SK284504B6 - System for electronic cashless purchase of goods and services by payment card - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for electronic cashless purchase of goods and services by means of payment cards and, where applicable, of a public computer network, comprising a sales operator block (3), at least one goods or services supplier block (4), a bank operations block (1) with payment card, and a payment card holder block (2). The payment card block (1) is connected to the payment card holder block (2) for sending data about goods and services available through the sales operator block (3), whereby card holder block (2) is further connected to the sales operator block (3), which is connected, on the one hand, to the bank operations block (1) with payment card and, on the other, to at least one goods or services supplier block (4).

Description

The invention relates to a system for the cashless purchase of goods and services by means of payment cards and, optionally, a public computer network or other electronic data connection.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Until now, payments for goods and services have largely been made by cash payments, but non-cash sales using a wide variety of payment cards and bank transfers using computers have been expanded to speed up, simplify and cheaper payment operations. The range of goods and services delivered via public computer networks is constantly expanding. This has created a number of systems that are constantly improving and expanding the range of services to the client.

Banks and shopping centers have customer terminals installed that provide information on the client's account balance, make transfers from the account or order goods. A certain disadvantage of the known systems is the direct involvement of the bank as a card issuer in the process of purchasing goods or services, which may be a limiting factor for the development and expansion of credit card payments due to various material constraints.

Non-cash credit card payment systems are described in a number of patents, for example in CZ patent application PV 2334-97, British patent applications no. 2 276 258 and 2 283 349, European patent applications EP 0 807 910 A2, EP 0 855 687, EP 0 865 010, PCT applications WO 96/00485, WO 97/13228, WO 98/09260, WO 98/47116, WO 98/13796, WO 96/36026, WO 96/36024 (class G07F 7/10 and 19/00 MPT) and others.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the system according to the present invention is to increase the support for making payments by means of bank payment cards and their issuance, while improving the safety of the sale of goods and services and the guarantees of their conditions of sale, including the quality of goods and delivery conditions. The system for electronically non-cash purchase of goods and services via payment cards and a public computer network comprises a block of bank transactions with a payment card, interconnected with a block of a payment card holder, and further comprising a block of a vendor operator and a block of a supplier of goods or services. The essence of the invention is that the payment card holder block is connected to a retailer operator block which is connected both to the payment card banking operations block and to at least one supplier of the goods or services. The payment card banking transaction block contains a payment card authorization and rating block. The connection of the payment card holder block to the bank operation block with the payment card or the retailer block and through it to the block of the supplier of goods or services can be effected via a public computer network or electronic data connection via a cellular telephone network or the like. The advantage is to concentrate all operations of purchase of goods or services, including guarantees of delivery conditions in one place, namely the block of the seller's operator, while preserving the advantages of the bank payment card.

The dealer operator block may be associated with another supplier of goods or service. The block of another supplier of goods or services may also be associated with the block of supplier of goods or services. These modifications are advantageous when the nature of the goods or services requires the coordination of more than one supplier. For example, the supply of certain goods may be linked to the organization of travel and accommodation of the subcontractor or directly to the customer, who is familiar with the detailed technical and economic conditions and decides on the spot. This interconnection makes it possible to expand the supply of goods or to combine the supply of goods with another service due to the larger number of suppliers.

Overview of the figures in the drawing

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for electronic cashless purchase of goods and services by means of payment cards. Figure 2 shows a variant of the connection of Figure 1 when multiple suppliers are involved in the supply of goods or services.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Figure 1 schematically illustrates the structure of a system for electronic cashless purchase of goods and services by means of payment cards according to the present invention. The purpose and function of this system will be apparent from the following description. In the comparator block of the bank's computer it is determined whether it is possible to issue a payment card to a particular applicant, a limit to be drawn can be determined and an identification number is assigned to the payment card. After the payment card is issued to the client, there is a contractual relationship between the client and the bank, which defines the conditions of validity and use of the payment card. Based on this contractual relationship between the customer and the bank, it receives block 1 of the payment card banking operations (which includes the payment card authorization and evaluation block), for example, via a public computer network or an electronic cellular telephone network. submits, by electronic or other appropriate means, statements of his account. With each account statement or account status information, the payment card holder (block 2 of the payment card holder) receives, from block 1 of the payment card banking operations, information about the specific goods and services that he can order from a particular retailer (block 3 of the retailer) ). This information may be in electronic form or on paper. For example, the offer may consist of the contents of a magazine, catalog or the like that issues sales and goods that may also be a user of a public computer network with their computer.

After selecting the goods that can only be purchased on the basis of the offer in question, the payment card holder will contact, for example, via his computer or a data telephone network, a block 3 of the retailer operator to pass on his requests and enter his payment card number. The Seller Operator Block 3 is coupled to a Payment Card Bank Operations Block 1 (e.g., a bank computer) to verify the necessary data from the Payment Card Holder Block 2. After verification, if all the requirements are met, that is, for example, the credit card is found to be valid and the account amount will cover payments for the ordered goods, block 3 of the seller's operator, for example

SK 284 504 Β6 through its computer, shall transmit the information on the required purchase of goods to block 4 of the supplier of the goods or service and order the goods there. The customer takes the goods (block 2 of the payment card holder) and pays for the sale of the cu, is in contact only with block 3 of the seller's operator, who also guarantees the quality of the goods and delivery terms.

Figure 2 shows a further modification of the system where the dealer operator block 3 is also interconnected with another supplier of goods or services. Alternatively, block 5 of another supplier of goods or services may be coupled to block 4 of supplier of goods or services. These modifications are useful when the supply of goods or services requires the cooperation of several subcontractors, or the nature of the contract requires additional services such as travel, accommodation or expertise. As with the basic structure of the system according to the invention, in this operation, the payment card holder block 2 is in contact exclusively with the retailer operator block 3, which guarantees the quality of the goods and services and the delivery conditions. The advantages of the disclosed system have already been mentioned. It should be noted, however, that in addition to the main objective of encouraging credit card payments and their issuance and, in addition to increasing the efficiency, back-checking and simplifying the whole process of non-cash payments for goods and services, Seller Operator from Block 1 of credit card banking operations.

PATENT CLAIMS

Claims (4)

A system for the electronic cashless purchase of goods and services by means of payment cards or, as the case may be, a public computer network, comprising a block (3) of a seller operator, at least one block (4) of a supplier of goods or services, block (1) (2) a credit card holder, characterized in that the bank (1) of the credit card transaction is associated with a credit card holder (2) for sending data on goods or services available through the vendor operator identification block (3) said block (3) of a retailer operator, said block (2) of a payment cardholder being further connected to a block (3) of a retailer operator which is connected, on the one hand to a block (1) of bank payment card operations and ) of the supplier of the goods or service. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the bank (1) of the payment card banking operations comprises a payment card authorization and evaluation block. System according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the dealer operator block (3) is connected to a block (5) of another supplier of goods or services. System according to claim 3, characterized in that the further supplier of goods or service block (5) is connected to the supplier or service block (4).