Merchant application programming interface for splitting bills

• US 9,990,621 B1
• Filed: 03/20/2015
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Square Inc (Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.))
• Inventors: Ng, Aaron Y., Omojola, Ayokunle, Wilson, Jesse
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender, Florian M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ortiz Roman, Denisse Y
• Application Number:
  US14/664,766
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 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 20/29 characterised by micropayments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3223 Realising banking transactions through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/42 Confirmation, e.g. check or permission by the legal debtor of payment

Abstract

Split bill payment technology enabled by an application programming interface (API) is disclosed. In some embodiments, API integration between a merchant application or system and a payment application or payment service system enables the merchant application or system to send requests for split bill payments to the payment service system. In response, the payment service system can collect from each bill payer identified in a request, the bill payer'"'"'s share of a bill and transfer the collected amounts to the merchant.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a payment service system, a request to split payment of a bill for a transaction associated with a merchant among multiple bill payers who have shared the transaction with the merchant, the request including information identifying the merchant, one or more mobile devices of the multiple bill payers, and a bill payer'"'"'s portion of the bill associated with the bill payer'"'"'s respective mobile device,

wherein the request is received from a merchant application executing on a point-of-sale system operated by the merchant via a bill splitting application programming interface (API) provided by the payment service system and executing on the point-of-sale system,

wherein the merchant application is a third-party application that is not associated with the payment service system;

wherein the merchant has a financial account pre-registered with the payment service system; and

wherein the merchant application executing on the point-of-sale system detects a plurality of mobile devices within a pre-determined proximity to the point-of-sale system by determining a presence of each of the plurality of mobile devices using signals emitted from the plurality of mobile devices, displays an identifier associated with each mobile device on a user interface associated with the point-of-sale system, and receives a selection of one or more mobile devices of the multiple bill payers from the point-of-sale system;

upon receiving the request to split payment of the bill from the merchant application sending, by the payment service system, a payment request to each of the one or more mobile devices of the multiple bill payers for payment of the respective portions of the bill,

wherein the payment request causes a payment application executing on a bill payer'"'"'s mobile device to prompt the bill payer to approve the payment request;

receiving, by the payment service system, a response from the one or more mobile devices of the bill payers,

wherein the response from a bill payer'"'"'s mobile device indicates an approval of a specified amount for payment of the bill payer'"'"'s portion of the bill associated with their respective mobile device;

causing, by the payment service system, a transfer of the specified amount approved by the bill payers from the bill payers'"'"' financial accounts to the merchant'"'"'s financial account; and

transmitting, by the payment service system, using the bill splitting API, a confirmation to the merchant application executing on the point-of-sale system indicating the payment of the bill by the one or more mobile devices of the multiple bill payers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of mobile devices are detected by the merchant application based on a Bluetooth Low Energy wireless technology.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of mobile devices are detected by the merchant application based on a geo-fencing technology.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified amount approved by the bill payers corresponds to one of:

a bill payer'"'"'s portion of the bill, or the bill payer'"'"'s portion of the bill and a discretionary tip.

5. A payment service system, comprising:

a server, having a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the server comprises;

a component configured to receive a request to split payment of a bill from a merchant system,

wherein a point-of-sale system associated with the merchant system detects one or more mobile devices associated with a plurality of users by determining a presence of the one or more mobile devices using signals emitted from the one or more mobile devices, displays an identifier associated with each mobile device on a user interface associated with the point-of-sale system, and receives a selection of one or more mobile devices from the point-of-sale system;

a component configured to analyze the request to identify;

a merchant associated with the merchant system, each user from the plurality of users associated with the one or more mobile devices, and a portion of the bill associated with each user;

a component configured to;

upon receiving the request to split payment of the bill, send a payment request to the one or more mobile devices of the plurality of users to obtain an approval to use funds to pay for the portion of the bill associated with each user from a financial account associated with each user;

a component configured to receive from the plurality of users a response approving a use of a specified amount of funds from the financial account associated with each user to pay for the portion of the bill associated with each user; and

a component configured to initiate a transfer of the specified amount of funds approved by the plurality of users to a financial account associated with the merchant.

6. The payment service system of claim 5, wherein the request to split payment of the bill is received from a merchant application executing on the merchant system via an application programming interface (API).

7. The payment service system of claim 6, wherein the merchant system is a point-of-sale system and the merchant application is a third-party application that is not associated with the payment service system.

8. The payment service system of claim 7, wherein the server further comprises a component configured to transmit, via the API, a confirmation of the payment of the bill by the plurality of users to the merchant application executing on the merchant system.

9. The payment service system of claim 7, wherein the server further comprises:

a component configured to determine whether the plurality of users have the financial account registered with the payment service system; and

a component configured to send a request to any of the plurality of users without the financial account registered with the payment service to register the financial account with the payment service system.

10. The payment service system of claim 5, wherein the specified amount of funds approved by any of the plurality of the users includes a tip amount in addition to an amount corresponding to the portion of the bill associated with that user.

11. The payment service system of claim 5, wherein the one or more mobile devices of the plurality of users detected in the request to split payment of the bill are connected to the merchant system over a Bluetooth Low Energy wireless connection.

12. The payment service system of claim 5, wherein the one or more mobile devices of the plurality of users detected in the request to split payment of the bill are within a predefined radius of the merchant system and are connected to the merchant system over a Wi-Fi or cellular network.

13. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a merchant application executing on a merchant system, an indication to split a bill among plurality of bill payers,

wherein a point-of-sale system associated with the merchant system detects one or more mobile devices of the plurality of bill payers by determining a presence of the one or more mobile devices associated with the plurality of bill payers using signals emitted from the one or more mobile devices, displays an identifier associated with each mobile device on a user interface associated with the point-of-sale system, and receives a selection of one or more mobile devices from the point-of-sale system;

determining, by the merchant application, a share of the bill associated with each bill payer;

sending, by the merchant application, a split bill payment request to a payment service system, the split bill payment request being sent using an application programming interface (API) provided by the payment service system;

wherein the split bill payment request includes information identifying;

the plurality of bill payers, the share of the bill associated with each bill payer, and the merchant;

wherein the split bill payment request causes the payment service system to collect payments corresponding to the share of the bill associated with each bill payer and deposit the collected payments to a financial account associated with the merchant,

wherein the payment service system sends a payment request to the detected one or more mobile device in response to receiving the split bill payment request from the merchant application; and

receiving, by the merchant application via the API, a confirmation of the deposit of the payments corresponding to the share of the bill associated with each bill payer into the financial account associated with the merchant.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

generating, by the merchant application, a receipt for the plurality of bill payers for the payment of the share of the bill associated with each bill payer.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

identifying, by the merchant application, multiple users having mobile devices that are nearby the merchant system; and

selecting, by the merchant application, some of the nearby users as the plurality of bill payers for sharing the bill.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the merchant system connects to the mobile devices of the multiple users that are nearby over a Bluetooth Low Energy wireless technology.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the merchant system connects to the mobile devices that are within a predefined range of the merchant system over a wireless network that includes a Wi-Fi network or a cellular network.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the share of the bill associated with each bill payer includes:

splitting the bill equally among each bill payer of the plurality of bill payers.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the share of the bill associated with each bill payer includes:

receiving assignment information that assigns items on the bill to the plurality of bill payers; and

determining the share of the bill associated with each bill payer based on the assignment information.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein collecting the payments corresponding to the share of the bill associated with each bill payer includes sending a notification to a mobile devices associated with each bill payer and receiving a confirmation from the plurality of bill payers to use funds for the payments corresponding to the share of the bill associated with each bill payer.