Patent Application
20090055278
This invention relates to the field of transaction validation and payment methods and, more particularly, to transaction validation and payment methods utilizing mobile wireless devices such as mobile telephones.
Bar-code scanners and bar-code scanning technology have been in existence for many years, and scanning technology useable by consumers is finding its way into the retail marketplace. Many supermarkets and other retail stores have self-checkout areas where the consumer brings items to be purchased and which allow the consumer to total up the cost of their purchases and pay for them at a single station, with little or no help from store personnel. More recently, the Waitrose supermarket chain in the United Kingdom provided a service called “Quick Check” which allows consumers to scan items as they shop, using a handheld scanner provided by the supermarket. When finished shopping, the consumer goes to a POS terminal and pays for the already-scanned items using cash, debit card, or credit card.
While the above-described retail systems have clear benefits, they are certain aspects of them that are sub-optimal. For example, the supermarket must install scanning stations or supply the hand-held scanners for use by the consumer. Further, the consumers must still queue up to pay for the items they are purchasing, and to pay the user must directly interact with the retailer (either directly with human assistance or indirectly with retailer-provided payment processing systems). In addition to increasing overhead costs due to the expense of the payment processing systems, the security of the transaction is reduced, as the consumer must give confidential payment information (credit card numbers, debit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc.) to the retailer to complete the transaction. This can lead to identity theft and fraudulent credit card practices such as “skimming”.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) scanning technology is another form of scanning technology that is becoming more prevalent, particularly with the rapidly decreasing cost of RFID tags. The most common uses of RFID tags/RFID readers is in inventory control, product tracking, libraries, file-tracking, and automatic toll collection. Many of these applications use passive RFID tags applied to the product or item and then RFID readers are used to “interrogate” and extract information from the RFID tags when the RFID reader is placed in close proximity to the passive RFID tag.
The convergence of communications and computing is delivering a new generation of wireless information devices, often referred to as smart phones or communicators. The most capable of these devices utilize operating systems and related applications such as the Symbian platform from Symbian Limited of the United Kingdom. Wireless information devices based on the Symbian platform, are ‘smarter’ than current generation GSM phones in being able to offer multiple, advanced, robust client based applications. For example, current designs of communicators based on the Symbian platform include all of the applications found on a fully featured PDA, such as a contacts manager, messaging application, word processor, spreadsheet, synchronization etc.
With the emergence of these “smarter smart phones” such as the Symbian communicators described above have come numerous new uses for communicators not previously contemplated. Communicators can be programmed as bar code scanners to enable the scanning and processing of items bearing bar codes, and Nokia has recently incorporated RFID-reading capability into certain mobile devices.
Mobile phones are also being used as a means for paying for train fares, parking, and other similar transactions requiring the transfer of funds in return for products or services. Examples of such systems include Mobile Suica, a service for Osaifu Keitai mobile phones in Japan allowing for the purchase of fares on the Japanese JR East railway network, and RingGo, a mobile-phone-enabled parking service currently offered in public car parks in the United Kingdom.
There is a need for technology that allows consumers to utilize their mobile devices, and in particular, their mobile telephones, to scan and validate purchases and perform secure (e.g., encrypted) payment processing, without the need to interact with specialized retailer equipment and retailer personnel, and which eliminates the need for consumers to provide confidential financial information to the retailer. The present invention meets this need, among others.
The present invention incorporates scanning technology and secure payment technology into the operating system (OS) of a mobile device such as a smartphone. In a preferred embodiment, the scanning technology comprises RFID interrogation capability. This enables smartphone users to validate transactions during a shopping session at a retail location (i.e., scan items as they are added to their shopping cart) and streamline the payment process by electronically transmitting their credit/debit card information directly to their financial institution to authorize payment to finish the transaction, all while within the retail location.
In the RFID tag embodiment, each item must have an RFID tag on it. Each tag could have a unique RFID number (e.g., one box of cereal A will have a different RFID number than another box of cereal A) or unique RFID numbers could be assigned by product type (e.g., all boxes of cereal A will have the same number).
The retail location 100 in this example includes security sensors 106 and a security alarm 108 coupled to a retailer processor 110. Typically these sensors will be installed at exits of the store so that if an item is being carried out that has not been purchased, the sensors 106 will sense this and security alarm 108 will be sounded to alert store personnel of a possible theft event. As will be described further below, the retailer processor 110 performs, among other functions, a processing of information between security sensors 106 and entities external to the retail location, such as a consumer financial institution 114 or a retailer financial institution 116. As can be seen in
In accordance with the present invention, a consumer possessing a mobile device such as mobile telephone 104 uses the mobile device to identify items to be purchased and to make payment for the purchases. The mobile device, such as mobile telephone 104, can communicate using known communication techniques (SMS messaging, Internet connection, normal telephone connection, etc.) to communicate with external elements such as a consumer's financial institution 114. As described in more detail below with respect to
Referring to
The scanning module, in a preferred embodiment, can be an RFID reader such as the RFID reader kit manufactured and sold by Nokia. Any RFID reader system and software capable of operating on a mobile telephone will function for the purpose of RFID reading required for the present invention. It is understood that such RFID reader systems may include additional hardware coupled to the mobile telephone, or may be implemented in software that uses the existing communication capabilities of the mobile telephone hardware to perform the RFID scanning functions enabled by the added software. It is understood that if desired, alternate scanning techniques (e.g., barcode scanning, Bluetooth, infrared, etc.) can be utilized and still fall within the scope of the present invention.
Secure payment module 206 can comprise any payment method which provides the ability to conduct secure payment transactions via a mobile telephone. Examples include mobile Suica, a service for Osaifu Keitai Mobile Phones of Japan and the RingGo mobile phone parking service offered in the United Kingdom. Each of these systems includes the capability to securely conduct payment transactions via a mobile telephone, and these systems or systems that function similarly can be used to perform the function of the secure payment module 206. Credit cards, debit cards, direct bank deductions, and other payment methods may be used. For example, a consumer could pre-register a credit/debit card details with the payment module on the mobile device, and then the transaction could be effected via the credit/debit card.
At step 304, with the mobile device being held in RF range of the item, the user selects a read function, which triggers the mobile device to scan the item that is it in close proximity to. It is understood that the reading function can be automatic (i.e., without requiring the user to select a read function for each item). At step 306, upon selection of the read function, the mobile device interrogates and extracts product information from the RFID tag and stores the information on the mobile device. This process then completes the scanning of the information pertaining to one item onto the mobile device.
At step 308, a determination is made as to whether or not there are more items to scan. If there are more items to scan, the process reverts back to step 302, and the scanning process continues for the next item. This process is repeated until there are no more items to scan. At step 310, a total cost information for the items that have been scanned is calculated on the mobile device. This gives a total amount and, in a preferred embodiment, includes a calculation of any taxes to be charged. Further, although not shown in
At step 312, the user selects a pay function. This can be performed simply by pressing a key on the mobile device to select this function. At step 314, a secure payment transaction is initiated between the consumer's mobile device and the consumer's bank or financial institution 114. At step 316, the consumer's bank verifies that funds are available, verifies that the transaction is being performed by an authorized user (using well known security techniques), and then transfers the appropriate funds to the retailer's financial institution 116. At step 318, the retailer's financial institution 116 issues a “payment confirmed message” to the retailer processor 110 and includes in this “payment confirmed message” a list of RFID tag information for each purchased item.
At step 320, the retailer processor receives the payment confirmed message, including the RFID tag information for the purchased items, and deactivates the security sensors 206 for the identified items, so that the consumer may pass the security sensors without setting off security alarm 108.
The present invention, as described above and illustrated in the drawings, moves the entire transaction process essentially to the mobile device of the consumer and therefore eliminates the need for the consumer to interact with store employees, specialized scanning devices of the store, and allows the consumer to avoid the long queues that may occur at a standard shopping checkout line.
Numerous variations of the present invention will be evident to a designer. For example, a consumer at a restaurant or bar can scan consumed items from a “menu” of items such that a tally is kept on the mobile device, and then payment can be effected as described above. Similarly, consumable items, e.g., a bottle of beer, can have RFID tags, bar codes, and the like affixed thereon and can be scanned as they are purchased.
The benefits of the present invention are numerous. For example, using the present invention, a retailer does not need to have exclusive equipment for scanning and for payment, or can reduce the number of these needed (there will still be a need to accommodate consumers who do not have a mobile telephone capable of performing the above-described functions). Time can be saved because the consumer handles the entire transaction as they shop, and the consumer does not need to carry credit cards, debit cards, or cash.
The above-described steps can be implemented using standard well-known programming techniques. The novelty of the above-described embodiment lies not in the specific programming techniques but in the use of the steps described to achieve the described results. Software programming code which embodies the present invention is typically stored in permanent storage. In a client/server environment, such software programming code may be stored with storage associated with a server. The software programming code may be embodied on any of a variety of known media for use with a data processing system, such as a diskette, or hard drive, or CD-ROM. The code may be distributed on such media, or may be distributed to users from the memory or storage of one computer system over a network of some type to other computer systems for use by users of such other systems. The techniques and methods for embodying software program code on physical media and/or distributing software code via networks are well known and will not be further discussed herein.
It will be understood that each element of the illustrations, and combinations of elements in the illustrations, can be implemented by general and/or special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or steps, or by combinations of general and/or special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.
These program instructions may be provided to a processor to produce a machine, such that the instructions that execute on the processor create means for implementing the functions specified in the illustrations. The computer program instructions may be executed by a processor to cause a series of operational steps to be performed by the processor to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the processor provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the illustrations. Accordingly, the figures support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions, and program instruction means for performing the specified functions.
While there has been described herein the principles of the invention, it is to be understood by those skilled in the art that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is intended by the appended claims, to cover all modifications of the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
