Cloud enabled payment processing system and method

• US 8,412,631 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2011
• Issued: 04/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Fromm, Jeff W., Crofts, Paul M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jagdish
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAMILTON, SARA CHANDLER
• Application Number:
  US13/107,069
• Publication Number:
  US 20120290478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/44
• US Class Current: 705/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A comprehensive platform for processing financial transactions is disclosed. The platform is a cloud based and comprises an application programming interface so that application developers can take advantage of the services provided by the framework. The platform replaces many of the expensive, outdated or inefficient aspects of traditional payment processing methods.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer for enabling payment processing and from a payer device, a payer request, wherein the payer request comprises a payer account identifier associated with a first payer, and wherein the computer is part of an Internet accessible payment processing cloud;

saving, by the computer and to a memory associated with the payment processing cloud, a first cloud transaction comprising a cloud transaction identifier based upon the payer request;

identifying, by the computer and based upon a payer profile associated with the cloud and the payer request, an alternate payer device,

sending, by the computer, the cloud transaction identifier to the alternate payer device;

receiving, by the computer and from a payee device, a payee payment request comprising the cloud transaction identifier, wherein the payee payment request comprises a payee account identifier associated with a first payee;

identifying, by the computer and based upon the cloud transaction identifier, the first cloud transaction;

submitting, by the computer, a transaction authorization request to a payment network;

receiving, by the computer and based upon the transaction authorization request, a transaction authorization from the payment network; and

sending, by the computer and based upon the transaction authorization, a first notification message to the payee.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering a plurality of payers and a plurality of payees.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a get information request from a requesting device associated with at least one of the first payer and a first payee.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining transaction details based upon the get information request and sending an update comprising a subset of the transaction details, to the requesting device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the update comprises a receipt associated with the financial transaction.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the update comprises a request to specify a gratuity amount associated with the cloud transaction.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving a gratuity message from the first payer and sending a second notification message to the first payee.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a delete request from the first payee;

searching the memory based upon the delete request in order to identify the cloud transaction; and

at least one of deleting the cloud transaction and updating the cloud transaction to de-authorize the cloud transaction.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first notification message to the payee informs the payee that the cloud transaction has been cancelled, and wherein the computer does not execute the submitting the transaction authorization request to the payment network.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an update information request comprising additional information from at least one of the first payer and the first payee and updating the cloud transaction with the additional information.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment processing cloud comprises an application programming interface (API) specifying application interface with the payment processing cloud.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of the payer request, the payee payment request, an update information request, a gratuity message, a get information request, a delete request and the transaction authorization request conform to the API.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the API conforms to representational state transfer (“

REST”

) constraints.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the API comprises a plurality of services each associated with a unique uniform resource locator.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the API enables sending and receiving via at least one of the Internet, HTTP, XML, short message service (SMS), multimedia message service (MMS), a web application, mobile web application and a micro application.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a financial transaction account identifier based upon the payee account identifier.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the transaction authorization request comprises the financial transaction account identifier.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the payee payment request comprises at least one of user authentication data, a payment amount, a payment currency, a geographical location, a notification option, and a developers API key.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the payer request comprises at least one of user authentication data, a settlement account identifier, a transaction type, a payment amount, a payment currency, a developers API key and transaction details.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the cloud transaction based upon the transaction authorization.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment network comprises at least one of American Express, VisaNet and Maestro.

22. The method of claim 1, the identifying the alternate payer device is further based upon the payee account identifier.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the payee device obtains the cloud transaction identifier from the payer device.

24. A payment processing cloud comprising:

a network interface communicating with a memory;

the memory communicating with a processor for processing financial transactions; and

the processor, when executing a computer program, performs operations comprising;

receiving, by the processor and from a payer device, a payer request, wherein the payer request comprises a payer account identifier associated with a first payer, and wherein the processor is part of an Internet accessible payment processing cloud;

saving, by the processor and to a memory associated with the payment processing cloud, a first cloud transaction comprising a cloud transaction identifier based upon the payee payment request;

identifying, by the processor and based upon a payer profile associated with the cloud, an alternate payer device,

sending, by the processor, the cloud transaction identifier to the alternate payer device;

receiving, by the processor and from a payee device, a payee payment request comprising the cloud transaction identifier, wherein the payee payment request comprises a payee account identifier associated with a first payee;

identifying, by the processor and based upon the cloud transaction identifier, first cloud transaction;

submitting, by the processor, a transaction authorization request to a payment network;

receiving, by the processor and based upon the transaction authorization request, a transaction authorization from the payment network; and

sending, by the processor and based upon the transaction authorization, a first notification message to the payee.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by cloud-based payment processing computer, causes the computer to perform operations, comprising:

receiving, by the computer and from a payer device, a payer request, wherein the payer request comprises a payer account identifier associated with a first payer, and wherein the computer is part of an Internet accessible payment processing cloud;

saving, by the computer and to a memory associated with the payment processing cloud, a first cloud transaction comprising a cloud transaction identifier based upon the payee payment request;

identifying, by the computer and based upon a payer profile associated with the cloud, an alternate payer device,

sending, by the computer, the cloud transaction identifier to the alternate payer device;

receiving, by the computer and from a payee device, a payee payment request comprising the cloud transaction identifier, wherein the payee payment request comprises a payee account identifier associated with a first payee;

identifying, by the computer and based upon the cloud transaction identifier, first cloud transaction;

submitting, by the computer, a transaction authorization request to a payment network;

receiving, by the computer and based upon the transaction authorization request, a transaction authorization from the payment network; and

sending, by the computer and based upon the transaction authorization, a first notification message to the payee.