Proximity-based payments

• US 10,614,445 B1
• Filed: 06/04/2014
• Issued: 04/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dorsey, Jack, Grassadonia, Brian, Andersen, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Bridges, Christopher
• Application Number:
  US14/296,385
• Time in Patent Office: 2,134 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/223 based on the use of peer-to-peer networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3223 Realising banking transactions through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3255 using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• 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

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for facilitating customers'"'"' mobile devices to conduct proximity-based payments to reduce the friction of conducting payments from one party to another. In some embodiments, a customer'"'"'s mobile device can detect another mobile device that is in proximity. For example, the detected device may be in the same wireless personal area network as the customer'"'"'s device. The customer'"'"'s device can verify with a payment service system (PSS) that the detected device is associated with a financial account. The customer'"'"'s device can prompt, via a user interface, the customer to select the detected mobile device for a payment. The customer'"'"'s device can also confirm an amount for the payment with the customer. Thereafter, the customer'"'"'s device can cause (e.g., by transmitting communication signals to the PSS) the amount to be transferred from a financial account associated with the customer'"'"'s device to the financial account associated with the detected device.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating payments through a wireless communication protocol, the method comprising:

detecting, by a first mobile device, one or more communication signals broadcast via a wireless network, the communication signals being emitted by one or more corresponding second mobile devices located within a physically proximate distance from the first mobile device;

wherein a money-transfer application running on the first mobile device enables a first user of the first mobile device to specify one or more second identifiers of one or more second mobile devices of one or more second users for a money transferring process, wherein the first mobile device has received the one or more second identifiers from the one or more second mobile devices;

determining, by the first mobile device, that the one or more second mobile devices share the wireless network with the first mobile device, each of the one or more second mobile devices having a respective instance of the money-transfer application;

displaying, by the first mobile device, recipient information comprising identities of the one or more second users of the one or more second mobile devices to enable the user of the first mobile device to select one or more of the second users of the one or more second mobile devices to initiate the money transferring process with the one or more selected users;

receiving, by the first mobile device, an interaction with a portion of the recipient information, the interaction specifying a money-transfer request, the money-transfer request including;

(i) the first user of the first mobile device'"'"'s selection of the one or more selected users and (ii) an indication of a monetary amount to be respectively requested from or transferred to the one or more selected users;

wherein at least one of the one or more second users associated with at least one of the one or more second mobile devices has completed a card association process, the card association process comprising associating a payment card with the at least one of the second mobile devices;

causing, by the first mobile device, based on the money-transfer request, a financial transaction to be initiated between a financial account associated with the user of the first mobile device and one or more financial accounts associated with the one or more selected users of the one or more second mobile devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the PSS, a first geographical location of the first mobile device;

receiving, by the PSS, a second geographical location of a second mobile device; and

notifying, by the PSS, the first mobile device that the second mobile device is in proximity when a distance between the first and the second geographical locations is less than a predetermined threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the PSS, a report from the first mobile device, the report indicating that a second mobile device is detected by the first mobile device as being in physical proximity; and

receiving, by the PSS and from the first instance of the money-transfer application running on the first mobile device, information identifying the second mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the money-transfer request comprises an email that is generated by an email application separate from the first instance of the money-transfer application, the email including an email address associated with the PSS, the email further including an indication of the monetary amount to be transferred to or from the financial account associated with the user of the first mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first instance of the money-transfer application running on the first mobile device brings to foreground an interface of the email application upon receiving the selections of the one or more selected users, and wherein email addresses of the one or more selected users are automatically populated in the generated email.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the user specifies the monetary amount in a header or a body of the generated email.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the first instance of the money-transfer application receives the monetary amount in conjunction with the selection of the one or more selected users, and then generates the email based on the selection and the collected monetary amount.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the email further allows the user to specify additional email addresses by directly inputting the additional email addresses as addressees in the email.

9. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

upon receiving the email, determining, by the PSS, whether the one or more selected users respectively have associated financial accounts; and

if a one user among the one or more selected users does not have an associated financial account, sending the one user an email requesting the one user to upload a financial account information.

10. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining a probability of whether the email is authentic by verifying security information, including a user-ID and a domain specified in the email, that is embedded in the email.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein, when the first instance of the money-transfer application has received the monetary amount and the identities of the one or more selected users, the email is automatically generated and sent by the first instance of the money-transfer application in the background using the email application, without the user actually seeing the email and instructing the email application to send.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein, when the user of first mobile device (1) inputs the selections of one or more selected users, (2) indicates the monetary amount for the money transferring process, and (3) instructs to initiate the money transferring process, in the first instance of the money-transfer application, a message is generated by the first instance of the money-transfer application to the PSS via a process initiated by the first instance of the money-transfer application.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the message is an email generated using an email application of the mobile device separate from the first instance of the money-transfer application, wherein the email is generated with pre-populated information including (1) an email address associated with the PSS in an addressee field and (2) the monetary amount.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the email is generated but not displayed to the user, and wherein, after the email is generated, the email is sent in the background using the email application without user intervention.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the message is a short message service (SMS) or a multimedia messaging service (MIMS) message.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the message is generated based on a proprietary communication protocol that allows the first instance of the money-transfer application to directly communicate the message with the PSS without using another application of the first mobile device.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, in the one or more devices, a list of devices with users that are socially connected to the user of the first mobile device; and

wherein the displaying the recipient information only provides information regarding identities of the users of the list of devices to the user of the first mobile device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying the list of devices comprises:

examining a prior history of devices that had conducted the money transferring process with the first mobile device in the past.

19. A method of conducting payments between two or more instances of a transfer application executing on mobile devices, the method comprising:

receiving, by a first instance of the transfer application executing on a first mobile device, information about a financial account of a first user;

transmitting, by the first instance the information about the financial account of the first user together with a first identifier that uniquely identifies one or both of the first instance or the first mobile device to a remote server, so that the first instance is associated with the financial account of the first user;

detecting, by the first instance, a second instance of the transfer application executing on a second mobile device based upon the first instance determining that (1) the signal strength of a short-range radio signal emitted by the second mobile device is above a threshold signal strength and (2) the short-range radio signal is associated with a Bluetooth network shared by the first mobile device and the second mobile device;

receiving, by the first instance, a second identifier from the second instance that uniquely identifies one or both of the second instance or the second mobile device;

transmitting, by the first instance, the second identifier to the remote server, wherein the transmitting occurs in response to detecting the second instance and receiving the second identifier;

receiving, by the first instance, an indication from the remote server that the second instance is eligible to conduct a proximity-based transaction;

receiving, by the first instance from the remote server, electronic identification information associated with the second mobile device, wherein at least some of the electronic identification information is (1) stored in an addressee file associated with the remote server, and (2) sent in response to the remote server receiving the second identifier;

enabling, by the first instance, the first user to initiate a payment to the second user by displaying the electronic identification information on a user interface of the first instance that prompts the first user to (a) select the second user, and (b) approve an amount for the payment to the second user; and

causing, by the first instance, the amount to be transferred from the financial account of the first user to a financial account of the second user.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving, from the second instance, a request for the payment to the second user, wherein the request includes the amount for the payment to the second user.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

detecting, by the first instance, a third instance of the transfer application executing on a third mobile device;

enabling the first user to request a payment from a third user by prompting, via the user interface of the first instance, the first user to (a) select the third user for the payment from the third user, and (b) specify an amount for payment from the third user; and

transmitting, to the third instance, a request for the payment from the third user.

30. The method of claim 19, wherein the indication from the remote server that the second instance is eligible to conduct the proximity-based payment is based on a determination that the second user has completed a card association process, wherein the card association process comprises associating a payment card with the second instance.

22. A method of conducting payments between two or more instances of a transfer application executing on mobile devices, the method comprising:

detecting, by a first instance of the transfer application executing on a first mobile device, a second instance of the transfer application executing on a second mobile device that is in physical proximity based upon the first instance determining that (1) the signal strength of a short-range radio signal emitted by the second mobile device is above a threshold signal strength and (2) the short-range radio signal is associated with a Bluetooth network shared by the first mobile device and the second mobile device;

receiving, by the first instance, an identifier from the second instance that uniquely identifies one or both of the second instance or the second mobile device;

transmitting, by the first instance, the identifier to a remote server, wherein the transmitting occurs in response to detecting the instance device and receiving the identifier;

receiving, by the first instance, an indication from the remote server that the second instance is eligible to conduct a proximity-based transaction;

receiving, by the first instance, from the remote server, electronic identification information associated with the second mobile device, wherein at least some of the electronic identification information is (1) stored in an addressee file associated with the remote server, and (2) sent in response to the remote server receiving the second identifier;

prompting, by the first instance, by displaying the electronic identification information on a user interface of the first instance, a first user of the first mobile device to confirm a second user of the second mobile device for a payment;

receiving, by the first instance from the first user, an approval of an amount for the payment to the second user; and

causing by the first instance, the amount to be transferred from a first financial account associated with the first user to a second financial account associated with the second user.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving a signal indicating whether the second instance allows conducting payments with the first instance.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

measuring a received signal strength of a beacon signal sent from the second mobile device.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

prompting, via the user interface of the first instance, the first user to enter a passcode that authenticates the first mobile device to conduct payments with the second mobile device.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the causing step comprises:

communicating with the remote server (a) an identifier that uniquely identifies the first instance, (b) an identifier that uniquely identifies the second instance, and (c) the amount to be transferred.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving additional user information associated with the second instance from the remote server; and

displaying the additional user information on the user interface of the first instance.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving, from the second instance, a request for the payment to the second user, wherein the request includes the amount for the payment to the second user.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein the second instance is operating in the background.