SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING AN IN-STORE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE WITHOUT USING A STORE-SPECIFIC DOWNLOADED APPLICATION
A store system processes in-store purchases by creating a shopping session for a shopper upon entry into a brick-and-mortar store. During the session, the system determines item-selection data for one or more items and stores a record linking the session (or shopper) identifier to the selected item identifiers. At checkout time or upon exit, the system receives a payment authorization from the shopper's mobile device, associates the authorized payment data with the stored session record, and processes payment for the selected items. In one implementation, an entry credential is captured at an entrance region to establish an identified in-store session, and payment is automatically processed when the shopper departs an exit region, without requiring download, installation, or execution of a store-specific application on the shopper's mobile device.
1 . A method of processing an in-store purchase in a brick-and-mortar store, comprising:
detecting, by a store system, entry of a shopper into a store and creating an in-store shopping session having a session identifier and that does not identify the shopper;
during the in-store shopping session, determining item-selection data indicating at least one item associated with the in-store shopping session and storing a session record that links the session identifier to an item identifier for the at least one item;
receiving, at an exit station of the store and from a mobile device or payment card of the shopper, a payment authorization comprising authorized payment data;
responsive to receiving the payment authorization, associating the payment authorization with the session record to yield an association; and
processing, based on the association, a payment for the at least one item.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising one or more steps of:
determining the item-selection data by tracking movement of the shopper using cameras and detecting, from image data, a pick-up event corresponding to the at least one item;
determining the item-selection data by correlating movement of the mobile device with movement of an item-associated tag to associate the at least one item with the mobile device; and
receiving the payment authorization by invoking, by a payment application executing on the mobile device, a payment interface to obtain tokenized authorized payment data for the at least one item.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein installation or execution of a store-specific application on the mobile device for the store is not required, and wherein the payment authorization is received from a generalized payment application executing on the mobile device.
4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising one or more steps of:
causing the mobile device to present a payment interface obtained by scanning a machine-readable code or interacting with a proximity-based identifier in the store, wherein the payment interface is executed without installing a persistent store-specific application on the mobile device; and
outputting a purchase-confirmation indication usable to permit the shopper to exit the store with the at least one item.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
receiving the payment authorization comprises establishing, via a merchant device located at an exit region of the store, a communication between the merchant device and the mobile device via a wireless link, the communication being associated with a purchase;
processing the payment further comprises receiving a user payment confirmation as a security measure to identify the shopper and to prevent unauthorized purchases; and
payment data is retrieved from a memory of the mobile device based on the user payment confirmation.
6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising transmitting, via the wireless link and using a payment protocol to receive payment data from the mobile device and transmit commands to the mobile device, a signal to the mobile device that causes the mobile device, without any user interaction with the mobile device, to launch a payment application on the mobile device and to place the mobile device in a state to next receive a user payment confirmation to finalize the purchase and, after receiving the user payment confirmation, to transmit the payment data to the merchant device.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
receiving the payment authorization comprises establishing, via the store system, a communication with the mobile device via a wireless link to obtain an established communication, the communication being associated with a purchase and achieved according to a protocol for communicating payment data;
when a payment confirmation comprising a multimodal input security measure that identifies the shopper to prevent unauthorized purchases is received by the mobile device before the established communication, the store system receives payment data retrieved from a memory of the mobile device to make the purchase independent of any user interaction with the mobile device after the established communication; and
when the payment confirmation is received after the established communication, the store system transmits a signal to the mobile device in the established communication, the signal causing the mobile device automatically to launch a payment application before the mobile device receives the payment confirmation from the shopper, the payment application instructing the shopper to provide the payment confirmation, and the store system receives the payment data via the wireless link based on the payment confirmation.
8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
processing a payment for the at least one item based on the association further comprises processing the payment while maintaining anonymity of the shopper relative to the store.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the payment authorization comprises receiving, via a near-field communication (NFC) interface at the exit station, tokenized authorized payment data from a mobile-wallet application executing on the user device.
10 . A method of processing an in-store purchase in a brick-and-mortar store, the method comprising:
receiving, by a store system, an entry credential at an entry station of a store, wherein the entry credential: (i) is associated with a user device or payment card of a shopper; or (ii) is obtained from a biometric identification of the shopper;
establishing an in-store session associated with the entry credential;
during the in-store session, identifying at least one item selected by the shopper;
storing a session record that links entry credential to an item identifier for the at least one item; and
in connection with the shopper departing an exit region of the store, processing payment for the at least one item based on the session record and a payment credential, wherein the payment credential is retrieved based on the entry credential and wherein the method is performed without requiring download, installation or execution of a store-specific application on the user device.
11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising one or more steps of:
receiving the entry credential when the shopper inserts, taps, or swipes the payment card at the entry station;
receiving the entry credential when the shopper presents a mobile-wallet credential at the entry station; and
receiving the entry credential when the shopper provides biometric data at the entry station.
12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising one or more steps of:
determining item-selection data associated with identifying the at least one item by tracking the shopper using in-store cameras and associating a detected pick-up event for the at least one item with the entry credential;
determining the item-selection data by receiving, by the user device, a wireless signal from a tag associated with the at least one item and associating the tag with the in-store session;
processing payment without requiring the shopper to present a credential, scan a code, or interact with a point-of-sale device at the exit region; and
processing payment by using a tokenized payment credential that does not reveal a card number of the shopper to the store system.
13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein processing the payment responsive to the shopper departing the exit region occurs without requiring the shopper to present a credential, scan a code, use the user device, or interact with a point-of-sale device at the exit region.
14 . A method for purchasing at least one item at a brick-and-mortar store, comprising:
storing, in memory of a server system, enrollment data for a user that includes biometric enrollment data and associating the biometric enrollment data with a payment credential used for purchase transactions;
identifying the user based on biometric input received from the user via a biometric input device at an entry point of a store, wherein identifying the user comprises verifying the user based on the biometric input and retrieving the payment credential associated with the user;
responsive to verifying the user based on the biometric input, permitting the user to enter the store to shop;
while the user is within the store, detecting, using one or more sensors, interaction of the user with at least one item and storing, in memory, an association record that associates the user with at least one item identifier corresponding to the at least one item; and
in response to detecting that the user is leaving the store, processing a payment transaction for the at least one item using the payment credential, based at least in part on the association record, wherein identifying the user and processing the payment transaction occurs without requiring the user to scan an image from a user device at the entry point or to download, install, or execute a store-specific application on the user device.
15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising one or more steps of:
receiving the biometric input by capturing fingerprint biometric data;
after processing the payment transaction, electronically providing the user with purchase information corresponding to the at least one item; or
obtaining the interaction with the at least one item by detecting, from image data, a pick-up event corresponding to the at least one item and associating the pick-up event with a persistent user track.
16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the payment credential comprises a tokenized payment credential, and processing the payment transaction comprises transmitting an authorization request to a payment network using the tokenized payment credential and wherein a user device of the user does not have a downloaded application specific to the store to perform the method.
17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein using one or more sensors to obtain the interaction with the at least one item comprises tracking the user through the store using image data captured by a plurality of cameras and maintaining a persistent user track for the user.
18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein obtaining the interaction with the at least one item further comprises identifying the at least one item using at least one of: (i) recognition of a visual feature of the at least one item from the image data, (ii) recognition of packaging or label information from the image data, or (iii) decoding a machine-readable symbol associated with the at least one item.
19 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising determining that the at least one item is removed from an inventory location by fusing (i) camera-derived pick-up detection with (ii) a non-visual sensor signal associated with the inventory location, including at least one of a weight sensor signal, a shelf sensor signal, or a tag-detection signal.
20 . The method of claim 14 , wherein storing the association record comprises updating the association record responsive to detecting a return event indicating that the at least one item was returned to an inventory location, such that processing the payment transaction is based on a final state of the association record at a time the user leaves the store and/or wherein detecting that the user is leaving the store comprises detecting, by an exit-gate sensor system, that the user crosses an exit threshold or passes through an exit gate of the store.
21 . The method of claim 14 , wherein processing the payment transaction is performed without requiring the user to present a payment instrument, provide a biometric input, or scan a code at an exit region of the store and wherein the biometric enrollment data is enrolled prior to entry by associating the biometric enrollment data with the payment credential at an enrollment kiosk or via a non-store-specific enrollment application.