Electronic transaction processing systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12518262-B2
Application number	US-202318543551-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2023
Priority date	Apr 28, 2017
Publication date	Jan 6, 2026
Grant date	Jan 6, 2026

Abstract

The invention relates generally to the processing of electronic payments that involve an payment instrument. A payment instrument reading device is paired with a payment initiating device to allow transaction information generated by the payment initiating device to be automatically transmitted to its associated payment instrument reading device. This means that rekeying of transaction information is not required. In some embodiments one or more beacons are provided in a premises, to allow the location of a mobile payment initiating device to be determined. This location is used to either direct the payment initiating device to a payment instrument reading device, or vice versa. Transaction data generated by the payment initiating device is automatically transmitted to the payment instrument reading device. A pairing module is also provided, which is configured to pair a payment instrument reading device with a payment initiating device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
broadcasting, using a beacon, a unique signal that is receivable by each member of a payment initiating device group comprising at least one payment initiating device, the beacon having an associated unique beacon identifier; identifying the beacon using a locationing application installed on a selected payment initiating device from the payment initiating device group; transmitting, from the selected payment initiating device, a transaction request to a router by masking a network identifier of the selected payment initiating device with a unique identifier of a proxy server, the transaction request including a payment instrument reading device unique identifier corresponding to a selected payment instrument reading device that is associated with the beacon, and wherein the router is communicatively coupled to a mapping table; receiving, at the router, the transaction request; and transmitting the transaction request to the selected payment instrument reading device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , the transaction request including a unique beacon identifier, the method further comprising:
querying the mapping table based on the unique beacon identifier to identify the selected payment instrument reading device from a payment instrument reading device group comprising at least one payment instrument reading device.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
converting the transaction request into a converted transaction request; and transmitting the converted transaction request to the selected payment instrument reading device, the converted transaction request including instructions that cause the selected payment instrument reading device to initiate a transaction involving a payment instrument.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the beacon is part of a beacon group comprising a plurality of beacons, and wherein identifying the beacon using the locationing application further comprising:
identifying the beacon from the beacon group based on proximity of the beacon to the selected payment initiating device from the payment initiating device group.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether a strength of the unique signal is greater than or equal to a threshold signal strength and, in an affirmative, transmitting the transaction request to the router.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one payment initiating device in the payment initiating device group is a portable device and wherein there are the plurality of beacons in the beacon group, and wherein the method further comprises:
using the locationing application to direct a user of the portable device to a particular one of the plurality of beacons.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the locationing application directs the user to the particular one of the plurality of beacons based at least in part on:
a comparison between signal strengths of the plurality of beacons; information relating to a current usage status of at least one of the payment instrument reading devices in the payment instrument reading device group; a comparison between a number of payment initiating devices currently determined to be within payment zones that are each associated with a respective one of the plurality of beacons; and/or a comparison between a number of items in virtual shopping baskets that are each associated with the respective one of the plurality of beacons.

8 . A system comprising:
a router communicatively coupled to a mapping table; one or more payment initiating devices; one or more payment instrument reading devices; and one or more beacons, each beacon configured to broadcast a unique signal that is receivable by each of the one or more payment initiating devices, wherein the one or more payment initiating devices each include a locationing application installed thereon, the locationing application configured to:
identify a selected one of the one or more beacons; and
transmit a transaction request to the router by masking a network identifier of the selected payment initiating device with a unique identifier of a proxy server, the transaction request including a payment instrument reading device unique identifier associated with a selected one of the one or more payment instrument reading devices that is associated with the selected one of the one or more beacons;
wherein the router is configured to:
receive the transaction request; and
transmit the transaction request to the selected one of the one or more payment instrument reading devices.

9 . The system of claim 8 , the transaction request including a unique beacon identifier, the system further comprises:
query the mapping table based on the unique beacon identifier to identify the selected payment instrument reading device from a payment instrument reading device group comprising at least one payment instrument reading device.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the router further comprises a conversion module that is configured to convert the transaction request convert into a converted transaction request, the router configured to transmit the converted transaction request to the selected one of the one or more payment instrument reading device, the converted transaction request including instructions that cause the selected one of the one of more payment instrument reading device to initiate a transaction involving the payment instrument.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the locationing application is configured to identify the selected one of the one or more beacons based on proximity of a selected payment initiating device to the beacon.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the locationing application is configured to transmit the transaction request to the router only once a strength of the unique signal emitted by the selected one of the one or more beacons is greater than or equal to a threshold signal strength.

13 . The system of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the payment initiating devices is a portable device and wherein there are a plurality of beacons, further wherein the locationing application is configured to direct a user of the portable device to a particular one of the plurality of beacons.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the locationing application is configured to direct the user based at least in part on:
a comparison between signal strengths of the plurality of beacons; information relating to a current usage status of at least one of the one or more payment instrument reading devices; a comparison between a number of payment initiating devices currently determined to be within payment zones that are each associated with a respective one of the plurality of beacons; and/or a comparison between a number of items in virtual shopping baskets that are each associated with the respective one of the plurality of beacons.

15 . A non-transitory computer readable medium, the non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
broadcasting, using a beacon, a unique signal that is receivable by each member of a payment initiating device group comprising at least one payment initiating device, the beacon having an associated unique beacon identifier; identifying the beacon using a locationing application installed on a selected payment initiating device from the payment initiating device group; transmitting, from the selected payment initiating device, a transaction request to a

Assignees

• Worldpay Ltd

Inventors

• Burdsall Ben
• Vokes Jonathan Stewart

Classifications

• G07G1/0081

  the reader being a portable scanner or data reader (G07G1/009 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06Q20/352

  Contactless payments by cards · CPC title

• G06Q20/3223

  Realising banking transactions through M-devices · CPC title

• G07G1/14

  Systems including one or more distant stations co-operating with a central processing unit · CPC title

• G06Q20/322

  Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices] · CPC title