Delayed processing window in a prepaid architecture

• US 10,147,112 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2013
• Issued: 12/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Butler, IV, Harry Lee, Bedier, Osama, Hazlehurst, Peter, Blandina, Michael Scott, Wieler, Bobby
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Hai
• Application Number:
  US14/140,802
• Publication Number:
  US 20140351131A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,804 Days
• Field of Search: 705 44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions

Abstract

A method for maintaining a prepaid payment system comprises a user account that can be utilized to complete a purchase transaction with a merchant. A delayed processing window is introduced between a time when the merchant receives a payment approval notification from the payment system and a time when the payment system transmits a payment request to an issuer of a funding account associated with the user'"'"'s payment system account. The payment system utilizes a user'"'"'s stored value account maintained by the payment system to satisfy the requirements of a prepaid program, and therefore processes the payment request received from the merchant and transmits the payment approval notification without obtaining prior authorization from the issuer of the funding account. The payment system submits one or more payment requests for the funding transaction at a time after the completion of the purchase transaction between the user and the merchant.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to process purchase transactions by utilizing delayed processing windows, comprising:

receiving, by one or more computing devices operated by a payment management system, a request to save account information for one or more user financial accounts in a user account maintained by the payment management system;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices operated by the payment management system, a merchant payment request from one or more computing devices operated by a merchant system, the merchant payment request for authorization for a contemporaneous payment transaction between a user and the merchant system and comprising an account identifier for the user account maintained by the payment management system and a transaction value;

determining, by the one or more computing devices operated by the payment management system, a user account that corresponds to the account identifier received in the merchant payment request;

prior to determining which of the one or more user financial accounts associated with the user account maintained by the payment management system from which to request a funding payment and prior to determining that sufficient funds are available, performing by the one or more computing devices operated by the payment management system, a risk analysis of information contained in the user account to determine whether to approve the merchant payment request for the contemporaneous payment transaction between the user and the merchant system, wherein determining to approve the merchant payment request is not based on receiving a payment authorization received by the one or more user financial accounts;

in response to determining a favorable risk-analysis of the information contained in the user account and prior to receiving a payment authorization by the one or more user financial accounts, transmitting, by the one or more computing devices operated by the payment management system, a merchant payment authorization to the one or more computing devices operated by the merchant system for the contemporaneous payment transaction between the user and the merchant system;

at a time after transmitting the merchant payment authorization, determining, by the one or more computing devices operated by the payment management system, which of the one or more user financial accounts associated with the user account maintained by the payment management system from which to request the funding payment;

in response to determining the financial account from which to request the funding payment, submitting, by the one or more computing devices operated by the payment management system, a funding payment request to an issuer of the determined one or more financial accounts, wherein a window of time has passed between the transmission of the merchant payment authorization and the submission of the funding payment request; and

receiving, by the one or more computing devices operated by the payment management system, a payment notification from the issuer of the financial account.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining which of the one or more user financial accounts saved in the user account maintained by the payment management system to request the funding payment from comprises:

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a stored value account balance, wherein the stored value account is maintained by the payment management system; and

if the stored value account has a balance greater than zero, deducting, by the one or more computing devices, a portion of the transaction value from the balance, wherein a resulting balance is greater than or equal to zero.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the resulting balance is zero and further comprising identifying, by the one or more computing devices, one or more rules associated with the one or more financial accounts saved in the user account maintained by the payment management system, wherein the one or more rules comprise an identification of a preferred funding account.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more financial accounts comprise bank accounts, debit accounts, credit accounts, gift accounts, or loyalty rewards accounts.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the account identifier comprises an account number, proxy account number, user account device, magnetic stripe card, bar code, or quick response code that corresponds to the user'"'"'s payment management system account and can be understood to route the merchant payment request to the account management system.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining to approve the merchant payment request comprises executing an algorithm or a logic program to determine to approve the payment request without receiving notification of the approved funding payment request.

7. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable program instructions embodied therein that when executed by a computer cause the computer to process purchase transactions that utilize delayed processing windows, the computer-readable program instructions comprising;

computer-executable program instructions to receive a merchant payment request from one or more computing devices operated by a merchant system, the merchant payment request for authorization for a contemporaneous payment transaction between a user and the merchant system and comprising an account identifier for a user account maintained by a payment management system and a transaction value;

computer-executable program instructions to perform a risk analysis to determine whether to approve the merchant payment request for the contemporaneous payment transaction between the user and the merchant system prior to requesting a funding payment request from an issuer of one or more user financial accounts saved in the user account maintained by the payment management system and prior to determining that sufficient funds are available, wherein determining to approve the merchant payment request is not based on receiving a payment authorization received by the one or more user financial accounts;

computer-executable program instructions to transmit, in response to determining a favorable risk-analysis of the information contained in the user account and prior to receiving a payment authorization by the one or more user financial accounts, a merchant payment authorization to the one or more computing devices operated by the merchant system for the contemporaneous payment transaction between the user and the merchant system;

computer-executable program instructions to, at a time after transmitting the merchant payment authorization, determine which of the one or more user financial accounts associated with the user account maintained by the payment management system from which to request a funding payment;

computer-readable program instructions to, in response to determining the financial account from which to request the funding payment, submit the funding payment request to an issuer of the determined one or more financial accounts, wherein a window of time has passed between the transmission of the merchant payment authorization and the submission of the funding payment request; and

computer-executable program instructions to receive a payment notification from the issuer of the financial account.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising computer-executable program instructions to receive a request to save account information for the one or more financial accounts in the user account maintained by the payment management system.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising computer-readable program instructions to determine a user account that corresponds to the account identifier.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein determining which of the one or more user financial accounts saved in the user account maintained by the payment management system to request the funding payment from comprises:

computer-readableexecutable program instructions to identify a stored value account balance, wherein the stored value account is maintained by the payment management system; and

computer-readableexecutable program instructions to, if the stored value account has a balance greater than zero, deduct a portion of the transaction value from the balance, wherein a resulting balance is greater than or equal to zero.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the resulting balance is zero and further comprising computer-executable program instructions to identify one or more rules associated with the one or more financial accounts saved in the user account maintained by the payment management system, wherein the one or more rules comprise an identification of a preferred funding account.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the one or more financial accounts comprise bank accounts, debit accounts, credit accounts, gift accounts, or loyalty rewards accounts.

13. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the account identifier comprises an account number, proxy account number, user account device, magnetic stripe card, bar code, or quick response code that corresponds to the user'"'"'s payment management system account and can be understood to route the merchant payment request to the account management system.

14. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein determining to approve the merchant payment request comprises computer-executable program instructions to execute an algorithm or a logic program to determine whether to approve the payment request without receiving notification of the approved funding payment request.

15. A system to process purchase transactions utilizing delayed processing windows, comprising:

a storage medium; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the storage medium, wherein the processor executes application code instructions that are stored in the storage medium to cause the system to;

receive a merchant payment request from one or more computing devices operated by a merchant system, the merchant payment request for authorization for a payment transaction between a user and the merchant system and comprising an account identifier for a user account maintained by a payment management system and a transaction value;

prior to determining which of one or more user financial accounts associated with the user account maintained by the payment management system from which to request a funding payment and prior to determining that sufficient funds are available, performing a risk analysis of information contained in the user account to determine whether to approve the merchant payment request, wherein determining to approve the merchant payment request is not based on receiving a payment authorization received by the one ore more user financial accounts;

in response to determining a favorable risk-analysis of the information contained in the user account and prior to receiving a payment authorization by the one or more user financial accounts, transmit a merchant payment authorization to the one or more computing devices operated by the merchant system for the payment transaction between the user and the merchant system;

at a time after transmitting the merchant payment authorization, determine which of the one or more financial accounts saved in the user account maintained by the payment management system from which to request a funding payment; and

in response to determining the financial account from which to request the funding payment, submit the funding payment request to an issuer of the determined one or more financial accounts, wherein a window of time has passed between the transmission of the merchant payment authorization and the submission of the funding payment request.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to execute application code instructions stored in the storage medium to cause the system to receive a request to save account information for the one or more financial accounts in the user account maintained by the payment management system.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to execute application code instructions stored in the storage medium to cause the system to determine which user account corresponds to the account identifier.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more financial accounts comprise bank accounts, debit accounts, credit accounts, gift accounts, or loyalty rewards accounts.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the account identifier comprises an account number, proxy account number, user account device, magnetic stripe card, bar code, or quick response code that corresponds to the user'"'"'s payment management system account and can be understood to route the merchant payment request to the account management system.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein determining to approve the merchant payment request executing an algorithm or a logic program to determine to approve the payment request without receiving notification of the approved funding payment request.