Electronic transaction system

• US 6,886,741 B1
• Filed: 03/08/2004
• Issued: 05/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nytell Software LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Melvin E. Salveson
• Inventors: Salveson, Melvin E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thien M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAIL, ALLYSON NEEL
• Application Number:
  US10/795,737
• Time in Patent Office: 421 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379, 235/375, 235/380, 235/449, 705/14, 705/34, 705/40, 705/39
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 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 20/227 characterised in that multiple accounts are available, e.g. to the payer
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/342 Cards defining paid or billed services or quantities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4037 Remote solvency checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/025 by means, e.g. cards, providing billing information at the time of purchase, e.g. identification of seller or purchaser, quantity of goods delivered or to be delivered
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/08 by coded identity card or credit card or other personal identification means without personal verification means G07F7/02

Abstract

An all-purpose transaction system using a universal card is disclosed herein. The universal card is issued by a transaction card processing center (TCPC) and can be used for various purposes and to conduct a variety of transactions, such as retail transactions, financial transactions, security purposes, information purposes, civil purposes and for other purposes. The transactions may include purchases and payments. The universal card allows a consumer/cardholder to conduct various types of transactions using a single card that has a single, unique, arbitrary identification number. The transactions may include purchases and payments. All of the transactions for a given billing period (e.g. month) may be consolidated on a single billing statement. The consumer can make a single payment to the TCPC or may make individual payments directly to the vendors.

Claims

1. A method for a cardholder to effectuate a purchase transaction with a vendor for a transaction amount utilizing a universal card and at least one data source being selected from the group consisting of debit/credit grantors, health data and sources, identification records, civil and police, banks and brokers, voter registrar, libraries, census and contracts, the method comprising:

obtaining identification of the cardholder from the universal card, the universal card being issued by a transaction card processing center and allowing the cardholder to select a transaction payment method for effectuating the transaction;

obtaining from the cardholder the transaction payment method to be used for the purchase transaction;

determining if there are multiple accounts that can be used for the transaction payment method obtained from the cardholder;

if there are multiple accounts that can be used for the transaction payment method, obtaining an account identification from the cardholder to be used for the purchase transaction;

transmitting a purchase authorization request to the transaction card processing center, the purchase authorization request comprising the identification of the cardholder, the transaction amount, the transaction payment method, and the account identification if required;

receiving from the transaction card processing center a purchase authorization status;

selectively accessing information from the data source in response to the purchase authorization status;

if the purchase authorization status is an authorized status, completing the purchase transaction for the cardholder using the transaction payment method and providing the information accessed from the data source;

sending a transaction complete message to the transaction card processing center;

recording the purchase transaction and the information accessed from the data source on a database being selected from the group consisting of an individual cardholder database, an individual vendor database, a health database, an individual security database, an individual financial database, a civic database, an information database, a general database, an individual credit score database, and a domain detail database;

selectively displaying for the cardholder a display of the transaction completed with the universal card, the display being accessible from the transaction card processing center and accessing the database whereon the transaction has been recorded for displaying the transaction recorded on the database; and

selectively printing the transaction presented on the display in response to utilizing a printer being in communication with the display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment method is selected from a plurality of payment method types selected from the group consisting of debit card, universal credit card and vendor credit card.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the purchase transaction is conducted using a point-of-sale terminal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the purchase transaction is selected from the group consisting of a retail transaction, a healthcare transaction, a financial transaction, a security transaction, an information transaction, and a civil transaction.

5. A method for consolidating periodic billing statements and payments for a plurality of vendors of a consumer utilizing a universal card, the method comprising:

issuing the universal card to the consumer, the universal card being issued by a transaction card processing center, the universal card allowing the consumer to effectuate at least one transaction and thereby selectively access information from at least one data source being selected from the group consisting of debit/credit grantors, health data and sources, identification records, civil and police, banks and brokers, voter registrar, libraries, census and contracts, the transaction and the information accessed from the data source being recorded on at least one database, the database being selected from the group consisting of an individual cardholder database, an individual vendor database, a health database, an individual security database, an individual financial database, a civic database, an information database, a general database, an individual credit score database, and a domain detail database;

processing transactions for the consumer during a periodic billing period;

selectively accessing information from the database in response to the processing of transactions; and

preparing a universal card billing statement upon completion of the periodic billing period, the universal card billing statement including the transaction and information accessed from the respective data source as recorded in the database during the periodic billing period and being organized for review by the consumer.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the transactions comprise purchase transactions, each purchase transaction comprising:

receiving a purchase authorization request from a respective vendor, the purchase authorization request comprising an identification of the consumer, a transaction amount, a transaction payment method selected and an account identification if there is more than one account available to the consumer for the transaction payment method;

determining an authorization status in response to the based on whether there are sufficient funds to effectuate the purchase for the transaction amount using the transaction payment method;

transmitting the authorization status to the respective vendor; and

receiving a transaction complete message from the vendor, the transaction complete message comprising purchase transaction information including the identification of the consumer, the transaction amount and the transaction payment method; and

storing the transaction information in at least one of the individual cardholder database, the individual vendor database, the individual finance database, the information database, and the individual credit score database.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the transactions comprise payment transactions, each payment transaction comprising:

receiving a payment;

determining vendors to which at least a portion of the payment are to be allocated;

determining the portion of the payment to be allocated to each of the vendors;

transmitting the allocated portion of the funds to each of the vendors; and

storing information about the payment transaction in at least one of the individual cardholder database, the individual vendor database, the individual finance database, the information database, and the individual credit score database.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of payment method types is selected from the group consisting of debit card, universal credit card and vendor credit card.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the transaction includes retrieving information from one of the health data and sources and civil data sources and providing the information retrieved in the universal card billing statement.

10. A method for a cardholder to effectuate a transaction utilizing a universal card and to access at least one data source, the method comprising:

obtaining identification of the cardholder from the universal card being issued by a transaction card processing center and including a plurality of domains of usage;

obtaining from the cardholder the domain of usage for the transaction;

determining if there are multiple accounts that can be used for the domain of usage obtained from the cardholder;

if there are multiple accounts that can be used for the domain of usage, obtaining from the cardholder an account identification to be used for the transaction;

obtaining from the cardholder a request of information to be accessed from the data source by the transaction card processing center;

transmitting an authorization request to the transaction card processing center, the authorization request comprising the identification of the cardholder, the domain of usage, the request of information, and the account identification if required;

processing the authorization request to provide a transaction authorization status to the cardholder;

selectively accessing the data source in response to the transaction authorization status;

receiving from the transaction card processing center the transaction authorization status;

if the transaction authorization status is an authorized status, completing the transaction for the cardholder using the transaction method and providing the requested information accessed from the data source;

sending a transaction complete message to the transaction card processing center;

recording the transaction on a database at the transaction card processing center;

updating the database at the transaction processing center; and

providing for the cardholder a selectively accessible display of the transaction completed with the universal card, the display being accessible from the transaction card processing center and accessing the database whereon the transaction has been recorded for displaying the transaction recorded on the database.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the database is selected from the group consisting of an individual cardholder database, an individual vendor database, a health database, an individual security database, an individual financial database, a civic database, an information database, a general database, an individual credit score database, and a domain detail database.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the data source is selected from the group consisting of debit/credit grantors, health data and sources, identification records, civil and police, banks and brokers, voter registrar, libraries, census and contracts.

13. The method of claim 10 further including selectively displaying for the cardholder a display of the transaction completed with the universal card, the display being accessible from the transaction card processing center and accessing the database whereon the transaction has been recorded for displaying the transaction recorded on the database.

14. The method of claim 13 further including selectively printing the transaction presented on the display in response to utilizing a printer being in communication with the display.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the domain of usage is selected from the group consisting of retail, health care, financial, security, information and civil.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the civil data source includes information selected from the group consisting of library information, civil license information, property deed information, access information, and state records information.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the health data and sources data source includes one of health care information and financial information regarding healthcare insurance.