Device fingerprinting at a merchant location

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9805370-B1
Application number	US-201615087581-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 31, 2016
Priority date	Mar 31, 2016
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

In some examples, methods and systems may process one or more payment transactions between a merchant and a buyer by registering a communication device as an authorization instrument to the payment transaction. To this end, the method includes detecting at least one transaction activity associated with a payment system, establishing a communication channel between the POS terminal an RF communication device in proximity to the POS terminal. Then obtaining at least one device characteristic of the communication device, wherein the device characteristic is related to the operational or physical features of the communication device; generating a digital fingerprint based in part on the obtained device characteristic and the information related to received payment object; determining whether the digital fingerprint substantially compares to an existing fingerprint in a database and if the existing fingerprint is substantially similar to the digital fingerprint, authorizing the payment transaction through presence of the communication device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of processing a payment transaction between a buyer and a merchant associated with a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, the method comprising:
receiving information associated with at least one payment object, the at least one payment object having been read by a payment card reader in the payment transaction, the payment card reader communicatively coupled to the POS terminal, wherein the payment card reader and the POS terminal together form a POS system for processing the payment transaction;
transmitting, by the payment card reader and to a communication device that is within a communication range of the payment card reader, one or more command and control parameters that place the communication device in a detect mode, wherein the communication range is based at least in part on a radio frequency (RF) communication protocol;
detecting, via a RF transceiver of the payment card reader and in response to transmitting the one or more command and control parameters, the communication device within a communication range of the payment card reader, wherein the communication range is based at least in part on a RF communication protocol;
establishing, as per the RF communication protocol, a communication channel between the payment card reader and the communication device;
obtaining, by the payment card reader and through the communication channel, at least one device characteristic corresponding to the communication device, wherein the at least one device characteristic comprises at least one of a timing parameter, radiated performance, radio frequency response, and an engineering tolerance;
generating, by the payment card reader, a profile of the communication device, the profile comprising a device-payment object relationship based at least in part on the at least one device characteristic and information associated with the at least one payment object;
transmitting the profile of the communication device to a payment processing system communicatively coupled to the payment card reader;
comparing, by the payment processing system, the profile of the communication device with a buyer profile stored within a database, wherein the buyer profile includes an association of a previously obtained device characteristic with information identifying a previously received payment object;
determining that the profile of the communication device has been deemed substantially similar to the buyer profile; and
authorizing, via the payment processing system and through presence of the communication device, the payment transaction, wherein the authorizing includes transfer of an amount of funds corresponding to the payment transaction from a financial account of the buyer to a financial account of the merchant.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
establishing a second communication channel between the POS terminal and the communication device;
obtaining, by the POS terminal and through the second communication channel, the at least one device characteristic corresponding to the communication device;
generating, by the POS terminal, a second profile of the communication device based at least in part on the at least one device characteristic from the POS terminal and the information associated with the at least one payment object;
transmitting the second profile of the communication device to a payment processing system communicatively coupled to the POS terminal;
corroborating, using the payment processing system, the second profile;
determining another device separate from the communication device, based at least in part on the corroboration; and
recalibrating the authorizing based at least in part on the corroboration.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating the profile of the communication device comprises generating the profile of the communication device using a tokenization technique.

4. A computer-implemented method of processing a payment transaction between a buyer and a merchant using a payment system, the method comprising:
detecting at least one transaction activity associated with the payment system, wherein the payment system includes at least a payment object reader and a point-of-sale (POS) terminal;
transmitting, by the payment object reader and to a communication device that is within a communication range of the payment object reader, one or more command and control parameters that place the communication device in a detect mode;
detecting, by the payment object reader and in response to transmitting the one or more command and control parameters, the communication device;
establishing a communication channel between the payment object reader and the communication device, wherein the communication range is based at least in part on a communication protocol;
obtaining, through the communication channel, at least one device characteristic corresponding to the communication device, wherein the at least one device characteristic includes at least one of a timing parameter, radiated performance, radio frequency response, and an engineering tolerance;
generating, by the payment system, a digital signature of the communication device based at least in part on the device characteristic and information related to a payment object;
determining that the digital signature of the communication device has been deemed substantially similar to an existing digital signature in a database, wherein the existing digital signature includes an association of a previously obtained device characteristic with information identifying a previously received payment object;
determining that the existing digital signature has been deemed substantially similar to the digital signature of the communication device; and
authorizing the payment transaction through presence of the communication device.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the transaction activity includes one of (a) the payment object being introduced in proximity to the payment system; (b) accessing a payment account; (c) retrieving a transaction history; (d) approving authenticity of an action; and (e) detecting the payment transaction.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising transmitting the digital signature of the communication device to a payment processing system communicatively coupled to the payment system.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising storing the digital signature in the database.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein establishing the communication channel between the payment object reader and the communication device includes:
detecting a list of available communication ports of the communication device; and
selecting a communication port from amongst the available communication ports for communicating with the communication device.

9. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
establishing one or more communication channels between a plurality of components within the payment object reader and the communication device through a communication port;
obtaining, by each of the plurality of components and through the one or more communication channels, the at least one device characteristic corresponding to the communication device;
generating, by each of the plurality of components, instances of digital signatures corresponding to the communication device based at least in part on the at least one device characteristic;
corroborating the instances of the digital signatures to determine the authenticity of the communication device in relation to the transaction activity.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining another component separate from the communication device, based at least in part on the corroboration; and
recalibrating the a

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Quigley Oliver S C
• Mulliner Collin

Classifications

• H04L63/0861

  using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231) · CPC title

• H04W12/06

  Authentication · CPC title

• G06Q20/206

  comprising security or operator identification provisions, e.g. password entry · CPC title

• G06Q20/4014 Primary

  Identity check for transactions · CPC title

• H04W4/021

  Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences · CPC title