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

• US 20110276494A1
• Filed: 07/19/2011
• Published: 11/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/1999
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: SertintyONE Corp.
• Original Assignee: eCharge Corporation
• Inventors: Griffiths, David, Hutchison, Robin B., Begg, Iain M., Llewellyn, Robert J., Viljoen, Andre F., Birch, David
• Application Number:
  US13/186,217
• Publication Number:
  US 20110276494A1
• 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 secure, closed virtual payment system comprising registered buyers and sellers for ordering and paying for goods, services, and content over an internetwork is disclosed. A buyer becomes registered by applying for a virtual payment account. A seller becomes registered by applying for a seller account. A credit processing component (53) immediately evaluates the buyer'"'"'s application and assigns a credit limit to the account. Once an account is established, a digital certificate is stored on the registered participant'"'"'s computer. The buyer can then order goods, services, or content from a seller and charge it to the virtual payment account. When the product is shipped, the seller notifies a commerce gateway component (52), which, in turn, notifies the credit processing server, which applies the charges to the buyer'"'"'s virtual payment account.

Claims

1. A method for creating a virtual payment account for a buyer which may be used to pay for products ordered over an internetwork, the method comprising:

in response to receiving application data from said buyer, determining a credit score for said buyer based upon the application data;

determining whether the credit score exceeds a threshold credit score;

in response to determining that the credit score exceeds the threshold credit score, establishing a virtual payment account associated with the buyer at a commerce gateway; and

installing a digital certificate on a buyer computer associated with the buyer that uniquely identifies the buyer as the registered holder of the virtual payment account.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving application data from the buyer, determining an identity score for the buyer based upon the application data;

determining whether the identity score exceeds a threshold identity score; and

in response to determining that the identity score exceeds the threshold identity score, proceeding to determining a credit score.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining an identity score for the buyer comprises:

requesting identity information from an identity bureau based on the application data;

receiving the identity information from the identity bureau; and

combining the identity information with the application data to determine the identity score for said buyer.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining an identity score for the buyer comprises requesting the identity score from an identity bureau based on the application data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a public key encryption pair that includes a private key and a public key.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein installing a digital certificate comprises:

transmitting the public key to the commerce gateway, the commerce gateway certifying the public key to generate the digital certificate; and

receiving the digital certificate from the commerce gateway.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein installing a digital certificate comprises storing the certificate on a secure token.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to determining that the credit score does not exceed the threshold credit score, establishing a prepaid virtual payment account associated with the buyer at the commerce gateway.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a credit score for the buyer comprises:

requesting credit information for the buyer from a credit bureau based on the application data;

receiving the credit information from the credit bureau; and

combining the credit information with the application data to determine the credit score for said buyer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein reward points associated with the virtual payment account accrue based upon the volume of purchases charged to the virtual payment account.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual payment account comprises a main account and at least one sub-account created by the buyer.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the sub-account has a set spending limit set by the buyer.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the sub-account is associated with a second buyer.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the sub-account is configured by the buyer to accept charges only from a predetermined list of sellers.