Granted Patent B2

US 12,737,747 · App. 19/045,609 · Granted Sep 15, 2026

Inventors: Heather Dolan (Sarasota, FL); Manu Kurian (Dallas, TX); Maharaj Mukherjee (Poughkeepsie, NY)

Assignee: Bank of America Corporation

G06Q20/3224G06Q20/0655G06Q20/4014

Abstract

Claims (62)

1 . A system for facilitating electronic transactions between a first mobile device and a second mobile device leveraging a short-range network when both the first mobile device and the second mobile device fail to connect to a central server via the internet, the system comprising:

a first mobile application running on the first mobile device and supporting electronic communication with a central server, the first mobile device being configured to:

receive a request to initiate an electronic transaction with a recipient, the electronic transaction comprising a value of funds for transferring to the recipient;

access a periodically updated database storing a first account comprising an account balance, and, in response to a determination that the account balance is greater than the value of funds, authorize the request;

determine that the first mobile device fails to connect to the internet; and

in response to the determining, transmit:

a short-range communication request to establish a communication session with a second mobile device within a distance of the first mobile device; and

a verification request to the second mobile device, the verification request for verifying that a user of the second mobile device is the recipient;

a second mobile application running on the second mobile device and supporting electronic communication with the central server, the second mobile device being configured to:

in response to a receipt of the verification from the first mobile device, update an account balance of a second account associated with the recipient by increasing the account balance by an amount equal to the value of funds, the account balance stored at the second mobile device; and

transmit transaction data associated with the transfer into a transaction processing queue;

the first mobile device is further configured to:

update the account balance of the first account to reflect the transfer; and

transmit the transaction data into a transaction processing queue; and

the central server is configured to:

determine that the internet connection has been established at the first mobile device and at the second mobile device;

in response to the determining that the internet connection has been established at the first mobile device and at the second mobile device, receive the transaction data from the transaction processing queue from the first mobile device and from the second mobile device;

request from the first mobile device:

a first activity log storing a log of applications accessed on the first mobile device and a timestamp for each accessed application; and

a first browser timeout history;

request from the second mobile device:

a second activity log storing a log of applications accessed on the second mobile device and a timestamp for each accessed application; and

a second browser timeout history; and

following a receipt of the first activity log, the first browser timeout history, the second activity log and the second browser timeout history, verify that:

the first mobile application was active when a browser on the first mobile device was in timeout;

the second mobile application was active when a browser on the second mobile device was in timeout; and

that a timestamp of use of the first mobile application is within a pre-determined range to a timestamp of a use of the second mobile application; and

in response to the verifying, process the request within an online account associated with the user of the first mobile device and the user of the second mobile device by updating an online account of the user of the first mobile device and an online account of the user of the second mobile device to reflect the transfer.

2 . The system of claim 1 wherein the first mobile application and the second mobile application are configured to display data and receive input on an associated user interface (“UI”).

3 . The system of claim 2 wherein the request to initiate the electronic transaction is inputted at the UI.

4 . The system of claim 1 wherein, when it is determined that the first mobile application performing the request was not in-use while the browser was on timeout, the central server is configured to deny the request.

5 . The system of claim 1 wherein, when it is determined that the timestamp of a use of the first mobile application is not within a pre-determined range of the timestamp of a use of the second mobile application, the central server is configured to deny the request.

6 . The system of claim 1 wherein, at pre-determined intervals, the first mobile device and the second mobile device are configured to retrieve account data from the central server for each of the first account and the second account and update account data stored in the periodically updated database on each of the first mobile device and the second mobile device.

7 . A method for facilitating electronic transactions between a first mobile device and a second mobile device leveraging a short-range network when both the first mobile device and the second mobile device fail to connect to a central server via the internet, the method comprising:

at the first mobile device:

authorizing a request to initiate an electronic transaction with a recipient, the electronic transaction comprising a value of funds for transferring to the recipient;

determining that the first mobile device fails to connect to the internet; and

in response to the determining, transmitting:

a short-range request to establish a short-range communication session with the second mobile device within a distance of the first mobile device; and

a verification request to the second mobile device, the verification request for verifying that a user of the second mobile device is the recipient;

at the second mobile device:

selecting to establish the short-range communication session with the first mobile device;

at the first mobile device, verifying that the user of the second mobile device is the recipient based on data retrieved from the second mobile device;

at the second mobile device:

in response to the verification by the first mobile device, updating an account balance of a second account associated with the recipient by increasing the account balance by an amount equal to the value of funds, the account balance stored in a periodically updated database at the second mobile device; and

transmitting transaction data associated with the transfer into a transaction processing queue;

at the first mobile device, updating the account balance to reflect the transfer;

at a central server:

determining that the internet connection has been established at the first mobile device and at the second mobile device;

in response to the determining that the internet connection has been established at the first mobile device and at the second mobile device, receiving the transaction data from the transaction processing queue; and

requesting from the first mobile device and the second mobile device, an activity log storing a log of applications accessed on each of the first mobile device and the second mobile device and a timestamp for each accessed application;

at the first mobile device and second mobile device, transmitting to the central server, the activity log; and

at the central server:

receiving the activity log from the first mobile device and from the second mobile device:

verifying, for each of the first mobile device and the second mobile device, that a mobile application performing the request was in-use while performing the transfer; and

in response to the verifying, processing the request by updating an online account of the user of the first mobile device and an online account of the user of the second mobile device to reflect the transfer.

8 . The method of claim 7 further comprising, following a receipt of the activity log:

receiving browser timeout history from the first mobile device and from the second mobile device; and

verifying that a timestamp of a use of the mobile application on the first mobile device is within proximity to a timestamp of a use of the mobile application on the second mobile device.

9 . The method of claim 7 further comprising, prior to the verifying:

updating an account associated with a user of the first mobile device and a user of the second mobile device to include the electronic transaction and flagging the electronic transaction as pending; and

following the processing of the request, updating a transaction status to complete.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (13)