Money transfer systems and methods for travelers

• US 8,955,741 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2009
• Issued: 02/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Western Union
• Original Assignee: Western Union
• Inventors: Hansen, Kurt, Seifert, Dean A., Thompson, Mark, Michelsen, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): St Cyr, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US12/467,985
• Publication Number:
  US 20090283585A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,101 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379, 235/380, 235/382, 902/8, 902/20, 705/17, 705/39, 705/43
• US Class Current: 235/379
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/381 Currency conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/20 Automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/201 Accessories of ATMs
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/203 Dispensing operations within ATMs dispensing in general G07D11/00

Abstract

One method involves payment of money to a recipient traveling to one or more foreign countries by entering into a remote computer money transfer information from a sender. The money transfer information comprises recipient identification information, at least one country where the money is to be received, and a payment amount in an originating currency. The money transfer information is transmitted to a host computer system. When ready to receive payment in the designated country, recipient identification information along with a request to withdraw a portion of a possible payment amount is entered into a payout computer. The recipient identification information and the request to withdraw is transmitted to a host computer system, and the requested withdrawal is provided to the recipient in the local currency.

Claims

1. A method of bill payment, the method comprising:

capturing account information from a customer'"'"'s outstanding bill from an imager, wherein the account information comprises a payment amount and an account identifier;

pre-authorizing an account of the customer to insure that sufficient funds are available to pay the customer'"'"'s outstanding bill;

transmitting the account identifier to an interface exchange to determine a recipient of the customer'"'"'s outstanding bill;

using the determined recipient, the captured account identifier, and the captured payment amount to populate a payment authorization request for an account associated with the account identifier for the payment amount to pay the customer'"'"'s outstanding bill;

in response to the payment authorization request, receiving a payment authorization from the customer;

transferring the payment amount to the recipient to be credited for the account associated with the account identifier; and

prompting the customer to enter a personal identification number (PIN) to authorize the transferring of funds from the account of the customer to the recipient, wherein the PIN comprises the customer'"'"'s name.

2. A method of bill payment as in claim 1, wherein the account information from the customer'"'"'s outstanding bill is scanned from a display screen of a cellular device.

3. A method of bill payment as in claim 2, wherein the display screen comprises a touch screen.

4. A method of bill payment as in claim 2, wherein the cellular device comprises an Internet-ready cellular device.

5. A method of bill payment as in claim 1, wherein the customer'"'"'s outstanding bill includes a barcode.

6. A method of bill payment as in claim 5, wherein the capturing at the imager comprises scanning the barcode on the customer'"'"'s outstanding bill.

7. A method of bill payment as in claim 6, wherein the barcode includes the account information from a customer'"'"'s outstanding bill.

8. A cellular device comprising:

a communications mechanism configured to retrieve a customer'"'"'s outstanding bill; and

a display mechanism in communication with the communications mechanism, the display mechanism configured to receive and display the customer'"'"'s outstanding bill,

wherein the customer'"'"'s outstanding bill displayed on the display mechanism is configured to present account information from the customer'"'"'s outstanding bill, whereby an imager is configured to scan the account information from the customer'"'"'s outstanding bill, wherein the account information comprises a payment amount and an account identifier,

wherein the account identifier is transmitted to an interface exchange in order to determine a recipient of the outstanding bill,

wherein using the determined recipient, the scanned account identifier, and the scanned payment amount to auto-populate fields in a payment authorization request for the account associated with the account identifier for the payment amount for pay the customer'"'"'s outstanding bill, wherein the auto-populated fields are displayed on the display mechanism,

wherein in response to the payment authorization request, payment authorization is received from the customer, and

wherein the payment amount is transferred to the recipient to be credited for the account associated with the account identifier.

9. A cellular device as in claim 8, wherein the display mechanism comprises a touch screen.

10. A cellular device as in claim 8, further comprising a biometric scanning mechanism.

11. A cellular device as in claim 10, wherein the biometric scanning mechanism comprises at least one or more of the following:

a facial recognition scanner, a fingerprint scanner, a retinal scanner, and an iris scanner.

12. A cellular device as in claim 11, wherein the biometric scanning mechanism is configured to identify the customer.

13. A cellular device as in claim 8, wherein the communications mechanism comprises one or more of the following:

a Bluetooth connection, an optical connection, an inferred connections, a wireless connection, and a wi-fi connection.

14. A cellular device as in claim 8, further comprising an RFID mechanism.

15. A cellular device as in claim 14, wherein the account information is transmitted to the interface exchange via the RFID mechanism.

16. A cellular device as in claim 8, wherein the imager comprises an optical character recognition (OCR) scanner.

17. A bill payment system, comprising:

a display screen;

a communications module configured to connect to a communication network;

one or more processors; and

a memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processors and having stored therein processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

capture account information from an outstanding bill of a customer from an imager, wherein the account information comprises a payment amount and an account identifier;

pre-authorize an account of the customer to insure that sufficient funds are available to pay the outstanding bill;

transmit the account identifier to an interface exchange to determine a recipient of the outstanding bill;

apply the determined recipient, the captured account identifier, and the captured payment amount to auto-populate fields in a payment authorization request for an account associated with the account identifier for the payment amount to pay the outstanding bill;

display the auto-populated fields in the payment authorization request on the display screen;

in response to the payment authorization request, receive a payment authorization from the customer;

transfer the payment amount to the recipient to be credited for the account associated with the account identifier; and

output a prompt for the customer to enter a personal identification number (PIN) to authorize the transferring of funds from the account of the customer to the recipient, wherein the PIN comprises the customer'"'"'s name.

18. The bill payment system of claim 17, wherein the processor-readable instructions cause the one or more processors to:

detect a user selection for a restriction on how much transferred funds may be withdrawn from the system over time.

19. The bill payment system of claim 17, wherein the processor-readable instructions cause the one or more processors to:

during transfer of the payment amount to the recipient, send a message to a printer or a computer of the recipient to notify the recipient of the transfer.

20. The bill payment system of claim 17, wherein the processor-readable instructions cause the one or more processors to:

provide a receipt to the customer showing a form of payment used, a fee charged, and a confirmation that the payment was made.