Wireless payment transactions in a vehicle environment

• US 10,896,417 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2016
• Issued: 01/19/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Tinskey, Michael Robert, Seneski, Michael, Walter, Brian, Eaton, Robert P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Choo, Johann Y
• Application Number:
  US15/092,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20170293910A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,749 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/023 the neutral party being a clearing house
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40145 Biometric identity checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2240/00 Transportation facility access, e.g. fares, tolls or parking

Abstract

A wireless transaction request may be received by a vehicle from a retailer. The vehicle may validate that the vehicle is located in proximity to the retailer and may receive confirmation of the request from a vehicle occupant. The vehicle may also initiate a payment for the transaction with a server, responsive to the confirmation of the request and validation of the vehicle location. Communications between the vehicle and the retailer may be performed using Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC). The identity of the vehicle occupant may be confirmed using biometric sensors. The payment transaction may be performed using the Automated Clearing House (ACH) electronic network to avoid credit card interchange fees.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

an embedded modem for communication with a wallet server storing payment credentials of an occupant of the vehicle;

a wireless transceiver for communication with a retailer; and

a processor programmed to

receive, from wireless infrastructure of the retailer via the wireless transceiver, an advertisement indicating availability of wireless payments for vehicle transactions,

responsive to receipt of the advertisement, wirelessly connect to the wireless infrastructure of the retailer via the wireless transceiver, including to utilize a transient code generator to produce a transient code and to send the transient code to the retailer as part of payment initialization,

receive a wireless transaction request from the retailer via the wireless connection, the wireless transaction request including the transient code for the transaction,

validate the vehicle is located in proximity to the retailer responsive to receipt of the wireless transaction request,

display a wireless transaction user interface responsive to the vehicle being validated as located in proximity to the retailer,

receive confirmation of the request from a vehicle occupant responsive to a prompt shown by the wireless transaction user interface to authorize a debit of an Automated Clearing House (ACH) account,

responsive to confirmation of the request, initiate a payment for the transaction with the wallet server including providing the transient code in a wireless transaction request to the wallet server, the wallet server completing the payment using the payment credentials of the occupant via the ACH electronic network, bypassing credit card interchange fees but charging a transaction fee for the payment by a remote server to fund reward points computed as a predefined number of basis points of the payment, and

receive, from the remote server, the points for use in further wireless payments made via the remote server.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the wireless transceiver is configured to communicate with the retailer via Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC).

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the retailer is one or more of a toll road, a drive-through restaurant, a refueling station, or a parking facility.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein to receive confirmation of the request from the vehicle occupant includes to:

receive biometric data from a biometric sensor as confirmation of the request;

compare the received biometric data with stored biometric data of the occupant maintained by the vehicle; and

determine whether the occupant is a match to an authorized user responsive to the comparison.

5. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein the biometric sensor includes one or more of a fingerprint sensor, a retina scanner, or a voice-print recognizer.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein to validate that the vehicle is located in proximity to the retailer includes to:

receive location data from a global navigation satellite system receiver;

determine a location of the retailer; and

confirm that the vehicle is located within a predefined threshold distance to the retailer.

7. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein the biometric sensor is integrated with a top of a gear shifter of the vehicle.

8. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein the biometric sensor is integrated with a push-button start control of the vehicle, wherein the biometric sensor captures the occupant identity for use confirming the request responsive to a press of the start control to start the vehicle.

9. The vehicle of claim 1, further comprising the remote server, wherein the server is configured to batch a plurality of transactions of the vehicle occupant over a batch time period into a single transaction, such that a single transaction is made for the vehicle occupant as a sum of payment amounts of the plurality of transactions during the batch time period.

10. The vehicle of claim 9, wherein the batch time period is daily.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of a vehicle, are configured to cause the processor to:

receive, from wireless infrastructure of a retailer via a wireless transceiver of the vehicle, an advertisement indicating availability of wireless payments for vehicle transactions, the wireless payments to be performed using a wallet server storing payment credentials of an occupant of the vehicle;

responsive to receipt of the advertisement, wirelessly connect to the wireless infrastructure of the retailer via the wireless transceiver, including to utilize a transient code generator to produce a transient code and to send the transient code to the retailer as part of payment initialization;

receive a wireless transaction request from a retailer over a Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) channel, the wireless transaction request including the transient code for the transaction;

responsive to receipt of the wireless transaction request, validate that the vehicle is located in proximity to the retailer according to global navigation satellite system (GNSS) location data and an identified location of the retailer;

display a wireless transaction user interface responsive to the vehicle being located in proximity to the retailer to authorize a debit of an Automated Clearing House (ACH) account;

receive confirmation of the request from a vehicle occupant, responsive to a prompt shown by the wireless transaction user interface, by confirming at least one biometric of the occupant;

responsive to confirmation of the request, initiate payment for the transaction with the wallet server including providing the transient code in a wireless transaction request to the wallet server, the wallet server completing the payment using the payment credentials of the occupant via ACH, bypassing credit card interchange fees but charging a transaction fee for the payment by a remote server to fund reward points computed as a predefined number of basis points of the payment; and

receive, from the remote server, the points for use in further wireless payments made via the remote server.