US2003163420A1PendingUtilityA1

Internet billing method

63
Assignee: NETCRAFT CORPPriority: Jul 7, 1995Filed: Sep 10, 2002Published: Aug 28, 2003
Est. expiryJul 7, 2015(expired)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
Inventors:Andrew Egendorf
G06Q 20/16G06Q 20/14G06Q 30/0613G06Q 20/04G06Q 20/108G06Q 20/105G06Q 40/04G06Q 30/04G06Q 20/10G06Q 20/40G06Q 20/12G06Q 20/02G06Q 30/0601G06Q 20/102G06Q 30/0633
63
PatentIndex Score
0
Cited by
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References
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Claims

Abstract

An Internet billing method comprises establishing an agreement between and Internet access provider and a customer, and an agreement between the Internet access provider and a vendor, wherein the Internet access provider agrees with the customer and the vendor to bill the customer and remit to the vendor for products and services purchased over the Internet by the customer from the vendor. The Provider creates access to the Internet for the customer. When the customer orders a product or service over the Internet from a vendor, transactional information transmitted between the customer and the vendor is also transmitted to the provider. The provider then bills the transaction amount to the customer and remits a portion of the transaction amount to the customer and remits a portion of the transaction amount to the vendor, keeping the differential as a fee for providing the service. As a result of this method, there is no need for any customer account numbers or vendor account numbers to be transmitted over the Internet, thereby maintaining the security of that information.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified
What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An Internet billing method comprising the steps by and Internet access provider of: 
 establishing a billing agreement with at least one customer and a remitting agreement with at least one vendor to bill a billing account of the at least one customer for products and services purchased over the Internet by the at least one customer from the at least one vendor and to remit to the at least one vendor;    connecting the at least one customer to the Internet;    obtaining transactional information over the Internet from communications over the Internet between the at least one customer and the at leas one vendor related to a purchase over the Internet by the at least one customer from the at least one vendor, wherein the transactional information includes a transaction amount;    billing the transaction amount to the billing account of the at least one customer; and    remitting a portion of the transaction amount to the at least one vendor.    
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising after the step of obtaining the transactional information and before the step of billing the transaction amount 
 obtaining approval from a party other than the customer to bill the transaction amount to the billing account of the least one customer    
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the approval is obtained from the provider  
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the approval is obtained from a third party  
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the approval is obtained over the Internet.  
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the approval is obtained during communications between the at least one customer and the at least one vendor  
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the billing account is one of a credit card account, a bank account, a telephone number account, a cable television account, and an on-line services account.  
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of establishing the billing agreement comprises establishing a specification for selecting a billing account to which the transaction amount is billed.  
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of establishing the billing agreement comprises specifying a plurality of billing accounts and wherein the transactional information includes identification of one of the plurality of billing accounts to which the transaction amount is billed without specifying an account number  
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the billing account is an account with the provider.  
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the billing account is an account with a third party.  
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of remitting comprises sending money.  
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of remitting comprises crediting a vendor account.  
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein the vendor account is one of a credit card merchant account, a bank account, a telephone number account, a cable television account, and an on-line services account.  
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein the step of establishing the remitting agreement comprises 
 establishing a specification for selecting a vendor account to which a portion of the transaction amount is remitted.    
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein the step of establishing the remitting agreement comprises specifying a plurality of vendor accounts and wherein the transactional information includes identification of one of the plurality of vendor accounts to which the transaction amount is billed without specifying an account number.  
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein the vendor account is an account with the provider.  
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein the vendor account is an account with a third party.  
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the transactional information does not include the billing account number to which the transaction amount is billed.  
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the transactional information does not include any account number.  
     
     
         21 . An Internet billing method comprising the steps by a vendor of: 
 establishing a remitting agreement with at least one Internet access provider to remit to the vendor a portion of a transaction amount billed to a billing account of at least one customer of the at least one Internet access provider for products and services purchased over the Internet by the at least one customer from the vendor,    exchanging transactional information over the Internet with the at least one customer related to a purchase over the Internet by the at least one customer from the vendor, wherein the transactional information includes a transaction amount;    delivering the purchased product or service to the at least one customer; and    receiving the purchased product or service to the from the at least one Internet access provider.    
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 21 , wherein the step of receiving comprises receiving money.  
     
     
         23 . The method according to  claim 21 , wherein the step of receiving comprises receiving a credit to a vendor account.  
     
     
         24 . The method according to  claim 23 , wherein the vendor account is one of a credit card merchant account, a bank account, a telephone number account, a cable television account, and an on-line services account.  
     
     
         25 . The method according to  claim 23 , wherein the step of establishing the remitting agreement comprises establishing a specification for selecting a vendor account to which the portion of the transaction amount is remitted.  
     
     
         26 . The method according to  claim 23 , wherein the step of establishing the remitting agreement comprises specifying a plurality of vendor accounts and wherein the transactional information includes identification of one of the plurality of vendor accounts to which the portion of the transaction amount is remitted.  
     
     
         27 . The method according to  claim 23 , wherein the vendor account is an account with the at least one provider.  
     
     
         28 . The method according to  claim 23 , wherein the vendor account is an account with a third party.  
     
     
         29 . The method according to  claim 21 , wherein the transactional information does not include the billing account number to which the transaction amount to billed.  
     
     
         30 . The method according to  claim 21 , wherein the transactional information does not include any account number.

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