PH12018050140A1

PH12018050140A1 - System for, method of, and computing apparatus for utilizing an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment

Info

Publication number: PH12018050140A1
Application number: PH12018050140A
Authority: PH
Inventors: Mariano G Sawit; Victor S Barrios
Original assignee: Likecash Asia And The Pacific Corp
Priority date: 2018-03-22
Filing date: 2018-03-22
Publication date: 2019-10-07

Abstract

In one embodiment of the present invention which relates to the financial technology field and to the manner by which money is loaded into and used from a transaction account that can be used for different types of transactions and is accessible using a mobile phone and verifiable in a distributed network such as a Blockchain network, there is disclosed is a system for utilizing an electronic transaction account with a digital asset characterized by a returned value corresponding to a value owed to a consumer by a resource providing entity. The system comprises a resource provider computer for generating a loading request for loading the digital asset to the account belonging to the consumer, a service provider computer for receiving over the communications network the loading request and for processing the loading request resulting in having the transaction account loaded with the digital asset, and a consumer computer interfaced with the transaction account through a computer-executable application loaded and executing thereon. The loading request can further be generated by the service provider computer. The application may be operable to cause the service provider computer to generate and published, over the distributed network, on an unalterable electronic ledger of transaction records transaction records associated with the loading, consumption, further loading, and further consumption requests.

Description

page is displayed through the mobile app 1706, a QR code may be displayed (step 1932) accompanied by mobile number information and the transaction type of “save change” (data block 1934). The QR code may then be showed to the teller in any resource providing entity such as a grocery store, a supermarket, or a pharmaceutical store (step 1936), and the save-change process may be terminated (step 1938).

Referring to Figure 20, there is shown a flow diagram which illustrates an example operation associated with the payment module 1536 in the consumer computer 126 such as smartphone or mobile device 1708 suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the present invention. The mobile app 1706 may be launched in the consumer computer 126 to show the login page (steps 2010, 2012) whereby the consumer 1708 can login to the mobile app 1706 (step 2014) and whereby the mobile app 1706 may be able to process login (step 12016) and subsequently show main page (step 2018). In response, the consumer 1708 may be able to click “payment” button (step 2020).

As a result of the clicking of the “payment” button by the consumer 1708, the mobile app 1706 may be prompted to show “payment” page (step 2022). When the consumer 1708 clicks on the “payment notifications” button (step 2024), the mobile app 1706 may be able to enable viewing of the “notification of latest payment information” or “show more button (or options) below” (step 2026).

When the consumer 1708 clicks the “...more button” step (2028), the mobile app 1706 may be enabled to show the “list of payment

I ————————————————rro provider computer to process the consumption request resulting in having the transaction account deducted with the portion of the at least one digital asset,

In the herein disclosed another method-aspect of the present invention, over the communications network, one or more components of the service provider computer are interfaced with at least one third- party transaction provider in a detachably integratable and transferrable manner such that the computer-executable application loaded and executing on the consumer computer is further operable to enable the service provider computer to provide the third-party transaction provider with access to the transaction account, and such that the third-party transaction provider is operable to enable generation of any of a further loading request and further consumption request, the further loading and consumption requests being processable by the service provider computer to have the transaction account, respectively, loaded with at least one further digital asset and deducted with at least one of the portion of the at least one digital asset and at least a portion of the at least one further digital asset, and

In the herein disclosed another method-aspect of the present invention, the service provider computer is configured to generate a set of loading transaction records based on the loading request, a set of consumption transaction records based on the consumption request, a set of further loading transaction records based on the further request, a set of further consumption transaction records based on the further consumption request, and consequently causing the sets of loading,

SYSTEM FOR, METHOD OF, AND COMPUTING APPARATUS FOR

UTILIZING AN ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION ACCOUNT IN A DIGITAL

ASSET MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT

Technical Field

The present invention generally relates to electronically managing of digital assets with a value corresponding to physical currencies in the financial technology (“fintech”) field and, more specifically, to arrangements by which an electronic transaction account is utilized when loaded with a digital asset in such as digital asset management environment.

Background Art

A considerable number of technical issues normally arise when consumers carry with them a substantial amount of cash for use in conducting several kinds of transactions including, by way of examples, bills payments, over-the-counter payments for goods purchased and/or services availed, and settlement of credits with various financial institutions. These are few situations wherein carrying of cash and performing cash-based transactions become cumbersome for all the entities concerned including mainly the resource providing entity providing the goods and/or services and the consumers availing the same.

For most, if not all, of the consumers in the present digital age, it becomes a difficult challenge to overcome to carry with them cash whenever they wish to buy a product or service in one instance, not to mention the even more difficult challenge when they are being required by resource provide them with exact amounts of cash during the performance of cash-based transactions. The latter case is not only time-consuming on the part of the consumers but also a real hassle on the part of the resource providing entities when the consumers have no exact amounts to tender to the resource providing entities during transactions such as the most common payment transactions.

Each moment that a consumer is constrained to provide an exact amount of cash to settle a transaction value in a grocery store in one instance and all he has is physical money with rather high value, the cashier personnel returns to the consumer a change or “sukli” in

Filipino. This adds additional burden for the consumer, as he is required to carry additional physical money either in the form of paper bills, coins, or combinations thereof. The inconvenience on the part of the consumer cannot be dismissed in this scenario because most consumers have tendencies to accumulate physical monies given to them as “change.” The accumulated money can be unmanageable.

The resource providing entities such as the aforementioned grocery stores are likewise not excused from the inconveniences brought about by the need to issue changes from time to time. In order to maintain speedy lines of consumers and transactions in grocery stores for example, the grocery stores are required to manage well their respective cash registers such that these cash registers holds amounts of cash sufficient to issue changes they owe to consumers for overpayments of consumers. The grocery stores, in this scenario, also have to ensure that their respective cash registers contain a variety of bills and coins with various values—usually smaller values—so that they can issue changes to consumers with dispatch during transactions.

Sivanarayana Gaddam, et al. addressed the aforementioned issues in its technical solutions disclosed in United States Patent

Publication No. 20170372417 which was published on December 28, 2017 and which discloses systems and methods which involve receiving, by a service provider computer a request for a digital asset corresponding to an amount owed to a consumer for a transaction conducted between the consumer and a resource provider associated with a resource provider computer; generating, by the service provider computer, the digital asset corresponding to the amount; determining, by the service provider computer, a digital asset identifier associated with the digital asset, wherein the digital asset identifier is eventually provided to a computing device of the consumer; receiving, by the service provider computer, the digital asset identifier from the computing device of the consumer; sending, by the service provider computer to a financial institution computer associated with the resource provider, a request to update an unalterable electronic ledger of transactions managed by the financial institution computer, wherein the financial institution computer updates the unalterable electronic ledger of transactions to indicate the transfer of the digital asset from a digital asset account of the resource provider to a digital asset account of the consumer.

In the above-referenced prior publication for digital asset account management, the transaction is a first transaction, the resource provider is a first resource provider, the resource provider computer is a first resource provider computer, the financial institution computer is a first financial institution computer, the unalterable electronic ledger of transactions is a first unalterable electronic ledger of transactions, and wherein the prior systems and method further involve: receiving, by the service provider computer from the computing device of the consumer, a request to pay for a second transaction using the digital asset, where the second transaction is conducted between the consumer and a second resource provider; generating, by the service provider computer, a token associated with the digital asset; sending, by the service provider computer, the token to the computing device; receiving, by the service provider computer, the token provided by the consumer using their computing device; sending, by the service provider computer to a second financial institution computer associated with the second resource provider, a request to update a second unalterable electronic ledger of transactions managed by the second financial institution computer, wherein the second financial institution computer updates the second unalterable electronic ledger of transactions to indicate the transfer of the digital asset from the digital asset account of the consumer to a digital asset account of the second resource provider.

The technical problem associated with the entire disclosure, however, is that its corresponding implementations are limited to the involvement of financial institution in the process of updating the unalterable electronic ledger of transactions managed by the same institution.

In view of the foregoing, there remains a long outstanding need for computer-related arrangements by which an electronic transaction account is utilized when loaded with a digital asset in such as digital asset management environment and which the digital asset loaded in the transaction can be consumed with an expanded coverage and in a verifiable manner.

Summary of the Invention

The invention generally relates to the financial technology field and specifically to the manner by which money is loaded into and used from a transaction account that can be used for different types of transactions and is accessible using a mobile phone and verifiable in a distributed network such as a Blockchain network

In one embodiment of the invention, disclosed is a system for utilizing an electronic transaction account with a digital asset characterized by a returned value corresponding to a value owed to a consumer by a resource providing entity. The system is preferably computer-based and comprises a resource provider computer belonging to the resource providing entity for generating a loading request for loading the digital asset to the transaction account belonging to the consumer, a service provider computer for receiving over the communications network the loading request and for processing the loading request resulting in having the transaction account loaded with the digital asset, and a consumer computer operative to communicate over the communications network with the service provider computer and interfaced with the transaction account through a computer-executable application loaded and executing thereon. The computer-executable application may be operable to cause the service provider computer to generate and published, over a distributed network, on an unalterable electronic ledger of transaction records transaction records associated with the loading request.

Further, the computer-executable application loaded and executing on the consumer computer may be operable to cause the consumer computer to communicate over the communications network with the service provider computer, to cause the service provider computer to generate a consumption request for consuming at least a portion of the digital asset, and to cause the service provider computer to process the consumption request resulting in having the transaction account deducted with the portion of the digital asset. The loading request can further be generated by the service provider computer.

Further one or more components of the service provider computer may be interfaced, over the communications network, with a third-party transaction provider in a detachably integratable and transferrable manner such that the computer-executable application loaded and executing on the consumer computer is further operable to enable the service provider computer to provide the third-party transaction provider with access to the transaction account, and such that the third-party transaction provider is operable to enable generation of any of a further loading request and further consumption request, wherein the further loading and consumption requests are processable by the service provider computer to have the transaction account, respectively, loaded with a further digital asset and deducted with at least one of the portion of the digital asset and at least a portion of the further digital asset.

Further, the service provider computer is preferably configured to generate a set of loading transaction records based on the loading request, a set of consumption transaction records based on the consumption request, a set of further loading transaction records based on the further request, a set of further consumption transaction records based on the further consumption request, and consequently causing the sets of loading, consumption, further loading, and further consumption transaction records to be published, over the distributed network such as the Blockchain network, on an unalterable electronic ledger of transaction records or public record keeping system.

The herein arrangements of one or more embodiments of the invention ensures that the electronic transaction account, which can be utilized for consumption when loaded with a digital asset in such a digital asset management environment, is provided with a digital asset that can be consumed with an expanded coverage and at the same time in a verifiable manner through the unalterable electronic ledger of transaction records published on the distributed network.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be performed, preferred embodiments and/or implementations thereof will now be described, by way of non-limiting examples only, with reference to the accompanying drawings and/or illustrations of the present disclosures.

Brief Description of the Several Views of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operation of a method of implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 3 is a flow diagram illustrating another exemplary operation of a method of implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating yet another exemplary operation of a method of implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary computer- based architecture for using unique identifiers in implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 6 is a detailed block diagram illustrating exemplary components of the system for utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components of a electronic ledger of transaction records located in a distributed network which can be used for utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an example verification process suitable for use in one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an example risk management process suitable for use in one or more aspects of the invention.

Figures 10 and 11 are high level block diagrams collectively illustrating an exemplary process for generating and an exemplary process for decrypting a uniquely encrypted message, respectively, suitable for use in one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 12 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components of a payment network suitable for use in utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary information associated with verification and authentication processes suitable for use in utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 14 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware configuration of a server computer system suitable for use in utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 15 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary computer- based modules of a service provider computer acting as a server computer system suitable for use in utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 16 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware configuration of a resource provider computer or a consumer computer suitable for use in utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention.

Figure 17 is a flow diagram illustrating an example operation associated with a login module suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the invention.

Figure 18 is a flow diagram illustrating an example operation associated with a registration module suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the invention.

Figure 19 is a flow diagram illustrating an example operation associated with a save-change module in a consumer computer such as smartphone or mobile device suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the invention.

Figure 20 is a flow diagram illustrating an example operation associated with a payment module in a consumer computer such as smartphone or mobile device suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the invention.

Figure 21 is a flow diagram illustrating an example operation associated with a save-change module in a resource provider computer such as a point-of-sale (POS) terminal suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the invention.

Figure 22 is a flow diagram illustrating an example operation associated with a payment module in a resource provider computer such as a point-of-sale (POS) terminal suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the invention.

Figure 23 is a flow diagram illustrating an example operation associated with an add-change module in a resource provider computer such as a point-of-sale (POS) terminal suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the invention.

Figure 24 is a flow diagram illustrating an example bills payment operation implementable in conjunction with a third party transaction provider such as a bills payment transaction provider suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the invention.

Figure 25 is a flow diagram illustrating an example operation associated with a promotions module in a consumer computer such as smartphone or mobile device suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the invention.

Figures 26-29 are flow diagrams illustrating example operations associated with a remittance module suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the invention.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments

In the following description, numerous specific details such as components, method-steps or process-steps, elements, features, and techniques, are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the ensuing disclosures and how they may be practiced in particular embodiments. However, it will be appreciated by a person skilled or having ordinary skills in the art to which the present invention belongs that the present disclosures may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features, characteristics, methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of the ensuing disclosures.

References to “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “exemplary embodiment,” “example embodiment,” “various embodiments,” and so forth indicate that the embodiment(s) of the present disclosure so described may include a particular feature, characteristic, method, structure, or technique, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, characteristic, method, structure, or technique.

Further, repeated use of these phrases relating to one or more embodiments of the present invention do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although they may.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the term “entity” may refer to, by way of examples and not by way of limitation, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, a physical object such as document or a painting, a digital object such as an electronic database or any similar data storage structure, a human, a microscopic organism, a genetic sequence, a physical structure in an environment such as a research facility or a hospital structure, an animal such as a lion or a dog, a plant such as a bamboo, a tangible asset such as a car, a physical characterization of a tangible asset such as a Transfer Certificate Title or a Condominium Certificate of Title, a physical characterization of an intangible asset such as a Certificate of

Letters Patent, a Certificate of Trademark Registration or an insurance policy and related contractual agreements, and a celestial body such as a satellite or a spacecraft. It is to be understood and appreciated that anything in the universe whose authenticity is feasibly verifiable, and/or worth verifying, mostly due to its economic, social, moral and/or legal related values, or otherwise, may be referred to as the “entity” in the ensuing disclosures of one or more aspects of the present invention.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “resource providing entity” may be an entity that may make one or more resources available to a consumer. A resource providing entity may also be known as a resource providing entity. Examples of resource providing entities include distributors, merchants, vendors, suppliers, owners, traders, and the like. In some embodiments, such entities may be a single individual, small groups of individuals, or larger groups of individuals (e.g., companies). Resource providing entities may be associated with one or more physical locations (e.g., supermarkets, malls, stores, etc.) and online platforms (e.g., e- commerce websites, online companies, etc.). At the physical locations, the resource providing entity may host an access device. In some embodiments, resource providing entities may make available physical items (e.g., goods, products, appliances, etc.) to the user. In other embodiments, resource providing entities may make available digital resources (e.g., electronic documents, electronic files, etc.) or time

(e.g., rental time, use time, etc.) to the user. In other embodiments, resource providing entities may manage access to certain resources by the consumer.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “transaction record” may refer to any form of markings that can be placed upon any entity. The transaction record may be visually perceptible (e.g., by using markings which are visible by unaided human eyes or by humans eyes aided by standard corrective lenses), tactilely perceptible (e.g., by using tactilely or touchably perceptible embossment-like structure, gripping-like structure, raised formation-like structure, or the like), readable by machine (e.g., by using barcode, quick-response code, or the like), and/or any one or more suitable combinations thereof. The transaction record may alternatively be the entire document itself, or may come with any security marking, or any security feature appended thereto. The herein disclosed transaction record may be an image feature data, either directly taken using an image capturing apparatus such as a stand-alone camera unit or a device-mounted camera unit (e.g., mobile phone mounted camera unit) or indirectly taken using a video recording apparatus. These image feature data which may be extracted from one or more portions/regions of any entity may include, but are certainly not limited to, color histogram, shape identification, pattern identification, texture identification, dominant color identification, and/or orientation histogram corresponding to an image of the entity, or any other physical characteristic that is descriptive of the entity in part or as a whole. The transaction record may be viewable on a display screen of the herein disclosed consumer computer through, for example, a downloadable and installable mobile-based application loaded and executing thereon.

The herein disclosed server computer system may perform extraction of any one or more of these example image feature data using technologies which are well known and/or are being practiced in the art, such as those which are disclosed in United States Patent No. 7657100 entitled “System and method for enabling image recognition and searching of images and published on 2 February 2010 to

Like.com, and in United States Patent Publication No. 20140056487 entitled “Image processing device and image processing method” and published on 27 February 2014 to Fujitsu Limited, the full content of each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and for all purposes.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “set of unique identifiers” may refer to a string or multiple strings of letters, a string or multiple strings of numbers, a string or multiple strings of alphanumeric characters, a string or multiple strings of alphanumeric codes in any format or language, or the like. These strings of values may be generic attribute values which can be used to identify, verify, track, trace, and/or authenticate an entity. Forming of the set of unique identifiers on the entity, or on any one or more portions thereof, may be machine or apparatus assisted.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “electronic ledger of transaction records” may refer to a public record keeping system which may include combinations of hardware and software systems which provide distributed data structure in a decentralized computing framework and which support various computational functions which may include distributing computational tasks such as validating transaction ownership, verification of authenticity of an entity, and managing transaction risk from one or more computer systems to one or more other computer systems in a distributed network.

These computer systems in the distributed record keeping system may also be characterized by a peer-to-peer network of computers or computer systems.

Public, private, or a hybrid of public and private record keeping systems included in the distributed record keeping system may include blocks containing data which may be represented by encryptions and/or encrypted messages, linking data which are arranged to link a current block to a previous block in a chain of the blocks provided with encryptions and/or encrypted messages, data recording and tracking system for ensuring validity of the transactions, which may include the encryption, performed through the chain of the blocks with proof of work data.

Cryptography, such as by way of implementing digital signatures, may be used to protect the computational environment which characterizes the distributed record keeping system and to provide the distributed record keeping system with audit logs that are verifiable, sealable and/or redactable.

By way of encrypting electronic records using such digital signatures which may include the step of convolving the encryptions and/or encrypted messages with known keys, the chronological order of the blocks in the chain can be identifiable and traceable without complexities in operation, and integrity of the data associated with any uniquely encrypted message and/or any verification-related messages can be arranged such that they are independently verifiable by each node in the distributed network on which the distributed record keeping system resides.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “ledger of transactions” may refer to a compilation of data from previous transactions. The ledger of transactions may be a database or other comparable file structure that may be configured to store data from all previous transactions performed using a digital currency, including the date and time of the transaction, the transaction amount, and identification information for the participants of the transaction (e.g., the sender and the receiver of the transaction amount). In some embodiments, the ledger of transactions may be in the form of an electronic ledger (e.g., block chain) in which data already stored in the electronic ledger is unalterable. In some embodiments, each node within a cryptocurrency payment network may store their own copy of the ledger of transactions. In other embodiments, only some nodes may store their own copy of the ledger of transactions.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “cryptocurrency payment network” may refer to one or more server computers that function to operate and maintain a cryptocurrency system. The cryptocurrency payment network may function to facilitate the generation/issuance and distribution of digital currency between

SYSTEM FOR, METHOD OF, AND COMPUTING APPARATUS FOR

UTILIZING AN ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION ACCOUNT IN A DIGITAL

ASSET MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT

Abstract of the Disclosure

devices within the cryptocurrency payment network. The cryptocurrency payment network may also function to enable the performance of transactions between devices for the transfer or goods/services and/or the transfer of funds. The cryptocurrency payment network may operate nodes that manage a ledger of transactions which may include different data types.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “digital currency” may refer to units of value that may be used as a form of payment for transactions, including financial transactions.

Digital currency may be currency that is electronically generated by and stored within a user computing device. Digital currency may be purchased using conventional forms of currency (e.g., fiat currency) and generated with a specific value. Typically, the digital currency may not have a physical form of tender but may be accessible through a user computing device (e.g., mobile device) using a software application such as a digital wallet or mobile application. A type of digital currency may be cryptocurrency, which utilizes cryptographic methods for verification.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “digital asset” may refer to digital content associated with a value. In some cases, the digital asset may also indicate a right to use the value and other attributes associated with the digital asset. For example, a digital asset may be data that indicates a fiat money value or a digital currency value such as a cryptocurrency value. The digital asset may also indicate a plurality of digital asset attributes, such as a bank identification number (BIN) identifier, a digital asset identifier, a timestamp, an acquirer public key, a resource provider identifier, and resource provider location. In other embodiments, the digital asset may correspond to other non-currency values, such as access privileges data (e.g., number of authorized usages) and time limit data.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the term “node” may be a stand-alone device, a distributed device, a remotely operable device, or a cluster of distributed and decentralized devices.

The node may be made operable to perform computations and as well as acquisitions of data from and/or transmission of data to another computing devices such as server devices, transaction devices, and other hardware components. The node may be or may include a micro- controller, a single central processing unit (CPU), a plurality of processing units, a digital signal processor (DSP), a single computing system, or a cluster of computing systems. The node may include a communication module that communicates with wired or wireless data and/or radio communication networks. The node may be operated by each participating entity in the distributed network. The participating entity operating the node may be any entity as defined herein.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms, the terms “issuer node” may be a device or module that enables management of the creation and issuance of digital assets. In some embodiments, the issuer node may be operated by a financial institution computer corresponding to a resource providing entity or by the service provider computer corresponding to the service providing entity, which may utilize the issuer node to generate one or more digital assets based on one or more transactions as disclosed herein.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “manager node” may be a device or module that enables management of digital assets assigned to and utilized by consumers using their respective consumer computers. In some embodiments, the manager node may be operated by a financial institution computer or by a service provider computer, which may submit data to the manager node to update ledgers of transactions in the cryptocurrency payment network, in the distributed network of other types, or in both of them.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “digital signature” may refer to an electronic signature for a message.

In some embodiments, the digital signature may be used to validate the authenticity of a transaction message sent within a cryptocurrency payment network or, alternatively, a distributed network such as a

Blockchain network. A digital signature may be a unique value generated from a message and a private key using an encrypting algorithm. In some embodiments, a verification algorithm using a public key may be used to verify the signature. The digital signature may be a numeric value, an alphanumeric value, or any other type of data including a graphical representation thereof.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the term “key” may refer to a piece of data or information used for an algorithm.

A key may be a unique piece of data and is typically part of a key pair where a first key may be used to encrypt a message, while a second key may be used to decrypt the encrypted message. The key may be a numeric or alphanumeric value and may be generated using an algorithm. A management system server computer in a cryptocurrency payment network or any suitable distributed network such as a

Blockchain-based network may generate and assign a unique key pair for each node in the cryptocurrency payment network or in the distributed network like the Blockchain network.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “key pair” may include a pair of encryption keys, such as a public key and a corresponding private key. The key pair may be used by nodes and/or payment entities to conduct transactions in the cryptocurrency payment network. The key pair may be generated by a server computer associated with the cryptocurrency payment network or with any suitable distributed network such as the Blockchain-based network or may be generated by a financial institution server computer or a service provider computer for a payment entity when an account with the financial institution server computer or when an account with the service provider entity is created, respectively. The public key may be distributed throughout the cryptocurrency payment network or any suitable distributed network such as the Blockchain-based network in order to allow for authentication of payment transaction messages signed using the corresponding private key for the security and verification purposes.

As may be used herein, the terms “biometric information” may refer to any information which are related to human characteristics.

These biometric information may be derived from any single-modal or multi-modal biometric identification or sensing mechanisms which may involve use of camera, microphone, or other devices of the same nature or general characteristics. A biometric sensor in one instance, may include, by way of examples and not by way of limitation, face sensors for facial attribute recognition, speech sensors for speech recognition, optical measurement based sensors for iris pattern recognition, corneal pattern recognition and retinal scan, and as well as fingerprint sensors for fingerprint scan. The biometric sensor may also include palm sensors for palm vein pattern recognition, hand sensors for hand geometry recognition, and handwriting sensors for signature recognition. It is to be understood and appreciated that biometric measurements of any of other body features of a user may also be utilized in the herein disclosed one or more aspects of the present invention. The biometric information captured by these and such other related sensors may generally correspond to the identifying characteristics of the individual human users. Put differently, these characteristics can be utilized to identify, verify and/or authenticate identity and/or personal information of individual human users. Any one or suitable combinations of the aforementioned biometric information and/or captured biometric keys associated with these information, in part, or as a whole, or in conjunction with any of the herein disclosed indicia identifier and unique identifiers, may be utilized in one or more aspects of the present invention.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “communications network” may refer to any number of communication systems which may include a plurality of the transaction devices, a plurality of the server devices or systems, and a plurality of the nodes preferably adapted for wireless communications with one another. For example, the data communications network may refer to any number of data communications systems including one or more of the following communications networks and/or frameworks: a public or private data network, a hybrid public and private data network, a wired or wireless data network, an IP (Internet Protocol) framework, a WLAN (wireless local area network), a WWAN (wireless wide area network), a GAN (global area network), a MAN (metropolitan area network), an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network of any generation, a mobile WiMax (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) network, an enterprise intranet, the like, and/or, where feasible, any one or more suitable combinations thereof.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “transaction identifier generator,” consistent with one or more aspect of the present invention, may be a plain computer program loaded and executing on any of the herein disclosed consumer computer and service provider computer, or may be any of a 2D (two-dimensional) printing apparatus, a 3D (three-dimensional) printing apparatus, a laser processing apparatus, an ultra violet laser transaction identifier generator, a plasma processing apparatus, a label applying apparatus, an etching apparatus, a stamping apparatus, a pad printing apparatus, a microdot transaction identifier generator, a chemical based transaction identifier generator, a nanotechnology-based transaction identifier generator, a DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) forensic transaction identifier generator, and a biometric information based transaction identifier generator, depending on the nature resource providing entity providing proof of successful transaction such as the well-known official receipt or invoice.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “server computer system” may refer to a collection of one or more hardware, software, combinations of hardware and software, or firmware components, and may be used to refer to an electronic computing device or devices, or one or more subsystems thereof, within which one or more sets of computer-executable instructions, which are tangibly embodied in one or more machine-readable media, may be executed by the hardware components in order to perform arithmetic operations, logical operations, timing operations, and specialized functions applicable to specific task objects and consequently produce control outputs and/or control signals associated with the present invention in accordance with one or more implementations and/or embodiments thereof.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “service provider computer” may refer to the herein disclosed “server computer system” and/or may specifically include a powerful computer or cluster of computers. For example, the server computer can be a large mainframe, a minicomputer cluster, or a group of servers functioning as a unit. In one example, the server computer may be a database server computer system coupled to a web server computer system. The server computer, as may be distinguished from the above- referenced and defined server computer system, may be coupled to a database and may include any hardware, software, other logic, or combination of the preceding for servicing the requests from one or more consumer computers. The server computer may comprise one or more computational apparatuses and may use any of a variety of computing structures, arrangements, and compilations for servicing the requests from one or more consumer computers belonging to consumers.

As may be used herein, the terms “computer-executable application” may generally refer to “software application” which may specifically refer to, or include as the case may be, emulated application or applet, to a web-based applications, or to a mobile-based application, and may specifically refer to an executable computer software program or software application program that enables services and content associated with one or more implementations of the herein disclosed method of implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment. The application may be a mobile app or any other application that is executable via any one or more of client-side devices including a resource provider computer or a consumer computer, via a server, or via a network of computers. The program or programs which may constitute the application may be a self-contained software or is a component of or contained by another program or programs, any of which may be implemented by one or more hardware, software,

firmware and/or cloud computing or cloud related computing resources comprising one or more infrastructure stacks and one or more infrastructure components such as the well-known application servers, file servers, domain name system (DNS) servers, directory servers, web servers, network servers, group servers, database servers, and the like.

As may be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “consumer computer” may refer to a wireless mobile or non-mobile data communication device such as a mobile phone, a smart-phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a tablet device, a phablet device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, and the like. The resource provider computer or the consumer computer may be connected to the herein disclosed communications network and may access the herein disclosed server computer system for performing various operations such as those which are associated with verification of authenticity of the transaction record. The resource provider computer or the consumer computer may be used by a human client to gain access to the herein disclosed authenticity verification services of the present invention.

As may further be used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “connected to,” “connecting,” “communicating,” “in communication with,” “in operative communication with,” “interconnected,” or “interconnecting” may include direct connection/communication, indirect connection/communication and/or inferred connection/communication between devices/ apparatuses/computers. The direct connection/communication may be provided through one or more hardware, software, firmware, electronic and/or electrical links between devices/apparatuses. The indirect connection/communication may be provided through an intervening member such as a component, an element, a circuit, a module, a device, a node device, and an apparatus between or among devices/apparatuses. The inferred connection/ communication, as may be used herein, may be characterized by one device/apparatus being connected to or in operative communication with another device/apparatus by inference, and may include direct and indirect connections/communications.

All the ensuing disclosures and illustrations of the preferred implementations and/or embodiments of one or more aspects of the present invention, along with one or more components, features or elements thereof, are merely representative for the purpose of sufficiently describing the manner by which the present invention may be carried out into practice in various ways other than the ones outlined in the ensuing description.

It is to be understood and appreciated, however, that the exemplary implementations used to describe how to make and use the one or more aspects of the present invention may be embodied in many alternative forms and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the appended claims in any manner, absent express recitation of those features in the appended claims. All the exemplary drawings, diagrams and illustrations accompanying the ensuing description should also not be construed as limiting the scope of the appended claims in any manner.

It is also to be understood and appreciated that the use of ordinal terms such as “first” and “second” is used herein to distinguish elements, features, components, calculations or steps from one another and should not also be construed as limiting the scope of the appended claims, and that these and such other ordinal terms that may appear in the ensuing description of the one or more aspects of the present invention are not indicative of any particular order of elements, features, calculations, components or steps to which they are attached.

For example, a first element could be termed a second element.

Similarly, a second element could be termed a first element. All these do not depart from the scope of the herein disclosure and its accompanying claims.

Unless the context clearly and explicitly indicates otherwise, it is also to be understood that like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the ensuing description of the figures and/or drawings of the present disclosure, that the linking term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items, that the singular terms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to also include the plural forms, and that some varying terms or terminologies of the same meaning and objective may be interchangeably used throughout the ensuing disclosure.

Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a block diagram which illustrates a system for utilizing an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment of the present invention. The system aspect of the present invention is generally designated by reference numeral 100 throughout the ensuing description and/or illustration of the present disclosure. The present invention generally relates to the financial technology field and specifically to the manner by which money, which is construed herein as digital asset, is loaded into and used from a transaction account that can be used for different types of transactions and is accessible using a mobile phone and verifiable in a distributed network 124 such as a Blockchain network.

In the herein disclosed digital asset management environment, the computer-based system 100 for utilizing the electronic transaction account loaded with at least one digital asset characterized by a returned value corresponding to a value owed to a consumer by a resource providing entity and resulting from a transaction between the consumer and the resource providing entity, for example, in a grocery store where the consumer purchases a product from the resource providing entity, wherein the product has a price or monetary value.

The system 100 mainly includes a resource provider computer 102 in operative communication with a service provider computer or, alternatively, a “server computer system” 104 over a communications network 106 such as the Internet.

The resource provider computer 102 belonging to the resource providing entity is preferably arranged to generate based on the transaction a loading request for loading the digital asset to the transaction account belonging to the consumer. The loading request come with a unique transaction identifier 108 and may include, by way of examples and not by way of limitation, digital reproduction of at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 from which at least one transaction record may be derived, and as well as an electronic file 110 of the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 and associated with the loading request, wherein the electronic file 110 associated with the loading request, among other related information, may be delivered from the resource provider computer 102 to the service provider computer 104 over the communications network 106. The loading request can further be generated by the service provider computer 104 wherein the electronic file 110 associated with the loading request, among other related information, may be delivered from the service provider computer 104 to the resource provider computer 102 over the communications network 106.

The service provider computer 104 may be arranged for maintaining the transaction account, for receiving over the communications network 106 the loading request, and for processing the loading request. The processed loading request may result in having the transaction account loaded with the digital asset owed to the consumer in the form of “change” in the transaction such as the herein illustrated purchase transaction. The loading request can further be generated by the service provider computer 104.

Further, the service provider computer 104, once it receives the loading request from the resource provider computer 102 is preferably configured to: (i) extract from the electronic file 110 associated with the loading request the set of unique identifiers 108; (ii) associate the extracted set of unique identifiers or “UID” 108-c to the transaction belonging to the consumer thereby creating an electronic transaction record 112 associated with the unique transaction identifier 108; and (iii) store in a memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 having the associated set of unique identifiers 108-c constituting the transaction identifier 108.

The service provider computer 104 may be further arranged and/or configured to: (iv) encrypt the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 using a public key 116 associated with the resource provider computer 102 and a digital signature including a private key 118 associated with the resource provider computer 102 to generate a uniquely encrypted message or “UEM” 108-e carrying the associated set of unique identifiers 108-c and other related information 108-g; (v) publish, over the communications network 106, the uniquely encrypted message 108-e to a chain of data on a electronic ledger of transaction records 120 residing in one or more nodes 122 in the distributed network 124 using at least one distributed network protocol; and (vi) subsequently send, over the communications network 106, to the resource provider computer 102 the set of unique identifiers 108-c. In one or more embodiments, the digital signature may be verifiable using a public key associated with the resource provider computer 102. In some embodiments, the service provider computer 104 is directly connected to the distributed network 124 maintaining the electronic ledger of transactions through any suitable interfaces which are well known in the art.

The system 100 may also include a transaction identifier generator 125 that may be operatively coupled to the service provider computer 104 through any appropriate communication bus and/or circuitries 132. Alternatively, or in addition, the transaction identifier generator may be operative coupled to the resource provider computer 102 belonging to the resource providing entity as may be discussed in the ensuing disclosure of the present invention. The transaction identifier generator 125 is preferably arranged to form the set of unique identifiers 108-c associated with the unique transaction identifier 108.

The system 100 may also include a consumer computer 126 accessing the service provider computer 104 over the communications network 106. The consumer computer 126, which belongs to the consumer, may be operative to communicate over the communications network 106 with the service provider computer 104, and further be interfaced with the transaction account through a computer-executable application loaded and executing thereon (i.e., on the service provider computer 104. By means of which, a consumer who is operating the consumer computer 126 is mainly enabled to transact with the resource providing entity operating the resource provider computer 102 using the transaction account dedicated to him or her, and is specifically enabled to verify whether any electronic transaction record 112, of his or her own or of others, is authentic relative to the unique transaction identifier 108 as a point of reference or reference point.

Consistent with one or more aspects and/or embodiments of the present invention, the computer-executable application, which may be a mobile-based application or “mobile app” loadably installed and executing on the execution environment of the consumer computer 126, is operable to cause the consumer computer 130 to communicate over the communications network 106 with the service provider computer 104, to cause the service provider computer 104 to generate a consumption request for consuming at least a portion of the digital asset, and to cause the service provider computer 104 to process the consumption request resulting in having the transaction account deducted with the portion of the digital asset.

In one embodiment, the service provider computer 104 may be further arranged and/or configured to: (i) accept from the consumer computer 126 a set of unique identifiers of interest associated with any transaction of interest; and (ii) determine whether the set of unique identifiers of interest and the transaction account used in the generation of the transaction of interest are associated with one another and exist in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104.

Consequently, the service provider computer 104 can be further arranged and/or configured to: (iii) if the set of unique identifiers of interest and the transaction account of interest are associated with one another and exist in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104, fetch from the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 the electronic record 112 with the unique transaction identifier 108 corresponding to the associated set of unique identifiers of interest and the transaction account of interest existing in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104. Any one or more of the tasks or service requests in the service provider computer 104, including the fetching step for example, may be executed by a processor 128 from the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104.

Accordingly, the service provider computer 104 can be further arranged and/or configured to: (iv) communicate, over the communications network 106, with the distributed network 124 using the at least one distributed network protocol; and (v) identify, as one of the one or more nodes 122 in the distributed network 124, whether the set of unique identifiers of interest carried by the uniquely encrypted message 108-e is published to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 by decrypting the uniquely : encrypted message 108-e associated with the fetched electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 using the public key 116 associated with the resource provider computer 102 which causes creation of the fetched electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104, consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention.

Accordingly, the service provider computer 104 can be further arranged and/or configured to: (vi) if the at least set of unique identifiers of interest is recorded in the chain of data, acquire from the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 in whole or in part the electronic file 110 of the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 based on the associated set of the unique identifiers of interest and transaction account; and (vii) transmit, over the communications network 106, to the consumer computer 126 the acquired electronic file 110 of the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108.

In one embodiment, the consumer computer 126 which may be operated by a human user may be arranged and/or configured to: (i) receive, over the communications network 106, the transmitted digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 associated with acquired electronic file 110 from the service provider computer 104; and (ii) output on an output unit 130, such as a display screen, of the consumer computer 126 the received digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108.

Consistent with one or more aspects and/or embodiments of the present invention, one or more components of the service provider computer 104 are interfaced, over the communications network 106 with at least one third-party transaction provider 134 in a detachably integratable and transferrable manner such that the computer- executable application loaded and executing on the consumer computer 126 is further operable to enable the service provider computer 104 to provide the third-party transaction provider 134 with access to the transaction account, and such that the third-party transaction provider 134 is operable to enable generation of any of a further loading request and further consumption request, the further loading and consumption requests being processable by the service provider computer 104 to have the transaction account, respectively, loaded with at least one further digital asset and deducted with at least one of the portion of the digital asset and at least a portion of the further digital asset.

In one embodiment, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the electronic file 110 of the digital reproduction of the unique transaction identifier 108 may also be provided with the set of unique identifiers 108-c. Specifically, the set of unique identifiers 108-c may be provided on any portion of the digital reproduction of the unique transaction identifier 108. The digital reproduction of the unique transaction identifier 108 with the set of unique identifiers 108-c provided thereon may be stored in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104.

In various embodiments, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, where applicable, the service provider computer 104 may be arranged to generate a printable digital certification containing statements to the effect that the authenticated copy of the unique transaction identifier 108 has been stored in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104, to the effect that the uniquely encrypted message 108-e associated with the unique transaction identifier 108 of verifiably authenticable character has been published to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 residing in the one or more nodes 122 in the distributed network 124, and/or to the effect that the chain of evidence of valid ownership and/or authenticated originality of the unique transaction identifier 108 is verifiable via the distributed network 124 which may be a Blockchain network using any suitable protocol. Given that this kind of certification, which may include a digital certified true copy of the unique transaction identifier 108, can be generated by the service provider computer 104 and provided to any requesting computer in an on-demand manner, an anti-collusion instrument in respect of the valid facts pertaining to the unique transaction identifier 108 is permanently created.

Consistent with one or more aspects and/or embodiments of the present invention, the service provider computer 104 is configured to generate a set of loading transaction records based on the loading request, a set of consumption transaction records based on the consumption request, a set of further loading transaction records based on the further request, a set of further consumption transaction records based on the further consumption request, and consequently causing the sets of loading, consumption, further loading, and further consumption transaction records to be published, over at least one distributed network 124, on an at least one unalterable electronic ledger of transaction records 120 in different nodes 122.

In some embodiments, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the set of unique identifiers 108-c is already available for selection from a pool of sets of unique identifiers 108-c which are pre-stored in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 before the electronic file 110 of the digital reproduction of the unique transaction identifier 108 is received by the service provider computer 104, before the associating of the set of unique identifiers 108-c to the extracted set of unique identifiers 108-a is initiated, and/or before the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 is created.

Accordingly, the availability of the set of unique identifiers 108-c for selection from the pool of sets of unique identifiers 108-c before executing these procedures effectively ensures that cycle latency in executing these procedures is zero or, where the occurrence of cycle latency cannot be prevented, is substantially reduced to a negligible level, and causes the chain of evidence to be of provable character from the point of inception characterized by the delivering of the digital reproduction of the unique transaction identifier 108 from the resource provider computer 102 to the service provider computer 104 over the communications network 106 up to the point of forming the set of unique identifiers 108-c on the unique transaction identifier 108 and/or up to the point of publishing the uniquely encrypted message 108-e containing the set of unique identifiers 106-c to the chain of data on the publicly distributed electronic ledger of transaction records 120 in the distributed network 124 which may be a decentralized network like

Blockchain network. The distributed network 124 is preferably a decentralized computational network that is characterized by a distributed peer-to-peer protocol and other related protocols.

In one or more embodiments, the unalterable electronic ledger of transactions 120 may be updated, based on a predetermined frequency or based on each successful transaction, to include at least a new entry comprising identification information of the resource provider, identification information of the transaction account, and the value corresponding to the digital asset. The new entry may further comprise any one or more of the sets of loading, consumption, further loading, and further consumption transaction records. In some embodiments, each of the newly created entry may include a digital signature of the resource provider computer 102.

Referring to Figure 2, there is shown a flow diagram which illustrates an exemplary operation of a method of implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the invention. One method aspect of the present invention, but still consistent with one or more embodiments thereof may be performed using computer or computer related operations associated with the hardware and/or software components of the system illustrated in greater detail in Figure 1.

The first step of the exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by obtaining, by the resource provider computer 102, a digital asset with a corresponding monetary value and associated with at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 on which the at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a is appearing (step 200).

The second step of the exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by creating, by the resource provider computer 102, the electronic file 110 generally associated with the loading request and specifically associated with the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 (step 202).

The third step of the exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by delivering, by the resource provider computer 102 in operative communication with the service provider computer 104 over the communications network 106, to the service provider computer 104 the electronic file 110 (step 204) associated with the loading request. This, in turn and in effect, causes the service provider computer 104 to receive the electronic file 110 associated with the loading request from the resource provider computer 102 over the communications network 106 (step 206).

The fourth step of the exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by extracting, by the service provider computer 104, the at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a from the electronic file 110 associated with the loading request from the resource provider computer 102 based on the transaction between the resource providing entity operating the resource provider computer 102 and the consumer operating the consumer computer 126 (step 208).

The fifth step of the exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by associating, by the service provider computer 104, the set of unique identifiers 108-c to the transaction account used by the consumer or communicated by the consumer with the resource providing entity to create the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 (step 210).

The sixth step of the exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by sending, by the service provider computer 104 over the communications network 106, to the resource provider computer 102 the set of unique identifiers 108-c (step 212) associated with or indicative of the transaction record. This, in turn, causes the resource provider computer 102 to receive the set of unique identifiers 108-c associate with or indicative of the transaction record from the service provider computer 104 over the communications network 106 (step 214).

The seventh step of the exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by forming, by the transaction identifier generator 125 operatively coupled to the resource provider computer 102, the set of unique identifiers 108-c on any suitable material such as a paper serving as official receipt and/or sale invoice as the case may be (step 220).

The forming step (i.e., step 220) may include the intervening steps of sending by the resource provider computer 102 to the transaction identifier generator 125 at least one computer-executable marking instruction (step 216), and then securing, by the transaction identifier generator 125, the marking instruction from the resource provider computer 102 (step 218), wherein all these may be performed through any appropriate circuitries 132. Simply put, the marking instruction may be secured by the transaction identifier generator 125 from the resource provider computer 102 through the circuitries 132.

Preferably, the transaction identifier generator 125 may be a thermal or non-thermal paper commonly used in the industry.

Referring now to Figure 3, there is shown a flow diagram which illustrates another exemplary operation of a method of implementing utilization of the electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, and which may be a continuation or may form part of the exemplary operation illustrated in Figure 2.

The first step of the another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method which is associated with the associating step (i.e., step 210) may be characterized by storing, by the service provider computer 104, in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 having the associated set of unique identifiers 108-c and the transaction identifier 108 based on the transaction between the consumer and the resource providing entity (step 300).

The second step of the another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by encrypting, by the service provider computer 104, the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 using the public key 116 associated with the resource provider computer 102 and the digital signature including the private key 118 associated with the resource provider computer 102 to generate the uniquely encrypted message 108-e carrying the associated set of unique identifiers 108-c and at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a (step 302).

The third step of the another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by causing, by the service provider computer 104 over the communications network 106, to be published the uniquely encrypted message 108-e to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 residing in the one or more nodes 122 in the distributed network 124 using the at least one distributed network protocol (step 304). This, in turn, may cause the public or publicly distributed electronic ledger of transaction records or, in general terms, record keeping system 120 to receive and subsequently publish to the chain of data located thereon the uniquely encrypted message 108-e (steps 306, 308).

Referring to Figure 4, there is shown a flow diagram which illustrates yet another exemplary operation of a method of implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, and which may be a continuation or may form part of the exemplary operation illustrated in Figure 3.

The first step of the yet another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be performed by the service provider computer 104 when the consumer computer 126 accesses the service provider computer 104 over the communications network 106, and whereby a consumer operating the consumer computer 126 is enabled to verify whether an entity of interest is authentic relative to the unique transaction identifier 108 as a point of reference (step 400). This, in turn, may cause the consumer computer 126 to send to the service provider computer 104 the set of unique identifiers of interest formed on the entity of the interest associated with any transaction record of interest (step 402).

The second step of the yet another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by accepting, by the service provider computer 104, from the consumer computer 126 the set of unique identifiers of interest formed on the transaction record of interest having its corresponding unique identifier of interest (step 404).

The third step of the yet another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by determining, by the service provider computer 104, whether the set of unique identifiers of interest and the transaction record of interest are associated with one another and exist in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 (step 406).

The fourth step of the yet another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by, if the set of unique identifiers of interest and the transaction record of interest are associated with one another and exist in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104, fetching, by the service provider computer 104, from the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 corresponding to the associated transaction record of interest existing in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 (step 408).

The fifth step of the yet another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by communicating, by the service provider computer 104 over the communications network 106, with the distributed network 124 using the at least one distributed network protocol (step 410). This, in turn, causes the distributed network 124 in which the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 resides to establish data communications with the service provider computer 104 over the communications network 106, that may be in real-time or near real-time (step 412).

The sixth step of the yet another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by identifying, by the service provider computer 104 as one of the one or more nodes 122 in the distributed network 124, whether the set of unique identifiers of interest carried by the uniquely encrypted message 108-e is published to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 by decrypting the uniquely encrypted message 108-e associated with the fetched electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 using the public key 116 of the resource provider computer 102 which causes creation of the fetched electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 (step 414).

The seventh step of the yet another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by, if the transaction of interest is recorded in the chain of data, acquiring, by the service provider computer 104, from the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 in whole or in part the electronic file 110 of the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 based on the associated set of the unique identifiers of interest and the transaction record of interest (step 416).

The eight step of the yet another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by transmitting, by the service provider computer 104, over the communications network 106, to the consumer computer 126 the acquired electronic file 110 of the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 (step 418).

The ninth step of the yet another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by receiving, as performed by the consumer computer 126 over the communications network 106, the transmitted digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 associated with acquired electronic file 110 from the service provider computer 104 (step 420). The electronic file 110 can be part of shared services between the resource provider computer 102 and the service provider computer 104. The electronic file 110 may include a new entry comprising identification information of the resource provider, identification information of the transaction account of the consumer, the value corresponding to the digital asset, and identification information of the transaction account of the resource providing entity.

The electronic file 110 may contain any and all data that pertain to the transaction between the consumer and the resource providing entity.

The tenth step of the yet another exemplary operation of the herein disclosed method may be characterized by outputting, as performed by the consumer computer 126, on the output unit 130 of the consumer computer 126 the received digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 (step 422).

In some embodiments, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the zero-cycle latency may also be ensured by way of providing a parallel processing, by the service provider computer 104, of the step of associating the set of unique identifiers 108-c to the extracted set of unique identifiers 108-a to create the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 (i.e., step 210) and the step of causing to be published the uniquely encrypted message 108-e to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 (i.e., step 304) in the distributed network 124.

The actual publication of the uniquely encrypted message 104-e on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 may be performed, by any one or more of the nodes 122 in the distributed network 124, at the moment the uniquely encrypted message 104-e reaches the location of the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 in the network 124.

With this zero-cycle latency, any potential alteration, changes, or modifications made against the output data characterized by the set of unique identifiers 108-c to be formed on the unique transaction identifier 108 will not affect the set of unique identifiers 108-c included in the uniquely encrypted message 108-e as the input data to be published on the public ledger system 120 in the distributed network 124. This, in turn, may mean that the integrity of the published set of unique identifiers 108-c included in the uniquely encrypted message 108-e is preserved and/or remains uncompromised at all times.

In some embodiments, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, each and every step of the herein disclosed method and its associated processes and procedures are electronically recorded in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 and/or may be caused by the service provider computer 104 to undergo encryption and encrypted related procedures and consequently be included in the uniquely encrypted message 108-e for publication to the chain of data in the publicly distributed electronic ledger of transaction records 120. This arrangement provides for a clear, secure, traceable and verifiably authenticable chain of evidence in the utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment, consistent with one or more aspects and/or one or more embodiments of the present invention.

In one embodiment, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the herein disclosed method may comprise the step of linking, by the service provider computer 104, a first set of the unique identifiers 108-c associated with and generated for a first of the unique transaction identifier 108 to a second set of the unique identifiers 108-c associated with and generated for a second of the unique transaction identifier 108, wherein the first and second unique identifiers 108-c may be related with one another. It is to be understood and appreciated that the degree of relationship of the first and second unique identifiers 108-c may vary, or they may not be related at all. The latter case may mean that the linking step may be initiated by the service provider computer 104 based on a request or an instruction from the user operating the resource provider computer

102, wherein the request or instruction could be based on the personal preferences or choice of the user operating the same computer.

The linking step can be arranged such that: (i) the first of the unique transaction identifier 108 is verifiably authenticable in accordance with any one or more of the aspects of the present invention using the second of the set of unique identifiers 108-c; (ii) the second of the unique transaction identifier 108 is verifiably authenticable in accordance with any one or more of the aspects of the present invention using the first of the set of unique identifiers 108-c; (iii) the linked first and second of the set of unique identifiers 108-c may form part of one or more of the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e which may be published on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120; (iv) digital objects and data structure associated with the linked first and second of the set of unique identifiers 108-c are referenced to one another; and (v) the first and second of the set of unique identifiers 108-c may be electronically stored and/or organized in one digital wallet which will be discussed in greater detail in the ensuing disclosure of the aspects of the present invention.

The interchangeable and/or interconnected manner of verifying whether the first of the unique transaction identifier 108 is authentic relative to a first of the transaction record of interest using the second of the set of unique identifiers 108-c and whether the second of the unique transaction identifier 108 is authentic relative to a second of the transaction record of interest using the first of the set of unique identifiers 108-c provides for an integrated verification and authentication structure for various original records which are related with one another by virtue of their similarity in features, geographic place of origin, shared characteristics, demographics, common association, authorities governing them, laws and implementing rules governing them, reciprocal alliance, occurrence during a common time period, or familial relationship, or by simply being deliberately grouped into a customizably named entity or “a collection of preferably related entities, items, or objects.”

Accordingly, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the linking step as disclosed herein may include causing, by the service provider computer 104, de-linking of the first of the set of unique identifiers 108-c associated with and generated for the first of the transaction record of interest from the second of the set of unique identifiers 108-c associated with and generated for the second of the transaction record of interest.

Referring to Figure 5, there is shown a block diagram which illustrates exemplary computer-based architecture for using the unique identifiers 108-c in implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention. Consistent with any one or more of the herein disclosed aspects of the present invention, the entity 108 may be a physical, tangible document such as official receipt 108 on which the set of unique identifiers 108-c, which may be produced by the service provider computer 104 in a random manner, can be made to appear by any of the herein disclosed means and/or computer related procedures. The example official receipt may contain various transaction records such as any one of the herein disclosed loading transaction records, the herein disclosed consumption transaction records, the herein disclosed further loading transaction records, and the herein disclosed further consumption transaction records, and the like.

Consistent with any one or more of the herein disclosed aspects of the present invention, the randomly produced set of unique numbers 108-c may be represented by a machine-readable data 500. The machine-readable data 500 can also be made to appear on the document (e.g., official receipt or acknowledgement receipt) type of unique transaction identifier 108. The set of unique identifiers 108-c can be produced by the service provider computer 104 relative to the transaction between the consumer and the resource providing entity in a random manner. The randomly produced set of unique numbers may be represented by any suitable form of machine-readable data which can be sent, over the communications network 106, from the service provider computer 104 to at least one of the resource provider computer 102 belonging to the resource providing entity and the consumer computer 126 belonging to the consumer.

Consistent with any one or more of the herein disclosed aspects and/or embodiments of the present invention, the machine-readable data 500 corresponding to the set of unique identifiers 108-c may be sent, over the communications network 106, from the service provider computer 104 to the resource provider computer 102, and may be formed, by the transaction identifier generator 125, on any suitable and/or preferred portion of the document (official or acknowledgement receipt) type of unique transaction identifier 108.

Consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the identifying step (i.e., step 414) may include identifying whether the at least one transaction record of interest carried by the uniquely encrypted message 108-e is published to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 by decrypting the uniquely encrypted message 108-e associated with the fetched electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 using the public key 116 associated with the resource provider computer 102 which causes creation of the fetched electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108.

Accordingly, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, if the at least one transaction record of interest is recorded on the chain of data, the acquiring step (i.e., step 416) may include acquiring from the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 in whole or in part the electronic file 110 of the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 based on the associated set of the unique identifiers of interest and transaction record of interest.

Accordingly, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, if the set of unique identifiers of interest is recorded in the chain of data, the acquiring step (i.e., step 416) may include comparing the at least one transaction record of interest with the at least one transaction record.

Accordingly, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, if the set of unique identifiers of interest is recorded in the chain of data, the acquiring step (i.e., step 416) may include indicating whether the compared at least one transaction record of interest and at least one transaction record match one another.

Accordingly, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the transmitting step (i.e., step 418) may include integrating into the acquired electronic file 112 of the digital reproduction of the unique transaction identifier 108 a digital representation of a result indicative of whether the compared at least one transaction record of interest and at least one transaction record match one another.

Accordingly, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the receiving step (i.e., step 420) may include receiving, by the consumer computer 126, from the service provider computer 104 the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 associated with acquired electronic file 110 into which the digital representation of the result indicative of whether the compared at least one transaction record of interest and at least one transaction record match one another is integrated.

Accordingly, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the outputting step (i.e., step 422) may include outputting, by the consumer computer 126, on the outputting unit 130 of the consumer computer 126 the digital representation of the result indicative of whether the compared at least one transaction record of interest and at least one transaction record match one another.

In one embodiment, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the obtaining step (i.e., step 200) may include scanning, by an image scanning apparatus operatively coupled to the resource provider computer 102, the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 on which the at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a is appearing to obtain the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 on which the at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a is appearing.

In one embodiment, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the obtaining step (i.e., step 200) may include capturing, by an image capturing apparatus operatively coupled to the resource provider computer 102, the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 on which the at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a is appearing to obtain the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 on which the at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a is appearing.

As illustrated in Figure 5, the machine-readable data 500 may be formed adjacent the set of unique identifiers 108-c on the any portion of the document type of unique transaction identifier 108, and may be in any suitable form that is well-known in the art. The receipt type of entity 108 may be a digital copy or a physical print-out. It is to be understood and appreciated that the machine-readable data 500 may be in the form of a barcode, a quick-response code, an NFC (Near Field

Communications) tag, an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag, and/or any suitable or preferred combinations thereof.

Still in Figure 5, it is illustrated that the set of unique of identifiers 108-c may undergo a verification process 502. In one embodiment, the set of unique of identifiers 108-c may be verified online 504 through an online verification process 502 in accordance with aspects of the present invention. On the other hand, the machine- readable data 500 may be verified offline 506 through an offline verification process and, as such, using any offline data reading apparatus such as a barcode reader disposed in any location in relation to any given computer terminal.

Still in Figure 5, and in one embodiment, the verification process 502 may come with a fee or set of fees which can be settled through a payment processing operation 508. The payment processing operation 508 may be initiated and completed in any suitable payment network 510. In Figure 12, there is shown a block diagram which illustrates exemplary components of such payment network 510 which may be suitable for use in implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment in accordance with any one or more of the herein aspects of the present invention.

Skipping now to Figure 12, the payment network 510 may include a transaction network 1200 which connects an issuer processor 1202 associated with an issuer 1204 and an acquirer processor 1206 associated with an acquirer 1208. The example payment network 510 may also include a settlement bank 1210. It is to be understood and appreciated that these components, and as well as their communication arrangements, which are associated with the payment network 510, are merely exemplary for the purpose of illustrating the manner by which transactions can be carried out according to one or more aspect of the present invention, and that the same components and their communication arrangements may vary depending on the type and nature of the financial transactions involved (e.g., credit or debit type of financial transactions).

Referring to Figure 6, there is shown a detailed block diagram, or a network diagram in particular, which illustrates exemplary components of the system 100 for implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention. The resource providing entity may use his or her resource provider computer 102, such as a laptop computer, or any suitable point-of-sale (POS) terminal, to access either a web or mobile based software application and accordingly cause generation of the set of unique identifiers by the transaction identifier generator 600 and to further cause the generated set of unique identifiers 108-c to be published as an input data to the distributed network such as the

Blockchain network 124 over any suitable data network 106 such as the

Internet. Accordingly, the resource provider computer 102 is preferably a point-of-sale (POS) terminal commonly found in most merchants.

Consequently, the set of unique identifiers 108-c may be caused by the resource providing entity, using a printer coupled to his or her resource provider computer 102 for example, to be printed on the upper right portion of the document (e.g., official receipt) type of entity 108. The resource provider computer 102 may be connected to the payment network 510 for processing of payment of any prescribed or chargeable fees associated with the performance of the electronic transaction characterized by the generation of the set of unique identifiers 108-c and its publication on the Blockchain network 124 over any suitable data network 106 such as the Internet.

On the other hand, a consumer may use his or her consumer computer 126, which may also be a laptop computer, to web or mobile based software application and accordingly cause the performance of verification of the authenticity of the set of unique identifiers 108-c relative to the document (e.g., official receipt) type of document 108.

In some embodiments, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the herein disclosed set of unique identifiers 108-a may be the at least one portion or the entire portion of the unique transaction identifier 108, such as the document type of entity 108, itself.

The consumer computer 126 may be connected to the payment network 510 for processing of payment of any chargeable fees associated with the performance of the electronic transaction characterized by the online verification of the authenticity of the set of unique identifiers 108-c relative to the document type of entity 108 over any suitable data network 106 such as the Internet.

In various embodiments, the service provider computer 104 may include and execute a number of verification-related applications 602 which may include an entity management application 602-a for managing the data and data structures associated with the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108, a user management application 602-c for managing user accounts which may be associated with publishers and consumers, an authenticity verification application 602-e for managing verification procedures and processes associated with one or more aspects of the present invention, a tracking application 602-g for managing location and position information which may be associated with the unique transaction identifier 108, and other applications 602-i which may be customizably designed to support the operations and procedures embodied in the present invention.

The service provider computer 104 may also include a service provider library 604 of the set of unique identifiers 108-c which can be accessed through different APIs (application programming interfaces) 606. These APIs can be used to cause sharing with the Blockchain network 124 of data associated with the application 602 and as well as with the set of unique identifiers 108-c. Through these APIs, the service provider computer 104 may also communicate with any third-

party transaction provider 134 such that the consumer is enabled to use his or her consumer computer 126 to make various transactions such as payments using the digital assets with monetary values stored in his or her electronic transaction account maintained in the service provider computer 104.

In some embodiments, and consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention, the service provider computer 104 may include a digital wallet application (not illustrated in the drawings) which may be arranged to generate and maintain a digital wallet. The digital wallet may be assigned to each user operating the resource provider computer 102. It is preferable that all sets of the unique identifiers 108-c, which are individually associated with a number of the transaction records 108 maintained by each user operating the resource provider computer 102, may be stored in the digital wallet in a customizable and/or organizable manner. Much like a physical keychain, the digital wallet may used by each consumer operating the consumer computer 102 to store and manage information associated with his or her registered records 108. This digital wallet may also be arranged such that it can carry electronic transactions such as the herein disclosed electronic verification and/or authentication related transactions and all associated data. Use of this digital wallet comes with the advantage of maintaining said information and data without having to print them out.

Referring to Figure 7, there is shown a block diagram which illustrates exemplary components of the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 located in the distributed network 124 which can be used for implementing utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention. The electronic ledger of transaction records 120 mainly comprises the nodes 122 which may reside in the distributed network 124.

Consistent with any one or more of the herein disclosed aspects and/or one or more embodiments of the present invention, the distributed network 124 may be a distributed peer-to-peer network 124 such as a Blockchain network 124. Accordingly, and still consistent with any one or more of the herein disclosed aspects of the present invention, the distributed network protocol associated with the distributed network 124 may be a peer-to-peer network protocol such as a Blockchain protocol. Simply put, the distributed peer-to-peer protocol constitutes the Blockchain network.

The distributed record keeping procedures and data structure which may constitute the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 may be of secure type and distributed among the nodes 122 in the peer-to-peer network 124, wherein a common set of procedures are followed by the participating nodes 122 in order to mitigate any uncertainties, risks and distrust which may arise between two of the nodes 122 or among three or more of the nodes 122 in the distributed network 124,

Since the nodes 122 are likely not affiliated with one another, may be located remotely in respect of one another across the entire world, and may be used to perform electronic transactions, such as the herein disclosed electronic verification and authentication transactions, in the peer-to-peer network 124 in an anonymous manner, security of the publishers of the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e and the consumers performing the electronic transactions, in general terms, is guaranteed.

Owing to the public nature of the electronic ledger of transaction records 120, each of the anonymous nodes 122 may be able to monitor the movement and/or change in the data published on the public records within the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 such as data associated with the herein disclosed uniquely encrypted message 108-e, transparency is maintained at the peer-to-peer network 124.

This transparency, as may be highlighted in the herein disclosure, substantially mitigates any uncertainties, risks and distrust that may occur among the nodes 122.

The distributed records which may constitute the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 may be maintained by the nodes 122 in a collective manner within the peer-to-peer network 124 which is a secure distributed network. Hence, these publicly distributed records are secure decentralized distributed records or transaction records which are otherwise known as the aforementioned Blockchain. The electronic ledger of transaction records 120, in this regard, may be decentralized and based on Blockchain-based technological framework and platforms. The Blockchain may include various blocks 700 which are linked to one another and which may carry uniquely encrypted messages 108-e. These messages 108-e can be validated through the electronic ledger of transaction records 120.

In some embodiments, the Blockchain may be used to enable the nodes 122 in the peer-to-peer network 124 to communicate with one another in respect of electronic transactions which may be verification and authentication transactions. These communications, along with electronic exchanges of the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e among the nodes 122 in the peer-to-peer network 124 through the electronic ledger of transaction records 120, come with technical advantages and benefits.

Firstly, the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e, which are individually and may be uniquely associated with the blocks 700, can be freely transmitted from any one of the nodes 122 to another one of the nodes 122, from any one of the nodes 122 to any two or more of the nodes 122, and from any two or more of the nodes 122 to any one of the nodes 122; hence, transparency of the herein disclosed verification and authentication transactions, among other possible accompanying transactions in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention, is guaranteed.

Secondly, the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e are not governed by a central authority framework which can be used to maliciously alter the data, data structure, or content associated with one or more of the distributed records within the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 including the data, data structure, or content associated with the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e. In addition, the digital signature including the private key 118 used to encrypt the data changes along with any change effected against any portion, such as the string of characters, of the same data.

Thirdly, no one of the blocks 122 carrying the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e can be altered, obliterated, obfuscated or removed without knowing the unique key pair of but different public keys 116 and private keys 118 used to encrypt the set of unique identifiers 108-a and/or the set of unique identifiers 108-c associated with the electronic transaction record 112 using any well-known cryptography-based operation, procedure, and/or method in whatsoever manner thereby substantially reducing, if not completely eliminating, fraudulent events and malicious activities relating to the publication of the uniquely encrypted message 108-e on the chain of data in the publicly distributed electronic ledger of transaction records 120. Effectively, the herein arrangements of one or more aspects and/or embodiments of the present invention ensures that the electronic transaction account, which can be utilized for consumption when loaded with a digital asset in such a digital asset management environment, is provided with a digital asset that can be consumed with an expanded coverage and in a verifiable manner,

Fourthly, preventing any one or more of the nodes 122 from accessing any one or more of the distributed records in the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 by another one or more of the nodes 122 is too complex, if not nearly impossible, to perform; hence, any one or more of the nodes 122 can be used to freely, discreetly, and/or privately perform, i.e., without constraints, the herein disclosed verification and authentication transactions.

Lastly, but certainly not of least importance, the posting and exchanging of the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e in the distributed peer-to-peer network 124 can be performed in a scheduled manner or in real-time or near real-time thereby giving the participating nodes 122 the flexibility or resiliency in both operation and management (e.g., later or on-demand retrieval of uniquely encrypted messages 108-e to be used in performing the herein disclosed verification and authentication processes).

In some embodiments, each node 122 of the connected plurality of the nodes 122 in the distributed network 124 is enabled to cross check, verify, and/or authenticate that the uniquely encrypted message 108-e originates from, or is associated with, or authentically belongs, to its true publisher by way of decrypting the uniquely encrypted message 108-e with the public key 116 associated with the resource provider computer 102 used by the true publisher to cause the uniquely encrypted message 108-e to be generated and, subsequently, to be published to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 in the distributed network 124.

In some embodiments, each node 122 of the connected plurality of the nodes 122 in the distributed network 124 is enabled to cross check, verify, and/or authenticate that the set of unique identifiers of interest and/or the transaction record of interest carried by the uniquely encrypted message 108-e is published to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 by way of decrypting the uniquely encrypted message 108-e with the public key 116 associated with the resource provider computer 102 used by the publisher to cause the uniquely encrypted message 108-e associated with the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 to be published to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 in the distributed network 124.

It is in this regard that, and in sum, the provisions of the publishing of the uniquely encrypted message 108-e, which effectively carries the associated set of unique identifiers 108-c and the set of unique identifiers 108-a extracted from the electronic file 110 created by the resource provider computer 102 based on the digital reproduction of the portion of the unique transaction identifier 108, on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120, and verifying the authenticity of an entity of interest relative to the unique transaction identifier 108 as a reference point by way of decrypting this uniquely encrypted message 108-e to identify whether the set of unique identifiers of interest associated with the entity of interest is published to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 provide for: (i) cross checking by any of the nodes 122 in the

Blockchain network 124 that the uniquely encrypted message 108-e is associated with its real publisher which results in the transparency in the ownership of the uniquely encrypted message 108-e and in turn of the unique transaction identifier 108; and (ii) preservation of integrity of data associated with the uniquely encrypted message 108-e since any single change made against the string of characters in the uniquely encrypted message 108-e on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 effectively changes its digital signature and such change, if it would occur, can be easily and speedily detected through the nodes 122 which do not rely on a central repository of data nor on a central server computer system, which usually comes in a significant number, which are distributed across the world via a network of private computers and computer systems, and which may individually possess a copy of the uniquely encrypted message 108-e.

In some embodiments, receiving the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e from or sending the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e to one of the nodes 122 or a plurality of the nodes 122 may be performed using the Blockchain which characterizes the electronic ledger of transaction records 120. In performing these receiving and sending functions, each one of the blocks 700 containing the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e in the Blockchain may utilize various information which may be include, but certainly not limited to, identifiers associated with the blocks 700 (e.g., current block ID, previous block ID, and other block ID), identifiers associated with the uniquely encrypted messages 108-e (e.g., set of unique identifiers or “uid” 108-c, transaction record 108-a, public key 116, and private key 118), and other data such as authentication data, verification data, and configuration data. Any one or more of these information may be recorded on, and can be made retrievable on demand from, any one or more of the distributed records within the electronic ledger of transaction records 120.

Referring to Figure 8, there is shown a flow diagram illustrating an example verification process suitable for use in one or more aspects of the present invention. This example verification process may be performed by the herein disclosed service provider computer 104. The verification process may start by retrieving the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 (step 800), and proceed with the extraction of the set of unique identifiers or “UID” 108-c and the transaction record 108 from the retrieved electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 (step 802).

Subsequently, the verification process may advance to the step of verifying the existence of the unique transaction identifier 108 or, more specifically, the set of unique identifiers 108-c and the set of unique identifiers 108-a by consulting transaction records database 804 (step 806), and then to the decision step of determining whether the set of unique identifiers 108-c Sa associated with the transaction record 112 are associated with one another and exists in the transaction records database 804 (decision step 808). The transaction records database 804 may contain information associated with electronic files 112 which are provided with the set of unique identifiers 108-c.

If the set of unique identifiers 108-c exist in the transaction records database 804, the verification process may advance to the step of providing an indication of verified unique transaction identifier 108 or “verified transaction record” (step 810); otherwise, the verification process may advance to the step of providing an indication of unverified unique transaction identifier 108 or “unverified transaction record” (step 812). From any of the previous steps 810 and 812, the verification process may conclude by transmitting to the consumer computer 126 the indication of the verified or unverified unique transaction identifier 108 or transaction record to be accurate based on the result in the decision step 808 (step 814).

Referring to Figure 9, there is shown a flow diagram which illustrates an example risk management process suitable for use in one or more aspects of the present invention. The example risk management process may be performed by any of the service provider computer 104 and any one of the nodes 122 in the distributed network 124. The risk management process may start by receiving request to decrypt the uniquely encrypted message 108-e (step 900), and continue by gathering information, which may be publicly available information, associated with the uniquely encrypted message 108-e (step 902). These information may refer to the history of the set of unique identifiers 108-c and/or the set of unique identifiers 108, whether any of them has already been a subject of fraud in the past.

Once the information associated with the uniquely encrypted message 108-e have been gathered in the previous step 902, the risk management process may proceed to the step of determining transaction risk associated with the request to decrypt the uniquely encrypted message 108-e (step 904) based on the gathered information. If the transaction risk is acceptable as determined in the decision step 906, the risk management process may advance to the step of allowing the request to decrypt the uniquely encrypted message 108-e (step 908); otherwise, if the transaction risk is found to be unacceptable, the risk management process may instead advance to the step of denying the same request (step 910). The risk management process may conclude by transmitting the allowed or otherwise denied request to any requesting computing device over any suitable data network (step 912).

Referring to Figures 10 and 11, there are shown high level block diagrams collectively which illustrates an exemplary process for generating and an exemplary process for decrypting the uniquely encrypted message 108-e, respectively, suitable for use in one or more aspects of the present invention. The processes for generating and decrypting the uniquely encrypted message 108-e may be performed by the service provider computer 104 in relation to the herein disclosed resource provider computer 102 and to the herein disclosed distributed network 124,

As illustrated in Figure 10 alone, transaction messages in general or the process for generating the uniquely encrypted message 108-e in particular may undergo an encryption process 1000 by way of applying a hash function 1002. In one embodiment, the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 may be digitally signed by the publisher or the sender of the same the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 using his or her public and private keys 116, 118 which are associated with his or her resource provider computer 102 and which may be paired together.

Those skilled in the art shall recognize well-known methods and techniques that can be used to affix the signature 1004 to the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 for the purpose of utilizing the hash function 1002 and the paired public and private keys 116, 118 in generating the signed uniquely encrypted message 108-e. The signed uniquely encrypted message 108-e, all by itself or alone, ensures integrity of the data which are associated with the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 which can used as part of the herein disclosed computer-based verification and authentication processes.

In Figure 11 alone, the process for decrypting the uniquely encrypted message 108-e may be characterized by extracting, using the hash function 1002, a first set of hash values 1100 derived from the uniquely encrypted message 108-e that is digitally signed.

Simultaneously, or one after the other, the decrypting process may include, using the public keys 116, a second set of hash values 1102 from the signature 1004 which is derived from the uniquely encrypted message 108-e that is digitally signed. At decision step 1104, the first set of hash values 1100 and the second set of hash values 1102 may be compared with one another to determine if they are matching with one another. A matching set of the hash values 1100, 1102 may provide an indication that the signed uniquely encrypted message 108- e, which carries the set of unique identifiers 108-c and the set of unique identifiers 108-a associated with the unique transaction identifier 108, is authentically related to electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 used to generate the same signed uniquely encrypted message 108-e. Otherwise, a mismatching set of the hash values 1100, 1102 may provide an indication that the signed uniquely encrypted message 108-e is not authentically related to electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 used to generate the same signed uniquely encrypted message 108-e and, hence, is potentially generated through fraudulent activities.

Referring to Figure 13, there is shown a block diagram which illustrates exemplary information associated with verification and authentication processes suitable for use in utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention. These exemplary information associated with such processes may include, by way of examples and not by way of limitation, encryption functions and values, account IDs or names, passwords, public and/or private keys, digital certificates, time stamps, verification/authentication results, and biometric keys.

The herein disclosed transaction may be suitably used in the context of a context of business-to-business (B2B), business-to- government (B2G), government-to-business (G2B), business-to- consumer (B2C), consumer-to-business (C2B), consumer-to-consumer

YEP eer (C2C), government-to-citizen (G2C), citizen-to-government (C2G), or a combination thereof, and/or between individuals or peer-to-peer (P2P).

Referring to Figure 14, there is shown a schematic block diagram which illustrates an exemplary hardware configuration of the service provider computer 104 suitable for use in utilization of an electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention. The herein described computer-executable operations, procedures, and/or methods to be performed service provider computer 104 may be stored on the memory system 114 and may be fetched and executed from the memory system 114 by the processor 128 of the service provider computer 104.

Data associated with the herein described computer-executable operations, procedures, and/or methods associated with the service provider computer 104 may be transmitted to another computer or computer system and/or received from another computer or computer system using the communication interface 1400, may be encoded and/or decoded using the encoder and decoder units 1402, 1404, may be displayed through the rendering unit 1406, may be controllably accessed through the system interface software 1408, may be integrated into a software application through the application control units 1410, may be customizably formatted through the content formatting unit 1412, and/or may be manipulated using the input and output devices 1414, 1416. These components may communicate with one another through a communication bus 1418 and/or other well-

known circuitry arrangements for a server type of computer system or a server type of network of computer systems.

Referring to Figure 15, there is shown a block diagram which illustrates exemplary computer-based modules of the service provider computer 104 suitable for use in implementing transformation of the unique transaction identifier 108 into a verifiably authenticable entity consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the service provider computer 104 may be used for implementing transformation of the unique transaction identifier 108 into a verifiably authenticable entity in a heterogeneous communications network environment, wherein the unique transaction identifier 108 has at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a appearing thereon, wherein the service provider computer 104 is operatively communicating, over the communications network 106, with the resource provider computer 102, the consumer computer 126, and the distributed network 124.

The service provider computer 104 may comprise an electronic file processing module 1500 configured to create the electronic file 110 of the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 delivered from the resource provider computer 102 which obtains the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 on which the at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a is appearing.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise an extracting module 1502 configured to extract the at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a from the electronic file 110.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise an associating module 1504 configured to associate the set of unique identifiers 108-c to the extracted at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a to create the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a storing module 1506 configured to store in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 having the associated set of unique identifiers 108-c and at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise an encrypting module 1508 configured to encrypt the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 using the public key 116 associated with the resource provider computer 102 and the digital signature including the private key 118 associated with the resource provider computer 102 to generate the uniquely encrypted message 108-e carrying the associated set of unique identifiers 108-c and at least one set of unique identifiers 108-a.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a publishing module 1510 configured to publish the uniquely encrypted message 108-e to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 residing in the one or more nodes 122 in the distributed network 124 using the at least one distributed network protocol.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a sending module 1512 configured send to the resource provider computer 102 the set of unique identifiers 108-c.

In the service provider computer 104 aspect of the present invention, the transaction identifier generator 125 operatively coupled to the resource provider computer 102 may be arranged to form the set of unique identifiers 108-c on the any portion of the unique transaction identifier 108.

Still in the service provider computer 104 aspect of the present invention, when the consumer computer 126 accesses the service provider computer 104 over the communications network 106 whereby a consumer operating the consumer computer 126 is enabled to verify whether an entity of interest is authentic relative to the unique transaction identifier 108 as a point of reference, the server computer system is arranged to include and execute the following further modules: (i) an accepting module 1514; (ii) a determining module 1516; (iii) a fetching module 1518; (iv) a communicating module 1520; (v) a identifying module 1522; (vi) an acquiring module 1524; (vii) a transmitting module 1526; and (viii) a linking module 1528.

The accepting module 1514 is preferably configured to accept from the consumer computer 126 the set of unique identifiers of interest formed on the entity of interest having at least one transaction record of interest.

The determining module 1516 is preferably configured to determine whether the set of unique identifiers of interest and the at least one transaction record of interest are associated with one another and exist in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104.

The fetching module 1518 is preferably configured to, if the set of unique identifiers of interest and the at least one transaction record of interest are associated with one another and exist in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104, fetch from the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 the electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 corresponding to the associated set of unique identifiers of interest and at least one transaction record of interest existing in the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104.

The communicating module 1520 is preferably configured to communicate, over the communications network 106, with the distributed network 124 using the at least one distributed network protocol.

The identifying module 1522 is preferably configured to identify, as one of the one or more nodes 122 in the distributed network 124, whether the set of unique identifiers of interest carried by the uniquely encrypted message 108-e is published to the chain of data on the electronic ledger of transaction records 120 by decrypting the uniquely encrypted message 108-e associated with the fetched electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108 using the public key 116 of the resource provider computer 102 which causes creation of the fetched electronic transaction record 112 of the unique transaction identifier 108.

The acquiring module 1524 is preferably configured to, if the at least set of unique identifiers of interest is recorded in the chain of data, acquire from the memory system 114 of the service provider computer 104 in whole or in part the electronic file 110 of the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 based on the associated set of the unique identifiers of interest and transaction record of interest.

The transmitting module 1526 is preferably configured to transmit, over the communications network 106, to the consumer computer 126 the acquired electronic file 110 of the digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108.

Consistent with one or more aspects and embodiments of the present invention, the linking module 1528 is preferably configured and/or the service provider computer 104 may be further arranged to link a first of the set of unique identifiers 108-c associated with and generated for a first of the unique transaction identifier 108 to a second of the set of unique identifiers 108-c associated with and generated for the second of the unique transaction identifier 108.

In the service provider computer 104 aspect of the present invention, the consumer computer 126 is arranged to receive, over the communications network 106, the transmitted digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108 associated with acquired electronic file 110 from the service provider computer 104, and subsequently output on the output unit 130 of the consumer computer 126 the received digital reproduction of the at least one portion of the unique transaction identifier 108.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a login module 1530 for logging in a consumer in the mobile application loaded and executing on his or her consumer computer 126 thereby enabling the consumer to use the resources of the executing mobile application and utilize its services. The herein disclosed mobile application may be downloadable from various sources such as, by way of examples and not by way of limitation, Google Play or Apple App Store. In order for the mobile application to execute on the consumer computer 126, the consumer computer 126 may include Android environment or an i0S environment. It is to be understood and appreciated that other application markets (e.g., BlackBerry World, Windows Apps Store) and other environments (e.g., BlackBerry OS environment, Windows environment) may be utilized in the herein disclosed arrangements by which the electronic transaction account is utilized when loaded with the digital asset in the digital asset management environment.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a registration module 1532 which may be configured to collect various personal and transaction information associated with the consumer operating the consumer computer 126 and utilizing the features and services of the mobile application running on it.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a save- change module 1534 customizably designed to achieve the save- change purpose of one or more aspects and/or one or more embodiments of the present invention.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a payment module 1536 customizably designed to enable the consumer to consume his or her accumulated digital assets in the form of payment transactions and other similar types of transactions which are well known in the art.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a bills payment module 1536 customizably designed to enable the consumer to consume his or her accumulated digital assets for the purpose of paying his or her outstanding bills including utility bills such as electricity and water consumption bills.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a promotions module 1540 customizably designed to present one or more promotional offers to the consumer, which may be based on the preferences of the resource providing entity and/or based on the interest and personal information of the consumer.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a marketplace module 1543 customizably designed to be a web-based catalog and/or store for discovering and purchasing and order management decision management platform components and/or solutions. A marketplace repository can be associated with the marketplace module 1543. The marketplace repository can store data for the components and/or solutions that can be available through a decision management component of the marketplace module 1543.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a savings module 1529 customizably designed to manage configuration factors obtained associated with crediting and debiting of balances associated with various electronic transaction accounts maintained within the herein disclosed digital asset management environment.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a lending module 1535 customizably designed to provide instantaneous lending decisions based on leveraging key data points, an adaptive lending algorithm, and automated validation of transaction status.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a social media module 1542 customizably designed to be provided with access to multiple social media platforms associated with various users/consumers and adapted to allow the consumers to communicate with each other, such as by user-to-user messages, discussion boards, and the posting of reviews to various transaction components.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a remittance module 1544 customizably designed to operable to receive a remittance item related to the herein disclosed digital asset and generally match the remittance item with a claim and claim reimbursement value determined by a valuation process.

The service provider computer 104 may also comprise a supply chain module 1546 customizably designed to provide various functions in support of various supply chain finance functionalities such as, by way of examples, payables financing, receivables financing, asset based lending (e.g., inventory financing), inventory ownership financing, asset financing, and integrated supply chain financing.

It is to be understood and appreciated that the herein described and illustrated modules associated with the service provider computer 104 aspect of the present invention may or may not correspond to discrete blocks of program codes, depending on how they are suitably arranged. In this regard, it can be realized that the functions described for each module can be performed in implementing transformation of the unique transaction identifier 108 into a verifiably authenticable entity by executing various code portions which are stored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable media and at predetermined time intervals.

It is also to be understood and appreciated that the execution of the program codes from the memory system 114, which may be a non- transitory computer-readable media, can be done on appropriate computing hardware and number of computing hardware, and that the herein described and illustrated modules associated with the service provider computer 104 aspect of the present invention are merely segregated based on their intended functions for the sake of illustrating how they are relevant to the implementation of one or more preferred embodiments of any one or more the various aspects of the present invention.

It is also to be understood and appreciated that the herein described and illustrated modules can be fewer or greater in number, as it is well known in the art that program codes representing various functions of different modules can be combined or segregated in any suitable but efficient manner insofar as program execution is concerned,

Referring to Figure 16, there is shown a schematic block diagram which illustrates an exemplary hardware configuration of the resource provider computer 102 or the consumer computer 126 suitable for use in implementing utilization of the electronic transaction account in a digital asset management environment consistent with one or more aspects of the present invention. The herein described computer- executable operations, procedures, and/or methods to be performed by either the resource provider computer 102 or the consumer computer 126 may be stored on the memory system 1600 and may be fetched and executed from the memory system 1600 by a processor 1602 of the publisher or consumer computers 102, 126.

Data associated with the herein described computer-executable operations, procedures, and/or methods associated with the resource provider computer 102 or the consumer computer 126 may be transmitted to another computer or computer system and/or received from another computer or computer system using the communication interface 1604, may be encoded and/or decoded using the encoder and decoder units 1606, may be displayed through the display unit 1608, may be played as an audio file, if applicable, through the audio unit 1610, may be managed through the application manager 1612 and/or the application libraries 1614, and/or may be manipulated using the input and output devices 1616. Any two or more of these components may communicate with one another through a communication bus 1618 and/or other well-known circuitry arrangements.

Referring to Figure 17, there is shown a flow diagram which illustrates an example operation associated with the login module 1530 suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the present invention.

The mobile app 1706 may be launched in the consumer computer 126 to show the login page (steps 1710, 1702) whereby the consumer 1708 may be able to encode username and password information (step 1714) and click the login button (step 1716).

Clicking the login button (step 1716) may trigger calling of the validated API (step 1718). A validated user username and password (as determined in decision steps 1720 and 1724) may result in the sending of an OTP or one-time password to the user or consumer (step 1728).

In turn, the consumer 1708 receives the OTP (step 1730) and automatically or manually encodes the same OTP (step 1732).

Consequently, the mobile app 1706 is caused to validate the encoded

OTP (step 1734). A validated OTP (as determined in decision step 1736) may result in displaying a message that the OTP is valid (step 1740), and mobile app 1706 may then show the main screen (step 1742). The login process may then be terminated (step 1744).

An invalid username as determined in the decision step 1720 may cause the mobile app 1706 to display a message which may read “invalid username” or “invalid mobile number” or “invalid e-mail address” (step 1722). Meanwhile, an invalid password as determined in the decision step 1724 may cause the mobile app 1706 to display a separate message which may read “invalid password” or “unsuccessful login” (step 1726). In a similar fashion, an invalid OTP as determined in the decision step 1736 may cause the mobile app 1706 to display a message to that effect (step 1738).

Referring to Figure 18, there is shown a flow diagram which illustrates an example operation associated with the registration module suitable 1532 for use in one or more embodiments of the present invention. The mobile app 1706 may be launched in the consumer computer 126 to show the login page (steps 1810, 1802) whereby the consumer 1708 may be able to click a “register” button (step 1814) which in turn causes the mobile app 1706 to display or show a registration page (step 1816). By means of the registration page, the consumer 1708 may be able to encode username and password information (step 1818).

In addition to the username and password information, the consumer 1708 may also provide various information associated with, by way of examples and not by way of limitation, mobile number, main and backup passwords, first name of the consumer 1708, last name of the consumer 1708, middle name of consumer 1708, gender of the consumer 1708, birthdate of the consumer 1708, civil status of the consumer 1708, and physical or mailing address of the consumer 1708 (step 1820). It is to be understood and appreciated that other information may be required through the mobile app 1706.

After encoding of the above enumerated information, the consumer 1708 may be able to click the “submit” button (step 1822).

As a result, the mobile app 1706 be prompted to show or display terms of agreement page (step 1824) which can be read by the consumer. If the consumer 1708 agrees with the terms (steps 1826, 1832), the mobile app’s API may be called and validated (step 1836) and all the information associated with the consumer 1708 may saved or stored in a dedicated or predetermined database (step 1834). Once the information are saved, the mobile app 1706 may show a thank you message which may read “Thank you for registering. Welcome to

BaryaCard!” (step 1838) and consequently display “login now” button (step 1840). If the consumer clicks “back” (step 1842), the “login” page may be shown through the mobile app 1706 (step 1830) and the registration may be terminated by the mobile app 1706 (step 1844).

Otherwise, if the consumer 1708 does not agree with the terms by clicking the “not agree” button (steps 1826, 1828), the “login” page may be shown through the mobile app 1706 (step 1830) and the registration may be terminated by the mobile app 1706 (step 1844).

Referring to Figure 19, there is shown a flow diagram which illustrates an example operation associated with the save-change module 1534 in the consumer computer such as smartphone or mobile device 1708 suitable for use in one or more embodiments of the present invention. The mobile app 1706 may be launched in the consumer computer 126 to show the login page (steps 1910, 1912) whereby the consumer 1708 can login to the mobile app 1706 (step 1914) and whereby the mobile app 1706 may be able to process login (step 1916) and subsequently show main page (step 1918). In response, the consumer 1708 may be able to click “save change” button (step 1920).

As a result of the clicking of the “save change” button by the consumer 1708, the mobile app 1706 may be prompted to show “save change” page (step 1922). When the consumer 1708 clicks on the “save change notification” button (step 1924), the mobile app 1706 may be able to enable viewing of the “notification of saved information” or “show more button (or options) below” (step 1926). When the consumer 1708 clicks the “...more button” step (1928), the mobile app 1706 may be enabled to show the “list of save change notification” page (step 1930). The previous step 1922 where the “save change”

Claims

portion of the at least one digital asset and at least a portion of the at least one further digital asset, wherein the service provider computer is configured to generate a set of loading transaction records based on the loading request, a set of consumption transaction records based on the consumption request, a set of further loading transaction records based on the further request, a set of further consumption transaction records based on the further consumption request, and consequently causing the sets of loading, consumption, further loading, and further consumption transaction records to be published, over at least one distributed network, on an at least one unalterable electronic ledger of transaction records, and wherein the loading request can further be generated by the service provider computer.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising receiving, by the service provider computer from the consumer computer over the communications network, a selection of at least one financial account maintained in a financial institution computer and associated with the transaction such that the at least the portion of the at least one digital asset is transferrable between the at least one financial account and the transaction account.

15. A computing apparatus comprising: a processor; and a computer readable medium coupled to the processor, the computer readable medium comprising codes which are executable by the processor to implement the method of claim

13.

Claims

1. In a digital asset management environment, a computer-based system for utilizing an electronic transaction account loaded with at least one digital asset characterized by a returned value corresponding to a value owed to a consumer by a resource providing entity and resulting from a transaction between the consumer and the resource providing entity, the system comprising: a resource provider computer belonging to the resource providing entity and for generating based on the transaction a loading request for loading the digital asset to the transaction account belonging to the consumer; a service provider computer for maintaining the transaction account, for receiving over the communications network the loading request, and for processing the loading request resulting in having the transaction account loaded with the at least one digital asset; and a consumer computer belonging to the consumer, operative to communicate over the communications network with the service provider computer, and interfaced with the transaction account through a computer-executable application loaded and executing thereon,

wherein the computer-executable application is operable to cause the consumer computer to communicate over the communications network with the service provider computer, to cause the service provider computer to generate a consumption request for consuming at least a portion of the at least one digital asset, and to cause the service provider computer to process the consumption request resulting in having the transaction account deducted with the portion of the at least one digital asset,

wherein, over the communications network, one or more components of the service provider computer are interfaced with at least one third-party transaction provider in a detachably integratable and transferrable manner such that the computer-executable application loaded and executing on the consumer computer is further operable to enable the service provider computer to provide the third-party transaction provider with access to the transaction account, and such that the third-party transaction provider is operable to enable generation of any of a further loading request and further consumption request, the further loading and consumption requests being processable by the service provider computer to have the transaction account, respectively, loaded with at least one further digital asset and deducted with at least one of the portion of the at least one digital asset and at least a portion of the at least one further digital asset,

wherein the service provider computer is configured to generate a set of loading transaction records based on the loading request, a set of consumption transaction records based on the consumption request, a set of further loading transaction records based on the further request, a set of further consumption transaction records based on the further consumption request, and consequently causing the sets of loading, consumption, further loading, and further consumption transaction records to be published, over at least one distributed network, on an at least one unalterable electronic ledger of transaction records, and wherein the loading request can further be generated by the service provider computer.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein a set of unique identifiers is produced by the service provider computer relative to the transaction in a random manner.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the randomly produced set of unique numbers is represented by machine- readable data. 4, The system according to claim 3, wherein the machine-readable data are sent, over the communications network, from the service provider computer to at least one of the resource provider computer and the consumer computer.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the machine-readable data are stored in the at least one of the resource provider computer and the consumer computer.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the distributed network is a decentralized computational network characterized by a distributed peer-to-peer protocol.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the distributed peer- to-peer protocol constitutes a Blockchain network.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the resource provider computer is a point-of-sale (POS) terminal.

0. The system according to claim 1, wherein the unalterable electronic ledger of transactions is updated to include at least a new entry comprising identification information of the resource provider, identification information of the transaction account, and the value corresponding to the digital asset.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the new entry further comprises any one or more of the sets of loading, consumption, further loading, and further consumption transaction records.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the new entry includes a digital signature of the resource provider computer.

CO

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the digital signature is verifiable using a public key associated with the resource provider computer.

13. In a digital asset management environment, a computer- implemented method of utilizing an electronic transaction account loaded with at least one digital asset characterized by a returned value corresponding to a value owed to a consumer by a resource providing entity and resulting from a transaction between the consumer and the resource providing entity, the method comprising: generating, by a resource provider computer belonging to the resource providing entity, based on the transaction a loading request for loading the digital asset to the transaction account belonging to the consumer; receiving, by a service provider computer maintaining the transaction account over the communications network, the loading request; and processing, by the service provider computer, the loading request resulting in having the transaction account loaded with the at least one digital asset, wherein a consumer computer belonging to the consumer is operative to communicate over the communications network with the service provider computer and interfaced with the transaction account through a computer-executable application loaded and executing thereon, wherein the computer-executable application is operable to cause the consumer computer to communicate over the communications network with the service provider computer, to cause the service provider computer to generate a consumption request for consuming at least a portion of the at least one digital asset, and to cause the service provider computer to process the consumption request resulting in having the transaction account deducted with the portion of the at least one digital asset, wherein, over the communications network, one or more components of the service provider computer are interfaced with at least one third-party transaction provider in a detachably integratable and transferrable manner such that the computer-executable application loaded and executing on the consumer computer is further operable to enable the service provider computer to provide the third-party transaction provider with access to the transaction account, and such that the third-party transaction provider is operable to enable generation of any of a further loading request and further consumption request, the further loading and consumption requests being processable by the service provider computer to have the transaction account, respectively, loaded with at least one further digital asset and deducted with at least one of the