Reusable bag with integrated wireless identifier and methods of operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021125171-A1
Application number	US-201916664460-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 25, 2019
Priority date	Oct 25, 2019
Publication date	Apr 29, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A wireless tag is integrated into a reusable bag. The tag is registered to a payment account. During a transaction, a unique identifier for the tag is wirelessly acquired from the bag and linked to the payment account. When checkout for the transaction is required, the transaction price for the transaction is charged against the linked account without requiring any additional payment screens or payment interfaces at a transaction terminal where the transaction is being processed. In an embodiment, custom use, price, item type, store type, and/or weight restrictions with respect to the transaction and registered with the tag are enforced during checkout by the transaction terminal.

First claim

1 . A method, comprising:
receiving a unique identifier from a wireless tag integrated into a bag during a transaction at a transaction terminal; obtaining a payment account linked to the unique identifier; and processing at least a portion of a transaction total for the transaction against the payment account for a checkout of the transaction at the transaction terminal.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving further includes receiving the unique identifier from a vertically integrated bagging scale of the transaction terminal as the bag hangs from the vertically integrated bagging scale.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving further includes receiving the unique identifier from a wireless tag reader integrated into the transaction terminal.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving further includes receiving the unique identifier at: a start of the transaction, during the transaction, or when a checkout option for the checkout is selected on the transaction terminal.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining further includes obtaining transaction-based restrictions associated with the payment account or the unique identifier.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein processing further includes enforcing the transaction-based restrictions to process a first portion of the transaction total against the payment account.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein enforcing further includes obtaining a second portion of the transaction total from a different account or cash provided by a customer associated with the transaction.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein processing further includes processing an entire amount of the transaction total against the payment account.

9 . The method of claim 8 further comprising, concluding the checkout without presenting any payment screens on a display of the transaction terminal and as soon as a checkout option is selected on the transaction terminal.

10 . The method of claim 1 further comprising, reporting the at least a portion of the transaction total and transaction details to a tag account manager that manages the unique identifier associated with the wireless tag.

11 . A method, comprising:
registering a payment account to a unique identifier associated with wireless tag of a reusable bag; and providing an account identifier for the payment account to a transaction terminal when the transaction terminal provides the unique identifier after reading the wireless tag from the reusable bag for a transaction being processed on the transaction terminal.

12 . The method of claim 11 further comprising, changing the payment account to a different payment account upon direction from a registered user associated with the payment account and the unique identifier of the wireless tag

13 . The method of claim 11 further comprising, sending instructions to a mobile application of a registered user operating a mobile device, wherein the instructions provided by the mobile application to the wireless tag to change the unique identifier of the wireless tag to a different unique identifier.

14 . The method of claim 11 further comprising, transferring funds from a different payment account to the payment account upon direction of a registered user associated with the payment account and the unique identifier of the wireless tag to credit an amount for use with the payment account.

15 . The method of claim 11 further comprising, detecting, by a wireless transceiver of the vertically integrated weigh scale, a wireless tag associated with the new bag and reporting a bag identifier associated with the wireless tag to the transaction manager.

16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein registering further includes receiving the unique identifier from a mobile device operated by a user when a camera of the mobile device captures an image of a Quick Response (QR) code on the reusable bag, the wireless tag, or a sticker/label attached to the reusable bag, and initiating a registration interface on the mobile device to register payment account with the unique identifier and the user.

17 . The method of claim 11 , wherein registering further includes receiving custom rules associated with using the payment account for transaction payments from a registered user associated with the payment account and the unique identifier of the wireless tag

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein providing further includes providing the custom rules to the transaction terminal for enforcement against usage of the payment account as a transaction payment for the transaction.

19 . A system comprising:
a server comprising a server processor and a server non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable instructions representing a bag manager; a transaction terminal comprising a transaction processor and a transaction non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable instructions representing a transaction manager; a reusable bag comprising an integrated wireless tag; the bag manager when executed by the server processor from the server non-transitory computer-readable storage medium causes the server processor to:
link a payment account to a unique identifier associated with the integrated wireless tag; and
provide an account identifier for the payment account to the transaction manager during a transaction when the transaction manager provides the unique identifier;
the transaction manager when executed by the transaction processor from the transaction non-transitory computer-readable storage medium causes the transaction processor to:
wirelessly read the unique identifier from the integrated wireless tag of reusable bag during the transaction;
provide the unique identifier to the bag manager;
obtain the account identifier for the payment account from the bag manager; and
process at least a portion of a transaction total price for the transaction against the payment account using the account identifier
when a checkout option is selected from a transaction interface of the transaction terminal.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the integrated wireless tag is: a passive wireless tag, an active wireless tag, a combination passive and active wireless tag, or a smart wireless tag.

Assignees

• Ncr Corp

Inventors

• Perrucci Levino Felix

Classifications

• G07G1/0045

  with a code reader for reading of an identifying code of the article to be registered, e.g. barcode reader or radio-frequency identity [RFID] reader · CPC title

• G06Q20/20

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

• G06Q20/18

  involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals · CPC title

• G06Q20/405

  Establishing or using transaction specific rules · CPC title

• G06Q20/3278 Primary

  RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices · CPC title