ONLINE PAYMENT TRANSACTION SYSTEM
A payment system automatically determines a confidence measure for each payment transaction initiated between a consumer device and a merchant server, based on data associated with the registered consumer and device that is stored by the payment system, and dynamically determines a transaction processing cost for the transaction based on the confidence measure. The payment system can also dynamically determine a set of credential data elements to be requested from the consumer device.
1 . A method of electronic payment for a transaction initiated between a consumer device and a merchant server via a payment system, the method comprising, at the payment system:
receiving a request token and transaction data relating to the transaction, wherein the request token includes user data relating to an identity of a consumer registered with the payment system;
processing the request token to authenticate the user data and in response, generating a payment token based on the transaction data;
transmitting the payment token to a financial institution associated with the merchant server; and
transmitting a confirmation message to the merchant server indicating that electronic payment for the transaction is accepted,
wherein the method further comprises, at the payment system:
retrieving, from a secure database, data elements associated with the registered consumer;
determining a confidence measure based on the retrieved data elements;
generating a subsequent credit payment token based on the determined confidence measure; and
transmitting the subsequent credit payment token to the financial institution associated with the merchant server.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein retrieving data elements from the secure database comprises querying the database to determine the presence of stored data for a predefined set of data elements, and wherein the confidence measure is determined based on the number of data elements with stored data.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising comparing the user data received in the request token with corresponding retrieved data elements to determine a number of matching data elements, and wherein the confidence measure is determined based on the number of matching data elements.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a value of the credit payment token is determined based on rules defining a scale of credit values associated with respective criteria.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the criteria comprises a threshold value for the confidence measure.
6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the criteria comprises availability of data elements from the database.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the consumer registers details with the payment system prior to initiating a transaction.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the payment system transmitting a request for credentials including a determined set of required input data elements.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the set of required input data elements is determined based on a confidence measure.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user data comprises one or more of the consumer's registered user name, email address, password, and secret word.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the retrieved data elements include details indicated of aspects of account activity associated with a payment account of the registered consumer.
12 . A method of authenticating a registered user of a payment system for electronic payment of a transaction initiated between a registered user's electronic device and a merchant server via the payment system, the method comprising the payment system dynamically determining a set of credential data elements to be requested from the consumer device based at least on data associated with the registered user stored by the payment system.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein said data associated with the registered user comprises historical account activity details.
14 . A method of electronic payment for a transaction initiated between a consumer device and a merchant server via a payment system, the consumer device associated with a consumer registered with the payment system, wherein the method comprises determining a confidence measure for each transaction based at least on data associated with the registered consumer stored by the payment system and dynamically determining a transaction processing cost for the transaction based on the confidence measure.
15 . A system comprising means for performing the method of claim 1 .
16 . A computer program comprising program code arranged to perform the method of claim 1 .
17 . A computer program product comprising the computer program of claim 16 .