Authorization of cardless payment transactions

• US 9,633,352 B2
• Filed: 09/03/2013
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Henderson, William, Dorsey, Jack, Grassadonia, Brian, Wilson, Mathew
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil, Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US14/017,247
• Publication Number:
  US 20140012757A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,330 Days
• Field of Search: 705 3- 44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/325 using wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4012 Verifying personal identification numbers [PIN]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud

Abstract

A method of processing a transaction between a customer and a merchant includes receiving from a mobile device of the customer or from another device of the customer an indication of consent to perform a cardless payment transaction with the merchant, receiving from the mobile device an indication that the customer is within a predetermined distance of the merchant, after receiving both the indication of consent and the indication that the customer is within the predetermined distance, sending to a computer system of the merchant an indication of the presence of the customer and personal identifying information for the customer, receiving data indicating a transaction between the customer and the merchant, and submitting the transaction to a financial service for authorization.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a mobile device of a customer and during a first time period in which a first geolocation of the mobile device is outside of a geofence of a point-of-sale (POS) device of a first merchant, an input indicating customer permission for personal identifying information of the customer to be displayed at the merchant'"'"'s POS device during a second time period in which a second geolocation of the mobile device is within the geofence of the POS device of the first merchant;

sending, by the mobile device and to a payment processor, a first indication of a current geolocation of the mobile device, the mobile device including a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for determining the current geolocation of the mobile device;

determining, by the payment processor, that the current geolocation of the mobile device is within the geofence of the POS device of the first merchant;

sending, by the mobile device and to a payment processor, a second indication that represents a customer request to display a list on the mobile device of a plurality of merchants, wherein the list includes the first merchant, and wherein the plurality of merchants are associated with the payment processor computer system and are within a threshold distance of the mobile device;

sending, by the mobile device and to a payment processor, a third indication that represents a customer selection of the first merchant from the list of the plurality of merchants;

receiving, by the POS device of the first merchant and from the payment processor, a fourth indication that the mobile device is in proximity to the POS device of the first merchant, the fourth indication being received at least partly in response to the determining that the current geolocation is within the geofence of the POS device of the first merchant;

after receiving the fourth indication that the mobile device is in proximity to the POS device of the first merchant, causing to display the personal identifying information of the customer on a display of the POS device of the first merchant without receiving further approval from the customer; and

after displaying the personal identifying information of the customer, sending, by the POS device of the first merchant and to the payment processor, a request to authorize a transaction between the customer and the merchant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the request to authorize the transaction comprises sending the request without requiring customer input into the mobile device or the POS device of the first merchant.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, at the POS device of the first merchant, an indication that the request to authorize the transaction is to be sent to the payment processor after receiving an indication that the merchant received a verbal approval for the transaction from the customer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the personal identifying information includes at least a customer name of the customer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the personal identifying information includes at least an image of the customer.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after receiving the input indicating customer permission and after sending receiving the second indication that the mobile device is in proximity to the POS device of the first merchant, displaying, on the mobile device, an indication that the merchant is authorized to conduct a cardless transaction with the customer.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising displaying, on the mobile device, a user input option to prevent the merchant POS device from conducting a cardless payment transaction between the customer and the merchant.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the personal identifying information includes at least an image of the customer.

9. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a payment processor computer system and from a customer device, a first indication of an input that represents customer permission for personal identifying information of the customer to be displayed at a point-of-sale (POS) device of a first merchant during a time period in which a geolocation of a mobile device of the customer is within a geofence of the POS device of the first merchant;

receiving, at the payment processor computer system and from the customer device, a second indication that the geolocation of the mobile device is within the geofence of the POS device of the first merchant, the mobile device including a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for determining the geolocation of the mobile device;

receiving, at the payment processor computer system and from the customer device, a third indication that represents a customer request to display a list on the customer device of a plurality of merchants, wherein the list includes the first merchant, and wherein the plurality of merchants are associated with the payment processor computer system and are within a threshold distance of the customer device;

receiving, at the payment processor computer system and from the customer device, a fourth indication that represents a customer selection of the first merchant from the list of the plurality of merchants;

after receiving the first indication, the second indication, the third indication, and the fourth indication, and without receiving further approval from the customer, sending, from the payment processor computer system to the POS device of the first merchant the personal identifying information of the customer, wherein the sending causes the personal identifying information to be displayed on the POS device of the first merchant; and

after sending the personal identifying information of the customer, receiving, by the payment processor computer system and from the POS device of the first merchant, a request to authorize a transaction between the customer and the first merchant.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the customer device is the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the customer device is another device of the customer.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the second indication that the geolocation of the mobile device is within the geofence of the POS device of the first merchant is received from the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising submitting the transaction to a card issuer for authorization.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the personal identifying information includes at least a customer name of the customer.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising, after receiving the first indication, the second indication, the third indication, and the fourth indication, sending, to the mobile device, an instruction to display on the mobile device an indication that the merchant is authorized to conduct a cardless transaction with the customer.

16. A computer program product, embodied on one or more non-transitory machine readable storage media, comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a mobile device of a customer and during a first time period in which a first geolocation of the mobile device is outside of a geofence of a point-of-sale (POS) device of a first merchant, an input indicating customer permission for personal identifying information of the customer to be displayed at the POS device of the first merchant during a second time period in which a second geolocation of the mobile device within the geofence of the POS device of the first merchant;

after receiving the input indicating customer permission, determining, by the mobile device, that a current geolocation of the mobile device is within the geofence of the POS device of the first merchant, the mobile device including a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for determining the current geolocation of the mobile device;

sending, by the mobile device, a first indication that represents a customer request to display a list on the mobile device of a plurality of merchants, wherein the list includes the first merchant, and wherein the plurality of merchants are associated with the payment processor computer system and are within a threshold distance of the mobile device;

sending, by the mobile device and to a payment processor, a second indication that represents a customer selection of the first merchant from the list of the plurality of merchants; and

at least partly in response to the determining, and without receiving further approval from the customer after receiving the input indicating customer permission, sending third indication that the mobile device is in proximity to the POS device of the first merchant, wherein the third indication that the mobile device is in proximity to POS device of the first merchant causes the personal identifying information of the customer to be displayed at the POS device of the first merchant.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein sending the third indication that the mobile device is in proximity to the POS device of the first merchant comprises sending, by the mobile device to a payment processor computer system, the third indication that the mobile device is in proximity to the POS device of the first merchant, and the payment processor computer system, upon receiving the third indication that the mobile device is in proximity to POS device of the first merchant, sends the personal identifying information of the customer to the POS device of the first merchant.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving user input in the mobile device of the personal identifying information; and

sending the identifying information from the mobile device to a payment processor computer system.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the personal identifying information includes at least a customer name of the customer.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the personal identifying information includes at least an image of the customer.

21. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise displaying on the mobile device of the customer a user input option to prevent the merchant POS device from conducting a cardless payment transaction between the customer and the merchant.

22. A system for processing a transaction between a customer and a merchant, comprising:

a customer mobile device that;

receives a first indication indicating customer permission for personal identifying information of the customer to be displayed at a point-of-sale (POS) device of a first merchant during a time period in which the customer mobile device is within a geofence of the POS device of the first merchant, the customer mobile device including a global positioning system (GPS) for determining the current geolocation of the customer mobile device;

determines the current geolocation of the customer mobile device;

upon determining that the current geolocation of the customer mobile device is within the geofence of the POS device of the first merchant, sends at least partly responsive to the determining, a second indication that the customer mobile device is in proximity to the POS device of the first merchant;

sends a third indication that represents a customer request to display a list on the customer mobile device of a plurality of merchants, wherein the list includes the first merchant, and wherein the plurality of merchants are associated with the payment processor computer system and are within a threshold distance of the customer mobile device; and

sends a fourth indication that represents a customer selection of the first merchant from the list of the plurality of merchants; and

a POS device of the first merchant that;

receives the second indication that the customer mobile device is in proximity to the POS device of the first merchant, wherein the receiving the second indication causes display of the personal identifying information of the customer on the POS device of the first merchant without receiving further approval from the customer, and

after displaying the personal identifying information of the customer, sends, to a payment processor computer system, a request to authorize a transaction between the customer and the merchant.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a payment processor computer system that receives, from the customer mobile device, the second indication that the customer mobile device is in proximity to the merchant, and sends, to the merchant POS device, the second indication that the customer mobile device is in proximity to the merchant POS device.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the payment processor computer system sends, to the merchant POS device, the personal identifying information of the customer upon receiving the second indication that the customer mobile device is in proximity to the merchant POS device.