METHODS AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR SMARTPHONE PAYMENTS

• US 20140244495A1
• Filed: 04/29/2013
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Davis, Bruce L., Rodriguez, Tony F.
• Granted Patent: US 9,830,588 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/41
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/227 characterised in that multiple accounts are available, e.g. to the payer
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/306 using TV related infrastructures external card used for payment with client device H04N21/4185
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/321 using wearable devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/326 Payment applications installed on the mobile devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/351 Virtual cards
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/32 including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/60 Context-dependent security

Abstract

To make a payment, a smartphone presents artwork for a payment card (e.g., a Visa card) that has been selected by a user from a virtual wallet of such cards. Encoded in the displayed artwork is payment information that has been encrypted with a context-dependent session key. A cooperating system (e.g., a retailer'"'"'s point of sale system) uses a camera to capture an image of the artwork, and independently creates the session key from its own context sensor(s), enabling decryption of the payment information. Such technology provides a superior transaction security model at a fraction of the cost of competing chip card payment systems (which require, e.g., expensive physical cards, and single-purpose reader hardware). A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed.

Claims

1. A method employing a user'"'"'s portable device, the device including a display and a sensor module, the method including the acts:

presenting a payment user interface on a display, the user interface identifying plural virtual wallet cards including plural payment service cards, said payment service cards representing plural possible payment services including at least one of American Express®

, VISA® and

MasterCard®

;

receiving user input selecting a desired one of said payment services for issuing a payment;

generating sensor-based authentication data, said generating being performed using a particular apparatus, namely a user smartphone including said display and a sensor, the sensor being selected from the group consisting of a barometric sensor, a temperature sensor, an audio sensor, an image sensor, a magnetometer, an accelerometer, and a gyroscope, said authentication data being derived in part based on data from said sensor;

presenting artwork using the display, the artwork indicating the selected one of said payment services and including a logo for the American Express®

, VISA®

or MasterCard®

payment service; and

providing information, including both the sensor-based authentication data and data corresponding to the selected payment service, from the smartphone to a cooperating point of sale system, in connection with issuing a payment.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the artwork includes a machine-readable representation of said information, wherein said information is provided visually from the device to the cooperating system.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the user interface enables the user to select plural of said virtual wallet cards, one of the selected cards being a payment service card, and another of the selected cards being a merchant card, the method further including providing data corresponding to both the payment service card and the merchant card to the cooperating point of sale system.

5. The method of claim 1 in which the method further includes prompting the user for entry of correct validation data before the information is provided to the cooperating point of sale system, and wireles sly sending location data to a recipient different than said user, and different than said point of sale system, if a predetermined number of consecutive user attempts to enter correct validation information fail.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the authentication data also depends on a hardware ID of the smartphone, wherein the authentication data is logically bound to both physical context of the device as sensed by said sensor, and also to the smartphone hardware.

7. The method of claim 1 that further includes presenting said payment user interface in response to user activation of a control in an online shopping user interface, through which the user has selected one or more items for purchase.

26. The method of claim 1 in which said sensor comprises a barometric sensor.

27. The method of claim 1 in which said sensor comprises a temperature sensor.

28. The method of claim 1 in which said sensor comprises an audio sensor.

29. The method of claim 1 in which said sensor comprises an image sensor.

30. The method of claim 1 in which said sensor comprises a magnetometer.

31. The method of claim 1 in which said sensor comprises an accelerometer.

32. The method of claim 1 in which said sensor comprises a gyroscope.

4. (canceled)

8. (canceled)

9. A shopping method in which a user has used a particular apparatus to select an item for purchase, the particular apparatus comprising a portable wireless device including a display, a camera or microphone, and a MEMS sensor other than a camera or microphone, the method comprising the acts:

sensing a user input using said portable wireless device;

responsive to said input, employing a software module resident on the portable wireless device to initiate a payment process for the selected item;

wherein;

the payment process includes performing a first authentication act that makes use of data captured by said camera or microphone of the portable wireless device; and

the payment process includes performing a second authentication act that makes use of data generated by said MEMS sensor.

10. (canceled)

11. An improved checkout system including a camera, a processor, and a memory, the memory containing instructions configuring the checkout system to perform acts including:

using the camera to capture first image data depicting a product presented for purchase by a user;

also using the same camera to capture second image data depicting artwork from a display of a user portable device, the artwork indicating a payment service and including a VISA®

, MasterCard®

or American Express®

logo, the artwork also including machine-readable data encoding plural bit auxiliary data;

decoding the auxiliary data; and

using the decoded auxiliary data in connection with authenticating a payment transaction serviced by VISA®

, MasterCard®

or American Express®

.

12. The checkout system of claim 11 in which the first image data includes the second image data.

13. The checkout system of claim 11 in which the instructions configure the checkout system to derive context information about the portable device by processing the second image data captured by said system, wherein said derived context information is used in conjunction with the decoded auxiliary data to authenticate the payment transaction.

14. The checkout system of claim 13 in which the derived context information further comprises information about pose or motion of the user portable device.

33. The checkout system of claim 14 in which the derived context information comprises information about pose of the user portable device.

34. The checkout system of claim 14 in which the derived context information comprises information about motion of the user portable device.

15. A method employing a user'"'"'s portable device, comprising:

presenting, using a display of the device, a user interface that presents plural virtual wallet cards for user selection;

receiving user input selecting at least two of said virtual wallet cards; and

providing information corresponding to said selected virtual wallet cards to a cooperating point of sale system, in connection with a purchase transaction.

16. The method of claim 15 in which a first of said selected virtual wallet cards is for an American Express®

, VISA®

or MasterCard®

payment service, and a second of said selected virtual wallet cards is a loyalty card for a merchant.

17. The method of claim 16 in which said selected wallet cards comprise two virtual payment cards, and the method further includes providing a user interface feature enabling the user to apportion part of a payment to a first of the payment cards, and part of the payment to a second of the payment cards.

18. The method of claim 17 in which said user interface feature comprises a touch-activated slider feature.

19. The method of claim 17 in which the method further includes presenting a graphical image of a composite payment card, the graphical image including incomplete artwork for the first payment card, combined with incomplete artwork for the second payment card.

20-25. -25. (canceled)