Reprogrammable point-of-sale transaction flows

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10872320-B2
Application number	US-201615224130-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2016
Priority date	Jul 29, 2016
Publication date	Dec 22, 2020
Grant date	Dec 22, 2020

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
first instructions, provided by a payment service, configured to be compiled into a first application for installation and execution on a device operable by a merchant, the first application compiled from the first instructions and second instructions provided by the merchant or a third-party for the merchant, wherein
(i) the first instructions configure the first application to communicate with a second application on the device, and
(ii) the second instructions configure the device to process one or more transactions between the merchant and one or more customers; and

third instructions, provided by the payment service, configured to be compiled into the second application, wherein the third instructions configure the second application to:
receive, from the first application, a request to modify one or more steps of a default transaction flow;
determine that the one or more steps of the default transaction flow are to be modified based on the request;
modify the one or more steps of the default transaction flow to generate a modified transaction flow; and
cause the modified transaction flow to be presented on a display of the device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the request is defined, at least in part, by the first instructions, and wherein the first instructions are associated with payment service functionality provided to the merchant as part of a software development kit (SDK) associated with the payment service.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein modifying the default transaction flow comprises generating at least one modified user interface (UI) that is not included in a standard set of UIs associated with the one or more steps of the default transaction flow.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first instructions are associated with an application programming interface (API).

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the modified transaction flow is associated with a condition, specified by the merchant, that, when triggered, causes the modified transaction flow to be presented via the display instead of the default transaction flow.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the request specifies a first set of parameters for triggering a modification to the one or more steps.

7. A method comprising:
receiving, at a first application executing on a computing device associated with a merchant, a request associated with at least one of a modification to one or more steps of a default transaction flow, an addition of a step to the default transaction flow, or an omission of a step of the default transaction flow, wherein the first application is developed by a payment service and the request is received (i) from a second application developed on or for the merchant and (ii) via payment service payment functionality provisioned to the second application from the payment service;
determining, by the first application, that the default transaction flow is to be modified based on the request;
modifying, by the first application, the default transaction flow to generate a modified transaction flow; and
causing, by the first application, the modified transaction flow to be presented on a display associated with the computing device.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein modifying the default transaction flow comprises generating a modified user interface (UI) that is presented during the modified transaction flow, wherein at least a portion of the modified UI is generated based on a specification defined by the merchant.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein modifying the default transaction flow comprises modifying a user interface (UI) of the default transaction flow and other UIs associated with a standard payment flow.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the modified transaction flow is associated with a condition, specified by the merchant, that, when triggered, causes the modified transaction flow to be presented via the display instead of the default transaction flow.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising identifying a set of parameters in the request for triggering a modification to the default transaction flow.

12. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable by one or more processors that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
receiving, at a first application executing on a computing device associated with a merchant, a request to modify one or more steps of a default transaction flow, wherein the first application is developed by a payment service and the request is received (i) from a second application developed on or for the merchant and (ii) via payment service payment functionality provisioned to the second application from the payment service;
determining, by the first application, that the one or more steps of the default transaction flow are to be modified based on the request;
modifying, by the first application, the one or more steps of the default transaction flow to generate a modified transaction flow; and
causing, by the first application, the modified transaction flow to be presented on a display associated with the computing device.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as claim 12 recites, wherein modifying the default transaction flow comprises generating a modified user interface (UI) that is presented during the modified transaction flow.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as claim 12 recites, wherein the modified transaction flow is associated with a condition, specified by the merchant, that, when triggered, causes the modified transaction flow to be presented via the display instead of the default transaction flow.

15. The system as claim 1 recites, wherein the merchant specifies a modification to the one or more steps of the default transaction flow via an input received by the first application, and the request received by the second application is based on the input.

16. The system as claim 5 recites, wherein the condition is associated with an identity of a user.

17. The system as claim 6 recites, wherein the modification to the one or more steps comprises at least one of an addition of a new step, an omission of an existing step, or a customization to an existing step.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as claim 12 recites, wherein the merchant specifies a modification to the one or more steps of the default transaction flow via an input received by the second application, and the request received by the first application is based on the input.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as claim 12 recites, wherein the request specifies a first set of parameters for triggering a modification to the one or more steps, and wherein the modification to the one or more steps comprises at least one of an addition of a new step, an omission of an existing step, or a customization to an existing step.

20. The system as claim 1 recites, wherein modifying the one or more steps of the default transaction flow comprises at least one of (i) modifying a number of steps in the default transaction flow, or (ii) modifying an aspect of an individual step of the one or more steps.

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Wolter Jonathan Andrew
• Ricau Pierre-Yves
• Dickerson Robert

Classifications

• G07G5/00

  Receipt-giving machines · CPC title

• G06Q20/20

  Point-of-sale [POS] network systems · CPC title

• G06Q20/085 Primary

  involving remote charge determination or related payment systems · CPC title

• G06Q20/202

  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 title