communications with and/or to that party is not achieved within a predefined number of attempts or a predefined time period.

76. A method according to claim 63, further comprising the step of waiting for, accepting, and verifying incoming communications from at least one of plurality of communications devices over at least one of a plurality of communications links.

77. A method according to claim 76, further comprising the step of matching said incoming communications to one of a plurality of concurrent transactions.

78. A method according to claim 76, further comprising the step of ceasing to wait for said incoming communications from a given party for a given transaction once a predefined time period for that party and transaction has elapsed.

79. A method according to claim 63, further comprising the step of altering the content of said communications and/or said at least one message according to the capabilities and limitations of the communications device being communicated with and/or to.

80. A method according to claim 62, further comprising the step of ascribing with a role to each of said at least one party based on said primary information and/or said secondary information.

81. A method according to claim 80, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of communicating in a distinct manner with and/or to each of said at least one party in accordance with the role ascribed to that party.

82. A method according to claim 80, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of altering the content of each of said communications and/or each of said at least one message in accordance with the role ascribed to each corresponding party.

83. A computer-implemented method according to claim 62, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of altering the content of said communications according to a message template and/or stored script.

84. A computer-implemented method according to claim 83, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of substituting of other inputs and stored values into said at least one message.

85. A computer-implemented method according to claim 84, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of including additional content via a querying or reference means into said at least one message and/or into said message template.

86. A computer-implemented method according to claim 85, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of retrieving and including or applying formatting and additional content in or to said at least one message via reference to an external content and/or format source through at least one of a plurality of mechanisms including Universal Resource Locator (URL), Universal Resource Identifier (URI), and Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI).

87. A computer-implemented method according to claim 86, wherein such external content and/or format source is an XML stylesheet or XLS document.

88. A method according to claim claim 83, wherein step (c) further comprises the step of composing said at least one message using one of a plurality of regional settings including at least one of language, currency, time zone, numeric format, currency format, and date format, in accordance with predetermined preferences regarding said plurality of regional settings associated with the party who is to receive that message.

89. A method according to claim 62, wherein step (b) further comprises the step of retrieving information via a querying or referencing means from an external information source or service based on said primary information and/or said secondary information.

90. A method according to claim 62, wherein said secondary information includes predetermined information identifying additional parties having an interest or potential interest in a given transaction, who were not otherwise identified or referenced in said primary information.

91. A method according to claim 62, further comprising the step of communicating differently with and/or to each of said at least one party, based upon said primary information and/or said secondary information, which primary and/or secondary information includes at least one role ascribed to each of said at least one party.

92. A method according to claim 91, wherein each of said at least one party may have multiple roles in a given transaction.

93. A method according to claim 62, further comprising the step of prompting for and obtaining from said at least one party during said communications at least one response comprising at least one data value which confirms said at least one party'"'"'s identity and additionally or alternatively said at least one party'"'"'s intention to approve and conclude the transaction.

94. A method according to claim 93, wherein said at least one data value is received via at least one of a plurality of input means, based on the capabilities of the communications device being used, said input means comprising at least one of dialing or pressing or touching of digits including the use or generation of DTMF tones, vocalizations, data entry via a computing device, data entry via a terminal, data entry via a web browser, data entry via a WAP browser, facsimile transmission interpretable by a character-recognizing computer program, EDI/EDIFACT/EDI-INT transmission, electronic mail transmission, Instant Messaging transmission, and Internet transmissions wherein the message content is formatted in accordance with generalized markup languages including HTML, XHTML, and XML.

95. A method according to claim 93, wherein said at least one response includes at least one of a plurality of data values, said data values comprising at least one of a PIN code;

a Social Security Number or portion thereof;

a government or tax ID number or portion thereof;

a telephone number;

a CVC2, CVV2, or CID credit card or debit card code;

a user-defined ID number;

a serial number;

a user-defined password, and a user-defined security word (such as a mother'"'"'s maiden name) or portion thereof.

96. A method according to claim 62, further comprising the steps of organizing and storing information regarding any given party and his/her associated communications devices, communications addresses, roles, and communications preferences in a user-defined profile.

97. A computer-implemented method according to claim 96, further comprising the steps of adding and modifying said profiles singly or in bulk over the Internet or an intranet or extranet using a web-browser.

98. A computer-implemented method according to claim 96, further comprising the steps of adding and modifying said profiles singly or in bulk over the Internet or an intranet or extranet using an application programming interface means.

99. A computer-implemented method according to claim 62, further comprising the steps of organizing and storing rules which govern the behavior of a system implementing said method for a given transaction type and a given party or group of parties in a user-defined rules profile.

100. A computer-implemented method according to claim 99, further comprising the steps of adding and modifying said rules profiles singly or in bulk over the Internet or an intranet or extranet using a web-browser.

101. A computer-implemented method according to claim 99, further comprising the steps of adding and modifying said rules profiles singly or in bulk over the Internet or an intranet or extranet using an application programming interface means.

102. A computer-implemented method according to claim 62, wherein said external source for said primary information is an external computer system or computing device utilizing a communications link.

103. A computer-implemented method according to claim 102, further comprising the step of using additional parameters the external source may specify in the primary information so as to alter said method in accordance with said additional parameters.

104. A computer-implemented method according to claim 102, further comprising the step of normalizing said primary information into a standardized format to create normalized information.

105. A computer-implemented method according to claim 62, further comprising the step of communicating said result information back to said external source.

106. A computer-implemented method according to claim 105, further comprising the step of communicating said result information additionally or alternatively to a user-defined second external source.

107. A computer-implemented method according to claim 62, further comprising the steps of monitoring a plurality of external sources involved in the processing of transactions via a plurality of communications links, each external source having its own identification and/or authentication code, and checking said identification codes and/or authentication codes as supplied by said external sources against a predetermined list of at least one identification code and/or authentication code to validate the origin of any primary information received from said external sources and thereby to reject any primary information wherein the identification code and/or authentication code is not valid, or is missing.

108. A computer-implemented method according to claim 63, further comprising the step of generating a transaction log, comprising said primary information and any said secondary information, and any interim and final result information from any or all steps performed in accordance with said method.

109. A computer-implemented method according to claim 108, further comprising the step of presenting said transaction log and/or information based on and/or derived from said transaction log locally or remotely via a user interface, such as a web-browser.

110. A computer-implemented method according to claim 108, further comprising the step of communicating said transaction log and/or information based on and/or derived from said transaction log via an application programming interface means.