METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ORDERING GOODS, SERVICES AND CONTENT OVER AN INTERNETWORK USING A VIRTUAL PAYMENT ACCOUNT

• US 20100274683A1
• Filed: 07/09/2010
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/1999
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Stripe, Inc.
• Original Assignee: eCharge Corporation
• Inventors: Griffiths, David, Hutchison, Robin B., Begg, Iain M., Llewellyn, Robert J., Viljoen, Andre F., Birch, David
• Application Number:
  US12/833,149
• Publication Number:
  US 20100274683A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/027 involving a payment switch or gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3676 Balancing accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3821 Electronic credentials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3829 involving key management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• 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 20/403 Solvency checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 : Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 : Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0617 : Representative agent
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 : Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

A virtual payment system for paying for goods, services and content ordered over an internetwork comprising a commerce gateway component and a credit processing server component (53) is disclosed. Buyers and sellers becomes registered participants by applying for virtual payment buyer and seller accounts. Once an account is established, a digital certificate is stored on the registered participant'"'"'s computer. A buyer can then order a product, i.e., goods, services or content from a seller and charge it to the virtual payment account. When the product is shipped, the seller notifies the commerce gateway component, which in turn notifies the credit processing server, which applies the charges to the buyer'"'"'s virtual payment account. The buyer can settle the charges using a prepaid account, a credit account, or by using reward points earned through use of the virtual payment card. A buyer may create sub-accounts.

Claims

1. Computer-readable medium having executable components stored on a buyer computer, a seller computer, and a commerce gateway for purchasing a product from a seller computer using a virtual payment account associated with the buyer computer, wherein the executable components purchase the product by:

in response to receiving a purchase request from a buyer computer to purchase a product from a seller computer using a virtual payment account, the commerce gateway determining whether the buyer computer is associated with the virtual payment account and whether the virtual payment account is valid;

in response to the commerce gateway determining that the buyer computer is associated with the virtual payment account and that the virtual payment account is valid, the commerce gateway applying a cost of the product to the virtual payment account; and

the seller computer arranging to provide the product to a buyer associated with said buyer computer.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein determining whether the buyer computer is associated with the virtual payment account and whether the virtual payment account is valid comprises:

the buyer computer retrieving a digital certificate;

transmitting an authentication request including the digital certificate from the buyer computer to the commerce gateway;

determining whether the virtual payment account is valid;

determining whether the virtual payment account is associated with the buyer computer; and

transmitting an account identification container from the commerce gateway to the buyer computer in response to determining that the buyer computer is associated with the virtual payment account and that the virtual payment account is valid.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the digital certificate is stored in the memory of the buyer computer.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the digital certificate is stored in a secure token.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein applying a cost of the product to the virtual payment account comprises:

said seller computer receiving an account identification container;

said seller computer transmitting the account identification container and the cost of the product to the commerce gateway;

the commerce gateway determining whether the virtual payment account may be charged for the cost of the product; and

in response to the commerce gateway determining that the virtual payment account may be charged for the cost of said product, transmitting a valid transaction authorization from the commerce gateway to the seller computer.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the digital certificate is stored in the memory of the buyer computer.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the digital certificate is stored in a secure token.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the executable components are also stored on a credit processing server and wherein the credit processing server determines whether the virtual payment account is associate with the buyer computer.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the digital certificate is stored in the memory of the buyer computer.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the digital certificate is stored in a secure token.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein applying a cost of the product to the virtual payment account comprises:

said seller computer receiving an account identification container;

said seller computer transmitting the account identification container and the cost of the product to the commerce gateway;

the commerce gateway determining whether the virtual payment account may be charged for the cost of the product; and

in response to the commerce gateway determining that the virtual payment account may be charged for the cost of said product, transmitting a valid transaction authorization from the commerce gateway to the seller computer.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the digital certificate is stored in the memory of the buyer computer.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the digital certificate is stored in a secure token.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the credit processing server also determines whether the virtual payment account is valid.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the digital certificate is stored in the memory of the buyer computer.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the digital certificate is stored in a secure token.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein applying a cost of the product to the virtual payment account comprises:

said seller computer receiving an account identification container;

said seller computer transmitting the account identification container and the cost of the product to the commerce gateway;

the commerce gateway determining whether the virtual payment account may be charged for the cost of the product; and

in response to the commerce gateway determining that the virtual payment account may be charged for the cost of said product, transmitting a valid transaction authorization from the commerce gateway to the seller computer.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the digital certificate is stored in the memory of the buyer computer.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the digital certificate is stored in a secure token.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein determining whether the buyer computer is associated with the virtual payment account comprises:

transmitting an authentication request from the buyer computer to the commerce gateway;

sending an authentication message from the commerce gateway to a buyer authentication device;

retrieving the alternate authentication message;

verifying the alternate authentication message with the commerce gateway; and

in response to verifying the alternate authentication message, determining that the buyer computer is associated with the virtual payment account.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein applying a cost of the product to the virtual payment account comprises:

the seller computer receiving an account identification container;

the seller computer transmitting the account identification container and the cost of the product to the commerce gateway;

the commerce gateway determining whether the virtual payment account may be charged for the cost of the product; and

in response to the commerce gateway determining that the virtual payment account may be charged for the cost of said product, transmitting a valid transaction authorization from the commerce gateway to the seller computer.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein if the buyer computer cannot retrieve the digital certificate, determining whether the buyer computer is associated with the virtual payment account comprises:

transmitting an authentication request from the buyer computer to the commerce gateway;

sending an authentication message from the commerce gateway to a buyer authentication device;

retrieving the alternate authentication message;

verifying the alternate authentication message with the commerce gateway; and

in response to verifying the alternate authentication message, determining that the buyer computer is associated with the virtual payment account.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein applying a cost of the product to the virtual payment account comprises:

the seller computer receiving an account identification container;

the seller computer transmitting the account identification container and the cost of the product to the commerce gateway;

the commerce gateway determining whether the virtual payment account may be charged for the cost of the product; and

in response to the commerce gateway determining that the virtual payment account may be charged for the cost of said product, transmitting a valid transaction authorization from the commerce gateway to the seller computer.