System and method for electronic prepaid account replenishment

• US 8,967,464 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2013
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EWI Holdings Inc. (Albertsons Cos., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EWI Holdings Inc. (Albertsons Cos., Inc.)
• Inventors: Paschini, Miles, Rose, Marshall
• Primary Examiner(s): Labaze, Edwyn
• Application Number:
  US13/914,360
• Publication Number:
  US 20140214575A1
• Time in Patent Office: 631 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379, 235/380, 235/381, 235/378, 235/487, 705/61, 705/66, 705/75, 705/39
• US Class Current: 235/379
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/346 Cards serving only as information carrier of service
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/349 Rechargeable cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/363 with the personal data of a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3672 initialising or reloading thereof
• 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: G07F 7/0866 by active credit-cards adapted therefor G07F7/1008 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/00 Prepayment of wireline communication systems, wireless communication systems or telephone systems using a coded card to authorise calls from a telephone set H04M1/675
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/20 with provision for recharging the prepaid account or card, or for credit establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 17/204 on-line recharging, e.g. cashless
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2017/24 with on-line recharging of an account or card, e.g. cashless

Abstract

A method for crediting a customer account maintained by a vendor of services in response to payment received from a customer is disclosed herein. The method includes issuing, to the customer, a membership account number associated with at least the customer account. A membership account number and a payment corresponding to a requested amount of a service offered by the vendor are received from the customer at a point-of-sale. The method further includes generating, at the point-of-sale, an authorization message including at least the membership account number and embedded transaction information identifying the service offered by the vendor and the requested amount. The embedded transaction information is then communicated from the point-of-sale to a database server. The customer account is credited, in response to the embedded transaction information, based upon an amount of the payment. The method also includes electronically transferring funds based upon the amount of the payment from a first account associated with the point-of-sale to a second account associated with the vendor.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for crediting a customer account maintained by a vendor of prepaid services in response to payment received from a customer, the method comprising:

receiving via a data network a transaction request with embedded transaction information, including a membership account number associated with a customer account, a payment amount corresponding to a requested amount of a prepaid service offered by the vendor, and a virtual payment amount;

maintaining, within a database server, a database associating transaction information with identifying information pertaining to the customer account;

maintaining, within the database, an association between virtual payment amounts and prepaid services offered by a plurality of vendors, the embedded transaction information including a first of the virtual payment amounts;

determining, by a transaction processor configured for such determination, from the embedded transaction information, the vendor of the requested prepaid product;

wherein, subsequent to a determination that the embedded transaction information defines a valid transaction, facilitating the electronic crediting of the customer account with an amount corresponding to the requested amount of prepaid service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein payment is transferred from a first account associated with the terminal to a second account associated with the vendor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal is a kiosk.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the merchant account number is included within the transaction information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal is a POS terminal.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the merchant account number is included within the transaction information.

7. The method of claim 1 further including verifying that the embedded transaction information defines a valid transaction, and upon determination of a valid transaction, routing the transaction in accordance with information read from the membership card.

8. The method of claim 7, further determining whether the embedded transaction information defines a valid transaction and, upon determination of a valid transaction, contacting via a data network the prepaid service provider and requesting crediting of customer'"'"'s prepaid account.

9. The method of claim 7, further transmitting a response to the transaction request to the requesting terminal from the service provider indicating whether the customer account was credited.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the response communicates the successful crediting of the customer account to the terminal.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the membership account number is received at the terminal from a membership card.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the membership account number is stored upon a membership card issued to a customer by an issuing entity.

13. The method of claim 1, further retrieving account identifying information from a database that is specific to the customer account and verifying the account information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein customer account information specific to the customer account is received from the terminal.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the customer account information is a phone number associated with the customer account.

16. A method for crediting a customer account maintained by a vendor of prepaid services in response to payment received from a customer, the method comprising:

issuing a membership card containing a membership account number;

receiving the membership account number and a payment corresponding to a requested amount of a prepaid service offered by the vendor;

maintaining, within a database server, a database associating the membership account number with identifying information pertaining to the customer account;

maintaining, within the database, an association between a merchant account number applicable to the point-of-sale and a list of approved prepaid services authorized to be purchased at the point-of-sale;

generating, at the point-of-sale, an authorization message including at least the membership account number and embedded transaction information identifying the prepaid service offered by the vendor and the requested amount;

maintaining, within the database, an association between virtual payment amounts and monetary amounts of prepaid services offered by a plurality of vendors, the embedded transaction information including a first of the virtual payment amounts;

communicating the embedded transaction information from the point-of-sale to the database server;

crediting, subsequent to receipt of the embedded transaction information at the database server, the customer account based upon an amount of the payment; and

electronically transferring funds based upon the amount of the payment from a first account associated with the point-of-sale to a second account associated with the vendor.