Technical fallback infrastructure

• US 10,163,107 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2016
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, Michael Wells, Holmes, Jason, Mroz, Martin, Terra, David, Nicholson, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Yu, Ariel J
• Application Number:
  US15/087,698
• Time in Patent Office: 999 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/409 Device specific authentication in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1083 Counting of PIN attempts

Abstract

In some examples, methods and systems may institute technical fallback by determining, by a payment processing system, and based on analysis of the communication status indicator and the data obtained when a magnetic stripe of the payment object is introduced in magnetic stripe object reader, whether the payment object was swiped while an EMV object reader was communicatively coupled to the POS terminal. If the magnetic stripe of the payment object was swiped while the EMV object reader was connected to the POS terminal, the payment processing system extracts a transaction count indicating a number of times the customer has attempted to insert a chip of the payment object into the EMV object reader prior to swiping magstripe. By comparing the transaction count with a threshold count, the payment processing system authorizes the payment transaction as a technical fallback transaction if the transaction count is greater than the threshold count.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of processing, by a payment processing system, a payment transaction between a customer and a merchant associated with a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, the method comprising:

receiving, as an input from the customer, at least one payment object into one of a magnetic stripe object reader or a Europay-Mastercard-Visa (EMV) object reader, capable of being communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, wherein the magnetic stripe object reader, the EMV object reader and the POS terminal together form a POS system for processing the payment transaction between the merchant and the customer;

and wherein the magnetic stripe object reader includes a magnetic read head to read a magnetic stripe of the payment object as the payment object is swiped through a groove of the magnetic stripe object reader;

and wherein the EMV object reader includes electrical contacts in a slot to connect with a chip of the payment object when it is inserted into the slot;

encrypting, by the magnetic stripe object reader, data read off the payment object obtained from the magnetic stripe object reader, wherein the encrypted data includes at least (i) an encrypted value of a service code indicating whether the payment object includes a magnetic stripe or a magnetic stripe and the chip and an encrypted value of a POS entry code indicating that the magnetic stripe was swiped instead of inserting the chip into the EMV object reader;

receiving, by the POS terminal, the encrypted data from the magnetic stripe object reader in response to the payment transaction;

detecting, by the POS terminal, a connection status indicator indicating whether the POS terminal is connected to the magnetic stripe object reader, or the EMV object reader, or both;

communicating, by the POS terminal and to the payment processing system communicatively coupled to the POS system, the connection status indicator and encrypted data including the service code and the POS entry code;

determining, by the payment processing system, and based on analysis of the connection status indicator and the encrypted data, whether the magnetic stripe of the payment object was swiped while the EMV object reader was communicatively coupled to the POS terminal;

if the determination indicates that the magnetic stripe of the payment object was swiped while the EMV object reader was not communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, authorizing, via the payment processing system, the payment transaction as a magnetic stripe payment transaction, wherein the authorizing further includes causing a transfer of an amount of funds corresponding to the payment transaction from a customer'"'"'s financial account to a merchant'"'"'s financial account;

if the determination indicates that the magnetic stripe of the payment object was swiped while the EMV object reader was communicatively coupled to the POS terminal,

extracting, by the payment processing system, a transaction count in response to the payment transaction, wherein the transaction count indicates a number of instances the EMV object reader had failed to read the chip of the payment object inserted in the EMV object reader; and

comparing the transaction count with a threshold count;

if the transaction count is greater than the threshold count, authorizing, via the payment processing system, the payment transaction as a technical fallback transaction, wherein the authorizing further includes causing the transfer of the amount of funds corresponding to the payment transaction from the customer'"'"'s financial account to the merchant'"'"'s financial account;

if the transaction count is equal to or less than the threshold count,

rejecting the payment transaction as an invalid EMV payment transaction; and

generating an instruction set for the customer, wherein the instruction set when executed allows the customer to insert the chip of the payment object in the EMV object reader instead of swiping the magnetic stripe of the payment object in the magnetic stripe object reader.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the authorizing of the payment transaction as the technical fallback transaction includes:

generating a technical fallback indicator;

associating the technical fallback indicator to a request for authorization, wherein the request for authorization includes the encrypted data and the connection status indicator; and

sending the request for authorization to an issuer of the payment object, wherein the issuer is configured to approve or reject the technical fallback transaction as a technical fallback exception.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

decrypting, by the payment processing system, the encrypted data to extract one of the service code and the POS entry code; and

based at least in part on the decryption, determining whether the payment object was swiped in the magnetic stripe object reader or inserted into the EMV object reader.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein if the determination indicates that the magnetic stripe was swiped while the EMV object reader was not communicatively coupled to the POS terminal:

detecting a list of one or more available communication ports of the POS terminal;

detecting a list of one or more available payment object readers in proximity to the POS terminal; and

establishing the communication channel between the one or more available payment object readers in proximity to the POS terminal by selecting a communication port from amongst the one or more available communication ports.

5. A computer-implemented method of processing a payment transaction between a customer and a merchant, the method comprising:

receiving, from a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, data read off a payment object introduced in a magnetic stripe object reader communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, wherein the magnetic stripe object reader includes a magnetic read head to read a magnetic stripe of a payment object as the payment object is swiped through a groove of the magnetic stripe object reader;

receiving, from the POS terminal, a connection status indicator indicating whether or not an EMV object reader is communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, the EMV object reader having electrical contacts in a slot to connect with a chip of the payment object when it is inserted into the slot;

determining, by the payment processing system, and based on analysis of the connection status indicator and the data from the magnetic stripe object reader, whether the payment object has a magnetic stripe or a chip and whether the payment object was swiped while the EMV object reader was communicatively coupled to the POS terminal;

if the determination indicates that the magnetic stripe of the payment object was swiped while the EMV object reader was communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, extracting, by the payment processing system, a transaction count indicating a number of times the customer has attempted to insert the chip of the payment object into the EMV object reader connected thereto for the payment transaction;

comparing the transaction count with a threshold count; and

authorizing, via the payment processing system, the payment transaction as a technical fallback transaction if the transaction count is greater than the threshold count.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

if the transaction count is equal to or less than the threshold count, rejecting the payment transaction as an invalid payment transaction;

generating an instruction set to be displayed on the POS terminal, wherein the instruction set when executed allows the customer to insert the chip of the payment object in the EMV object reader instead of swiping the magnetic stripe of the payment object in the magnetic stripe object reader;

in response to generating the instruction set, receiving an indication that the chip of the payment object has been inserted in the EMV object reader;

determining the data read off the payment object to be a null value; and

updating the transaction count if the data read off the payment object is the null value.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the authorizing further includes causing a transfer of an amount of funds corresponding to the payment transaction from a customer'"'"'s financial account to a merchant'"'"'s financial account.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the authorizing of the payment transaction as the technical fallback transaction includes:

generating a technical fallback indicator;

associating the technical fallback indicator to a request for authorization, wherein the request for authorization includes the data from the payment object reader and the connection status indicator; and

sending the request for authorization to an issuer of the payment object, wherein the issuer is configured to approve or reject the payment transaction as a technical fallback exception.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein if the determination indicates that the magnetic stripe was swiped while the EMV object reader was not communicatively coupled to the POS terminal:

detecting a list of one or more available communication ports of the POS terminal;

detecting a list of one or more available payment object readers in proximity to the POS terminal; and

causing one or more communication channels to be established between the payment object readers in proximity to the POS terminal by selecting a communication port from amongst the one or more available communication ports.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving, from the magnetic stripe object reader and through the POS terminal, encrypted data from the payment object obtained from the magnetic stripe object reader, wherein the encrypted data includes at least an encrypted value of a service code and a POS entry code.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

decrypting, by the payment processing system, the data from the payment object reader to extract one of the service code and the POS entry code; and

determining whether the payment object was swiped in the magnetic stripe object reader or inserted into the EMV object reader based on the decryption.

12. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

if the determination indicates that the magnetic stripe of the payment object was swiped while the EMV object reader was not communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, authorizing, via the payment processing system, the payment transaction as a magnetic stripe payment transaction, wherein the authorizing further includes causing the transfer of an amount of funds corresponding to the payment transaction from the customer'"'"'s financial account to the merchant'"'"'s financial account.

13. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

establishing one or more communication links with the POS terminal to send an alert to the customer, the alert including an engagement link; and

receiving, from the POS terminal, an indication of customer engagement with the engagement link, wherein the customer engagement includes establishing contact between the chip of the payment object and the EMV object reader.

14. A payment processing system for facilitating a technical fallback transaction, the payment processing system comprising:

a memory;

a processor to execute instructions stored in the memory to;

receive, from a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, data read off a payment object introduced in a magnetic stripe object reader communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, wherein the magnetic stripe object reader includes a magnetic read head to read a magnetic stripe of the payment object as the payment object is swiped through a groove of the magnetic stripe card reader;

receive, from the POS terminal, a connection status indicator indicating whether or not an EMV object reader is communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, the EMV object reader having electrical contacts in a slot to connect with a chip of the payment object when it is inserted into the slot;

determine, by the payment processing system, and based on analysis of the connection status indicator and the data from the magnetic stripe object reader, whether the payment object was swiped while the EMV object reader was communicatively coupled to the POS terminal;

if the determination indicates that the magnetic stripe of the payment object was swiped while the EMV object reader was communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, extract, by the payment processing system, a transaction count indicating a number of times a customer has attempted to insert the chip of the payment object into the EMV object reader connected thereto;

compare the transaction count with a threshold count; and

authorize, via the payment processing system, the payment transaction as a technical fallback transaction if the transaction count is greater than the threshold count.

15. The payment processing system of claim 14, further comprising one or more control logic registers to store and map the threshold count with the transaction count.

16. The payment processing system of claim 14, further comprising an authorization component configured to:

apply one or more conditions to a payment transaction; and

compute the threshold count for the payment transaction based at least on the one or more conditions.

17. The payment processing system of claim 14, further comprising a decryption component to:

decrypt, by the payment processing system, the data from the payment object reader to extract one of a service code and a POS entry code; and

based at least in part on the decryption, determine whether the payment object was swiped in the magnetic stripe object reader or inserted into the EMV object reader.

18. The payment processing system of claim 14, further comprising a technical fallback component to reset the transaction count at a lapse of a predetermined time from a first engagement with the customer for a purchase of a particular item.

19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media maintaining instructions of a first instance of an application that, when executed by one or more processors, program the one or more processors to:

receive, from a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, data read off a payment object introduced in a magnetic stripe object reader communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, wherein the magnetic stripe object reader includes magnetic read heads to read a magnetic stripe of the payment object as the payment object is swiped through a groove of the magnetic stripe card reader;

receive, from the POS terminal, a connection status indicator indicating whether or not an EMV object reader is communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, the EMV object reader having electrical contacts in a slot to connect with a chip of the payment object when it is inserted into the slot;

determine, by the payment processing system, and based on analysis of the connection status indicator and the data from the magnetic stripe object reader, whether the payment object was swiped while the EMV object reader was communicatively coupled to the POS terminal;

if the determination indicates that the magnetic stripe of the payment object was swiped while the EMV object reader was communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, extract, by the payment processing system, a transaction count indicating a number of times the customer has attempted to insert a chip of the payment object into the EMV object reader connected thereto;

compare the transaction count with a threshold count; and

authorize, via the payment processing system, the payment transaction as a technical fallback transaction if the transaction count is greater than the threshold count.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 19, further comprising encrypting, by the magnetic stripe object reader, data from the payment object obtained from the magnetic stripe object reader, wherein the encrypted data at least includes an encrypted value of a service code and a POS entry code.

21. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 19, further comprising:

decrypting, by the payment processing system, the data from the payment object reader to extract one of the service code and the POS entry code; and

determining whether the payment object was swiped in the magnetic stripe object reader or inserted into the EMV object reader based on the decryption.