Credit card system and method
First Claim
1. A financial transaction system comprising:
- a server configured to (i) receive a request from a merchant for authorization of a credit card transaction against a credit card account of a customer that has limitations on use established by an issuer of the credit card account, and (ii) receive information communicated by the customer to establish additional limitations on use of the credit card account that exceed the limitations on use established by the issuer of the credit card account,a database device configured to store the additional limitations on use established by the customer in association with the credit card account of the customer; and
a customer interface configured to receive the information from the customer establishing the additional limitations on use of the credit card from the customer, and communicate the additional limitations on use of the credit card to the server,wherein the server is configured to (i) compare an attempted use of the credit card account with the additional limitations on use established by the customer, (ii) based on said comparison, permit transactions which meet the additional limitations on use of the credit card established by the customer and deny other transactions, and (iii) transmit, via a transmitting unit, transaction information of the attempted use of the credit card to a transaction processing device of the issuer of the credit card account for processing of the associated credit card account when the attempted use is not contrary to the additional limitations on use established by the customer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A credit card system is provided which has the added feature of providing additional limited use credit card numbers and/or cards. These numbers and/or cards can be used for a single or limited use transaction, thereby reducing the potential for fraudulent reuse of these numbers and/or cards. The credit card system finds application to “card remote” transactions such as by phone or Internet. Additionally, when a single use or limited use credit card is used for “card present” transactions, so called “skimming” fraud is eliminated. Various other features enhance the credit card system, which will allow secure trade without the use of elaborate encryption techniques. Methods for limiting, distributing and using a limited use card number, controlling the validity of a limited use credit card number, conducting a limited use credit card number transaction and providing remote access devices for accessing a limited use credit card number are also provided.
157 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A financial transaction system comprising:
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a server configured to (i) receive a request from a merchant for authorization of a credit card transaction against a credit card account of a customer that has limitations on use established by an issuer of the credit card account, and (ii) receive information communicated by the customer to establish additional limitations on use of the credit card account that exceed the limitations on use established by the issuer of the credit card account, a database device configured to store the additional limitations on use established by the customer in association with the credit card account of the customer; and a customer interface configured to receive the information from the customer establishing the additional limitations on use of the credit card from the customer, and communicate the additional limitations on use of the credit card to the server, wherein the server is configured to (i) compare an attempted use of the credit card account with the additional limitations on use established by the customer, (ii) based on said comparison, permit transactions which meet the additional limitations on use of the credit card established by the customer and deny other transactions, and (iii) transmit, via a transmitting unit, transaction information of the attempted use of the credit card to a transaction processing device of the issuer of the credit card account for processing of the associated credit card account when the attempted use is not contrary to the additional limitations on use established by the customer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 21, 22)
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9. A server configured to communicate with an interface operable by a customer of a credit card account, and a transaction processing device of an issuer of the credit card account of the customer, the server comprising:
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a receiving unit configured to receive a request from the customer of the credit card account via the interface to establish limitations on use of the credit card account of the customer; an issuing unit configured to issue a limited use credit card number for use in a credit card transaction to the interface, the limited use credit card number having limitations on use that correspond to the requested limitations on use of the credit card account received from the interface, constituting a different number than the credit card account of the customer and functioning as an authorized substitute for the credit card account of the customer in a credit card transaction; an associating unit configured to associate the limited use credit card number issued to the interface with the credit card account of the customer in a database device; an authorization unit configured to (i) compare an attempted use of the limited use credit card number to the limitations on use established by the customer of the limited use credit card number and (ii), based on said comparison, permit transactions which meet the limitations on use established by the customer of the limited use credit card number and deny other transactions; and a notification unit configured to transmit a notification of an authorized transaction conducted with the credit card account to the transaction processing device of the issuer of the credit card account for processing of the associated credit card account by an amount of the authorized transaction. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 23)
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17. A server configured to communicate with an interface operable by a customer of a credit card account, and a transaction processing device of an issuer of the credit card account of the customer, the server comprising:
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a receiving unit configured to receive a request from the customer of the credit card account via the interface for issuance of a limited use credit card number, and to receive information communicated by the customer via the interface to establish limitations on use of the limited use credit card number before the limited use credit card number can be used in a transaction; an issuing unit configured to issue a limited use credit card number for use in a credit card transaction to the interface, the limited use credit card number having limitations on use that correspond to the requested limitations on use received from the interface, constituting a different number than the credit card account of the customer and functioning as an authorized substitute for the credit card account of the customer in a credit card transaction; an associating unit configured to associate the limited use credit card number issued to the interface with the credit card account of the customer in a database device; an authorization unit configured to (i) compare an attempted use of the limited use credit card number to the limitations on use established by the customer of the limited use credit card number and (ii), based on said comparison, permit transactions which meet the limitations on use established by the customer of the limited use credit card number and deny other transactions; and a notification unit configured to transmit a notification of an authorized transaction conducted with the credit card account to the transaction processing device of the issuer of the credit card account for processing of the associated credit card account by an amount of the authorized transaction. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 24)
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25. A method for providing a payment cardholder with control over use of a payment card comprising:
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configuring, by a central processing system, a set of use limitations for usage of the payment card; receiving, via an interface device, a selection, by the payment cardholder, of one or more of said use limitations; associating, in a database device, cardholder limitations with the payment card based on said selected usage limitations for determining acceptable transactions and unacceptable transactions for the payment card; intercepting, by said central processing system, an authorization request, from a merchant, for each transaction of the payment card; comparing, by said central processing system, said authorization for said each transaction of the payment card with the additional limitations on use established by the customer stored in said database device; identifying, by said central processing system, based on said comparison, each said transaction as being one of said acceptable transactions and said unacceptable transactions; when an acceptable transaction is identified, transmitting, by a transmitting unit of said central processing system, transaction information of the identified acceptable transaction to a transaction processing device of an issuer of the payment card for processing of an associated account of the payment card; and notifying, by the central processing system, the payment cardholder, using a message, of at least one of said acceptable transactions and said unacceptable transactions. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method for providing a payment cardholder with control over a payment card comprising:
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configuring, by a central processing system, a set of use limitations for usage of the payment card; receiving, via an interface device, a selection, by the payment cardholder, of one or more of said usage limitations; storing, in a database device, cardholder limitations in association with the payment card based on said selected usage limitations for determining acceptable transactions and unacceptable transactions for the payment card; intercepting, by said central processing system, an authorization request, from a merchant, for each transaction of the payment card; comparing, by said central processing system, said authorization request for said each transaction of the payment card with the additional limitations on use established by the customer stored in said database device; identifying, by said central processing system, based on said comparison, each said transaction as being one of said acceptable transactions and said unacceptable transactions; declining, by said central processing system, through an automatic decline feature, at least one said authorization request for a transaction identified by said cardholder limitations as one of said unacceptable transactions; and when at least one said authorization request is authorized for a transaction identified as an acceptable transaction, transmitting, by a transmitting unit, transaction information of the identified acceptable transaction to a transaction processing device of an issuer of the payment card for processing of an associated account of the payment card. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method for providing a payment cardholder with the ability to manage a payment card comprising:
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configuring, by a central processing system, a set of use limitation for usage of the payment card; receiving, via an interface device, a selection, by the payment cardholder of one or more of said use limitations; storing, in a database device, cardholder limitations in association with the payment card based on said selected use limitations for determining acceptable transactions and unacceptable transactions for the payment card; intercepting, by said central processing system, each transaction of the payment card; comparing, by said central processing system, said each transaction of the payment card with the additional limitations on use established by the customer stored in said database device; identifying, by said central processing system, based on said comparison, each said transaction as being one of said acceptable transactions or said unacceptable transactions; displaying, via a user interface device, information regarding a set of selected transactions based on a set of all transactions for the payment card; and when an acceptable transaction is identified, transmitting, by a transmitting unit, transaction information of the identified acceptable transaction to a transaction processing device of an issuer of the payment card for processing of an associated account of the payment card. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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Specification