WO2008080187A1

WO2008080187A1 - Electronic transaction facilitation system

Info

Publication number: WO2008080187A1
Application number: PCT/AU2007/001956
Authority: WO
Inventors: Allan Paul Endresz
Original assignee: EZYBONDS Inc
Current assignee: EZYBONDS Inc
Priority date: 2007-01-05
Filing date: 2007-12-18
Publication date: 2008-07-10
Anticipated expiration: 2009-07-05

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for facilitating electronic transactions in real time by using a redeemable electronic token (128) corresponding to a particular monetary value. The method includes the steps of receiving a request to purchase a redeemable electronic token (128) corresponding to a monetary value paid by a customer (124) to a merchant (126); verifying that a merchant account (120) is in credit by at least the monetary value; and facilitating the transmission of the electronic token (128) to a customer communication device (114) for subsequent redemption. The electronic token (128) may be transmitted by SMS, electronic mail, instant messaging or another electronic data transmission technique. The method may also include steps for recharging the electronic token (128) and redeeming the electronic token (128) by crediting a customer account (122) or merchant account (120).

Description

ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION FACILITATION SYSTEM

The present invention relates generally to methods and systems for facilitating electronic transactions, and in particular to electronic transaction systems that are conducted in real time whilst minimising the risk of a fraudulent transaction occurring.

Transactions between merchants and customers are increasingly being conducted by the use of electronic transaction systems. In such systems, a customer typically provides the merchant with a credit card number. In return for the provision of goods or services to the customer, the customer authorises the merchant to debit an account maintained on behalf of the customer by a financial institution. Alternately, a customer can sometimes use a debit card to transfer money from a savings account in which funds are accumulated by the customer, to an account maintained on behalf of the merchant at a financial institution.

However, in some instances existing electronic transaction systems are found to be inadequate. Credit card and debit card theft result in the merchant incurring a risk that they will ultimately not be paid for the provision of goods and services to the customer. Moreover, in some countries a significant proportion of potential customers do not have access to a savings account or credit account and are therefore unable to participate in the purchase of goods or services from merchants by use of electronic transaction systems.

It would be desirable to provide a means for facilitating electronic transactions between customers and merchants that was widely accessible and minimised the risk of fraud in such transactions. It would also be desirable to provide a means for facilitating an electronic transaction that was simple to implement and use by both merchants and customers. It would further be desirable to provide a means for facilitating an electronic transaction that enabled real time transactions to be undertaken. It would also be desirable to provide a means for facilitating an electronic transaction that did not require a customer to obtain a credit account, savings account or like financial account with a financial institution. One aspect of the invention provides a method of facilitating an electronic transaction, the method including the steps of: receiving a request to purchase a redeemable electronic token corresponding to a monetary value paid by a customer to a merchant; verifying that a merchant account is in credit by at least the monetary value; and facilitating the transmission of the electronic token to a customer communication device for subsequent redemption.

The method may further include the step of receiving customer data enabling identification of the customer communication device. The customer data may be a telephone number or other network address of the customer communication device. Alternatively, the method may further include the step of using the customer account number to determine a telephone number or other network address of the customer communication device associated with the customer account number.

The method may further include the step of validating the telephone number or other network address.

The method may further include the step of transmitting the electronic token by SMS, electronic mail, instant messaging or other electronic data transmission technique.

In one embodiment, the method may further include the step of printing a hard copy of the electronic token at a customer communication device or merchant communication device.

The method may further include the steps of: receiving a request to recharge a redeemable electronic token by a recharge value paid by a customer to a merchant; verifying that a merchant account is in credit by at least the recharge value; and transmitting notification of the token recharge to a customer communication device.

In one embodiment of the invention, the method may further include the steps of: receiving the electronic token; receiving notification that a merchant has provided one or more items or services for an amount of up to the monetary value to the customer; and crediting the merchant account with that amount.

Alternately, the method may further include the steps of: receiving the electronic token; and crediting the customer account with an amount of up to the monetary value. In this case, the step of crediting a customer account may be preceded by the steps of: verifying the existence of the customer account; and if no customer account exists, creating the customer account.

Another aspect of the invention provides a method of facilitating an electronic transaction, the method including the steps of: receiving a request to credit a customer account by a monetary value paid by a customer to a merchant; identifying the customer account; verifying that a merchant account is in credit by at least the monetary value; and crediting the customer account with the monetary from the merchant account. Yet another aspect of the invention provides a method of facilitating an electronic transaction, the method including the steps of: receiving a request to purchase a redeemable electronic token corresponding to a monetary value; and facilitating the transmission of the electronic token to a customer communication device for subsequent redemption.

A still further aspect of the present invention provides an electronic transaction facilitating system including one or more computer systems, each computer system including at least one processor and associated memory for storing a series of instructions for causing the processor to carry out any of the methods described previously.

A further aspect of the invention provides computer software for use in an electronic transaction facilitating system including one or more computer systems, each computer system including at least one processor and associated memory for storage of the computer software, the computer software including a series of instructions for causing the processor to carry out any of the methods described previously.

The invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompany drawings. It is to be understood that the particularity of the drawings does not supersede the generality in the preceding description of the invention.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment of an electronic transaction facilitating system;

Figures 2 and 3 are flow charts showing various steps carried out during operation of the electronic transaction facilitating system shown in Figure 1 ;

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of an electronic transaction facilitating system;

Figures 5 and 6 are flow charts showing various steps carried out by the electronic transaction facilitating system shown in Figure 4; and Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing various functional elements of an exemplary computer system forming part of the electronic transaction facilitating systems shown in Figures 1 and 4.

Referring now to Figure 1 , there is shown generally an electronic transaction facilitating system 100 including a server system 102 in communication with a processing centre 104. The server system 102 is in communication with exemplary merchant communication devices 106 and 108 and customer communication device 1 10 via a first communication network

112. In the illustrated example, the merchant communication devices 106 and

108 and the customer communication device 1 10 are conventional personal computers (PCs) or like computer systems. The communication network 112 in the illustrated example is a fixed communication network such as the Internet, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or like communication network.

The electronic transaction facilitating system further includes a customer communication device 1 14 and merchant communication device 1 16 that communicate with the server system 102 via a second communication network 118. In this figure, the communication network 1 18 is a mobile network, such as a GSM, CDMA or like wireless communication network. The customer communication device 1 14 and merchant communication device 1 16 are mobile communication devices. It is to be appreciated that in other embodiments of the invention the various customer and merchant communication devices maybe fixed, mobile, stand alone or forming part of other communication or computing equipment. Moreover, the communication networks 1 12 and 118 are merely illustrative of the various communication networks that may be implemented as part of the electronic transaction facilitating system 100.

The server system 102 may be adapted to receive communications from and transmit communications to the various customer and merchant communication devices shown in Figure 1 by means of SMS, email, instant messaging or any other electronic data transmission technique. In the example shown in Figure 1 , the server system 102 is adapted to send and receive SMS communications to and from the customer communication device 1 14 and merchant communication device 116. The server system 102 is also adapted to act as an Internet server to send HTML pages to the customer and merchant communication devices 1 10, 106 and 108 to enable the display of information to customers and/or merchants via web browsers installed at these communication devices. The server system 102 is similarly adapted to receive data input at the customer and merchant communication devices 1 10, 106 and 108. The data captured by the server system 102 is transmitted to the processing centre 104. The processing centre 104 is adapted to access one or more merchant accounts 120 and/or one or more customer accounts 122 maintained at a financial institution.

In order to begin an electronic transaction using the electronic transaction facilitating system 100 shown in Figure 1 , a customer 124 visits a merchant 126. As seen in Figure 2, the customer 124 requests from the merchant 126 the purchase of a redeemable electronic token corresponding to a certain monetary value at step 200. The merchant 126 may provide the customer 124 with a choice of redeemable tokens corresponding to one or more fixed monetary values, such as $5.00, $10.00, $50.00, etc. To begin the transaction, the merchant 126 accesses the merchant communication device 106 and establishes a connection session with a web site hosted at the server system 102. At step 202, the merchant navigates to a site called, in this example, "cash pins". The customer 124 informs the merchant 126 of the desired value of the redeemable electronic token to be purchased, and pays the merchant a monetary value corresponding to that amount. At step 204, the merchant then selects the desired electronic token from the website hosted at the server system 102. Optionally, if a number of items or services are to be purchased by the customer 124, the website may enable the electronic token to be added to an online shopping cart so that all such purchases can be processed at the one time.

At step 206, the merchant then enters into the merchant communication device 106 customer data, such as the phone number, of a customer communication device, in this case the mobile customer communication device 1 14.

Alternately, if the customer 124 has already established a customer account 1 12, the customer data entered by the merchant at step 206 may be the customer account number. The customer account number can be used by processing centre 104 to identify a customer communication device that has been recorded as being associated with the holder of the customer account 122.

At this point, a decision is made by the processing centre 104 at step 208 as to whether the customer data entered at the customer communication device 106 was a phone number or other network address of a customer communication device, or was a customer account number. If the entered customer data was a customer account number, then a determination is made at step 210 as to whether a telephone number associated with the customer account number has been registered. If this is not the case, then, at step 212, the merchant 126 is prompted via the merchant communication device 106 to request that the customer 124 enter a telephone number or other network address of a customer communication device. If however there was a telephone number associated with the customer account number at step 214, the telephone number or other network address is validated. In one example, the telephone number is examined to determine that it is an appropriate length, that it includes appropriate area codes, valid characters and is of an appropriate format.

Once the validation step has been performed at step 214, the merchant then makes a selection at step 216 as to whether the electronic token is to be delivered to the customer communication device 1 14 via SMS, email or other electronic data transmission technique, or whether alternatively payment of the monetary value is to be made directly into the customers account 122.

At step 218, the merchant account 120 is verified to ensure that it is in credit by at least the monetary value paid by the customer 124 to the merchant 126. If there are not sufficient clear funds available in the merchant account

120, the merchant may load addition funds into that account via a credit card, bank account or other source of funds.

At step 220, the processing centre at 104 debits the merchant account 120 held by the merchant 126 and either creates an electronic token 128 corresponding to that debited amount (which also corresponds to the monetary value paid by the customer 124 to the merchant 126), or automatically credits the customer account 122.

At step 222, a determination is made by the processing centre 104 as to whether the customer 124 is a new customer, based upon whether a registered customer account number or registered telephone number was entered at step 206. If the customer is an existing customer, then at step 224, an SMS or other electronic data transmission is sent to the customer communication device 1 14, the communication including the redeemable electronic token.

In addition to the purchasing of new redeemable electronic tokens, the processing centre 104 also enables existing electronic tokens to be recharged. Accordingly, the customer 124 may approach the merchant 126 and request that a redeemable electronic token be recharged by a recharge value paid by the customer to the merchant. In this case, the above described steps as shown in Figure 2 are carried out, however the merchant selects at step 204 a recharge value rather than a monetary value corresponding to a new redeemable electronic token. Where an existing electronic token is desired to be recharged, and the customer has been determined at step 222 to be an existing customer, then the cash recharge to the existing electronic token is applied at step 226 prior to confirmation of the electronic token recharge being sent to the customer communication device 1 14 at step 224.

If it is determined at step 222 that the customer 124 is a new customer, then at step 228 a new customer account 122 is automatically created by the processing centre 104 and attached to the users telephone number or other network address of the customer communication device 1 14. If an existing electronic token is being recharged, then that cash recharge is carried out at step 230, and SMS or other electronic data transmission sent to the customer communication device 1 14 confirming that the existing electronic token has been recharged. Alternatively, if a new electronic token is being purchased by the customer 124, the electronic token is transmitted to the customer communication device 1 14 at step 232. The data transmitted to the customer communication device 114 may also include details identifying the customer account 122 that has just been created (in the case where a new customer account was created at step 228). The electronic token may be implemented in a variety of formats, however one possible implementation is a unique alphanumeric string of characters, each token being 12 to 16 characters long. Other implementations of the ultra link token may include more or less characters, and may be encrypted, may include a digital signature, digital certificate or other authentication means.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the electronic token 128 is then able to be redeemed by the customer 124 in exchange for goods and/or services with another merchant, or alternately may be transmitted to another customer for redemption with the same or another merchant. For example, the electronic token can be sent to another party such as a family member overseas for redemption for goods and/or services with a merchant in the country in which that family member is resident.

The electronic token 128 need not remain in electronic form during its delivery to another customer, such as a family member, or during its redemption with a merchant. For example, the electronic token may be transmitted to a customer terminal 110 in communication with a printer 130 to enable a hard copy of the electronic token to be obtained either by the customer or by another customer to whom the electronic token has been transmitted. Alternately, a hard copy of the electronic token may be printed at a printer 132 associated with the merchant communication device 160 and provided to the customer 124 at the time of token purchase.

In order to redeem the token via a merchant, the customer 124 provides the electronic token to the merchant in question. It will be understood that the merchant from which goods and/or services are be redeemed by the customer 124 will typically be a different merchant from the merchant 126 at which the electronic token was initially purchased. Having provided the electronic token to the merchant for redemption, the merchant then provides notification to the processing centre 104 via the service system 102 that the merchant has provided one or more items or services for an amount of up to the monetary value of the electronic token to the customer. The processing centre 104 then acts to credit the merchant account 120 with that amount. It should be understood that the customer 124 can redeem only part of the monetary value of the electronic token if they wish at any one time. Instead of electronically providing the electronic token to the merchant, the customer is able to redeem the electronic token by providing the hard copy printed by either the printer 132 or the printer 130 to the merchant in question. For example, the merchant communication device 180 has a scanner 134 connected thereto, and is adapted to read the hard copy of the electronic token generated by the printers 132 or 130.

As explained previously in relation to Figure 2, the electronic token may also be redeemed by crediting a customer account 122 with an amount of up to the monetary value of the electronic token, when either the electronic token itself or a hard copy of the electronic token is presented to a merchant for redemption.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the above described method of facilitating an electronic transaction is balance neutral, meaning that once the transaction for both purchasing an electronic token and redeeming that electronic token is complete, no entity is left holding additional funds or goods that place a merchant, customer, or financial institution in an element of fraud risk. At the termination of the transaction in question, the financial institution will already hold funds to pay for the goods and services received, deducted from the merchant's security account. The merchant will have funds paid in their till, which balances with the funds deducted from the merchant account by the processing centre 104. The customers will have the goods or services that they pay for, and will in exchange have provided monetary value to the merchant.

The above described method of facilitating an electronic transaction further solves a number of problems that plague other organisations operating in the electronic commerce world. The most substantial of these benefits are the elimination of the risk of a merchant or thief defrauding or stealing from a company, as they only have access to their own funds secured by the processing centre 104. Another significant benefit is the elimination of the possibility of bad debts being incurred by merchants as transactions are processed securely in real time. The balance of funds is preserved at each entity involved in the transaction, which provides an environment where customers and merchants can transact with confidence.

The above described method of facilitating an electronic transaction also provides flexibility to both customers and merchants. The customers who do not have ready access to credit cards, bank accounts or the Internet can readily purchase a redeemable electronic token from a retail outlet. The customers can then use the redeemable electronic tokens in a number of ways, including for example sending the redeemable electronic token to a relative in another country for redemption at a merchant in that country in exchange for cash or for goods and/or services of up to the monetary value corresponding to the redeemable electronic token. This process has significant ramifications for use in the developing world, particularly in areas where there are significant segments of the population who lack the means to transact via computers and who have no access to credit cards and bank accounts. Figure 3 shows the steps involved in the purchase and/or recharging of an electronic token, where the merchant communicates with the processing centre 104 via the merchant communication device 106 using SMS messages. As can be seen in Figure 3, a customer initially approaches the merchant at step 300 to purchase an electronic token. At step 302, the merchant determines whether the customer wishes the electronic token to be communicated directly to a customer communication device, such as a mobile telephone having SMS message receiving capabilities, or whether an amount equivalent to the monetary value paid by the customer to the merchant is to be credited directly to the customer's account 122. If the customer wishes to purchase an electronic token, the merchant collects the monetary value corresponding to the electronic token from the customer at step 304. At step 306, the merchant uses the merchant communication device 1 16 to construct an SMS message for transmission via the service system 102 to the processing centre 104. The SMS message can be constructed with the assistance of one or more predefined templates stored on the mobile merchant communication device 116.

For instance, the template used to construct an SMS message at step 306 may have the following format [transaction type 15] [EzylD] [password] [customers account ID or mobile phone number] [amount], where transaction type 15 indicates to the processing centre 104 that the customer wishes to purchase an electronic token, EzylD is the merchants account identifier, the password is the merchant password to enable access to the merchant account, customers EzylD or mobile phone number correspond to the customers account identifier or the customers mobile phone number and amount corresponds to the monetary value paid by the customer to the merchant for the electronic token. The merchant replaces the fields in the template with the information they wish to enter, to enable the merchant to send a string of information in an SMS message to the service system 102 for forwarding to the processing centre 104. A completed string does not contain the delimiting brackets depicted above, and instead may look as follows:

15 merch23 elizajane22 customer9567 100.00

If it is determined however at step 302 that the customer wishes to have their customer account 122 credited directly, then at step 308 the merchant collects the monetary value from the customer and at step 310 uses an existing template to construct an SMS message for transmission to the processing centre 104. The template selected for direct account debiting may have an identical format to the template selected for purchasing an electronic token, however the field in [transaction type 15] is replaced with the field [transaction type 14]. In order to enable the processing centre to distinguish between the two different types of operations.

At step 312, the SMS message constructed at either step 306 or at step 310 is received by the service system 102 and forwarded to the processing centre 104. The merchant account 120 is then debited and electronic token created or alternately customer account credited by the corresponding monetary value paid by the customer to the merchant. If there are insufficient funds available in the merchant account the merchant may load additional funds into the account via credit card, from another account maintained by a financial institution or other crediting means. At step 314, the processing centre 104 uses the customer telephone number entered by the merchant at either step 304 or step 308 to determine whether the customer has established an existing customer account 122. If the customer is a new customer, then at step 316 a new customer account is created and attached to the user's telephone number. If the customer has requested the recharging of an existing electronic token, then the cash recharge is automatically processed at step 318 by the processing centre 104. At step 320, an SMS message is sent to the mobile customer communication device 114 with confirmation of the automatic recharge, or if an electronic token has been purchased with the electronic token and transaction details. The new customer may optionally be sent details of the newly created customer account. Alternately, if the customer is determined not to be a new customer at step 314, then the cash recharge of an existing electronic token (if applicable) is processed by the processing centre 104 at step 322 and at step 324, an SMS message is sent to the customer communication device with confirmation of the automatic token recharge (if applicable) or the electronic token 128 and details of the transaction.

In other embodiments of the invention, the purchase and recharge of electronic tokens need not necessarily involve a merchant. As can be seen in Figure 4, a customer may choose to access a client communication device, such as the customer terminal 1 10 to directly access a relevant website hosted at the service system 102 and through that website transmit to the processing centre 104 a request to purchase a redeemable electronic token corresponding to a monetary value. The processing centre 104 then determines whether the customer financial account 122 is in credit by at least that monetary value. If this is the case, then an electronic token 128 corresponding to that value is transmitted to a customer communication device, such as the mobile telephone 114, for subsequent redemption. The delivery of the electronic token, recharging of the electronic token and redemption of the token may occur in an identical manner to that described in relation to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 3.

The process by which the customer 124 purchases and recharges an electronic token via the Internet is shown in Figure 5. At step 500, the customer visits the particular website maintained by the service system 102 by using the web browser installed at the customer communication device 1 10. At step 502, the customer selects an electronic token corresponding to a desired monetary value and optionally places that electronic token in a shopping chart for subsequent purchase. In step 504, the customer enters customer data enabling identification of the customer communication device 114 to which the electronic token will be communicated. At this step, the customer may typically enter a telephone number or other network address of the customer communication device 1 14 or an account identifier of their customer account 122 if they have an existing customer account with a registered telephone number or network address of a customer communication device. At step 506, the information entered by the customer via the customer communication device 1 10 is processed by the processing centre 104, and a determination is made as to whether the customer data included a telephone number or other network address of a customer communication device or a customer account identifier. If a telephone number was entered, then at step 508 the processing centre validates the telephone or the network address by determining whether the telephone number has a valid length, includes a relevant area code and any other relevant checks to determine that the telephone number is a valid number to which the electronic token can be communicated with confidence. If however it is determined that step 506 that the customer has entered a customer account identifier, then the processing centre at step 510 determines whether the account identifier entered by the customer permits identification of a customer communication device that has been registered with the customer account.

If a telephone number or network address of a customer communication device has been registered then the processing centre performs the validation checks at step 508. If no telephone number or network address has been recorded against a customer account number, or if a telephone number entered by the customer or identified by the processing centre 104 is not valid , then the customer is prompted at step 512 to re-enter a telephone number or other network address.

At step 514, the customer indicates via the website hosted at the service system 102 whether the electronic token is to be sent directly to the customer communication device 1 14 via an SMS message, and then proceeds to late payment for the electronic token. At step 516, the processing centre 104, determines whether the customer account is in credit by at least the monetary value requested by the customer. If not, the customer is able to load additional funds into the customer account via credit card, bank account or other credit means. At step 518, the processing centre 104 then debits the relevant customer account 122 then creates a redeemable electronic token responding to the monetary value selected by the customer. At step 520, a SMS message is then sent to the customer including the redeemable electronic token 128 and optionally providing transaction details. Redemption of the electronic token occurs in a manner identical to that described in relation to the embodiment of the invention described in Figures 1 to 3.

As shown in Figure 6, electronic token purchase and recharging may also occur via a mobile communication device, such as the mobile customer communication device 114 shown in Figure 4. As can be seen in Figure 6, at step 600, a customer wishing to purchase a redeemable electronic token in step 600 constructs an appropriate SMS message at 602 via the mobile customer communication device 1 14 by selecting an appropriate template at step 604 and replacing the fields in the template with appropriate values.

At step 606, the SMS message is received by the processing centre 104 and the customer account 1 12 debited and a redeemable electronic token corresponding to the monetary values selected by the customer is created, provided there are sufficient funds available in the customer account 122. At step 608, an SMS message is transmitted to the customer communication device 1 14 including the electronic token 128 and any relevant transaction details. It will be appreciate from the foregoing that the electronic tokens purchased by the customer are highly transportable and can be transmitted from a purchasing customer to a family member, friend or other entity for redemption by that entity. The transmission can be by electronic means, such as by the sending of an SMS, email or other electronic message to a desired recipient, or can be by any other desired transmission means, such as by the printing of a hard copy of the electronic token by the purchasing customer and the delivery by hand or by mail of that hard copy to an intended recipient.

Purchasing, recharging, and redemption of the electronic tokens is simple, flexible and able to be carried out in real time. Moreover, the risk of fraud is eliminated since each entity involved in the above described processes engages in a balance neutral transaction. In other words, the goods and services provided to a customer or the debiting of a financial account always correspond to the moneys received either at a merchant till or credited to an account. Balance-neutral transactions occur with respect to the customer, the merchant and the financial institution maintaining merchant and customer accounts in all cases.

Moreover, the above described electronic facilitating system does not require a purchasing customer to have an existing bank account or credit card account, which would prevent this system from being used in many countries in which a significant number of consumers do not access to such financial facilities. The system 100 may be implemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof and may be implemented in one or more computer systems or processing system. In particular, the functionality of the customer communication devices, merchant communication devices, service system 102 and processing centre 104 may be provided by one or more computer systems capable of carrying out the above described functionality.

Such a computer system is illustrated in Figure 7. In this figure an exemplary computer system 700 includes one or more processors, such as processor 710. The processor 710 is connected to a communication infrastructure 720. The computer system 700 may include a display interface 730 that forwards graphics, texts and other data from the communication infrastructure 720 for supply to the display unit 740. The computer system 900 may also include a main memory 750, preferably random access memory, and may also include a secondary memory 760. The secondary memory 760 may include, for example, a hard disk drive

770, magnetic tape drive, optical disk drive, etc. The removable storage drive 780 reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit 790 in a well known manner. The removable storage unit 790 represents a floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, etc. As will be appreciated, the removable storage unit 790 may include a computer usable storage medium having stored therein computer software in a form of a series of instructions to cause the processor 710 to carry out desired functionality. In alternative embodiments, the secondary memory 760 may include other similar means for allowing computer programs or instructions to be loaded into the computer system 700. Such means may include, for example, a removable storage unit 800 and interface 810.

The computer system 700 may also include a communications interface 820. Communications interface 820 allows software and data to be transferred between the computer system and external devices. Examples of communication interface 820 may include a modem, a network interface, a communications port, a PCMIA slot and card, etc. Software and data transferred via a communications interface 820 are in the form of signals 830 which may be electromagnetic, electronic, optical or other signals capable of being received by the communications interface 820. The signals are provided to communications interface 820 via a communications path 840 such as a wire or cable, fibre optics, phone line, cellular phone link, radio frequency or other communications channels.

Although in the above described embodiments the invention in implemented primarily using computer software, in other embodiments the invention may be implemented primarily in hardware using for example, hardware components such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Implementation of a hardware state machine so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art. In other embodiments, the invention may be implemented using a combination of both hardware and software.

While the invention has been describe in conjunction with a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many alternative, modifications and variations in light of the foregoing description are possible. Accordingly, the present invention is intended to embrace all such alternative, modifications and variations as may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating an electronic transaction, the method including the steps of: receiving a request to purchase a redeemable electronic token corresponding to a monetary value paid by a customer to a merchant; verifying that a merchant account is in credit by at least the monetary value; and facilitating the transmission of the electronic token to a customer communication device for subsequent redemption.

2. A method according to claim 1 , and further including the step of: receiving customer data enabling identification of the customer communication device.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the customer data is a telephone number or other network address of the customer communication device.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein the customer data is a customer account number, and wherein the method further includes the step of: using the customer account number to determine a telephone number or other network address of the customer communication device associated with the customer account number.

5. A method according to either one of claims 4 or 5, and further including the step of: validating the telephone number or other network address.

6. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, and further including the step of: transmitting the electronic token by SMS, electronic mail, instant messaging or other electronic data transmission technique.

7. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, and further including the step of: printing a hard copy of the electronic token at a customer communication device or merchant communication device.

8. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, and further including the steps of: receiving a request to recharge a redeemable electronic token by a recharge value paid by a customer to a merchant; verifying that a merchant account is in credit by at least the recharge value; and transmitting notification of the token recharge to a customer communication device.

9. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, and further including the steps of: receiving the electronic token; receiving notification that a merchant has provided one or more items or services for an amount of up to the monetary value to the customer; and crediting a merchant account with that amount.

10. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, and further including the steps of: receiving the electronic token; and crediting a customer account with an amount of up to the monetary value.

1 1. A method according to claim 10, wherein the step of crediting a customer account is preceded by the steps of: verifying the existence of the customer account; and if no customer account exists, creating the customer account.

12. A method of facilitating an electronic transaction, the method including the steps of: receiving a request to credit a customer account by a monetary value paid by a customer to a merchant; identifying the customer account; verifying that a merchant account is in credit by at least the monetary value; and crediting the customer account with the monetary value from the merchant account.

13. A method of facilitating an electronic transaction, the method including the steps of: receiving a request to purchase a redeemable electronic token corresponding to a monetary value; verifying that a customer financial account is in credit by at least the monetary value; and facilitating the transmission of the electronic token to a customer communication device for subsequent redemption.

14. A method according to claim 13, and further including the step of: receiving customer data enabling identification of the customer communication device.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the customer data is a telephone number or other network address of the customer communication device.

16. A method according to claim 14, wherein the customer data is a customer account number, and wherein the method further includes the step of: using the customer account number to determine a telephone number or other network address of the customer communication device associated with the customer account number.

17. A method according to either one of claims 15 or 16, and further including the step of: validating the telephone number or other network address.

18. A method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, and further including the step of: transmitting the electronic token by SMS, electronic mail, instant messaging or other electronic data transmission technique.

19. A method according to any one of claims 13 to 18, and further including the step of: printing a hard copy of the electronic token at a customer communication device or merchant communication device.

20. A method according to any one of claims 13 to 19, and further including the steps of: receiving a request to recharge a redeemable electronic token by a recharge value paid by a customer to a merchant; verifying that a merchant account is in credit by at least the recharge value; and transmitting notification of the token recharge to a customer communication device.

21. A method according to any one of claims 13 to 20, and further including the steps of: receiving the electronic token; receiving notification that a merchant has provided one or more items or services corresponding to a predetermined monetary value to the customer; crediting a merchant account with predetermined monetary value.

22. A method according to any one of claims 13 to 21 , and further including the steps of: receiving the electronic token; crediting a customer account with the predetermined monetary value.

23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the step of crediting a customer account is preceded by the steps of: verifying the existence of the customer account; and if no customer account exists, creating the customer account.

24. An electronic transaction facilitating system including one or more computer systems, each computer system including at least one processor and associated memory for storing a series of instructions for causing the processor to carry out a method according to any one of the preceding claims.

25. Computer software for use in an electronic transaction facilitating system including one or more computer systems, each computer system including at least one processor and associated memory for storage of the computer software, the computer software including a series of instructions for causing the processor to carry out a method according to any one of claims 1 to 23.