Method, system and server system of payment based on a conversation group

• US 10,235,663 B2
• Filed: 08/08/2014
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Original Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Inventors: Ye, Wa, Xu, Zhenyu, Zang, Jing
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Kito R
• Application Number:
  US14/455,765
• Publication Number:
  US 20150127526A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,684 Days
• Field of Search: 705 39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/16 Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/223 based on the use of peer-to-peer networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A method and device of requesting and receiving payment in a group chat environment are disclosed. The method includes: displaying a conversation interface of a group chat session for a pre-established conversation group, the pre-established conversation group including a user of the user device and a plurality of other users participating in the pre-established conversation group; providing, in the conversation interface of the group chat session, a control for requesting payment from the pre-established conversation group; detecting an input from the user invoking the control for requesting payment from the pre-established conversation group; and in response to detecting the input from the user, posting a group payment request as a chat message to the group chat session.

Claims

1. A method of requesting and receiving payment in a group chat environment, comprising:

at a user device having one or more processors and memory for storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors;

displaying a conversation interface of a group chat session for a pre-established conversation group, the pre-established conversation group including a user of the user device and a plurality of other users participating in the pre-established conversation group;

providing, in the conversation interface of the group chat session, a control for requesting payment from the pre-established conversation group;

detecting an input from the user invoking the control for requesting payment of a total amount from the pre-established conversation group;

in response to detecting the input from the user, posting a group payment request as a first chat message to the group chat session, wherein the first chat message is sent to the plurality of other users participating in the pre-established conversation group, and payment responses accepting or rejecting the group payment request are received from one or more of users of the pre-established conversation group; and

after the group payment request is posted to the pre-established conversation group and the payment responses are received from the one or more users of the pre-established conversation group, receiving a payment confirmation for a predetermined payment scheme that divides the total amount among one or more selected users, wherein;

in accordance with a determination that a first number of users have accepted the payment request, the total amount is divided among the first number of users to obtain a first distribution of payments according to the predetermined payment scheme, and an aggregated payment of the total amount specified in the group payment request is transferred from the first number of users to the user of the user device;

in accordance with a determination that a second number of users have accepted the payment request, the total amount is divided among the second number of users to obtain a second distribution of payments according to the predetermined payment scheme, and the aggregated payment of the total amount specified in the group payment request is transferred from the second number of users to the user of the user device, wherein the second distribution of payments is different from the first distribution of payments; and

in accordance with a determination that at least one user has rejected the payment request, determining an order by which a third number of users have failed to reject the payment request, including at least one user that has ignored the payment request, wherein the total amount is divided among the third number of users that have failed to reject the payment request to obtain a third distribution of payments according to the predetermined payment scheme.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein posting the group payment request as the first chat message to the group chat session comprises:

sending the group payment request to a server of the group chat session, wherein the group payment request including a group identifier for the pre-established conversation group, and wherein the server of the group chat session determines individual recipients of the group payment request based on the group identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining one or more individual payers for the group payment request in accordance with a predetermined payment scheme associated with the pre-established conversation group; and

sending a respective individual payment request to each of the determined individual payers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the predetermined payment scheme specifies a respective payment proportion for each member of the pre-established conversation group.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the respective individual payment request requests an amount of payment from each member of the pre-established conversation group in accordance with the respective payment proportion specified for said member.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the predetermined payment scheme specifies one or more criteria for dynamically selecting a subset of users from the pre-established conversation group as the individual payers for the group payment request.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more criteria for dynamically selecting a subset of users from the pre-established conversation group as the individual payers for the group payment request further comprises a payer selection priority based on how fast a member of the pre-established conversation group has accepted the group payment request.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more criteria for dynamically selecting a subset of users from the pre-established conversation group as individual payers for the group payment request further comprises a payer selection priority based on how slowly a member of the pre-established conversation group has rejected the group payment request.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in response to posting the group payment request as the first chat message to the group chat session, receiving a plurality of payment responses as respective chat messages from the plurality of other users participating in the pre-established conversation group; and

dynamically selecting the subset of users from the pre-established conversation group as the individual payers for the group payment request in accordance with the one or more criteria and respective characteristics of the received plurality of payment responses.

10. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

in response to detecting the input from the user, displaying a payment request interface that is configured to receive an input of payment requirement information from the user.

11. A device of request and receiving payment in a group chat environment, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory storing one or more program modules configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more program modules including instructions for;

displaying a conversation interface of a group chat session for a pre-established conversation group, the pre-established conversation group including a user of the user device and a plurality of other users participating in the pre-established conversation group;

providing, in the conversation interface of the group chat session, a control for requesting payment from the pre-established conversation group;

detecting an input from the user invoking the control for requesting payment of a total amount from the pre-established conversation group;

in response to detecting the input from the user, posting a group payment request as a first chat message to the group chat session, wherein the first chat message is sent to the plurality of other users participating in the pre-established conversation group, and payment responses accepting or rejecting the group payment request are received from one or more of users of the pre-established conversation group; and

after the group payment request is posted to the pre-established conversation group and the payment responses are received from the one or more users of the pre-established conversation group, receiving a payment confirmation for a predetermined payment scheme that divides the total amount among one or more selected users, wherein;

in accordance with a determination that a first number of users have accepted the payment request, the total amount is divided among the first number of users to obtain a first distribution of payments according to the predetermined payment scheme, and an aggregated payment of the total amount specified in the group payment request is transferred from the first number of users to the user of the user device;

in accordance with a determination that a second number of users have accepted the payment request, the total amount is divided among the second number of users to obtain a second distribution of payments according to the predetermined payment scheme, and the aggregated payment of the total amount specified in the group payment request is transferred from the second number of users to the user of the user device, wherein the second distribution of payments is different from the first distribution of payments; and

in accordance with a determination that at least one user has rejected the payment request, determining an order by which a third number of users have failed to reject the payment request, including at least one user that has ignored the payment request, wherein the total amount is divided among the third number of users that have failed to reject the payment request to obtain a third distribution of payments according to the predetermined payment scheme.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein posting the group payment request as the first chat message to the group chat session comprises:

sending the group payment request to a server of the group chat session, wherein the group payment request including a group identifier for the pre-established conversation group, and wherein the server of the group chat session determines individual recipients of the group payment request based on the group identifier.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the one or more program modules further comprise instructions for:

determining one or more individual payers for the group payment request in accordance with a predetermined payment scheme associated with pre-established conversation group; and

sending a respective individual payment request to each of the determined individual payers.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the predetermined payment scheme specifies a respective payment proportion for each member of the pre-established conversation group.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the respective individual payment request requests an amount of payment from each member of the pre-established conversation group in accordance with the respective payment proportion specified for said member.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein the predetermined payment scheme specifies one or more criteria for dynamically selecting a subset of users from the pre-established conversation group as the individual payers for the group payment request.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the one or more criteria for dynamically selecting a subset of users from the pre-established conversation group as the individual payers for the group payment request further comprises a payer selection priority based on how fast a member of the pre-established conversation group has accepted the group payment request.

18. The device of claim 16, wherein the one or more criteria for dynamically selecting a subset of users from the pre-established conversation group as individual payers for the group payment request further comprises a payer selection priority based on how slowly a member of the pre-established conversation group has rejected the group payment request.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the one or more program modules further comprise instructions for:

in response to posting the group payment request as the first chat message to the group chat session, receiving a plurality of payment responses as respective chat messages from the plurality of other users participating in the pre-established conversation group; and

dynamically selecting the subset of users from the pre-established conversation group as the individual payers for the group payment request in accordance with the one or more criteria and respective characteristics of the received plurality of payment responses.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

displaying a conversation interface of a group chat session for a pre-established conversation group, the pre-established conversation group including a user of the user device and a plurality of other users participating in the pre-established conversation group;

providing, in the conversation interface of the group chat session, a control for requesting payment from the pre-established conversation group;

detecting an input from the user invoking the control for requesting payment of a total amount from the pre-established conversation group; and

in response to detecting the input from the user, posting a group payment request as a first chat message to the group chat session, wherein the first chat message is sent to the plurality of other users participating in the pre-established conversation group, and payment responses accepting or rejecting the group payment request are received from one or more of users of the pre-established conversation group; and

after the group payment request is posted to the pre-established conversation group and the payment responses are received from the one or more users of the pre-established conversation group, receiving a payment confirmation for a predetermined payment scheme that divides the total amount among one or more selected users, wherein;

in accordance with a determination that a first number of users have accepted the payment request, the total amount is divided among the first number of users to obtain a first distribution of payments according to the predetermined payment scheme, and an aggregated payment of the total amount specified in the group payment request is transferred from the first number of users to the user of the user device;

in accordance with a determination that a second number of users have accepted the payment request, the total amount is divided among the second number of users to obtain a second distribution of payments according to the predetermined payment scheme, and the aggregated payment of the total amount specified in the group payment request is transferred from the second number of users to the user of the user device, wherein the second distribution of payments is different from the first distribution of payments; and

in accordance with a determination that at least one user has rejected the payment request, determining an order by which a third number of users have failed to reject the payment request, including at least one user that has ignored the payment request, wherein the total amount is divided among the third number of users that have failed to reject the payment request to obtain a third distribution of payments according to the predetermined payment scheme.