Patent Grant
10366385
Presently there is no simple way to use a mobile device to pay for a transaction. Use of specialized hardware to scan a barcode displayed on the mobile device or identify a specific code for a mobile device with a wireless signal such as Near Fields Communications (NFC) generally require a merchant to modify existing equipment. Merchants may be reluctant to adopt mobile-device payments if doing so requires additional expense. However, as smart phones and other mobile devices are becoming more ubiquitous consumer expectations for these devices are increasing and consumers may expect to use the mobile device itself for payment rather than a check or credit card. Although most merchants have point-of-sale (POS) devices for processing credit card, check, and cash transactions, a secure way of using a mobile device to pay for such transactions, without expensive modifications to existing POS devices, does not yet exist. Providing such an option would increase convenience for consumers without burdening merchants.
The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The use of the same reference numbers in different figures indicates similar or identical items.
A point-of-sale (POS) device (e.g., an electronic cash register and/or a card reader) at a merchant location may be readily modified to accept additional types of credit cards. For example, a POS device configured to process Visa® and MasterCard® transactions may be modified to also accept American Express® and Discover® Card transaction. The modification is generally a software configuration change that is relatively easy to implement and does not require additional hardware. This disclosure explains how POS devices may be similarly modified to accept payments from mobile devices referred to herein as mobile payment accounts (MPA).
When paying for a transaction with a credit card, the magnetic strip on the card provides information to the POS device that is then sent to the credit card interchange for authorization. The need to have a tangible object, the credit card, to slide through a card reader provides a greater level of security than a transaction conducted merely by a customer providing an intangible card number. Cardholders can protect and secure the credit card itself easier than guarding a number.
Mobile devices such as smart phones, personal digital assistants, etc. typically do not have magnetic strips like those found on credit cards. A customer could provide a code number associated with the mobile device. This code number may function like a credit card or checking account number, but this type of transaction would suffer from the same security shortcomings as providing an intangible credit card number without the credit card. Thus, it is necessary to identify a way to link the mobile device to a transaction. This is accomplished by taking advantage of the ability of a mobile device to connect to a network (e.g., the Internet) and to detect its own location such as through the use of global positioning satellite (GPS) technology.
The mobile device provides its current location, possibly along with a timestamp and other information, to a mobile transaction infrastructure that communicates with a gateway provider and/or a payment processor (e.g., a bank that issues credit cards, an American Express® payment processor, etc.) in the credit card interchange. The mobile transaction infrastructure also receives information from the POS device similar to the information provided for a conventional credit card transaction. This information may include the amount of a charge to be applied against the MPA as well as a time of the transaction and the location or other identifying information about the POS device. Information provided by the mobile device is compared with information provided by the POS device in order to identify a match, and thus, appropriately charge a bank account (or other account) associated with the mobile device. By combining information from the mobile device and information from the POS device, the techniques described herein provide for secure transactions and link transaction authorization to a tangible object (e.g., the mobile device) while using the existing backend infrastructure for processing credit card transactions.
The described techniques using a mobile device and associated mobile payment account (MPA) to pay for a transaction made at a POS device may be implemented in a number of ways and in a number of contexts. Example implementations and context are provided with reference to the following figures, as described below in more detail. It is to be appreciated, however, that the following implementations and contexts illustrative of many possible implementations and contexts.
Customer (B) 110 provides the credit card 112 to the clerk 106 for processing at the POS device 108. This transfer of information is represented here as path 114. Similarly, customer (A) 102 provides an indication, along path 116, to the clerk 106 that he or she wishes to pay for the transaction with a mobile payment account (MPA). Similar to how a customer may say “I wish to pay with Visa,” customer (A) 102 may inform the clerk 106 that he or she wishes to pay with “MPA.” Of course MPA is merely an illustrative name and any designation may be assigned to this type of payment. The communication between customer (A) 102 and the clerk 106 along path 116 may also include other information such as a passphrase, a user identifier, a password, a code number, or the like. For example, customer (A) 102 could tell the clerk 106 that “I wish to pay with MPA and my passphrase is feisty mango.” The clerk 106 may enter this information into the POS device 108. At this point customer (A) 102, unlike customer (B) 110, has not yet provided any tangible object such as a credit card in conjunction with the transaction.
The POS device 108 provides information received about credit card transactions or mobile device transactions to a network 118. The network 118 may be a public network such as the Internet or a private or limited-access network for processing credit card and other financial transactions. Information from the POS device 108 is provided via the network 118 to a payment reconciler 120 along path 122. The payment reconciler 120 may represent a gateway provider such as one that can be found in a conventional credit card processing system. The payment reconciler 120 may also represent a payment processor for processing credit card payments. Some systems for processing credit card payments send information from the POS device 108 through a gateway provider before sending the information to a payment processor while other systems do not use gateway providers. In either type of system, there is a point at which transaction information from the POS device 108 is reconciled with data from credit card accounts. That is represented here as the payment reconciler 120 which includes payment processing systems both with and without gateway providers.
The transaction information from either customer (A) 102 using the mobile device 104 or customer (B) 110 using the credit card 112 may be processed similarly up to this point. The payment reconciler 120 may process transactions differently based on the method of payment. For MPA transactions, the payment reconciler 120 may combine the information received from the POS device 108 with other information as will be discussed below. For credit card transactions, the payment reconciler 120 may route those transactions over path 124 to the credit card interchange 126 for further processing as is conventionally performed when a transaction is paid for with a credit card.
While information from the POS device 108 is being delivered to the payment reconciler 120, the mobile device 104 also provides information to the payment reconciler 120 through the mobile transaction infrastructure (MTI) 132.
The mobile device 104 may be implemented as any number of mobile devices, including but not limited to a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a net book, an eBook reader, a personal media player (PMP), a portable gaming system, and so forth. The mobile device 104 is location aware, or is able to provide information to another entity (e.g., a server) to allow the other entity to determine a location of the device 104. A location on the surface of the earth, or a “geolocation,” may be provided to the mobile device 104 by a satellite such as a global positioning system (GPS) satellite. Alternatively, wireless signals such as from a radio antenna may be used to determine a geolocation of the mobile device 104 relative to a known position of the radio antenna or by triangulation. Other technologies and methods for determining geolocation are also envisioned within the scope of this disclosure such as, for example, calculating geolocation based on a network access point (e.g., Wi-Fi hotspot) or from a locator signal broadcast from a known location such as inside a merchant.
The mobile device 104 is also capable of connecting to a network 128. The connection may be wireless using radio signals (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, 3G network, 4G network, etc.). The network 128 may include any one or combination of multiple different types of networks, such as cable networks, local area networks, personal area networks, wide area networks, the Internet, wireless networks, ad hoc networks, mesh networks, and/or the like. The network 128 may be the same or different than the network 118.
Information from the mobile device 104 travels through the network 128 along path 130 to the MTI 132. Connecting to network 128 may include connecting to a website maintained by the merchant. Accessing the merchant's website may allow the mobile-device transaction to be processed in part like an on-line purchase with at least some of the transaction information provided by the POS device 108. In such implementations, the merchant's website may pass the mobile device information to the MTI 132.
The MTI 132 may contain user data about customer (A) 102 who is the user of mobile device 104. This user data may include identification of the user's account, such as a bank account, or credit card information associated with the account for use in payments made by the mobile device 104. The user data may also include a passphrase, user identifier, or similar code that can be used to uniquely identify both the user (i.e., customer (A)) and the mobile device 104. When this identifying passphrase is provided by the POS device 108 to the payment reconciler 120 the transaction matching module 208 may use that passphrase to identify the transaction as associated with the mobile device 104. A photograph of customer (A) 102 may also be part of the user data and this photograph may be provided to the POS device 108 for the clerk 106 to verify the identity of the person paying with a MPA.
The information sent from the mobile device 104 may at a minimum include a location of the mobile device 104. For example, if customer (A) 102 is inside a store (e.g., “Merchant 1”), the location of the mobile device 104 as being inside Merchant 1 may be provided to the MTI 132, or inferred by the MTI based on the geo coordinates provided by the mobile device using a reference database of merchant locations. The mobile device 104 may also provide additional information to the MTI 132. This additional information may include time such as a time stamp combined with the location information. Moreover, the additional information may include other data entered by the customer (A) 102 into the mobile device 104. The other data may help confirm or identify a transaction and could include information such as the amount of charge for the transaction, a number associated with the POS device 108, and/or information about a product purchased such as the product number or barcode number.
Once the payment reconciler 120 has received information along path 122 from the POS device 108 and information along path 134 from the MTI 132, the payment reconciler 120 may compare the two sets of information to determine if there is a “match.” Recall that in some implementations, customer (A) 102 may simply provide instructions to the clerk 106 but does not necessarily provide a user identifier or even show the mobile device 104 to the clerk 106. In order to avoid fraudulent or mistaken charges, it is beneficial to establish that the mobile device 104 of the person who is making the purchase (e.g., customer (A) 102) is actually in the same location as the POS device 108 that is processing the transaction.
The details of the specific techniques for identifying a match between information from the mobile device 104 and information from the POS device 108 is discussed in greater detail below. However, once the payment reconciler 120 determines that a match exists, it may contact the credit card interchange 126 to fund the transaction. It may do this by completing the merchant's transaction information by adding the credit card information, received from the MTI 132, and required in a standard credit card interchange transaction.
The customer (A) 102 may be asked to explicitly authorize the transaction. When querying customer (A) 102 via the mobile device 104, the MTI 132 communicates along path 130 to request authorization. If customer (A) 102 authorizes the transaction by, for example, pressing a button on the mobile device 104, the authorization is returned along path 130 to the MTI 132. The payment reconciler 120 may receive this authorization via path 134 and provide authorization to the POS device 108 along path 122. From the perspective of the POS device 106 (or the clerk 106 operating the device) an authorization for a MPA transaction may be indistinguishable from an authorization for a conventional credit card transaction.
Once authorization to complete the transaction is received from the mobile device 104 or alternatively authorized by the payment reconciler 120, the payment reconciler 120 signals the credit card interchange 126 to fulfill the payment. Customer (A) 102 may select which account he or she associates with MPA payments. For example, the money used to fund MPA transactions may ultimately come from the customer's savings account at a bank, from a credit card account, from a PayPal™ account, or another type of account. Customer (A) 102 may set a default account (e.g., credit card) and this default account may be automatically used without querying the customer (A) 102 during each transaction.
Similar to credit card transactions, part of the money withdrawn from the customer's account may be directed to entities other than the merchant such as the MTI 132, the payment reconciler 120, and/or other entities to pay for interchange or other fees.
In summary, addition of the MTI 132, modification to the payment reconciler 120, and minor, generally software configuration, modifications to the POS device 108 allow a merchant to accept MPA payments similar to how the merchant would accept credit card payments. The location awareness and network connection of the mobile device 104 provides a tangible “anchor” to the transaction that allows MPA transactions to be at least as secure as conventional credit card transactions.
The transaction matching module 208 evaluates information received from the POS device 108 and MTI 132 to identify a matching transaction. The match may be based on any number of factors such as location, time, the amount of a transaction charge, an identifier for the POS device 108, an identifier for the purchased good/service, or other factors. Identification of a match serves as a validation that the transaction initiated at the POS device 108 is in fact associated with a physical object specifically the mobile device 104.
The transaction module 208 may include a unique identification module 214. The unique identification module 214 evaluates information received from the POS device 108 and the MTI 132 to determine if sufficient information exists to uniquely identify one of the multiple transactions from the POS device 108 as being the transaction associated with the mobile device 104. For example, a single POS device (or multiple POS devices at the same merchant) may process more than one MPA transaction at approximately the same time. In this situation, time alone would be insufficient to uniquely identify which of the MPA transactions should be associated with the mobile device 104. The unique identification module 214 can recognize whether or the information available to the transaction matching module 208 is sufficient to uniquely identify one of the transactions as properly being associated with the mobile device 104. If it is not possible to uniquely identify one of the transactions, the unique identification module 214 may instruct the MTI 132 to request additional information from the mobile device 104.
The authorization module 210 determines whether or not a transaction is authorized. As discussed above, the payment reconciler 120 may determine if a transaction should be authorized by, for example, identifying a unique match between a transaction and a mobile device 104 or by receiving a message from the mobile device 104 to authorize the transaction. The authorization module 210 may evaluate the match determined by the transaction matching module 208 and possibly serve as a second check to make sure that the matched transaction is appropriate to authorize.
When messages are received from either the mobile device 104 or the POS device 108, the authorization module 210 may evaluate the format, encoding, and other characteristics of the messages to determine whether they are authentic. The authorization module 210 may also serve as a check to prevent the authorization process from proceeding further until the required authorization message(s) have been received. When a transaction is authorized, authorization module 210 informs the POS device 108 that the transaction is authorized so the clerk 106 has confirmation that it is acceptable to provide the good/service to the customer.
The payment module 212 provides instructions to the credit card interchange 126 to fund the transaction. The payment module 212 may also communicate with the credit card interchange 126 to determine if sufficient funds or sufficient credit is available to pay for the transaction. This information may be passed to the authorization module 210 so that the authorization module 210 can decline the transaction if the customer's available funds or credit limit associated with the mobile device 104 is insufficient, or approve it if the funds are sufficient. Once funds have been withdrawn, or instructions to do so have been sent, the payment module 212 may instruct the MTI 132 to notify the mobile device 104.
The payment reconciler 120 also includes a network interface 216 for communicating with other entities shown in the architecture 100 of
The payment reconciler 120 may include or have access to multiple data stores such as a data store for merchant data 220, and/or a data store for POS data 222. In some implementations, the merchant data 220 and the POS data 222 are included in the MTI 132 shown in
The POS data 222 contains information received from one or more POS devices such as the POS device 108 shown in
The payment reconciler 120 may include additional modules, data stores, and hardware beyond that shown in
The payment processing configurations 308 may include information for the POS device 108 to properly format and send information to various gateway providers and/or payment processors. This configuration information may include application programming interfaces (APIs), routing information, and security protocols. For example, the payment processing configurations 308 may include configuration information for processing 1-N types of credit cards. Credit card type (1) 312 may correspond to configuration information for Visa® cards and credit card type (N) may correspond to configuration information for Discover® Cards. The payment processing configurations 308 also includes configuration information for processing MPA 316 transactions. The MPA 316 configuration information directs data from an MPA transaction to the appropriate gateway provider or payment processor represented in
The POS device 108 also includes a network interface 318 for communicating with network 118. The network interface 318 may provide network connectivity through any wired or wireless technology such as a phone line, Ethernet cable, Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi, and the like.
The POS device 108 may also include various input and output devices such as a display 320 and keypad 322. Information may be read from credit cards by a card reader 324 and receipts or transaction records may be generated by a printer 326. The POS device 108 may also include other input/output devices 328 such as speakers, a touch-sensitive surface, a reader for EMV integrated circuit cards, etc.
The POS device 108 also includes a clock 330 implemented either as hardware or software and capable of tracking the time of each transaction.
The memory 404 may also contain a merchant check-in module 408. The merchant check-in module 408 can register or “check-in” the mobile device 104 with a merchant when the mobile device 104 is located at that merchant. Check-in may be automatic. For example, the mobile device 104 may determine that it is located at the same geolocation as a merchant and inform another computer (e.g., a server computer of the merchant, the MTI 132, etc.) that it is at the merchant. Check-in may also be manual. Once at a merchant, or within a threshold distance of the merchant, the mobile device 104 may request user input before checking in to the merchant.
The memory 404 of the mobile device 104 may also include a transaction module 410. The transaction module 410 may send and receive information to and from the MTI 132 over path 130. The transaction module 410 may receive notifications from the MTI 132 regarding completed transactions and charges placed on an account associated with the mobile device 104 (e.g., the customer's bank account). The transaction module 410 may also generate requests to a user of the mobile device 104 for transaction information.
This authorization module 412 may function to inform the user of the mobile device 104 that a MPA transaction was authorized (e.g., by the transaction reconciler 120). Alternatively, the authorization module 412 may request that the user confirm or authorize a transaction. A confirmation request may be presented to the user of the mobile device 104 showing the amount of a charge, the merchant, and possibly other transaction information. If the user authorizes the transaction, for example by pressing a button on the mobile device 104, the authorization is provided to the MTI 132 and processing of the MPA transaction continues.
Mobile device 104 also includes one or more input and output devices 414. The input and output devices may comprise one or more display devices 414, a keypad or keyboard 418, and a touch-screen 420 which may be combined with the display device 414. An antenna 422 in the mobile device 104 may send and receive wireless signals to and from the network 136. The device 104 may further comprise other input/output devices 424, such as an accelerometer, a microphone, a speaker, and the like.
The mobile device 104 also includes a clock 426, a location sensor 428, and a network interface 430. The clock 426 may provide a timestamp for communications sent from the mobile device 104. The location sensor 428 includes any sort of system that informs the mobile device 104 of its geolocation including, but not limited to, the Global Positioning System (GPS) of satellites circling the Earth. The location sensor 428 may additionally or alternatively determine geolocation by radio signal triangulation (e.g., triangulation based on radio antenna signal strength), receiving a notification from a fixed location (e.g., a beacon signal broadcasting a location).
The network interface 430 may be configured for wirelessly communicating with the network 136. The network interface 430 may use any standard protocols for network communication. In some implementations, the network interface 430 may use the antenna 422 to send and receive data from the network 136. In further implementations, the network interface 430 may provide information to the location sensor 428 (e.g., a closest network access point) from which the location sensor 428 can infer or calculate a location of the mobile device 104.
The default behavior of the mobile device 104 if the user does not push either the yes button 504 or the no button 506 may be configured by the user. For example, unless the yes button 504 is pushed the mobile device 104 may not check-in to a merchant. Alternatively, the mobile device 104 may automatically check-in to a merchant unless the no button 506 is pressed.
In some situations the detected merchant (i.e., Merchant 1) may be incorrect. A merchant may move and if the merchant data 220 is not updated, correlation of the geolocation of the mobile device 104 to the stored merchant location may provide an incorrect result. Also, limits in the resolution of the location sensor 428 of the mobile device 104 may mis-identify the current merchant. For example, in a mall where many small stores are located close together it may be difficult for the mobile device 102 to accurate resolve its geolocation to the correct merchant. In such cases where the user realizes that his or her current location is not Merchant 1, the user may select button 508 to check-in to a different merchant. In response to the selection of button 508 the mobile device 104 may provide a list of other merchants in the same general area for the user to choose from and/or allow the user to manually enter the name of a merchant.
The user interface 600 may provide various dialog boxes for the user to confirm a purchase by entering information about the purchase. In a first dialog box the user may enter a charge amount 602 of the purchase or transaction (e.g., $3.55). By providing a charge amount 602 from the mobile device 104, the MTI 132 receives information from the customer side to compare with the charge amount provided by the merchant's POS device 108.
Another dialog box may provide a list from which the user can enter a general description of the purchase category 604. In this example, the transaction may be a purchase at a coffee shop. Items at the coffee shop are generally divided into drinks and beverages. By receiving an input from the user, such as selecting a radio button, indicating that the purchase was a beverage, the MTI 132 may be able to compare that with information provided by the POS device 108 that may indicate (e.g., by a product code) the transaction was for a cup of coffee. This may be used to differentiate the transaction from another MPA purchase of a food items. This type of differentiating information may be especially useful if multiple transactions are for the same amount (e.g., $2.25 for a latte and $2.25 for a muffin).
An additional type of dialog box that may be presented on the user interface 600 is a dialog box for entering a transaction identifier 606 that may specifically identify a good/service that is the subject of the transaction, an identification number of the POS device 108, or other transaction identifier. A transaction may serve as a confirmation to make sure the correct customer is charged and as additional data to differentiate otherwise similar transactions. A transaction identifier that specifically identifies a good/service may be a product ID such as a universal product code (UPC) or similar. When using an identification number for the POS device 108, the clerk 106 may tell the customer (A) 102 the ID or other number associated with the POS device 108 used in the transaction and customer (A) 102 may enter this number in the transaction identifier field provided in the dialog box 606.
The dialog boxes 602, 604, and 606 discussed above may be present in any combination on the user interface 600. In some implementations, the MTI 132 and/or the mobile device 104 may determine what information is necessary to uniquely identify a transaction and present the appropriate dialog boxes (or other interface elements such as spoken questions for an audio user interface) to the user of the mobile device 104.
These processes discussed below are each illustrated as a collection of blocks in a logical flow graph, which represent a sequence of operations that can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. In the context of software, the blocks represent computer-executable instructions stored on one or more computer-readable storage media that, when executed by one or more processors, perform the recited operations. Generally, computer-executable instructions include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the like that perform particular functions or implement particular abstract data types. The order in which the operations are described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described blocks can be combined in any order and/or in parallel to implement the process.
At 702, the location of a mobile device is determined. The location of the mobile device may be determined by receiving an indication that provides the current geolocation of the mobile device. The geolocation may be provided as latitude and longitude or other coordinates indicating a geographic location. The location of the mobile device may also be provided by an indication of a relative location of the mobile device. For example, if the user of the mobile device has checked-in to a merchant, a notification that the mobile device has checked into the merchant may provide the location of the mobile device (i.e., the mobile device is at the merchant). The location data may also include an associated time or a timestamp thus providing both a “where” and “when” for the mobile device's location. The time may be provided by the clock 426 of the mobile device shown in
At 704, transaction data is received from the mobile device. The transaction data may be an amount of a charge to pay for the transaction. The amount of the change may be provided by the user of the mobile device through, for example, dialog box 602 of the user interface 600 shown in
At 706, the location of the mobile device is correlated with a merchant location. In some implementations, coordinates such as latitude and longitude provided by the mobile device may be compared to a map of merchant locations to determine if the mobile device is at, or within predetermined proximity of, a merchant. The map of merchant locations may be stored as part of the merchant data 220 shown in
When the location of the mobile device is determined by receiving an indication that the mobile device has check in to a merchant, correlating the location of the mobile device with the merchant may be done simply by noting that the mobile device is located at the merchant.
At 708, data describing MPA-funded transactions is received from a POS device at the merchant. This data may include a time of the transaction and an amount of a charge to pay for the transaction. The time of the transaction may be provided by the clock 330 of the POS device shown in
At 710, it is determined if one of the MPA transactions matches the mobile device. Illustrative matching data are shown in
The determination may match a one of the MPA-funded transactions received from the POS device with the mobile device may also be based upon the location of the mobile device, transaction data from the mobile device, and data from the POS device. The transaction data provided by the mobile device may be any of the types of transaction data discussed above such as a the amount of a charge for the transaction, passphrase or user identifier, an identifier for the POS device, a general description of the good or service of the transaction, a specific identifier of the good or service of the transaction, and the like. Data from the POS device may include an identifier of the POS device, a general or specific description or numeric identifier of the good/service that is the subject of the transaction, or other types of data about the transaction.
For example, the mobile device may transmit its location and current time. In some implementations, this may be performed in response to the user of the mobile device checking-in to a merchant on the mobile device. The user of the mobile device may tell a clerk at the merchant that he or she wishes to pay for a purchase using MPA and the clerk may press an MPA button on the POS device then enter the amount of the transaction charge on the POS device. The user may also enter the amount of the charge on his or her mobile device. When the charge amount provided by the POS device and the charge amount provided by the mobile device match, the MPA transaction may be matched with the mobile device.
When there are no matching transactions, process 700 proceeds along the “no” path to 712 and the transaction is declined. This may be communicated to the POS device and the POS device may display a message informing a clerk that the transaction is declined.
At 714, it is determined if sufficient funds for the transaction are available in a customer account. Similar to checks performed when making a credit card purchase, there may be a confirmation step in MPA transactions that determines if enough money or a sufficient line of credit exists to fund the transaction. For example, the payment reconciler 120 may request a confirmation that sufficient funds are available to pay for the transaction and then, if sufficient funds exists, receive a confirmation that the account associated with the mobile device has sufficient funds to pay for the transaction. When there are sufficient funds in the customer's account, process 700 proceeds along “yes” path to 716.
If the customer account does not have sufficient funds to pay for the transaction, process 700 proceeds along the “no” path to 714 where the transaction is declined.
At 716, the transaction is authorized. In some implementations, the authorization may be performed by the authorization module 210 of the payment reconciler 120 shown in
At 718, the POS device and/or the mobile device are notified that the transaction is authorized. The authorization may be displayed on a display of the POS device at which point the clerk provides the good or service to the customer. When reported to the mobile device, a notification that the transaction has been authorized may also inform the user of the mobile device that the transaction charge has been withdrawn from his or her account.
At 802, data describing MPA-funded transactions is received. This may be similar to the data received at 702, 704, and/or 710 in
At 804, location and time data is analyzed. This analysis may be performed by the transaction matching module 208 of the MTI 132 shown in
Next, at 806 it is determined if a unique match can be identified from the location and time data. The identification of a unique match may be performed by the unique identification module 214 of the MTI 132 shown in
At 808, one of the MPA-funded transactions is matched with the appropriate mobile device. This matching may be similar to the matching determination made at 712 in
If a unique match cannot be identified from the location and time data, process 800 proceeds along the “no” path to 810. At 810, charge data is analyzed in addition to location and time data. The charge data may be provided by the POS device (e.g., based on scanning a barcode of the item to be sold or by a clerk typing numbers on the keypad) and by the mobile device (e.g., as entered by a user of the mobile device such as in user interface as shown in
At 812, it is determined if a unique match can be identified from the location, time, and charge data. The POS device may typically provide charge data when submitting an MPA transaction similar to how the POS device provides charge data when submitting a credit card transaction. However, to minimize user friction, requests for charge data from the user of the mobile device (e.g., through the user interface shown in
At 814, charge data is requested from the mobile device. When charge data is received, process 800 proceeds to 808 where a unique match is made using the location, time, and charge data. If it is still not possible to uniquely to match a transaction with a mobile device when charge data is available, process 800 proceeds along the “no” path to 816.
At 816, other data is analyzed in addition to the location, time, and charge data. This other data may include any type of transaction data such as a passphrase identifying the user of the mobile device, a identifier of the POS device used in the transaction, a general description of a good/service that is the subject the transaction, a specific identifier of a good/service that is the subject of the transaction, a default payment source for the transaction (e.g., a Visa® credit card is the default payment source for the user's MPA transactions), etc.
At 818, it is determined if a unique match can be identified from the location, time, charge, and other data. If more than one type of other data is necessary to identify a unique match, process 800 proceeds along “no” path to 820.
At 820, it is determined if any additional types of data are available. If additional types or data are not available and a unique match cannot be identified from the available data, process 800 proceeds along the “no” path to 822 where the customer is asked for an alternative form of payment.
When additional data is available, process 800 proceeds along “yes” path to 824. At 824, an additional type of other data is added. From 824, process 800 returns to 816 and analyzes the available data including the additional type of other data. This addition of multiple types of other data may proceed iteratively until it is possible to uniquely match a mobile device with a transaction or until there is no more other data to analyze.
Once the extent of other data necessary to unique identify a match has been determined, process 800 proceeds from 818 along “yes” path to 826.
At 826, the charge data and other data are requested from the mobile device. The other data may be requested through dialog boxes on a user interface of the mobile device such as dialog boxes 604 and 606 shown in
Once the charged data and any other data needed to unique identify a match has been received from the mobile device, process 800 proceeds from 826 to 808 where one of the MPA-funded transactions is matched with the mobile device.
In a first example shown in
The payment reconciler 120 may also receive data from POS devices about MPA-funded transactions. Although data from many hundreds or thousands of merchants may provide data to the payment reconciler 120, for the sake of clarity only data from Merchant 2 904 is shown in this example. Recall that MPA transactions may be initiated by a customer merely indicating to a clerk that he or she wishes to pay for a purchase with a MPA. Thus, the data provided by a POS device may not include any information about the mobile device. The illustrative POS data 904 includes a time of each MPA transaction and the amount of a charge for each of the MPA transactions.
In this first example, the payment reconciler 120 may compare the location of the mobile device at 1:30 PM, determine that the mobile device is located at Merchant 2 and then proceed to analyze the POS device data from Merchant 2 904. The POS device data 904 shows that at 1:30 PM there was a MPA-funded transaction for $3.55. This may be recognized as a match by the transaction matching module 208 of the payment reconciler 120.
In the second example shown in
Similar to the first example, by receiving an indication that the mobile device is located at Merchant 2 at 1:30 PM, the MTI 132 may access POS device data for MPA-funded transactions at Merchant 2 908. Examination of the POS data 908 shows that two transactions occurred at 1:30 PM: one for $2.72 and another for $3.55. The probability of two MPA transactions occurring at the same merchant at the same time may increase with the number of people using MPA to pay for transactions and the number of simultaneous transactions (e.g., the number of POS devices) that can be processed by a merchant. For example, if this method of payment is prevalent it may be a common occurrence for big-box stores with tens of checkout lanes to process multiple MPA transactions every minute.
Given that two transactions occurred at Merchant 2 at 1:30 PM it may not be possible to accurately match the transaction with appropriate mobile device without additional information. As discussed above, this determination may be made by the unique identification module 214 of the payment reconciler 120. The MTI 132 may request that the user of the mobile device enter the amount of the charge and when the MTI 132 receives an indication that the charge amount was for $3.55 it may provide this to the payment reconciler 120 in order to match the transaction with the mobile device.
In situations in which location, time, and charge data is not sufficient to uniquely identify a transaction, the payment reconciler 120 may direct the MTI 132 to request other transaction data and then the payment reconciler 120 can perform the analysis and matching shown above in 816, 818, and 820 of
In this situation, one customer may say that he wishes to purchase a $3.55 item with MPA and that his passphrase is “feisty mango” and the second customer may say that she wishes to purchase another item which also costs $3.55 with MPA and her passphrase is “ubiquitous salmon.” Each of the two respective clerks helping the two customers may enter the passphrases as well as the other transaction information into the POS devices. Then the passphrase information is sent to the MTI 132 as part of the POS device data 908. The two users may each be asked to enter his or her passphrase as well as the transaction amount into their respective mobile devices. This information may also be provided to the MTI 132 as part of the mobile device location and transaction information 906. By receiving the passphrases from both the mobile device side and from the POS device side the MTI 132 may be able to provide the payment reconciler 120 with information sufficient to uniquely match the two $3.55 transactions with the correct mobile devices.
In addition to or instead of the passphrases, any of the various types of other transaction information discussed above may be provided to the MTI 132 and in turn to the payment reconciler 120 in order to uniquely identify a transaction.
At 1002, an indication that a MPA is used for a transaction is received. In some implementations, the indication is provided to a POS device used for the transaction by a clerk or by a customer (e.g., during self-checkout). For example, instead of pressing a credit card button on the POS device the clerk or customer may press a MPA button. The indication may also be generated in other ways such as, for example, by scanning a barcode or by entering a text or number code into the POS device.
The indication may also include a passphrase 1004 provided by the user of the mobile device. The passphrase may be a user identifier or user name. As explained above, the customer may tell a clerk that he or she wishes to pay with MPA and that his or her passphrase is “feisty mango.” In response, the clerk may press an MPA button on the POS device and type in “feisty mango.”
At 1006, information about the transaction is sent to a payment reconciler. Information sent to the payment reconciler may be sent from a POS device 108 along paths 122, 126, and 134 shown in
Other types 1014 of transaction information may be sent to the mobile transaction infrastructure. The other types 1014 of transaction information may include an identifier of the POS device used in the transaction (e.g., the POS device may attach its device ID to the other transaction information), a general description of a good/service that is the subject the transaction (e.g., food, gasoline, etc.), and/or a specific identifier of a good/service that is the subject of the transaction (e.g., an item number).
At 1016, an indication that the transaction is authorized is received. As discussed above, the user of the mobile device may indicate that he or she authorizes the transaction or the payment reconciler may analyze the transaction and determine that the transaction is authorized. The authorization module 310 of the POS device 108 shown in
Transactions authorized by either the user of the mobile device or by the payment reconciler are both sent from the payment reconciler to the POS device. In such implementations, the POS device will receive an indication from the payment reconciler at 1018 that the transaction is authorized. Next at 1020, the POS device may display an authorization message and allow a clerk operating the POS device to finalize the transaction.
At 1102, location information is sent to a mobile transaction infrastructure. In some implementations, the location information may also include a timestamp 1104 indicating the time when the location information was acquired. Location information may be a geolocation 1106 that provides coordinates or other data showing an absolute position of the mobile device. In other implementations, the location information may be obtained by determining that the mobile device is located at a merchant and the user of the mobile device checking in 1108 to the merchant. The check-in may be implemented using a user interface such as the user interface shown in
At 1110, transaction information is sent to the mobile transaction infrastructure. The transaction information may include an amount of a charge 1112 for the transaction, an identifier for the POS device 1114 used in the transaction, or other types 1116 of transaction information. This transaction information may be provided by a user of the mobile device through a user interface such as the user interface shown in
At 1118, is determined if a request from the mobile transaction infrastructure for additional transaction information was received. This determination may be performed by a gateway provider or a payment processor such as the payment reconciler 120 show in
At 1120, the additional transaction information requested at 1118 is sent to the mobile transaction infrastructure and forwarded to the payment reconciler. If a request for additional transaction information was not received at 1118 (e.g., time and location information were sufficient to uniquely match the mobile device to a transaction), process 1100 proceeds along the “no” path to 1122. Also, once the additional transaction information was sent at 1120, process 1100 proceeds to 1122.
At 1122, an indication is received from the payment reconciler that indicates a transaction at a POS device located at the same merchant as the mobile device matches the transaction information sent to the mobile transaction infrastructure from the mobile device. The indication that a match exists may provide the mobile device with the results of a comparison between two sets of data, one set from the mobile device and one set from a POS device, such as the comparisons shown in
At 1124, the indication that a match exists may be presented to the user of the mobile device. For example, a display 414 of the mobile device may show a message stating that a match exists. Of course, the indication may also be presented by a sound or other technique besides a visual display.
At 1126, authorization to pay for the transaction may be received from the user of the mobile device. In some implementations, this may be a part of process 1100 in which the user must affirmatively indicate on his or her mobile device that he or she approves of the MPA-funded transaction. This may help to reduce fraudulent use of the MPA payment system. For example, an unscrupulous individual who knows that someone else has an MPA-enabled mobile device in the same merchant location might be tempted to purchase something using MPA with the hopes that the charge would be automatically associated with the other person's mobile device. However, if authorization from the user is required then the person in possession of the mobile device will see an unfamiliar transaction on his or her mobile device (e.g., the matching indication presented at 1124) and choose not to authorize the transaction. In some implementations, the necessity for receiving authorization from the user may be based on the amount of the charge (e.g., expensive transactions may need manual authorization whereas low value transactions may be automatically authorized).
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as illustrative forms of implementing the claims.
This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/468,714, filed May 10, 2012, entitled “MOBILE PAYMENTS USING POINT-OF-SALE INFRASTRUCTURE”, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/976,533 entitled “Mobile Payments Using Point-of-sale Infrastructure” filed on Dec. 22, 2010 which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 61/316,527 filed on Mar. 23, 2010 and 61/351,743 filed on Jun. 4, 2010 all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61351743 | Jun 2010 | US | |
| 61316527 | Mar 2010 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13468714 | May 2012 | US |
| Child | 15494387 | US | |
| Parent | 12976533 | Dec 2010 | US |
| Child | 13468714 | US |
