Patent ID: 6853977

Claim:
An electronic settlement system for performing a transaction comprising: a sales terminal; a payee terminal for establishing a local link to said sales terminal; and a settlement center, wherein said sales terminal transmits settlement information to the payee terminal via said local link, establishes a first communication channel to the settlement center in response to receipt of an identifier identifying the payee terminal, and transmits a first signal containing the settlement information and said identifier to the settlement center; wherein said payee terminal receives a password entered by a user of the payee terminal, and said payee terminal checks the password to see if it matches a password previously stored in said payee terminal, and only if a match exist, said payee terminal permits additional processing of said transaction; said payee terminal performing said permitted additional processing by transmitting said identifier to the sales terminal via said local link after the payee terminal has received said settlement information, establishes a second communication channel to the settlement center, and transmits said password and a second signal containing the settlement information and said identifier to the settlement center; and wherein said settlement center performs a settlement process only if (1) said password received from said payee terminal matches a password stored at said settlement center in a password-identifier mapping table, said received password also being stored in the payee terminal, and (2) the first and second signals are identical to each other.