Showing papers on "Payment service provider published in 1998"

Real time bank-centric universal payment system

Abstract: An infrastructure for a real time bank-centric universal payment system (2) in which a central processing system (CPU) defines an electronic commerce trust system (1) formed from a plurality of financial service provider members (4) subscribing to a common standard having applicability throught the infrastructure. The central processing unit is operatively interconnected to the correspondent processing units of financial service provider members (4) that in turn are operatively interconnected through access mechanisms to a network of customers (3) and goods and services providers (5) who are account subscribers with the financial service provider member (4) and subject to the common standard of the system. The CPU provides non-revocable real time debit and credit transactions and effects net settlement between and among members through a central exchange monetary system. Features of the infrastructure include ECTS hot file, bill presentment and payment options and provider designed services that enhance brand identity.

Processing system and method for a heterogeneous electronic cash environment

Abstract: A heterogeneous stored-value system which offers interoperability among a number of proprietary payment card brands with differing fee structures. Electronic cash originally obtained through a specific payment card brand is reconsolidated at settlement, assuring proper accounting for these fees. The system can handle isolated flow, where electronic cash flows from a loading device (2) to a payment card (8) and thence from a payment card (8) to a point of sale (6) to settlement (7), where electronic cash can flow into a payment card only from the loading device. The system can also handle circulation of the electronic cash, whereby reloading is accomplished by returning electronic cash to a payment card (8) as change from a charge transaction at a point of sale (6). In addition, payment cards with more than one charge function can be handled, whereby the customer can specify which of several charge functions will be used to acquire the electronic cash.

Electronic creation, submission, adjudication, and payment of health insurance claims

Abstract: A claims processing system for electronically reviewing and adjudicating medical insurance claims. The claims processing systems include a benefits system, an automated adjudication system, a payment system, and a payment tracking system. The benefits system allows patients and health care providers to access patient and benefits information on-line. Using the automated adjudication system, health care providers may electronically prepare and submit claims for payment. Before a claim is submitted, a claims precheck process is used to determine whether the claim may be automatically adjudicated or instead must be manually adjudicated. If manual adjudication is indicated, the health care provider may the claim in an effort to achieve automated adjudication prior to claim submission. The claims processing system performs automatic adjudication on submitted claims or forwards the claims to a shop for manual adjudication. The payment system initiates payment to the health care provider using electronic funds transfer. The payment tracking system allows health care providers to monitor the payment status of a claim after submission.

Method and apparatus for payment processing using debit-based electronic funds transfer and disbursement processing using addendum-based electronic data interchange

Abstract: This disclosure describes a payment and disbursement system, wherein an initiator authorizes a payment and disbursement to a collector and the collector processes the payment and disbursement through an accumulator agency. The accumulator agency processes the payment as a debit-based transaction and processes the disbursement as an addendum-based transaction. The processing of a debit-based transaction generally occurs by electronic funds transfer (EFT) or by financial electronic data interchange (FEDI). The processing of an addendum-based transaction generally occurs by electronic data interchange (EDI).

Open network payment system for providing for authentication of payment orders based on a confirmation electronic mail message

Abstract: A complete system for the purchasing of goods or information over a computer network is presented. Merchant computers on the network maintain databases of digital advertisements that are accessed by buyer computers. In response to user inquiries, buyer computers retrieve and display digital advertisements from merchant computers. A digital advertisement can further include a program that is interpreted by a buyer's computer. The buyer computers include a means for a user to purchase the product described by a digital advertisement. If a user has not specified a means of payment at the time of purchase, it can be requested after a purchase transaction is initiated. A network payment system performs payment order authorization in a network with untrusted switching, transmission, and host components. Payment orders are backed by accounts in an external financial system network, and the payment system obtains account authorizations from this external network in real-time. Payment orders are signed with authenticators that can be based on any combination of a secret function of the payment order parameters, a single-use transaction identifier, or a specified network address.

Method of controlling payment of debts

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for executing payment of a debt by a person to a payee. The method includes the steps of negotiating payment terms with the payee and entering the negotiated payment terms into a payment scheduler. The method further includes the steps of determining by the scheduler that the payment is due on the debt in accordance with the payment terms, electronically instructing a third party to pay the debt due and electronically transferring a receipt of the payment to the person and payee and to a database of the person in a secure location, remote from the person.

Method for multi-directional consumer purchasing, selling, and transaction management

Abstract: An integrated credit card data processing method that allows transactions to be processed either as a payment or as a receipt of payment The new process is a combination of the regular data processing method for consumer purchases of goods and services similar to those used by credit/charge cards, debit cards, and smart cards and a merchant processing method that allows acceptance of such payments The second part of the invention is a method to execute an order on the manner of disposition of the proceeds of sale, such as payment by check, application of the excess cash to outstanding debts, investment into a plurality of investment accounts, or retention of the proceeds as a credit to the account The third part of the invention is a method to provide a report of both purchases and sales itemized together for an account holder

Computerized system for facilitating transactions between parties on the internet using e-mail

Abstract: A payment system for enabling a first Internet user to make a payment to a second Internet user, typically for the purchase of an information product deliverable over the Internet. The payment system provides cardholder accounts for the first and second Internet users. When the second user sends the information product to the first user over the Internet, the second user also makes a request over the Internet to a front end portion of the payment system requesting payment from the first user. The front end portion of the payment system queries the first user over the Internet whether to proceed with payment to the second user. If the first user replies affirmatively, a charge to the first user is processed off the Internet; however if the first user replies negatively, the first user is not charged for the information product. The payment system informs the second user regarding whether the first user's decision and pays the second user upon collection of the charge from the first user. Security is maintained by isolating financial and credit information of users' cardholder accounts from the front end portion of the payment system and by isolating the account identifying information from the associated e-mail address.

Designing a generic payment service

Abstract: The growing importance of electronic commerce has resulted in the introduction of a variety of different and incompatible payment systems. For business application developers, this variety implies the need to understand the details of different systems, to adapt the code as soon as new payment systems are introduced, and also to provide a way of picking a suitable payment instrument for every transaction. In our work, we unify the different mechanisms in a common framework with application programming interfaces. Our framework provides services for transparent negotiation and selection of payment instruments as well. This allows applications to be developed independent of specific payment systems with the additional benefit of providing a central point of control for payment information and policies.

Open network payment system for providing for real-time authorization of payment and purchase transactions

Abstract: A complete system for the purchasing of goods or information over a computer network is presented. Merchant computers on the network maintain databases of digital advertisements that are accessed by buyer computers. In response to user inquiries, buyer computers retrieve and display digital advertisements from merchant computers. A digital advertisement can further include a program that is interpreted by a buyer's computer. The buyer computers include a means for a user to purchase the product described by a digital advertisement. If a user has not specified a means of payment at the time of purchase, it can be requested after a purchase transaction is initiated. A network payment system performs payment order authorization in a network with untrusted switching, transmission, and host components. Payment orders are backed by accounts in an external financial system network, and the payment system obtains account authorizations from this external network in real-time. Payment orders are signed with authenticators that can be based on any combination of a secret function of the payment order parameters, a single-use transaction identifier, or a specified network address.

Financial system of computers

Abstract: An automated payment system particularly suited for purchases over a distributed computer network such as the Internet. In such a distributed computer network, a merchant or vending computer contains certain promotional information which is communicated to a customer's computer. Based upon the promotional information, the operator of the customer's computer decides to purchase the services or goods described by the promotional information. The customer's computer is linked to a payment processing computer and the customer's credit card number and the amount of the goods or services is transmitted to the payment processing computer. The payment processing computer automatically contacts a bank for verification of the credit card and amount; the bank transmits an authorization to the payment processing computer. The payment processing computer communicates a self-generated transaction indicia, and in some embodiments a password, to the customer's computer. In the embodiment where a password is used, the customer's computer uses the password with the merchant's computer in obtaining access to protected information or to establish shipping instructions.

Towards a framework for handling disputes in payment systems

Abstract: The ability to support disputes is an important, but often neglected aspect of payment systems. In this paper, we present a language for expressing dispute claims in a unified manner, independent of any specific payment system. We illustrate how to support claims made in this language with evidence tokens from an example payment system. We also describe an architecture for dispute handling. Our approach may be generalised to other services where accountability is a requirement.

Chablis - Market Analysis of Digital Payment Systems

Abstract: Order and delivery of digital information with costs requires an economic method of instant digital payment especially when dealing with widely distributed, anonymous users and small amounts. Such factors make traditional invoicing processes economically unfeasible. A large number of digital payment schemes and system proposals have been devised. This report provides a classification and market study of digital payment systems. An extensive criteria catalogue is presented explaining typical features of and requirements to digital payment systems. Clustering tables according to technological and economical aspects permit a quick overview over the status of digital payment systems. Currently 51 individual payment systems are presented and classified in this report. The market study shows that for high value payments secure credit card presentations are dominating and with the proposed standard of SET a common approach seems to be at least likely. For small and especially very low value payments the market is highly diversified and likely to remain so. There exist few small or micropayment systems that even made it to the prototype stadium, though a great many interesting schemes have been proposed especially for very low value payments. As it is very improbable that there will be single dominating payment system suitable for all sizes of payments integration initiatives become important. Therefore this report also provides a brief summary of existing payment system integration initiatives.

Did the Feds's Founding Improve the Efficiency of the U.S. Payments System?

Abstract: The payment functions of central banks vary among nations. Some central banks provide only limited payment services, such as issuing and redeeming currency and facilitating settlement among members of payments systems by transferring reserve balances.1 In the United States, the Federal Reserve has been a provider of payment services since the early 1900s. By 1918, the Fed had acquired a large share of the nation’s check-collection activities, especially in clearing interregional checks, and the Fed had begun processing wire transfers of reserves among banks. The Federal Reserve recently has been re-examining the appropriateness of its role in processing checks and automated clearinghouse payments (Rivlin 1997). To provide a more complete background for these deliberations, this article examines the validity of arguments for the Fed’s initial entry into its payment activities. Before the Fed was established, critics of the operation of the payments system argued that interregional check collection (collecting and paying banks located in different communities) was inefficient; they maintained that indirectly routing checks to avoid exchange charges by paying banks lengthened the collection process and resulted in higher operating expenses for banks than more direct routing from collecting banks to paying banks. An evaluation of whether Reserve Bank services made the payments system more efficient rests on the nature of the payments system prior to the Fed’s formation. Therefore, the first section of this article describes the payments system before Congress established the Fed, and the second section develops a theoretical framework for examining the effects of innovations on payments system efficiency. Subsequent sections describe the legal foundation of the Fed’s collection services, trace the development of Reserve Bank services, and examine the evidence for and against the argument for improved payments system efficiency.

Security of Electronic Money

Abstract: The realisation of electronic commerce process is very difficult without appropriate system for electronic payment. Of course it is possible to use some of the conventional payment instruments (e.g. payment cards, bills, payment orders), but these instruments do not fit with requirements for improving the commerce process. The resulting electronic commerce system would have disadvantages inherited from these conventional payment instruments. New electronic payment systems should be developed to satisfy all requirements of electronic commerce. The main idea of most of these systems is to convert conventional money to its electronic equivalent - electronic money.

VarietyCash: a multi-purpose electronic payment system

Abstract: VarietyCash is a new electronic money system which strikes a balance between functionality, security, and user privacy The system can encompass both network and stored-value card based payment mechanisms, with transferability between them, hence the name

Method for providing bank card transaction data

Abstract: A method of providing bank transaction data for a merchant via the Internet includes displaying on a computer connected to a host a graphical user interface having a plurality of payment services categories. Each of the payment services categories is associated with a processing function performed by the host. One of the payment services categories is then selected. A graphical user interface having links associated with the selected one of the payment services categories is then displayed on the computer. One of the links is then selected. A graphical user interface having entry boxes associated with the selected one of the links is then displayed on the computer. Requested information is then entered into the entry boxes. The requested information entered into the entry boxes is then processed at the host. A graphical user interface having bank card transaction data associated with the processed requested information is then displayed on the computer.

Payment system and paying method

Abstract: PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform payment without using a credit reference communication terminal device that is necessary at the time of performing payment with a credit card. SOLUTION: A payment institution specifies a payer based on an originator number (step 110) after the payer communicates with the payment institution by using a mobile communication terminal having an originator number sending function (step 100). After that, the payment institution authenticates if the payer is the very person according to a password, a fingerprint, a voiceprint, etc., (step 160). Next, payment, the confirmation of an amount that is not paid off, the confirmation of credit balance, etc., are performed by exchanging data between the payer and the payment institution (steps 190, 200 and 220). COPYRIGHT: (C)1999,JPO

Can the Fed Be a Payment System Innovator

Abstract: The payment system is a communications industry in which Federal Reserve Banks, in their check collection activities, provide communication services. The history of government intervention in other communications industries offers lessons for the Fed in its efforts at payment system innovation. Intervention, when it employs barriers to competition in the interest of promoting widespread access to services, weakens the incentives of market participants to adopt new technologies. Conversely, removing barriers to competition promotes efficient innovation but may also require some retreat from the goal of universal access.

Document transmit system and document transmitting method

Abstract: In response to a fee payment request issued from an applicant apparatus via a communication network, a payment acceptance server makes a payment credit inquiry of an applicant to a financial institution server. When a payment acceptance server judges that a payment by the applicant is guaranteed, the payment acceptance server transmits to an applicant apparatus, an electronic payment certificate corresponding to a stamp, or an inspection sticker. A document with the payment certificate is transmitted from either the applicant apparatus or an agent apparatus to a document acceptance server via the communication network. Before a main body of the document is received, the document acceptance server receives from the document transmitting apparatus, compressed data which is acquired by applying one-way cryptographic function, and sets this reception timing as acceptance day/time this document.

Improvements in, or relating to, electronic payment systems

Abstract: The electronic payment system handles financial settlement of transactions, between consumers and merchants, relating to products/services purchased by the consumers from the merchants via an electronic trading medium, such as the Internet, and is supported by a telecommunication architecture adapted to provide a plurality of electronic payment schemes. Each one which is indigenous to a different country and adapted to operate, nationally, as a single-scheme, independently of the other schemes, in accordance with a common set of rules. Each payment scheme has an electronic account, owned and controlled by an operator of the scheme. An inter-scheme conversion and cross-currency exchange facility is provided for the electronic payment schemes which enables merchants subscribing to each of the national schemes to trade with subscribing consumers, irrespective of the payment scheme to which the consumers subscribers, or the consumer's unit of account and currency. Each of the scheme-specific electronic accounts is adapted to receive payments from a subscribing consumer, for products/services purchased from a merchant, in the consumer's currency, and to make corresponding payments to a scheme-specific electronic account, to which said merchant subscribers, in a currency selected by said merchant.

A novel method and system for improved bill payment

Abstract: A bill payment method and system which facilitate consumers to make payment remotely. Consumers (1) is connected to a communication link (3) to the network of a financial institution (6) which has a communication link (3) to a database (4) which assays the balance in the consumer's checking account. The consumer (1) has also a credit card account with the financial institution (6). Upon making a payment, the consumer's checking account is checked for sufficient available funds. If there is an insufficient amount of funds, the consumer's credit card is debited for the necessary amount.

A Payment Scheme Using Vouchers

Abstract: Electronic payment schemes are traditionally based on the physical model of commerce where customers withdraw cash from bank accounts and spend it at merchants' establishments in return for goods and services. This may not be the most ideal model on which to base electronic payment. A new payment scheme using a different paradigm has been developed. Vouchers are prepared by the bank and the merchant. These are distributed to customers who can redeem them for electronic goods with the help of the bank. This new scheme requires fewer online messages to be transmitted than previous payment schemes involving electronic goods such as NetBill and thus also requires less online processing. The voucher scheme also provides some properties desired by payment schemes based on electronic coins.

Distributed payment system for cash-free payment transfers using a purse chip card

Abstract: The invention presented describes a distributed payment system for cash-free payment with purse chip cards using the Net. The system consists of a client system which is, for example, installed at the customer site and a server system which is, for example, installed at the dealer. The client and server systems are connected over the Net, e.g. the Internet. The client system consists of a chip card reader, the software associated with this, a client transaction program and, preferably, a data processing system. The server system consists of a security module, a chip card reader device for the security module, a server transaction program and a client surrogate program which represents the client system and, preferably, a data processing system. The most important advantage of the distributed system is that a payment protocol, independent of any control centre, can be used economically for payment on the Net between the purchaser and dealer as well as for collective billing between the dealer and the purse settlement office. The use of standard components which are currently used in local payment terminals means that an economical design can be reached both in the dealer network nodes (server system) as well as in the purchaser network nodes (client system). Payment using an electronic exchange has the advantage over existing cash-free payment systems in that there is no central control involved in the payment procedure, total settlement calculations are possible, a cryptographically secure protocol is used and anonymous payments are possible.

Will Electronic Money be Adopted in the United States

Abstract: Although the cashless society has been predicted for at least twenty years, the new forms of card-based and software-based electronic money may prove to be a partial alternative to the current forms of payments. This paper examines their possible adoption, primarily in the United States.

A Payment Scheme for Mixes Providing Anonymity

Abstract: Mixes allow the users of electronic data networks to communicate with each other without identifying themselves or uncovering their relationship. Several security applications suggest the usage of mixes. However, such concepts are often not commercially used in practice. One reason may be that providers are only willing to offer anonymous communication if their payment is arranged.

Can the Fed Be a Payment System Innovator

Abstract: We live in a time of rapid technological change, in which the arrival of new ways of conducting business has become a commonplace occurrence. One segment of the economy where these changes are having a particularly significant effect is the payment system, the web of banks and other institutions through which payments for goods and services are cleared and settled. New mechanisms such as smart cards and internet-based electronic money have captured the imagination of many payment system observers and participants. While earlier predictions of the death of paper money have proven premature, the unprecedented pace of technological advance in the last decade has given new hope to the prophets of the electronic age. The Federal Reserve (the Fed) plays a prominent role in the payment system, both as a provider of payment services and as a regulator. The public interest in an economically efficient payment system has been at the core of Fed payment system policy since the Fed's founding in 1914. With new electronic payment mechanisms apparently within grasp, there has been renewed attention to the role of the Fed in the innovative process. A committee headed by Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair Alice Rivlin recently completed a study of the Fed's role in the payment system, which gave special attention to how active a role the Fed should play in guiding payment system innovation.1 Within the Federal Reserve System, electronic check presentment (ECP) is seen as a potentially promising step in the evolution toward electronic payments. With ECP, consumers and businesses continue to make payments with paper checks, but banks and clearinghouses that clear and settle payments use electronic information "captured" from the checks shortly after they are first deposited in the banking system. (See Appendix.) While some ECP services are now available, many important aspects of full-scale implementation are still under discussion. The Fed's role in developing and promoting ECP is clearly aimed at the public interest objective of enhancing payment system efficiency. In what follows, we ask whether the Fed can be a payment system innovator while remaining loyal to its fundamental public interest objective. In particular, how can we ensure that the Fed's payment system leadership contributes to economic efficiency? Our approach to this policy question is founded on the notion that the payment system is a communications industry. Such industries involve substantial common costs-costs that cannot be uniquely attributed to any one user. This cost characteristic has important implications for industry behavior. The critical issue in such industries is how common costs are allocated across users. Markets for communication services (including payment services) tend to be heavily regulated and, in some instances, served by government-owned enterprises, such as the U.S. Postal Service. Concerns about "universal access" often motivate government intervention. Here, universal access is usually interpreted as a concern about the cost of services to a particular class of users: residential phone customers, rural postal patrons, or small and remote depository institutions. Access has been provided through price regulation, as in telecommunications, and by direct government provision, as in the U.S. Postal Service. We show that government involvement in other communications industries offers lessons for the role of the Federal Reserve in the payment system. In both the telecommunications and postal services industries, legal barriers to competition historically have helped sustain the provision of universal access. Barriers to competition allow the shifting of common costs to be pushed to the point where some users are subsidized, in a sense that we will make precise later. Such subsidization is inconsistent with economic efficiency, and would be impossible without barriers to competition. We point out that the Federal Reserve Banks still benefit from some barriers to competition-privileged treatment under current check presentment regulations-that would allow them to subsidize should they choose to do so. …

Sale money circulation system

Abstract: PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently treat sale money stored in a money payment and reception device by using the money payment and reception device which can pay and receive money as a money processor which is installed in a store, etc., and stores sale money and also connecting it with communication network, and transmitting and receiving money payment/reception information between the money payment and reception device and money payment/reception information processing means of various financial institutions and managing the information. SOLUTION: At a convenience store, money is received and stored in the money payment and reception device 10 each time sale money is accumulated to a certain extent. The money payment and reception device 10 sends saved sale amount reception data as money payment/reception information to a money payment/reception information processor 200 of an agency institution 2 at specific time, e.g. once a day. A control part 20 of the money payment/reception information processor 200 saves the received sale amount reception data in a sale money file 21 and sends the data as money payment/reception information to a money payment/reception information processor 400 of a sale money collecting institution 4, e.g. once a day. COPYRIGHT: (C)2000,JPO

Interbank funds transfer systems : liquidity needs, counterparty risks and collateral

Abstract: Over the next few years, we will see a pronounced increase in the speed at which payment transactions are executed and in the share of cross-border transactions, particularly in the euro area. Counterparty risks and liquidity needs connected with the transfer of funds continue to evolve and to provoke discussion.The fact that funds transfers occur and systems operate on a real-time and gross basis will significantly alter the operational character and technical solutions in this field.Systems following a daily timetable are being replaced by continuously operating systems, which will have a significant impact on banks' liquidity management.The trend toward immediate real-time payment transactions seems inevitable in the light of present trends. It is generally presumed that RTGS systems operating on a gross basis require more liquidity than netting systems.Liquidity needs depend on payment system structures and payment flows.An even flow of payments requires less liquidity than an uneven flow.Liquidity needs can be significantly reduced by choosing an appropriate pa yment system structure, taking measures to even out payment flows and agreeing on market practices.The pricing, collateral and reserve requirement policies of the central bank affect also the efficiency of alternative payment systems.Thus the overall efficiency of a gross or net system depends on many factors. Factors arguing for a gross system are differences in counterparty risks, lack of reciprocity, steady interday payment flows and stable liquidity needs, both within and between days.Factors favouring net systems are the existence of small and varying counterparty risks and structurally unsteady payment flows that result in large interday variations in liquidity, even though overnight variations may be moderate. Current, daily-oriented practices have focused on overnight liquidity needs.In a continuously operating enviroment, liquidity needs are continuously monitored across time-period borders.This means that banks' liquidity management will in the future operate under a new and broader time perspective. Significant liquidity needs and large counterparty risks are inherent parts of Finland's present funds-transfer solutions. Liquidity can be freed for other uses and counterparty risks reduced by changing the structures.The necessary changes have been agreed and soon we will see fundamental changes in Finnish payment systems. Key word: payment system settlement, gross settlement, RTGS, payment system counterparty risks, payment system liquidity needs