Payment Card Terminal for Mobile Phones

• US 20080059375A1
• Filed: 09/06/2007
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: First Data Resources Incorporated (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Transaction Wireless, Inc. (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Abifaker, Basil Munir
• Granted Patent: US 8,909,553 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3221 Access to banking information through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/325 using wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3255 using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/34 using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cards
• 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: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/00 Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers subscriber services or facilities provided at exchanges H04M3/00; prepayment telephone coin boxes H04M17/00; current supply arrangements H04M19/08

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for payment card terminals for mobile phones. In general, data characterizing a payment card and a settlement amount for a transaction may be received, where the data is user-generated input and is received at a mobile phone associated with a mobile phone number. Wireless transmission of data characterizing a request to provide a payment card settlement service of a merchant account of a merchant account provider for the transaction may be initiated, where the wireless transmission is to be from the mobile phone over a carrier data network to an application server. Data characterizing authorization of settlement of the transaction with the payment card may be wirelessly received by the mobile phone from the application server.

Claims

1. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer program product being operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving from a mobile phone, through a wireless carrier data network, at an application server, first data characterizing a request to provide a payment card settlement service to the mobile phone being associated with a mobile phone number, the request characterizing a payment card with which to settle a transaction and merchant account information of a merchant account;

accessing by the application server a merchant account provider server to obtain processing of the request for the merchant account based on the merchant account information, the merchant account information comprising the mobile phone number;

receiving at the application server from the merchant account provider server second data characterizing authorization to settle the transaction with the payment card for the merchant account; and

initiating by the application server wireless transmission of third data characterizing the authorization for the settlement, the third data wirelessly transmitted through the wireless carrier data network to the mobile phone.

2. A product in accordance with the product of claim 1, wherein at least one of the receiving the first data, the accessing, the receiving the second data, and the initiating transmission are performed by a middleware application on the application server.

3. A product in accordance with the product of claim 1, wherein the application server communicates over a connection in accordance with the Transmission Control Protocol and the Secure Sockets Layer protocol to the merchant account provider server.

4. A product in accordance with the product of claim 1, wherein the application server communicates over a connection in accordance with the Transmission Control Protocol and the Secure Sockets Layer protocol to the mobile phone.

5. A product in accordance with the product of claim 1, wherein the mobile phone has a client application to transmit the first data and receive the third data on an operating system in accordance with BINARY RUNTIME ENVIRONMENT FOR WIRELESS.

6. A product in accordance with the product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating an electronic receipt of the settlement to be sent to another mobile phone number or an electronic mail address.

7. A product in accordance with the product of claim 1, wherein the mobile phone requires authorization with a personal identifying number and the operations further comprise:

receiving fourth data characterizing a request to view the merchant account at a web site, the request comprising authentication data comprising the personal identifying number and the mobile phone number; and

providing access to view the merchant account based on the authentication data providing authentication to view the merchant account.

8. A product in accordance with the product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving fourth data characterizing a request to provide a refund for the transaction;

accessing the account provider to obtain processing of the request;

receiving fifth data characterizing completion of a refund; and

transmitting sixth data characterizing the refund.

9. A product in accordance with the product of claim 1, wherein the merchant account information comprises authentication data.

10. A product in accordance with the product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

initiating by the application server wireless transmission of a request to authorize settlement of the transaction with the payment card, the request to be transmitted in accordance with a wireless mobile phone messaging protocol to the mobile phone; and

receiving by the application server a message generated by the mobile phone authorizing settlement of the transaction; and

wherein initiating wireless transmission of the third data comprises initiating wireless transmission based on receiving the message authorizing the settlement of the transaction.

11. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer program product being operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving at a mobile phone associated with a mobile phone number first data characterizing a payment card and a settlement amount for a transaction, the first data being user-generated input;

initiating wireless transmission of second data characterizing a request to provide a payment card settlement service of a merchant account of a merchant account provider for the transaction, the wireless transmission to be from the mobile phone over a carrier data network to an application server; and

wirelessly receiving third data characterizing authorization of settlement of the transaction with the payment card, the third data wirelessly received by the mobile phone from the application server.

12. A product in accordance with the product of claim 11, wherein the mobile phone has a client application to transmit the first data and receive the third data on an operating system in accordance with BINARY RUNTIME ENVIRONMENT FOR WIRELESS.

13. A product in accordance with the product of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

requesting an electronic receipt of the authorization of the settlement to be sent to another mobile phone number or an electronic mail address.

14. A product in accordance with the product of claim 11, wherein the mobile phone requires authorization with a personal identifying number to be used with the mobile phone number to access a web site to manage the merchant account of the merchant account provider.

16. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving by a middleware server payment requests initiated by mobile phones, the mobile phones operating on a plurality of heterogeneous wireless communication networks;

associating each payment request with one of a plurality of merchant account provider servers;

converting formats of the payment requests to formats of the corresponding merchant account provider server;

transmitting the converted payment requests to the corresponding merchant account providers;

receiving authorizations for at least one of the payment requests from at least one of the corresponding merchant account providers;

associating the authorizations with mobile phones corresponding to the authorizations;

generating compatible notifications for each of the authorizations; and

initiating wireless transmission of the notifications to the corresponding mobile phones.

15. A product in accordance with the product of claim 16, wherein the product is available for over-the-air download to a mobile phone.