ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEMS AND SUPPORTING METHODS AND DEVICES

• US 20130060690A1
• Filed: 09/06/2011
• Published: 03/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Rawllin International Inc.
• Inventors: Oskolkov, Ilya, Shishkov, Rodion
• Granted Patent: US 8,515,870 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/43
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/326 Payment applications installed on the mobile devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/384 using social networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/386 using messaging services or messaging apps using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS G06Q20/3255
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/42 Confirmation, e.g. check or permission by the legal debtor of payment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

Electronic payment systems and supporting methods and devices are described. For instance, the disclosed subject matter describes aggregated transactional account functionality configured to receive electronic financial transactions associated with one or more of a set of electronic identifying information such as phone ID, email, instant message, etc. for a user and related functionality. The disclosed details enable various refinements and modifications according to system design and tradeoff considerations.

Claims

1. A transactional account method, the method comprising:

registering a transactional account for a user, wherein the registering includes associating a plurality of items of user identifying information with the transactional account, wherein each item of the plurality of items of user identifying information enables a transferor of funds to specify the user in requesting a fund transfer to the user;

receiving a notification from the transferor of funds specifying at least a subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information and requesting the fund transfer;

completing the fund transfer for the user based on the subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information associated with the transactional account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating the plurality of items of user identifying information with the transactional account includes associating a plurality of items of user identifying information including at least a mobile device identification (ID), a mobile phone number, a mobile account number, an instant message ID, an email address, an online messaging account ID, an online voice account ID, a money transfer service account ID, or a transactional account number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the registering the transactional account for the user includes presenting instructions to the user regarding creating the transactional account based on a prior fund transfer request associated with the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the registering the transactional account includes designating a deposit account associated with the user where the fund transfer is to be deposited.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the completing the fund transfer includes receiving confirmation from the user based on the subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information associated with the transactional account.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the notification from the transferor of funds includes obscuring or removing information regarding a source of the fund transfer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the notification from the transferor of funds includes receiving a message conforming to a money transfer messaging protocol.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the completing the fund transfer includes completing the fund transfer without receiving confirmation from the user where the fund transfer is less than a predetermined value.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the registering the transactional account includes specifying transactional account limitations including at least one of the predetermined value, whether to obscure a destination of the fund transfer, or a verification level for the fund transfer.

8. The method of claim 8, wherein the receiving the message includes receiving the message including the subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information, a subset of a plurality of items of transferor identifying information, and an amount of the fund transfer.

11. A method of accepting a fund transfer, the method comprising:

receiving on a computing device associated with a user a notification from a transferor of funds specifying a subset of a plurality of items of user identifying information, wherein each item of the plurality of items of user identifying information enables the transferor of funds to specify the user in requesting a fund transfer to the user, and specifying a fund transfer request has been made in favor of the user;

responding to the notification by accessing a confirmation resource referenced in the notification;

confirming the fund transfer request at the confirmation resource from the computing device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the specifying the subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information includes specifying at least one of a mobile device identification (ID), a mobile phone number, a mobile account number, an instant message ID, an email address, an online messaging account ID, an online voice account ID, a money transfer service account ID, or a transactional account number.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving the notification includes receiving a password generated to allow collection of the fund transfer.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving the notification includes obscuring or removing information regarding a source of the fund transfer from the user.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the confirming the fund transfer request includes confirming the fund transfer request based on the subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the confirming the fund transfer request includes obscuring or removing information regarding a destination of the fund transfer from the transferor of funds.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

for an amount of the fund transfer below a predetermined value,

abstaining from at least one of responding to the notification, accessing the confirmation resource, or confirming the fund transfer request; and

receiving the fund transfer according to a predetermined agreement.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the accessing a confirmation resource referenced in the notification includes at least one of accessing a secure online resource configured to allow confirmation of the fund transfer, accessing instructions about how to register for a transactional account capable of accepting the fund transfer, or accessing instructions about how to collect the fund transfer in lieu of creating the transactional account.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

registering for the transactional account including designating a deposit account associated with the user where the fund transfer is to be deposited.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the responding to the notification includes sending a message conforming to a money transfer messaging protocol to the confirmation resource.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the receiving the message includes receiving the message including the subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information, a subset of a plurality of items of transferor identifying information, and an amount of the fund transfer.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the receiving the notification includes receiving the notification that conforms to the money transfer messaging protocol.

23. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing device to perform operations, comprising:

receiving on the computing device associated with a user a notification from a transferor of funds specifying a subset of a plurality of items of user identifying information, wherein each item of the plurality of items of user identifying information enables the transferor of funds to specify the user in requesting a fund transfer to the user, and specifying a fund transfer request has been made in favor of the user; and

accepting user input to facilitate at least one of

responding to the notification by accessing a confirmation resource referenced by the notification, or

confirming the fund transfer request at the confirmation resource from the computing device.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 23, comprising further computer executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause the computing device to perform operations, comprising:

receiving the notification that conforms to a money transfer messaging protocol by including the subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information, a subset of a plurality of items of transferor identifying information, and an amount of the fund transfer.

25. The computer readable storage medium of claim 24, comprising further computer executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause the computing device to perform operations, comprising:

responding to the notification by sending a message conforming to the money transfer messaging protocol.

26. A transactional account system comprising:

an account registration component configured to receive registration information including a plurality of items of user identifying information and to associate the plurality of items of user identifying information with a transactional account, wherein each item of the plurality of items of user identifying information enables a transferor of funds to specify the user or the transactional account in requesting a fund transfer to the user;

a confirmation component configured to present a confirmation resource to the user on demand by the user;

a verification component configured to receive a notification from the transferor of funds, wherein the notification specifies a subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information and requests the fund transfer to the user, configured to receive a response from the user based on the confirmation resource, and configured to verify the response is received from the user specified by the subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information;

a fund transfer component configured to complete the fund transfer based on the verification component verifying the response.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the account registration component is further configured to present instructions to the user regarding creating the transactional account based on a prior fund transfer request associated with the user.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the account registration component is further configured to allow designation of a deposit account associated with the user where the fund transfer is to be deposited.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the plurality of items of user identifying information includes a plurality of items of user identifying information including at least a mobile device identification (ID), a mobile phone number, a mobile account number, an instant message ID, an email address, an online messaging account ID, an online voice account ID, a money transfer service account ID, or a transactional account number.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein the account registration component is further configured to allow specification of transactional account limitations including at least one of a predetermined value, below which user confirmation or verification is not desired by at least one of the user or the transferor of funds, whether to obscure a destination of the fund transfer, or a verification level for the fund transfer.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the verification component is further configured to confirm the fund transfer request in the absence of receiving the response depending on the verification level.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein at least one of the confirmation component is further configured to present the confirmation resource, the confirmation component is further configured to receive the demand by the user, or the verification component is further configured to receive the notification via a message conforming to a money transfer protocol.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein the message comprises the subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information, a subset of a plurality of items of transferor identifying information, and an amount of the fund transfer.

34. A computing device comprising:

means for receiving on the computing device associated with a user a notification from a transferor of funds specifying a subset of a plurality of items of user identifying information and requesting a fund transfer to the user, wherein each item of the plurality of items of user identifying information enables the transferor of funds to specify the user in requesting a fund transfer to the user, and specifying a fund transfer request has been made in favor of the user;

means for responding to the notification by accessing a confirmation resource referenced in the notification;

means for confirming the fund transfer request at the confirmation resource from the computing device.

35. The computing device of claim 34, wherein at least one of the means for receiving is further configured, the means for responding is further configured, or the means for confirming is further configured to receive a message conforming to a money transfer protocol, wherein the message comprises the subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information, a subset of a plurality of items of transferor identifying information, and an amount of the fund transfer.

36. A mobile device, comprising

a memory that stores computer-executable components, including:

a notification component configured to receive a notification from a transferor of funds specifying a subset of a plurality of items of user identifying information, wherein each item of the plurality of items of user identifying information enables the transferor of funds to specify a user of the mobile device in requesting a fund transfer to the user, and specifying a fund transfer request has been made in favor of the user;

an input component configured to facilitate responding to the notification by accessing a confirmation resource referenced by the notification and to facilitate confirming the fund transfer request at the confirmation resource from the computing device; and

a processor that executes at least one of the notification component or the input component.

37. The computing device of claim 36, wherein the notification component is further configured to receive the notification via a message conforming to a money transfer protocol, wherein the message comprises the subset of the plurality of items of user identifying information, a subset of a plurality of items of transferor identifying information, and an amount of the fund transfer.