IP Library Granted Patent US 11,562,360
Granted Patent B2
US 11,562,360 · App. 17/733,962 · Granted Jan 24, 2023

Mobile device payments

Inventors: Daniel Neighman (San Francisco, CA); Eric Firestone (San Francisco, CA); Daniel Spencer (San Francisco, CA); Cameron Walters (San Francisco, CA); Sophia Huang (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee: Block, Inc.
G06Q20/4012G06Q20/20G06Q20/322G06Q20/3255G06Q20/4014
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,562,360
App. No.
17/733,962
Granted
Jan 24, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for conducting cardless payment transactions. One of the methods includes receiving, in association with a payment transaction, a message from a customer device that includes data from an optical scan of a code displayed at a merchant point-of-sale. A request to authorize a payment for the payment transaction is received from a merchant computer. Customer and merchant accounts are identified and payment data previously associated with the customer account is accessed. The payment is authorized using the payment data, and notification of authorization is sent to the merchant device or customer device.

Claims (56)

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at one or more computing devices of a payment service and in association with a transaction between a customer and a merchant, a message from a computing device of the customer, wherein the message includes data obtained via an optical scan of a code by the computing device of the customer, wherein the code is displayed at a point-of-sale of the merchant or a website of the merchant;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service and from an application executing on a computing device of the merchant, a request to authorize payment for the transaction;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, a customer account of the customer and a merchant account of the merchant based on the message received from the computing device of the customer;

accessing, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, and based on identifying the customer account of the customer, payment data previously associated with the customer account;

authorizing, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, the payment using the payment data previously associated with the customer account; and

providing, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, notification of the authorization of the payment to the application executing on the computing device of the merchant or an application executing on the computing device of the customer.

2. The computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the data comprises a merchant identifier.

3. The computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the merchant account comprises financial account information associated with the merchant.

4. The computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the one or more computing devices of the payment service process the payment without (i) the payment data being read from a payment instrument at a time of the transaction or (ii) the payment data being input by the customer at the time of the transaction.

5. The computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the message includes an amount of the payment.

6. The computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the request to authorize the payment includes an indication that the merchant has verified an identity of the customer.

7. The computer-implemented method as claim 1 recites, wherein the message comprises a first message, and the method further comprising:

sending, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, a request for approval of the payment to the computing device of the customer; and

receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, a second message from the computing device of the customer approving the payment,

wherein authorizing the payment is based at least in part on receiving the second message.

8. The computer-implemented method as claim 7 recites, further comprising:

determining, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, that the request for approval and the second message were received within a threshold period of time of each other,

wherein authorizing the payment is further based at least in part on the determining that request for approval and the second message were received within a threshold period of time of each other.

9. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

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

receiving, at one or more computing devices of a payment service and in association with a transaction between a customer and a merchant, a message from a computing device of the customer, wherein the message includes data obtained via an optical scan of a code by the computing device of the customer, wherein the code is displayed at a point-of-sale of the merchant or a website of the merchant;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service and from an application executing on a computing device of the merchant, a request to authorize payment for the transaction;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, a customer account of the customer and a merchant account of the merchant based on the message received from the computing device of the customer;

accessing, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, and based on identifying the customer account of the customer, payment data previously associated with the customer account;

authorizing, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, the payment using the payment data previously associated with the customer account; and

providing, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, notification of the authorization of the payment to the application executing on the computing device of the merchant or an application executing on the computing device of the customer.

10. The system as claim 9 recites, wherein the transaction is conducted via the website of the merchant.

11. The system as claim 10 recites, wherein the one or more computing devices of the payment service cause display of the code on the website of the merchant.

12. The system as claim 9 recites, wherein the transaction is conducted at the point-of-sale of the merchant.

13. The system as claim 12 recites, wherein the payment service causes display of the code on a point-of-sale device at the point-of-sale of the merchant.

14. The system as claim 9 recites, wherein the message comprises a first message, and the operations further comprising:

sending, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, a request for approval of the payment to the computing device of the customer;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, a second message from the computing device of the customer approving the payment; and

determining, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, that the request for approval and the second message were received within a threshold period of time of each other,

wherein authorizing the payment is based at least in part on the determining that the request for approval and the second message were received within a threshold period of time of each other.

15. The system as claim 9 recites, further comprising:

sending, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service and to the computing device of the merchant, an indication of receipt of the message from the computing device of the customer,

wherein receiving the request to authorize the payment is at least partly responsive to sending the indication of the receipt.

16. The system as claim 9 recites, wherein receiving the message from the computing device of the customer is at least partly responsive to receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service and from the computing device of the merchant, the request to authorize the payment.

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

receiving, at one or more computing devices of a payment service and in association with a transaction between a customer and a merchant, a message from a computing device of the customer, wherein the message includes data obtained via an optical scan of a code by the computing device of the customer, wherein the code is displayed at a point-of-sale of the merchant or a website of the merchant;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service and from an application executing on a computing device of the merchant, a request to authorize payment for the transaction;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, a customer account of the customer and a merchant account of the merchant based on the message received from the computing device of the customer;

accessing, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, and based on identifying the customer account of the customer, payment data previously associated with the customer account;

authorizing, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, the payment using the payment data previously associated with the customer account; and

providing, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, notification of the authorization of the payment to the application executing on the computing device of the merchant or an application executing on the computing device of the customer.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as claim 17 recites, wherein the message comprises a first message, and the operations further comprising:

sending, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, a request for approval of the payment to the computing device of the customer; and

receiving, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, a second message from the computing device of the customer approving the payment,

wherein authorizing the payment is based at least in part on receiving the second message.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as claim 18 recites, further comprising:

determining, by the one or more computing devices of the payment service, that the request for approval and the second message were received within a threshold period of time of each other,

wherein authorizing the payment is based at least in part on the determining that request for approval and the second message were received within a threshold period of time of each other.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as claim 17 recites, wherein identifying the customer account based on the message comprises identifying the customer account based at least in part on a customer identifier associated with the application executing on the computing device of the customer.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 29, 2022
From: NEIGHMAN, DANIEL; FIRESTONE, ERIC; SPENCER, DANIEL; WALTERS, CAMERON; HUANG, SOPHIA
To: SQUARE, INC.
Reel/Frame 059718/0030 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Apr 29, 2022
From: SQUARE, INC.
To: BLOCK, INC.
Reel/Frame 059837/0279 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 16528383 · Jul 31, 2019
Division 14550382 · Nov 21, 2014
Division 13831103 · Mar 14, 2013
Related Publication 20220261808A1 · Aug 18, 2022