US 7,177,838 B1
Method and apparatus for conducting electronic commerce transactions using electronic tokensGeneral
US 7,177,838 B1
Method and apparatus for conducting electronic commerce transactions using electronic tokens
Tech Center:
3600 Transportation, Construction, Electronic Commerce, Agriculture, National Security and License and Review
Examiner:
Frantzy Poinvil
Art Unit:
3628 Business Methods — Incentive Programs, Coupons; Operations Research; Electronic Shopping; Health Care; Point of Sale, Inventory, Accounting; Cost/Price, Reservations, Shipping and Transportation; Business Processing
Inventors:
MARVIN T LING
Assignee:
Priority:
01/26/00
Filed:
04/21/00
Granted:
02/13/07
Expiration:
04/21/20
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for conducting electronic commerce using electronic tokens are described. The electronic tokens are issued and maintained by a vendor, who also provides products and services that can be purchased or rented using the electronic tokens. The electronic tokens may be purchased from the vendor either on-line, using a credit card, or off-line, using a check, money order, purchase order. Because the vendor is the issuer of the electronic tokens, there is no need for transactions to be handled by a third party, such as a bank or other organization. This reduces the overhead involved in conducting electronic commerce, and provides the vendor with a greater amount of control. Additionally, the vendor maintains total control over the price of the electronic tokens at any time. For vendors who offer software products for sale or rental, use of electronic tokens makes a variety of rental arrangements practical, including rental for short periods of time, for a specific number of uses, or for a specific number of processings.