TECHNIQUES FOR CONDUCTING SINGLE OR LIMITED USE PURCHASES VIA A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20120109826A1
• Filed: 10/28/2010
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Voyix Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Kobres, Erick Christian
• Granted Patent: US 11,144,916 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/64
• 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 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes

Abstract

A customer uses a mobile device to acquire a mobile app thereon. The mobile device is configured by a cloud-based service to escrow one or more card numbers mapped by a financial facility to the customer'"'"'s primary account'"'"'s number. Further security limitations can be configured into the mobile app by the cloud-based service. Subsequently, the customers uses the mobile app at a point-of-sale location to access one or more of the escrowed card numbers to make purchases; these purchases can be made while the mobile device lacks any connectivity to a network.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method programmed in a non-transitory processor-readable medium and to execute on one or more processors configured to execute the method, comprising:

receiving a request for initial configuration of a mobile application that processes on a mobile device of a customer;

acquiring a policy for security restrictions to be placed on usage of the mobile application; and

sending configuration instructions to a requesting device that made the request to configure the mobile application when activated on the mobile device with the security restrictions, the mobile application configured to acquire a single or limited use card number that maps to a personal account number (PAN) at a financial institution for the customer, the single or limited use card number downloaded to the mobile application for use at a point-of-sale location to make a purchase and the purchase made without accessing a wide-area network (WAN) or cellular network connection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving further includes acquiring a fee for usage of the mobile application on the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes defining at least one security restriction as a condition necessitating that the customer provide a pass code when using the single or limited use card number at the point-of-sale location before making the purchase.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes obtaining licensing restrictions defining usage limitations on the mobile application from the policy and including the licensing restrictions in the configuration instructions.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes obtaining a secure connection interface to the financial institution that is provided in the configuration instructions allowing the mobile application to directly interface with the financial institution via the mobile application to download the single or limited use card number.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes obtaining at least a portion of the policy from an administrator, from the customer, and/or from an agent of the customer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein sending further includes providing the configuration instructions to the mobile device, which is the requesting device, the mobile application accessing the configuration instructions on the mobile device to configure itself on the mobile device for initial use.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein sending further includes providing the configuration instructions to a computer of the customer, the computer is the requesting device, and the mobile device subsequently interfaced to the computer and the configuration instructions provided to the mobile application to configure itself on the mobile device for initial use.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, acting as an intermediary between the mobile application and the financial institution facilitating the download of the single or limited use card number to the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein acting further includes collecting a transaction fee from the financial institution and/or the customer for facilitating the download of the limited use card number to the mobile device.

11. A processor-implemented method programmed in a non-transitory processor-readable medium and to execute on one or more processors configured to execute the method, comprising:

acquiring a single or limited use card number that maps at a financial institution to a personal account number (PAN) of a customer;

encrypting the single or limited use card number;

establishing a connection to a point-of-sale terminal at a point-of-sale location; and

providing, via the connection, the single or limited use card number to the point-of-sale terminal without accessing a wide-area network (WAN) or cellular network connection to complete a purchase.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein acquiring further includes interacting with a financial institution'"'"'s online interface to download the single or limited use card number.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein acquiring further includes interacting with a processing device of the customer to download the single or limited use card number.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein acquiring further includes interacting with a third-party cloud-based service provider to download the single or limited use card number, the third-party cloud-based service provider interacting with the financial institution on behalf of the customer.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein establishing further includes making the connection when the wide area network connection or cellular connection is unavailable.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein establishing further includes requesting the customer enter a pass code before permitting the connection.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein establishing includes interacting with the point-of-sale terminal to create a secure connection with the point-of-sale terminal.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein providing further includes supplying a second limited or single use card number that was previously escrowed and acquired from the financial institution or a different financial institution when the limit or single use card was insufficient to complete the purchase.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein mobile app is configured to supply one or more of the single or limited use card numbers during a different purchasing transaction that occurs online and via the WAN or the cellular network connection.

19. A system, comprising:

one or more processors in a cloud-processing environment having a cloud-based mobile device purchasing configuring service, the cloud-based mobile device purchasing configuring service resides and is programmed in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and executes on the one or more processors of the cloud-processing environment; and

a mobile app that resides within and is programmed in a non-transitory computer readable medium and is adapted to be downloaded and installed and executed on a mobile device of a customer;

the cloud-based mobile device purchasing configuring service is to configure the mobile app for use on the mobile device, the mobile app configured to complete purchases made by the customer at point-of-sale terminals using single or limited use card numbers that map at one or more financial institutions to personal account numbers of the customer, the purchases made via the mobile app without the assistance of a wide-area network (WAN) or cellular network connection.