Patent ID: 7379919

Claim:
A method of conducting a transaction using a payment account for payment over a payment network, the method comprising: (a) receiving by a service provider other than an issuer of the payment account a first authorization request for the authorization of the transaction using a first payment account number, wherein: (i) the first payment account number has a service provider identification number that is associated with the service provider other than the issuer and is associated with a second payment account number that has an issuer identification number associated with the issuer, said second payment account number not being included in said first authorization request; (ii) the first authorization request includes a first acquirer code associated with an acquirer; and (iii) the first authorization request is routable through the payment network to the service provider based on said service provider identification number; (b) responsive to the first authorization request, transmitting by the service provider a second authorization request for authorization of the transaction using the second payment account number, the second authorization request including a second acquirer code associated with the service provider and being routable through the payment network to the issuer based on said issuer identification number; (c) receiving from the issuer a response to the second authorization request transmitted by the service provider, the response including the second acquirer code and being routable through the payment network based on that code; and (d) transmitting from the service-provider to the acquirer a response to the first authorization request received by the service provider based on the response to the second authorization request received by the service-provider from the issuer, the response to the first authorization request including the first acquirer code and being routable through the payment network based on that code.