SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR POINT OF SERVICE PAYMENT ACCEPTANCE VIA WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

• US 20120150669A1
• Filed: 06/03/2011
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Ackerman, Ben D., Langley, Garrett S., Slutsky, Bradley A., Wei, Joe T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,292,870 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/027 involving a payment switch or gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• 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 20/3223 Realising banking transactions through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3227 using secure elements embedded in M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/356 Aspects of software for card payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A system and method for remitting payment from a consumer'"'"'s credit or stored value account by digital presentations of account information are described. A merchant may create one or more merchant account at a point-of-sale service site (“POS service site”) and associate one or more merchant portable computing devices (“MPCDs”) with one or more of the merchant accounts. Each MPCD may be configured to receive customer data from a customer via one of a visual capture and a wireless communication, such as a near field communication (“NFC”) or a machine-readable optical code. The customer data may be received from an NFC-capable physical token such as an EMV card, or a virtual token presented by a customer portable computing device (“CPCD”) using a NFC or a machine-readable optical code. Each MPCD may contain a point-of-sale payment application supplied by the POS service site that may capture data representative of a consumer account from the received customer data.

Claims

1. A method for processing a transaction with a merchant portable computing device (MPCD), the method comprising:

receiving customer data on the MPCD running a payment application by one of a visual capture and a wireless communication, the customer data associated with a customer payment account;

processing payment with the payment application on the MPCD using the customer data; and

transmitting payment information over a computer network using the MPCD, the payment information including at least part of the customer data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a security application into a secure element within the MPCD to allow the MPCD to send encrypted transmissions.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the payment application over a computer network to a plurality of MPCDs.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of MPCDs is associated with one or more merchant accounts.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an activation code; and

activating the payment application on the MPCD using the activation code.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of activating the payment application on the MPCD further comprises:

receiving the activation code at a merchant location;

coupling the MPCD to a point-of-sale system; and

providing the activation code from the MPCD to the point-of-sale system.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

activating the payment application on a plurality of MPCDs using one or more activation codes.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

coupling each MPCD to a point-of-sale system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the MPCD is part of a merchant point-of-sale system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving customer data on the MPCD further comprises:

receiving a virtual machine-readable token from a customer portable communication device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the customer data is associated with a plurality of customer payment accounts.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of customer payment accounts to use for processing payment.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of transmitting payment information over a computer network using the MPCD further comprises:

transferring payment information from the MPCD to a client device management server associated with the customer portable computer device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving customer data on the MPCD further comprises:

receiving a communication from a physical token.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the physical token comprises an integrated circuit card.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting payment information over a computer network using the MPCD further comprises:

transferring payment information from the MPCD to a stored value account server associated with the customer payment account.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting payment information over a computer network using the MPCD further comprises:

transmitting payment information from the MPCD to a point-of-sale service site.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the MPCD comprises at least one of a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a pager, a smartphone, a navigation device, and a hand-held computer with a wireless connection or link.

19. A computer system for allowing a merchant to process transactions using a merchant portable computing device (MPCD), the computer system comprising:

a server in communication with the MPCD, the server operable to;

create at least one merchant account associated with an MPCD;

configure a payment application for an MPCD to process payments from customer data received on an MPCD by one of a visual capture and a wireless communication, the customer data associated with a customer payment account; and

transmit the payment application over a computer network.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the server is further operable to:

provide and configure payment applications for a plurality of MPCDs.

21. The computer system of claim 20, wherein each of the plurality of MPCDs is associated with one or more merchant accounts on the server.

22. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the server is further operable to:

provide an activation code over the computer network for activating the payment application.

23. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the server is further operable to:

activate the payment application after receiving the activation code from the computer network.

24. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the server is further operable to:

provide a security application over the computer network that enables MPCDs to send encrypted transmissions.

25. The computer system of claim 24, wherein the security application is coupled to the payment application.

26. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the server is further operable to:

create a plurality of merchant accounts, each of the plurality of merchant accounts linked with one or more merchant financial accounts.

27. The computer system of claim 26, wherein the server is further operable to:

associate one or more MPCDs with one or more of the plurality of merchant accounts.

28. The computer system of claim 26, wherein the server is further operable to:

associate one or more MPCDs with one or more of the plurality of merchant accounts using an identifier unique to each MPCD.

29. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the server is further operable to:

receive payment information from the computer network, the payment information including at least part of the customer data.

30. The computer system of claim 29, wherein the server is further operable to:

transmit payment information received from the computer network to a stored value account server associated with the customer payment account.

31. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the MPCD comprises at least one of a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a pager, a smartphone, a navigation device, and a hand-held computer with a wireless connection or link.

32. A computer system for processing a transaction between a customer and a merchant, the computer system comprising:

means for securely storing a payment application on the MPCD;

means for receiving customer data on the MPCD by one of a visual capture and a wireless communication, the customer data associated with a customer payment account;

means for operating the payment application on the MPCD to process a payment to the merchant using the customer data; and

means for transmitting payment information over a computer network with the MPCD, the payment information including at least part of the customer data.

33. The computer system of claim 32, further comprising:

means to activate the payment application on the MPCD to enable it to process payment.

34. The computer system of claim 32, wherein the MPCD is associated with a merchant account.

35. The computer system of claim 34, wherein the merchant account is associated with a merchant financial account.

36. The computer system of claim 32, wherein the customer data further comprises data associated with a plurality of customer payment accounts.

37. The computer system of claim 36, further comprising means to select which of the plurality of customer payment accounts to use for the payment to the merchant.

38. The computer system of claim 32, wherein the customer data is part of a virtual machine-readable token generated by a customer portable communication device.

39. The computer system of claim 32, wherein the MPCD comprises at least one of a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a pager, a smartphone, a navigation device, and a hand-held computer with a wireless connection or link.

40. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code executable to implement a method for processing a transaction with a merchant portable computing device (MPCD), the method comprising:

executing the payment application on the MPCD;

receiving customer data on the MPCD by one of a visual capture and a wireless communication, the customer data associated with a customer payment account;

processing payment to the merchant with the payment application on the MPCD using the customer data; and

transmitting payment information from the MPCD over a computer network, the payment information including at least part of the customer data.

41. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the method implemented by the program code further comprises:

receiving a security application into the secure element within the MPCD to allow the MPCD to send encrypted transmissions.

42. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein MPCD is associated with a merchant account.

43. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the MPCD is associated with a plurality of merchant accounts.

44. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the merchant account associated with the MPCD is linked with one or more merchant financial accounts.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein processing payment to the merchant with the payment application on the MPCD further comprises selecting one of the one or more merchant financial accounts into which to deposit the payment to the merchant.

46. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the method implemented by the program code further comprises:

receiving an activation code; and

activating the payment application on the MPCD using the activation code.

47. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein activating the payment application on the MPCD further comprises:

receiving the activation code at a merchant location;

coupling the MPCD to a point-of-sale system; and

providing the activation code to the point-of-sale system site using the MPCD.

48. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the MPCD is part of a merchant point-of-sale system.

49. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein receiving customer data on the MPCD further comprises receiving a virtual machine-readable token from a customer portable communication device.

50. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein the customer data is associated with a plurality of customer payment accounts.

51. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein the method implemented by the program code further comprises:

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of customer payment accounts to use for processing payment.

52. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein receiving customer data on the MPCD further comprises:

receiving a communication from a physical token.

53. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein the physical token comprises an integrated circuit card.

54. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the program code is at least partly executed on at least one of a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a pager, a smartphone, a navigation device, and a hand-held computer with a wireless connection or link.