Expedited processing of electronic payment transactions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9785930-B1
Application number	US-201615197708-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 29, 2016
Priority date	Jun 29, 2016
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

A payment terminal may receive a request to process electronic payment information from a chip card in an expedited processing mode. The payment terminal may provide an opt-in request. If a user accepts, the payment terminal may receive a request for payment and request an electronic payment response from the chip card. The payment terminal may receive the electronic payment response from the chip card and store it in memory at the payment terminal. The payment terminal may approve the payment transaction associated with the electronic payment response, allowing the chip card to be removed from the payment terminal. The payment terminal may process additional requests for payment and associate payment-type and time indicators with each electronic payment response. The payment terminal may transmit approval requests to one or more payment servers when the terminal determines they may be transmitted, and, for each request, receive a payment approval response.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for a payment terminal to process electronic payment information received from a chip card, the method comprising:
receiving, at a user interface of the payment terminal, a request to enter an expedited processing mode;
providing, at the user interface of the payment terminal, an opt-in request in response to the request to enter the expedited processing mode, wherein a user is only permitted to enter the expedited processing mode when the opt-in request is accepted by the user;
receiving, at the user interface of the payment terminal, a first request for payment;
requesting, by a processing element of the payment terminal, a first electronic payment response from a first chip card in response to the first request for payment;
checking whether a communication interface of the payment terminal is able to communicate with one or more payment servers;
storing, at a memory of the payment terminal, the first electronic payment response when the communication interface is unable to communicate with the one or more payment servers;
approving a first transaction associated with the first electronic payment response;
receiving additional requests for payment at the user interface;
requesting, by the processing element of the payment terminal, additional electronic payment responses from additional chip cards;
storing, at the memory of the payment terminal, the additional electronic payment responses;
approving additional transactions associated with the additional electronic payment responses;
determining, after storing the first electronic payment response and the additional electronic payment responses and approving the first transaction and the additional transactions, that the communication interface of the payment terminal is able to communicate with the one or more payment servers;
associating a payment-type indicator with each of the first electronic payment response and the additional electronic payment responses, wherein the payment type indicator indicates to the one or more payment servers that the first electronic payment response and the additional electronic payment responses are to be processed according to an expedited payment protocol;
transmitting, from the communication interface of the payment terminal, the first electronic payment response, the additional electronic payment responses, and the associated payment-type indicators to the one or more payment servers, wherein a standard payment protocol requires additional information from each of the chip cards to process a transaction for the chip card, wherein the expedited payment protocol causes the one or more payment servers to process the first transaction and the additional transactions without the additional information, and wherein the first transaction and the additional transactions are processed at the one or more servers according to the expedited payment protocol after the first transaction and the additional transactions are approved by the payment terminal; and
receiving, at the communication interface of the payment terminal, a payment approval response associated with each of the first electronic payment response and the additional electronic payment responses, wherein the payment approval response is based on the payment-type indicators.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
associating a time indicator with the first electronic payment response and each of the additional electronic payment responses, wherein each time indicator corresponds to a future transaction time;
transmitting each time indicator with its associated electronic payment response.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein each time indicator and its associated electronic payment response is transmitted at a time that corresponds to the time of the time indicator.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein each time indicator and its associated electronic payment response is transmitted prior to a time that corresponds to the time of the time indicator, and wherein the one or more payment servers wait until the time of the time indicator to process the electronic payment response.

5. A method for a payment terminal to process electronic payment information received from chip cards in an expedited processing mode, the method comprising:
receiving, at a user interface of the payment terminal, a first request for payment;
requesting, by a processing element of the payment terminal in response to the first request for payment, a first electronic payment response from a first chip card via a chip card interface of the payment terminal;
storing, at a memory of the payment terminal, the first electronic payment response;
approving a first transaction associated with the first electronic payment response;
receiving additional requests for payment at the user interface;
requesting, by the processing element of the payment terminal in response to the additional requests for payment, additional electronic payment responses from additional chip cards via the chip card interface;
storing the additional electronic payment responses at the memory;
approving additional transactions associated with the additional electronic payment responses;
associating a payment-type indicator with each of the first electronic payment response and the additional electronic payment responses, wherein the payment type indicator indicates to one or more payment servers that the first electronic payment response and the additional electronic payment responses are to be processed according to an expedited payment protocol;
determining, after storing the first electronic payment response and the additional electronic payment responses and approving the first transaction and the additional transactions, that payment approval requests may be transmitted to the one or more payment servers, wherein each payment approval request comprises one of the first electronic payment response or the additional electronic payment responses, and for each one of the electronic payment responses, its associated payment-type indicator; and
transmitting, from a communication interface of the payment terminal to the one or more payment servers, the payment approval requests, wherein a standard payment protocol requires additional information from each of the chip cards to process a transaction for the chip card, wherein the expedited payment protocol causes the one or more payment servers to process the first transaction and the additional transactions without the additional information, and wherein the first transaction and the additional transactions are processed at the one or more servers according to the expedited payment protocol after the first transaction and the additional transactions are approved by the payment terminal.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving, at the user interface of the payment terminal, a request to enter the expedited processing mode; and
providing, at the user interface of the payment terminal, an opt-in request in response to the request to enter the expedited processing mode, wherein a user is only permitted to execute the steps of the expedited processing mode when the opt-in request is accepted by the user.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
checking whether the communication interface of the payment terminal is able to communicate with the one or more payment servers after receiving the first payment response; and
transmitting, from the communication interface when it is able to communicate, the first electronic payment response to the one or more payment servers prior to receiving the additional electronic payment responses.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein determining that payment approval requests may be transmitted comprises determining th

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Terra David
• Han Koun
• White Michael Wells

Classifications

• G06Q20/3278

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

• G06Q20/352

  Contactless payments by cards · CPC title

• G06Q20/102

  Bill distribution or payments · CPC title

• G06Q20/204 Primary

  comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit · CPC title

• G06Q20/341

  Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip · CPC title