Storing and Forwarding Payment Transactions

• US 20140019340A1
• Filed: 03/12/2013
• Published: 01/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Morel, Shawn, Chen, Grace, Clark, Christopher R., Ruder, Edward, Puls, James, Mulani, Mehdi, Scott, J. Bryan, Monti, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 10,496,977 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• 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 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing

Abstract

Method, systems, and apparatus for a method of processing a payment transaction using a mobile device of a merchant. In one aspect, determining the mobile device does not have a connection to an external network; receiving data indicating a payment transaction between a customer and the merchant; determining whether the payment transaction should be stored, where the determining is based on a risk heuristic model that considers one or more of the following: a number of already stored transactions, a value of the payment transaction, a total value, where the total value is a sum of the value of the payment transaction and values of one or more already stored transactions, and risk factors associated with the customer; and based at least on the determination, storing the payment transaction on the mobile device for future processing.

Claims

1. A method of processing a payment transaction using a mobile device of a merchant, comprising:

determining the mobile device does not have a connection to an external network;

receiving data indicating a payment transaction between a customer and the merchant;

determining whether the payment transaction should be stored, where the determining is based on a risk heuristic model that considers one or more of the following;

a number of already stored transactions, a value of the payment transaction, a total value, where the total value is a sum of the value of the payment transaction and values of one or more already stored transactions, and risk factors associated with the customer; and

based at least on the determination, storing the payment transaction on the mobile device for future processing.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after storing the payment transaction, determining the mobile device has a connection to the external network;

determining the mobile device has stored payment transactions;

forwarding each of the stored payment transactions to a payment service system; and

receiving a response for each of the stored payment transactions from the payment service system.

3. The method of claim 2, where each response is an acceptance or a rejection of the respective stored payment transaction.

4. The method of claim 1, where the risk heuristic model comprises:

determining whether a value of the payment transaction or a total value surpasses a maximum value, where the total value is a sum of the value of the payment transaction and values of one or more already stored transactions; and

determining whether a number of stored transactions stored on the mobile device surpasses a maximum number.

5. The method of claim 4, where if the number of stored transactions does not surpass the maximum number and the value of the payment transaction or the total value do not surpass the maximum value, storing the payment transaction on the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 4, where if the number of stored transactions surpasses the maximum number, rejecting the payment transaction.

7. The method of claim 4, where if the number of stored transactions does not surpass the maximum number and the value of the payment transaction or the total value surpass the maximum value, further comprising:

sending a request to proceed to a user interface of the mobile device;

receiving input through the user interface;

storing the payment transaction if the input includes an approval of the request to proceed; and

rejecting the payment transaction if the input includes a denial of the request to proceed.

8. The method of claim 1, where the payment transaction is encrypted using a key before the storing, where the key is obtained from a payment service system.

9. The method of claim 1, where storing the payment transaction includes storing a time or user session data of the transaction.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the mobile device has a connection to the external network after an interval of time.

11. The method of claim 1, where the external network is an Internet network.

12. The method of claim 1, where the already stored transactions are obtained from an internal database.

13. The method of claim 1, where the risk factors include prior transactions or analysis of the prior transactions.

14. The method of claim 1, where the risk factors are updated by a payment service system when the mobile device has a connection to the external network.

15. The method of claim 1, where the risk heuristic model is updated by a payment service system when the mobile device has a connection to the external network.

16. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a machine readable storage media, comprising instructions for causing a processor to perform operations comprising:

determining the mobile device does not have a connection to an external network;

receiving data indicating a payment transaction between a customer and the merchant;

determining whether the payment transaction should be stored, where the determining is based on a risk heuristic model that considers one or more of the following;

a number of already stored transactions, a value of the payment transaction, a total value, where the total value is a sum of the value of the payment transaction and values of one or more already stored transactions, and risk factors associated with the customer; and

based at least on the determination, storing the payment transaction on the mobile device for future processing.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

after storing the payment transaction, determining the mobile device has a connection to the external network;

determining the mobile device has stored payment transactions;

forwarding each of the stored payment transactions to a payment service system; and

receiving a response for each of the stored payment transactions from the payment service system.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, where each response is an acceptance or a rejection of the respective stored payment transaction.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, where the risk heuristic model comprises:

determining whether a value of the payment transaction or a total value surpasses a maximum value, where the total value is a sum of the value of the payment transaction and values of one or more already stored transactions; and

determining whether a number of stored transactions stored on the mobile device surpasses a maximum number.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, where if the number of stored transactions does not surpass the maximum number and the value of the payment transaction or the total value do not surpass the maximum value, storing the payment transaction on the mobile device.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, where if the number of stored transactions surpasses the maximum number, rejecting the payment transaction.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, where if the number of stored transactions does not surpass the maximum number and the value of the payment transaction or the total value surpass the maximum value, further comprising:

sending a request to proceed to a user interface of the mobile device;

receiving input through the user interface;

storing the payment transaction if the input includes an approval of the request to proceed; and

rejecting the payment transaction if the input includes a denial of the request to proceed.

23. The computer program product of claim 16, where the payment transaction is encrypted using a key before the storing, where the key is obtained from a payment service system.

24. The computer program product of claim 16, where storing the payment transaction includes storing a time or user session data of the transaction.

25. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising determining whether the mobile device has a connection to the external network after an interval of time.

26. The computer program product of claim 16, where the external network is an Internet network.

27. The computer program product of claim 16, where the already stored transactions are obtained from an internal database.

28. The computer program product of claim 16, where the risk factors include prior transactions or analysis of the prior transactions.

29. The computer program product of claim 16, where the risk factors are updated by a payment service system when the mobile device has a connection to the external network.

30. The computer program product of claim 16, where the risk heuristic model is updated by a payment service system when the mobile device has a connection to the external network.

31. A system comprising:

a processor; and

computer-readable medium coupled to the processor and having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

determining the mobile device does not have a connection to an external network;

receiving data indicating a payment transaction between a customer and the merchant;

determining whether the payment transaction should be stored, where the determining is based on a risk heuristic model that considers one or more of the following;

a number of already stored transactions, a value of the payment transaction, a total value, where the total value is a sum of the value of the payment transaction and values of one or more already stored transactions, and risk factors associated with the customer; and

based at least on the determination, storing the payment transaction on the mobile device for future processing.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

after storing the payment transaction, determining the mobile device has a connection to the external network;

determining the mobile device has stored payment transactions;

forwarding each of the stored payment transactions to a payment service system; and

receiving a response for each of the stored payment transactions from the payment service system.

33. The system of claim 32, where each response is an acceptance or a rejection of the respective stored payment transaction.

34. The system of claim 31, where the risk heuristic model comprises:

determining whether a value of the payment transaction or a total value surpasses a maximum value, where the total value is a sum of the value of the payment transaction and values of one or more already stored transactions; and

determining whether a number of stored transactions stored on the mobile device surpasses a maximum number.

35. The system of claim 34, where if the number of stored transactions does not surpass the maximum number and the value of the payment transaction or the total value do not surpass the maximum value, storing the payment transaction on the mobile device.

36. The system of claim 34, where if the number of stored transactions surpasses the maximum number, rejecting the payment transaction.

37. The system of claim 34, where if the number of stored transactions does not surpass the maximum number and the value of the payment transaction or the total value surpass the maximum value, further comprising:

sending a request to proceed to a user interface of the mobile device;

receiving input through the user interface;

storing the payment transaction if the input includes an approval of the request to proceed; and

rejecting the payment transaction if the input includes a denial of the request to proceed.

38. The system of claim 31, where the payment transaction is encrypted using a key before the storing, where the key is obtained from a payment service system.

39. The system of claim 31, where storing the payment transaction includes storing a time or user session data of the transaction.

40. The system of claim 31, further comprising determining whether the mobile device has a connection to the external network after an interval of time.

41. The system of claim 31, where the external network is an Internet network.

42. The system of claim 31, where the already stored transactions are obtained from an internal database.

43. The system of claim 31, where the risk factors include prior transactions or analysis of the prior transactions.

44. The system of claim 31, where the risk factors are updated by a payment service system when the mobile device has a connection to the external network.

45. The system of claim 31, where the risk heuristic model is updated by a payment service system when the mobile device has a connection to the external network.