Method of conducting financial transactions where a payer's financial account information is entered only once with a payment system

• US 9,454,866 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2011
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Square Inc (Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Square Inc (Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.))
• Inventors: Dorsey, Jack, Henderson, William, Grassadonia, Brian, McKelvey, Jim
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thien M
• Assistant Examiner(s): TAYLOR, APRIL ALICIA
• Application Number:
  US13/088,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20120095907A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,992 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235380-382, 235/435, 235/439, 235/449, 235/492, 705/1, 705/16, 705/17, 705/35, 705/39, 705/41, 705/44, 705 64- 67
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/084 sensing magnetic material by relative movement detecting flux changes without altering its magnetised state
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/347 Passive cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/363 with the personal data of a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/088 the card reader being part of the point of sale [POS] terminal or electronic cash register [ECR] itself
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0886 the card reader being portable for interacting with a POS or ECR in realizing a payment transaction

Abstract

A method of conducting a financial transaction includes a first party'"'"'s financial account information being entered once, e.g, with a single initial entry to the payment service. For future uses of the first party'"'"'s financial account to transfer funds using the payment service to a second party, the first party'"'"'s financial account information need not be entered again with the payment service. The second party'"'"'s personal identifying information is entered. Funds are transferred from the first party'"'"'s financial account to an account of the second party with the use of the payment service.

Claims

1. A method of conducting a financial transaction via a payment system, comprising:

receiving, by the payment system, from a computing device associated with a first party, a first party'"'"'s financial account information associated with a first party'"'"'s financial institution;

receiving, by the payment system, identifying information associated with one or more second parties;

receiving, by the payment system and from the computing device associated with the first party operatively communicating with a geo-location system, a location of the computing device associated with the first party;

forwarding, by the payment system, to the computing device associated with the first party the identifying information of at least one of the one or more second parties;

receiving, by the payment system from the computing device associated with the first party, an indication of a selection by the first party of a selected second party of the one or more second parties;

opening a tab, by the payment system, between the first party and the selected second party, the selected second party being located within a selected geographic location, the selected geographic location being defined by a geo-location boundary surrounding the second party;

notifying the first party and the selected second party of the opening of the tab between the first party and the selected second party;

receiving, by the payment system and from the computing device associated with the first party operatively communicating with the geo-location system, an indication that the location of the computing device is detected outside of the selected geographic location;

receiving, by the payment system and from a second computing device associated with the selected second party, a selection of the tab by the second party when the location of the computing device of the first party is detected outside of the selected geographic location; and

receiving, by the payment system, a request to settle the tab from the first party or the second party.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the selected second party'"'"'s identifying information from the first party'"'"'s computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first party'"'"'s financial account is selected from at least one of, a bank account, credit card, debit card, pre-paid card and a third party funding source.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device comprises at least one of a mobile device, a bank terminal, or an on-line entity.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first party'"'"'s financial account information is associated with a financial transaction card having financial card information associated with the first party'"'"'s financial account information, and entering of the first party'"'"'s financial card information is performed using a mobile device, wherein the entering is performed by at least one of, swiping the financial transaction card through a slot of a card reader coupled to the mobile device, swiping the financial transaction card through a slot of the mobile device, touch of the financial transaction card to the mobile device, by typing the first party'"'"'s financial account information into the mobile device, acquiring an image of the first party'"'"'s financial account information, selecting a card from an application on a mobile device having the first party'"'"'s financial account information, and from an on-line entity.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a financial transaction card is selected from at least one of, credit financial transaction card, debit financial transaction card, gift financial transaction card, and fund transfer financial transaction card.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device associated with the first party is a first party'"'"'s mobile device, the first party'"'"'s mobile device being a portable electronic device that includes at least one of, software, firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof, that is capable of at least receiving a signal, decoding the signal if required, exchange information with a second party financial institution or payment network to verify a buyer and/or seller'"'"'s account information and conduct the transaction.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first party'"'"'s mobile device is a mobile digital device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a confirmation of payment is forwarded to the computing device associated with the first party in response to a transfer of funds from the first party'"'"'s financial account.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected second party is registered with the payment system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first party and the selected second party are each registered with the payment system.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first party is registered with the payment system but the selected second party is not.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first party uses a send money mode of the computing device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected second party is at least one person on a first party'"'"'s phone list.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected second party is not on a first party'"'"'s phone list but is added to the first party'"'"'s phone list in response to a transaction.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein funds from the first party financial account are transferred directly from the first party'"'"'s financial account to an account of the selected second party.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected second party has an association with the payment system or with a database of the payment system.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein when the selected second party does not have an association with the payment system, wherein prior to transfer of funds from the first party'"'"'s financial account, a text message is sent to the selected second party.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein in response to the text message, a message is received indicating whether the selected second party accepts or rejects and decides to have an association with the payment system.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the payment system from the computing device, a selection of the first party identifying the selected second party of the one or more second parties.

21. A method of conducting a financial transaction via a payment system, comprising:

receiving, by the payment system, financial account information associated with a paying party;

associating, by the payment system, the financial account information with the paying party;

receiving, by the payment system and from a computing device associated with the paying party operatively communicating with a geo-location system, a location of the computing device associated with the paying party;

opening, by the payment system using a transaction engine of the computing device associated with the paying party, a tab for the paying party when the location of the computing device associated with the paying party is detected outside of a selected geographic location of a merchant, the selected geographic location being defined by a geo-location boundary surrounding the merchant, the tab comprising a financial transaction represented as an interface element on a second computing device associated with the merchant;

receiving, by the payment system and from the second computing device associated with the merchant, a selection of the tab by the merchant when the location of the computing device associated with the paying party is detected outside of the selected geographic location;

receiving, by the payment system and from the computing device associated with the paying party, a request to provide information associated with the merchant when the the computing device associated with the paying party is located within the selected geographic location of the merchant; and

initiating, by the payment system, a process for transferring funds from a financial account associated with the paying party to a financial account associated with the merchant to process the financial transaction when the computing device associated with the paying party is within the selected geographic location of the merchant, wherein;

the financial account information is entered into the payment system once for performing subsequent transactions with any of the one or more merchants,

at least a portion of the financial account information is withheld from the merchant, and

the payment system, the paying party, and the merchant are different entities.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein receiving an indication of a financial transaction between the paying party and the merchant further comprises:

providing, by the payment system, for display on the computing device, an indicator, the indicator associated with information prompting the paying party to participate in the financial transaction.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the indicator is at least one of a character-based code associated with the financial transaction for being relayed to the given merchant, or an indication to provide to the merchant a name or other identifiable information related to the paying party.

24. A method of conducting a financial transaction via a payment system, comprising:

receiving, by the payment system, identifying information and financial account information associated with one or more paying parties;

associating, by the payment system, the identifying information and the financial account information for corresponding ones of the paying parties;

receiving, by the payment system and from mobile computing devices associated with the paying parties, selections by at least one of the paying parties that associates the at least one of the paying parties with one or more merchants;

receiving, by the payment system and from the mobile computing devices associated with the paying parties, a location for each of the paying parties, the mobile computing devices operatively communicating with one or more geo-location systems to determine the location for each of the paying parties;

providing, by the payment system to at least one selected merchant of the one or more merchants, the identifying information for the at least one of the paying parties associated with the selected merchant, the selected merchant being located within a selected geographic location, the selected geographic location being defined by a geo-location boundary surrounding the selected merchant;

opening, by the payment system, a tab between the at least one of the paying parties and the selected merchant when the location of the at least one of the paying parties is detected outside of the selected geographic location;

notifying, by the payment system, the at least one of the paying parties of the opening of the tab between the at least one of the paying parties and the selected merchant;

receiving, by the payment system and from a second computing device associated with the selected merchant, a selection of the tab by the selected merchant when the location of the at least one of the paying parties is detected outside of the selected geographic location;

receiving, at the payment system, a request from the at least one of the paying parties or the selected merchant to settle the tab;

initiating a process for transferring funds from the financial account for the at least one of paying parties to a financial account of the at least one selected merchant to process the financial transaction,

wherein;

the financial account information is entered into the payment system once for performing subsequent transactions with the one or more merchants,

at least a portion of the financial account information is withheld from the one or more merchants, and

the payment system, the one or more paying parties, and the one or more merchants are different entities.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein receiving an indication of a financial transaction between the at least one of the paying parties and the at least one selected merchant further comprises:

providing, by the payment system, for display on the mobile computing device, an indicator, the indicator associated with information prompting the one or more paying parties to participate in the financial transaction.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the indicator is at least one of a character-based code associated with the financial transaction for being relayed to the at least one selected merchant, or an indication to provide to the at least one selected merchant a name or other identifiable information related to the paying party.