The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 20, 2009
Filed:
Sep. 24, 2003
Robin B. Hutchison, Vancouver, CA;
George A. Fleming, White Rock, CA;
Alan Chedalawada, Seattle, WA (US);
Robert Llewellyn, Poulsbo, WA (US);
David Griffiths, Ware, GB;
David Birch, Woking, GB;
Robin B. Hutchison, Vancouver, CA;
George A. Fleming, White Rock, CA;
Alan Chedalawada, Seattle, WA (US);
Robert Llewellyn, Poulsbo, WA (US);
David Griffiths, Ware, GB;
David Birch, Woking, GB;
eCharge Corporation, seattle, WA (US);
Abstract
A virtual payment card system for ordering and paying for goods, services and content over an internetwork is disclosed. The virtual payment card system comprises a commerce gateway component () and a credit processing server component (). The virtual payment card system is a secure closed system comprising registered merchants and consumers. A consumer becomes a registered participant by applying for a virtual payment card. Likewise, a merchant becomes registered by applying for a merchant account. A consumer can instantly open an account on-line. That is, the credit processing component () immediately evaluates the consumer's virtual payment card application and assigns a credit limit to the account. Once an account is established, a digital certificate is stored on the registered participant's computer. The consumer can then order a product, i.e., goods, services or content from a merchant and charge it to the virtual payment card. When the product is shipped, the merchant notifies the commerce gateway component (), which in turn notifies the credit processing server which applies the charges to the consumer's virtual card account. The consumer can settle the charges using a prepaid account, a credit card, or by using reward points earned through use of the virtual payment card. A consumer may create sub-account that have additional limitations imposed on the owner of the sub-account.