Patent ID: 7127427

Claim:
A processing system for processing a secure purchase order between a purchaser and a merchant across a public network, the processing system comprising: a purchaser account database including purchaser account information for each purchaser, the purchaser account information including at least a purchaser identifier that is any alpha-numeric code generated by the processing system during account setup and being inextricably linked to delivery data of said purchaser such that any change or attempted change to the delivery data will render the purchaser identifier inoperable for identifying a particular purchaser, payment data for effecting payment for purchased goods or services wherein the payment data is different from the purchaser identifier, and said delivery data associated with said purchaser identifier, said delivery data including at least one delivery address of said purchaser for fulfillment of the purchase order a processor capable of communication with the purchaser account database via a private network and further capable of communication via a public network with a merchant system for receiving the purchase order, said purchase order including at least a monetary amount for a good and said purchaser identifier and not including the payment data which is not transmitted to the merchant; wherein, in response to receipt of the purchase order including the purchaser identifier, the processor retrieves the payment data and the delivery data from the purchaser account database on the private network corresponding to the purchaser identifier, transmits the delivery data to the merchant to fulfill the purchase order, and uses the payment data to pay for the purchased goods or services without exposing the payment data to the merchant; and wherein the merchant delivers the purchased goods or services to the purchaser using the delivery data.