TRANSACTION PROCESSING, SYSTEM, METHOD, AND APPARATUS THAT UTILIZES A TOKEN CREDENTIAL

摘要

A novel system and methodology for conducting financial and other transactions using a wireless device. Credentials may be selectively issued by issuers such as credit card companies, banks, and merchants to consumers permitting the specific consumer to conduct a transaction according to the authorization given as reflected by the credential or set of credentials. The preferred mechanism for controlling and distributing credentials according to the present invention is through one or more publicly accessible networks such as the Internet wherein the system design and operating characteristics are in conformance with the standards and other specific requirements of the chosen network or set of networks. Credentials are ultimately supplied to a handheld device such as a mobile telephone via a wireless network. The user holding the credential may then use the handheld device to conduct the authorized transaction or set of transactions via, for example, a short range wireless link with a point-of-sale terminal.

主权项

1. A system to process requests to authorize a payment transaction using a token credential, the system comprising:
a communications interface coupled to a payment network that is configured to receive transaction authorization requests originating from a merchant point-of-sale (POS) system, and to transmit an applicable transaction approval or decline response to the merchant POS system through the same path; at least one storage device to store a database including user accounts, wherein each user account contains at least one linked payment account number and at least one token account number that is used to authorize a payment transaction between the merchant POS system and the system; a transaction authorization interface to authorize the payment transaction against a selected payment account that is linked to a user account containing the at least one token account number; and a processor configured to receive transaction authorization requests originating from the merchant POS system via the communications interface, select a user account from the user accounts stored in the database using the token account number contained in the received transaction authorization request, select the payment account number linked to the user account, transmit an authorization request against the selected linked payment account via the transaction authorization interface, receive and identify an approval or decline authorization response based on at least the state of the user account and the received authorization response associated with the linked payment account that is selected for authorization, and transmit a transaction approval or decline authorization response to the payment network and merchant point-of-sale system via the communications interface.