Registers – Systems controlled by data bearing records – Credit or identification card systems
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-27
2004-11-30
Lee, Michael G. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Systems controlled by data bearing records
Credit or identification card systems
C235S379000, C705S016000, C705S017000, C705S044000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06824049
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card transaction settlement method in a point of sale system, afterward referred as POS system, which is capable of using a credit card or a debit card, and more particularly, to the card transaction settlement method in which an actual transaction is made after authorizing an approval before a card transaction ABCT for a virtual transaction amount VTA is given, and in which when the actual transaction is completed, an approval after a card transaction AACT for an actual transaction amount ATA is requested for the transaction settlement whereby the settlement with the card can be conveniently accomplished since any conflict between the merchant and the consumer, caused by the difference between the transaction amount and the debited amount against the card and so on, can be eliminated, and whereby the merchant has less of the financial risk for refund, and whereby the signature is not necessary in the signature form, resulting that true non-cashier self-service sales can be introduced to the sales management system. Herein, the VTA may also be a maximum-available amount, an user-entered amount, or a system-established available amount which is already stored in the POS system at different values, the maximum allowed amount values.
The present invention is not restricted to any particular kind of machine, although it is described below, by way of example, with reference to a self-service gas pump in a gas station.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, the conventional sales management system is made to settle the transaction payment with either the card or cash, and particularly in expensive sales management system, the merchant installs the self-service POS system integrally including the sales management system for controlling the operation of the sales machines according to the result of the approval condition from the card terminal connected through the communication cable either to card issuing institutions or to the value-added network communication enterprise so as to increase the sales. But in such a system, the operator who is able to manipulate the card terminal and sales management machine should stay in the place with the system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,786 on May 16, filed by Rogers, 1996 discloses an automated interactive bill payment system for processing payment transactions using debit card numbers without the requirement of a personal identification number.
As an example,
FIG. 1
illustrates a schematic view of a self-service gas supplying method with the credit card/debit card settlement when the self-service sales system is applied to the general type gas pump. Referring to
FIG. 1
, the card holder requests to set the payment amount for the gas to be supplied by giving the credit card or the debit card, the sales clerk asks the consumer to sign in a signature form and sets the payment amount for the gas purchase into the gas pump with the use of the POS system after an acquirement of the card approval for the transaction amount for the current gas purchase settlement with the use of the card terminal. Therefore, the consumer who moved to the gas pump begins to feeding the car with the gas using a nozzle gun
5
.
FIG. 2
is a schematic view of the self-service supplying gas method making settlement with either the credit card or the debit card using the self-service POS system in which the card terminal and the POS system are integrated together. Referring now to
FIG. 2
, the consumer makes the card to be read through the credit card recognition means or the debit card recognition means
2
(or the cash verifier
3
) which are installed on an outdoor terminal placed near the gas pump, and then sets either the desired payment amount or the desired gas amount with a plurality of setting keys
1
. Then the outdoor terminal automatically acquires the card approval through the serial communication, and prints the payment approval slip with the use of the receipt printer
4
, and then sets the approved payment amount onto the gas pump. Thereafter, the consumer moves to the gas pump to feed the car with the gas using the nozzle gun
5
by himself.
FIG. 3
is a schematic view of the self-service gas supply method making a payment with either the credit card or the debit card with the use of the self-service gas supply system comprising a credit card recognition means, a debit card recognition means, a cash verifier, a receipt issuing means, and setting keys. Referring to
FIG. 3
, the consumer sets either the desired payment amount or the desired gas amount with the use of the setting keys
1
after making the card to be read by the credit card recognition means or the debit card recognition means
3
arranged on the gas pump. Herein, the self-service gas supply system acquires the approval code for the card either via the POS system installed in the office near the gas pump, or with a serial communication in the self-service gas supply system itself, and then sets either the approved payment amount or the approved gas amount. Therefore, the consumer begins to feed the car with the gas with the use of the nozzle gun
5
by himself. When the consumer completed filling up the gas, the self-service gas supplying system prints the receipt with the receipt printer
4
. After the consumer receives the receipt, the self-service gas supply process is completed.
With the system described with the
FIGS. 1-3
, a consumer, who wants to purchase the gas with card payment, should receive the card approval for the transaction before feeding the car with the gas (since the card approval obtained after gas purchase can cause the quarrel between the consumer and the gas station merchant, it is not appropriate for the self-service gas supply). Moreover the consumer should set the payment amount for the gas so as to get the card approval for the amount, but the consumer does not know exactly how much gas can be supplied to the gas tank of his or her vehicle resulting in that the consumer request the card approval for the transaction for the purchase of the gas corresponding to the approximate amount.
It can actually take place that the gas tank of a vehicle is already full when a gas amount for the purchase is not fully supplied to the gas tank, resulting in that the consumer may ask a refund corresponding to the difference between the card transaction amount and the payment amount of a gas amount actually served.
Furthermore, if the consumer wishes to cancel the gas purchase after the card approval for the transaction is already received, it becomes more difficult to handle.
To solve problems described above, the card approval can be obtained after gas purchase. But that would be a big quarrel between the consumer and gas station merchant when the card approval is rejected because of the card invalidity. In a non-cashier self-service gas station in particular, if the gas is filled up before receiving the card approval, there can be some disadvantages described above.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a card transaction settlement method in a POS system enabling acceptance of credit card payment and debit card payment, and more particularly to provide the card transaction settlement method in which the payment by either the credit card or the debit card is made after an approval before a card transaction (ABCT) is given, and in which when the transaction is completed, an approval after a card transaction (AACT) is requested for the transaction settlement whereby the settlement with the card can be conveniently accomplished since a conflict between the merchant and the consumer, causing from such as the difference between the transaction amount and the debited amount against the card, can be eliminated, whereby the merchant has less of the financial risk for a difference amount refund, and whereby the signature is not necessary in the signature form, resulting in that true non-cashier self-service sales can be introduced to the sales management system.
A first embodim
Kim Kang Hyoung
Lee Jong In
Carlson Dale L.
Franklin Jamara A.
Kinney Michael K.
Lee Michael G.
Smartro Co., Ltd.
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