Processing payment transactions without a secure element

• US 9,171,302 B2
• Filed: 04/09/2013
• Issued: 10/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Jooste, Sarel Kobus
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayles, Ashford S
• Application Number:
  US13/859,725
• Publication Number:
  US 20130282502A1
• Time in Patent Office: 931 Days
• Field of Search: 705/21
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 20/326 Payment applications installed on the mobile devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/363 with the personal data of a user
• 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

Abstract

A user conducts a wireless payment transaction with a merchant system by transmitting payment information from a user device to a terminal reader without accessing a secure element resident on the user device. A user taps a user device in a merchant system'"'"'s terminal reader'"'"'s radio frequency field. The terminal reader and the user device establish a communication channel and the terminal reader transmits a signal comprising a request for a payment processing response. The signal is received by the user device and converted by a controller to a request understandable by an application host processor. The controller transmits the request to the application host processor, where the request is processed, and a response is transmitted to the controller and then to the terminal reader. The response generated by the application host processor is identifiable by the merchant system as a payment response.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to process payment transactions without accessing secure elements, comprising:

receiving, by a mobile communication device and from a point of sale system reader, a request for payment account information to process a payment transaction;

processing, by the mobile communication device, the request for the payment account information by converting the request for the payment account information to a request understandable by a non-secure element processor, wherein allowing the mobile communication device to process payment transactions using financial account information for any of the plurality of payment providers comprises allowing the mobile communication device to process payment transactions without transferrin control of a secure element processor from one payment provider to a different payment provider;

generating, by the non-secure element processor of the mobile communication device, a response to the request for the payment account information that is indistinguishable from a response generated by a secure element processor, the response comprising a payment account identifier, wherein generating the response by the non-secure element processor allows the mobile communication device to process payment transactions using financial account information for any of a plurality of payment providers; and

transmitting, by the mobile communication device, the response to the request for the payment account information to the point of sale system reader.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the payment account identifier is generated by the mobile communication device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the payment account identifier is generated by an account management system and transmitted to the mobile communication device, and the account management system maintains an account comprising information for at least one of a credit card account, debit account, stored value account, gift card account, and bank account for a user associated with the mobile communication device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the payment account identifier is valid for a limited number of uses.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the payment account identifier is associated with at least one of a geographic limitation and a time limitation.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the payment account identifier comprises one of a credit card account, debit account, stored value account, gift card account, and bank account number.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the payment account identifier is retrieved from a digital wallet application.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request for a payment processing response is received using a near field communication (NFC) protocol.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising communicating, by the mobile communication device, the payment account identifier to an account management system for payment account identifier verification, the communication to the account management system comprising the response to the request for the payment account information transmitted by the mobile communication device to the point of sale reader.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the non-secure element processor of the mobile communication device generates the payment account number using a scheme that can be replicated by an account management system during processing of a payment request.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication device converts the request for payment account information received from the point of sale system reader into bytes comprising a request understandable by the non-secure element processor.

11. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable program instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computer cause the computer to process payment transactions without accessing secure elements, the computer-readable program instructions comprising;

computer-readable program instructions for receiving, by a mobile communication device and from a point of sale system reader, a request for payment account information to process a payment transaction;

computer-readable program instructions for processing, by the mobile communication device, the request for the payment account information, in response to receiving the request by converting the request for the payment account information to a request understandable by a non-secure element processor, wherein allowing the mobile communication device to process payment transactions using financial account information for any of the plurality of payment providers comprises allowing the mobile communication device to process payment transactions without transferrin control of a secure element processor from one payment provider to a different payment provider;

computer-readable program instructions for generating, by the non-secure element processor of the mobile communication device, a response to the request for the payment account information, the response comprising a payment account identifier, wherein generating the response by the non-secure element processor allows the mobile communication device to process payment transactions using financial account information for any of a plurality of payment providers; and

computer-readable program instructions for transmitting, by the mobile communication device, the response to the request for the payment account information to the point of sale system reader.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the payment account identifier comprises a proxy account number generated by the mobile communication device.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the payment account identifier comprises a proxy account number generated by an account management system and transmitted to the mobile communication device, and the account management system maintains an account comprising information for one of a credit card account, debit account, stored value account, gift card account, and bank account number for a user associated with the mobile communication device.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the payment account identifier comprises a proxy account number that is valid for a limited number of uses.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the payment account identifier comprises a proxy account number that is associated with at least one of a geographic limitation and a time limitation.

17. A mobile communication device for processing payment transactions without accessing a secure element, comprising:

a non secure element storage device;

a controller communicatively coupled to the storage device; and

a non secure element processor communicatively coupled to the storage device and the controller,

the controller of the mobile communication device executing application code instructions that are stored in the non secure element storage device to cause the mobile communication device to;

receive a request for payment account information to process a payment transaction from a point of sale system reader; and

process the request for the payment account information by converting the request for the payment account information to a request understandable by the non secure element processor, wherein allowing the mobile communication device to process payment transactions using financial account information for any of the plurality of payment providers comprises allowing the mobile communication device to process payment transactions without transferring control of a secure element processor from one payment provider to a different payment provider; and

the non secure element processor of the mobile communication device executing application code instructions that are stored in the non secure element storage device to cause the mobile communication device to;

generate a response to the request for the payment account information that is indistinguishable from a response generated by a secure element processor, the response comprising a payment account identifier, wherein generating the response by the non secure element processor allows the mobile communication device to process payment transactions using financial account information for any of a plurality of payment providers.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the payment account identifier is generated by the non secure element processor.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the payment account identifier is retrieved from a digital wallet application.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the non secure element processor of the mobile communication device is further configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the non secure element storage device to cause the mobile communication device to generate the payment account number using a scheme that can be replicated by an account management system during processing of a payment request.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the payment account identifier is generated by an account management system and transmitted to the mobile communication device, and the account management system maintains an account comprising information for at least one of a credit card account, debit account, stored value account, gift card account, and bank account for a user associated with the mobile communication device.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the payment account identifier is valid for a limited number of uses.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the payment account identifier is associated with at least one of a geographic limitation and a time limitation.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the payment account identifier comprises one of a credit card account, debit account, stored value account, gift card account, and bank account number.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the non secure element processor of the mobile communication device is further configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the non secure element storage device to cause the mobile communication device to communicate the payment account identifier to an account management system for payment account identifier verification, the communication to the account management system comprising the response to the request for the payment account information transmitted by the mobile communication device to the point of sale reader.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the non secure element processor of the mobile communication device generates the payment account number using a scheme that can be replicated by an account management system during processing of a payment request.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the controller comprises a near field communication controller.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein the controller comprises a Bluetooth controller.

29. The system of claim 17, wherein the non secure element storage device comprises a secure memory other than a secure element memory.