SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MOBILE PAYMENTS

Abstract

A system and method for making payments using an application installed on a mobile device, which has access to at least one source of funds. Said application interacts with a Point of Sale (POS) terminal through an application server. The user “checks-in” from the mobile application into said application server and the POS terminal sends a verification request to said application server, where the user confirms payment for a purchase. An Electronic Funds Transfer processing and switching system requests authorization from an issuer for completing said payment and provides confirmation of the transaction being authorized to the application server. The application server then notifies the mobile application and the POS terminal that the transaction has been completed in order to update the transaction records. A receipt of the transaction details may be printed or sent by email to the user.

Claims

1. A method for mobile payments comprising the steps of: receiving, by a mobile software application, a first point of sale terminal identification number; sending, by said mobile software application, a check-in request to an application service containing said point of sale terminal identification number and user account information; sending, through said point of sale terminal, a verification request to said application service containing a bank identification number and a second point of sale identification number; verifying, by said application service, if said first point of sale terminal identification number in said check-in request and said second point of sale terminal identification number in said verification request are the same and if said user account information corresponds to said bank identification number; upon said verification, requesting, by said application service through an electronic funds transfer system, payment authorization from an issuing bank; upon receipt of said authorization from said issuing bank, sending, through said electronic funds transfer system, a payment authorization confirmation to said application service; sending, by said application service, a payment complete notification to said POS terminal and said mobile application; and sending, by said POS terminal, a transaction complete notification to said electronic funds transfer system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, by a mobile software application, a first point of sale terminal identification number comprises scanning a matrix code.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, by a mobile software application, a first point of sale terminal identification number comprises manually entering said identification number.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein sending, through said point of sale terminal, a verification request to said application service containing a bank identification number and a second point of sale identification number comprises manually selecting an option to do so on said point of sale terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of confirming a final purchase amount and adding a tip before requesting, by said application service through an electronic funds transfer system, payment authorization from an issuing bank.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of printing a transaction receipt by said point of sale terminal.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of sending a transaction receipt through email by said application service.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of adding one or more additional charges to said final purchase amount by said application service before said confirmation, wherein said verification request further contains said one or more additional charges.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said payment complete notification is also sent to a merchant management system by said application service.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said point of sale terminal is integrated to a self-checkout system.

11. A system for mobile payments comprising: a point of sale terminal; a software communication gateway; an electronic funds transfer software module; a first non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the first computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a computer processor cause the computer processor to execute the steps of: receiving a point of sale terminal identification number; sending a check-in request to an application server; receive a payment complete notification; a second non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the second computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a computer processor cause the computer processor to: receive a check-in request from said first non-transitory computer-readable storage medium; receive a verification request from said point of sale terminal; verifying said check-in request and said verification request; requesting, through said electronic funds transfer system, a payment authorization from an issuing bank; receiving said payment authorization from said issuing bank; and sending a payment complete notification to said point of sale terminal and said mobile application.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein receiving a point of sale terminal identification number comprises scanning a matrix code.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein receiving a point of sale terminal identification number comprises manually entering said identification number.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein said first non-transitory computer-readable storage medium instructions further comprise confirming a final purchase amount and adding a tip.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein said point of sale terminal is configured to print physical transaction receipts.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein said second non-transitory computer-readable storage medium instructions further comprise sending a transaction receipt through email.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein said first non-transitory computer-readable storage medium instructions further comprise adding one or more additional charges to said final purchase amount by said application service before said confirmation, wherein said verification request further contains said one or more additional charges.

18. The system of claim 9, wherein said payment complete notification is also sent to a merchant management system.

19. The system of claim 9, wherein said point of sale terminal is integrated to a self-checkout system.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] FIG. 1 shows a diagram on the components of the present invention and the steps required to complete a transaction according to the teaching of the present invention.

[0023] FIGS. 2a and 2b show an exemplary embodiment of the mobile application that is part of the present invention allowing the user to scan a matrix code or manually entering the code information.

[0024] FIGS. 3a and 3b show an exemplary embodiment of the mobile application that is part of the present invention allowing the user to modify the payment amount and select the source from which to withdraw the funds.

[0025] FIGS. 4a and 4b show a physical and digital version of a transaction receipt provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] To provide an overall understanding of the invention, certain illustrative embodiments and examples will now be described. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the same or equivalent functions and sequences may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. The compositions, apparatuses, systems and/or methods described herein may be adapted and modified as is appropriate for the application being addressed and that those described herein may be employed in other suitable applications, and that such other additions and modifications will not depart from the scope hereof.

[0027] As used in the specification and claims, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. For example, the term “a transaction” may include a plurality of transaction unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. As used in the specification and claims, singular names or types referenced include variations within the family of said name unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0028] Certain terminology is used in the following description for convenience only and is not limiting.

[0029] As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention comprises a mobile application M running on a mobile device, an application service S, a software communication gateway C, an EFT system B and a POS terminal T.

[0030] In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, mobile application M may be a software application that runs natively on popular mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android, or it may be a mobile web application executed from a mobile web browser. Mobile application M provides secure access to a user's sources of funds. The user may log in to the application with a username and password combination, biometric information such as fingerprint data, telephone number linked to the user account, among others. When the user logs in, the application provides the functionality of scanning matrix codes using the mobile device's camera or scanner (FIG. 2a). For mobile devices that do not feature a camera or scanner, the application may provide the functionality to manually enter the information that stored in the matrix code (FIG. 2b). Any matrix code, such as QR (static or dynamic), barcode, etc., may be used with the present invention, as the information to be stored in the code is a string of alphanumerical characters. Such information may include identification of the POS terminal T and/or additional information related to the transaction (such as transaction ID, merchant information, and others). The matrix codes may be provided to customers in a variety of ways (e.g. posters, stickers, or cards) to be placed in the proximity of, or within the POS terminal T to which they belong, so users can easily know which code to scan when making a payment. As previously mentioned, the matrix code's information may also be printed to be placed in the proximity of the POS terminal T in order to allow users with devices that cannot scan the code to enter it manually into the application M. Further embodiments of the present invention may include presenting the code to the customer on the POS terminal's screen, allowing for the code to be generated on the spot instead of being tied to the codes that have already been printed. The code may also be a dynamic code, which contents may be modified to include further information, such as merchant identification, location information, special promotions, and any other information that may be relevant to the transaction. In other embodiments of the present invention, the POS terminal may be operated by the user himself or herself. For example, a self-checkout system (at a store or restaurant) may allow the user to select an option to use the present invention as a payment method and show a code to be scanned.

[0031] The present invention further comprises application service S. Application service S may run in virtual, physical or cloud servers. Application service S provides the interoperability between mobile application M and POS terminal T. When a user scans a code or enters code data manually using mobile application M (step 1), application service S receives a “check-in” request from the user and waits for the POS terminal T to send a “check-in” verification message (step 2). Said “check-in” verification message is transmitted to application service S through EFT System B and gateway C using an ID, such as a virtual Bank Identification Number (“BIN”), that routes the transaction and allows application service S to confirm if the user is checked in or not (step 3). This “check-in” verification message is sent multiple times until a response is received or until a maximum amount of allowed retries is reached. Gateway C may consist of a software bus that allows communication between software modules. In the case of the present invention, gateway C allows for all communication between application service S and EFT system B. EFT system B may be any commercially available EFT processing and switching software that provides secure transaction authorization, such as ACI Worldwide, Inc.'s BASE24.

[0032] After confirmation, the user is presented with the transaction information and purchase amount to confirm payment (step 3a). In further embodiments of the present invention, mobile application M may provide the user with the option to add a tip to the purchase amount (FIG. 3a). In other embodiments, the user may be given the option to select one from a plurality of linked sources of funds to pay the purchase amount (FIG. 3b). In further embodiments, additional automatic charges related to the transaction may be added by POS terminal T based on the nature of the transaction. These charges may include, for example, mandatory tips added to purchases higher than a specific amount, or special taxes related to a specific services or products.

[0033] When the user confirms the final purchase amount and the source from which the funds should be withdrawn (step 3a), mobile application M sends the payment confirmation to application service S. After receiving confirmation from application service S that user is checked in (step 3), POS terminal T sends another confirmation request for the payment authorization to the application service S (step 4). This confirmation request from the POS terminal is sent multiple times until a response is received or until a maximum amount of allowed retries is reached. Application service S receives said payment confirmation request and, if the user has confirmed the payment, sends an authorization request to the EFT system B that authorization from the issuing bank is required (step 5). EFT system B then requests authorization from the issuing bank (step 6). After the issuing bank responds the requested authorization (step 7), EFT system B confirms to application service S if the transaction has been authorized or not (step 8). The application service S then sends the authorization response to the mobile application (step 9) to notify the user of the result of the payment and sends to the POS terminal T the authorization response for the merchant's records to be updated and for the POS terminal to print the merchants voucher (step 10).

[0034] Further embodiments of the present invention allow mobile application M to provide a transaction history to the user. Application service S may provide updates to mobile application M regarding completed transactions in order for said transaction history to provide up to date information at all times (step 9). Application service S may also provide transaction completion confirmation to POS terminal T for the merchant's records to be updated as well (step 10).

[0035] Further embodiments of the present invention provide the functionality of generating and printing receipts (step 11). These receipts may be printed by the POS terminal T (FIG. 4a) or may be sent to the customer by email (FIG. 4b).

[0036] POS terminal T then notifies EFT system B that the transaction has been received successfully by the POS terminal (step 12). Finally, EFT system B acknowledges receipt of the transaction complete confirmation (step 12a) and provides a notification to application service S that POS terminal T has successfully received the transaction (step 12b).

[0037] Further embodiments of the present invention may interact with the merchant's management system. Transaction information may be sent to said management system in the same way it is sent to mobile application M in step 9, such that said management system may keep up to date information that includes transaction processed using the method disclosed in the present application, just like with any other payment method. Said transaction information may be used by said management system for audit purposes, security or generating reports.

[0038] While the disclosure includes reference to specific embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true spirit and scope of the disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made without departing from the essential teachings of the disclosure. When reference is made to specific known applications or systems, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various substitutes and alternatives may be available.

[0039] The invention is not limited to the precise configuration described above. While the invention has been described as having a preferred design, it is understood that many changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications of the subject invention will, however, become apparent to those skilled in the art without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention after considering this specification together with the accompanying drawings. Accordingly, all such changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by this invention as defined in the following claims and their legal equivalents. In the claims, means-plus-function clauses, if any, are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents but also equivalent structures.