Universal merchant platform for payment authentication

• US 8,650,118 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2012
• Issued: 02/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CardinalCommerce Corporation (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CardinalCommerce Corporation (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Balasubramanian, Chandra S., Sherwin, Francis M., Keresman, Michael A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Apple, Kirsten
• Application Number:
  US13/423,557
• Publication Number:
  US 20120197760A1
• Time in Patent Office: 694 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/38
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/042 characterized in that the payment protocol involves at least one cheque
• 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 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1085 involving automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• 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 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/403 Solvency checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• 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: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

A method is provided for supporting processing of a transaction conducted between two parties. The method includes: receiving payment information over a communications network at a server operatively connected to the network, the payment information identifying a particular payment option used by the second party for the transaction, and the server being equipped to format and route messages over the network in different manners to accommodate the different authentication protocols; determining from the payment information received which of the different authentication protocols is prescribed for the type of payment option identified in the payment information; selecting a particular authentication protocol from the plurality of different authentication protocols supported by the server; and, obtaining an authentication determination for the transaction in accordance with the selected authentication protocol, including formatting messages and routing the formatted messages over the network in accordance with the mandates of the selected authentication protocol.

Claims

1. A method of authenticating a payment between a first party and a second party, the method comprising:

receiving payment information from a first party over a communication network, the payment information formatted according to a generic format;

routing the received payment information to a third party over a payment processing network, the routed payment information formatted according to an authentication protocol selected based on the payment information;

receiving an authentication result for the payment from the third party over the payment network; and

returning the authentication result to the first party, the returned authentication result formatted according to the generic format.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving payment information from the first party is received via a connector which includes:

an Internet connector;

a direct connector;

or

an easy connector.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the direct connector includes at least one of Java calls and extensible markup language (XML) messages.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the easy connector includes redirection to a webserver.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the generic format is independent of the first and second parties.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selected authentication protocol is selected from a plurality of authentication protocols.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the payment network includes at least one of:

a private network;

the Internet;

an automated teller machine (ATM) network; and

a credit or debit card network.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein an upgrade to the selected authentication protocol is independent of the first and second parties.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein a new authentication protocol is added to the plurality of protocols without change to the generic format.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the generic format includes a plurality of payment instruments.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the generic format includes multiple currencies.

12. A system for authenticating a payment between a first party and a second party, the system comprising:

a connection layer that receives payment information from the first part over a communication network, the received payment information formatted according to a generic format, and wherein the connection layer returns an authentication result for the payment to the first party, the returned authentication result formatted according to the generic format;

a plug-in layer that includes a plurality of plug-ins, wherein each plug-in implements an authentication protocol that executes a set procedures to format and route the received payment information over a payment network, and wherein the plug-in layer receives the authentication results of the payment over the payment network;

a distribution layer that selects a plug-in based on the payment information, wherein the selected plug-in formats and routes the received payment information over the payment network to a third party authenticating the payment.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the connection layer includes:

an Internet connector;

a direct connector;

or

an easy connector.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the direct connector includes at least one of Java calls and extensible markup language (XML) messages.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the easy connector includes redirection to a webserver.

16. The system according to claim 12, wherein the generic format is independent of the first and second parties.

17. The system according to claim 12, wherein the payment network includes at least one of:

a private network;

the Internet;

an automated teller machine (ATM) network; and

a credit or debit card network.

18. The system according to claim 12, wherein a change to the authentication protocol of the selected plug-in is implemented independent of the first and second parties.

19. The system according to claim 12, where a new plug-in is added that implements a new authentication protocol without change to the generic format.

20. The system according to claim 12, wherein the generic format includes a plurality of payment instruments.

21. A system for processing transactions conducted between a first party and a second party, said system comprising:

one or more processors configured to;

receive payment information formatted according to a first format via a communications network;

determine an authentication protocol from the payment information

obtain an authentication determination for the transaction in accordance with the determined authentication protocol.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured for returning the obtained authentication determination over the communications network to a designated entity.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the designated entity is the first party.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the designated entity is at least one of a payment gateway, an acquiring bank, a payment network or an issuing bank that processes the transaction.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein said first party obtained the payment information from the second party over the communications network.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the payment information is received by a server in one of extensible markup language (XML) format, simple object access protocol (SOAP) format, or comma separated value (CSV) format.

27. A method of authenticating a payment according to an authentication protocol, the method comprising:

receiving payment information in a generic format;

routing the received payment information over a payment processing network, the routed payment information formatted according to an authentication protocol selected based on the payment information;

receiving an authentication result of the payment from a third party over the payment network; and

returning the authentication result to the first party in the generic format.