WO2001080141A1

WO2001080141A1 - Business management system

Info

Publication number: WO2001080141A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/012500
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christopher Rurode Hemmeter; Frank Nagelmann; William F. Rousseau; Carl Alexander Wescott; Bradley H. Younge
Original assignee: Criticalarc Technologies, Inc.
Priority date: 2000-04-17
Filing date: 2001-04-17
Publication date: 2001-10-25
Also published as: AU2001251656A1

Abstract

A point of sale system includes a point of sale terminal (201) that provides credit card information for a transaction to a communication port (203). The communication port (203) extracts a copy of the credit card information and the transaction information without interfering with the underlying communication and communicates the transaction and credit card information to a network, such as an Internet or public switched telephone network (PSTN) (102). The communication port (902) may emulate the network so that the point of sale terminal communicates as with the communication port as if it were communicating with a PSTN. The communication port (902) may convert the transaction and credit card information from one protocol into another protocol, such as an Internet protocol. The communication port (902) provides the extracted information via the network to a host processor for analysis. The analysis may include credit charge profile of users, individually or in the aggregate, and time of day distributions of charges.

Description

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a business management system, and more particularly, to a system for monitoring credit card transactions at point of sale or service providers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Modern telecommunications and network technologies have led to various communication protocols. The communication protocol used by typical dial-up and dedicated-circuit terminals in the United States is standard character-oriented asynchronous protocol. Outside the United States, the typical communication protocol is an International Standards Organization (ISO) packet-oriented synchronous protocol. A suite of connection-oriented protocols has been developed by organizations such as DARPN (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). An example of this type of protocol is Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, commonly known as "TCP/IP." While sophisticated systems can support this protocol, typical credit card terminals are not capable of putting a message into this message protocol. Some systems that are capable of supporting this protocol are not programmed to support it. Other systems, such as commonly used in department stores, use a master-slave protocol, which typically is a simple protocol.

Fig. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a conventional point of sale system. Typically, a credit card transaction is initiated at a point of sale (POS) terminal 101, such as a card-swipe reader device. Credit card POS terminals are designed to accept a form of credit card with a consumer's bank account information encoded thereon. Thereafter the transaction of that infoπnation is transmitted to a bank host terminal 103 which verifies the consumer's credit worthiness and stores the transaction event information for subsequent bank reconciliation via an automated clearing house (ACH) or other competing network. Communications links from POS terminal 101 to the bank host terminal 103 are typically in the form of telephonic network communications over a public switched telephone network ("PSTN") or over other approved networks 102. Transaction event authorization and settlement will occur as a result of POS terminal 101 accessing data files of the bank host terminal 103. "Approved" or "Declined" notifications are returned to the POS terminal 101 from bank host termmal 103.

Authorization and data capture, commonly called settlement, are both done through POS terminal 101. An authorization, when accepted, is a lien on the credit card account. The lien is cleared when arrangements are made to transfer money, or by timeout of the lien. Data capture is the actual credit card transaction where POS terminal 101 transmits data of the credit card transaction to the bank host terminal 103. POS terminal 101 retains a copy or record of the transaction for the data capture and unless the transaction is cancelled by the merchant, the transaction is sent again as part of a batch to a banking POS host, which may be the same as bank host terminal 103 or a different bank host.

One problem with the conventional system 100 is that a highly reliable and continuous infrastructure is required for the sole process of passing all the data through host terminal 103 to a credit card processor. If the host termmal 103 should cease operating or malfunction for some reason, the entire conventional system 100 shuts down. The datastream is unable to pass between the POS terminal 101 and bank host terminal 103. Thus, merchants have to resort to manual credit card processing or even close down their credit card business until the host terminal 103 is repaired. To prevent such drastic outcome, the conventional system 100 typically employs two or three redundant host terminals 103 to ensure continuous operation. Such redundancy is costly and inefficient. Thus, a need exists to capture sent or received data in a dial-up connection without disturbing the normal operation of the dial-up terminals. A need also exists to select or capture only parts of a datastream and forward the captured parts to where it will be processed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is desirable in point of sale systems that merchants be able to obtain value- added information about their customers or the transactions, such as the peak hours or days of credit card purchases. It is also desirable to increase the speed of execution of transactions.

In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for capturing communication data transmitted on a communication line between a first terminal and a second terminal. The method comprises storing information about a desired type of communication data to be captured from a datastream transmitted on the communication line between the first terminal and the second terminal. The datastream is monitored, without interfering with the datastream, to identify a transmitted type of communication data. It is determined whether the transmitted type of communication data matches the desired type of communication data based on the stored information. The transmitted type of communication data matching the desired type of communication data is captured.

In other aspects of the present invention, the method may include monitoring data transmission protocols and message formats in the datastream, sending the captured transmitted type of communication data to a third terminal, or transmittmg the captured transmitted type of communication data to the third terminal via the communication line. In another aspect of the present invention, the method further comprises storing the captured transmitted type of communication data, and transmitting the captured transmitted type of communication data to the third terminal via the communication line, or monitoring the datastream, without interfering with the datastream, to identify a transmitted type of communication data.

In another aspect of the present invention, the method further comprises the datastream comprising a plurality of data packets, where each of the plurality of data packets has character data in a header of the data packet, and the determining and capturing comprises analyzing the character data in the header of the plurality of data packet to identify the type of data packet, and determining from the type of data packet a transmitted type of communication data being transmitted, and selecting a portion of the communication data information corresponding to the transmitted type of communication data.

In another aspect of the present invention, the method further comprises the communication data including credit card information relating to ones of a plurality of transactions and a plurality of consumers, and the method further comprises determining a profile of ones of the plurality of consumers based on the credit card information; and determining time correlation of the ones of the plurality of transactions.

In an aspect of the present invention, a method provides financial information and includes reading a database comprising credit card account information associated with a plurality of credit card accounts and transaction information associated at least one transaction associated with ones of the plurality of credit card accounts, and correlating time of tra [n an aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for capturing communication data comprises a communication port connectable between the first terminal and the communication line for monitoring a datastream on the communication line between the first and second terminals, without interfering with the datastream, to identify a transmitted type of communication data, a memory storing information about a desired type of communication data to be captured from the datastream, and a processor coupled to the communication port and the memory to compare the transmitted type of communication data and the desired type of communication data based on the stored information and to store the transmitted type of communication data in the event that the transmitted type of communication data matches the desired type of communication data.

In various aspects of the present invention, the first terminal is a point of sale termmal, the second terminal is a host terminal, the communication includes a credit card transaction, a modem is coupled between the communication port and the processor, or a clock is coupled to the processor and programmable by a clock signal received on the communication line and the processor transmits the captured data at a predetermined time. In another aspect of the present invention, an off-hook sensor is coupled between the first terminal and the communication port and coupled to the processor, and provides a telephone connection signal to the processor in response to the first terminal attempting to make a connection to the communication line. In another aspect of the present invention, the processor provides an inhibit signal to the coupler inhibit uploading data in the event the telephone connection signal is enabled. In another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for capturing communication data transmitted on a dial-up communication line between a first terminal and a second terminal, comprises a telephone line emulator coupled to the first terminal. A first modem is coupled to the telephone line emulator and to the dial- up communication line. The first modem captures a phone number called from the first terminal and makes a modem connection through the telephone line emulator and couples to an external processor for communicating data between the external processor and the first terminal to emulate the second terminal. A second modem is coupled to the second terminal for communicating with the second termmal in a protocol different than the protocol of the first modem in response to commands indicative of the communicated data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional point of sale system. Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating a point of sale system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating a communication port of the point of sale system of Figure 2. Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of a communication port of the point of sale system of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating yet another embodiment of a communication port of the point of sale system of Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the point of sale system of Figure 2.

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a database of the point of sale system of Figure 2.

Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating a point of sale system according to another embodiment of the present invention. Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating a point of sale system according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 10 is a block diagram illustrating a point of sale system according to still yet another embodiment of the present invention

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As an overview of a point of sale system according to various embodiments, goods or service providers, such as a restaurants, use point of sale or service terminals to receive credit card information from a customer that is related to a transaction of the customer. The credit card information and the transaction information are provided to an interface port that converts the information from a protocol of the point of service terminal to a protocol of a communication network for transmission to a server for subsequent transmission to a financial terminal. The interface port extracts a copy of the credit card and transaction information for later transmission to the server that provides the information to an analysis terminal. The analysis terminal generates various financial analyses of customers, credit cards, the good or service provider, or other good or service providers.

The present invention relates to a system and method for securely transmitting payment information and requests for authorization and settlement from a merchant to a banking network host and for capturing data related to the transaction. Such system and method enables merchants to obtain value-added information about their customers or transactions.

In a system embodying the present invention, a communication processor receives data being transmitted over a communication line. In a preferred embodiment, the communication line is a dial-up telephone line.

An example of a system embodying the present invention is illustrated in Fig. 2. A system 200, according to the present invention includes a tap device 203 in communication with one or more POS terminals 201, 202 (two are shown in Fig. 2 for illustrative purposes only, more or fewer POS terminals can be supported). In one embodiment, one tap device 203 is used per telephone line. In another embodiment, one tap device 203 may be used with more than one telephone line. Typically the POS terminal 201, 202 waits for a dial tone before dialing. Tap device 203 is also in communication with a bank host terminal 103 (one is shown in Fig. 2 for illustrative purposes only, more bank host terminals can be supported) and a captured data processing host 206 via a communication network 102, such as public switched telephone network (PSTN).

POS terminals 201, 202, and bank host terminal 103 can be embodied as dedicated hardware circuits, programmed general purpose computers, personal computers, televisions, telephones, pagers, palmtop computers, or any other functionally equivalent configurable electronic, mechanical, or electro-mechanical devices. Although the terminals are illustrated in Fig. 2 as being in communication with tap device 203 via PSTN 102, it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the terminals can be in communication with the tap device 203 via a network such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a cable network, or an Internet Protocol (IP) network, such as an intranet, extranet, or internet. Communication may also be provided by dedicated data lines, cellular, Personal Communication Systems ("PCS"), microwave or satellite networks. Using these components, the present invention provides a method, apparatus and system for capturing communication data transmitted on a communication line between a POS terminal and a host terminal, such as bank host terminal 103.

Referring now to Fig. 3, an embodiment of tap device 203 is illustrated. Tap device 203 includes a processor 301, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 303, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 305, a clock 307, a communications port 309, and a data storage device 310. The communication port 309 comprises coupler 313, modem 315, and demodulator 317.

The clock 307 may determine the date and time that the processor 301 receives or transmits transaction. Clock 307 also maintains time so that captured data can be uploaded to captured data processing host terminal 206 at a time when dial-up terminal connection attempts are unlikely, such as during the hours of 10 P.M. to 3 A.M. when most merchants are closed.

Data storage device 310 may be implemented using a persistent memory system which may include random access memory, hard disk drives and/or other appropriate combination of electronic or optical data recording units, which include CD-ROM drives and micro-disk drives. The processor 301 and the data storage device 310 may each be (i) located entirely within a single computer or other computing device, (ii) connected to each other by a remote communication medium, such as a serial port cable, telephone cable, telephone line or radio frequency, or (iii) a combination thereof.

A conventional computer or workstation with sufficient memory and processing capability may be used as the processor 301. In a preferred embodiment, the processor 301 transmits and receives data related to financial or other transactions generated by POS and banking terminals, and is capable of high volume transaction processing, performing a significant number of mathematical calculations in processing communications and database searches. A Pentium microprocessor such as the PHI, manufactured by Intel Corporation may be used for processor 301.

Equivalent processors are available from Motorola, Inc. or Sun Microsystems, Inc. Processor 301 may comprise one or more microprocessors.

In a preferred embodiment, where the processor 301 is a general purpose microprocessor, the data storage device 310 stores program 311 which includes instructions for controlling the processor 301. The processor 301 performs instructions of the program 311, and thereby operates in accordance with the present invention, and particularly in accordance with the methods described in detail herein. In particular, processor 301 uses program 311 to control connected hardware and to monitor the dial-up data streams to identify data to be captured. Processor 301 then copies the data to be captured to the captured data database 204. Using clock 307, processor 301 determines when to activate modem 315 to send captured data to captured data processing host 206. Processor 301 controls modem 315 and the transfer of data. Processor 301 also updates clock 307 and when appropriate, the dial-up phone number of captured data processing host 206. The program 311 may be stored in a compressed, uncompiled, and/or encrypted format. The program 311 further may include elements, such as an operating system, a database management system and "device drivers" for allowing the processor 301 to interface with computer peripheral devices. Appropriate device drivers and other necessary program elements are known to those skilled in the art, and need not be described in detail herein.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the instructions of the program 311 may be read into a main memory from another computer-readable medium, such as from a ROM to RAM. Execution of sequences of the instructions in program 311 cause processor 301 to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of, or in combination with, software instructions for implementation of the processes of the present invention. Thus, embodiments of the present invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

The term "computer-readable medium" as used herein refers to any medium that directly or indirectly participates in providing instructions to processor 301 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, nonvolatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non- volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks. Volatile media include, for example, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typically constitutes the main memory. Transmission media may include, for example, coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled to the processor 301. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic, electrical or electromagnetic waves, such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications .

Some common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH- EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave such as electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals, or any other medium from which a computer can read.

Working storage 312 is used for program 311 and is initialized from some form of non- volatile storage. In an alternate embodiment, program 311 is executed directly from non- volatile storage and read- write storage for temporary use by program 311.

The processor 301 communicates with POS and bank host terminals 201, 202, 103, as well as captured data database 204 via the communications port 309. In a preferred embodiment, when tap device 203 is in communication with POS terminal 201 and bank host terminal 103 via PSTN 102, communications port 309 may be implemented using the directional coupler 313, the modem 315, and the demodulator 317. Directional coupler 313 couples to POS terminal 201 and the PSTN 102 to combine signal current in the local loop phone pair and signal voltage present on the pair in such a way as to produce signals that approximate the upstream and downstream communications. With many modem protocols, the upstream and downstream signals may interfere with one another to some degree. Directional coupler 313 produces separate signals sufficient to permit demodulating both upstream and downstream communications with a low error rate. In one embodiment, two hybrid couplers may be used instead of the directional coupler 313.

Modem 315 couples between processor 301 and directional coupler 313, and transmits the captured data stored in captured data database 204 to captured data processing host 206. Use of the dial-up telephone network, PSTN 102, allows a different host to be selected simply by dialing a different telephone number.

Demodulator 317 produces digital data streams from the modem signals. Typically, demodulator 317 consists of analog-to-digital converters and a digital signal processor. It will be appreciated that although modem 315 and demodulator 317 are illustrated in Fig. 3 as two separate devices, because the modem 315 and the demodulator 317 may not be used at the same time, in a fully integrated implementation of the present invention, the demodulator could be shared. In this instance, a shared demodulator measures current and voltage with appropriate electrical isolation characteristics and performs appropriate analog to digital conversions and digital signal processing. In addition, it will be appreciated that although only one demodulator is illustrated in Fig. 3, more than one demodulator may be used. For example, one demodulator may monitor upstream communications, whereas another demodulator may monitor downstream communications. In another embodiment, the demodulator 317 may be implemented with analog circuitry including such circuits as phase lock loops to recover the data clock.

With such configuration, directional coupler 313 is used on the phone line to capture modem signals. These signals are demodulated and passed to processor 301, which captures and forwards the data in accordance with the method of the present invention. For example, modem 315 is used to forward data captured by tap device 303 to captured data processing host 206.

In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, a line arbitration device (not shown) couples between coupler 313 and modem 315. This arbitration directs the flow of data through the telephone communication lines. In this way, the arbitration device narrows or eliminates the critical time during which both tap device 203 and the dial-up device, such as POS terminal 201, 202, or bank host terminal 103, attempt to use the phone line and receive a dial-tone. When this situation occurs, both connection attempts fail but may produce unexpected errors. Use of the arbitration device avoids these situations.

An off-hook sensor (not shown) may also be coupled between POS terminal 201, 202 and coupler 313. The off-hook sensor may be also coupled to processor 301. This sensor informs processor 301 when POS terminal 201, 202 is attempting to make a telephone connection. It may control the operation of the coupler 313 to prevent the coupler from drawing current from the phone line when no terminal is in use and it may also prevent tap device 203 from attempting to upload data when a dial-up transaction is about to start.

Yet another alternate embodiment of the communications port 309 is illustrated in Fig. 4. As shown, processor 301 couples to a modem 401 and modem 315. With such configuration, tap device 203 connects to POS terminal 201 through a telephone line emulator 402 and modem 401 capable of reading Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) dialing tones. Phone line emulator 402 emulates the voltage and current on the phone line, and provides a dial tone on the phone line to POS terminal 201 when no connection has been established, and provides a ring signal to modem 401 when POS terminal 201, 202 dials out. Modem 401 captures the phone number called by POS terminal 201 and then makes a modem connection through the telephone line emulator 402. A second modem connection is made to the intended network or host terminal 103, 206 over PSTN 102. Data sent and received is passed between modems 401, 315 through processor 301.

Yet another alternate embodiment of communications port 309 is illustrated in Fig. 5. In this embodiment, signal sensor 501 couples to POS terminal 201, 202, an analog-to-digital converter 502, and a relay 503. Analog-to-digital converter 502 couples to processor 301. Relay 503 couples to digital access arrangement (DAA) 504, which couples to codec 505, which couples to processor 301. With such configuration, signal sensor 501 informs processor 301 when POS terminal 201, 202 is attempting to make a telephone connection and sends electrically isolated current and voltage signals to analog-to-digital converter 502. Analog-to-digital converter 502 converts these signals to digital signals and sends them to processor 301, which in this embodiment may be implemented as a digital signal processor. The processing of modem signals takes place largely in the digital signal processing unit. The analog to digital and digital to analog conversions of the modem signal take place in codec 505. DAA 504 connects to PSTN 102 via relay 503 and provides electrical isolation, and may also include a hybrid coupler to split upstream and downstream signals.

It will be appreciated that when tap device 203 is in communication with POS terminal 201 and bank host terminal 103 via a network other than PSTN, communications port 309 may be implemented using a serial port and modem, TI communications board, a LAN adapter, infrared communication, serial connection, satellite, microwave, ultrawideband radio (also called digital pulse wireless) or any functionally equivalent processor communications system. Referring again to Fig. 2, captured data database 204 stores data captured by tap device 203. In particular, the program 311 stores data accumulated, or computed by, the processor 301 (Figure 3) on the captured data database 204.

As indicated above, merchants are often interested in obtaining value added information about their customers or their transactions. For example, one merchant may be interested in finding out about repeat customers where the same credit card is used.

Fig. 6 illustrates a process for capturing that portion of communication data desired by a merchant, transmitted from POS terminal 201, 202 to bank host terminal 103 in accordance with the present invention. When the merchant indicates the type of data desired, at step 601, tap device 203 is programmed, using program 311, to recognize a sequence of characters in a data stream corresponding to the type of data desired to be captured.

In one embodiment of the present invention, working storage 312 of tap device 203 may include a look-up table, such as look-up table 700 illustrated in Fig. 7, to assist with this recognition of characters. Look-up database 700 maintains data about characters and corresponding actions to be taken when such characters are recognized and is explained in more detail with reference to Fig. 7. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the database records illustrated in Fig. 7 are for illustrative purposes only, and that the database 700 could contain any number of records. An exemplary record from the look-up database 700 is illustrated in Fig. 7. As shown, look-up database 700 maintains data with fields such as a character field 701, a location field 702, an identification field 703, and an action field 704. For example, a series of characters are stored in the lookup database. The character field 701 stores characters, character sequences, or other identifiers in a data packet. In one embodiment, these characters, character sequences, or other identifiers are obtained from data transmission protocols and message formats in a datastream. Location field 702 stores the location of the character sequence in the data packet. Some or all of the sequences of characters have a corresponding location stored in location field 702. It is the character sequence and the location of the character sequence that identify the type of data being transmitted. This identification is stored in identity field 703. For example, in the exemplary look-up database 700 illustrated in Fig. 7, when the character sequence 01 A appears as the tenth character, this corresponds to a type A authorization packet.

Look-up database 700 may be hierarchical in that once the type of data being transmitted is identified, a subsequent action may need to be taken to locate where in the data packet the data to be captured is located. For example, if the desired data to be captured are credit card numbers to determine which consumers are repeat customers, tap device 203 is programmed to capture credit card numbers. Referring again to Fig. 7, when a character sequence has been identified as a type A authorization packet, the action stored in action field 704 is to go to the twenty-fifth character to identify the format of the authorization packet. The corresponding action in action field 704 is to go to the fortieth character. The character sequence corresponding to the fortieth character is identified as the credit card number. It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that this is just one example of how to identify data to be captured using character sequences, many other methods are possible. The process begins when standard dial-up terminal, such as point of sale teπninal 103, 104 sends a request for authorization of a transaction, such as a credit card transaction, to a host terminal, such as banking network host terminal 105. POS terminal 101 calls a phone number specified by its bank and/or credit card service provider. Referring again to Fig. 6, at step 603, tap device 203 receives an indication that the POS terminal 101 is dialing a phone number and establishes a dial-up connection. In one embodiment of this upstream communication, tap device 203 converts the electrical signals on the phone line to modem signals, and then converts these modem signals to characters. Once a connection is established, POS terminal 201, 202 transmits the data over a communication line, which in the preferred embodiment is a dial-up communication line. POS terminal 101 sends and receives data using special credit card and data capture protocols, such as Visa 2. Referring again to Fig. 6, at step 603, tap device 203 monitors the upstream communications of each transaction to identify characters or sequences of characters and at step 605 determines whether any of the identified characters or sequences of characters are of interest. In one embodiment of the present invention, processor 301 performs these steps 603, 605 by copying data from the transmitted data stream and comparing characters or character sequences in the copied data with those stored in look-up database 700 to determine whether there are any matches. Tap device 203 does not interfere with the flow of data to or from POS terminal 201, 202. For example, unlike in the conventional system 100, tap device 203 does not pass data between POS and host terminals. If there are no matches, tap device 203 continues to monitor the data stream at step 603.

If there are matches, at step 607, tap device 203 captures the portion of the data packet having the desired information. For example, refer again to the prior example where a merchant desires information on repeat credit card activity, and tap device 203 is programmed to obtain credit card numbers. Using look-up database 700, tap device 203 determines that the fortieth character sequence in the data packet is the credit card number, which in the exemplary embodiment is 562132486. This credit card number, along with other information such as date and time, is then stored in captured data database 204.

At step 609, tap device 203 sends the captured data to captured data processing host 206. In one embodiment, captured data processing host 206 is at a remote location from tap device 203 and tap device 203 transmits the captured data over PSTN 102. However, it will be appreciated that tap device 203 may transmit data over many types of networks, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a cable network, or an Internet Protocol (IP) network. It also will be appreciated that tap device 203 can transmit captured data to captured data processing host 206 in many ways, such as after each transaction where data is captured, in batches, or at specific times. For example, in one embodiment, the captured data is sent to captured data processing host 206 via PSTN 102 in batches during a time when POS terminal 201, 202 is not in use, such as after the close of business. With such embodiment, tap device 203 can transmit the captured data to captured data processing host 206 using the same phone line as that used by POS terminal 201, 202 to communicate with bank host terminal 103. Thus, merchants only have to incur the expense of maintaining one telephone line.

In an alternate embodiment, tap device 203 transmits the captured data to captured data processing host 206 using a different telephone number and therefore a different telephone line. With such embodiment, tap device 203 can transmit data to captured data processing host 206 at any time. In yet another embodiment, tap device 203 transmits after each transaction where data is captured or at specific times. In an alternate embodiment, tap device 203 transmits the captured data to captured data processing host 206 on another type of communication link.

The process illustrated in Fig. 6 is the same for downstream communications from bank host termmal 103 to POS terminal 201, 202. Tap device 203 monitors data from bank host terminal 103 to POS terminal 201, 202 at step 603, compares the characters or character sequences in the datastream with those stored to determine whether there are any matches at step 605, and then captures the portion of the datastream having the desired information at step 607. The captured data is then transmitted to captured data processing host 206 at step 609. Tap device 203 captures data sent to or from POS terminal 201, 202 in a dial- up connection without interfering with the normal operation of the POS terminal 201, 202. Selection of parts of the datastream is conveniently done while data is being captured to minimize data storage requirements. In one embodiment, the captured data is processed locally by the merchant. In this case the captured data may be accessible directly from captured data database 204 or transferred to a PC.

In an alternate embodiment, the captured data is processed at a central site. In such case the captured information is transmitted to the central site. It may be transmitted in batches using the same phone line as POS terminal 201, 202 but with a different phone number. This is done when POS terminal 201, 202 is not using the phone line and not likely to need it during the transmission. Other ways to transmit the captured data are not precluded such as an Internet connection or another phone line which may be appropriate in some situations. Captured data may be sent at any time, such as, as it is captured or in batches.

For simplicity, the character field 701, the location field 702, the identification field 703, and the action field 704 of the lookup database 700 have been described as having a fixed length. The fields may have variable lengths. One skilled in the art will appreciate that searching for specific data in the variable field, such as credit card number, may involve more than looking for a character by the number of the character in the field and may be protocol specific.

In another embodiment, subsequent transactions are dependent upon the state of previous transactions. In such embodiment, the program 311 also tracks the state of transactions. The program 311 may maintain template tables for parsing records and using the tables to identify state changes.

Use of tap device 203 reduces communication costs and reliability requirements. Since tap device 203 does not interfere with the normal transmission of the datastream, if something were to happen to the tap device 203 normal communication between POS terminal 201, 202 and bank host terminal 103 would not be affected. In addition, even if locally captured data, such as that stored on captured data database 204, is lost, it is far less serious than a merchant having to perform manual credit card processing or closing its credit card business as in the conventional system 100. Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating a system 800 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention. The system 800 includes a POS terminal 801, a shim 802, a network 803, a wrapper 804, and a merchant processor 805. In one embodiment, the POS terminal 801 is a swipe reader (hereinafter referred to as swipe reader 801 for ease of explanation). The shim 802 may be, for example, a communication interface or port. The shim 802 emulates a PSTN to the swipe reader 801 by generating a dial tone and sending it to the swipe reader 801. In response to the generated dial tone, an internal modem (not shown) of the swipe reader 801 provides a dial string to the shim 802. The shim 802 continues to emulate the PSTN 102 and "trick" the swipe reader 801 into recognizing the shim 802 as the merchant processor 805 by providing an acknowledgement (ACK) signal as the response the swipe reader 801 expects from the merchant processor 805. The swipe reader 801 provides a request in standard protocol (typically standard character-oriented asynchronous protocol). The shim 802 reformats the request into a second protocol (e.g., a connection-oriented protocol, such as TCP/IP) and transmits the message (e.g., the credit card transaction) via the network 803 to the merchant processor 805.

The wrapper 804 provides a reciprocal host-side application to the merchant processor 805. The wrapper 804 may remove the link level information and provides the transaction to the merchant processor 805 in the protocol recognized or required by the merchant processor 805. In one embodiment, such protocol is standard character- oriented asynchronous protocol.

The operation of the swipe reader 801 and the shim 802 for credit card transaction is as follows. The swipe reader 801 goes off hook, and the shim 802 emulates a dial tone. The swipe reader 801 recognizes the dial tone and sends DTMF dialing tones to "dial" the merchant processor 805. The shim 802 sends an answer modem tone to the swipe reader 801. The swipe reader 801 responds to answer and make a modem connection. The shim 802 sends an ENQ character to the swipe reader 801, which responds by sending the transaction message. The shim 802 sends an acknowledge (ACK) character and forwards the message to wrapper 804 using TCP. The shim 802 gets reply from the wrapper 804 and forwards the reply to the swipe reader 801. The swipe reader 801 sends and acknowledgement (ACK) signal to the shim 802, which sends an end-of-transmission (EOT) signal and hangs up. Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating a system 900 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The system 900 includes a POS terminal 901, a shim 902, a network 903, a wrapper 904, and a merchant processor 905. In one embodiment, the POS terminal 901 is a computer (hereinafter computer 901). In this embodiment, the computer 901 does not wait for a dial tone before sending a message. The shim 902 may be, for example, a communication interface or port. The shim 902 communicates with the serial interface of the computer 901. In this embodiment, the shim 902 appears to the computer 901 as an external modem. This system eliminates the telephone connection from the POS terminal or computer 901 and the modem handshake to thereby reduce the credit card processing time. The wrapper 904 provides a reciprocal host-side application to the merchant processor 905. The wrapper 904 may remove the link level information and provides the transaction to the merchant processor 905 in the protocol recognized or required by the merchant processor 905. In one embodiment, such protocol is standard character- oriented asynchronous protocol. The operation of the computer 901 and the shim 902 for credit card transaction is as follows. The computer 901 goes off hook, and the shim 902 emulates modem. The shim 902 sends an ENQ character to the computer 901, which responds by sending the transaction message. The shim 902 sends an acknowledge (ACK) character and forwards the message to wrapper 904 using TCP. The shim 902 gets reply from the wrapper 904 and forwards the reply to the computer 901. The computer 901 sends and acknowledgement (ACK) signal to the shim 802, which sends an end- of-transmission (EOT) signal and hangs up. In a modification to systems 800, 900, the shim 802 or 902 (or a memory device external to the shim) may store transactions for later transmission. The shim 802, 902 may batch the transactions and send them as a group for a later transmission. The shim 802, 902 may send each transaction using a standard methodology, using IP, or delaying communication with the host or merchant processor until a predetermined time, a predetermined lapse of time, or an occurrence of a predetermined event.

In an alternate embodiment of systems 800, 900 of Figures 8 and 9, the shim 802, 902 may be implemented as a software application (instead of a hardware application). In such embodiment, the software may be executed the computer 901. The software emulates the driver for a serial (or modem) port connection and the internal POS software is directed to use this emulated serial port instead of a real one. The software creates a new virtual communication channel in network 1003, converts the POS protocol as in an external shim device, and passes the POS data directly over the network 903 to terminal 904. An alternate embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in Fig. 10, which shows a system 1000 in which value added data can be captured from a credit card or other financial transaction and provided to a merchant. In this embodiment, in order to obtain this information, a host terminal 1002, a database 1003, an analysis host 1004, and a private connection 1005 are between a POS terminal 1001 and the PSTN 102.

In operation, POS terminal 1001 sends and receives data using special credit card and data capture protocols, such as Visa 2. A transaction is initiated when the POS terminal 1001 calls a phone number specified by its bank and/or credit card service provider. Once a connection is established, POS terminal 1001 sends the datastream. This datastream is diverted through a different dial-up connection and data network to host terminal 1002.

In conventional system 100, the bi-directional data stream normally would go through PSTN 102 to POS banking host 103. However, in the embodiment of the present invention, the bi-directional data stream is diverted to host terminal 1002. From there through the process described below the bi-directional stream goes to bank host terminal 103. Because a wide-band network, such as network 1005, can establish communications more quickly than a dialup modem, pass data faster, and allow multiple simulataneous independent connections, the system 1000 has improved performance compared to multiple phone lines.

In operation, a copy of data messages is temporarily made in memory of the host terminal 1002, which then sends the copy to the database 1003. In this way, host terminal 1002 captures all the data messages, but not the protocol, of the datastream and stores the captured data into database 1003. The analysis host 1004 then executes software stored in a memory therein that analyzes the data stored on database 1003 to extract the information desired by the particular merchant. For example, analysis host 1004 may retrieve all of the authorization and settlement data from the database 1003 and record the dollar amount of the transaction and the time and date of transaction. The recorded information is then sent to the merchant terminal 1006.

The analysis host 1004 may do a customer intelligence analysis 1007 that may include, for example, performance analysis, frequency analysis, spending analysis, and credit card activity analysis, which may based on several factors, such as entity, customer, credit card type, or date or time dependency. Specifically, the analysis of the analysis host 1004 may include, for example, performance summary for the entity using the POS terminal 1001 that includes, for example, customer frequency, revenue, and credit card summaries. The analysis host 1004 may determine quantitative indicators such as sales per cover or sales per seat. The analysis may also include a spending analysis of customers, including, for example, the percentage of customers that drive the majority of sales, or track percentage of sales from customers, such as, the highest spenders, or transaction sizes for monitoring the results of different pricing or promotional strategies. The analysis host 1004 may also do a consolidated or comparative analysis of several entities. In certain service industries, such as restaurants, repeat customers may be important for profitability. The analysis host 1004 may also include analysis of whether customers are repeat customers and profiles of customers. The profiles of customers may include gender, age, income, occupation and the like. The analysis host 1004 may include geographical analysis such as zip code location of customers' residence or place of employment and proximity analysis to determine how far customers travel to the business entity. The analysis host 1004 may use other demographic data such as economic, sociological, psychographic, or the like to generate data related to the transactions and the related credit card account or account holder. The repeat customers can be analyzed for trends by analyzing percentages of repeat customers or frequency of transaction for customers. Such analysis may indicate customer satisfaction or impact of new competitors. The analysis host 1004 may analyze transactions based on the type or issuer of the credit card. Such analysis may indicate impact of credit card fees. The analysis host 1004 may correlate the good or service with credit card data, either for groups or individual account holders. The analysis host 1004 may be used for inventory control and procurement by tracking the goods or services and the particular items used for the transaction. Such procurement may be automatically executed for inventory control and management. The analysis from the analysis host 1004 may be used for targeted marketing to specific customers or general marketing to larger groups of customers. Host terminal 1002 also copies and sends the datastreams to their intended destination, for example, datastream from POS terminal 1001 is forwarded to bank host terminal 103 and datastream from bank host termmal 103 is forwarded to POS terminal 1001, via high-speed private connection 1005 making it appear to both terminals 101, 103 that a normal connection has occurred. A high-speed private connection includes but is not limited to technologies of frame relay, X.25, ATM, and Internet VPN.

Although the embodiments are described for credit card transactions, point of sale systems may also use debit card transactions and the like.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. A method for capturing communication data transmitted on a communication line between a first terminal and a second terminal, the method comprising the steps of: storing information about a desired type of communication data to be captured from a datastream transmitted on the communication line between the first terminal and the second terminal; monitoring the datastream, without interfering with the datastream, to identify a transmitted type of communication data; determining whether the transmitted type of communication data matches the desired type of communication data based on the stored information; and capturing the transmitted type of communication data matching the desired type of communication data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring comprises the step of monitoring data transmission protocols and message formats in the datastream.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: sending the captured transmitted type of communication data to a third terminal.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of sending comprises the step of: transmitting the captured transmitted type of communication data to the third terminal via the communication line.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: storing the captured transmitted type of communication data; and transmitting the captured transmitted type of communication data to the third terminal via the communication line.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring comprises monitoring the datastream, without interfering with the datastream, to identify a transmitted type of communication data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the datastream comprises a plurality of data packets, each of the plurality of data packets having character data in a header of the data packet and wherein the steps of determining and capturing comprise the steps of: analyzing the character data in the header of the plurality of data packet to identify the type of data packet; and determining from the type of data packet a transmitted type of communication data being transmitted; selecting a portion of the communication data information corresponding to the transmitted type of communication data.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication data includes credit card information relating to ones of a plurality of transactions and a plurality of consumers, the method further comprising the steps of: determining a profile of ones of the plurality of consumers based on the credit card information; and determining time correlation of the ones of the plurality of transactions.

9. An apparatus for capturing communication data transmitted on a communication line between a first terminal and a second terminal, the apparatus comprising: means for storing information about a desired type of communication data to be captured from a datastream transmitted on the communication line between the first terminal and the second terminal; means for monitoring the datastream, without interfering with the datastream, to identify a transmitted type of communication data; means for determining whether the transmitted type of communication data matches the desired type of communication data based on the stored information; and means for capturing the transmitted type of communication data matching the desired type of communication data.

10. An apparatus for capturing communication data comprising: a communication port connectable between a first termmal and a communication line for monitoring a datastream on a communication line between the first and second terminals, without interfering with the datastream, to identify a transmitted type of communication data; a memory storing information about a desired type of communication data to be captured from the datastream; and a processor coupled to the communication port and the memory to compare the transmitted type of communication data and the desired type of communication data based on the stored infonnation and to store the transmitted type of communication data in the event that the transmitted type of communication data matches the desired type of communication data.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the first terminal is a point of sale termmal.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising a clock coupled to the processor programmable by a clock signal received on the communication line and wherein the processor transmits the captured data at a predetermined time.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the second terminal is a host terminal.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the communication includes a credit card transaction.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein a modem is coupled between the communication port and the processor.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising an off-hook sensor coupled between the first terminal and the communication port and coupled to the processor, and providing a telephone connection signal to the processor in response to the first termmal attempting to make a connection to the communication line.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the processor provides an inhibit signal to the coupler inhibit uploading data in the event the telephone connection signal is enabled.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the communication port includes a directional coupler.

19. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the communication port includes a hybrid bridge.

20. An apparatus for capturing communication data transmitted on a dial-up communication line between a first terminal and a second terminal, comprising: a telephone line emulator coupled to the first terminal; a first modem coupled to the telephone line emulator and to the dial-up communication line, the first modem capturing a phone number called from the first terminal and making a modem connection through the telephone line emulator and coupling to an external processor for communicating data between the external processor and the first terminal to emulate the second terminal; and a second modem coupled to the second terminal for communicating with the second termmal in a protocol different than the protocol of the first modem in response to commands indicative of the communicated data.

21. An apparatus for capturing communication data transmitted on a dial-up communication line between a first terminal and a second terminal, the apparatus comprising: a signal sensor coupled to the first terminal and having an output for providing a electrically isolated indication signal in the event that the first terminal initiates a telephone connection; an analog-to-digital converter coupled to the signal sensor to convert the electrically isolated indication signal into a digital indication signal; a relay coupled to the signal sensor for communicating audio signals with the communication line; a digital access arrangement coupled to the relay; and a codec coupled to the digital access arrangement for generating a digital audio signal in response to an analog audio signal from the codec and providing an analog audio signal to the codec in response to an applied digital audio signal.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 further comprising a processor coupled to the codec and the analog-to-digital convertor and providing the applied digital audio signal.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the digital access arrangement includes a hybrid coupler to split upstream and downstream signals on the communication line.

24. A system comprising: a point of sale terminal providing credit card information and transaction information in response to credit card stored information; a host terminal; a communication network coupled between the point of sale terminal and the host terminal; and an interface port coupled between the point of sale terminal and the communication network monitoring the credit card transaction information, without interfering with the transmission of the credit card transaction information, to exfract the credit card stored information and transaction information.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 further comprising a captured data processing host coupled to the communication network for storing and analyzing said extracted credit card stored information and transaction information.

26. A system comprising: a first terminal providing a datastream including communication data of a transmitted type; a second terminal; a communication network coupled between the first and second terminals; an interface port coupled between the first terminal and the communication network for monitoring the datastream, without interfering with the datastream, to identify transmitted type of communication data; a memory storing information about a desired type of communication data to be captured from the datastream; and a processor coupled to the interface port and the memory to compare the transmitted type of communication data and the desired type of communication data based on the stored information and to store the transmitted type of communication data in the event that the fransmitted type of communication data matches the desired type of communication data.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the communication data includes credit account identifier and transaction information.

28. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the first terminal is a point of sale terminal.

29. The apparatus of claim 26 further comprising a clock coupled to the processor programmable by a clock signal received on the communication network and wherein the processor transmits the captured data at a time indicative of a time of the clock.

30. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the interface port includes a directional coupler.

31. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the communication port includes a hybrid bridge.

32. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the interface port comprises: a telephone line emulator coupled to the first terminal; a first modem coupled to the telephone line emulator and to the communication network, the first modem capturing a phone number called from the first terminal and making a modem connection through the telephone line emulator and coupled to the processor for communicating communication data between the processor and the first terminal to emulate the second terminal; and a second modem coupled to the second terminal for providing the stored communication data with the second termmal in a protocol different than a protocol of the first modem in response to commands indicative of the communication data.

33. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the interface port comprises: a signal sensor coupled to the first terminal and having an output for providing a electrically isolated indication signal in the event that the first terminal initiates a telephone connection; an analog-to-digital converter coupled to the signal sensor to convert the electrically isolated indication signal into a digital indication signal; a relay coupled to the signal sensor for communicating audio signals with the communication network; a digital access arrangement coupled to the relay; and a codec coupled to the processor and the digital access arrangement for generating a digital audio signal in response to an analog audio signal from the codec and providing an analog audio signal to the codec in response to a digital audio signal from the processor.

34. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the digital access arrangement includes a hybrid coupler to split upstream and downstream signals on the communication network.

35. An article of manufacturing comprising : a computer useable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to provide financial information, the computer readable program code comprising; computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to read a database comprising credit card account information associated with a plurality of credit card accounts and transaction information associated at least one transaction associated with ones of the plurality of credit card accounts; and computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to correlate time of transactions with the plurality of credit card accounts.

36. The article of manufacturing of claim 35 further comprising computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to determine financial relationships of the transactions and credit card accounts for an entity associated with the plurality of transactions.

37. The article of manufacturing of claim 35 further comprising computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to determine demographic relationships of users of credit cards used in the plurality of transactions based on user infonnation associated with the plurality of credit card accounts.

38. The article of manufacturing of claim 35 further comprising computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to determine a geographic relationship between an entity at which the plurality of transactions occurred and a geographic location associated with users of credit cards used in the plurality of transactions.

39. The article of manufacturing of claim 35 further comprising computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to associate ones of the plurality of transactions related to the same one of the credit card accounts.

40. The article of manufacturing of claim 39 further comprising computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to determine distribution data of multiple transactions related to ones of the credit card accounts.

41. The article of manufacturing of claim 35 further comprising computer readable program code configured to cause the computer to determine fees associated with use of credit cards associated with the plurality of transactions.

42. A method for providing financial information, the method comprising: reading a database comprising credit card account information associated with a plurality of credit card accounts and transaction information associated at least one transaction associated with ones of the plurality of credit card accounts; and correlating time of transactions with the plurality of credit card accounts.

43. The method of claim 42 further comprising determining financial relationships of the transactions and credit card accounts for an entity associated with the plurality of fransactions.

44. The method of claim 42 further comprising determining demographic relationships of users of credit cards used in the plurality of transactions based on user information associated with the plurality of credit card accounts.

45. The method of claim 42 further comprising detennining a geographic relationship between an entity at which the plurality of transactions occurred and a geographic location associated with users of credit cards used in the plurality of transactions.

46. The method of claim 42 further comprising associating ones of the plurality of transactions related to the same one of the credit card accounts.

47. The method of claim 46 further comprising determining distribution data of multiple transactions related to ones of the credit card accounts.

48. The method of claim 42 further comprising determining fees associated with use of credit cards associated with the plurality of transactions.

49. The method of claim 42 further comprising tracking inventory based on the plurality of transactions.

50. The method of claim 49 further comprising ordering replenishment based on the tracked inventory.

51. The method of claim 42 further comprising determining an economic relationship between an entity at which the plurality of transactions occurred and a geographic location associated with users of credit cards used in the plurality of transactions.

52. The method of claim 42 further comprising determining fransaction components related to a user of credit cards and determining preferences of said user from the transaction components.