Secured electronic rating system

A method of providing secure communication of commercial transaction data and for securely communicating rating information relating to consumer satisfaction, comprising:

• providing a local subsystem disposed at a local location and accessible to a consumer, said local subsystem being responsive to consumer input information and operative to generate local communication data, and being operative to receive remote communication data, said local subsystem having an identifying number associated therewith for transmission to a remote subsystem;
• providing a remote subsystem located remotely from said local subsystem for receiving said local communication data, and for receiving and storing said identifying number, and for generating said remote communication data, said remote location having at least one identifiable product remotely selectable by the consumer;
• establishing a first communication link between the local subsystem and the remote subsystem;
• selecting at least one of said identifiable products through the first communication link;
• communicating remote communication data including a telephone toll number and a telephone toll-free number associated with the selected product through said first communication link from the remote subsystem to the local subsystem;
• using the retrieved toll number to establish a second communication link between the local subsystem and the remote subsystem, said second communication link being a telephone toll connection and being operative to transfer said identifying number associated with said local subsystem to said remote subsystem;
• storing the transferred identifying number in the remote subsystem;
• purchasing the selected product through said second communication link;
• evaluating the selected product;
• using the toll-free number to establish a third communication link between said local subsystem and said remote subsystem, said third communication link being a toll-free telephone connection, and again transferring said identifying number associated with said local subsystem to said remote subsystem;
• and
• comparing the identifying number transferred through said third communication link to the identifying number stored in the remote subsystem to verify that the third communication link is between said remote subsystem and said local subsystem,
• whereupon the consumer will be allowed to communicate his/her evaluation to the remote subsystem.

A remote communication system for securing electronic purchases of digital information including means for permitting a user of a purchased product to subsequently rate the purchased product comprising:

• a local subsystem disposed at a local location and accessible to a user, said local subsystem being responsive to a user input and operative to generate communication data corresponding thereto, said local subsystem being identifiable by a caller ID number;
• means establishing a first communication link for communicating said communication data to a remote location;
• a remote subsystem located at said remote location for receiving said communication data and in response thereto transmitting a telephone toll number and a toll-free telephone number associated with a product selected by the user back through said first communication link to said local subsystem,
• said remote subsystem including
• means for transferring an ordered product from said remote subsystem to said local subsystem;
• means for storing caller ID numbers transmitted thereto;
• comparison means for comparing a received caller ID number to the stored caller ID numbers to recognize a particular caller ID when a toll-free number is subsequently used to contact said remote subsystem;
• means using the transmitted toll number to establish a second communication link between said local subsystem and said remote subsystem through which the selected product may be ordered, said second communication link transmitting a caller ID number identifying said local subsystem to said remote subsystem;
• and
• means using said toll-free number to establish a third communication link between said local subsystem and said remote subsystem whereupon said caller ID is recognized by said comparison means and whereupon being recognized, the user will be permitted to communicate an evaluation of said selected product to said remote subsystem.