Map based payment authorization

• US 9,824,376 B1
• Filed: 08/03/2011
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: A9.com Incorporated (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Amacker, Matthew W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tien
• Application Number:
  US13/197,616
• Time in Patent Office: 2,302 Days
• Field of Search: 705 44, 705 26, 705 37, 705 30, 705 39, 705 38, 705 2641, 705330, 235379, 235380, 235449, 701533, 726 7, 726 17, 713189, 715804, 455411, 455419, 707 10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A map-based interface can be used to enable a user to provide another person with funds that can be used at a particular location. In at least some embodiments, a user can select one or more buildings, locations, establishments, or other such locations and indicate an amount of money that another person is authorized to spend at that location. The funds can be provided by the user using any appropriate mechanism, such as a credit card or back account. The recipient of the funds can use information in a portable device of the user to authenticate the recipient to an establishment, which can use the dual-key information of the recipient identity and establishment location to obtain authorization to utilize the designated funds as at least partial payment for a transaction of the recipient at that establishment.

Claims

1. A method of enabling payment from a source of funds to be authorized for a transaction at a specified location, comprising:

receiving location data at a first computing device;

generating a map on a display of the first computing device based at least in part on the received location data, the map including a plurality of selectable locations each corresponding to a physical location at which an amount of funds may be designated for use;

receiving a first selection of a first selectable location of the plurality of selectable locations;

presenting map information on the map to be displayed to a first user of the first computing device, the map information being presented in response to the first selection of the first selectable location of the plurality of selectable locations, and the map information being associated with the first selectable location;

displaying map information about one or more entities located within a first determined physical distance from the first selectable location based at least in part on the first selection of the first selectable location;

receiving from the first user a second selection of at least one of the one or more entities within the first determined physical distance, an identity of a second user, and an amount of funds to be available to the second user to execute transactions with respect to the at least one of the one or more entities;

storing the identity of the second user, the amount of funds to be available to the second user, and the selected at least one of the one or more entities collectively as payment authorization data, the identity of the second user, the amount of funds to be available to the second user, and the selected at least one of the one or more entities each being displayed on the map in response to the second selection;

automatically designating the amount of funds as available to the second user to execute transactions with respect to the selected at least one of the one or more entities, wherein the amount of funds is displayed on a second computing device of the second user once designated as available to the second user;

receiving a request from a payment system of the at least one of the one or more entities to authorize use of the available amount of funds as payment for a particular transaction being executed by the second user, the request including the identity of the second user and geographic information of the at least one of the one or more entities;

determining that the identity of the second user in the request matches the identity of the second user in the stored payment authorization data and that the geographic information in the request corresponds to a location within the first determined distance from the first selectable location corresponding to the map information displayed to the first user of the first computing device; and

causing the amount of funds to be transmitted to the payment system of the selected at least one of the one or more entities to complete the particular transaction based at least in part on the determination that the identity in the request matches the identity of the second user in the stored payment authorization data and that the geographic information in the request corresponds to a location within the first determined distance from the first selectable location.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a temporary account associated with the amount of funds;

causing the amount of funds to be transferred from an account associated with the first user to the temporary account; and

providing account information for the temporary account to the second computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining account information for an account associated with the first user; and

enabling the payment for at least part of the transaction to be pulled from the account associated with the first user based at least in part upon the account information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

flagging the amount of funds with any limitations specified by the first user.

5. A method of authorizing a future payment towards at least one transaction of a recipient, comprising:

receiving location data at a first computing device;

generating a map-based interface on a display of the first computing device based at least in part on the received location data, the map-based interface including a plurality of selectable locations each corresponding to a physical location at which an amount of funds may be designated for use;

receiving a first selection of at least one selectable location of the plurality of selectable locations;

providing first information for display on the map-based interface information about one or more entities located within the first determined physical distance from the at least one selectable location based at least in part on the first selection of the first selectable location;

receiving a second selection of at least one of the one or more entities within the first determined physical distance, identifying information for an intended recipient, and an amount of funds to be available to the intended recipient to execute transactions with respect to the at least one of the one or more entities within the first determined physical distance;

storing payment authorization information including the amount of funds, the selected at least one of the one or more entities, and the identifying information for the intended recipient, the amount of funds, the selected at least one of the one or more entities, and the identifying information for the intended recipient each being displayed on the map-based interface in response to the second selection; and

automatically designating the amount of funds as available to the intended recipient to execute transactions with respect to the selected at least one of the one or more entities, at least a portion of the designated amount of funds to be released upon (i) receiving a request for authorization of payment from a payment system of the selected at least one of the one or more entities, the request identifying the intended recipient, the the selected at least one of the one or more entities, and geographic information of the selected at least one of the one or more entities, and (ii) determining that the intended recipient identified in the request matches the identifying information for the intended recipient stored in the payment authorization data and that the geographic information in the request corresponds to a location within the first determined physical distance from the first selectable location,

wherein the amount of funds is displayed on a second computing device of the intended recipient once designated as available to the intended recipient.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

enabling a user to select at least one limitation on at least one type of item to which the amount of funds is able to be applied.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

enabling a user to specify at least one of a frequency or number of occurrences of an availability of the amount of funds.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

enabling a user to specify a source of funds to be used to supply the amount of funds.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the payment authorization information is stored by an entity other than an entity associated with the source of funds.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

enabling a user to request for a notification upon the amount of funds being applied to a transaction by the intended recipient.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the user is able to select at least one of multiple locations of at least one type of establishment or multiple types of establishment within a geographical region.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the information for display about the one or more entities located within the first determined distance from the at least one location includes graphical representations of the one or more entities.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein the user is further able to select one or more locations where the intended recipient is not able to utilize the amount of funds.

14. A method of applying funds to a transaction, comprising:

receiving at a first computing device identifying information for a first user and a current geographic location of the first user from a payment system of an entity;

obtaining designated funds authorized to be applied to one or more transactions for the first user at one or more geographic locations within a determined physical distance from the current geographic location of the first user based at least in part upon the identifying information and the current geographic location of the first user, the designated funds being automatically designated as available to the first user to execute transactions with respect to the entity, the designated funds being designated by a second computing device of a second user via a map-based interface generated on the second computing device based at least in part on location data at the second computing device, on condition that at least a portion of the designated funds is to be released upon determining that the received identifying information of the first user matches identifying information for the first user previously stored on the second computing device and geographic information of the entity corresponds to one of the one or more geographical locations within the determined physical distance from the current geographic location of the first user, wherein the designated funds are displayed on the first computing device of the first user once designated as available to the first user;

providing for display on the map-based interface the one or more geographic locations where the designated funds are authorized to be applied for the first user; and

enabling at least one portion of the designated funds to be applied to one or more transactions at the one or more geographic locations where the designated funds are authorized to be applied for the first user.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein enabling at least a portion of the designated funds to be applied to one or more transactions includes sending a request to a separate entity, the request including at least the current geographic location of the user and the identifying information.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein receiving identifying information for the user includes receiving at least one identifier from the first computing device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one identifier is transmitted using at least one near field communications (NFC) component.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein multiple sources of funds are capable of being applied to the one or more transactions when each of those sources is authorized for the user at the one or more geographic locations.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for authorizing a payment, the instructions when executed by a processor causing the processor to:

receive location data at a first computing device;

generate a map-based interface on a display of the first computing device based at least in part on the received location data, the map-based interface including a plurality of selectable locations each corresponding to a physical location at which an amount of funds may be designated for use;

receive a first selection of at least one selectable location of the plurality of selectable locations;

provide first information for display on the map-based interface information about one or more entities located within the first determined physical distance from the at least one selectable location based at least in part on the first selection of the first selectable location;

receive a second selection of at least one of the one or more entities within the first determined physical distance, identifying information for an intended recipient, and an amount of funds to be available to the intended recipient to execute transactions with respect to the at least one of the one or more entities within the first determined physical distance;

store payment authorization information including the amount of funds, the selected at least one of the one or more entities, and the identifying information for the intended recipient, the amount of funds, the selected at least one of the one or more entities, and the identifying information for the intended recipient each being displayed on the map-based interface in response to the second selection; and

automatically designate the amount of funds as available to the intended recipient to execute transactions with respect to the selected at least one of the one or more entities, at least a portion of the designated amount of funds to be released upon (i) receiving a request for authorization of payment from a payment system of the selected at least one of the one or more entities, the request identifying the intended recipient, the the selected at least one of the one or more entities, and geographic information of the selected at least one of the one or more entities, and (ii) determining that the intended recipient identified in the request matches the identifying information for the intended recipient stored in the payment authorization data and that the geographic information in the request corresponds to a location within the first determined physical distance from the first selectable location, wherein the amount of funds is displayed on a second computing device of the intended recipient once designated as available to the intended recipient.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the processor to:

enable the user to select at least one limitation on at least one type of item to which the amount of funds is able to be applied; and

enable the user to specify at least one of a frequency or number of occurrences of an availability of the amount of funds.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the processor to:

enable the user to specify a source of funds to be used to supply the amount of funds.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for applying funds to a transaction, the instructions when executed by a processor causing the processor to:

receive at a first computing device identifying information for a first user and a current geographic location of the first user from a payment system of an entity;

obtaining designated funds authorized to be applied to one or more transactions for the first user at one or more geographic locations within a determined physical distance from the current geographic location of the first user based at least in part upon the identifying information and the current geographic location of the first user, the designated funds being automatically designated as available to the first user to execute transactions with respect to the entity, the designated funds being designated by a second computing device of a second user via a map-based interface generated on the second computing device based at least in part on location data at the second computing device, on the condition that at least a portion of the designated funds is to be released upon determining that the received identifying information of the first user matches identifying information for the first user previously stored on the second computing device and geographic information of the entity corresponds to one of the one or more geographical locations within the determined physical distance from the current geographic location of the first user, wherein the designated funds are displayed on the first computing device of the first user once designated as available to the first user;

provide for display on the map-based interface the one or more geographic locations where the designated funds are authorized to be applied for the first user; and

enable at least one portion of the designated funds to be applied to one or more transactions at the one or more geographic locations where the designated funds are authorized to be applied for the first user.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the processor to enable the first user to send a message to the second user when the at least one portion of the designated funds are applied to the one or more transactions.