Management of emailed payment recipients

• US 10,360,550 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2012
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Cozens, Narelle, Green, Travis Harrison Kroll, Mizhen, Boris, Sharp, Phillip Neal, Ostrow, Josh, Nguyen, Hoai, Schmitt, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Madamba, Clifford B
• Application Number:
  US13/731,098
• Publication Number:
  US 20140188727A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,396 Days
• Field of Search: 705 44
• 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 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/223 based on the use of peer-to-peer networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

An email payment system and method to provide users with the ability to initiate and send payments to one more recipients via email messaging. A user interface is provided in an email client that allows a user to insert payment with the email. Payment details are collected through one or more payment modals displayed in the email client. A payment object is inserted into the body of the email and is displayed to both the sender and recipient. The payment details captured in the payment object are communicated to a payment processor. The payment processor uses electronic payment accounts associated with the corresponding sender and recipient email addresses to identify the relevant electronic payment accounts and transfer the payment between said accounts. A status of the payment transaction is tracked and displayed within the payment object of the emails residing in both the sender and recipient email client.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to integrate email message addressing and payment transaction addressing, comprising:

receiving, by one or more computing devices, a request from a sender email client to attach a payment to an email message composed in the sender email client;

communicating, by the one or more computing devices, to the sender email client, a payment object modal for presentation in the sender email client in connection with the composed email message, the payment object modal comprising fields to capture payment transaction details, the payment transaction details comprising at least a sender electronic payment account identifier associated with an account of the sender and a payment amount;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, from the sender email client, the payment transaction details input in the payment object modal communicated for presentation in the sender email client;

generating, by the one or more computing devices, a payment object to insert in the email message, the payment object comprising an application programming interface (API) encoded within a hypertext mark-up language or script call;

displaying, by the one or more computing devices, the payment object in the sender email message;

receiving, by the one or more computer devices, the email message with the payment object from the sender email client;

determining, by the one or more computing devices, recipient addresses in a “

to,”

“

cc,” and

“

bcc”

field of the email message;

communicating, by the one or more computing devices, the email message to each recipient address in the “

to”

field of the email message, the email message sent to each recipient address in the “

to”

field of the email message comprising the payment object;

communicating, by the one or more computing devices, the email message to each recipient address in the “

cc”

or “

bcc”

fields of the email message, the email message sent to each recipient address in the “

cc”

or “

bcc”

fields of the email message having the payment object excluded therefrom;

transmitting, by the one or more computing devices, API script calls to a payment processor server at regular intervals to obtain a payment transaction status of the payment associated with the communicated payment object;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices and from the payment processor server, the payment transaction status in response to the transmitted API script calls;

in response to receiving the payment transaction status, updating, by the one or more computing devices, at regular intervals and in real time, a payment transaction status in the payment object of the sender email message and each corresponding recipient email message sent to each recipient address in the “

to”

field of the email message to display an updated payment transaction status in the payment object of the sender email message and each corresponding recipient email message sent to each recipient address in the “

to”

field of the email message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein if a number of recipient addresses in the “

to”

field of the email message is greater than one, the one or more computing devices presents a multi-recipient modal in the email message, the multi-recipient modal requiring the sender to designate a payment amount and payment account for each recipient in the “

to”

field.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein if a number of recipient addresses in the “

to”

field of the email message is greater than one, the method further comprises;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, each payment recipient of at least a portion of the payment amount in the payment object; and

removing, by the one or more computing devices, the payment object from each email message sent to a recipient in the “

to”

field of the email message that is not also identified as a payment recipient of at least a portion of the payment amount in the payment object.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the one or more computing devices, if the recipient in the “

to”

field is a group email address, wherein if the email recipient is a group email address, the one or more computing devices presents a group recipient modal, the group recipient modal requiring the sender to indicate a group administrator email address, the group administrator email address being the only email address authorized to accept or reject the payment object.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the one or more computing devices, if any of the recipients in the “

to”

field are ineligible recipients, wherein detection of an ineligible recipient results in removal of the payment object from the email message to each ineligible recipient.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the status of an ineligible recipient is determined by referencing a physical account address associated with a recipient electronic payment to determine that the recipient is a recipient from a nation other than a nation in which the sender sent the email message.

7. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage device having computer-executable program instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computer cause the computer to integrate email message addressing and payment transaction addressing, the computer-executable program instructions comprising;

computer-executable program instructions to receive a request from a sender email client to attach a payment to an email message composed in the email client;

computer-executable program instructions to communicate to the sender email client a payment object modal for presentation in the sender email client in connection with the composed email message, the payment object modal comprising fields to capture payment transaction details, the payment transaction details comprising at least a sender electronic payment account identifier associated with an electronic payment account of the sender and a payment amount;

computer-executable program instructions to receive from the sender email client, the payment transaction details input in the payment transaction modal presented in the sender email client;

computer-program instructions to generate a payment object to insert in the email message composed in the sender email client, the payment object comprising an API encoded within a hypertext mark-up language or script call;

computer-program instructions to display the payment object in the sender email message;

computer-executable program instructions to receive the email message with the inserted payment object from the sender email client;

computer-executable program instructions to determine recipient email addresses in a “

to”

field of the email message;

computer-executable program instructions to determine recipient email addresses in a “

cc”

or “

bcc”

field of the email message;

computer-executable program instructions to insert the payment object in the email message sent to each recipient in the “

to”

field of the email message;

computer-executable program instructions to exclude the payment object from each email message sent to a recipient in the “

cc”

or “

bcc”

fields of the email message;

computer-executable program instructions to generate API script calls at regular intervals to a payment processor server to obtain a payment transaction status;

computer-executable program instructions to receive the payment transaction status from the payment processor server in response to the transmitted API script calls;

computer-executable program instructions to update, at regular intervals and in real time, the payment transaction status in the payment object of the sender email message and each corresponding recipient email message sent to each recipient address in the “

to”

field of the email message, in response to receiving the payment transaction status, to display an updated payment transaction status in the payment object of the sender email message and each corresponding recipient email message sent to each recipient address in the “

to”

field of the email message.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising computer-executable program instructions to present a multi-recipient modal in the email message if more than one recipient email address is in the “

to”

field of the email message, the multi-recipient modal requiring the sender to designate a payment amount and payment account for reach recipient in the “

to”

field.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, the computer-executable program instructions further comprising:

computer-executable program instructions to identify each payment recipient of at least a portion of the payment amount in the payment object; and

computer-executable program instructions to remove the payment object from each email message sent to a recipient in the “

to”

field of the email message that is not also identified as a payment recipient of at least a portion of the payment amount in the payment object.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising computer-executable program code to determine if a recipient in the “

to”

field is a group email address, wherein if the email recipient is a group email address, the one or more computing devices presents a group recipient modal, the group recipient modal requiring the sender to indicate a group administrator email address, the group administrator email address being the one email address authorized to accept or reject the payment object.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising computer-executable program code to determine if a recipient or recipients in the “

to”

field are an ineligible recipient, wherein detection of an ineligible recipient results in removal of the payment object from the email message to each ineligible recipient.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, the determination of an ineligible recipient being determined by referencing a physical payment account address associated with a recipient payment account for the ineligible recipient to determine that the recipient is an international recipient.

13. A system to integrate email message addressing and payment transaction addressing, comprising:

a storage device; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the storage resource, the processor executing application code instructions that are stored in the storage device to cause the system to;

receive a request from a sender email client to attach a payment to a message composed in the sender email client;

communicate to the sender email client a payment object modal to present in the sender email client in connection with the composed email message, the payment object modal comprising fields to capture payment transaction details, the payment transaction details comprising at least a sender electronic payment account identifier associated with an account of a sender and a payment amount;

receive from the sender email client the payment transaction details input in the payment object modal presented in the sender email client;

generate the payment object for insertion in the email message composed in the sender email client, the payment object comprising an API encoded within hypertext mark-up language or script call;

display the payment object displayed in the sender email message, the payment object comprising a payment transaction;

receive the email message with the payment object from the sender email client;

identify each payment recipient of at least a portion of the payment amount in the payment object;

exclude the payment object from each email message sent to a recipient in the “

to”

field of the email message that is not also identified as a payment recipient of at least a portion of the payment amount in the payment object;

provide the payment object in the email message sent to each recipient in the “

to”

field of the email message that is also identified as a payment recipient of at least a portion of the payment amount in the payment object;

generate API script calls to a payment processor service at regular intervals to obtain a payment transaction status;

receive the payment transaction status from the payment processor service in response to the transmitted API script calls;

update, at regular intervals and in real time, the payment transaction status in the payment object of the sender email message and each corresponding recipient email message sent to each recipient address in the “

to”

field of the email message, in response to receiving the payment transaction status, to display an updated payment transaction status in the payment object of the sender email message and each corresponding recipient email message sent to each recipient address in the “

to”

field of the email message; and

process the payment amount in response to receiving an indication via the payment transaction status displayed API of the payment object that the recipient has accepted the payment.

14. The system of claim 13, the processor further executing application code instructions that are stored in the storage resource causing the system to:

determine recipient addresses in a “

cc”

or “

bcc”

field of the email message; and

remove the payment object from each email message sent to a recipient in the “

cc”

or “

bcc”

fields of the email message.

15. The system of claim 13, the processor further executing application code instructions that are stored in the storage resource causing the system to present a multi-recipient modal in the email message if there is more than one recipient email address in the “

to”

field of the email message, the multi-recipient modal requiring the sender to designate a payment amount and payment account for reach recipient in the “

to”

field.

16. The system of claim 13, the processor further executing application code instructions that are stored in the storage resource causing the system to determine if a recipient in the “

to”

field is a group email address, wherein if the email recipient is a group email address, a group recipient modal is presented, the group recipient modal requiring the sender to indicate a group deposit account for depositing the payment, the group deposit account controlled by at least one group administrator.

17. The system of claim 13, the processor further executing application code instructions that are stored in the storage resource causing the system to determine if a recipient or recipients in the “

to”

field are ineligible recipients, wherein detection of an international recipient results in removal of the payment object from the email message to each international recipient.

18. They system of claim 13, a status of an ineligible recipient determined by referencing a payment account address associated with a recipient payment account for the international recipient.