Patent ID: 8060448

Claim:
A late binding token system, comprising: a token server of an issuer, the token server communicating with a network; a merchant server communicating with the network; an account server, storing information for a consumer, communicating with the network; a physical late binding token, from the issuer, including a locator code initially binding the late binding token to only the token server when the consumer receives the physical late binding token, and including a memory for storing a public/private key pair; a client software communicating with the late binding token server and at least one of the merchant server and the account server for verifying the bindings of the physical late binding token with the token server, the merchant server and the account server, the consumer communicating with at least one of the merchant server and the account server via the client software to perform a transaction; first software associated with the late binding token and executable by said client software for retrieving said locator code from said physical late binding token for establishing communication between said client software and the token server via the network, the first software verifying the physical late binding token to the token server; and second software, provided to said client software via the network, for binding the consumer to the account server, for transactions between the client software, the merchant server, the account server, the late binding token, and the token server; wherein the second software binds the token to the account server only after the first software verifies the late binding token with the token server; and wherein if the token server has previously verified the late binding token and if the late binding token has been previously bound to the account server, the token server requests payment from the account server to the merchant server while only disclosing selected information of the consumer to the merchant server.