Apportioning shared financial expenses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10002397-B2
Application number	US-201414229654-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2014
Priority date	Oct 28, 2013
Publication date	Jun 19, 2018
Grant date	Jun 19, 2018

Abstract

A payment system can accept an electronic reservation for a merchant restaurant in response to a reservation request received from a user. The payment system can detect that the user is present at a location associated with the merchant restaurant based at least in part on an indication received from a mobile device associated with the user. The payment system can determine a completion of a service associated with the electronic reservation. The payment system can provide an electronic bill for the service to be displayed on the mobile device of the user. Based on receiving an authorization of the electronic bill from the mobile device of the user, the payment system can charge, through a card-less payment transaction, the user for at least an amount disclosed in the electronic bill.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:
establishing, by a payment system, a user account for a customer, the user account associated with a user application running on a user device, and the user application acquiring customer financial account information corresponding to one or more financial accounts of the customer, the customer financial account information being stored securely by the payment system in a user database;
establishing, by the payment system, a merchant account for a merchant restaurant, the merchant account associated with a merchant application running on a merchant device located at the merchant restaurant, and the merchant application acquiring merchant financial account information corresponding to one or more financial accounts of the merchant restaurant, the merchant financial account information being stored securely by the payment system in a merchant database;
receiving customer dietary preference information at the payment system and from the user application running on the user device, the customer dietary preference information identifying one or more dietary preferences of the customer;
aggregating customer visit information identifying how often the customer has visited the merchant restaurant;
receiving, by the payment system and from the user application running on the user device, an electronic reservation request for the customer at the merchant restaurant;
receiving, at the payment system and from the merchant device located at the merchant restaurant, a check-in indicator indicating that the user device and the merchant device located at the merchant restaurant have communicated wirelessly via a Bluetooth-based wireless connection;
transmitting the dietary preference information and customer visit information from the payment system to the merchant device located at the merchant restaurant in response to the user device and the merchant device located at the merchant restaurant having communicated wirelessly via the Bluetooth-based wireless connection;
determining, by the payment system and based on the user device, a completion of a service for the customer at the merchant restaurant associated with the electronic reservation request in response to receipt of a confirmation of the completion of the service is received by the payment system from the user application running on the user device;
receiving, by the payment system and from the merchant application running on the merchant device, a list of items purchased during the service at the merchant restaurant;
providing, by the payment system and to the user application running on the user device, an electronic bill for the service to be displayed on the user device of the customer when the confirmation of the completion of the service is received by the payment system from the user application running on the user device and in response to receipt of the list of items purchased during the service at the merchant restaurant by the payment system from the merchant application running on the merchant device, the electronic bill including the list of items purchased at the merchant restaurant;
receiving, by the payment system and from the user application running on the user device, an authorization to pay the electronic bill through a card-less payment transaction to be processed by the payment system, wherein the authorization is based on the user device and the merchant device no longer being able to communicate wirelessly via the Bluetooth-based wireless connection; and
transferring funds, by the payment system and in response to the authorization, from the one or more financial accounts of the customer to the one or more financial accounts of the merchant account for at least an amount identified in the electronic bill.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein transferring the funds from the one or more financial accounts of the customer to the one or more financial accounts of the merchant account for at least the amount identified in the electronic bill includes transferring a tip amount from the one or more financial accounts of the customer to the one or more financial accounts of the merchant account, and wherein receiving the authorization to pay the electronic bill includes receiving a tip percentage value as selected by the customer, further comprising:
calculating the tip amount based on the tip percentage value and the amount identified in the electronic bill.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining, by the payment system, the completion of the service associated with the electronic reservation request further comprises:
determining that the user device of the customer has exited a geofence that defines a geographic perimeter of the merchant restaurant.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the authorization of the electronic bill is automatically sent from the user application running on the user device based on a determination that the user device of the customer has exited a geofence that defines a geographic perimeter of the merchant restaurant as determined based on positioning information from a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver of the user device.

5. A computing system comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
establishing, by a payment system, a user account for a customer, the user account associated with a user application running on a user device, and the user application acquiring information for one or more financial accounts of the customer, the information for the one or more financial accounts of the customer being stored securely by the payment system in a user database;
establishing, by the payment system, a merchant account for a merchant restaurant, the merchant account associated with a merchant application running on a merchant device located at the merchant restaurant, and the merchant application acquiring information for one or more financial accounts of the merchant restaurant, the information for the one or more financial accounts of the merchant restaurant being stored securely by the payment system in a merchant database;
sending customer dietary preference information from the user application running on the user device to the payment system, the customer dietary preference information identifying one or more dietary preferences of the customer;
sending customer visit information from the user application running on the user device to the payment system, the customer visit information aggregated to identify how often the customer has visited the merchant restaurant;
receiving, by the payment system and from the user application running on the user device, an electronic reservation request for the customer at the merchant restaurant;
creating, by the payment system, an electronic reservation based on the electronic reservation request;
receiving, by the payment system and from the merchant device located at the merchant restaurant, a check-in indicator indicating that the user device and the merchant device located at the merchant restaurant have communicated wirelessly via a wireless connection;
transmitting the dietary preference information and customer visit information from the payment system to the merchant device located at the merchant restaurant in response to the user device and the merchant device located at the merchant restaurant having communicated wirelessly via the wireless connection;
determining, by the payment system and based on the user device, a completion of a service for the customer at the merchant restaurant associated with the electronic reservation request in response to receipt of a confir

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Rose Cody

Classifications

• G06Q50/12 Primary

  Hotels or restaurants · CPC title

• G06Q30/0631

  Recommending goods or services · CPC title

• G06Q30/0226 Primary

  Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems · CPC title

• G06Q20/3223

  Realising banking transactions through M-devices · CPC title

• G06Q20/102

  Bill distribution or payments · CPC title