Transaction apparatus for processing transactions by means of a communication network, and system comprising such a transaction apparatus

摘要

A transaction apparatus for processing transactions by means of a communication network comprises at least one front-end computer and at least one transaction processing unit separate therefrom, which comprises sellers and buyers data files. Payment requests including a buyer and a seller identification are received via the communication network and a payment ticket is delivered via the communication network upon approval of a payment request and an error message is delivered via the communication network upon disapproval of a payment request. Upon receipt of a payment request, the front-end computer retrieves information required for the processing of the transaction from the data file of the transaction processing unit and verifies the payment request on the basis of the received buyer data. The transaction processing unit comprises at least one separate buyer transaction computer and at least one separate seller transaction computer, the buyer transaction computer comprising a buyers data file and the seller transaction computer comprising a sellers data file. The buyer transaction computer communicates with the front-end computer for providing buyer data and a payment ticket, wherein the payment request, upon approval by the front-end computer, is passed on to the buyer transaction computer, which carries out the verification of the payment request again on the basis of the buyer data in the buyers data file and, upon approval of the payment request, passes the payment request on to the seller transaction computer for verification. The seller transaction computer verifies the payment request on the basis of seller data in the sellers data file, delivering the payment ticket upon approval of the payment request and an error message upon disapproval of the payment request. <IMAGE>