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

• US 20100312708A1
• Filed: 07/09/2010
• Published: 12/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/1999
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: eCharge Corporation
• Original Assignee: eCharge Corporation
• Inventors: Griffiths, David, Hutchison, Robin B., Begg, Iain M., Llewellyn, Robert J., Viljoen, Andre F., Birch, David
• Application Number:
  US12/833,158
• Publication Number:
  US 20100312708A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/67
• 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 commerce gateway, and a credit processing server for creating a virtual payment account for a buyer that may be used to pay for products ordered over an internetwork, wherein the executable components create the virtual payment account by:

sending a buyer application to the commerce gateway;

in response to the commerce gateway receiving the buyer application data, the credit processing server determining a credit score for the buyer based on the buyer application data;

the credit processing server determining whether the credit score exceeds a threshold credit score;

in response to determining that the credit score exceeds the threshold credit score, the credit processing server establishing a virtual payment account associated with the buyer and notifying the commerce gateway of the establishment of the virtual payment account; and

in response to the commerce gateway being notified of the establishment of the virtual payment account, the commerce gateway sending a digital certificate to the buyer computer that uniquely identifies the buyer as the registered holder of the virtual payment account.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the digital certificate is stored in the memory of the buyer computer.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the digital certificate is stored in a secure token.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the executable components also create the virtual payment account by:

in response to the commerce gateway receiving application data from the buyer, the credit processing server obtaining identity and credit information for the buyer; and

the credit processing server using the identity and credit information to determine the credit score.

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

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