1. A method of authorizing an electronic commerce transaction between a purchaser using a credit card, an on-line merchant, and a credit card company, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving by the merchant, a purchase request from the purchaser;
- obtaining by the merchant, the purchaser's credit card information;
- establishing a multi-party data session between the purchaser, the on-line merchant, and the credit card company;
- producing a bill by the merchant in the multi-party data session, said bill including the purchaser's credit card information;
- verifying the credit card information by the credit card company;
- taking an image of the purchaser with a Web camera;
- validating the purchaser's image by the credit card company;
- utilizing a whiteboard application to obtain the purchaser's signature;
- validating the purchaser's signature by the credit card company; and
- approving the transaction upon positively verifying the credit card information and validating the purchaser's image and signature.
2. The method of authorizing an electronic commerce transaction of claim 1 wherein the step of validating the image by the credit card company includes the steps of:
- storing in an image database, a processed image of a valid cardholder associated with the credit card; and
- utilizing an image recognition program to compare the image of the purchaser with the stored image of the valid cardholder.
3. The method of authorizing an electronic commerce transaction of claim 1 wherein the step of validating the purchaser's signature by the credit card company includes the steps of:
- storing in a signature image database, a processed image of a signature of a valid cardholder associated with the credit card; and
- utilizing an image recognition program to compare the signature of the purchaser with the stored image of the valid cardholder's signature.
4. A method of authorizing an electronic commerce transaction between a purchaser using a credit card, an on-line merchant, and a credit card company, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving by the merchant, a purchase request from the purchaser;
- obtaining by the merchant, the purchaser's credit card information;
- establishing a multi-party data session between the purchaser, the on-line merchant, and the credit card company;
- obtaining the purchaser's credit card information by the credit card company through the multi-party data session;
- determining by the credit card company whether the credit card is valid;
- utilizing a whiteboard application to obtain the purchaser's signature, upon determining that the credit card is valid;
- determining by the credit card company whether the purchaser's signature is valid; and
- approving the transaction upon determining that the signature is valid.
5. The method of authorizing an electronic commerce transaction of claim 4 wherein the step of determining by the credit card company whether the purchaser's signature is valid includes the steps of:
- storing in a signature image database, a processed image of a signature of a valid cardholder associated with the credit card; and
- utilizing an image recognition program to compare the signature of the purchaser with the stored image of the valid cardholder's signature.
6. The method of authorizing an electronic commerce transaction of claim 4 further comprising, after the step of determining by the credit card company whether the credit card is valid, the step of rejecting the transaction upon determining that the credit card is not valid.
7. The method of authorizing an electronic commerce transaction of claim 4 further comprising, after the step of determining by the credit card company whether the purchaser's signature is valid, the step of rejecting the transaction upon determining that the purchaser's signature is not valid.
8. The method of authorizing an electronic commerce transaction of claim 4 further comprising the steps of:
- taking an image of the purchaser with a Web camera; and
- determining by the credit card company whether the purchaser's image is valid.
9. The method of authorizing an electronic commerce transaction of claim 8 wherein the step of determining by the credit card company whether the purchaser's image is valid includes the steps of:
- storing in an image database, a processed image of a valid cardholder associated with the credit card; and
- utilizing an image recognition program to compare the image of the purchaser with the stored image of the valid cardholder.
10. The method of authorizing an electronic commerce transaction of claim 8 further comprising, after the step of determining by the credit card company whether the purchaser's image is valid, the step of rejecting the transaction upon determining that the purchaser's image is not valid.
11. A system for authorizing an electronic commerce transaction between a purchaser using a credit card, an on-line merchant, and a credit card company, said system comprising:
- a server associated with the merchant for receiving a purchase request from the purchaser, and for obtaining the purchaser's credit card information;
- a packet data network that connects the purchaser, the merchant, and the credit card company in a multiparty data session;
- a Web camera for taking an image of the purchaser in response to the purchaser sending the purchase request to the merchant;
- a first database that stores valid credit card information, said valid credit card information being compared to the purchaser's credit card information to verify the purchaser's information; and
- a second database that stores processed images of valid cardholders, said images of valid cardholders being compared to the image of the purchaser to validate the purchaser's image;
- whereby the credit card company approves the transaction upon positively verifying the credit card information, and upon validating the purchaser's image.
12. The system for authorizing an electronic commerce transaction of claim 11 further comprising:
- a whiteboard application for capturing an image of the purchaser's signature; and
- a third database that stores processed images of valid cardholder signatures, said images of valid cardholder signatures being compared to the image of the purchaser's signature to validate the purchaser's signature.
13. A system for authorizing an electronic commerce transaction between a purchaser using a credit card, an on-line merchant, and a credit card company, said system comprising:
- a server associated with the merchant for receiving a purchase request from the purchaser, and for obtaining the purchaser's credit card information;
- a packet data network that connects the purchaser, the merchant, and the credit card company in a multiparty data session;
- a whiteboard application for capturing an image of the purchaser's signature;
- a first database that stores valid credit card information, said valid credit card information being compared to the purchaser's credit card information to verify the purchaser's information;
- a second database that stores processed images of valid cardholder signatures; and
- an image recognition program that validates the purchaser's signature by comparing the image of the purchaser's signature to an image of a valid cardholder's signature from the second database;
- whereby the credit card company approves the transaction upon positively verifying the credit card information, and upon validating the purchaser's signature.
14. The system for authorizing an electronic commerce transaction of claim 13 wherein the packet data network includes a multicasting mechanism for establishing a multi-party data session between the purchaser, the merchant, and the credit card company in which information related to the transaction is sent to a multicast Internet Protocol (IP) address of a multicast group to which the purchaser, the merchant, and the credit card company belong.
15. A method of authorizing a face-to-face commercial transaction between a purchaser using a credit card and a merchant, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving by the merchant, a purchase request from the purchaser;
- obtaining by the merchant, the purchaser's credit card information;
- establishing a data link between the merchant and a credit card company;
- sending the credit card information to the credit card company;
- verifying the credit card information by the credit card company;
- taking an image of the purchaser with a Web camera;
- validating the purchaser's image; and
- approving the transaction by the credit card company upon positively verifying the credit card information and validating the purchaser's image.
16. The method of authorizing a face-to-face commercial transaction of claim 17 further comprising the steps of:
- utilizing a whiteboard application to obtain the purchaser's signature;
- validating the purchaser's signature; and
- approving the transaction by the credit card company upon positively validating the purchaser's signature.
17. A system for authorizing a face-to-face commercial transaction between a purchaser using a credit card and a merchant, said system comprising:
- a data link between the merchant and a credit card company for sending the purchaser's credit card information from the merchant to the credit card company;
- a first database of valid credit card information for verifying the purchaser's credit card information;
- a Web camera for taking an image of the purchaser;
- a second database of processed images of valid cardholders for validating the purchaser's image; and
- an image recognition program for validating the purchaser's image by comparing the purchaser's image to a processed image of a valid cardholder from the second database;
- whereby the credit card company approves the transaction upon positively verifying the credit card information and validating the purchaser's image.
18. A method of authorizing an electronic commerce transaction between a purchaser using a credit card, an on-line merchant, and a credit card company in which the merchant receives a purchase request from the purchaser and obtains the purchaser's credit card information, and the credit card company verifies the credit card information, said method characterized by the steps of:
- establishing a multi-party data session between the purchaser, the on-line merchant, and the credit card company;
- taking an image of the purchaser with a Web camera;
- validating the purchaser's image by the credit card company utilizing an image recognition program and a database of valid cardholder images;
- obtaining the purchaser's signature with a whiteboard application;
- validating the purchaser's signature by the credit card company utilizing the image recognition program and a database of valid cardholder signatures; and
- approving the transaction by the credit card company upon positively verifying the credit card information and validating the purchaser's image and signature.
