Patent ID: 7604166
Filing Date: 2009-10-20
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for providing flexible payments to allow buyers to pay merchants using fingerprints of buyers and previously registered convenient rules without the need to carry and present financial payment methods [such as debit and credit cards] at the time and location of purchase, comprising: (a) a buyer registers one or more said fingerprints where a fingerprint in machine readable form is called a fingerprint record; (b) a buyer registers one or more said financial payment methods that can be debited; (c) a list of said merchants exists where each merchant has one or more merchant location records and each said merchant location record is related to a financial account that can be credited; (d) a buyer registers one or more said convenient rules prior to the first purchase where each rule is comprised of: a conditional component with one or more conditions for defining which said merchant location records a buyer plans to purchase from, what range of purchase amounts are allowed and when the purchase is allowed; and an action component with at least one action for defining which said registered financial payment methods should be selected to pay for the purchase at the time of purchase when said conditional component is satisfied; (e) a buyer relates one or more said registered fingerprint records to one or more said registered convenient rules prior to the first purchase using said method; and (f) at the time of purchase, transaction information including said fingerprint record of the buyer, said merchant location record, the time and amount of purchase is used to select one or more of said registered financial payment methods, comprising the steps of: comparing said fingerprint record of the buyer at the time of purchase with all said registered fingerprint records to find a matching fingerprint record; evaluating said conditional components of said registered convenient rules related to said matched fingerprint record by comparing said transaction information to said conditional components; and evaluating the action component of only one said convenient rule where said conditional component is satisfied to select one or more of said registered financial payment methods on behalf of the buyer.