System and method for electronic prepaid account replenishment
US7131578B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 17, 2004 |
| Grant date | Nov 7, 2006 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 17, 2024 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04M2017/24
- WIPO fieldIT methods for management
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
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.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.