US 6,983,255 B2 | ||
Television commerce payments | ||
Mark H. Linehan, Yorktown Heights, N.Y. (US) | ||
Assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y. (US) | ||
Filed on Jul. 14, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/891,241. | ||
Application 10/891241 is a division of application No. 09/469007, filed on Dec. 21, 1999. | ||
Prior Publication US 2004/0249726 A1, Dec. 09, 2004 | ||
Int. Cl. G06F 17/60 (2006.01) |
U.S. Cl. 705—26 | 6 Claims |
1. A method for enabling television (“TV”) commerce to generate revenue streams for TV originators in an interactive television
environment, said environment having a connection to a computer network and said method comprising steps of:
initiating a TV commerce transaction by a consumer using said interactive television environment, wherein said transaction
pertains to an offering of a merchant;
gathering TV context information related to a TV context in which said offering is presented to said consumer, wherein said
TV context information enables identifying one or more TV originators, each of which is distinct from said merchant;
digitally signing said gathered TV context information, by a device used by said consumer, on behalf of said consumer;
including said digitally-signed TV context information in a message sent from said device to said merchant, wherein receipt
of said message by said merchant triggers payment processing for said transaction;
forwarding said digitally-signed TV context information from said merchant to an acquirer that is distinct from, and processes
payments for, said merchant; and
upon verifying, by said acquirer, that payment for said transaction is authorized and that said device created said digital
signature on said TV context information, automatically allocating a portion of said authorized payment to one or more of
said TV originators, according to said TV context information, and reducing an amount of said payment to be paid to said merchant
by said automatically allocated portion.
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