IP Library Granted Patent US 11,663,565
Granted Patent B2
US 11,663,565 · App. 17/497,116 · Granted May 30, 2023

Payment proxy including a user-defined identifier

Inventors: Brian Grassadonia (San Francisco, CA); Jesse Wilson (Waterloo, CA); Ayokunle Omojola (San Francisco, CA); Robert Andersen (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee: BLOCK, INC.
G06Q20/0855G06Q20/10G06Q20/16G06Q20/305G06Q20/3223G06Q20/3224G06Q20/34G06Q20/405G06Q50/01H04L41/0293H04L51/046
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,663,565
App. No.
17/497,116
Granted
May 30, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

In some examples, a system generates an identifier for association with a user financial account. The identifier may have a syntax including a currency indicator and a string including one or more characters concatenated together such that the currency indicator appears immediately before the string. The system generates a user-defined identifier and maps, in a database, the user-defined identifier to the user financial account. The system receives a message indicating an intent to transfer funds from a sending user to a receiving user. The message may include the user-defined identifier in lieu of account information of the user financial account, to identify the user as the receiving user. The system parses the message to identify the user-defined identifier and accesses the account information of the user financial account using the identifier. The system initiates a transfer of funds from the sending user account to the user financial account.

Claims (64)

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a payment service system and from an application executing on a mobile device of a user, a request to generate a user-defined identifier for indicating a financial account of the user, wherein the user-defined identifier has a syntax comprising a symbol followed by a string of one or more characters comprising at least one letter, wherein the symbol and the string are concatenated such that the symbol appears immediately before the string;

generating, by the payment service system and based at least in part on receiving the request from the application executing on the mobile device of the user, the user-defined identifier;

mapping, by the payment service system and in a database associated with the payment service system, the user-defined identifier to the financial account of the user, the mapping enabling at least in part the user-defined identifier to indicate the financial account of the user, wherein the financial account is associated with financial account information;

receiving, by the payment service system, a message from a sending user to a receiving user, the message including the user-defined identifier;

parsing, by the payment service system, the message to identify the user-defined identifier;

using, by the payment service system, at least one of a statistical parsing model or natural language processing that evaluates at least one of context or content of the message in comparison with at least one of context or content of at least one other message to determine an intent to transfer funds from the sending user to the receiving user, wherein the message identifies the user as the receiving user based on the user-defined identifier included in the message;

based at least in part on identifying the user-defined identifier in the message, accessing, by the payment service system, the financial account information associated with the financial account of the user using the identified user-defined identifier; and

based at least in part on determining the intent to transfer funds and accessing the financial account information associated with the financial account of the user, initiating, by the payment service system, the transfer of funds from a financial account of the sending user to the financial account of the user.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the string comprises the at least one letter and further comprises at least one of:

one or more additional letters; or

one or more numbers.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the intent is further determined based in part on the user-defined identifier being included in the message.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein receiving the message, parsing the message, and initiating the transfer of funds is performed in real time while the user and the sending user exchange one or more messages including the message determined to indicate the intent to transfer funds.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein initiating, by the payment service system, the transfer of funds from the financial account of the sending user to the financial account of the user comprises initiating the transfer of funds from a first account of the sending user to a second account of the receiving user, wherein the second account is identified as the financial account of the user based on the user-defined identifier.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , the method further comprising:

establishing, by the payment service system, a connection to a messaging platform configured to operate real-time messaging between the user and at least the sending user through communication with a messaging application executing on the mobile device of the user, the payment service system having access, via the connection to the messaging platform, to an identity of the user and an identity of the sending user as registered with the messaging platform; and

detecting, by the payment service system in real-time via the connection to the messaging platform and based on one or more messages exchanged between the sending user and the user, the message determined to indicate the intent to transfer funds from the sending user to the user.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising receiving,

by the payment service system and from the application executing on the mobile device of the user, the message determined to indicate the intent to transfer funds.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

providing, by the payment service system, to a device associated with the sending user, a webpage including an interactive element presented with the webpage, the webpage with the interactive element generated based on the user-defined identifier of the user,

wherein receipt, by the payment service system, of an indication of interaction with the interactive element via the device associated with the sending user at least partially causes the payment service system to initiate the transfer of funds from the financial account of the sending user to the financial account of the user based at least in part on the user-defined identifier.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein providing the webpage further comprises:

determining a default amount of funds to transfer from the financial account of the sending user to the financial account of the user based on at least one of: a preconfigured default amount associated with the user-defined identifier, or a default amount determined for a transaction type detected from the message; and

adding, by the payment service system, the default amount to the webpage when configuring the webpage.

10. The method as recited in claim 8 , further comprising generating the webpage at least in part in response to receiving the message from the device associated with the sending user, the message including the user-defined identifier of the user and a payment amount.

11. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising sending a communication to a device associated with the sending user, the communication including a link to a uniform resource locator, wherein selection of the link directs an application on the device associated with the sending user to a webpage that enables the sending user to provide account information for the financial account of the sending user.

12. A system comprising:

one or more processors of a payment service system configured by executable instructions to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors and from an application executing on a mobile device of a user, a request to generate a user-defined identifier for indicating a financial account of the user, wherein the user-defined identifier has a syntax comprising a symbol followed by a string of one or more characters comprising at least one letter, wherein the symbol and the string are concatenated such that the symbol appears immediately before the string;

generating, by the one or more processors and based at least in part on receiving the request from the application executing on the mobile device of the user, the user-defined identifier;

mapping, by the one or more processors and in a database associated with the payment service system, the user-defined identifier to the financial account of the user, the mapping enabling at least in part the user-defined identifier to indicate the financial account of the user, wherein the financial account is associated with financial account information;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a message from a sending user to a receiving user, the message including the user-defined identifier;

parsing, by the payment service system, the message to identify the user-defined identifier;

using, by the payment service system, at least one of a statistical parsing model or natural language processing that evaluates at least one of context or content of the message in comparison with at least one of context or content of at least one other message to determine an intent to transfer funds from the sending user to the receiving user, wherein the message identifies the user as the receiving user based on the user-defined identifier included in the message;

based at least in part on identifying the user-defined identifier in the message, accessing, by the one or more processors, the financial account information associated with the financial account of the user using the identified user-defined identifier; and

based at least in part on determining the intent to transfer funds and accessing the financial account information associated with the financial account of the user, initiating, by the one or more processors, the transfer of funds from a financial account of the sending user to the financial account of the user.

13. The system as recited in claim 12 , wherein the string comprises the at least one letter and further comprises at least one of:

one or more additional letters; or

one or more numbers.

14. The system as recited in claim 12 , wherein the intent is further determined based in part on the user-defined identifier being included in the message.

15. The system as recited in claim 12 , the operations further comprising:

establishing, by the payment service system, a connection to a messaging platform configured to operate real-time messaging between the user and at least the sending user through communication with a messaging application executing on the mobile device of the user, the payment service system having access, via the connection to the messaging platform, to an identity of the user and an identity of the sending user as registered with the messaging platform; and

detecting, by the payment service system in real-time via the connection to the messaging platform and based on one or more messages exchanged between the sending user and the user, the message determined to indicate the intent to transfer funds from the sending user to the user.

16. The system as recited in claim 12 , the operations further comprising:

providing, by the payment service system, to a device associated with the sending user, a webpage including an interactive element presented with the webpage, the webpage with the interactive element generated based on the user-defined identifier of the user,

wherein receipt, by the payment service system, of an indication of interaction with the interactive element via the device associated with the sending user at least partially causes the payment service system to initiate the transfer of funds from the financial account of the sending user to the financial account of the user based at least in part on the user-defined identifier.

17. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors and from an application executing on a mobile device of a user, a request to generate a user-defined identifier for indicating a financial account of the user, wherein the user-defined identifier has a syntax comprising a symbol followed by a string of one or more characters comprising at least one letter, wherein the symbol and the string are concatenated such that the symbol appears immediately before the string;

generating, by the one or more processors and based at least in part on receiving the request from the application executing on the mobile device of the user, the user-defined identifier;

mapping, by the one or more processors and in a database associated with the payment service system, the user-defined identifier to the financial account of the user, the mapping enabling at least in part the user-defined identifier to indicate the financial account of the user, wherein the financial account is associated with financial account information;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a message from a sending user to a receiving user, the message including the user-defined identifier;

parsing, by the payment service system, the message to identify the user-defined identifier;

using, by the payment service system, at least one of a statistical parsing model or natural language processing that evaluates at least one of context or content of the message in comparison with at least one of context or content of at least one other message to determine an intent to transfer funds from the sending user to the receiving user, wherein the message identifies the user as the receiving user based on the user-defined identifier included in the message;

based at least in part on identifying the user-defined identifier in the message, accessing, by the one or more processors, the financial account information associated with the financial account of the user using the identified user-defined identifier; and

based at least in part on determining the intent to transfer funds and accessing the financial account information associated with the financial account of the user, initiating, by the one or more processors, the transfer of funds from a financial account of the sending user to the financial account of the user.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 17 , wherein the string comprises the at least one letter and further comprises at least one of:

one or more additional letters; or

one or more numbers.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 17 , wherein the intent is further determined based in part on the user-defined identifier being included in the message.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 17 , the operations further comprising:

providing, by the payment service system, to a device associated with the sending user, a webpage including an interactive element presented with the webpage, the webpage with the interactive element generated based on the user-defined identifier of the user,

wherein receipt, by the payment service system, of an indication of interaction with the interactive element via the device associated with the sending user at least partially causes the payment service system to initiate the transfer of funds from the financial account of the sending user to the financial account of the user based at least in part on the user-defined identifier.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jan 24, 2022
From: SQUARE, INC.
To: BLOCK, INC.
Reel/Frame 058823/0357 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 8, 2021
From: GRASSADONIA, BRIAN; WILSON, JESSE; OMOJOLA, AYOKUNLE; ANDERSEN, ROBERT
To: SQUARE, INC.
Reel/Frame 057740/0192 →
Continuity (5)
Continuation 16557622 · Aug 30, 2019
Continuation 14754362 · Jun 29, 2015
Provisional Application 62111087 · Feb 2, 2015
Provisional Application 62073844 · Oct 31, 2014
Related Publication 20220067678A1 · Mar 3, 2022
Cited By (2)
US 12,511,642 US 12,608,691