text:
Benedict XVI's March 26 Homily at Roman Parish
"God Continues to Love Us Even When He Punishes Us"
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 12, 2006 (Zenit) - Here is a translation of the homily Benedict XVI delivered March 26 during his pastoral visit to the Parish of God the Merciful Father, in Rome.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This Fourth Sunday of Lent, traditionally known as "Laetare Sunday," is permeated with a joy which, to some extent, attenuates the penitential atmosphere of this holy season: "Rejoice Jerusalem!" the Church says in the entrance antiphon. "Be glad for her ... you who mourned for her." The refrain of the responsorial psalm echoes this invitation: "The memory of you, Lord, is our joy."
To think of God gives joy. We spontaneously ask ourselves: But why should we rejoice? One reason, of course, is the approach of Easter. The expectation of Easter gives us a foretaste of the joy of the encounter with the Risen Christ.
The deepest reason, however, lies in the message offered by the biblical readings that the liturgy presents to us today and that we have heard. They remind us that despite our unworthiness, God's infinite mercy is destined for us. God loves us in a way that we might call "obstinate" and enfolds us in his inexhaustible tenderness.
This is what already emerges from the First Reading from the Book of Chronicles in the Old Testament (cf. 2 Chronicles 36:14-16,19-23). The sacred author offers us a concise and meaningful interpretation of the history of the Chosen People, who suffered God's punishment as a consequence of their rebellious behavior: The temple was destroyed and the people in exile no longer had a land; it truly seemed that God had forgotten them.
Then, however, they saw that God, through punishment, pursues a plan of mercy. It was to be the destruction of the Holy City and the temple -- as I said -- it was to be an exile that would move the people's hearts and bring them back to their God so that they might know him more deeply.
And then the Lord, demonstrating the absolute primacy of his initiative over every purely human effort, was to make use of a pagan, King Cyrus of Persia, to set Israel free. In the text we have heard, the anger and mercy of the Lord alternate in a dramatic sequence, but love triumphs in the end, for God is love.
How can we fail to grasp from the memory of those distant events a message valid for all times, including our own? In thinking of the past centuries, we can see that God continues to love us even when he punishes us. Even when God's plans pass through trial and punishment, they always aim at an outcome of mercy and forgiveness.
This is what the Apostle Paul confirmed for us in the Second Reading, recalling that "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:4-5).
To express this reality of salvation the Apostle, together with the term "mercy," "eleos" in Greek, uses the word for love, "agape," taken up and further amplified in the most beautiful statement which we heard in the Gospel passage: "God so loved the world that he gave his Only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
As we know, that "giving" on the part of the Father had a dramatic development: It even went to the point of the sacrifice of the Son on the Cross. If Jesus' entire mission in history is an eloquent sign of God's love, his death, in which God's redeeming tenderness is fully expressed, is quite uniquely so. Always, but particularly in this Lenten season, our meditation must be centered on the cross. In it we contemplate the glory of the Lord that shines out in the martyred body of Jesus.
God's greatness, his being love, becomes visible precisely in this total gift of himself. It is the glory of the Crucified One that every Christian is called to understand, live and bear witness to with his life. The cross -- the giving of himself on the part of the Son of God -- is the definitive "sign" par excellence given to us so that we might understand the truth about man and the truth about God: We have all been created and redeemed by a God who sacrificed his only Son out of love.
This is why the Crucifixion, as I wrote in the encyclical "Deus Caritas Est," "is the culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form" (No. 12).
How should we respond to this radical love of the Lord? The Gospel presents to us a person by the name of Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem who sought out Jesus by night. He was a well-to-do man, attracted by the Lord's words and example, but one who hesitated to take the leap of faith because he was fearful of others. He felt the ...
Rate This Article
0 Comments
Leave a Comment
More Featured Today
- Monaco & The Vatican: Monaco's Grace Kelly Exhibit to Rome--A Review of Monegasque-Holy See Diplomatic History
- My Dad
- A Royal Betrayal: Catholic Monaco Liberalizes Abortion
- John Paul II as an Apostle of Mercy
- Embrace every moment as sacred time
- A Recession Antidote
- The Why of Jesus' Death: A Pauline Perspective
- Father Lombardi's Address on Catholic Media
- Pope's Words to Pontifical Latin American College
- Prelate: Genetics Needs a Conscience
Most Popular
Medjugorje Marian apparitions ruled FALSE? Read More
IT'S NOT OVER: Freedom of Religion may trump same-sex marriage victories Read More
SHOCKING: Woman confesses to killing her EIGHT newborns and hiding the corpses in her home Read More
SUPREME COURT RULES GAY 'MARRIAGE' LEGAL IN ALL 50 STATES Read More
Mystery surrounds disappearance of American woman on ancient Catholic pilgrimage in Spain Read More
Daily Readings
Reading 1, Acts 12:1-11
It was about this time that King Herod started persecuting ... Read More
Psalm, Psalms 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
I will praise Yahweh from my heart; let the humble hear and ... Read More
Gospel, Matthew 16:13-19
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this ... Read More
Reading 2, Second Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18
As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, ... Read More
Saint of the Day
St. Peter, First Pope
June 29: Simon Peter or Cephas, the first pope, Prince of the Apostles, ... Read More
Latest Videos
Jun 28 - Homily: Go to Confession and Receive your Healing View Video
Jun 28 - Homily: Spiritual Death of Our Nation View Video
Jun 27 - Homily: St. Cyril of Alexandria View Video
St Augustine and the Re-Conversion of England: Sermon by Fr Marcus Holden. A Day With Mary View Video
Faith in the Most Holy Trinity: Sermon by Fr Robert Copsey SOLT. A Day With Mary View Video


text:
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
2 comments
Motivation is something I used to think I needed, in abundance. I am getting over that thought now and replacing my desire for motivation with a strength of purpose, and commitment. Motivation is a lot like a fly by night friend, someone who dro... Read more
Monday, July 06, 2015
10 comments
Hurrah! I felt great tonight at the gym. It kicked in about 5 minutes into my routine, when I hit the high note and it continued throughout. Happy thoughts swam in my head.
I am made to work out.
Yes, I can do this.
I can and ... Read more
Monday, July 06, 2015
8 comments
I'm heading to the gym tonight for the first time in a couple of weeks. I was waylaid a bit with a variety of things, but I have a 7:30pm meet-up tonight which I am keeping.
I started the day out with a healthy breakfast of fresh fruit - b... Read more
Wednesday, July 01, 2015
5 comments
I am just getting over a sickness that lasted two weeks or so which included a bevy of things not designed to keep me well --- from a persistent and nagging cough, probable kidney stone pain, separation anxiety from my coach, and a major deadli... Read more
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
8 comments
This has been an interesting couple of days where I have been feeling both highs and lows. I am proud of myself though, for hanging in there, and coming out of what feels like a fog.
I talked to my counselor (shrink) yesterday, and my heal... Read more
Sunday, June 21, 2015
7 comments
Getting in the right frame of mind takes some work. It can be harder when life feels like a whirling dervish around you. I am experiencing some struggles and conflicts at the moment, but I am completely aware that while I have no control of the ... Read more
Thursday, June 18, 2015
6 comments
Even when my mind may be all systems go - it does not necessarily mean the rest of me is following suit. It has been a week with a little bit of struggling - not isolated to any one particular area - all areas, but it is okay because I may only ... Read more
Sunday, June 14, 2015
7 comments
I've got three hour-long training sessions on the book to meet with my new trainer, Don this week: Mon, Tues, Thurs. I've got system training at work, Tues-Friday and we will likely be eating together as a group on those days. I will keep fruit ... Read more
Saturday, June 13, 2015
10 comments
The Food closet, that is. for so many years, have been a behind the scenes person, and that usually included my food intake. Whether, I would eat solo, late at night, or just out of sight, people frequently had no idea what I was eating --- nei... Read more
Saturday, June 13, 2015
3 comments
Started today off with intention. Went out for breakfast with hubby - had toast, 2 eggs over medium and a fruit cup, and 1 cup of decaf tea, and 1 cup of reg tea.
This is working as my new eating plan - balanced, and including fruits/vegg... Read more
Friday, June 12, 2015
4 comments
I have been feeling like crap the last week and a half. There's several reasons for this --- some might be quick to point out about Hadley's departure, and there is some truth to that, but it goes much deeper than that, and I can personally trac... Read more
Thursday, June 11, 2015
7 comments
When I started to write my blog tonight, I started to think how SERIOUSLY PROUD of myself I that I have gone to the gym and worked out for an hour with Don.
One hour!
Filled with pushing the sled,both weighted and not, lat raises with... Read more
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
3 comments
This is a phrase I've picked up from Hadley. Along the lines of fall down seven times get up eight. My time with Hadley is on standby. We had our last (for now) workout as he moves in just a couple of days. Tonight, we went and had some vittles ... Read more
Tuesday, June 09, 2015
5 comments
Once upon a time in my life, I was as hard as nails. When I was teen, I remember my mother giving me a shirt that had Garfield the cat on it. It said, "courageous, bold and direct. Has the compassion of a rock." I had to agree with her back the... Read more
Tuesday, June 09, 2015
7 comments
Last night I was in the midst of writing a new blog and we were hit by a wave of thunderstorms and the power went off. Luckily, it came back on around 6am today, but I lost my blog and a few hours sleep.
I recognize that I need to get my h... Read more

subset: commoncrawl


text: http://techcrunch.com – The Pebble smart watch is one of the most ephemeral pieces of hardware I've seen in a while. The watch is amazingly light and yet contains enough computing power to run a solid notifications system and, once development ramps up, any number of interesting apps. How do we know? iFixIt tore that thing to pieces just now and found a 120MHz ARM chip, 3-axis accelerometer, and a Bluetooth 2.1 and low-energy 4.0 chip. Not surprisingly there are few surprises inside the case. Because it is waterproof to 50 meters, the designers essentially filled the case with glue which keeps things nice and t (IT news)


text:
Raspberry Ripple Pavlova
|9 Ounce (250 Grams)
|Icing sugar
|2 Ounce (50 Grams)
|Double cream
|284 Milliliter (1 Carton)
|250 Gram (1 Carton)
|Free range egg whites
|3 Large (At Room Temperature)
|Caster sugar
|6 Ounce (175 Grams)
|1 Teaspoon
|Unsalted pistachios
|1 Cup (16 tbs), sliced (A Handful)
1. Make the semi-freddo. Push 140g/5oz of the raspberries through a fine sieve, leaving behind the seeds. Stir 25g/l oz of the icing sugar into the raspberries. Whip the cream until the consistency of custard. Whisk in the mascarpone until the mix thickens, then stir in the remaining icing sugar.
2. Drop spoonfuls of the cream mix into a deep, oblong plastic container, then spoon over a drizzle of the sieved raspberries. Don't stir at this point. Add another layer of cream and raspberries. Gently smooth the surface, press down lightly, then freeze for 2-2 1/2 hrs until the mix is half frozen.
3. Heat oven to 140C/fan 120C/gas 1. Line a large baking sheet with non-stick baking paper. Draw a 20-22 cm circle on the paper. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Slowly whisk in the caster sugar until thick and glossy. Beat in the cornflour. Pile the meringue in soft folds onto the circle on the baking parchment. Scatter over the pistachios. Bake for 1 1/4-1 1/2 hrs until crisp on the outside and dry underneath. Cool, then gently peel off the paper.
4. Remove the semi-freddo from the freezer and pile in big spoonfuls on top of the Pavlova. Finish with a scattering of the remaining raspberries over the top.


text:
Blog Posts
Yoga for Kids: Kick Off Summer with a Seva Lemonade Stand
When life gives you lemons, start a lemonade stand for a good cause.
Your 7-Step Guide to Experiencing Wild Thing
Camatkarasana, or Wild Thing, is a pose Bryant Park Yoga teacher Sara Clark can't get enough of. It's both a celebration and representation of the dynamic ways our body can move.
Boost Immune System (and Mood!) with Awe-Inspiring Scenery
A recent study found that breathtaking scenery can bring positive health benefits.
The Natural Gourmet: Vegan Kale-Basil Pesto Recipe
Try this easy vegan kale-basil pesto to aid digestion and boost protection from environmental toxins.
3 Yoga Mudras for Love, Focus, and Freedom
Yoga's hand expressions, mudras, are said to shift energies from what we might be experiencing to how we want to feel. Learn three you can use today.
Salute the Sun on Sunday, the First International Day of Yoga
Grab your mat and practice with yogis around the world for the first-ever International Day of Yoga on June 21, the summer solstice.


text:
A financial services payment vehicle is disclosed having a database stored on a computer readable media, the database including records associated with a plurality of active financial services card accounts, one of the financial services card account records having a name representing a cardholder for purposes of using the account, the name having a first part selected by the cardholder and a second part selected by a second party unrelated to the cardholder.
A financial services method is also disclosed involving selecting a first part of a cardholder name for an account which would appear on a financial services card if a physical card is issued, accepting an unrelated entity's selection of a second part of the cardholder name for the account such that a use of the account will result in a provision of the first part in place of a first name and the second part in place of a surname.
An additional financial services method is disclosed involving a using step for making a purchase with a financial services card, the financial services card including a cardholder name having a first part selected in a first selecting step by an individual in whose name the financial services card is registered, and a second part selected in a second selecting step, the second part identifying an entity other than the individual.
1. A method comprising:
a) receiving a request for a financial services account of a plurality of financial services accounts capable of being evidenced by financial services cards,
b) accepting a selection of a first sequence of characters from a person making the request,
c) selecting a second sequence of characters which identify an entity unrelated to the person,
d) combining the first sequence of characters and the second sequence of characters into a cardholder name,
e) storing the cardholder name into a database record including an identifier of a financial services account and an available amount,
f) accepting a payment for an activation of the financial services account,
g) creating a financial services card for the financial services account, the financial services card including the cardholder name,
h) providing for delivery of the financial services card to the person,
i) activating the financial services account,
j) providing an anonymizing capability for the financial services account,
k) depositing the payment into a DDA account,
l) setting a transaction, between the person and a merchant who accepted the financial services card, out of the DDA account, and
m) decreasing the available amount by an amount of the transaction.
2. The method of
3. The method of
4. The method of
5. The method of
6. An apparatus comprising:
a financial services card including
i) an account identifier; and
ii) a name, the name having a first part and a second part, the first part being selected by a cardholder of the financial services card, the second part being selected by an issuer of the financial services card, the name representing a cardholder name in which a financial services card account identified by the account identifier is registered.
7. The apparatus of
8. The apparatus of
9. The apparatus of
10. The apparatus of
11. The apparatus of
12. The apparatus of
13. The apparatus of
14. The apparatus of
15. The apparatus of
16. The apparatus of
17. The apparatus of
18. The apparatus of
19. An apparatus comprising:
a financial services card including
i) an account identifier; and
ii) a name, the name having a first part and a second part, the first part being selected by a first party, the second part being selected by a second party different from the first party, neither the first or second party being related to a cardholder who will be provided with the financial services card for the cardholder's use, the name representing a cardholder name in which a financial services card account identified by the account identifier is registered, the financial services card further having an associated billing identifier which will result in a settlement of a charge by the cardholder using the financial services card from an account associated with the first or the second party and the cardholder name neither being a given name nor a stage name of the cardholder.
20. An apparatus comprising:
a financial services card account including an associated cardholder name, an account limit, a billing address and an expiration indicator, the expiration indicator representing a date on which a financial services account card for the financial services card account will not be usable, the billing address being associated with an issuer of the financial services card, the cardholder name having a first part representing a selection by a cardholder having an actual name and a second part representing a selection by an entity other than the cardholder having an association with the issuer of the financial services account, the second part being usable as a surrogate surname of the cardholder, so that when the cardholder makes a purchase and pays a merchant for the purchase via the financial services card account, the cardholder will use the cardholder name instead of the actual name and a payment for the purchase will be made without identifying the actual name of the cardholder.
21. The apparatus of
means for storing records, the records containing information related to the financial services card account, the means, at a time of the purchase, containing no information capable of identifying the actual name of the cardholder.
22. The apparatus of
a database which stores information related to the financial services card account, the database, at a time of the purchase, containing no indication of an address for the cardholder.
23. The apparatus of
24. An apparatus comprising:
a database stored on a computer readable media, the database including records associated with a plurality of active financial services card accounts, one of the financial services card account records having a name representing a cardholder for purposes of using the account, the name having a first part selected by the cardholder and a second part selected by a second party unrelated to the cardholder.
25. The apparatus of
a pointer associated with an active database record.
26. The apparatus of
27. The apparatus of
28. The apparatus of
29. The apparatus of
30. The apparatus of
31. The apparatus of
32. The apparatus of
33. The apparatus of
34. The apparatus of
35. A method comprising:
adding a cardholder name to a financial services card, the cardholder name comprising at least two parts, a first part being an identifier selected by a cardholder who will receive the financial services card and a second part being characters selected by an entity other than the cardholder the first and second parts together substituting for an actual name of the cardholder; and
providing the financial services card containing the cardholder name for ultimate delivery to the cardholder.
36. The method of
37. The method of
38. The method of
39. A method of administering financial services card accounts comprising:
registering a financial services account in a cardholder name, the cardholder name comprising a first part, related to the cardholder, and a second part, identifying a party unrelated to the cardholder.
40. The method of
41. The method of
42. The method of
43. The method of
44. The method of
45. A method comprising the steps performing the functions of:
a using step for making a purchase with a financial services card, the financial services card including a cardholder name having a first part selected in a first selecting step by an individual in whose name the financial services card is registered, and a second part selected in a second selecting step, the second part identifying an entity other than the individual.
46. The method of
47. The method of
48. The method of
49. A method comprising:
selecting a first part of a cardholder name for an account which would appear on a financial services card if a physical card is issued,
accepting an unrelated entity's selection of a second part of the cardholder name for the account such that a use of the account will result in a provision of the first part in place of a first name and the second part in place of a surname.
50. The method of
51. The method of
52. A method comprising:
accepting a payment via a financial services card having a cardholder name made up of a first part, selected by a user of the financial services card, and a second part, selected by an entity unrelated to the user.
53. The method of
seeking authorization for the payment.
54. The method of
receiving an authorization code prior to performing the accepting step.
55. The method of
providing on-line services in exchange for the payment.
56. A transactional method comprising:
accepting a payment via a financial services card account having an account number and a cardholder name, the cardholder name including a first part, selected by a user of the financial services card account, and a second part, selected by an entity unrelated to the user without requiring a presentation of a physical card for the financial services card account at about a time when the accepting occurs.
57. The method of
58. A method comprising:
tendering payment to a merchant by providing a financial services account number registered in a cardholder name representing a tenderor, the cardholder name made up of a first part, selected by the tenderor, and a second part, selected by an entity unrelated to the tenderor, the second part being present in place of a surname as the surname would appear on a conventional credit card issued to the tenderor.
59. The method of
60. The method of
This application is a continuation-in-part of a co-pending application entitled "Transfer Instrument", Ser. No. 09/188,810 filed Nov. 9, 1998.
The invention relates to anonymity in connection with payment vehicles. More particularly, the invention relates to anonymity for devices used as payment vehicles and their related accounts.
Financial services cards in the form of credit, debit and charge cards have had great success in shifting the preferred method of payment in many segments of commerce, at the individual level, away from the use of cash and checks. They are also convenient, because a) they do not require a person to carry large sums of cash in order to make a high priced purchase, and b) they are, in many instances, readily acceptable forms of payment across national boundaries.
Obtaining a credit or charge card generally requires the person seeking the card to prove a level of credit worthiness, since payment for goods and/or services purchased today with the card will not be made until some time in the future. Debit cards may or may not require proof of creditworthiness, depending upon the particular account. People lacking sufficient creditworthiness, can often obtain a credit card if it is secured by a bank account and the usable credit line was linked to the amount of money in the account.
Debit cards appear similar to credit cards from the use standpoint, however, like secured credit cards, debit cards require sufficient money to be available in an account or a transaction involving the card will not be approved.
Charge cards are like regular credit cards in that they are unsecured, however they differ in the payment requirements.
Predecessors and variants of credit, debit and charge cards are store specific (for example, Sears or KMart) or chain specific (for example, Hertz) charge plates and travel and entertainment cards (for example, Diners Club, or AirTravel Card).
A common feature to all of those types of cards are that they are registered in the name of the cardholder, and the registration is evidenced by the cardholder name appearing in human readable form on the card, either through imprinting on a surface which may be further laminated over for durability, or using a method which causes the name to be elevated above the surface of the card or recessed into the surface of the card as if it was carved or engraved.
A further type of card which may be used as a form of payment are stored value cards and electronic modules, wallets and/or purses. While stored value cards represent physically producible tangible things, electronic modules are less so because, in some instances, they are part of a computer or terminal which is not readily carried from place to place. Electronic wallets or purses may be considered intangible to the extent they are not physically presentable, but may be considered as tangible to the extent that there may be a requirement for registration of the module, wallet or purse for traceability of transactions as well as the requirement for additional authenticity certification and/or cryptographic data which is necessary to ensure that the user is who they purport to be or the electronic "money" is valid.
The stored value cards fall into two classes: a) bearer, and b) registered. Bearer cards do not require any form of user identification or registration and contain no identification information, thus they may be used by anyone possessing the card. Example of bearer stored value cards are transit fare cards, photocopy cards. Registered cards require some form of user identification and/or registration to be used. An example being the trusted modules described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,518.
A disadvantage of all of the above cards is the lack of any degree of anonymity afforded to the user of the cards because, when the card, module, wallet or purse is issued and/or rendered usable, the cardholder's name and address are contained on the card in human readable or some form of coded or machine readable form.
Persons seeking a degree of anonymity associated with financial services card usage have been able to enlist the assistance of third parties who, for a substantial fee, will obtain a credit card for a person in a name selected by the person, typically through an offshore bank. In order to obtain the card however, the third party still requires proof of identity (an ID) but, if the person does not have an ID in the selected name, the third party can obtain that too. The person also needs a foreign mail drop in the selected name which will serve as the billing address for monthly statements and a security deposit equal to the maximum credit line.
Similarly, people in show business who use a "stage name" instead of their legal given name, may obtain a financial services card in the stage name. However, that practice affords those persons less anonymity than would likely result from their using their legal given name on the card.
In general, in a first aspect, the invention features an apparatus comprising a financial services card including an account identifier; and a name. The name has a first part and a second part, the first part being selected by a cardholder of the financial services card, the second part being selected by an issuer of the financial services card, the name representing a cardholder name in which a financial services card account identified by the account identifier is registered.
In general, in a second aspect, the invention features an apparatus comprising a financial services card account including an associated cardholder name, an account limit, a billing address and an expiration indicator. The expiration indicator represents a date on which a financial services account card for the financial services card account will not be usable. The billing address is associated with an issuer of the financial services card. The cardholder name having a first part representing a selection by a cardholder having an actual name and a second part representing a selection by an entity other than the cardholder having an association with the issuer of the financial services account. The second part is usable as a surrogate surname of the cardholder, so that when the cardholder makes a purchase and pays a merchant for the purchase via the financial services card account, the cardholder will use the cardholder name instead of the actual name and a payment for the purchase will be made without identifying the actual name of the cardholder.
In general, in a third aspect, the invention features an apparatus comprising a database stored on a computer readable media. The database includes records associated with a plurality of active financial services card accounts. One of the financial services card account records has a name representing a cardholder for purposes of using the account. The name has a first part selected by the cardholder and a second part selected by a second party unrelated to the cardholder.
In general, in a fourth aspect, the invention features a method of administering financial services card accounts involving registering a financial services account in a cardholder name. The cardholder name having a first part, related to the cardholder, and a second part, identifying a party unrelated to the cardholder.
In general, in a fifth aspect, the invention features a transactional method involving accepting a payment via a financial services card account having an account number and a cardholder name. The cardholder name has a first part, selected by a user of the financial services card account, and a second part, selected by an entity unrelated to the user. The payment is accepted without requiring a presentation of a physical card for the financial services card account at about a time when the accepting occurs.
Preferred embodiments of the invention may also include one or more of the following features: The financial services card has a value; the value may be a credit limit; the value includes a monetary amount at least as great as a backing payment made by the cardholder; the financial account is maintained in a database which contains no record of an actual identity of the cardholder; the name appears in human readable and/or coded form; the first part includes alphabetical and numeric characters; or the second part is a proxy for a surname.
Particular embodiments of the invention may feature one or more of the following advantages: full or partial anonymity; the ability to match a value to an expected payment to prevent overcharging; the ability to match a value to an expected payment to prevent overcharging; the ability to create an affinity or correspondence to an e-mail address; status for the cardholder based upon the entity selecting or associated with the selector of the second part; greater acceptability by a merchant due to name recognition of the entity that selected the second part; and the usability as a corporate or entity supplied perk to enhance corporate or entity loyalty.
Preferred embodiments of the invention may also include one or more of the following features: the pointer identifies a settlement source, a settlement account, a DDA account, a billing address, or an issuing bank for a financial services card representing the financial services account; and/or limited or complete anonymity.
A further advantageous and desirable feature is that, if a physical card is issued for the account, since the issuer selects part of the name appearing on the card as the cardholder name, ID the name of the issuer can be used in place of the surname. This can afford a degree of prestige for the cardholder and/or render the card more acceptable to merchants since they may know that their payment will come from the issuer, thereby reducing the risk of default.
An additional and desirable feature of alternative embodiments is that the purchaser information is not associated with the financial services account and, once payment is authorized, no record is kept of the transaction of purchasing the card. Thus, any attempt to get behind the account would end up solely at the issuer.
The above advantages and features are of representative embodiments only, and are not exhaustive or exclusive. They are presented only to assist in understanding the invention. It should be understood that they are not representative of all the inventions defined by the claims, to be considered limitations on the invention as defined by the claims, or limitations on equivalents to the claims. For instance, some of these advantages may be mutually contradictory, in that they cannot be simultaneously present in a single embodiment. Similarly, some advantages are applicable to one aspect of the invention, and inapplicable to others. Furthermore, certain aspects of the claimed invention have not been discussed above. However, no inference should be drawn regarding those discussed above relative to those not discussed above other than for purposes of space and reducing repetition. Thus, this summary of features and advantages should not be considered dispositive in determining equivalence. Additional features and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the following description, from the drawings, and from the claims. Finally, only those claim terms or elements specifically using the words "means" or "steps" are intended to be expressed in the manner allowed by Section 112, paragraph 6.
We have realized an invention which affords a high degree of anonymity, does not impose expensive set up fees, require falsified or pseudonymous identification to obtain or administrative arrangements such as offshore mail drops.
The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as the various enumerated and unenumerated features, aspects and advantages thereof, will be best understood by reference to the detailed description of specific embodiments which follows, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
As used herein the term "related" as applied to persons is meant to be related by blood, birth, marriage or adoption. A person is not considered "related" to an entity that is created by operation of law such as a corporation, partnership, association, etc. unless the person and entity are wholly one and the same, even though the person may be associated with the entity through some form of employment, ownership, management, customer or contractual relationship, or related to a person acting on behalf of the entity.
A "banking institution" as used herein means a bank, a credit union, a savings and loan and/or an entity such as a stock, mutual fund, bond or other financial vehicle brokerage. "Physical card" and/or "physically producible card" as used herein means both a tangible card of the type issued, typically in a cardholder's name, and physically delivered to the cardholder in order to evidence the existence of a debit, credit or charge account and which is normally, although not necessarily, physically presented in connection with an economic transaction involving the account. Examples of such physical cards are debit cards, charge cards, credit cards or the like. The cards may be issued by banking institutions and related to national card accounts such as VISA, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, Eurocard, etc., store card accounts such as Sears and KMart, travel and entertainment card accounts such as Diners Club, Hertz or AirTravel Card.
Stored value type physical cards, or stored value "modules" or "purses" contained solely in software for purposes of holding digital money, are considered to be "physical cards" and physically producible herein if they are registered for authenticity purposes or require some form of credential of the issuer and/or user of the stored value. Stored value modules or purses are considered to be "physical" because during a transaction, they require providing some form of registration, transfer of some form of additional digital certification along with the digital money, or require forwarding of all or part of the data representing the electronic money provided by the purchaser to a third party for authentication at the time of the transaction. In connection with the invention all of these are akin to a physical presentation of a card.
The invention as described herein specifically pertains to those types of financial services cards which include a cardholder name or other alpha or numeric representation or identifier of the cardholder on the card in human readable or electronic form.
There are two main types of financial services cards available at present, magnetic stripe cards and Integrated Circuit or IC cards. IC cards have an embedded integrated circuit chip which can be configured to provide a variety of functions. IC cards are commonly referred to as smart cards.
Magnetic stripe cards incorporate a magnetic stripe which runs the length of the card adjacent one side. Data is stored in the magnetic stripe by causing variations in the magnetism of the material which forms the stripe. The magnetic stripe is read by moving it past a reading head which detects the magnetism of the stripe and converts the magnetic signal stored therein into an electric data signal. Financial services cards such as credit or debit cards use magnetic stripes or ICs to contain information on a user's bank or credit union accounts so that transactions can be attributed to those accounts merely by reading the card. By their nature, magnetic stripe cards are of more limited use than IC cards because only a small amount of data can be stored on them. For example, a bank customer's name, account details and some additional information, such as an encrypted PIN number, can be stored on a magnetic stripe card. If additional information is required to be stored, then a smart card with an embedded microprocessor would be required.
Smart cards can store considerably more data than a magnetic stripe card, and can be adapted to provide a number of functions in addition to merely storing data.
Smart cards are sub-divided into two groups: a) contact smart cards which are read by physical engagement with a reader; and 2) contactless smart cards which are read by capacitive or inductive terminals.
There are a variety of different magnetic stripe, contact smart card and contactless smart card formats. The majority of smart cards used for financial services cards use ISO standard formats: ISO 7810-13 for magnetic stripe cards, ISO 7816 for contact smart cards, and ISO 10536 for contactless smart cards. These standards determine the locations of magnetic stripes and terminals on the cards and the communication protocols utilized by each type of card.
To discourage or prevent forgery, many financial services cards also include a hologram 18 which may contain the logo of the issuing card association or some difficult to duplicate symbol or characters. In most instances, the card 10 also contains a graphic 20 which may be a logo of the issuing bank or organization. More recently, sports organizations, companies and other types of organizations have also entered into arrangements with card issuing entities to have their logo placed on the face of financial services cards obtained by their employees, members, alumni and/or fans. These types of cards are often called co-branded cards. For purposes of understanding the invention, entities other than the issuing bank that enter into similar types of arrangements with issuing banks are intended to be included in references to issuing banks or are considered related to the issuer.
Additionally, the cardholder name 16 typically appears on the card 10 in human readable form. Typically, the cardholder name 16 is made up of a first name and a surname (or last name). In prior art cards, depending upon the cardholder, the cardholder name 16 may also include a title such as Dr., Mr., Mrs. or Ms. and may also include one or more "middle" names or initials, and/or an additional designation after the surname to indicate a familial relation (e.g. Jr. for "junior", II for "the second", III for "the third", etc.).
As will become apparent from the description herein, the card associated with the invention does not use a "cardholder name" in which the first name and surname are the cardholder's legal, or recognized name. Instead, the first name 22 is a name, word, or collection of characters selected by the cardholder and the surname 24 is a name, word, or collection of characters selected by a third party entity.
Of course it will be recognized that the card 10 may also contain additional information, a photograph or graphics and/or the items discussed may be located differently than shown. Similarly, any of the above may also or alternatively be located on the reverse side of the card 10.
As in the prior art, the account number 14 appears on the card using known methods. It may be imprinted in ink in human readable form and it may, in some instances, be raised 36 relative to a surface 38 a of the card 10 a (as shown in
As will be discussed below, the cardholder name 16 may also be applied using known prior art methods in a similar form to that used for the account number or alternatively and/or additionally be stored on the card electronically or in non-human readable form. Furthermore, as with the prior art, the same form need not necessarily be used for both the account number and cardholder name.
The magnetic stripe 48 in each of the smart cards of
Referring now to
On the merchant's side of retail transactions, merchants 210 who wish to accept payments using the cards 206 register with a bank 212 affiliated with the card association 200. Banks which register merchants are often referred to as acquiring banks 212 or acquirers. Of course, in many instances, the same bank may be both an issuing bank 202 and an acquiring bank 212. Notable exceptions to the foregoing are American Express and Discover which each operate in the roles of both the issuing and acquiring banks.
When a purchase transaction is made by the cardholder 203 typically the merchant 210 seeks authorization using a infrastructure 214 set up by the card association 200, or in the case of an arrangement like American Express or Discover, one set up by the entity itself. It should be understood that, for clarity of description, the invention is described using the terms issuer, issuing bank, acquirer, acquiring bank, card association and authorization infrastructure, but they are also meant to refer to an entity where all those aspects are performed or provided by a single entity, like American Express or Discover, or where some other combination or division of those roles exists.
Authorization typically involves an authorization center 216 which is operated either by or on behalf of the acquiring bank 212. In general the merchant 210 contacts the authorization center 216 which may in some instances contact the card issuing bank 202 to verify availability of funds or, if the transaction amount is small enough, merely verify that the card has not been blacklisted. Alternatively, the authorization center 216 may stand in for the issuing bank 202 and approve transactions without contacting the issuing bank 202. This is typically done for small transactions only. Clearing or settlement of the transaction occurs in a similar fashion. The acquiring bank 212 contacts a clearing or settlement system 218 also operated by, or on behalf of, the card association 200 which then contacts the card issuing bank 202. A funds transfer 220 is initiated from the card issuing bank 202 to the acquiring bank 212, at some point at or after the transaction occurs, and results in a debit to the cardholders account and a credit to the merchant's account.
Financial services cards are typically classified into three types, on the basis of the time funds are due relative to the time of a transaction involving the card: i) pay before, ii). pay now, iii) pay later. The pay before cards are typically a form of stored value card which may either be specialized such as in the case of telephone or transit cards, or more generic cards typically known as "smart cards". Similarly, stored value modules or electronic "wallets" or "purses" can be considered pay before cards. Examples of such modules, wallets or purses are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,815,657, 5,642,419, 5,768,385, 5,373,558, 5,796,841, 5,815,577, 4,305,059.
With pay before cards, value must be transferred to the card, module, wallet or purse, before the card is used for a cardholder transaction and no separate "account" which will be accessed in connection with the transaction is maintained or associated with the card which contains the value transferred, other than that physically "holding" the value on the card or in the module, wallet or purse. In other words, if the card is lost, or the module damaged, the value is lost to the cardholder unless the card is recovered unused or the data in the module can be meaningfully recovered. Similarly, if the software implementing the wallet or purse is erased, damaged or corrupted the value will be lost unless the data can be meaningfully recovered.
With pay now cards, otherwise known as debit cards, the card is linked to a bank or other funded account so that at or about the time the transaction takes places the amount is automatically transferred from the customer account to the merchant's bank account in a debit transaction.
Pay later type cards refer to credit cards or charge cards. The difference between a credit card and a charge card is that with a credit card the outstanding balance need not be paid in full at the end of the billing cycle, whereas with a charge card an outstanding balance must be paid in full at the end of the cycle or else usage of the card is suspended until the balance is paid in full.
The invention described herein pertains to any of the above types of cards which share the common characteristic of having a cardholder name, which corresponds to an account registration name, on or in the card.
In accordance with the invention, the financial services card account is registered in a cardholder name whereby one part of the cardholder name on or in the card, preferably the part which corresponds with the first name with prior art financial services cards, is selected by the cardholder and another part of the cardholder name, preferably the part which corresponds with the surname with prior art financial services cards. The first and second parts of the cardholder name may each independently consist of purely alphabetic characters, numeric characters or some combination thereof. Preferably, the first part of the cardholder name bears some relation to the actual name of the cardholder, although the actual name may not be discernable from it. Examples of preferable first parts are: actual first names (e.g. Richard, Wendy, Ian, Samantha), nicknames (e.g. Buddy, Mac, Buzz, Hank), e-mail names (e.g. johnd, blu911, 2kut4u) or some combination of first and surnames (e.g. alham for Alexander Hamilton).
The card also includes a cardholder name 108. In accordance with then invention, the first part 110 of the name 108 "SAMANTHA" was selected by, and corresponds to, the individual who is the cardholder. The second part 112 of the name 108 "MEGACORP" was not selected by the cardholder but instead, was selected by a different entity. In this case, the entity that selected the second part 112 of the name 108 was an agent or representative of the issuer, as a result of some arrangement between the issuer and Mega Corp. or by an agent or representative of Mega Corp. itself.
At this point it is worthwhile to note what is meant herein by name "selection". although the cardholder may have selected the e-mail provider, that selection is not considered to be a cardholder selection for purposes of the invention, since the cardholder presumably did not select the Zoo Mail company name or the ZOO.COM domain name. In other words, although the cardholder may choose between a co-branded card for one sports team over another or, for example, issuing bank "First Multinational Bankcorp." over "International Trust, Inc.", the selection of any those names was done by each of those entities at some point and not by the cardholder. Thus, they should be considered as "selected", for purposes of name selection as described herein, by the respective business entities. Furthermore, even if the cardholder is given a choice among, for example, multiple choices (e.g. ZOO.COM, Zoo Mail, ZOOMAIL, etc.) since the options are specified by Zoo Mail Co. (or the issuer on Zoo Mail's behalf), an election from among the offered options is not considered to be a "selection" as described herein.
In general, while the cardholder selects one part of what ultimately becomes the cardholder name, another part of the name is selected by an entity other than one having a familial relation with the cardholder, most typically the issuer or an entity related to or associated with the issuer through a commercial relationship, such as for co-branding purposes.
Having described a number of example desirable variations from among the myriad of possible physical cards which may be used in connection with the invention, the system configuration and processes of acquisition and registration of the accounts will now be discussed.
System Structure
As shown in
Servers capable of being the interface server 305 and/or the database server 303 are well known and both the hardware and associated software are constantly being changed improved, reduced in cost and/or complexity. Thus, given the rapid pace by which those changes and improvements occur, the specifically elaborated hardware and software will likely be obsolete in the near future. Furthermore, the specific hardware used as the servers 303, 305 and the associated software is not critical to understanding the invention. However, by way of example, one suitable interface server 305 is a server having an Intel 333 MHz Pentium II processor with 512K cache, 128 MB of RAM, a 9.1 GB Ultra-2/LVD SCSI7 hard drive, an Intel EtherExpress PRO 100/B PCI Ethernet adapter, and a 12/24 GB DAT tape backup unit. Additionally, example software which may be used in practicing the invention includes Windows NT Server 4.0 SP3 with NFTS, an option pack including IIS 4.0, SMTP Server, Index Server, NNTP Server and MTS, Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition SP 1.
The database server 303 is similarly constructed to have an Intel 333 MHz Pentium II processor with 512K cache, 256 MB of RAM, Dual Channel RAID with 16 MB cache. The server storage consists of three RAID-5 9.1 GB drives. Two mirrored 9.1 GB drives for the operating system and database log files and one online spare 9.1 GB drive. The server 303 also has an Intel EtherExpress PRO 100/B PCI Ethernet adapter, 12/24 GB DAT tape backup unit and a 32×SCSI CD-ROM. Example software which may be used in practicing the invention includes Windows NT Server 4.0 SP3with NFTS, an option pack including IIS 4.0, SMTP Server, Index Server, NNTP Server and MTS, and SQL Server 6.5 SP4 and updated Site Server 3.0 with Hotfixes.
As will become apparent, it may also be desirable to split up the work performed by the database server 303 into two physically distinct servers and/or to distribute the database 302 such that information usable to actually identify a cardholder is maintained separately, for example, on one server or in one part of the database and the information necessary for use by the cardholder is resident on the other server or in a physically segregated and secure separate part of the database. In this manner, an additional layer of security may be provided by severely limiting the persons and circumstances under which the identifying information may be accessed.
Additionally, in some embodiments, the system may include a separate or dedicated interface 309 to an issuing bank 311 from which accounts may be acquired so that communications and account acquisitions can occur securely, directly and in real time.
The database 302 is used to maintain a registry of the active financial services card accounts, which have been acquired from an issuing bank 311. Depending upon the embodiment, database record entries are created in the database 302 as part of the purchase process, as part of the optional activation process, or alternatively they may be created before either process occurs. The interface server 305 routinely communicates with the database server 303 as part of the account creation and management processes. The interface to the Web 304 typically consists of a URL or Web address for a home page to which a prospective purchaser 322 may connect. The interface 304 may alternatively, or further, consist of an e-mail address. Of course, in the simplest embodiments, the interface 304 may consist of a mail address or telephone number which may be called by a prospective purchaser.
The interface 308 to the banking system 310 is essentially a direct or indirect link from the "merchant"/offeror 300 of the financial services card to its acquiring bank 312. Numerous types of interfaces between merchants and banks for clearance and settlement of transactions are known to those in the art. Advantageously, the particular interface employed in any specific embodiment is a matter of choice, the specific selection being driven by factors not critical to understanding the invention, such as: the type(s) of payment which will be accepted, such as debit/charge or credit cards, electronic money, precious metals, for example, using e-Gold, or electronic surrogates for money, checks or other types of negotiable instruments or their electronic analogs; who the offeror of the transfer instrument uses as its acquiring bank; and/or whether authorization and/or clearance fees are charged. By way of example for one embodiment, the interface 308 of
The interface 309 is a direct interface to the issuer 311 of the accounts. As shown in
As will be apparent, in the arrangement of
The various processes associated with the creation, issuance and registration of financial services card in accordance with the invention will now be discussed. For clarity, the different processes are discussed somewhat sequentially although those of skill in the art will appreciate that, while certain steps must necessarily precede others, many of the steps can proceed in a different order or concurrently with other steps. Thus, unless a specific order is inherently necessarily required or is specifically referred to herein as necessary for operation of the invention, it will be recognized that no specific ordering is to be inferred from the description.
Additionally, and advantageously, due to the similarity of the system structures, a payment vehicle in accordance with the invention may be used to create an anonymous Transfer Instrument, in which no physical card is issued for the account and provided to the recipient at or before the time when it is used, as described in commonly assigned application entitled "Transfer Instrument", Ser. No. 09/188,810 filed Nov. 9, 1998, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Account Creation Process
With continuing reference to
Those accounts, and their associated information, are recorded in the database 302 and will serve as the pool of accounts for which the financial services cards will issue.
As an alternative to multiple accounts being transferred to the offeror/issuer 300 in advance, accounts (and/or their account numbers) can be held by the bank 311 until a request is made for an account as part of the purchase process via the interface 309. At that time the offeror 300 will request that the issuing bank 311 provide an account number for the type of account needed. As will be recognized from the description below, depending upon the specific embodiment, the placement of an entry for the account in the database may itself indicate that the account is active. Otherwise, the account, although entered into the database 302, may have an associated "active" field which is marked inactive until other account activation parameters are satisfied. Advantageously, in this case there is no need to stockpile issued accounts.
In this embodiment, the database 302 is configured as a pair of tables 318, 320 as shown in
The first table 318 contains a set of records 322 for each account made up of fields such as: account number 324, cardholder name part 1 326, cardholder name part 2 328, the account balance, value or limit 330 and expiration date 332.
The second table 320 contains records 334 with fields correlating to identifying information for a given account, such as actual name, payment information 338 like credit card number and expiration date, address for card delivery 340 and a pointer 342 which correlates a particular entry in the two tables 318, 320. Example ways of correlating the two tables 318, 320 being duplication of the account number 324, a hash number, a record number, etc. . . .
When an account is activated, or upon shipment of a physical card, the contents of the second table 320 for that account is purged. There are a multitude of ways to construct a database meeting that criterion.
Depending upon the level of complexity desired or the desire to maintain or track information associated with a particular account or to allow for expansion of available offerings, the database 302 is preferably constructed from a number of tables which are interrelated with each other and which may contain additional fields reserved for future expansion or options.
In the simplest embodiment, the database 302 will have entries for each account which identify the user in an anonymous fashion, the account number, the issuer or other entity that supplies the second part of the customer name, and some indication of the account status such as if it is active and the available balance.
Additionally, for some period of time, the database information will be correlatable to information which would clearly identify the purchaser. As a general matter, this time period will be until the purchase transaction is complete. Of course it will be recognized that the information may be kept longer for example, for prevention of credit card fraud or to comply with legal requirements. In instances where the information may be kept beyond completion of the transaction it is important, but not critical, that the identifying information be made inaccessible through for example, strict security, encryption, offloading to another machine or site, escrow with a third party or other such procedures to preserve a anonymity from the offeror/issuer perspective.
A more commercially suitable example embodiment of the database 324 will be evident from reference to
In this embodiment, the database 302 is distributed such that the user table 400, the Credit_Card table 402 and the Address table 404 all reside on one secure server and the Secure User table 406, Transaction table 408, Transaction_Codes table 410 and Payment_Vehicle_Account table 412 all reside on another server. For security reasons the secure server is geographically remote from the other server.
The tables 400, 402, 404 contain information which actually identify the name, address and, at the time payment is provided, credit card information. It is useful to note that in this embodiment only credit card payment for the Financial Services Vehicle is allowed. In other embodiments, purchase by check, wire transfer, electronic scrip or money or other schemes may also be allowed. In those instances, additional tables or modification of the Credit_Card table 402 would be required to allow for the use of those payment methods, the implementation of which being within the skill of those in the art in light of the disclosure herein.
The User table 400 represents the actual name and other identifying information for a purchaser of the inventive financial services vehicle.
The Credit_Card table 402 contains the credit card (or other payment form) information for individual purchasers listed in the User table 400.
The Address table 404 contains actual address information for individual purchasers listed in the User table 400.
Once a purchase transaction is complete, the contents of the tables 400, 402, 404 for the particular record account may be purged, thereby ensuring anonymity of the purchaser unless they reveal their identity through the portion of the cardholder name they selected or through their actions. In any event, the issuer will be unable to positively identify the actual identity of the cardholder and only inferentially for example, in a simple case using the password from the Secure User table 406 or through some other algorithmic correlation of available information in a more complex and secure case.
Of course it will be recognized that, if a physical card is to be delivered, the identifying information, or at least the address information in the Address table 404 may need to be retained until the card is created and sent, at which time it can be purged.
The Secure_User table 406 defines the anonymous or pseudonymous user identity. It also contains optional information which can allow a cardholder to see the account status in order to determine, for example, the remaining balance or the usage of the card. In this way, the cardholder can view the on-line equivalent of a credit card statement. It also contains a password which is the only way a cardholder can identify themselves for a particular account.
The Transaction table 408 is accessed when the inventive financial services card account is used to make a purchase, so that the purchase transaction can be settled. It works in conjunction with the Transaction_Codes table 410.
The Payment_Vehicle_Account table 412 contains the core information for the inventive financial services card account. It is this table which holds the cardholder name that has been constructed from the selections by the cardholder and another entity. The Temp_Transaction table 414 is a temporary table used during the purchase process to hold the cardholder's payment information until the payment is settled, at which time the record for the purchase transaction is purged, although some field information, such as TRANSACTION_CODE_ID, Date and Account may be retained, for example, for accounting purposes.
The Partner table 416 identifies the entity that selects the second part of a cardholder name and also holds the particular second part or surname selections in the CC_Template_Name field, for example, "MEGACORP", "MEGABANK", "ZOO.COM" as shown in
Email Table 418 allows the offeror and/or issuer to provide the cardholder with an anonymous e-mail address so that, as part of a transaction, the cardholder can provide an e-mail address without revealing their identity. Of course it will be recognized that providing this service reduces the anonymity because the offeror/issuer will maintain a link to the cardholder's actual e-mail address. Nonetheless, the transaction would still be anonymous to the merchant from whom the cardholder makes the purchase.
The Options table 420 contains further links to other tables implementing various options available to the offeror/issuer and/or cardholder.
Purchase Process
With continuing reference back to the system of
The form allows the purchaser 316 to provide a formal request to the offeror 300 by providing such information as the purchaser's name, address and payment information (i.e. the payment being used to pay for the financial services card the account). The form is designed, for example, to accept any of three different forms of payment: debit/credit/charge card; electronic money (e-money); or direct payment from a bank checking account. Of course, other forms of payment, such as electronic checks, wire transfer, etc., may be accepted as well as, or in lieu of any or all of those three. The purchaser 316 also provides the part of the name they wish to appear on the card as their part of the selection and the denomination or amount.
Advantageously, since the purchaser is paying in advance the denomination or amount may be any amount specified by the purchaser 316 although, in some embodiments, for administrative reasons, it may be desirable to require a minimum amount, a maximum limit, or suggest specific predetermined or standard amounts. Thus, it may be desirable to require a minimum value of twenty-five ($25) dollars and/or provide standard value increments of five ($5), ten ($10) or twenty-five ($25) dollars.
In addition to the amount paid which will be the allowable value on the financial services card account, a prospective purchaser will likely be assessed a fee. Depending upon the embodiment, different fee arrangements may be used and, being well known and unnecessary for understanding the invention, are not discussed herein.
As a further advantage, to protect against loss the purchaser 316 may also be requested to include a password and possibly a password "hint" which will be associated with the financial services card account database entry. Thus, in the event the purchaser 316 contacts the offeror 300 seeking replacement of a lost card, even though the card has been made partly or wholly anonymous, the cardholder 316 can uniquely identify themselves to the offeror 300.
Once the purchase form is complete, the purchaser clicks on an icon which sends the form contents to the offeror. The information is extracted from the form.
In the embodiment of
At or about the time of payment, a financial services card account number is either allocated or obtained from the issuing bank 311 and is added as a record or causes an update to a record in the database 302. The appropriate database 302 fields are then populated in accordance with particular information received.
Registration Process
As noted above, the purchaser 316 selects only a part of what will be the cardholder name. Although the purchaser may provide their legal name and address as part of paying, that information is merely used to obtain authorization for payment, for example if payment is made using an American Express, Visa or MasterCard.
The purchasers payment is used to fund a demand deposit account which is generic to the issuer/offeror (i.e. funds paid by multiple purchasers are commingled in the account). The DDA account is used to pay all charges to the financial services cards which have been issued and are active.
Once authorization (or payment) is received, the issuer/offeror requests a card be manufactured which has, or will be coded with, one of the account numbers an expiration date or validity range, the name selected by the purchaser as if it was the first name on a prior art debit/charge/credit card, and an issuer selected string of characters, preferably an issuer associated word, as if it was the surname on a prior art debit/charge/credit card. The card is then made and/or coded with the information and ultimately delivered to the purchaser.
The authorization also triggers registration of the account in a cardholder name that is constructed by utilizing the part selected by the purchaser as a "first" name, and the part associated with the issuer as the surname. This constructed cardholder name is stored in the record for the account number assigned. Other additional database fields for the account record, if any, may also be entered at this time, if they have not already been entered. Alternatively, they may be filled in at some later point, for example, at activation time.
Also, preferably, the actual name and address of the purchaser are used solely for authorization at the time of purchase and for delivery of the card. Once those requirements are met, all identifying purchaser information is preferably discarded. Most desirably, that information is not correlatable with the database record or its contents once the purchaser 316 becomes a cardholder. Thus, in this embodiment, from the time of registration and thereafter, there will be no way to associate the card with any particular person. Furthermore, the degree of anonymity will thereafter solely depend upon the part of the name selected by the purchaser or their actions. For example, if the purchaser selected the name "tallman" because he had an e-mail account with Zoo Mail Co. of "tallmangzoo.com" the anonymity would be preserved only to the extent someone could not obtain further information via the e-mail address itself. Similarly, John Smith, with a Zoo Mail Co. e-mail address of "firstname.lastname@example.com" would be totally anonymous if he randomly selected a sequence of characters or a name bearing no identifiable relationship to John Smith such as "wilber7" as his part of the cardholder name on the account.
If the account issuance procedure activates the account upon entry into the database, the last entry in the sequence will be the account activation triggering information.
If the account issuance procedure is such that mere entry of the information into the database does not indicate activation, a flag in the database record will be set in accordance with the activation protocol when sufficient information is stored or provided such that the activation criteria are satisfied. At this point the account is considered registered.
When the account is registered, if a physical card is desired, the issuer 300 has a physical card created according to known practice, for example, in one of the types described above. The cardholder name as it is registered in the database 302 is added onto, or into, to the card and readied for ultimate delivery to the cardholder. In accordance with normal financial services card delivery practices for example, the card is then delivered to the cardholder. Depending upon the issuer, the cardholder may be required to perform some action before the card may be activated for use. This may consist of, for example, making a telephone call and providing certain information, going to a website and doing the same, appearing in person at a branch of the issuing bank, or sending a reply card to a designated address.
Additionally, the billing information is preferably specified such that settlement of charges to the card come from the DDA account. Alternatively, the billing information may be set up so that a statement for the account is sent to the seller of the inventive financial services cards for payment. In any event, while there may be numerous ways for billing to be handled, an important aspect in any of the anonymous cases, is that there is no way to get the statement to the cardholder but, advantageously, there is no need to do so because funds to satisfy the bill have already been collected from the cardholder at or about the time the card was purchased.
Activation Process
The activation process readies the account for use. Depending upon the particular embodiment, activation may occur at or near the time of purchase, on some future designated date, or following some action by the purchaser on receipt of the card. In general, activation will be accomplished by, for example, setting the active flag indication in the database for the account record and notifying the issuing bank of the cardholder name registered on the account. This will likely occur upon receipt of some indication from the purchaser that the card has been received, for example by the purchaser sending an e-mail or making a telephone call to a specified number. The important aspect of activation is that all the appropriate information is conveyed, in accordance with the issuing bank's requirements, so that the financial services card account may be used.
Merchant Acceptance/Authorization
After issuance, receipt and, if necessary, activation, the card is used to make purchases of goods and/or services like a prior art financial services card, except that when a purchase is made, the name which is used for the purchase is the name associated with the account. In other words, for the card of
Clearance and/or settlement of a purchase using the inventive financial services card occurs in the same manner as is used to clear other analogous prior art card accounts. From the perspective of the merchant, the charge is processed, and funds are received, in the normal manner using the merchant's acquiring bank, through the normal cardholder association clearance/settlement process. From the perspective of the issuing bank, actual funds for settlement with the acquiring bank will typically come from a demand deposit account (DDA) set up by or for the issuer.
Although the issuer could set up separate accounts for storage of funds for each financial services card account, administratively it is more desirable and advantageous to maintain as few accounts as possible for clearance/settlement purposes. Ideally, since all monies backing the active financial services card accounts can be commingled and require no traceability to a particular account, a single master DDA account can be used, with the database records providing the link between the available balance on a particular financial services card account after usage and the DDA account.
Alternatively, if different types of accounts are used, a separate account could be maintained for each different type of financial services card account. For example, one DDA account for debit type financial services cards (where balances are decreased upon usage by the amount charged) and another for credit/charge type accounts (where the "credit limit" is reduced by the amount charged).
Thus, following activation, the link between issuer and cardholder will largely not, if at all, exist. For purposes of settlement and/or clearance since, in most instances, the purchaser will have, in effect, settled the maximum amount of his total allowable transactions with the financial services card with the issuer prior first to using the financial services card with a merchant.
If the prospective cardholder has just become a cardholder, they can begin a new user log in procedure 510 which sets up the ability to access the User Administration Page(s) or other parts of the website securely.
If the prospective cardholder is not yet a cardholder, but has completed the new user log in procedure 510 they are able to log in and are then directed to the Payment Vehicle Information Page(s) 515. These pages allow for the input of the necessary information to allow the opening of a payment vehicle account for that person, such as: provision of payment according to one of the methods accepted by the offeror, selection of one part of the cardholder name, provision of an address for delivery of a physical card for the account should one be requested, etc. Once the information is submitted, the information provided and an image of the physical card, if requested, as it will be made appears on a Preview page 520. If accepted, the request is compiled in a Shopping Cart Page 525. If revisions need to be made, a rejection of the preview returns to the Payment Vehicle Information Page(s) 515.
The Shopping Cart page 520 is particularly useful to persons desiring to create, in effect, single use cards. If the prospective cardholder has a particular purchase (or group of purchases) in mind of a known amount, but wishes to be sure that the card can not later be charged by an unscrupulous merchant, an account for each exact amount can be opened, thereby limiting the amount that can be charged to the exact amount desired, and no more.
From the Shopping Cart page 525 the prospective cardholder has the option of changing their mind and deleting the request or entering a preferably secure area 530 in which the prospective cardholder pays for the payment vehicle account(s) desired. If the payment is accepted, the prospective cardholder is sent to the Payment Vehicle Account Information Page 535 which displays the appropriate information regarding each payment vehicle account and any cards requested. If the payment is rejected, the provided payment information is discarded and new payment information is requested.
It is contemplated that, given the different types of cards which are or may become available, by reading the disclosure herein, it will no doubt become apparent to those of skill in the art that certain modifications or alterations of the present invention may be made to accommodate those cards. Similarly, it should be understood that, while the cardholder name has been described as being constructed from a part selected by the purchaser of the financial services card and a part by someone other than the purchaser who, in more preferred embodiments, is the issuer or their agent, no specific arrangement of the names should be inferred. In other words, in some embodiments, the part selected by the purchaser could be used in place of the surname and the part selected by the issuer could be used in place of the first name. Alternatively, the purchaser selected part and the non-purchaser selected part could be split up so that a portion of each is used to construct the surrogates for the first name, and the same is done for the surname.
In the first example, the financial services card has limited to no anonymity and is issued through a co-branding arrangement with a major university, Maine A&M. In this embodiment, the issuer therefore is the entity that maintains the database 302 for the financial services card accounts.
The issuer acquires a group of debit, charge and/or credit type card accounts, in this case debit cards from MasterCard, via an issuing bank. The issuing bank registers the accounts in the name of the issuer for record keeping purposes and sets the value for the card to zero. The issuer offers the cards to alumni, faculty, students and administration personnel at the university through a targeted mailing. An alumnus, Calvin Warmledge, decides to get one of the cards and sends a check for $1010, $1000 of which will be the available balance, $10 being the administrative fee. As part of the order form, Mr. Warmledge selects the first part of the name to be CALWARM. The form also allows him to direct the part of the school to which a part of the administrative fee will be paid by opting for one of two second parts of the name selected by the University: FRUITBATS (which is the University mascot) or MEMA (which is the University Nickname). He additionally includes his mailing address, so the card can be sent to him and a code word which will be used for activation purposes.
When the issuer receives the order form and check, it deposits the check into a DDA account which is used to settle purchases made using the issued Maine A&M financial services cards. The issuer maintains other similar DDA accounts, one for each co-branding university partner.
One of the acquired account numbers is added to a record in the database, the active flag in the record is set to inactive, the activation code word is entered and the value of the account is set to $1000. The mailing address is noted in a file which is separate from the database along with the account number.
The issuer has a financial services card created which includes as a background on the face of the card, the University seal and contains the cardholder name "CALWARM FRUITBATS". The card is sent to the cardholder's mailing address along with activation instructions.
When he receives the card, Mr. Warmledge follows the instructions provided and calls a telephone number provided with the card and enters his account number via the touch tone keypad on the phone. The account number is used to locate the database record and obtain the activation code word. An operator comes on and asks Mr. Warmledge for his code word. The operator compares the code word provided over the phone to the database entry and, since they match, tells the system to activate the card. The system then sets the flag in the account record to indicate that the card is active and Mr. Warmledge is told that the card is now active.
Later, while thumbing through the Fitch Bros. catalog, Mr. Warmledge sees a tweed jacket that he decides to order. The total for the order comes to $250. Mr. Warmledge fills out the catalog order form with the appropriate information since he is not concerned with anonymity, he enters his mailing address on the form. In the spaces related to payment, he checks the box indicating payment by MasterCard debit card, enters the account number from his card in the space provided and his name as Calwarm Fruitbat. He also signs the form Calwarm Fruitbat in the signature space on the form. He then mails the form.
An order fulfillment house operating on behalf of Fitch Bros. receives the order and processes it in the usual manner although there has been no physical presentation of the card at or about the time Fitch Bros. seeks authorization for a $250 payment by Calwarm Fruitbat. Furthermore, at or about the time Fitch Bros. seeks authorization, it will not be able to determine if a physical card has ever issued for the account. Nonetheless, the conventional authorization and clearance infrastructures causes a debit of the DDA account set up by the issuer in the amount of $250 and the issuer, noting the charge, decreases the available amount in the database record for the account by $250, thereby changing the available amount to $750 in the database record.
In a few days, he receives his order addressed to Calwarm Fruitbat.
In the next example, the financial services card has limited anonymity and is issued by an issuing bank, Mega Bank through its online commerce subsidiary MegaCorp. which maintains the database 302 for the financial services card accounts.
MegaCorp. has a website, which is accessed via the internet, as the sole means through which the MegaBank financial services card can be obtained. The card and its advantages are advertised however, through cooperative agreements with other website providers who maintain a link to the MegaCorp. website on one or more of their home pages.
A prospective purchaser connects to the MegaCorp. home page which provides some basic explanation of the limited anonymity financial services card. In this embodiment, the anonymity is limited because the purchaser name is used solely to obtain authorization for payment and then discarded however, the mailing address information, which may be a post office box, is maintained as part of a database record although the issuer will not use that address except for sending the card.
The purchaser fills in an online form with his name, mailing address, the amount (in this case $200) and payment information. The purchaser is also directed to select a name, which will appear as a cardholder "first name" on the card. The purchaser is also informed that the "surname" on the card will be MegaBank.
The purchaser selects the name to match his vanity license plate "LIV2SKI". When the form has been fully filled out, he clicks the send button. The payment information is extracted along with the purchaser's actual name and payment authorization is sought. Upon receipt of an authorization code, the issuer discards the actual name and payment information and enters the remaining information into a database record. Once payment authorization is obtained, the issuer then requests and obtains a financial services account number from the issuing bank via a dedicated connection to the issuing bank. The financial services accounts in this example are credit type accounts. Thus, the database record indicted an available credit limit of $200. When credit type card accounts are used, the credit limit is decreased by the amount of each usage, until the credit limit for the card is "used up", at which time the account is marked inactive.
When an account number is received, it is entered into the database record and a financial services card for a cardholder named "LIV2SKI MEGABANK" is created.
The cardholder receives the card which, in this case is a VISA credit card, bearing the cardholder name "LIV2SKI MEGABANK" and also contains in a two dimensional barcode on the reverse side of the card underneath a hologram of the MegaBank logo.
This cardholder activates his financial services card account by going to a secure website and entering his street address and account number in an online activation form. The entered information is compared to the information in the database record for the account and the account is indicated as active.
In the last example, the financial services card has complete anonymity and is again issued by issuing bank, Mega Bank through its online commerce subsidiary MegaCorp. which maintains the database 302 for the financial services card accounts. In this example, the procedure is the same as in the previous example, except no identifying information is stored in the database 302 other than a hash number which may be used as a pointer into a separate file containing the mailing address. Furthermore, the cardholder selection bears no identifiable relation to the cardholder in that it is merely a sequence of intermixed letters and numbers of the maximum length allowed.
A card is made, bearing the purchaser selection as the first name and "MEGABANK" as the surname. The card is made and provided to the issuer for ultimate delivery to the purchaser. The issuer then uses the account number to obtain the hash number and uses the hash number to identify the mailing address. Once the mailing address is used to send the card, both the mailing address in the file and the hash number in the database record are purged, thereby severing any connection between the purchaser and actual cardholder identifying information. Upon receipt of the card, the cardholder activates the card, for example, by making a phone call or going to a website and provides the account number and a code word provided in the original online purchase form. If they match the database entry, the card is activated and the cardholder may use the card with complete anonymity from the card perspective if, for example, the card is used for an online purchase of a pay-per-view movie. Of course, the anonymity may be partially or completely destroyed based upon other information which may be provided by the cardholder such as their home address for delivery of goods, or information required by the merchant, such as corroborating identification.
Cardless Embodiments
Although the invention has been described largely with respect to embodiments which include a physical card, it will also be recognized from the above that the invention may straightforwardly be applied to cardless arrangements and methods for simplicity, the term "cardholder" is still used with respect to the cardless embodiment, since the selection of the two parts will be analogous, the major difference being that a physical card is not provided to the cardholder for presentment. Of course, it is contemplated that cardless embodiments may readily be converted to carded embodiments through the later provisions of a physical card as described herein. For example, commonly assigned application entitled "Transfer Instrument", incorporated herein by reference, describes a payment invention in which no physical card is issued for the payment card account and provided to the user at, or prior, to the time when the user makes a purchase under the payment card account. The invention described herein may be straightforwardly used in the novel Transfer Instrument context using one of the databases described therein in conjunction with one of the databases described herein or by implementing a combined database containing the relevant portions of each. As a result, usage of the invention described herein is accomplished, from the user perspective, by the giving the recipient a specific option of "anonymizing" the name necessary for use of the Transfer Instrument. The anonymization is accomplished by having the designated recipient select only a first part of the cardholder name. As described above, the second part, typically although not necessarily specifically substituting for the surname on a conventional debit, charge or credit card, being selected by some entity unrelated at least to the recipient (i.e. the issuer, sponsor, co-brander, or some other applicable unrelated third party). It should be noted that, in this context, that if the card account is a co-branded type, the invention would allow for the second part to be selected by the issuer or the co-branding entity or some other third party authorized entity, subject to the exclusions noted herein.
The database entry would then be created with the recipient's selection as one part of the cardholder name and the unrelated party's selection as the other part of the cardholder name. Preferably, the file entry that is correlated to the database, as described herein, is used to track the identity of the recipient up until such time as the Transfer Instrument becomes active, at which time the file entry which would reveal the identity of the recipient would be purged, thereby providing the desired level of anonymity deriving from the selected name and ultimate usage.
In this description we have shown and described a number of preferred embodiments of the invention, it being understood that the invention is capable of use in various other combinations, environments or applications which will be apparent as subject to straightforward implementation to those of skill in the art in light of the description. Similarly, it will be recognized that aspects of the invention are implemented by programming. Thus, reordering of steps, substitution of hardware components for software compatibility or speed, or variations created due to differences in programming languages and/or styles or other modifications are considered to be within the scope and spirit of the inventive concepts expressed herein. Accordingly, we intend for our invention to be defined and limited solely as set forth in the claims.
Patent Citations
Non-Patent Citations
Referenced by
Legal Events
Original Image


text:
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
An App might shortly allow Google Glass users to read the sentiments of people they are talking to as part of a wearable technology project run by a US start-up Emotient. However, this project might face some data protection issues.
According to what covered on the press, the technology that Emotient is working on is named "sentiment analysis glassware" and will be a software able to interpret facial expressions through the screening of 19 different facial movements by means of the camera placed on Google Glass and associating them to sentiments. In the short term such technology might look more like a "game", but for instance I would never allow my counterparty in a contract negotiation to know what I am feeling and potentially thinking! However, in the long term the purpose of Emotient is to enable commercial companies to collect aggregate data on the sentiments of their customers so that they can improve the services addressed to them.
Emotient declares that no privacy issue arises as the data will be aggregated and the images will not be stored. However, under a European data protection law perspective, also the mere collection of images and their review in order to associate them to the relevant user will lead to a "data processing" subject to privacy regulatory restrictions. Indeed, also the point raised as to the circumstance that data will be aggregated does not waive data protection law restrictions as far as it is possible even indirectly connect those images and therefore the relative emotions to the relevant users. And this might be easily performed through the identification code of the wearable technology to which the user will be linked as part of registration processes even if performed by third parties such as Google once the user registers to Google Play. Additionally, facial expressions might be considered even biometric data subject to additional privacy related obligations as previously reported or health related data if the user has facial deformities.
As discussed with reference to the monitoring of users' movements by means of wearable technologies, the fact that processing of personal data will occur by means of this wearable technology will oblige companies running such type of product to comply with the privacy obligations in terms of, among others, disclosure of purposes of processing, storage modalities and required consent to the data processing already covered here. And interestingly enough, according to the position of the European data protection consultancy body, companies running such products shall comply with the data protection laws of the place where their users are located rather than of their place of establishment putting considerable regulatory obligations on such entities that if they want to market their products in Europe shall comply with the stringent European data protection obligations.
Finally, if such technology will enable a profiling of users allowing marketers of products to send them promotions and offers based on their personal sentiments when they see the image of some products, additional data protection obligations will apply and for instance in Italy the processing of personal data shall be notified to the Italian Data Protection Authority.
See more »
DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.
© DLA Piper
Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
Sign up to create your digest using LinkedIn*
Back to Top
Copyright ©


text:
Book Search
Humanitarian Work Psychology and the Global Development Agenda
Case studies and interventions
In recent years, a new movement has emerged within organizational psychology, transposing the established principles of the field onto arenas of more pressing humanitarian need, including the humanitarian treatment of all workers in all work settings. Humanitarian Work Psychology (HWP) stretches...
To Be Published August 24th 2015 by Routledge
Man in Africa
Tavistock Press was established as a co-operative venture between the Tavistock Institute and Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP) in the 1950s to produce a series of major contributions across the social sciences. This volume is part of a 2001 reissue of a selection of those important works which have...
Published December 23rd 2014 by Routledge
Natural Symbols
First printed in 1970, Natural Symbols is Douglas' most controversial work. It represents a work of anthropology in its widest sense, exploring themes such as the social meaning of natural symbols and the image of the body in society. This work focuses on the ways in which cultures select natural...
Published June 17th 2013 by Routledge
In the Active Voice (Routledge Revivals)
First published in 1982, this collection of essays is a reproach to a form of the sociology of religion that treats people as the passive objects of impersonal social influences. In opposition to this, the author seeks to assert an active voice style of thinking about the relations between...
Published October 15th 2012 by Routledge
How Institutions Think (Routledge Revivals)
First published in 1986 Mary Douglas' theory of institutions uses the sociological theories of Emile Durkheim and Ludwig Fleck to determine not only how institutions think, but also the extent to which thinking itself is dependent upon institutions. Different kinds of institutions allow individuals...
Published July 24th 2012 by Routledge
Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations
Historians as well as anthropologists have contributed to this volume of studies on aspects of witchcraft in a variety of cultures and periods from Tudor England to twentieth-century Africa and New Guinea. Contributors include: Mary Douglas, Norman Cohn, Peter Brown, Keith Thomas, Alan Macfarlane,...
Published November 11th 2010 by Routledge
The Lele of the Kasai
This first volume is a compilation of numerous essays by Douglas on the Lele in the Belgian Congo covering a fifteen year period. There are early indications of Douglas's cultural imagination and written expression that were to make her works accessible and relevant to a western readership of...
Published October 19th 2010 by Routledge
First published in 1980, this book provides an overview of E. E. Evans-Pritchard's approach to anthropology. His seminal works on the Azande and the Nuer had an immense impact on the field in Britain. He wrote these works in his thirties and forties, after which time he became chair of...
Published October 18th 2010 by Routledge
Constructive Drinking
First published in 1987, Constructive Drinking is a series of original case studies organized into three sections based on three major functions of drinking. The three constructive functions are: that drinking has a real social role in everyday life; that drinking can be used to construct an ideal...
Published October 18th 2010 by Routledge
Essays on the Sociology of Perception
First published in 1982, this is one of Mary Douglas' favourite books. It is based on her meetings with friends in which they attempt to apply the grip/group analysis from Natural Symbols. The essays have been important texts for preparing grid/group exercises ever since. She is still trying to...
Published October 18th 2010 by Routledge