System and method for capturing token data with a portable computing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9349063-B2
Application number	US-201113048422-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2011
Priority date	Oct 22, 2010
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A system and method for collecting and managing information taken from tokens, like credit cards and gift cards, includes a portable computing device (PCD). The PCD may support a token recognizer that may comprise hardware and/or software that may reside in memory of the PCD. The token recognizer may work in combination with a camera. The token recognizer may comprise a broad recognizer module and an optical character recognition (“OCR”) module. The camera of the PCD may capture images of one or more physical tokens. These captured images of the physical tokens may be processed by the token recognizer so that digital images as well as data provided by the physical tokens may be maintained in memory of the PCD for later presentation to the user. These later presentations on the PCD may be used for account management and for conducting transactions, such as making payment at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for capturing information from physical tokens with a portable computing device:
creating a first image of a first side of a token with a portable computing device;
identifying a position of the token contained within the first image;
conducting a broad recognition scan of the first side of the token to determine whether the token is supported by a mobile wallet system;
if the token is supported by the mobile wallet system: conducting optical character recognition of the first image of the first side of the token to retrieve consumer information based on a source identified for the token; and storing the retrieved consumer information on the portable computing device; and
if the token is not supported by the mobile wallet system: creating a second image of a second side of the token; and transmitting the first and second images of the respective first and second sides of the token to a server associated with the mobile wallet system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the source comprises at least one of a name of a merchant, a vendor, and a service provider.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving a relative position of one or more fields of interest for the token, the relative position corresponding to a match in a database for the source of the token.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the server matches the unsupported token to a predetermined threshold of other unsupported tokens.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising conducting optical character recognition of the second side of the token to retrieve consumer information based on the source identified for the token.

6. A computer system for capturing information from physical tokens with a portable computing device, the system comprising:
a processor operable for:
creating a first image of a first side of a token with a portable computing device;
identifying a position of the token contained within the first image;
conducting a broad recognition scan of the first side of the token to determine whether the token ins supported by a mobile wallet system;
if the token is supported by the mobile wallet system: conducting optical character recognition of the first image of the first side of the token to retrieve consumer information based on the source identified for the token; and storing the retrieved consumer information on the portable computing device; and
if the token is not supported by the mobile wallet system: creating a second image of a second side of the token; and transmitting the first and second images of the respective first and second sides of the token to a server associated with the mobile wallet system.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the source comprises at least one of a name of a merchant, a vendor, and a service provider.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further operable for retrieving a relative position of one or more fields of interest for the token, the relative position corresponding to a match in a database for the source of the token.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the server matches the unsupported token to a predetermined threshold of other unsupported tokens.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further operable for conducting optical character recognition of the second side of the token to retrieve consumer information based on the source identified for the token.

11. A computer system for capturing information from physical tokens with a portable computing device, the system comprising:
means for creating a first image of a first side of a token with a portable computing device;
means for identifying a position of the token contained within the first image;
means for conducting a broad recognition scan of the first side of the token to determine whether the token is supported by a mobile wallet system;
means for conducting optical character recognition of the first image of the first side of the token, if the token is supported by the mobile wallet system, to retrieve consumer information based on a source identified for the token and store the retrieved consumer information on the portable computing device; and
means for creating a second image of a second side of the token, if the token is not supported by the mobile wallet system, and transmitting the first and second images of the respective first and second sides of the unsupported token to a server associated with the mobile wallet system.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the source comprises at least one of a name of a merchant, a vendor, and a service provider.

13. The system of claim 11 , further comprising means for retrieving a relative position of one or more fields of interest for the token, the relative position corresponding to a match in a database for the source of the token.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the server matches the unsupported token to a predetermined threshold of other unsupported tokens.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising means for conducting optical character recognition of the second side of the token to retrieve consumer information based on the source identified for the token.

16. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for capturing information from physical tokens with a portable computing device, said method comprising:
creating a first image of a first side of a token with a portable computing device;
identifying a position of the token contained within the first image;
conducting a broad recognition scan of the first side of the token to determine whether the token is supported by a mobile wallet system;
if the token is supported by the mobile wallet system: conducting optical character recognition of the first image of the first side of the token to retrieve consumer information based on a source identified for the token; and storing the retrieved consumer information on the portable computing device; and
if the token is not supported by the mobile wallet system: creating a second image of a second side of the token: and transmitting the first and second images of the respective first and second sides of the token to a server associated with the mobile wallet system.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the source comprises at least one of a name of a merchant, a vendor, and a service provider.

18. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the program code implementing the method further comprises retrieving a relative position of one or more fields of interest for the token, the relative position corresponding to a match in a database for the source of the token.

19. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the server matches the unsupported token to a predetermined threshold of other unsupported tokens.

20. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the program code implementing the method further comprises conducting optical character recognition of the second side of the token to retrieve consumer information based on the source identified for the token.

Assignees

• Smith Steven M
• Dessert Robert L
• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Smith Steven M
• Dessert Robert L

Classifications

• G06Q20/12 Primary

  specially adapted for electronic shopping systems · CPC title

• G06V30/1448

  based on markings or identifiers characterising the document or the area · CPC title

• G06Q20/322

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

• G06Q20/3274

  using a pictured code, e.g. barcode or QR-code, being displayed on the M-device · CPC title

• G06Q20/34

  using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cards · CPC title