System and method for pseudo cash transactions with credit back

• US 5,937,394 A
• Filed: 11/17/1997
• Issued: 08/10/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Jaesent Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Jaesent Incorporated
• Inventors: Wong, Jacob Y., Anderson, Roy L.
• Primary Examiner(s): MacDonald, Allen R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jeanty, Romain
• Application Number:
  US08/971,416
• Time in Patent Office: 631 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/38, 705/35, 705/39, 705/40, 705/41, 705/42, 705/43, 705/44, 235/380, 235/382, 235/382.5, 380/23, 380/24, 380/25, 380/4
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/065 using e-cash
• 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 20/1085 involving automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/29 characterised by micropayments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/363 with the personal data of a user
• 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 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0615 Anonymizing
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0866 by active credit-cards adapted therefor G07F7/1008 takes precedence

Abstract

A system and method for pseudo cash transactions allows a portion of the pseudo cash to be refunded through use of a credit back indicator which is used by a record adjuster to adjust the file associated with a pseudo cash unit which can then be accessed by the user with a user identifier to obtain a refund or credit.

Claims

1. A system for providing pseudo cash transactions, comprising:

a pseudo cash dispenser for dispensing a pseudo cash preliminary data packet in exchange for a fixed monetary value;

a pseudo cash data packet converter for inserting a user key into the pseudo cash preliminary data packet through the use of a user insertion key to generate a pseudo cash unit;

a pseudo cash repository for maintaining a record of the pseudo cash unit and the fixed monetary value; and

a record generator for generating the record from the pseudo cash preliminary data packet, the fixed monetary value, the user key and the user insertion key in response to an exchange of the preliminary data packet to a first entity for the fixed monetary value;

a record adjuster for exchanging a second fixed monetary value for receipt of the pseudo cash unit with a credit back indicator and deactivating the record, said second fixed monetary value being less than the fixed monetary value.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the record adjuster adjusts the record associated with the pseudo cash unit to reflect an adjusted fixed monetary value to be associated with the pseudo cash unit which is equal to or less than the fixed monetary value less the second fixed monetary value.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the record maintained by the pseudo cash repository also includes a user identifier.

4. A system as recited in claim 3, further comprising means for allowing the first entity to recover the adjusted fixed monetary value through use of the user identifier.

5. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the second fixed monetary value is derived from the fixed monetary value through use of the credit back indicator.

8. A method for providing pseudo cash transactions as recited in claim 1, wherein the file includes a user identifier associated with the first entity.

9. A method for providing pseudo cash transactions as recited in claim 8, comprising the additional step of:

permitting the first entity to recover the adjusted fixed monetary value through use of the user identifier.

6. A method for providing pseudo cash transactions, comprising:

generating a pseudo cash preliminary data packet;

generating a pseudo cash unit from the pseudo cash preliminary data packet by inserting a user key of a first entity into the pseudo cash preliminary data packet in accordance with an algorithm that uses the user insertion key of the first entity;

assigning a fixed monetary value to the pseudo cash unit;

dispensing the pseudo cash preliminary data packet from a pseudo cash dispenser to the first entity in exchange for the fixed monetary value received from the first entity;

creating a file in a pseudo cash repository which contains the pseudo cash unit and the fixed monetary value;

regenerating the pseudo cash unit from the pseudo cash preliminary data packet by inserting the user key of the first entity into the pseudo cash preliminary data packet in accordance with the algorithm that uses the user insertion key of the first entity;

exchanging the pseudo cash unit with a credit back indicator for a second fixed monetary value that is less than the fixed monetary value; and

deactivating the file in the pseudo cash repository when the pseudo cash unit is exchanged for the fixed monetary value.

7. A method for providing pseudo cash transactions as recited in claim 6, comprising the additional step of:

deriving the second fixed monetary value from the fixed monetary value through use of the credit back indicator.