Systems and methods for the sale of age-restricted merchandise
There are provided systems and methods for the purchase of age-restricted merchandise without requiring the transmission of biometric information. In one form, the system includes: age-restricted merchandise items offered for sale to customers, a server that receives orders from customer devices, and a customer database containing a plurality of customer records. The system may further include: a control circuit that queries a customer whether the customer opts in to the use of local biometric authentication to enable the purchase of age-restricted merchandise items; receives customer identification proof documentation; associates a unique identifier corresponding to the customer device; stores the customer's opt in agreement, the customer's identification proof documentation, and the unique identifier associated with the customer device; receives an order for the purchase of an age-restricted merchandise item and the unique identifier; confirms local biometric authentication; verifies the customer's identity and age; and authorizes completion of the purchase transaction.
1. A system for sale of age-restricted merchandise without transmission of biometric information, the system comprising:
a server configured to receive orders for purchase of merchandise items from customer devices;
a customer database containing a plurality of customer records;
a control circuit communicatively coupled to the server and the customer database, the control circuit configured to:
receive customer identification proof documentation including age information from a customer device;
associate a unique identifier corresponding to the customer device with a customer;
store in the customer database a customer's agreement to permit local biometric authentication to enable purchase of age-restricted merchandise items, the customer identification proof documentation, and the unique identifier associated with the customer device;
determine that at least one merchandise item in an online order from the customer device is an age-restricted merchandise item requiring a predetermined minimum age for purchase;
receive confirmation from the customer device transmitting the online order, wherein the customer device captures biometric readings and performs the local biometric authentication locally without transmission of the biometric readings between the customer device and the server and without calculation of an identity verification score based on non-biometric considerations, the server being remote from the customer device, wherein the confirmation indicates that the local biometric authentication was successfully performed at the customer device, and wherein a unique identification number is transmitted from the customer device along with the confirmation;
determine whether the unique identification number transmitted from the customer device matches the stored unique identifier; and
authorize completion of the purchase of the age-restricted merchandise item by the customer based on receipt of the confirmation that the local biometric authentication was successfully performed at the customer device and based on the unique identification number transmitted from the customer device matching the unique identifier stored in the customer database.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the unique identifier is a universally unique identifier (UUID) comprising a 128-bit number.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the customer device is a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop computer, or a desktop computer.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the local biometric authentication performed locally at the customer device is fingerprint authentication, iris scan authentication, facial recognition, voice authentication, or palm vein recognition.
5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a merchandise purchase application to facilitate purchase of merchandise items, the merchandise purchase application configured to be executed locally at the customer device.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the unique identifier is associated with the customer device and accessible to the merchandise purchase application after transmission of the merchandise purchase application to the customer device.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the merchandise purchase application is configured to prompt the customer for biometric verification when the customer logs onto the application.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
store a customer address in the customer's record in the customer database; and
transmit instructions for a delivery service to deliver the age-restricted merchandise item ordered by the customer to the customer address.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:
instruct a shopping facility to make the age-restricted merchandise item available for pick up by the customer.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to:
in response to determining that the at least one merchandise item is an age-restricted merchandise item requiring a predetermined minimum age for purchase, transmit a prompt to the customer device that the local biometric authentication be performed at the customer device; and
following transmission of the prompt, receive the transmitted unique identification number from the customer device and match it against the stored unique identifier.
11. A method for sale of age-restricted merchandise without transmission of biometric information, the method comprising:
receiving by a server, orders for purchase of merchandise items from customer devices;
storing, by a customer database, a plurality of customer records; and
by a control circuit:
receiving customer identification proof documentation including age information from a customer device;
associating a unique identifier corresponding to the customer device with a customer;
storing in the customer database a customer's agreement to permit local biometric authentication to enable purchase of age-restricted merchandise items, the customer identification proof documentation, and the unique identifier associated with the customer device;
determining that at least one merchandise item in an online order from the customer device is an age-restricted merchandise item requiring a predetermined minimum age for purchase;
receiving confirmation from the customer device transmitting the order, wherein the customer device captures biometric readings and performs the local biometric authentication locally without transmission of the biometric readings between the customer device and the server and without calculation of an identity verification score based on non-biometric considerations, the server being remote from the customer device, wherein the confirmation indicates that the local biometric authentication was successfully performed at the customer device, and wherein a unique identification number is transmitted from the customer device along with the confirmation;
determining whether the unique identification number transmitted from the customer device matches the stored unique identifier; and
authorizing completion of the purchase of the age-restricted merchandise item by the customer based on receipt of confirmation that the local biometric authentication was performed at the customer device and based the unique identification number transmitted from the customer device matching the unique identifier stored in the customer database.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the unique identifier is a universally unique identifier (UUID) comprising a 128-bit number.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the customer device is a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop computer, or a desktop computer.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the local biometric authentication performed locally at the customer device is fingerprint authentication, iris scan authentication, facial recognition, voice authentication, or palm vein recognition.
15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising transmitting a merchandise purchase application to facilitate purchase of merchandise items, the merchandise purchase application configured to be executed locally at the customer device.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the unique identifier is associated with the customer device and accessible to the merchandise purchase application after transmission of the application to the customer device.
17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising prompting the customer for biometric verification when the customer logs onto the merchandise purchase application.
18. The method of claim 11 , further comprising, by the control circuit:
storing a customer address in the customer's record in the customer database; and
transmitting instructions for a delivery service to deliver the age-restricted merchandise item ordered by the customer to the customer address.
19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising, by the control circuit:
instructing a shopping facility to make the age-restricted merchandise item available for pick up by the customer.
20. The method of claim 11 , further comprising, by the control circuit:
in response to determining that the at least one merchandise item is an age-restricted merchandise item requiring a predetermined minimum age for purchase, transmitting a prompt to the customer device that the local biometric authentication be performed at the customer device; and
following transmission of the prompt, receiving the transmitted unique identification number from the customer device and matching it against the stored unique identifier.