Third party check-in associations with cloud wallet

• US 9,818,093 B1
• Filed: 06/14/2012
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Grier, Benjamin D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Akintola, Olabode
• Application Number:
  US13/523,583
• Time in Patent Office: 1,979 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• 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 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules

Abstract

A cloud wallet system may receive an indication from a third party system that a user has checked-in at a merchant. The cloud wallet system then determines whether the merchant has an account with the cloud wallet system so that a point-of-sale (POS) purchase can be processed via the user check-in. If the merchant has an account with the cloud wallet system, a user profile corresponding to the user is sent to the merchant and a point-of-sale transaction based on a third party user check-in may be processed by the merchant through the cloud wallet system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for secure transaction at a point of sale (POS) system, the computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of one or more servers configured with executable instructions,

receiving, by a cloud wallet system, a first user check-in from a third party social network system, the first user check-in locating a first user device of a first user at a first merchant, the cloud wallet system being a centralized network based entity that maintains user payment information and processes transactions between merchant accounts and users, wherein the first merchant is of a first category;

receiving, by the cloud wallet system, a second user check-in at the third party social network system, the second user check-in locating a second user device of a second user at a second merchant, the second merchant is of a second category that is different from the first category,

wherein the third party social network system (i) is different from the cloud wallet system, (ii) is in communication with the cloud wallet system over a communications network, and (iii) provides social network services to a plurality of users;

receiving a request for a transaction amount, at the cloud wallet system, from a first merchant device of the first merchant during or after a first point-of-sale (POS) transaction with the first user, the first POS transaction including a purchase of one or more items or one or more services by the first user from the first merchant for the transaction amount, whereby the first user does not need to present any payment instrument to the POS system of the merchant, thereby increasing security associated with handling payment instruments;

permitting, by the cloud wallet system, the first POS transaction to be conducted between the first merchant and the first user based on the first POS transaction being conducted within a first amount of time subsequent to receiving, by the cloud wallet system, the first user check-in, the first amount of time based on the first category of the first merchant and stored user purchase habits with the first category of the first merchant;

permitting, by the cloud wallet system, a second POS transaction to be conducted between the second merchant and the second user based on the second POS transaction being conducted within a second amount of time subsequent to receiving, by the cloud wallet system, the second user check-in, the second amount of time based on the second category of the second merchant and stored user purchase habits with the second category of the second merchant, and the second amount of time being different from the first amount of time based on the first category being different from the second category; and

causing the transaction amount to be transferred from a payment account of the first user at the cloud wallet system to a payment account of the first merchant.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the cloud wallet system accesses the first user check-in at the third party social network system via an application programming interface (API) configured between the cloud wallet system and the third party social network system, wherein the API is configured to:

facilitate pushing the first user check-in from the third party social network system to the cloud wallet system;

or

facilitate pulling the first user check-in from the third party social network system to the cloud wallet system.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

tracking a number of purchases via the first user check-in at the merchant; and

determining a discount or coupon to be applied to a next purchase via a next user check-in at the merchant.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

generating a confirmation of the first POS transaction between the first user and the first merchant; and

transmitting, by the cloud wallet system, information associated with the first POS transaction between the first user and the first merchant to the third party social network system to enable the third party social network system to publish at least a part of the information for viewing by one or more contacts associated with the first user.

5. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors;

a registration module, stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors, that registers one or more users and one or more merchants with the system, wherein the one or more users includes a first user, and wherein the one or more merchants includes (i) a first merchant that is of a first category and (ii) a second merchant that is of a second category;

a check-in access module, stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors, that accesses check-in information at one or more third party systems for the one or more users;

a user profile distribution module, stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors, that distributes profiles to the one or more merchants based at least in part on the accessed check-in information; and

a transaction processing module, stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors, that processes one or more point-of-sale (POS) transactions at the one or more merchants based at least in part on the distributed profiles,

wherein the transaction processing module processes a first POS transaction between the first user and the first merchant if the first POS transaction is conducted within a first amount of time from the check-in access module accessing check-in information for the first user at the first merchant, the first amount of time based on the first category of the first merchant and stored user purchase habits with the first category of the first merchant,

wherein the transaction processing module processes a second POS transaction between the first user and the second merchant if the second POS transaction is conducted within a second amount of time from the check-in access module accessing check-in information for the first user at the second merchant, the second amount of time based on the second category of the second merchant and stored user purchase habits with the second category of the second merchant, and

wherein the first time period is different from the second time period based on the first category of the first merchant being different from the second category of the second merchant.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising a data store that maintains one or more purchase settings for each of the one or more users, the one or more purchase settings restricting the POS transactions conducted by the one or more users at the one or more merchants.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising a tracking module, stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors, that tracks a number of user check-ins at the one or more merchants.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising a discount module, stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors, that determines a future discount to be applied to a future purchase at a particular merchant based at least in part on the number of user check-ins.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein the cloud wallet system accesses the first user check-in at the third party social network system via an application programming interface (API) configured between the cloud wallet system and the third party social network system, wherein the API is configured to:

facilitate pushing the first user check-in from the third party social network system to the cloud wallet system;

or

facilitate pulling the first user check-in from the third party social network system to the cloud wallet system.

11. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

tracking a number of purchases via the first user check-in at the merchant; and

determining a discount or coupon to be applied to a next purchase via a next user check-in at the merchant.

12. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

generating a confirmation of the first POS transaction between the first user and the first merchant; and

transmitting, by the cloud wallet system, information associated with the first POS transaction between the first user and the first merchant to the third party social network system to enable the third party social network system to publish at least a part of the information for viewing by one or more contacts associated with the first user.

9. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, performs operations comprising;

receiving, by a cloud wallet system, a first user check-in from a third party social network system, the first user check-in locating a first user device of a first user at a first merchant, the cloud wallet system being a centralized network based entity that maintains user payment information and processes transactions between merchant accounts and users, wherein the first merchant is of a first category;

receiving, by the cloud wallet system, a second user check-in at the third party social network system, the second user check-in locating a second user device of a second user at a second merchant, the second merchant is of a second category that is different from the first category,

wherein the third party social network system (i) is different from the cloud wallet system, (ii) is in communication with the cloud wallet system over a communications network, and (iii) provides social network services to a plurality of users;

receiving a request for a transaction amount, at the cloud wallet system, from a first merchant device of the first merchant during or after a first point-of-sale (POS) transaction with the first user, the first POS transaction including a purchase of one or more items or one or more services by the first user from the first merchant for the transaction amount, whereby the first user does not need to present any payment instrument to the POS system of the merchant, thereby increasing security associated with handling payment instruments;

permitting, by the cloud wallet system, the first POS transaction to be conducted between the first merchant and the first user based on the first POS transaction being conducted within a first amount of time subsequent to receiving, by the cloud wallet system, the first user check-in, the first amount of time based on the first category of the first merchant and stored user purchase habits with the first category of the first merchant;

permitting, by the cloud wallet system, a second POS transaction to be conducted between the second merchant and the second user based on the second POS transaction being conducted within a second amount of time subsequent to receiving, by the cloud wallet system, the second user check-in, the second amount of time based on the second category of the second merchant and stored user purchase habits with the second category of the second merchant, and the second amount of time being different from the first amount of time based on the first category being different from the second category; and

causing the transaction amount to be transferred from a payment account of the first user at the cloud wallet system to a payment account of the first merchant.

13. A computer-implemented method comprising:

under control of one or more servers configured with executable instructions,

registering one or more users and one or more merchants with a cloud wallet system, wherein the one or more users includes a first user, and wherein the one or more merchants includes (i) a first merchant that is of a first category and (ii) a second merchant that is of a second category;

accessing check-in information at one or more third party systems for the one or more users;

distributing profiles to the one or more merchants based at least in part on the accessed check-in information; and

processing one or more point-of-sale (POS) transactions at the one or more merchants based at least in part on the distributed profiles,

processing a first POS transaction between the first user and the first merchant if the first POS transaction is conducted within a first amount of time from accessing check-in information for the first user at the first merchant, the first amount of time based on the first category of the first merchant and stored user purchase habits with the first category of the first merchant,

processing a second POS transaction between the first user and the second merchant if the second POS transaction is conducted within a second amount of time from accessing check-in information for the first user at the second merchant, the second amount of time based on the second category of the second merchant and stored user purchase habits with the second category of the second merchant, and

wherein the first time period is different from the second time period based on the first category of the first merchant being different from the second category of the second merchant.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising maintaining one or more purchase settings for each of the one or more users, the one or more purchase settings restricting the POS transactions conducted by the one or more users at the one or more merchants.

15. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising tracking a number of user check-ins at the one or more merchants.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising determining a future discount to be applied to a future purchase at a particular merchant based at least in part on the number of user check-ins.