Merchant verification of in-person electronic transactions

• US 9,721,282 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2012
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hitchcock, Daniel W., Canavor, Darren E., Ramalingam, Harsha, Hanson, Robert, Campbell, Brad Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): RANKINS, WILLIAM E
• Application Number:
  US13/372,822
• Publication Number:
  US 20130151419A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,995 Days
• Field of Search: 705 64
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/10 Integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

Validation data, such as an image selected by a merchant, is rendered on a mobile device of a customer to provide the merchant confirmation that payment for an item submitted through the mobile device of the customer was in fact received by the merchant. The merchant may establish an account on a network-accessible computing device (e.g., in the “cloud”) that includes the validation data. The customer authorizes payment to the merchant from the mobile device using the network connectivity of the mobile device. When the payment is received by the merchant, the network-accessible computing device sends the validation data to the customer'"'"'s mobile device. The merchant may be confident that he or she has in fact received an electronic payment from the customer when the validation data is presented on the mobile device. Techniques to prevent reuse and copying of the validation data are also discussed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

under control of a mobile device of a customer, the mobile device being configured with executable instructions,

presenting, via the mobile device to the customer, a list of one or more merchants that have each established an account with an online service that processes electronic payments from mobile devices;

receiving, by the mobile device from the customer, a selection of a merchant from the list of one or more merchants;

receiving, by the mobile device from the customer, an indication of a payment amount for an item provided by the merchant;

sending, from the mobile device and over a network, an instruction to transfer the payment amount from an account associated with the customer to an account associated with the merchant;

at least partly responsive to the account associated with the merchant receiving the payment amount from the account associated with the customer, receiving, by the mobile device via the network, (i) a receipt for the payment amount, (ii) verification data previously selected by the merchant such that the merchant is familiar with the verification data, and an authentication challenge previously selected by the merchant for accessing, by the merchant, the verification data with the mobile device;

receiving, by the mobile device from the merchant, a valid response to the authentication challenge;

at least partly responsive to receiving the valid response, causing the verification data to be presented via the mobile device to the merchant thereby assuring the merchant that the payment amount has been successfully transferred from the account associated with the customer to the account associated with the merchant;

receiving, by the mobile device from the merchant, an indication that the item was provided to the customer;

receiving, by the mobile device from the merchant, a command to block subsequent presentation of the verification data without a subsequent payment transferred from the account associated with the customer to the account associated with the merchant; and

at least partly responsive to the command, blocking subsequent presentation of the verification data so that a subsequent valid response to the authentication challenge does not cause a subsequent presentation of the verification data by the mobile device incorrectly indicating that a subsequent payment amount has been transferred from the account associated with the customer to the account associated with the merchant.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein individual ones of the one or more merchants included in the list of the one or more merchants is selected based at least in part on having a name that matches at least in part a name entered by the customer into the mobile device or being within a predefined distance of a location of the mobile device.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the verification data is changed by the merchant at a regular frequency specified by the merchant.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a single input from the merchant comprises both the indication that the item was provided to the customer and the command to block subsequent presentation of the verification data.

5. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions configured to cause one or more processors on a mobile device of a customer to:

receive an identification of a merchant to receive a payment at an account the merchant has established with an online service that processes electronic payments from mobile devices;

receive, from the customer, an identification of a payment amount to pay the merchant;

send an instruction for an account associated with the customer to transfer the payment amount to the account established by the merchant;

receive verification data that was previously selected by the merchant such that the merchant is familiar with the verification data and thereby indicating that the account established by the merchant received the payment amount; and

cause the verification data to be presented on the mobile device of the customer to the merchant as a portion of a receipt indicating the payment amount thereby assuring the merchant that the payment amount has been successfully transferred from the account associated with the customer to the account established by the merchant.

6. The computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 5, wherein receiving the identification of the merchant comprises receiving a merchant identifier entered by the customer, receiving data obtained at least in part from a scan of a machine-readable tag, or receiving a geographic location of the merchant.

7. The computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 5, wherein the payment amount is determined based at least in part on a payment amount entered by the customer.

8. The computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 5, wherein the verification data comprises a recent purchase history of the merchant, a list of contacts of the merchant, or a social graph of connections of the merchant in one or more social networks.

9. The computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 5, wherein the verification data comprises machine-readable data which, when read by a tag reader at the merchant, indicates if the verification data is valid or invalid.

10. The computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 9, wherein the verification data further comprises a transaction identifier that, when read by the tag reader at the merchant, is stored in computer-readable media associated with the tag reader at the merchant such that subsequent reading of the verification data associated with the same transaction identifier is indicated as invalid by the tag reader at the merchant.

11. The computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 5, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured to cause the one or more processors to:

input, by the merchant on the mobile device of the customer, a confirmation of provision of an item or a service to the customer.

12. The computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 5, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured to cause the one or more processors to cause the verification data to be presented on the mobile device of the customer by:

receiving an authentication challenge for accessing the verification data;

determining when a response from the merchant on the mobile device of the customer to the authentication challenge is valid; and

causing the verification data to be presented to the merchant on the mobile device of the customer in response to the response being determined to be valid.

13. The computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 12, wherein the authentication challenge comprises a request to provide a password, a personal identification number (PIN), a physical gesture, a spoken phrase, or a biometric identifier.

14. The computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 12, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured to cause the one or more processors to:

receive, from the merchant, a command to block subsequent presenting of the verification data; and

at least partly responsive to the command, block subsequent presenting of the verification data.

15. A mobile device comprising:

one or more processors;

computer-readable media coupled to the one or more processors;

a merchant identification module stored in the computer-readable media and configured to receive information identifying a merchant that has established an account with an online service that processes electronic payments from mobile devices;

a payment module stored in the computer-readable media and configured to receive an indication of a payment amount and provide instructions to transfer the payment amount from an account associated with a customer that possesses the mobile device to the account established by the merchant;

a verification data module stored in the computer-readable media and configured to receive (i) verification data selected by the merchant such that the merchant is familiar with the verification data for indicating that the account established by the merchant received the payment amount from the account associated with the mobile device and (ii) an authentication challenge from the merchant associated with the verification data; and

a merchant authentication module stored in the computer-readable media and configured to receive a response to the authentication challenge entered by the merchant on the mobile device and, at least partially responsive to receiving a valid response, cause the verification data to be presented to the merchant on the mobile device as a portion of a receipt indicating the payment amount thereby assuring the merchant that the payment amount has been successfully transferred from the account associated with the mobile device to the account established by the merchant.

16. The mobile device as recited in claim 15, wherein the mobile device comprises a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a media player, a portable gaming device, an eBook reader, or a tablet computer.

17. The mobile device as recited in claim 15, further comprising a location sensor coupled to the one or more processors and configured to detect a geolocation of the mobile device, wherein the merchant identification module is further configured to identify the merchant based at least in part by comparing the geolocation of the mobile device to a location of the merchant.

18. The mobile device as recited in claim 15, further comprising a tag scanner coupled to the one or more processors and configured to identify a merchant based at least in part on data obtained from a tag scanned by the tag scanner and provide the data identifying the merchant to the merchant identification module.

19. The mobile device as recited in claim 18, wherein the tag scanner comprises a camera, a reflected light scanner, or an antenna configured to receive signals from radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.

20. The mobile device as recited in claim 15, wherein the verification data module is further configured to:

receive, from the merchant, a command to block subsequent presenting of the verification data; and

at least partly responsive to the command, blocking subsequent presenting of the verification data.

21. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

computer-readable media coupled to the one or more processors;

one or more network interfaces coupled to the one or more processors;

a merchant account record stored in the computer-readable media including (i) an identity of a merchant that has established an account with an online service that includes the system and that processes electronic payments from mobile devices, (ii) verification data selected by the merchant such that the merchant is familiar with the verification data, and (iii) an authentication challenge provided by the merchant;

a transaction processing module stored in the computer-readable media and configured to receive, via the one or more network interfaces, a request from a mobile device of a customer to transfer a payment amount from a financial account associated with the customer to the financial account established by the merchant; and

a payment confirmation module stored in the computer-readable media and configured to send, via the one or more network interfaces, (i) the verification data and (ii) the authentication challenge to the mobile device of the customer in response to receiving an indication that the financial account established by the merchant received the payment amount from the financial account associated with the customer, the verification data remaining concealed on the mobile device until a valid response to the authentication challenge is provided by the merchant on the mobile device of the customer.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising an encryption module stored in the computer-readable media and configured to encrypt the verification data with a private key of the merchant for decryption by a corresponding public key of the merchant on the mobile device.

23. The system of claim 21, further comprising an encryption module stored in the computer-readable media and configured to encrypt the verification data so that a device at the merchant other than the mobile device is able to decrypt the verification data and the mobile device is not able to decrypt the verification data.

24. The system of claim 21, further comprising a customer account record stored in the computer-readable media and comprising an identity of the customer and the financial account associated with the customer, and wherein the merchant account record comprises an identity of the financial account associated with the merchant.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the payment confirmation module is further configured to:

receive, from the merchant, a command to block subsequent presenting of the verification data; and

at least partly responsive to the command, blocking subsequent presenting of the verification data.