Merchant point of sale security system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10891602-B2
Application number	US-201715495758-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 24, 2017
Priority date	Aug 28, 2013
Publication date	Jan 12, 2021
Grant date	Jan 12, 2021

Abstract

A point of sale (POS) security system includes a POS device including a non-transitory memory, one or more hardware processors, and one or more environment sensors. A plurality of POS instructions are located on the non-transitory memory in the POS device and executable by the one or more hardware processors in the POS device to provide a POS engine that is configured to receive and transmit payment information for conducting a payment transaction associated with a purchase. A plurality of security instructions are located on the non-transitory memory in the POS device and are executable by the one or more hardware processors in the POS device to provide a security engine that is configured to receive environment signals from the one or more environment sensors in the POS device and analyze those environment signals to determine a security breach.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method for providing security to point of sale (POS) devices, comprising:
receiving first environment signals from a first environment sensor of a first POS device and second environment signals from second environment sensor of a second POS device, the first environment signals and the second environment signals indicative of a wireless signal quality of a wireless environment at one or more of the first POS device and the second POS device;
analyzing the first environment signals and the second environment signals to determine a wireless signal quality change in the wireless environment that is indicative of a security breach;
providing a security breach result of the analyzing via a user interface;
determining whether to transition at least one of the first POS device or the second POS device from executing purchase instructions for conducting purchase transactions within a first time period to executing security instructions within a second time period; and
determining whether to transition a customer engagement device from executing customer purchase instructions for conducting customer purchase transactions within a third time period to executing customer security instructions within a fourth time period.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving third environment signals received from a peripheral device environment sensor to the first POS device, wherein the first POS device analyzes the third environment signals to determine the security breach.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
analyzing signal quality of the first environment signals and the second environment signals in accordance with a sensitivity setting to determine that the wireless signal quality change in the wireless signal quality of the wireless environment is indicative of the security breach.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting a communication to a management device to cause the management device to display, in the user interface, a location, in the wireless environment, of the wireless signal quality change.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving audio information provided by the first environment sensor on the first POS device in response to audio generated by the second POS device; and
analyzing the audio information to detect motion that is indicative of the security breach.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining whether to transition at least one of the first POS device or the second POS device is based on one or more of a location of each of the first POS device and the second POS device and respective types of the first environmental sensors and the second environmental sensors.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first POS device is configured to execute a portion of the security instructions in background while executing the purchase instructions.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first POS device is configured to transition to executing the security instructions when docked with a docking station that provides power to the first POS device.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving from at least one of the first POS device, the second POS device, or the customer engagement device, additional data sensed by the at least one of the first POS device, the second POS device, or the customer engagement device during a payment transaction; and
processing the additional data during the payment transaction.

10. A device, comprising:
a non-transitory memory storing instructions; and
a processor configured to execute the instructions to cause the device to:
receive first environment signals from a first environment sensor of a first POS device and second environment signals from a second environment sensor of a second POS device, the first environment signals and the second environment signals indicative of a wireless signal quality of a wireless environment at one or more of the first POS device and the second POS device;
analyze the first environment signals and the second environment signals to determine a wireless signal quality change in the wireless environment that is indicative of a security breach;
provide a result of analyzing the first environment signals and the second environment signals via a user interface;
determine whether to transition at least one of the first POS device or the second POS device from executing purchase instructions for conducting purchase transactions within a first time period to executing security instructions within a second time period; and
determine whether to transition a customer engagement device from executing customer purchase instructions for conducting customer purchase transactions within a third time period to executing customer security instructions within a fourth time period.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein executing the instructions further causes the device to,
analyze signal quality of the first environment signals and the second environment signals in accordance with a sensitivity setting to determine that the wireless signal quality change in the wireless signal quality of the wireless environment is indicative of the security breach.

12. The device of claim 10 , wherein executing the instructions further causes the device to,
receive audio information provided by the first environment sensor on the first POS device in response to audio generated by the second POS device; and
analyze the audio information to detect motion that is indicative of the security breach.

13. The device of claim 10 , wherein the determining whether to transition at least one of the first POS device or the second POS device is based on one or more of a location of each of the first POS device and the second POS device and respective types of the first environmental sensor and the second environmental sensor.

14. The device of claim 10 , wherein the first POS device is configured to execute a portion of the security instructions in background while executing the purchase instructions.

15. The device of claim 10 , wherein executing the instructions further causes the device to,
receive from at least one of the first POS device, the second POS device, or the customer engagement device, additional data sensed by the at least one of the first POS device, the second POS device, or the customer engagement device during a payment transaction; and
processing the additional data during the payment transaction.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions executable to cause performance of operations comprising:
receiving first environment signals from a first environment sensor of a first POS device and second environment signals from a second environment sensor of a second POS device, the first environment signals and the second environment signals indicative of a wireless signal quality of a wireless environment at one or more of the first POS device and the second POS device;
analyzing the first environment signals and the second environment signals to determine a wireless signal quality change in the wireless environment that is indicative of a security breach;
providing an indication of the security breach via a user interface based on the analyzing;
after providing the indication via the user interface, determining whether to transition at least one of the first POS device or the second POS device from executing purchase instructions for conducting purchase transactions within a first time period to executing security instructions within a second time period; and
determining wheth

Assignees

• Paypal Inc

Inventors

• Nichols Timothy C
• Khanna Ramaneek
• Chatterton Geoffrey W

Classifications

• G06Q20/20 Primary

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

• G06Q20/4016

  involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing · CPC title

• G07G3/00

  Alarm indicators, e.g. bells · CPC title