Transferring money using electronic messages

• US 9,904,924 B1
• Filed: 08/09/2017
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Square Inc (Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.))
• Inventors: Dorsey, Jack, Wilson, Jesse, Grassadonia, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jagdish
• Application Number:
  US15/673,206
• Time in Patent Office: 202 Days
• Field of Search: 705 39, 705 40, 705 42
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/023 the neutral party being a clearing house
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/42 Confirmation, e.g. check or permission by the legal debtor of payment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for transferring money using email. One of the methods includes receiving, at a user device, user input of a request to transfer a payment amount from a recipient account with a payment service system to a sender account of a sender with the payment service system. A draft email message is generated, the message having content identifying the requested payment amount, the draft email message including a confirmation link to a network resource associated with the payment service system, wherein upon receiving an indication that the recipient selected the confirmation link, the payment service system identifies a sender account of the sender and a recipient account of the recipient and initiates a transfer of the requested payment amount from the recipient account to the sender account.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for causing funds to be transferred between a recipient and a sender of an electronic message, comprising:

receiving, by an electronic application executed by a user device associated with the sender, a user input that specifies a recipient electronic address and a payment amount to be transferred between a recipient account associated with the recipient and a sender account associated with the sender, wherein the recipient account and the sender account are associated with a payment transfer system;

configuring, by the payment transfer system, a network resource associated with the payment transfer system and accessible via a link activatable at a user device associated with the recipient,

wherein the link is displayed for activation in an application on a recipient user device associated with the recipient after receipt by the user device associated with the recipient of an electronic message; and

transmitting, by the electronic application executed by the user device associated with the sender, the electronic message to the recipient electronic address,

wherein upon receiving an indication that the recipient activated the link to access the network resource, a server associated with the payment transfer system initiates a transfer of the payment amount between the recipient account and the sender account.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying, by the payment transfer system, an error in the recipient electronic address; and

transmitting, by the network resource, a request to correct the recipient electronic address.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving, by the payment transfer system, a correction to the recipient electronic address; and

correcting the recipient electronic address prior to configuring the network resource.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the electronic message is an email message and includes the payment amount in a subject or a body of the email message.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the link is encoded with a sender electronic address and the recipient electronic address.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sender account and the recipient account are identified by the server based on association data stored in a database associated with the payment transfer system.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the association data defines associations between electronic addresses and user accounts managed by the payment transfer system.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein a particular electronic address of the electronic addresses corresponds to a particular user of multiple users of the payment transfer system, and wherein the particular electronic address is associated with a particular user account associated with the particular user in a transaction conducted by the particular user with another user, said another user being one of the multiple users or an unregistered user.

9. A computer-implemented method for causing funds to be transferred between a recipient of an electronic message and a sender of the electronic message, comprising:

receiving, by an electronic application executed by a user device associated with the sender, a user input that specifies a recipient electronic address and a payment amount to be transferred between a recipient account associated with the recipient and a sender account associated with the sender, wherein the recipient account and the sender account are associated with a payment transfer system;

generating, by the electronic application executed by the user device, an electronic message that includes the payment amount, wherein the electronic application includes a first instance of a link to a network resource associated with the payment transfer system,

wherein a second instance of the link is for activation in an electronic application on a user device associated with the recipient; and

sending, by the electronic application executed by the user device associated with the sender, the electronic message for the recipient,

wherein upon receiving an indication that the recipient activated the second instance of the link, a server associated with the payment transfer system identifies the sender account and the recipient account and initiates a transfer of the payment amount between the recipient account and the sender account.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising:

identifying, by the payment transfer system, an error in the recipient electronic address; and

transmitting, by the payment transfer system, a request to correct the recipient electronic address.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving, by the payment transfer system, a correction to the recipient electronic address; and

correcting the recipient electronic address prior to configuring the network resource.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving, by the payment transfer system, a correction to the recipient electronic address; and

correcting the recipient electronic address prior to configuring the network resource.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the electronic message is an email message and includes the payment amount in a subject or a body of the email message.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the link is encoded with a sender electronic address and the recipient electronic address.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the sender account and the recipient account are identified by the server based on association data stored in a database associated with the payment transfer system.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the association data defines associations between electronic addresses and user accounts managed by the payment transfer system.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein a particular electronic address of the electronic addresses corresponds to a particular user of multiple users of the payment transfer system, and wherein the particular electronic address is associated with a particular user account associated with the particular user in a transaction conducted by the particular user with another user, said another user being one of the multiple users or an unregistered user.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising:

identifying, by the payment transfer system, an error in the recipient electronic address; and

transmitting, by the payment transfer system, a request to correct the recipient electronic address.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the electronic message is an email message and includes the payment amount in a subject or a body of the email message.

20. A computer-implemented method for transferring funds via an electronic message comprising:

receiving, at a payment transfer system from an electronic messaging application of a sender computing device, a request for a link to include in the electronic message, the link configured to authorize a payment transaction;

parsing, by the payment transfer system, the request for the link to identify a recipient address of a recipient, a sender address of a sender, and a payment amount;

generating, by the payment transfer system, the link, wherein the link corresponds to an instruction to transfer the payment amount from a sender account associated with the sender address to a recipient account associated with the recipient address;

transmitting, by the payment transfer system, the link to the sender computing device,

wherein the link is configured to be activated by a user input and, when activated, generate an activation message to the payment transfer system to perform the instruction;

receiving, at the payment transfer system, the activation message from a recipient computing device,

wherein upon receiving the activation message, the payment transfer system identifies the sender account and the recipient account and initiates a transfer of the payment amount between the recipient account and the sender account.