Method and system for enabling item-level approval of payment card

• US 7,628,319 B2
• Filed: 07/03/2007
• Issued: 12/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Lanford, Matthew, Brown, Peggy, Guthrie, Janet, Ross, Samantha, McLaughlin, Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Seung H
• Application Number:
  US11/772,891
• Publication Number:
  US 20080011820A1
• Time in Patent Office: 889 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379, 235/380, 235/375, 235/79, 705/35
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• 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 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A method includes the steps of facilitating obtaining indicia identifying individual items to be purchased at a point of interaction, in conjunction with an inbound authorization request; facilitating translation of the indicia into a form understandable by a third party transaction approver, to obtain translated indicia; and facilitating transfer of the translated indicia to the third patty transaction approver for item-by-item validation on the individual items. The transfer of the translated indicia is in conjunction with an outbound authorization request. A system implementing the method can make use of an inventive transfer engine.

Claims

1. A method for electronic payment validation, comprising the steps of:

providing an apparatus, wherein said apparatus comprises at least one hardware processor, a transfer engine software module embodied in at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium, and a translation database embodied in said at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium, said at least one hardware processor being configured to execute said transfer engine software module and access said translation database;

facilitating obtaining, over a payment network, indicia identifying individual items to be purchased at a point of interaction, in conjunction with an inbound authorization request;

facilitating translation of said indicia into a form understandable by a third party transaction approver, to obtain translated indicia, said translation being carried out by said at least one hardware processor executing said transfer engine software module and accessing said translation database; and

facilitating transfer, over said payment network, of said translated indicia to said third party transaction approver for item-by-item validation on said individual items, said transfer of said translated indicia being in conjunction with an outbound authorization request.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the additional steps of:

facilitating receipt of validation data associated with said item-by-item validation on said individual items from said third party transaction approver, said item-by-item validation being based at least on matching of said translated indicia against a validation database; and

facilitating passage of said validation data in a response message to be routed to said point of interaction.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said validation data comprises a total approved monetary amount reflecting a total price of those of said items that are valid, said total approved monetary amount being no greater than a total purchase price of said individual items to be purchased.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said validation data further comprises flags for each of said individual items, said flags indicating whether a given one of said items is valid.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said validation data comprises flags for each of said individual items, said flags indicating whether a given one of said items is valid.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising the additional step of warehousing at least said translated indicia and said validation data for audit.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein:

said third party transaction approver is associated with an issuer of a healthcare card; and

said validation database contains at least indications of whether a given translated indicia represents an item reimbursable by said issuer of said healthcare card.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said items comprise at least drugs and said indicia identifying said items further comprises time-period-supply-data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said indicia identifying said individual items comprise at least stock keeping unit (SKU) numbers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said indicia identifying said individual items comprise at least stock universal product codes (UPCs).

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said indicia identifying said individual items comprise at least stock national drug codes (NDCs).

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said indicia identifying said individual items are obtained, in conjunction with said inbound authorization request, from a split-tender acquirer, said split-tender acquirer having a capability to pass back to a merchant from whom said items are to be purchased a total approved monetary amount less than an amount in said inbound authorization request.

13. A method comprising the steps of:

facilitating obtaining, via pre-registration of a plurality of providers, provider indicia identifying individual items to be purchased, together with identities and costs of said items, at least some of said provider indicia differing, among given ones of said providers, for an identical one of said items to be purchased;

facilitating generating a translation database embodied in at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium, said translation database having a single translated indicia associated with each given one of said items, regardless of whether given ones of said providers have different provider indicia associated with said given one of said items; and

facilitating storage of said translation database in a form to facilitate ready translation of a given provider indicia into a corresponding translated indicia, based on said given provider indicia and an identity of a given one of said providers associated with said given provider indicia, said translation database being stored in said at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium at an intermediate point in a payment network wherein said translation database is accessible to at least one hardware processor executing a transfer engine software module embodied in said at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said indicia identifying said individual items comprise at least stock keeping unit (SKU) numbers.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said indicia identifying said individual items comprise at least stock universal product codes (UPCs).

16. The method of claim 13, wherein said indicia identifying said individual items comprise at least stock national drug codes (NDCs).

17. A computer program product comprising at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium including computer readable program code for electronic payment validation, said computer program product including:

computer readable program code for facilitating obtaining, over a payment network, indicia identifying individual items to be purchased at a point of interaction, in conjunction with an inbound authorization request;

computer readable program code, comprising a transfer engine software module executable on at least one hardware processor, for facilitating translation of said indicia into a form understandable by a third party transaction approver, to obtain translated indicia, said translation being carried out by said at least one hardware processor executing said transfer engine software module and accessing a translation database embodied in said at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium; and

computer readable program code for facilitating transfer, over said payment network, of said translated indicia to said third party transaction approver for item-by-item validation on said individual items, said transfer of said translated indicia being in conjunction with an outbound authorization request.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising:

computer readable program code for facilitating receipt of validation data associated with said item-by-item validation on said individual items from said third party transaction approver, said item-by-item validation being based at least on matching of said translated indicia against a validation database; and

computer readable program code for facilitating passage of said validation data in a response message to be routed to said point of interaction.

19. A computer program product comprising at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium including computer readable program code, said computer program product including:

computer readable program code for facilitating obtaining, via pre-registration of a plurality of providers, provider indicia identifying individual items to be purchased, together with identities and costs of said items, at least some of said provider indicia differing, among given ones of said providers, for an identical one of said items to be purchased;

computer readable program code for facilitating generating a translation database embodied in said at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium, said translation database having a single translated indicia associated with each given one of said items, regardless of whether given ones of said providers have different provider indicia associated with said given one of said items; and

computer readable program code for facilitating storage of said translation database in a form to facilitate ready translation of a given provider indicia into a corresponding translated indicia, based on said given provider indicia and an identity of a given one of said providers associated with said given provider indicia, said translation database being stored in said at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium at an intermediate point in a payment network wherein said translation database is accessible to at least one hardware processor executing a transfer engine software module embodied in said at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium.

20. An apparatus for electronic payment validation, said apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to said memory, said processor being operative to;

facilitate obtaining indicia identifying individual items to be purchased at a point of interaction, in conjunction with an inbound authorization request;

facilitate translation of said indicia into a form understandable by a third party transaction approver, to obtain translated indicia; and

facilitate transfer of said translated indicia to said third party transaction approver for item-by-item validation on said individual items, said transfer of said translated indicia being in conjunction with an outbound authorization request.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said memory and said at least one processor are located at an intermediate point in a payment network, further comprising:

an interface allowing said at least one processor to communicate with said payment network; and

at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium embodying;

a translation database accessible to said at least one processor, and

a transfer engine software module executable by said at least one processor to facilitate said translation, and

wherein said indicia identifying individual items are obtained over said payment network and said translated indicia are transferred over said payment network.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said processor is further operative to:

facilitate receipt of validation data associated with said item-by-item validation on said individual items from said third party transaction approver, said item-by-item validation being based at least on matching of said translated indicia against a validation database; and

facilitate passage of said validation data in a response message to be routed to said point of interaction.

23. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to said memory, said processor being operative to;

facilitate obtaining, via pre-registration of a plurality of providers, provider indicia identifying individual items to be purchased, together with identities and costs of said items, at least some of said provider indicia differing, among given ones of said providers, for an identical one of said items to be purchased;

facilitate generating a translation database having a single translated indicia associated with each given one of said items, regardless of whether given ones of said providers have different provider indicia associated with said given one of said items; and

facilitate storage of said translation database in a form to facilitate ready translation of a given provider indicia into a corresponding translated indicia, based on said given provider indicia and an identity of a given one of said providers associated with said given provider indicia.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said memory and said at least one processor are located at an intermediate point in a payment network, further comprising at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium, said translation database being stored in said at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium at said intermediate point in said payment network, said translation database being accessible to said at least one processor, said at least one processor executing a transfer engine software module embodied in said at least one tangible computer readable recordable storage medium.