METHOD, SYSTEM, AND APPARATUS FOR CONDUCTING A PURCHASE TRANSACTION

• US 20080230600A1
• Filed: 03/19/2007
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Black, Cynthia Wills, Baijal, Hemant
• Application Number:
  US11/687,796
• Publication Number:
  US 20080230600A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems

Abstract

A system, method, and apparatus for conducting a purchase transaction include receiving account information from a payment card device for a purchase transaction, wherein an unrestricted funds account and a restricted funds account is associated with the payment card device; receiving account type data representative of one of the unrestricted funds account and the restricted funds account to associate with the purchase transaction by a transaction terminal; transmitting payment transaction data, including the account type data, from the transaction terminal to a payment network; routing the payment transaction data to one of a first network and a second network based on the account type data associated with the payment transaction data; determining whether the routing is successful; and re-routing, in an instance the routing is not successful, the payment transaction to the first network or the second network not selected in the routing of the payment transaction.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving account information from a payment card device for a purchase transaction, wherein an unrestricted funds account is associated with the payment card device and a restricted funds account is associated with the payment card device;

receiving account type data representative of one of the unrestricted funds account and the restricted funds account to associate with the purchase transaction by a transaction terminal;

transmitting payment transaction data, including the account type data, from the transaction terminal to a payment network;

routing the payment transaction to one selection of a first network and a second network based on the account type data associated with the payment transaction data;

determining whether the routing is successful; and

re-routing, in an instance the routing is not successful, the payment transaction to the one of the first network and the second network not selected in the routing of the payment transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the restricted funds account is associated with at least one government benefit program.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the restricted funds account is restricted to an association with only specific types of a purchase transaction and no restrictions apply to an association of the unrestricted funds account to a purchase transaction.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction terminal is adapted to receive account type data representative of both the unrestricted funds account and the restricted funds account for the purchase transaction.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a restricted funds account code in the instance the account type data associated with the purchase transaction is representative of the restricted funds account; and

transmitting, with the payment transaction data, the restricted funds account code.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising a cardholder authentication process, wherein cardholder authentication process includes receiving a personal identification number (PIN) in the instance the account data type is representative of the restricted funds account and the cardholder authentication process includes receiving at least one of a PIN and a signature in the instance the account data type is representative of the unrestricted funds account.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the unrestricted funds account is associated with at least one of a credit card account, a debit card account, and a stored value card account.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the credit card account is a private store credit card account.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment card device is one of an automatic teller machine (ATM) and a point of sale (POS) terminal.

10-18. -18. (canceled)

19. A storage medium having executable computer readable instructions stored thereon, the storage medium comprising:

instructions to receive account information from a payment card device for a purchase transaction, wherein an unrestricted funds account is associated with the payment card device and a restricted funds account is associated with the payment card device;

instructions to receive account type data representative of one of the unrestricted funds account and the restricted funds account to associate with the purchase transaction by a transaction terminal;

instructions to transmit payment transaction data, including the account type data, from the transaction terminal to a payment network;

instructions to route the payment transaction to one selection of a first network and a second network based on the account type data associated with the payment transaction data;

instructions to determine whether the routing is successful; and

instructions to re-route, in an instance the routing is not successful, the payment transaction to the one of the first network and the second network not selected in the routing of the payment transaction.

20. The storage medium of claim 19, wherein the restricted funds account is associated with at least one government benefit program.

21. The storage medium of claim 19, wherein the restricted funds account is restricted to an association with only specific types of a purchase transaction and no restrictions apply to an association of the unrestricted funds account to a purchase transaction.

22. The storage medium of claim 19, further comprising:

instructions to receive a restricted funds account code in the instance the account type data associated with the purchase transaction is representative of the restricted funds account; and

instructions to transmit, with the payment transaction data, the restricted funds account code.