Patent Application
20140099915
Aspects of embodiments described herein apply to a unique implementation of smart phone application software, mobile payment processing platforms, and other technologies to facilitate the offering of instant and/or fast response cash rebates where the purchase that entitled the fast response cash rebate is funded solely through the consumer's mobile phone account, and the fast response cash rebate is not applied directly to the purchase that entitled said rebate, but is instead paid to the consumer through means of electronic funds transfer.
Mobile phone software applications have become increasingly popular in our society through the use of web-based and mobile technologies. There are numerous software applications available on every smart phone platform for work and fun, from the financial to the recreational, including, more specifically, applications directed to both the financial industry and on-line shopping and purchases. Given the fact that more and more people are willing to conduct commerce over their mobile phone, the market for mobile phone financial transactions is taking off.
Currently, certain mobile phone software applications allow customers, who have either linked a bank account, debit card, credit card, credit line, prepaid debit card, gift card, or payment service such as PayPal, to make purchases within a mobile application or website. For example, applications exist that allow mobile users to transfer funds or make payments via their handset by entering in mobile telephone numbers. Taking mobile phone purchases a step further, certain providers/platforms have adopted a “Bill-To-Carrier” model whereby purchases made are billed to the users' mobile phone account and then billed to the user by the carrier. Significantly, under such a model, links to credit cards or bank accounts are not required.
So, against that backdrop, a need currently exists for a mobile phone application that utilizes a bill-to-carrier model for providing a mobile phone user with cash or a cash equivalent such as a refund, cash rebate, remittance, and/or other monies.
In one embodiment, a computer implemented method for providing cash to an end user using a mobile device connected to a transaction server over a mobile phone network is provided. First, a secure connection is created over a network to exchange information between the transaction server and the mobile device. Once the secure connection is created, the transaction server identifies the mobile number and the mobile carrier associated with the mobile device. The mobile device then executes the mobile funding software, which performs a series of interactive steps and effects communication with both the transaction server and a third party payment processor. The mobile device then receives and transmits identification and account information associated with the end user to the transaction server. In certain instances, the transaction server saves the information associated with the end user on a storage device coupled to the transaction server. The transaction server then verifies at least a portion of the information associated with the end user.
Continuing with the mobile funding software, using the mobile device, the user selects the desired value and delivery method. The mobile funding software then connects the mobile device to a third party payment processor to charge the end user for the desired value. If successful, the transaction server transmits a message to the mobile device to notify the end user that the transaction was approved and processed. Finally, the desired value is delivered to the end user using the user selected delivery method.
The foregoing and other features, utilities and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of various embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings and claims.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth, such as examples of specific shapes, components etc., in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known components or methods have not been described in detail, but rather in general terms in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. Thus, the specific details set forth are merely exemplary. The specific details may be varied from and still be contemplated to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. It will also be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present.
Some portions of the detailed descriptions that follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others. In general terms, an algorithm is conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps of an algorithm require physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers or the like.
It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. It is further contemplated within the scope of this invention that calculations can also be done mentally, manually or using processes other than electronic.
The present invention also relates to one or more apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored within the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a machine readable storage medium, such as, for example, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical card, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions and coupled to a computer system bus.
The algorithms and displays presented and described herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus or apparatuses. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these systems will become readily apparent from the description alone. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language, and accordingly, a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the illustrated invention.
In addition to a user of the software application described herein, a site administrator may access the transaction server 30 through a remote access over the mobile phone network 5 or a direct communication connection 55 using a personal computer 50 or other secure device to remotely update website content. Site administer may take all appropriate steps to facilitate the administration of the transactions of the software application that occur at the transaction server 30, including monitoring for security, troubleshooting, programming, updating, etc.
Continuing with the illustrated embodiment, user device 10 may also access a third party website resident on a remote server 40 through mobile phone network 5. In accordance with aspects of the illustrated embodiments, a third party website is provided to facilitate transactions on behalf of the software application of the present invention. For example, for purposes of the illustrated embodiment, a third party website may be the Google Play Store, which is configured to process a purchase on behalf of a software application and bill the purchase to a mobile carrier such as Verizon Wireless. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any third party website and/or mobile carrier may be used in accordance with the illustrated embodiment of the present invention without departing from the intended scope and spirit of underlying principles of operation. Accordingly, the process associated with payment processing will not be described in detail herein.
In the circumstances where the user is a new user of the software application, as shown on user interface display screen image 105 of
In the embodiment of the illustrated user interface display screen image 120 of the software application shown in
Once the new user enters the requested information in user interface display screen image 120, he or she would select the “CONTINUE” button 125. The action of the user submitting the user's information would initiate the process of granting access to the application of the present invention. In addition to entering information in menu fields, the software application may automatically identify the mobile number and mobile carrier associated with the device. In one embodiment, the information from user interface display screen image 120—both user entered and automatically identified—is transmitted to the transaction server 30 over a secure connection on the mobile phone network 5 to be stored in storage location 35. The transaction server 30 would then process the user information and determine if access to the transaction server 30 is to be granted. In the illustrated embodiment, the approval process is automated at the server level and requires no human interaction.
In the illustrated embodiment of
Each potential module or sub-process associated with the illustrated embodiment of the mobile funding software described in connection with
At operation 225, the user selects the rebate amount. At operation 230, the end user is transmitted to a third party payment processor, such as Google Play Store for example, to process the payment according to the amount selected in operation 225. At operation 235, if the transaction is successful, the end user is notified that the transaction is complete. Finally, at operation 240, the end user is sent the cash or rebate via the user selected delivery option.
While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention.
