Patent ID: 8103548

Claim:
An apparatus for use in activating a point-of-sale activation (POSA) product, the apparatus being a router comprising: a first communication port for communicating with a reader capable of reading identification data from a payment instrument; a second communication port for communicating with a selected one of: a first processing entity capable of processing a financial transaction; and a second processing entity capable of activating a POSA product; a control system adapted to: determine if the payment instrument is a POSA product or a non-POSA product; upon a determination that the payment instrument is a non-POSA product, send a communication initiated by the reader from the first communication port to the second communication port to enable the reader to communicate with the first processing entity; and upon a determination that the payment instrument is a point-of-sale activated product, receive via the first communication port identification data of the payment instrument and transmit via the second communication port to the second processing entity the identification data of the payment instrument to enable the second processing entity to activate the identified payment instrument.