System and method for presenting multiple transaction options in a portable device

A portable device for conducting a transaction from an account associated with the portable device, the portable device comprising:

• a communication system for communicating with a transaction system of a receiving entity;
• a user interface;
• and
• a memory storing account information for each of a plurality of accounts;
• a transaction application, the transaction application:
• applying at least one predetermined selection rule to the plurality of accounts to determine a selected subset of the plurality of accounts;
• displaying a plurality of transaction option indicators, each of the plurality of transaction option indicators representing a one of the selected subset of the plurality of accounts;
• obtaining user selection of a selected at least one of the transaction option indicators;
• and
• driving the communication system to exchange data with the transaction system of the receiving entity to initiate a transaction with the receiving entity utilizing a transaction account associated with the selected at least one of the transaction option indicators;
• wherein the portable device is a mobile telephone of a clam shell configuration, and the user interface comprises:
• an external display on an outside of a housing visible to a user when the mobile telephone is in a closed configuration;
• and
• a plurality of user interface controls on the outside of the housing operable by the user when the mobile telephone is in the closed configuration;
• and
• displaying a plurality of transaction option indicators, comprises the transaction application:
• driving the user interface controls to operate a scroll function for driving the external display to sequentially display each of the transaction option indicators;
• and
• driving the user interface controls to operate a selection function to obtain user selection of a selected at least one of the transaction option indicators.

A method of operating a portable device for conducting a transaction from an account, the method comprising:

• maintaining an account database storing account information for each of a plurality of accounts;
• applying at least one predetermined selection rule to the plurality of accounts to determine a selected subset of the plurality of accounts;
• displaying a plurality of transaction option indicators, each of the plurality of transaction option indicators representing a one of the selected subset of the plurality of accounts, wherein the plurality of transaction option indicators are displayed in a priority order, the priority order being determined by the transaction application applying at least one predetermined sort rule to the selected subset of the plurality of accounts;
• obtaining user selection of a selected at least one of the transaction option indicators;
• and
• generating a communication signal to a transaction system of a receiving entity, the communication signal including the account information of the selected at least one of the transaction option indicators.