Method and system for facilitating online payments based on an established payment agreement

• US 9,317,841 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2012
• Issued: 04/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Olliphant, Hugo, Chastagnol, Franck, Su, Yi-Ling, Wu, William, Brown, Chris, Dang, Thach, Veino, Thomas, Gunby, Carol, Chu, Peter, Chen, Steve
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil, Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US13/458,855
• Publication Number:
  US 20120215697A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,453 Days
• Field of Search: 705 3- 44
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A method and system for facilitating online payments are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a payment agreement is established at a payment service provider that defines terms of a payment relationship between a merchant and a user. The establishing of the payment agreement includes linking the payment agreement with a payment account of the merchant or user stored at the payment service provider. After establishing the payment agreement, a payment request associated with a transaction is received, whereby the payment request includes a unique identifier to identify the payment agreement stored at the payment service provider. Based on a verification that the payment request complies with terms of the payment agreement, the payment request is processed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a payment service provider server via a programmatic interface from a merchant server specially configured to communicate using API calls with the specially configured payment service provider server, an API call that includes a relationship request to establish, at the payment service provider server, a payment agreement between a merchant and a user prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user, the API call triggered in response to a selection by the user of a link to establish the payment agreement on an interface presented to a device of the user;

verifying, by the payment service provider server, that the relationship request includes properly formatted data items that are used in establishing the payment agreement between the merchant and the user;

based on the verifying and using at least one processor of the payment service provider server, establishing the payment agreement between the merchant and the user at a payment service provider that defines terms of a payment relationship between the merchant and the user prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user, the payment agreement being established in response to receiving, from the user, the relationship request to establish the payment agreement with the merchant, the establishing of the payment agreement including linking the payment agreement with a payment account of the merchant or user maintained at the payment service provider, the payment service provider being a separate entity from the merchant;

after establishing the payment agreement, receiving, at the payment service provider server, a payment request associated with a transaction from the merchant, the payment request including a unique identifier to identify the payment agreement established between the merchant and the user and stored in data storage at the payment service provider server prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user;

verifying, by the payment service provider server, that the payment request complies with the terms of the payment relationship between the merchant and the user established prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user, the verifying including accessing the terms of the payment relationship stored in the data storage at the payment service provider server; and

based on the verifying that the payment request complies with the terms of the payment relationship between the merchant and the user established prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user, automatically and without user intervention, processing the payment request by the payment service provider server,

the receiving of the payment request, verifying that the payment request complies with the terms, and automatically processing being triggered in response to a single action performed at the device of the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the relationship request includes at least one term defining an authority given to the payment service provider to make payments to the merchant on behalf of the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the properly formatted data items include an identification of a particular product or service for which the payment service provider is authorized to make payments under the established payment agreement.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the payment request from the merchant that requests payment under one or more terms of the established payment agreement.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the payment request is generated by a merchant server in response to the user selecting the established payment agreement as a payment type for processing the transaction with the merchant via a website hosted by the merchant.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

during or after the establishing of the payment agreement, presenting the user with an option to customize at least one term of the payment agreement; and

receiving user input indicating a customization of the at least one term.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the presenting the user with the option to customize the at least one term includes presenting the user with an option to customize an authority given to the payment service provider to make payments to the merchant on behalf of the user.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the presenting the user with the option to customize the at least one term includes presenting the user with an option to modify a funding source for the payment agreement.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the user an option to select, from a list of funding sources available to the user, one or more funding sources.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising allowing the user to set a maximum payment amount, for a particular time period, that the payment service provider is authorized to pay the merchant on behalf of the user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising allowing the user to set a maximum payment amount, for a single transaction, that the payment service provider is authorized to pay the merchant on behalf of the user.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising allowing the user to set a maximum number of payment requests, for a particular time period, for which the payment service provider is authorized to make payments to the merchant on behalf of the user.

13. A method comprising:

receiving, at a payment service provider server, a payment request from a merchant, the payment request including a unique identifier to identify a previously established payment agreement between a merchant and a user established with a payment service provider prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user,

the previously established payment agreement defining terms including an authority granted by the user to the payment service provider to make payments to the merchant on behalf of the user,

the previously established payment agreement established in response to receiving, at the payment service provider server via a programmatic interface from a merchant server specially configured to communicate using API calls with the specially configured payment service provider server, an API call, via a selection by the user of a link to establish the payment agreement on an interface presented to a device of the user, that includes a request to establish the payment agreement between the merchant and the user prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user,

the request being verified by the payment service provider server to determine whether the request includes properly formatted data items that are used in establishing the payment agreement between the merchant and the user;

using one or more processors of the payment service provider server, accessing a database to retrieve the terms of the previously established payment agreement between the merchant and the user stored at the payment service provider, based on the unique identifier;

verifying, by the payment service provider server, that processing the payment does not violate the terms of the previously established payment agreement; and

based on the verifying that processing the payment request does not violate the terms of the previously established payment agreement, automatically and without user intervention, processing the payment request by the payment service provider server,

the receiving of the payment request, verifying that the payment request does not violate the terms, and automatically processing being triggered in response to a single action performed at a device of the user.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the verifying further comprises verifying that processing the payment request does not exceed the authority granted under the previously established payment agreement by verifying that processing the payment request will not exceed a maximum payment amount set by the user.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the verifying further comprises verifying that processing the payment request does not exceed the authority granted under the previously established payment agreement by verifying that processing the payment request will not exceed a maximum number of payment requests processed over a predetermined time period.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the verifying further comprises verifying that processing the payment request does not exceed the authority granted under the previously established payment agreement by verifying that the payment request is in connection with a product or service for which the payment service provider is authorized to make a payment.

17. A machine-readable storage medium having no transitory signals and storing instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at payment service provider server via a programmatic interface from a merchant server specially configured to communicate using API calls with the specially configured payment service provider server, an API call that includes a relationship request to establish, at the payment service provider server, a payment agreement between a merchant and a user prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user, the API call triggered in response to a selection by the user of a link to establish the payment agreement on an interface presented to a device of the user;

verifying, by the payment service provider server, that the relationship request includes properly formatted data items that are used in establishing the payment agreement between the merchant and the user;

based on the verifying, establishing the payment agreement at a payment service provider that defines terms of a payment relationship between the merchant and the user prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user, the payment agreement between the merchant and the user being established in response to receiving, from the user, the relationship request to establish the payment agreement, the establishing of the payment agreement including linking the payment agreement with a payment account of the merchant or user maintained at the payment service provider server, the payment service provider being a separate entity from the merchant;

after establishing the payment agreement, receiving, at the payment service provider server, a payment request associated with a transaction from the merchant, the payment request including a unique identifier to identify the payment agreement established between the merchant and the user and stored in data storage at the payment service provider server prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user;

verifying, by the payment service provider server, that the payment request complies with the terms of the payment relationship between the merchant and the user established prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user, the verifying including accessing the terms of the payment relationship stored in the data storage at the payment service provider server; and

based on the verifying that the payment request complies with the terms of the payment relationship between the merchant and the user established prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user, automatically and without user intervention, processing the payment request by the payment service provider server,

the receiving of the payment request, verifying that the payment request complies with the terms, and automatically processing being triggered in response to a single action performed at a device of the user.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the payment agreement defines terms including an authority granted by the user to the payment service provider to make payments to the merchant on behalf of the user.

19. A system comprising:

a communications module of a specially configured payment service provider server to receive, via a programmatic interface from a merchant server specially configured to communicate using API calls with the specially configured payment service provider server, an API call triggered in response to a selection of a link to establish a payment agreement on an interface presented to a device of a user, the API call including a relationship request to establish the payment agreement between a merchant and the user with a payment service provider prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user, the relationship request being verified as including properly formatted data items that are used in establishing the payment agreement between the merchant and the user, the payment agreement defining terms of a payment relationship between the merchant and the user, the payment service provider being a separate entity from the merchant;

at least one hardware processor configured by a management module to establish, at the payment service provider server, the payment agreement in response to the relationship request to establish the payment agreement; and

a payment processing module of the specially configured payment service provider server to;

process a payment in response to the communications module receiving a payment request from the merchant, the payment request including the unique identifier to identify the payment agreement established and stored at the payment service provider server prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user,

verify that the payment request complies with the terms of the payment relationship between the merchant and the user established prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user, a verification that the payment request complies includes accessing the terms of the payment relationship stored at the payment service provider server;

automatically, without user intervention, processing the payment request based on a verification of the payment request complying with the terms of the payment relationship between the merchant and the user established prior to any transactions between the merchant and the user,

the payment processing module to verify that the payment request complies with the terms and automatically process in response to a single action performed at a device of the user.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the relationship request to establish the payment agreement and the payment request are digitally signed and encrypted by a server, and the communications module includes:

a authentication module to authenticate the digitally signed relationship request and the digitally signed payment request; and

an encryption module to decrypt the encrypted relationship request and the encrypted payment request.