Cellular phone-based automatic payment system

• US 20050238149A1
• Filed: 04/05/2005
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hilary Laing De Leon
• Original Assignee: Hilary Laing De Leon
• Inventors: De Leon, Hilary Laing
• Granted Patent: US 7,255,264 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/93.120
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3433 the counter having monetary units
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/00 Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points handling coins or valuable papers, e.g. banknotes, G07D; apparatus for vending or hiring articles or services activated by coins, credit cards, paper currency or the like G07F7/00, G07F17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/063 using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station identification of vehicles G08G
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0014 for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00 meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity G07F15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/02 by keys or other credit registering devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/68 Payment of value-added services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0196 Payment of value-added services, mainly when their charges are added on the telephone bill, e.g. payment of non-telecom services, e-commerce, on-line banking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/32 Involving wireless systems

Abstract

A wireless payment system allows high speed operation without user intervention with the convenience that cellular phones provide. The system being described uses a wireless stored value module attached to an ordinary cellular phone or embedded in the cellphone'"'"'s Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card. A Reader is installed in points of transaction that communicates with the module and deducts the balance stored in the module for effecting the payment. The transaction is sent by the Reader to a central database to update a copy of the module'"'"'s balance and perform settlement functions at the end of the day. After every transaction, a SMS or text confirmation is received by the cellphone user which indicates the amount paid and remaining balance in the module. Re-loading of values in the module can be accomplished solely by sending text messages using a cellular phone from anywhere, any time.

Claims

1. An electronic payment system comprising:

a Radio Frequency (RF) Module that has a monetary value stored in its non-volatile memory, said module being attached or embedded in a Cellular Phone;

a reading device or Reader installed in a point of payment location which communicates with the said Module and performs the function of deducting the payment from the balance stored in the value to effect the payment;

a small computer acting as a local server that is networked to a plurality of Readers;

a Wide Area Network which interconnects the local server to a central processing facility and a cellular phone network;

a central processing facility or back-end that collects and processes data from the Readers situated in different locations;

a cellular phone network which acts as a medium to exchange data between Readers, servers and back-end.

2. The RF Module of claim 1 further comprising of three versions:

a microcontroller with non-volatile memory interfaced to a RF Transceiver chip powered by a battery and packaged into an encapsulated form for attaching to the back of a cellular phone, herein referred to as External Long Range;

a microcontroller with non-volatile memory interfaced to a RF Transceiver chip powered by a battery and embedded into a cellular phone'"'"'s Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, herein referred to as Embedded Long Range;

a coil with memory/RF chip operating as a contactless smart card packaged into a thin round plastic disc for attaching to the back of a cellular phone, herein referred to as External Short Range.

3. The Reader of claim 1 comprising of 2 RF transceivers interfaced to a central processing unit with capability to communicate with the three versions of RF modules of claim 2, one transceiver for both the External Long Range and Embedded Long Range modules and one transceiver for External Short Range modules.

4. The Reader of claim 1 further comprising an electromagnetic shield around its enclosure with an opening at the front so that only the RF module positioned in front of it can communicate, thus preventing modules positioned at the back and sides of the Readers from communicating, thereby further preventing erroneous detection of modules especially in tollways and carparks.

5. The Reader of claim 4 whereby the power output of the transmitter part of the RF transceiver is set to a value such that the range is limited to just cover the driver of a vehicle passing through the toll collection or carpark collection system.

6. A method of confirming the payment made using the RF module of claim 2 and the Reader of claim 3 whereby the Reader captures the payment transaction and then sends it to the back-end facility, after which said back-end facility sends a confirmation text or SMS (Short Message Service) to the holder of the cellular phone to which the module is attached.

7. A method of re-loading monetary value into the RF module of claim 2 whereby the cellular phone user enters a SMS or text message instruction to the back-end facility to load value using a pre-paid card, to load value from the cellular phone user'"'"'s subscription plan or from the customer'"'"'s bank account or credit card.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising of another step whereby after the request for re-loading is processed, the back-end facility advises all Readers in the various point-of-payment locations by sending the module identity number and value to be loaded such that when the module is used on any Reader, the Reader recognizes that the module has a re-loading request and then performs the loading process.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising of another step whereby after the Reader loads the value into the module, it sends an update message to the back-end facility, which in turn, broadcasts a delete instruction to all the Readers so that the re-loaded module will not be loaded again next time it is used.