Secure system and method to pay for a service provided at a reservation

• US 9,004,355 B2
• Filed: 11/11/2009
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CardFree, Inc.
• Original Assignee: CardFree, Inc.
• Inventors: Katz, Jeffrey Bart
• Primary Examiner(s): WALSH, DANIEL I
• Application Number:
  US12/616,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20100057503A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,980 Days
• Field of Search: 705/5, 705/6, 705/40, 705/44, 705/64, 705/14.38, 705/14.37, 705/14.65, 705/16, 235/375, 235/378, 235/382, 235/380
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/045 using payment protocols involving tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• 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 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0014 for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00 meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity G07F15/00

Abstract

A method and system for allowing the setting of reservations and the pre-authorization of credit to purchase a desired service for which a reservation is made. A customer accesses a reservation system that is integrated with a credit authorization system. The customer may make a reservation and substantially simultaneously become pre-authorized to pay for services to be provided at the reservation by one of any number of credit providers. Pre-authorized credit and reservation information is then supplied to the service provider in advance of services being provided, expediting the overall transaction time and allowing for a secure and cardless transaction procedure. The reservation and preauthorization information are typically stored upon the reservation system and then passed to the point-of-sale systems, but other types of input/output storage devices could be used to perform this function.

Claims

1. A payment method comprising:

identifying a payment on file at a point of sale device of a vendor corresponding to a reservation for purchase of one or more of goods and services to be provided by the vendor, the payment on file being identified based on customer information received at the point of sale device, the received customer information not including financial information of the customer, the payment on file having been previously stored and associated with payment code information, the payment on file including one or more identifiers that identify one or more of the goods, the services, and the vendor the purchase will be made with corresponding to the reservation, the payment on file being a preauthorization for the purchase including a dollar amount limit of credit that is preauthorized for the purchase, the payment on file being used so that the vendor is never provided with a customer'"'"'s financial information;

based on the identified payment on file, creating a ticket correlated to the payment on file, at the point of sale device of the vendor, the ticket being correlated to a profile stored in accordance with the payment on file of the customer, and the ticket including the payment code information;

receiving, at the point of sale device, an indication of a checkout method of checking out from the reservation provided by the vendor, the checkout method including one or more of;

express checkout,

self check out, and

alternative checkout; and

subsequent to receiving indication of the checkout, the point of sale device sending the ticket to a computing device associated with the customer, the ticket indicating the one or more of goods and services provided by the vendor corresponding to the reservation and a corresponding payment to be paid, and requesting payment from the payment on file based on the payment code information, the payment being provided to the vendor without the vendor ever being provided with a customer'"'"'s financial information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically detecting a presence of one or more devices and receiving from a detected device an identification of a reservation at the point of sale device based on the customer information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising populating the ticket with information related to the one or more of goods and services purchased.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating the reservation and associating the payment on file with the reservation.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing information to the customer as to how to alert a merchant about the payment on file.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment of file is represented by a unique payment on file code.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the express checkout further includes the point of sale confirming the ticket is complete and securing customer authorization for the ticket.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the self check out further includes a mobile device communicating with the point of sale to exchange ticket information and authorization information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a reservation is associated with the payment on file.

10. A non-transitory computer readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause one or more computing devices to perform the steps of claim 1.

11. A payment system comprising:

a reservation system that identifies a payment on file at a point of sale device of a vendor corresponding to a reservation for purchase of one or more of goods and services to be provided by the vendor, the payment on file being identified based on customer information received at the point of sale device, the received customer information not including financial information of the customer, the payment on file having been previously stored and associated with payment code information, the payment on file including one or more identifiers that identify one or more of the goods, the services, and the vendor the purchase will be made with corresponding to the reservation, the payment on file being a preauthorization for the purchase including a dollar amount limit of credit that is preauthorized for the purchase, the payment on file being used so that the vendor is never provided with a customer'"'"'s financial information; and

a point of sale device associated with a vendor that creates a ticket based on the identified payment on file, the ticket being correlated to a profile stored in accordance with the payment on file of the customer, and the ticket including the payment code information, wherein a checkout method of checking out from the reservation provided by the vendor, to complete a sale include one or more of;

express checkout,

self check out, and

alternative checkout; and

subsequent to receiving indication of the checkout, the point of sale device sending the ticket to a computing device associated with the customer, the ticket indicating the one or more of goods and services provided by the vendor corresponding to the reservation and a corresponding payment to be paid, and requesting payment from the payment on file based on the payment code information, the payment being provided to the vendor without the vendor being provided with a customer'"'"'s financial information.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a vendor system that automatically detects a presence of one or more devices and receives, from a detected device, an identification of the reservation based on the customer information.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the point of sale device further populates the ticket with information related to one or more of goods and services purchased.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the reservation is created in the reservation system and associated with the payment on file.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the reservation system further provides information to the customer as to how to alert a merchant about the payment on file.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the payment of file is represented by a unique payment on file code.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the express checkout further includes the point of sale confirming the ticket is complete and securing customer authorization for the ticket.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the self check out further includes a mobile device communicating with the point of sale to exchange ticket information and authorization information.

19. The system of claim 11, further including a credit issuing system.

20. The system of claim 11, further comprising a credit acquisition system.