System and method for implementing financial transactions using cellular telephone data

• US 20030022655A1
• Filed: 07/25/2001
• Published: 01/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Voyix Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Bogat, Antonio
• Granted Patent: US 7,184,747 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• 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 20/16 Payments settled via telecommunication systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A system and method provide access to a consumer'"'"'s financial account without requiring a payment service token. The system supports transactions billed to an account associated with a cellular telephone with a merchant terminal for generating and sending merchant transaction data, a consumer data receiver for receiving consumer transaction data from a cellular telephone at the transaction site, and a transaction processor for processing the merchant transaction data and the consumer transaction data to access a financial account. This system is used to verify authorization to access the financial account for payment of a transaction. This system takes advantage of the almost ubiquitous presence of cellular telephones among the consuming public. The merchant terminal operates in a known manner to record data regarding items being purchased by a consumer and generates a total amount for the transaction. The total amount, a transaction code, and a telephone number for payment processing may then be displayed for the consumer. The consumer then uses his or her cellular telephone to call the displayed number and enter the transaction code. Substantially simultaneously with the display of this data, the merchant terminal sends merchant transaction data to the payment processing site. The consumer transaction data and the merchant transaction data are used to generate a transaction record and query a payment service for approval. The approval code may then be returned to the merchant terminal and consumer for appropriate completion of the transaction.

Claims

1. A system for supporting consumer transactions billed to an account through a cellular telephone comprising:

a merchant data receiver for receiving merchant transaction data from a merchant terminal at a transaction site;

a consumer data receiver for receiving consumer transaction data from a cellular telephone at the transaction site; and

a transaction processor for processing the merchant transaction data and the consumer transaction data to access a financial account so that approval for a transaction at the transaction site may be obtained.

2. The system of claim 1, the transaction processor further comprising:

a transaction record generator for generating a transaction record corresponding to the merchant transaction data and the consumer transaction data; and

an approval query generator that queries for approval of the transaction at the transaction site using the generated transaction record.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising:

an approval transmitter for transmitting an approval code to one of the cellular telephone and the merchant terminal at the transaction site in response to a response to the query from the approval query generator.

4. A terminal for supporting consumer transactions billed through an account through a cellular telephone comprising:

a transaction data generator for generating transaction data; and

a transaction data display for displaying the generated transaction data with a telephone number so that a consumer may call the telephone number to bill a transaction corresponding to the generated transaction data to an account associated with a cellular telephone number.

5. The terminal of claim 4 further comprising:

a transaction data transmitter for transmitting the generated transaction data with merchant data to a payment processing site for approval of the transaction.

6. The terminal of claim 4 further comprising:

an option payment generator for generating a menu of payment options for the transaction data display to display, the generated menu including an option to pay for a transaction corresponding to the generated transaction data by means of an account associated with a cellular telephone.

7. The terminal of claim 5 further comprising:

an approval receiver for receiving an approval code for a transaction corresponding to the transaction data transmitted by the transaction data generator so that the transaction corresponding to the transaction data is funded by an account associated with a cellular telephone number.

8. A system for supporting transactions billed to an account associated with a cellular telephone comprising:

a merchant terminal for generating and sending merchant transaction data;

a consumer data receiver for receiving consumer transaction data from a cellular telephone at the transaction site; and

a transaction processor for processing the merchant transaction data and the consumer transaction data to access a financial account so that approval for a transaction at the transaction site may be obtained.

9. The system of claim 8, the transaction processor further comprising:

a transaction record generator for generating a transaction record corresponding to the merchant transaction data and the consumer transaction data; and

an approval query generator that queries for approval of the transaction at the transaction site using the generated transaction record.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

an approval transmitter for transmitting an approval code to one of the cellular telephone and the merchant terminal at the transaction site in response to a response to the query from the approval query generator.

11. The system of claim 8, the merchant terminal further comprising:

a transaction data generator for generating transaction data; and

a transaction data display for displaying the generated transaction data with a telephone number so that a consumer may call the telephone number to bill a transaction corresponding to the generated transaction data to an account associated with a cellular telephone number.

12. The system of claim 11, the merchant terminal further comprising:

a transaction data transmitter for transmitting the generated transaction data with merchant data to a payment processing site for approval of the transaction.

13. The system of claim 12, the terminal further comprising:

an option payment generator for generating a menu of payment options for the transaction data display to display, the generated menu including an option to pay for a transaction corresponding to the generated transaction data by means of an account associated with a cellular telephone.

14. The system of claim 13, the terminal further comprising:

an approval receiver for receiving an approval code for a transaction corresponding to the transaction data transmitted by the transaction data generator so that the transaction corresponding to the transaction data is funded by an account associated with a cellular telephone number.

15. A method for supporting payment of a consumer transaction through an account associated with a cellular telephone comprising:

generating a transaction record from merchant transaction data and consumer cellular telephone data;

querying for payment through an account associated with the cellular telephone data; and

generating an approval code in correspondence with a response to the query for payment through the account associated with the cellular telephone data.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

generating merchant transaction data to identify a merchant and a consumer transaction at a transaction site; and

receiving consumer cellular telephone data from a cellular phone network.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

sending the generated approval code to one of a cellular phone and a merchant terminal located at the transaction site.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

displaying a telephone number for payment processing at the transaction site so a consumer may call the telephone number with a cellular phone to pay for the consumer transaction through an account associated with the cellular phone.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the telephone number is displayed in response to an option to pay for the consumer transaction through an account associated with the cellular telephone being selected.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the merchant transaction data generation includes identifying a merchant account so that funds may be transferred from the account associated with the cellular telephone number to the merchant account.