METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ORDERING GOODS, SERVICES, AND CONTENT OVER AN INTERNETWORK USING A VIRTUAL PAYMENT ACCOUNT
A secure, closed virtual payment system comprising registered buyers and sellers for ordering and paying for goods, services, and content over an internetwork is disclosed. A buyer becomes registered by applying for a virtual payment account. A seller becomes registered by applying for a seller account. A credit processing component ( 53 ) immediately evaluates the buyer's 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 buyer can then order goods, services, or content from a seller and charge it to the virtual payment account. When the product is shipped, the seller notifies a commerce gateway component ( 52 ), which, in turn, notifies the credit processing server, which applies the charges to the buyer's virtual payment account.
1 . A method for purchasing a product from a seller computer using a virtual payment account associated with a buyer computer, the method comprising:
in response to receiving a purchase request from a buyer computer to purchase a product from a seller computer, the purchase request identifying a virtual payment account as a payment source for said products, transmitting an authentication request from the buyer computer to a commerce gateway;
determining at the commerce gateway whether the virtual payment account is associated with the buyer computer;
transmitting an account identification container to the buyer computer in response to determining that the buyer computer is associated with a valid virtual payment account;
transmitting the purchase request, including the account identification container, from the buyer computer to the seller computer;
transmitting the purchase request from the seller computer to the commerce gateway;
receiving the purchase request at the commerce gateway and determining whether said virtual payment account may be used to pay for the product;
in response to determining that the virtual payment account may be used to pay for the product, transmitting a valid transaction authorization from the commerce gateway to the seller computer and the buyer computer;
charging the virtual payment account for a cost associated with the product; and
providing the product to a buyer associated with the buyer computer.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual payment account comprises a credit account.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual payment account comprises a pre-paid account.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the virtual payment account may be used to pay for the product comprises determining whether a spending limit has been exceeded.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the virtual payment account comprises a credit account.
6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the virtual payment account comprises a pre-paid account.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said virtual payment account comprises a main account and at least one sub-account.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one sub-account comprises a credit account.
9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one sub-account comprises a pre-paid account.
10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein determining whether the virtual payment account may be used to pay for the product comprises determining whether a spending limit set for the at least one sub-account has been exceeded.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one sub-account comprises a credit account.
12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one sub-account comprises a pre-paid account.
13 . The method of claim 7 , wherein charging said virtual payment account for a cost associated with said product comprises charging said at least one sub-account for a cost associated with said product.
14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one sub-account comprises a credit account.
15 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one sub-account comprises a pre-paid account.
16 . The method of claim 8 , wherein determining whether the virtual payment account may be used to pay for said product comprises determining whether a spending limit set for the at least one sub-account has been exceeded.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one sub-account comprises a credit account.
18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one sub-account comprises a pre-paid account.
19 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining whether said sub-account is authorized to receive a charge from the seller computer; and
charging said sub-account for a cost associated with said product in response to determining that said sub-account is authorized to receive a charge from the seller computer.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein determining whether the virtual payment account may be used to pay for said product comprises determining whether a spending limit set for the at least one sub-account has been exceeded.