Appointment and payment handling

• US 10,733,595 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2018
• Issued: 08/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Myrick, Lauren A., Ginsburg, Evan, Ave, Willem
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Hai
• Application Number:
  US15/868,655
• Publication Number:
  US 20180150825A1
• Time in Patent Office: 936 Days
• Field of Search: 705 44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists

Abstract

An appointment and payment handling system may operate to handle payments for appointments based on user locations at times associated with appointments. The appointment and payment handling system may determine if a location of a customer device associated with a customer associated with an appointment matches a location associated with the appointment. If the locations match, the appointment and payment handling system may create a payment record for a payment to the merchant from the customer based on the determination that the customer location matches the location associated with the appointment.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from an electronic device associated with a customer, first location data indicating a first geographic location associated with the electronic device;

determining, using the first geographic location, that the electronic device is located within a threshold distance from a location associated with a merchant;

based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant, creating a payment record associated with a transaction between the customer and the merchant;

receiving, from the electronic device, second location data indicating a second geographic location associated with the electronic device;

determining, using the second geographic location, that the electronic device is located outside of the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant;

based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located outside of the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant, sending a request for a payment for the transaction;

receiving approval of the payment; and

causing funds associated with the payment to be deposited into a merchant account associated with the merchant.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

storing information describing a customer account,

wherein the request includes at least a portion of the information.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the payment record is for at least one of a service or an item being purchased by the customer during the transaction.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant, determining that the customer associated with the electronic device has checked in with the merchant; and

causing at least one of the electronic device or a merchant device associated with the merchant to provide a notification that the customer has checked in with the merchant.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located outside of the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant, determining that the transaction is complete,

wherein sending the request for the payment is based at least in part on determining that the transaction is complete.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving third location data indicating a third geographic location associated with a merchant device,

wherein;

determining that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant comprises determining, using the first geographic location, that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the third geographic location associated with the merchant device; and

determining that the electronic device is located outside of the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant comprises determining, using the second geographic location, that the electronic device is located outside the threshold distance from the third geographic location associated with the merchant device.

7. A method comprising:

storing, by a payment service, information associated with a customer account of a customer;

determining, by the payment service, that a merchant is conducting a transaction with the customer;

receiving, by the payment service, an indication of at least one item or service being acquired by the customer during the transaction;

receiving, by the payment service and from an electronic device associated with the customer, location data indicating a geographic location associated with the electronic device;

determining, by the payment service and using the geographic location, that the electronic device is located outside of a threshold distance from a location associated with the merchant; and

based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located outside of the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant, sending, by the payment service and using at least a portion of the information, a request for a payment for the at least one of the item or service.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the location data comprises first location data and the geographic location comprises a first geographic location, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, from the electronic device, second location data indicating a second geographic location associated with the electronic device; and

determining, using the second geographic location, that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant,

wherein determining that the merchant is conducting the transaction with the customer is based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant.

9. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, from a merchant device associated with the merchant, data indicating that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant,

wherein determining that the merchant is conducting the transaction with the customer is based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant.

10. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising, based at least in part on determining that the merchant is conducting the transaction with the customer, creating a payment record associated with the transaction.

11. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

determining that the customer associated with the electronic device has checked in with the merchant; and

causing at least one of the electronic device or a merchant device associated with the merchant to provide a notification that the customer has checked in with the merchant.

12. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located outside of the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant, determining that the transaction is complete,

wherein sending the request for the payment is based at least in part on determining that the transaction is complete.

13. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the location data comprises first location data and the geographic location comprises a first geographic location, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving second location data indicating a second geographic location associated with a merchant device,

wherein determining that the electronic device is located outside of the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant comprises determining, by the payment service and using the first geographic location, that the electronic device is located outside the threshold distance from the second geographic location associated with the merchant device.

14. One or more computing devices comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving an indication of at least one item or service being acquired by a customer from a merchant during a transaction;

receiving, from an electronic device associated with the customer, location data indicating a geographic location associated with the electronic device;

determining, using the geographic location, that the electronic device is located outside of a threshold distance from a location associated with the merchant; and

based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located outside of the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant, sending a request for a payment for the at least one of the item or service.

15. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 14, the operations further comprising:

storing information associated with a customer account of the customer,

wherein the request includes at least a portion of the information.

16. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 14, wherein the location data comprises first location data and the geographic location comprises a first geographic location, the operations further comprising:

receiving, from the electronic device, second location data indicating a second geographic location associated with the electronic device; and

determining, using the second geographic location, that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant,

wherein determining that the merchant is conducting the transaction with the customer is based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant.

17. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 14, the operations further comprising:

receiving, from a merchant device associated with the merchant, data indicating that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant,

wherein determining that the merchant is conducting the transaction with the customer is based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located within the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant.

18. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 14, the operations further comprising, based at least in part on determining that the merchant is conducting the transaction with the customer, creating a payment record associated with the transaction.

19. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 14, the operations further comprising:

based at least in part on determining that the electronic device is located outside of the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant, determining that the transaction is complete,

wherein sending the request for the payment is based at least in part on determining that the transaction is complete.

20. The one or more computing devices as recited in claim 14, wherein the location data comprises first location data and the geographic location comprises a first geographic location, the operations further comprising:

receiving second location data indicating a second geographic location associated with a merchant device,

wherein determining that the electronic device is located outside of the threshold distance from the location associated with the merchant comprises determining, using the first geographic location, that the electronic device is located outside the threshold distance from the second geographic location associated with the merchant device.