Methods and systems for contactless payments at a merchant

• US 8,714,439 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2011
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2011
• 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: Lewis, Nicole, Korten, Carlos, Chuang, I-Hsin, Brendell, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHEDEKEL, TABITHA F
• Application Number:
  US13/280,938
• Publication Number:
  US 20130048717A1
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/379, 235/380, 705/1.1, 705/29, 705/64, 705/79
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/325 using wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3276 using a pictured code, e.g. barcode or QR-code, being read by the M-device
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/352 Contactless payments by cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/425 using two different networks, one for transaction and one for security confirmation

Abstract

A coordination server of a contactless payment system may receive a total bill of purchases for a customer from a merchant POS terminal, associate the total bill of purchases with a unique identifier of an RFID tag of a check presenter, and receive notification that payment of the total bill of purchases is authorized. The coordination server may receive the unique identifier and payment information from a contactless-enabled device, and transmit the payment information and the total bill to the merchant POS terminal for transmittal to a merchant acquirer for completion of the transaction under business as usual standards. In one embodiment, the coordination server transmits the payment information and the total bill to a merchant acquirer, which then routes the payment request to an appropriate payment network. In another embodiment, the coordination server transmits the payment information and the total bill directly to the appropriate payment network.

Claims

1. A coordination server of a contactless payment system comprising:

a processor configured for merchant transactions,

a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the processor,

the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, at the coordination server, a total bill of purchases for a customer from a merchant point-of-sale terminal;

associating, by the coordination server, the total bill of purchases with a unique identifier of a radio frequency identification tag of a check presenter;

receiving, by the coordination server, the unique identifier of the RFID tag and payment information from a consumer contactless-enabled device;

locating, by the coordination server, the total bill using the unique identifier as a key; and

receiving, at the coordination server, notification that payment of the total bill of purchases is authorized.

2. The coordination server of claim 1, further comprising notifying the merchant point-of-sale terminal that payment of the total bill of purchases is authorized.

3. The coordination server of claim 2, further comprising notifying a the consumer contactless-enabled device that payment of the total bill of purchases is authorized, wherein the consumer contactless-enabled device provides payment information to facilitate payment of the total bill of purchases.

4. The coordination server of claim 1, wherein the coordination server is in communication with multiple back-end servers, and wherein the multiple back-end servers include at least one of a loyalty server, a payment server, and an offer management server.

5. The coordination server of claim 1, wherein the coordination server is integrated into the merchant point-of-sale terminal.

6. The coordination server of claim 1, wherein the coordination server is separate from the merchant point-of-sale terminal.

7. The coordination server of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, from the coordination server, the payment information and the total bill to the merchant point-of-sale terminal;

wherein the merchant point-of-sale terminal transmits the payment information and the total bill to a merchant acquirer for completion.

8. The coordination server of claim 7, wherein the payment information is transmitted from the consumer contactless-enabled device to the coordination server using at least of a cellular or wireless network.

9. The coordination server of claim 1, further comprising

transmitting, from the coordination server, the payment information and the total bill to a merchant acquirer.

10. The coordination server of claim 9, wherein the merchant acquirer routes the payment request to an appropriate payment network, and wherein the appropriate payment network is selected based on the payment information from the contactless-enabled device.

11. The coordination server of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, from the coordination server, the payment information and the total bill to an appropriate payment network, wherein the appropriate payment network is selected based on the payment information from the contactless-enabled device.

12. A method comprising:

receiving, at the coordination server of a contactless payment system, a total bill of purchases for a customer from a merchant point-of-sale terminal;

associating, by the coordination server, the total bill of purchases with a unique identifier of a radio frequency identification tag of a check presenter; and

receiving, at the coordination server, the unique identifier of the RFID tag and payment information from a consumer contactless-enabled device;

locating, by the coordination server, the total bill using the unique identifier as a key; and

receiving, at the coordination server, notification that payment of the total bill of purchases is authorized.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting, from the coordination server, the payment information and the total bill to a merchant acquirer.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the merchant acquirer routes the payment request to an appropriate payment network, and wherein the appropriate payment network is selected based on the payment information from the consumer contactless-enabled device.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, at the coordination server, the unique identifier of the RFID tag and payment information from a the consumer contactless-enabled device;

locating, by the coordination server, the total bill using the unique identifier as a key; and

transmitting, from the coordination server, the payment information and the total bill to an appropriate payment network, wherein the appropriate payment network is selected based on the payment information from the consumer contactless-enabled device.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising notifying the merchant point-of-sale terminal that payment of the total bill of purchases is authorized.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising notifying a the consumer contactless-enabled device that payment of the total bill of purchases is authorized, wherein the consumer contactless-enabled device provides payment information to facilitate payment of the total bill of purchases.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the consumer contactless-enabled device is a smartphone.