Shared pools for common transactions

• US 9,934,505 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2016
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Atagun, Firat S., Krishna, Gopi, Raman, Srinivasan
• Primary Examiner(s): Ojiaku, Chikaodinaka
• Application Number:
  US15/161,486
• Publication Number:
  US 20160267487A1
• Time in Patent Office: 680 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/22 Payment schemes or models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/326 Payment applications installed on the mobile devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40145 Biometric identity checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A funding source is provided by each of a plurality of users for setting up an electronic shared payment pool. A policy governing rights or obligations of each of the users is set up. The includes: for each user, a respective threshold for enabling funds to be pulled automatically from the funding source of said user. The electronic shared payment pool is created based on the respective funding sources and the policy. A detection is made that a user is requesting to use the electronic shared payment pool to pay for a prospective transaction. In response to the detection, funds are pulled from the funding sources into the electronic shared payment pool. The funds are pulled automatically without requiring an approval from each of the users as long as the pulled amount is below the threshold for that user. The prospective transaction is facilitated using the electronic shared payment pool.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, from each of a plurality of users, a funding source information associated with a funding source of the each of the users for creating an electronic shared payment pool;

establishing, in response to the received funding source information, a policy governing rights or obligations of the each of the users that participate in the electronic shared payment pool, the policy including a monetary threshold for the each of the users for enabling funds to be pulled automatically from the funding source of the each of the users;

storing biometric identification information of each of the users on a respective mobile electronic device of each of the plurality of users;

creating the electronic shared payment pool based on the funding source information of the each of the users received and the policy established, wherein the creating of the electronic shared payment pool comprises creating the electronic shared payment pool without pulling funds from the funding sources of the users;

detecting a request from a first user of the plurality of users to use the electronic shared payment pool, via the mobile electronic device of the first user over an Internet, to pay for a prospective transaction;

retrieving, in response to the detecting, the biometric identification information from the mobile electronic device;

identifying the first user based on the retrieved biometric identification information;

pulling, via the Internet and in response to the request to pay for the prospective transaction and the identifying, funds from each of the funding sources of the each of the users into the electronic shared payment pool, wherein the pulling of the funds is performed automatically without requiring an approval from each of the users as long as an amount of the funds pulled is below the monetary threshold for that user; and

facilitating the prospective transaction using the electronic shared payment pool after the electronic shared payment pool has been funded.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating of the electronic shared payment pool comprises creating the electronic shared payment pool without pulling funds from the funding sources of the users.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

concealing, from another party involved in the prospective transaction, information indicating that the electronic shared payment pool is shared among the plurality of the users, wherein the another party is not involved in the shared payment pool.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing of the policy comprises establishing a hierarchy of multiple funding sources specified by at least one of the plurality of users to fund the electronic shared payment pool.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

designating one of the users as an administrator of the electronic shared payment pool; and

adding or removing one or more users to or from the electronic shared payment pool in response to a request from the administrator.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving, via electronic communication with the mobile electronic device of the first user, registry entries of an operating system running on the mobile electronic device, cookies associated with a user interface application installed on the mobile electronic device, or identifiers associated with hardware of the mobile electronic device, wherein the identifying the first user comprises identifying the first user based on the retrieved registry entries, the retrieved cookies, or the retrieved identifiers.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, before the pulling of the funds:

determining a location of each of the plurality of users in response to the detecting, wherein the pulling of the funds comprises pulling the funds only from the users whose locations have been determined to be the same as the location of the first user.

8. A system, comprising:

a non-transitory memory; and

one or more hardware processors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from each of a plurality of users, a funding source information associated with a funding source of the each of the users for creating an electronic shared payment pool;

establishing, in response to the received funding source information, a policy governing rights or obligations of the each of the users that participate in the electronic shared payment pool, the policy including a monetary threshold for the each of the users, for enabling funds to be pulled automatically from the funding source of the each of the users;

storing biometric identification information of each of the users on a respective mobile electronic device of each of the plurality of users;

creating the electronic shared payment pool based on the funding source information of the each of the users received and the policy established, wherein the creating of the electronic shared payment pool comprises creating the electronic shared payment pool without pulling funds from the funding sources of the users;

detecting a request from a first user of the plurality of the users to use the electronic shared payment pool, via the mobile electronic device of the first user over an Internet, to pay for a prospective transaction;

retrieving, in response to the detecting, the biometric identification information from the mobile electronic device;

identifying the first user based on the retrieved biometric identification information;

pulling, via the Internet and in response to the request to pay for the prospective transaction and the identifying, funds from each of the funding sources of the each of the users into the electronic shared payment pool, wherein the pulling of the funds is performed automatically without requiring an approval from each of the users as long as an amount of the funds pulled is below the monetary threshold for that user; and

facilitating the prospective transaction using the electronic shared payment pool after the electronic shared payment pool has been funded.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the creating of the electronic shared payment pool comprises creating the electronic shared payment pool without pulling funds from the funding sources of the each of the users.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

hiding, from another party involved in the prospective transaction, information indicating that the electronic shared payment pool is shared among the plurality of the users, wherein the another party is not involved in the shared payment pool.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the establishing of the policy comprises establishing a hierarchy of multiple funding sources specified by at least one of the users to fund the electronic shared payment pool.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

designating one of the users as an administrator of the electronic shared payment pool; and

adding or removing one or more users to or from the electronic shared payment pool in response to a request from the administrator.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

retrieving, via electronic communication with the mobile electronic device of the first user, registry entries of an operating system running on the mobile electronic device, cookies associated with a user interface application installed on the mobile electronic device, or identifiers associated with hardware of the mobile electronic device, wherein the identifying the first user comprises identifying the first user based on the retrieved registry entries, the retrieved cookies, or the retrieved identifiers.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise, before the pulling of the funds:

determining a location of each of the plurality of users in response to the detecting, wherein the pulling of the funds comprises pulling the funds only from the users whose locations have been determined to be the same as the location of the first user.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from each of a plurality of users, a funding source information associated with a funding source of the each of the users for creating an electronic shared payment pool;

establishing, in response to the received funding source information a policy governing rights or obligations of the each of the users that participate in the electronic shared payment pool, the policy including a monetary threshold for the each of the users for enabling funds to be pulled automatically from the funding source of the each of the users;

storing biometric identification information of each of the users on a respective mobile electronic device of each of the plurality of users;

creating the electronic shared payment pool based on the funding source information of the each of the users received and the policy established, without pulling funds from the funding sources of the each of the users, wherein the creating of the electronic shared payment pool comprises creating the electronic shared payment pool without pulling funds from the funding sources of the users;

detecting a request from a first user of the plurality of users to use the electronic shared payment pool, via the mobile electronic device of the first user over an Internet, to pay for a prospective transaction;

retrieving, in response to the detecting, the biometric identification information from the mobile electronic device;

identifying the first user based on the retrieved biometric identification information;

pulling, via the Internet and in response to the request to pay for the prospective transaction and the identifying, funds from each of the funding sources of the each of the users into the electronic shared payment pool, wherein the pulling of the funds is performed automatically without requiring an approval from each of the users as long as an amount of the funds pulled is below the monetary threshold for that user; and

facilitating the prospective transaction using the electronic shared payment pool after the electronic shared payment pool has been funded.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

hiding, from another party involved in the prospective transaction, information indicating that the electronic shared payment pool is shared among the plurality of the users, wherein the another party is not a member of the shared payment pool.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the establishing of the policy comprises establishing a hierarchy of multiple funding sources specified by at least one of the users to fund the electronic shared payment pool.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

designating one of the users as an administrator of the electronic shared payment pool; and

adding or removing one or more users to or from the electronic shared payment pool in response to a request from the administrator.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

retrieving, via electronic communication with the mobile electronic device of the first user, registry entries of an operating system running on the mobile electronic device, cookies associated with a user interface application installed on the mobile electronic device, or identifiers associated with hardware of the mobile electronic device, wherein the identifying the first user comprises identifying the first user based on the retrieved registry entries, the retrieved cookies, or the retrieved identifiers.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise, before the pulling of the funds:

determining a location of each of the plurality of users in response to the detecting, wherein the pulling of the funds comprises pulling the funds only from the users whose locations have been determined to be the same as the location of the first user.