ELECTRONIC COMMERCE METHODS AND APPARATUS

摘要

An object-oriented, distributed architecture provides a suite of applications supporting pre-paid electronic commerce on Internet, Intranet or Extranet, including roaming transactions and transaction shipping involving more complex configurations. An input device (ID) is employed for receiving a request for a service from an end-user. The transaction manager (TM) requests the rating device (RD) to determine whether or not the transaction can take place given the remaining balance. If the user's balance is sufficient, the service device (SD) proceeds the transaction, rendering the requested service. The account device (AD) updates the user's remaining balance. A transaction data record is queued to the output device (OD). A typical roaming situation involves two transaction servers, called TxS devices. The first TxS device holds the input device (ID) and the service device (SD). The second TxS device holds the universal account device (AD) and the output device (OD).