Patent ID: 7509117

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a merchant transaction station which generates an electronic receipt evidencing a merchant transaction performed at the merchant transaction station, the electronic receipt to be available at a mobile station operable by a user at least to receive data communicated thereto; a message-center detector coupled to the merchant transaction station, said message-center detector configured to detect a transaction-station-generated message generated by the merchant transaction station regarding a merchant transaction associated with the user, the transaction-station-generated message comprises data indicating a financial cost associated with the merchant transaction which is included in the electronic receipt; and a message-center message generator coupled to said message-center detector, said message-center message generator configured to generate, in response to detection, by the message-center detector of the transaction-station-generated message, a transaction-related message for communication to the mobile station, the transaction-related message, once communicated to the mobile station, available thereat as the electronic receipt to the user.