Split message initiated payment system, method and apparatus

1. A point-of-sale terminal method comprising:

generating a bill for a purchase transaction with a processor of a point-of-sale terminal;

generating, with the processor of the point-of-sale terminal, a purchase transaction code based at least in part on the bill for the purchase transaction, an identifier for the merchant or point-of-sale terminal, a transaction amount, and a date/time of the transaction;

visually presenting a representation of the purchase transaction code on a display or printer of the point-of-sale terminal;

transmitting a merchant bill message to a payment network with a network interface of the point-of-sale terminal, the merchant bill message containing the purchase transaction code and not containing customer payment information;

receiving a transaction approval or decline message via the network interface of the point-of-sale terminal;

displaying, on the display of the point-of-sale terminal, a transaction approval or decline based on the transaction approval or decline message; and

printing a receipt, with the printer of the point-of-sale terminal, the receipt including the bill for the purchase transaction.

2. The point-of-sale terminal method of claim 1 , further comprising: extracting a public account identifier from the transaction approval message.

3. The point-of-sale terminal method of claim 2 , wherein the receipt further includes the public account identifier.

4. The point-of-sale terminal method of claim 3 , wherein the representation of the purchase transaction code is a matrix (QR) bar code.

5. The point-of-sale terminal method of claim 2 , further comprising:

electronically mailing a receipt, with the network interface of the point-of-sale terminal, the receipt including the bill for the purchase transaction.

6. A customer payment device method comprising:

receiving a purchase transaction code from a point-of-sale terminal, the purchase transaction code including a representation of a bill for a purchase transaction, an identifier for the merchant or the point-of-sale terminal, transaction amount, and date/time of the purchase transaction;

extracting, with a processor, the bill for the purchase transaction from the purchase transaction code;

prompting a customer to approve the bill for the purchase transaction with a display;

authenticating, with the processor, a customer approval of the bill for the purchase transaction;

retrieving customer payment information from a database;

transmitting a cardholder payment message to a payment network or an issuer with a network interface, the cardholder payment message including the purchase transaction code and the customer payment information;

displaying, on a display of the point-of-sale terminal, a transaction approval or decline based on a transaction approval or decline message; and

printing a receipt, with a printer of the point-of-sale terminal, the receipt including the bill for the purchase transaction.

7. The customer payment device method of claim 6 , wherein the purchase transaction code is received from the point-of-sale terminal via customer input.

8. The customer payment device method of claim 6 , wherein the purchase transaction code is received wirelessly from the point-of-sale terminal via the network interface.

9. The customer payment device method of claim 6 , wherein the purchase transaction code is received from the point-of-sale terminal encoded as a matrix (QR) barcode via an optical scanner.

10. The customer payment device method of claim 6 , further comprising:

prompting the customer to select the customer payment information from a plurality of customer payment information.

11. The customer payment device method of claim 10 , wherein the customer payment information is a virtual payment card.

12. The customer payment device method of claim 10 , wherein the customer payment information is a checking account.

13. A payment network method comprising:

receiving a merchant bill message from a point-of-sale terminal, via a network interface, the merchant bill message containing a purchase transaction code and not containing customer payment information;

receiving a cardholder payment message from a cardholder payment device with the network interface, the cardholder payment message including the purchase transaction code and customer payment information;

matching, with a processor, the merchant bill message with the cardholder payment message based at least in part on the purchase transaction code;

combining, with the processor, the merchant bill message and the cardholder payment message into a single transaction message;

transmitting, with the network interface, the single transaction message to an issuer for approval;

displaying, on a display of the point-of-sale terminal, a transaction approval or decline based on a transaction approval or decline message; and

printing a receipt, with a printer of the point-of-sale terminal, the receipt including a bill for the purchase transaction.

14. The payment network method of claim 13 , wherein the purchase transaction code is further based at least in part on the bill for the purchase transaction, an identifier for the merchant or point-of-sale terminal, transaction amount, and date/time of the transaction.

15. The payment network method of claim 14 , further comprising: storing the single transaction message in a database.

16. The payment network method of claim 15 , further comprising: receiving the transaction approval or decline message from the issuer.

17. The payment network method of claim 16 , wherein the customer payment information is a virtual payment card.

18. The payment network method of claim 16 , wherein the customer payment information is a checking account.