Method and System for Processing Secure Wireless Payment Transactions and for Providing a Virtual Terminal for Merchant Processing of Such Transactions

• US 20090063312A1
• Filed: 08/27/2008
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Mocapay, Inc. (Moca Financial, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Mocapay, Inc. (Moca Financial, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hurst, Douglas J.
• Application Number:
  US12/199,567
• Publication Number:
  US 20090063312A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/326 Payment applications installed on the mobile 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A system and method for processing a wireless electronic payment transaction is described. One embodiment comprises receiving a transaction authorization request for an electronic payment transaction from a customer, the authorization request submitted from a mobile communication device of the customer; authenticating the transaction authorization request; authorizing the transaction authorization request and transmitting an authorization code to the mobile communication device, the authorization code being communicated to a merchant from the customer; receiving a transaction approval request from the merchant, the transaction approval request submitted from a virtual terminal associated with the merchant, the virtual terminal being a wireless communication device having a point of sale processing application installed therein; authenticating the transaction approval request; approving the transaction approval request and transmitting an approval code to the virtual terminal; and generating and executing transaction settlement instructions between a financial account of the customer and a financial account of the merchant.

Claims

1. A payment gateway system for processing electronic payment transactions, comprising:

a web user interface module configured to provide an interface between the payment gateway system, a customer, and a merchant;

a virtual terminal module configured to communicate with a virtual terminal, wherein the virtual terminal is a wireless communication device having a point of sale processing application installed therein, the point of sale application being configured to;

wirelessly transmit a request for payment of a transaction to the payment gateway system; and

wirelessly receive an approval code for payment of the transaction from the payment gateway system;

a web services module configured to process and authorize the electronic payment transaction between the customer and the merchant;

an account funding interface module configured to establish an association between a customer financial account and the payment gateway system; and

a settlement and reconciliation module configured to generate and execute a transaction settlement instruction for settling the electronic payment transaction between the customer financial account and a merchant financial account.

2. The payment gateway system of claim 1, wherein the web user interface module further comprises:

a customer interface configured to permit at least one new customer to associate with the payment gateway system;

a merchant interface configured to permit at least one new merchant to associate with the payment gateway system; and

a gateway administration interface configured to provide a set of administrative functions to the payment gateway system.

3. The payment gateway system of claim 2, wherein the customer interface, the merchant interface and the gateway administration interface are websites.

4. The payment gateway system of claim 1, wherein the virtual terminal interface further comprises:

at least one virtual terminal database configured to store information about the electronic payment transaction;

a virtual terminal website configured to provide a set of administrative functions to the merchant; and

a virtual terminal web service configured to communicate with the virtual terminal, the virtual terminal web service further configured to communicate transaction details to the web services module.

5. The payment gateway system of claim 1, wherein the web services module further comprises:

an authorization code web service configured to;

communicate with a mobile device associated with the customer; and

process electronic payment transactions originating from the mobile device associated with the customer;

a terminal processing web service configured to;

communicate with at least one of an ecommerce website and a traditional point of sale terminal; and

process electronic payment transactions originating from one of the ecommerce website and the traditional point of sale terminal.

6. The payment gateway system of claim 1, wherein the account funding interface module further comprises:

a bank account interface configured to establish an association between a customer bank account and the payment gateway system; and

a credit card interface configured to establish an association between a customer credit account and the payment gateway system.

7. The payment gateway system of claim 6, wherein the settlement and reconciliation module further comprises:

an automated clearing house bank interface configured to generate and execute a transaction settlement instruction between the customer bank account and the merchant financial account; and

an automated clearing house credit interface configured to generate and execute a transaction settlement instruction between the customer credit account and the merchant financial account.

8. A virtual point of sale terminal for initiating and accepting a wireless electronic payment, the apparatus comprising:

a mobile communication device having wireless data communication capabilities, the mobile communication device configured to communicate with a payment gateway system;

a point of sale processing application installed onto the mobile communications device, the point of sale processing application configured to;

wirelessly transmit a request for payment of a transaction to the payment gateway system; and

wirelessly receive an approval code for payment of the transaction from the payment gateway system.

9. The virtual point of sale terminal of claim 8 wherein the point of sale processing application is further configured to:

generate an electronic receipt of the transaction, wherein the electronic receipt includes a summary of the electronic transaction; and

wirelessly transmit the electronic receipt to a customer associated with the transaction.

10. The virtual point of sale terminal of claim 8 wherein the mobile communication device is one of a WI-FI enabled mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer and a desktop computer.

11. An electronic wallet apparatus configured for initiating a wireless electronic payment, the apparatus comprising:

a mobile communication device having wireless data communication capabilities, the mobile communication device configured to communicate with a payment gateway system;

an electronic wallet application installed onto the mobile communication device, the electronic wallet application configured to;

wirelessly transmit a personal identification number to the payment gateway system;

wirelessly receive a financial account summary associated with the mobile communication device from the payment gateway system;

wirelessly transmit a transaction amount and a desired financial account for funding a transaction to the payment gateway system; and

wirelessly receive an authorization code for the transaction from the payment gateway system.

12. The electronic wallet of claim 11, wherein the electronic wallet application is further configured to:

wirelessly receive an electronic receipt of the transaction from one of a virtual terminal associated with a merchant and the payment gateway system.

13. The electronic wallet of claim 11, wherein the financial account summary further comprises:

a listing of financial accounts associated with the mobile communication device;

a listing of balances for each of the listing of financial accounts; and

a listing of account codes corresponding to each of the listing of financial accounts.

14. The electronic wallet of claim 11, wherein the mobile communication device is a WI-FI enabled mobile phone.

15. A method for processing a wireless electronic payment transaction, the method comprising:

receiving a transaction authorization request for an electronic payment transaction from a customer, the authorization request submitted from a mobile communication device associated with the customer;

authenticating the transaction authorization request;

authorizing the transaction authorization request and transmitting an authorization code to the mobile communication device, wherein the authorization code is communicated to a merchant from the customer;

receiving a transaction approval request from the merchant, the transaction approval request submitted from a virtual terminal associated with the merchant, wherein the virtual terminal is a wireless communication device having a point of sale processing application installed therein;

authenticating the transaction approval request;

approving the transaction approval request and transmitting an approval code to the virtual terminal; and

generating and executing a transaction settlement instruction between a financial account of the customer and a financial account of the merchant.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving a transaction authorization request for the electronic payment transaction further comprises:

receiving a personal identification number and a device identifier from the mobile communication device associated with the customer;

verifying the received personal identification number matches a stored personal identification number associated with the device identifier;

querying each of the financial accounts associated with the customer to obtain a balance associated with each of the financial accounts;

providing a financial account summary to the mobile device, the financial account summary comprising;

a listing of financial accounts associated with the mobile communication device;

a listing of balances for each of the listing of financial accounts; and

a listing of account codes corresponding to each of the listing of financial accounts.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein authorizing the transaction authorization request further comprises:

receiving one of the listing of account codes and a transaction amount from the mobile communication device; and

verifying the transaction amount is less than or equal to a balance of a financial account associated with the received account code.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving a transaction approval request from a merchant further comprises:

receiving a merchant identifier from the merchant'"'"'s virtual terminal;

receiving the authorization code from the merchant'"'"'s virtual terminal, wherein the authorization code was communicated to the merchant from the customer; and

receiving a transaction amount from the merchant'"'"'s virtual terminal.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving a tip amount from the merchant'"'"'s virtual terminal.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

storing a record of the electronic payment transaction in a transaction database, wherein the record comprises at least one of a;

a transaction identifier;

a transaction date and time;

a merchant identifier;

a device identifier;

a terminal identifier;

a transaction amount;

a customer financial account for funding the transaction;

a merchant financial account;

a cashier identifier;

a transaction authorization code; and

a transaction approval code.

21. A method for wirelessly initiating an electronic payment transaction from a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

submitting an authorization code, a transaction amount and a merchant identifier to a payment gateway system, the authorization code being provided by a customer, the merchant identifier describing a merchant initiating the electronic transaction;

receiving an approval code from the payment gateway system; and

receiving an amount of funds representative of the transaction amount from a financial account selected by the customer.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

submitting a tip amount to the payment gateway system.

23. A method for wirelessly paying for a transaction from an electronic wallet of a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

submitting a personal identification number and a device identifier to a payment gateway system, wherein the personal identification number is associated with the mobile communication device;

receiving a summary of financial accounts from the payment gateway system, wherein the summary of financial accounts is associated with the mobile communication device;

submitting a selected financial account from the summary of financial accounts and a transaction amount to the payment gateway system;

receiving an authorization code from the payment gateway system, wherein the authorization code is associated with a pre-approval for the transaction amount; and

receiving an electronic receipt of the transaction from one of a merchant associated with the transaction and the payment gateway system.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the summary of financial accounts comprises:

a listing of financial accounts associated with the mobile communication device;

a listing of balances for each of the listing of financial accounts; and

a listing of account codes corresponding to each of the listing of financial accounts.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the listing of financial accounts comprises:

a first account representative of a bank checking account;

a second account representative of a traditional credit card account; and

a third account representative of store specific charge account.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

submitting the account code associated with the third account to fund the transaction, wherein a store associated with the third bank account is different than a store associated with the merchant.

27. A method for verifying an identification of a person, the method comprising:

receiving an identification verification request from a customer, the identification verification request submitted from a mobile communication device associated with the customer;

authenticating the identification verification request;

transmitting an identification authorization code to the mobile communication device, wherein the identification authorization code is communicated to a requesting entity;

receiving an identification authorization request from the requesting entity, the identification authorization request submitted from a virtual terminal associated with the requesting entity, wherein the virtual terminal is a wireless communication device having a point of sale processing application installed therein;

authenticating the identification authorization request; and

transmitting at least one identification credential associated with the customer to the requesting entity'"'"'s virtual terminal.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein receiving an identification verification request from a customer, further comprises:

receiving a customer personal identification number associated with the customer'"'"'s mobile communication device;

receiving a verification personal identification number associated with the customer'"'"'s mobile communication device; and

receiving a device identifier associated with the customer'"'"'s mobile communication device.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein authenticating the identification verification request, further comprises:

verifying the customer personal identification number matches a stored customer personal identification number associated with the customer'"'"'s mobile communication device; and

verifying the verification personal identification number matches a stored verification personal identification number associated with the customer'"'"'s mobile communication device.