Persistent Dynamic Payment Service

Abstract

The invention comprises online methods, systems, and software for improving the processing of payments from financial accounts, particularly credit and debit card payments made from consumers to merchants in online transactions. The preferred embodiment of the invention involves inserting a trusted third party online service into the payment authorization process. The trusted third party authenticates the consumer and authorizes the proposed payment in a single integrated process conducted without the involvement of the merchant. The authentication of the consumer is accomplished over a persistent communication channel established with the consumer before a purchase is made. The authentication is done by verifying that the persistent channel is open when authorization is requested. Use of the third party services allows the consumer to avoid revealing his identity and credit card number to the merchant over a public network such as the Internet, while maintaining control of the transaction during the authorization process.

1 . In a method of making a payment from a payer to a merchant in an online transaction over a first network, the transaction involving an online purchase and being of the type where the payment involves the beneficiary accepting a proposed payment in the form of an account number having a standard syntax, followed by the merchant requesting an authorization for the proposed payment from a financial institution, the improvement comprising the following acts performed by a trusted third party service: 
 a) associating an identifier assigned to the payer with at least one valid account number and other information pertaining to the payer in a database accessible to the trusted third party service;    b) allowing the payer to initiate a persistent channel over the first network with the trusted third party service prior to completing the online purchase;    c) receiving a request from a Payment Processor for approval of the proposed payment pertaining to the account number, whereby the account number was submitted as the proposed payment in the online transaction, and wherein the account number is in the standard syntax and comprises routing information associated with the Payment Processor;    d) verifying the proposed payment by verifying that the persistent channel is available, and optionally contacting the payer over the persistent channel for additional verification, if additional verification is required by predetermined;    e) processing the request by identifying the at least one valid account number; and    f) transmitting an instruction to the Payment Processor wherein the content of said instruction depends on whether the transaction is verified or denied, and if the transaction is verified, the instruction comprises a valid account number associated with said identifier.    
   
   
       2 . The improvement in  claim 1  wherein the trusted third party service comprises software executing on at least one computer server integrated with the Payment Processor's payment processing application.  
   
   
       3 . The improvement of  claim 1  wherein the trusted third party service comprises software executing on at least one computer server residing on the first network and communicates with the Payment Processor over a secure external link.  
   
   
       4 . The improvement of  claim 3  further comprising providing the payer with access to functionality to receive a request for approval of the proposed payment over the persistent channel and to reply over the persistent channel.  
   
   
       5 . The improvement of  claim 4  wherein the trusted third party service is an online service comprising at least one network server operating a portal software for communicating with the payer using the payer's network accessible device over the persistent channel.  
   
   
       6 . The improvement of  claim 4  wherein the payer's network accessible device comprises a computer system, and the persistent channel is established over the first network between the computer system and the at least one network server.  
   
   
       7 . The improvement of  claim 6  wherein the at least one valid account number associated in the database with the identifier assigned to the payer comprises a plurality of valid account numbers.  
   
   
       8 . The improvement of  claim 7  wherein the first network is the Internet, the financial institutions are banks and the account numbers are chosen from the group consisting of credit card account numbers, debit card numbers, and checking account numbers.  
   
   
       9 . The improvement of  claim 8  further comprising the act of allowing the payer to choose one of the plurality of account numbers for use in the payment.  
   
   
       10 . The improvement of  claim 8  further comprising the act of allowing the payer to split the proposed payment among the plurality of account numbers according to an amount—account number array.  
   
   
       11 . The improvement of  claim 10  further comprising the act of transmitting at least one additional instruction to the Payment Processor each comprising one of the plurality of account numbers as required for the split transaction.  
   
   
       12 . A computer readable medium comprising computer executable steps to perform the steps of the improvement recited in  claim 1 .  
   
   
       13 . A computer server programmed to perform the steps of the improvement recited in  claim 1 .  
   
   
       14 . In a method for transferring funds between a payer having a payer's account in a first institution said account being represented by a payer's debit card number and a receiver having a receiver's account in a second institution said receiver's account represented by a receiver's debit card number wherein the transfer is initiated by the payer on an on-line service and routed for processing between the first financial institution and the second financial institution by a Payment Processor, the improvement comprising the following acts performed by a trusted third party service: 
 a) associating a proxy debit card number assigned to the receiver with at least one valid debit account number and other information about the receiver in a database accessible to the trusted third party service, wherein the proxy debit card number follows a standard syntax for debit cards and comprises routing information which allows it to be routed to the trusted third party service;    b) receiving a request from the Payment Processor pertaining to a payment intended for the proxy debit account number;    c) processing the request comprising finding the at least one valid debit account number corresponding to the proxy debit card number;    d) transmitting at least one instruction to the Payment Processor comprising a valid debit account number associated with the proxy debit account number.    
   
   
       15 . The improvement of  claim 14  further comprising assigning the receiver at least one proxy debit account number.  
   
   
       16 . The improvement of  claim 15  wherein the at least one valid account number comprises a plurality of valid account numbers.  
   
   
       17 . The improvement of  claim 16  further comprising obtaining preferences for receiving payments.  
   
   
       18 . The improvement of  claim 17  further comprising interpreting the request in accordance with the preferences and transmitting additional instructions to the Payment Processor as needed to comply with the preferences.  
   
   
       19 . A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for carrying out the method recited in  claim 14.