Retail sales and dispensing fuel management system

At a petroleum product management system that is network connectable to one or more computer systems, the one or more computer systems including one or more separately located retail location kiosks, each retail location kiosk controlling the dispensing of petroleum products at a retail location, the petroleum management system configured to remotely monitor and maintain contact with retail location kiosks at a plurality of different retail locations via network communication, a method for authorizing the dispensing of a petroleum product at a retail location, the method comprising:

• an act of the petroleum product management system receiving account credentials from a kiosk at a retail location, the account credentials being indicative of an attempt to purchase petroleum products at the retail location against the balance of a registered petroleum purchasing account;
• an act of the petroleum product management system identifying a registered petroleum purchasing account assigned to the received account credentials, the registered petroleum purchasing account previously registered to the registered user of the petroleum product management system, the registered petroleum purchasing account having an account balance representing funds from previously cleared deposit transactions submitted to the petroleum product management system, the previously cleared deposit transactions electronically depositing funds into the registered petroleum purchasing account, the account balance indicating funds available within the petroleum management system to significantly reduce the risks associated with settling transactions for the purchase of petroleum products without reference to external authorization networks;
• an act of the petroleum product management system accessing account information for the assigned registered petroleum purchasing account from an account database;
• an act of the petroleum product management system sending at least an account balance for the assigned registered petroleum product purchasing account to the retail location kiosk at the retail location, the account balance indicating to the retail location that the registered user has an account with fuel management system such that payment for purchased petroleum products is to be made from previously cleared funds so as to further thereby indicate to the retail location the minimized risk associated with settling transactions involving the registered user;
• an act of the petroleum product management system monitoring dispensing of the petroleum product at the retail location in essentially real time to assure that the account balance is sufficient to pay for the dispensed petroleum product as the petroleum product is dispensed so as to prevent the account balance from going below a limit;
• if the account balance reaches the limit:
• an act of sending an indication to the retail location that dispensing of the petroleum product is complete;
• an act of the petroleum product management system receiving a debit message from the retail location kiosk at the retail location in response to and upon completion of dispensing petroleum product at the retail location, the debit message for debiting a calculated cost amount for dispensed petroleum product, dispensed at the retail location, from the account balance of the assigned registered petroleum purchasing account;
• and
• an act of debiting the calculated amount from the assigned registered petroleum purchasing account in response to receiving the debit message by transferring the calculated amount out of the assigned registered petroleum purchasing account to settle the transaction for the purchase of the dispensed petroleum product quantity, without reference to any external authorization networks, wherein the petroleum product management system is configured to debit the assigned registered petroleum purchasing account for petroleum product purchases made at any of a variety of different, geographically remote retail locations.

A computer program product for use at a kiosk that is network connectable to a petroleum product management system, the kiosk located at a retail location to control the dispensing of petroleum products at one or more petroleum product dispensers at the retail location, the petroleum product management system located separately from the retail location, the petroleum management system configured to remotely monitor and maintain contact with kiosks at a plurality of different geographically remote retail locations via network communication, the computer program product of implementing a method for dispensing a petroleum product at the retail location, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media have stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the kiosk to perform the following:

• receive, at the kiosk, an indication of a petroleum product that is to be purchased at the retail location;
• receive, at the kiosk, account credentials corresponding to a registered petroleum purchasing account for a registered user of the separately located petroleum management system, the registered petroleum purchasing account having an account balance representing funds from previously cleared deposit transactions submitted to the separately located petroleum product management system, the previously cleared deposit transactions electronically depositing funds into the registered petroleum purchasing account, the account balance indicating funds available within the separately located petroleum management system to minimize the risks associated with settling transactions for the purchase of petroleum products without reference to external authorization networks;
• submit, by the retail location, the received account credentials for the registered petroleum purchasing account to the separately located petroleum product management system;
• receive, at the retail location, the account balance for the registered petroleum purchasing account from the separately located petroleum product management system, the separately located petroleum product management system handling petroleum product purchases for a variety of different, geographically remote retail locations, reception of the account balance indicating to the retail location that the registered user has an account with the fuel management system such that payment for purchased petroleum products is to be made from previously cleared funds so as to thereby further indicate to the retail location the minimized risk associated with settling transactions involving the registered user;
• configure, at the kiosk, a petroleum product dispenser to dispense the petroleum product based on the account balance for the petroleum purchasing account;
• receive monitoring from the separately located petroleum management system to monitor the dispensing of the petroleum product in essentially real time to assure that the account balance is sufficient to pay for the dispensed petroleum product as the petroleum product is dispensed so as to prevent the account balance from going below a limit;
• receive an indication that the dispensing of petroleum product is completed resulting in a dispensed petroleum product quantity that was dispensed at the petroleum product dispenser, the indication being either an indication from the fuel management system that the account balance has reached the limit or an indication from the petroleum product dispenser that dispensing is complete;
• calculate an amount for the cost of the dispensed petroleum product quantity;
• and
• send a debit message to the separately located petroleum product management system in response to and upon completion of dispensing the petroleum product quantity, the debit message sent to directly debit the calculated amount from the account balance of the registered petroleum purchasing account by transferring the calculated amount out of the registered petroleum purchasing account to settle the transaction for the purchase of the dispensed petroleum product quantity, without reference to any other external authorization networks.

A system for authorizing petroleum product purchases and tracking petroleum product purchases made at any of a number of different geographically remote retail locations that each have one or more petroleum product dispensers, the system comprising:

• a centralized fuel management system configured to authorize petroleum product purchases and facilitate user tracking of individual purchases, the centralized fuel management system including:
• a web portal having a sign-up module for creating new petroleum purchasing accounts for users, wherein the sign-up module is adapted to receive account credentials input for identification of a respective registered petroleum purchasing account;
• an account details module for enabling a user associated with the registered petroleum purchasing account to access the registered petroleum purchasing account, wherein access is provided when the user inputs the account credentials received by the sign-up module to create the registered petroleum purchasing account, and wherein the account details module provides the user with access to data that includes a prepaid account balance as well as purchase history information that includes itemized information on past petroleum product purchases;
• a database storing account information for the registered petroleum purchasing account, wherein the account information stored by the database includes the account credentials, the prepaid account balance, and the purchase history information;
• and
• an authorization module for receiving the account credentials from any of the different, geographically remote retail locations, the account credentials being those entered into the sign-up module and being indicative of an attempt to purchase petroleum products at a respective retail location against the prepaid account balance, the authorization module being configured to identify the registered petroleum purchasing account in the database using the account credentials and determine a sufficiency of funds for requested fuel purchases, such that each of account authorization, sign-up, and itemized purchase history information are controlled by the same, central fuel management system;
• and
• a financial module configured to:
• monitor dispensing of the petroleum product at the retail location in essentially real time to assure that the account balance is sufficient to pay for the dispensed petroleum product as the petroleum product is dispensed so as to prevent the account balance from going below a limit;
• send an indication to the retail location that dispensing of the petroleum product is complete if the account balance reaches the limit;
• debiting a calculated amount from the assigned registered petroleum purchasing account in response to receiving a debit message by transferring a calculated amount out of the assigned registered petroleum purchasing account to settle the transaction for the purchase of the dispensed petroleum product quantity, without reference to any external authorization networks, wherein the petroleum product management system is configured to debit the assigned registered petroleum purchasing account for petroleum product purchases made at any of a variety of different, geographically remote retail locations.