Reprogrammable point-of-sale transaction flows

• US 10,496,973 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2016
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wolter, Jonathan Andrew, Ricau, Pierre-Yves, Dickerson, Rob
• Primary Examiner(s): Iwarere, Oluseye
• Application Number:
  US15/223,853
• Publication Number:
  US 20180032985A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,222 Days
• Field of Search: 705 24, 705 17, 705 18, 705 21, 235383, 707769, 455418
• 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 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Techniques and arrangements for allowing modification of transaction flows, user interfaces (UIs), receipt configuration and control of buyer-facing displays associated with transactions between a payment service, a merchant and a buyer are provided. Payment service payment functionality is exposed by the payment service via one or more application programming interfaces (API)s, software development kits (SDKs), or some other web-based communication technique (e.g., a uniform resource locator). The payment service payment functionality exposed by the payment service allows a merchant to customize one or more steps of a transaction between a user and a merchant. A merchant can use the exposed payment service payment functionality to configure and modify the look and feel and/or the steps within a transaction flow. The merchant can also modify a receipt to include other information from the information that is included in a default receipt.

Claims

1. One or more server computing devices associated with a payment service comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts including;

providing, to a computing device operable by a merchant, instructions enabling the merchant to specify a condition, that when met by a transaction, causes a configuration of a receipt for the transaction to be modified from a standard receipt configuration to a modified receipt configuration;

receiving, from the computing device operable by the merchant, an indication of the condition;

receiving, from a point-of-sale (POS) device of the merchant, transaction information associated with a transaction between the merchant and a buyer;

determining, based on the transaction information, that the condition previously specified by the merchant is met by the transaction between the merchant and the buyer;

generating a digital receipt based on the modified receipt configuration and the transaction information; and

providing, to at least one of the POS device of the merchant or a buyer device associated with the buyer, data associated with the digital receipt that causes one or more of the POS device of the merchant or the buyer device to present, at least partly via a display, the digital receipt.

2. The one or more server computing devices of claim 1, wherein generating the digital receipt comprises including one or more additional elements on the digital receipt, wherein the one or more additional elements are not specified by the standard receipt configuration.

3. The one or more server computing devices of claim 1, wherein the modified receipt configuration includes information about the merchant.

4. The one or more server computing devices of claim 1, wherein the instructions comprise an application programming interface (API) that includes first functionality for modifying an appearance of one or more elements of the standard receipt configuration, second functionality for specifying a layout of one or more elements of the standard receipt configuration, third functionality for adding an element to the standard receipt configuration, and fourth functionality for deleting one or more elements of the standard receipt configuration.

5. The one or more server computing devices of claim 1, wherein determining that the condition previously specified by the merchant is met further comprises determining that a merchant application has specified, via an application programming interface (API) exposed to the computing device operable by the merchant, to utilize the modified receipt configuration based on the buyer taking part in the transaction.

6. The one or more server computing devices of claim 1, wherein determining that the condition previously specified by the merchant is met further comprises determining that one or more of a merchant profile associated with the merchant or a buyer profile associated with the buyer indicates to utilize the modified receipt configuration for the transaction.

7. The one or more server computing devices of claim 1, wherein generating the digital receipt further comprises accessing the modified receipt configuration based on information associated with one or more of the merchant or the buyer.

20. The one or more server computing devices of claim 1, wherein the computing device operable by the merchant and the POS device of the merchant are a same device.

8. A method, implemented at least in part by a server computing device of a payment service that processes transactions between merchants and buyers, the method comprising:

providing, to one or more computing devices operable by a merchant of the merchants, instructions enabling the merchant to specify a condition, that when met by a transaction, causes a configuration of a receipt for the transaction to be modified from a standard receipt configuration to a modified receipt configuration;

receiving an indication of the condition from the one or more computing devices operable by the merchant;

receiving, from the one or more computing devices operable by the merchant, transaction information associated with a transaction between the merchant and a buyer of the buyers;

determining, based on the transaction information, that the condition previously specified by the merchant is met by the transaction between the merchant and the buyer;

generating a digital receipt based on the modified receipt configuration and the transaction information; and

providing, to at least one of the one or more computing devices operable by the merchant or a buyer device associated with the buyer, data associated with the digital receipt that causes one or more of the one or more computing devices operable by the merchant or the buyer device to present, at least partly via a display, the digital receipt.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein generating the digital receipt comprises including one or more additional elements on the digital receipt, wherein the one or more additional elements are not specified by the standard receipt configuration.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the modified receipt configuration is specified, at least in part, by the merchant.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the instructions enabling the merchant to specify the condition are exposed via an application programming interface (API) that includes functionality to specify the condition.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the API comprises functionality for:

modifying an appearance of one or more elements of the standard receipt configuration; and

specifying a layout of one or more elements of the standard receipt configuration.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein determining that the condition previously specified by the merchant is met further comprises determining that a merchant application has specified, via the API, to utilize the modified receipt configuration based on the buyer taking part in the transaction.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein determining that the condition previously specified by the merchant is met further comprises determining that one or more of a merchant profile associated with the merchant or a buyer profile associated with the buyer indicates to utilize the modified receipt configuration for the transaction.

15. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts including;

providing, to one or more computing devices operable by a merchant of the merchants, instructions enabling the merchant to specify a condition, that when met by a transaction, causes a configuration of a receipt for the transaction to be modified from a standard receipt configuration to a modified receipt configuration;

receive, from the one or more computing devices operable by the merchant, an indication of the condition;

receiving, from the one or more computing devices operable by the merchant, transaction information associated with a particular transaction between the merchant and a buyer, the transaction information including one or more items included in the particular transaction;

determining, based on the transaction information, that the condition previously specified by the merchant is met by the particular transaction between the merchant and the buyer;

generating a digital receipt based on the modified receipt configuration and the one or more items included in the transaction information for the particular transaction; and

providing, to at least one of the one or more computing devices operable by the merchant or a buyer device associated with the buyer, data associated with the digital receipt that causes one or more of the one or more computing devices operable by the merchant or the buyer device to present, at least partly via a display, the digital receipt.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the condition specified by the merchant indicates a group of the buyers, the determining that the condition previously specified by the merchant is met further comprising determining that the buyer is included in the group of the buyers.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions provided to the one or more computing devices operable by the merchant are provided as an Application Programming Interface (API), the API including functionality for specifying the modified receipt configuration.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the modified receipt configuration includes a survey relating to the one or more items included in the transaction information.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the modified receipt configuration includes content related to the one or more items included in the transaction information.