Method and apparatus for conducting electronic commerce transactions using electronic tokens
View Patent ↗Methods and apparatus for conducting electronic commerce using electronic tokens are described. The electronic tokens are issued and maintained by a vendor, who also provides products and services that can be purchased or rented using the electronic tokens. The electronic tokens may be purchased from the vendor either on-line, using a credit card, or off-line, using a check, money order, purchase order, or other payment means. Because the vendor is the issuer of the electronic tokens, there is no need for transactions to be handled by a third party, such as a bank or other organization. This reduces the overhead involved in conducting electronic commerce, and provides the vendor with a greater amount of control. Additionally, the vendor maintains total control over the price of the electronic tokens at any time. For vendors who offer software products for sale or rental, use of electronic tokens makes a variety of rental arrangements practical including rental for short periods of time, for a specific number of uses, or for a specific number of processing.
1. A method for conducting electronic commerce transactions with a merchant comprising:
receiving a request for an electronic commerce transaction with a vendor from a user using a client device;
registering the user with the vendor;
determining whether the user has adequate funds to finance the purchase of electronic tokens from the vendor, the electronic tokens being issued and redeemable by the vendor, each of the electronic tokens having a predetermined nominal value;
selling electronic tokens to the user responsive to the determination of whether the user has sufficient funds;
storing the purchased electronic tokens in a user account with the vendor;
determining whether the user has a sufficient number of electronic tokens in the user account to cover a purchase of at least one of a plurality of products or services offered by the vendor;
enabling the user to order at least one of the plurality of products or services offered by the vendor if a determination is made that the user's account balance contains a sufficient number of electronic tokens;
enabling the user to make a purchase selection from amongst the plurality of products or services offered by the vendor, the purchase price being set at an integer multiple of the electronic tokens;
transmitting a confirmation to the user summarizing the electronic commerce transaction; and
electronically delivering the purchase selection to the user;
wherein the receiving, determining, selling, storing, enabling, transmitting, and delivering are each performed by a server computer of the vendor.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising establishing the account.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of electronically delivering includes transmitting an authorization code.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
requesting account information from the user if a determination is made that the user has no account that permits the user to conduct electronic commerce transactions with the vendor; and
receiving the account information from the client device.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising preventing the user from viewing a portion of information relating to the plurality of products or services offered by the vendor if a determination is made that the user has an account balance less than the predetermined amount.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising preventing the user from viewing a portion of information relating to the plurality of products or services offered by the vendor if a determination is made that the user has no account that permits the user to conduct electronic commerce transactions with the vendor.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting the user with descriptions of the plurality of products or services.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising updating the account balance based on the purchase selection.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising enabling the user to confirm the purchase selection.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of enabling the user to trade at least some of the electronic tokens with another user.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the vendor receives a commission from the trade between the users.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user provides personal information to the vendor upon the purchase of the electronic tokens, and wherein the personal information is fed into a user database.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of creating commercial agreements between different vendors, wherein the electronic tokens issued by a first vendor are accepted for payment by a second vendor.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the electronic tokens are accepted for payment by the second vendor at a discount.
15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising the step of establishing an interpayment system between the first and second vendors to account for purchases at the second vendor with electronic tokens issued by the first vendor.
16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the user provides personal information to the first vendor upon the purchase of the electronic tokens, wherein the personal information is fed into a user database of the first vendor, and wherein the second vendor has access to the user database.
17. A method for conducting electronic commerce transactions with a vendor comprising:
registering a user with the vendor;
determining whether the user has adequate funds to finance the purchase of electronic tokens from the vendor, the electronic tokens being issued and redeemable by the vendor, each of the electronic tokens having a predetermined nominal value;
selling electronic tokens to the user responsive to the determined adequacy of funds;
storing the electronic tokens in a user account with the vendor;
receiving a request for information regarding a selected one of plurality of products or services offered by a the vendor from a user using a client device;
receiving a request from the user to make a purchase selection from amongst the plurality of products or services offered by the vendor;
determining whether the user has a sufficient number of electronic tokens in the user account to cover a purchase of at least one of a plurality of products or services offered by the vendor, the purchase price being set at an integer multiple of the electronic tokens;
enabling the user using the client device to order a plurality of products or services offered by the vendor if a determination is made that the user's account balance contains a sufficient number of electronic tokens;
transmitting a confirmation to the user summarizing the electronic commerce transaction; and
electronically delivering the purchase selection to the user;
wherein the receiving, determining, enabling, transmitting, and delivering are each performed by a vendor server computer.
18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising requesting at least one of personal information and payment information from the user.
19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising maintaining a record of the electronic commerce transaction.
20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising providing a database for storing the record.
21. The method of claim 17 , further comprising authenticating the user.
22. The method of claim 17 , wherein the description comprises at least one of a title, size, estimated download time, payment information, and price of the item.
23. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
prior to enabling the user to select an item for purchase from the vendor, enabling the user to identify an account to be used to pay for the purchase; and
enabling the user to add funds to the account.
24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising:
during enabling the user to add funds to the account, obtaining a credit status for the user; and
determining whether to approve addition of funds to the account based on the credit status for the user.
25. The method of claim 17 , further comprising notifying the user regarding whether the purchase was approved.