Payment systems and methodologies
View Patent ↗A transaction system including at least two transaction communicators, at least one of which is a mobile communicator, at least one of the at least two transaction communicators having sequential visually sensible indicia generation functionality operative to generate a time sequence of indicia which provides at least transaction data and at least one of the at least two transaction communicators having sequential visually sensible indicia receiving functionality and transaction data extraction functionality capable of extracting at least the transaction data from the time sequence of particular indicia, whereby a time sequence of indicia which provides at least transaction data is transmitted from one of the at least two transaction communicators to another of the at least two transaction communicators.
1. A point of sale transaction system comprising:
a plurality of mobile communication devices having sequential time based visually sensible indicia generation functionality, said sequential time based visually sensible indicia generation functionality being capable of generating a time sequence of indicia, said time sequence of indicia including a time sequence of two-dimensional arrays containing n columns and m rows of pixels at a plurality of times, designated t 1 , t 2 , t 3 . . . tu, which time sequence of two-dimensional arrays containing n columns and m rows of pixels provides at least one of payment card data and coupon data, said time sequence of two-dimensional arrays being characterized in that:
a first time sequence of pixels, at times t 1 , t 2 , t 3 . . . tu, appearing at a first single pixel location (i,j) of a two-dimensional n×m array in said time sequence of two-dimensional arrays represents a first single alpha-numeric character, which is either a single digit number or a single Latin character; and
a second time sequence of pixels, at times t 1 , t 2 , t 3 . . . tu, appearing at a second single pixel location (c,q) of said two-dimensional n×m array in said time sequence of two-dimensional arrays represents a second single alpha-numeric character, which is either a single digit number or a single Latin character; and
a point of sale terminal having a sequential time based visually sensible indicia receiving functionality and transaction data extraction functionality capable of extracting said at least one of payment card data and coupon data from a particular time sequence of indicia.
2. A point of sale transaction system according to claim 1 and wherein said time sequence of indicia are video images.
3. A point of sale transaction system according to claim 1 and wherein at least some of said indicia are in different colors.
4. A point of sale transaction system according to claim 1 and wherein said particular time sequence of indicia comprises a multiplicity of visually sensible indicia generated in a particular time sequenced order.
5. A point of sale transaction system according to claim 1 and wherein said particular time sequence of indicia comprises a multiplicity of visually sensible indicia which are generated each time in a different particular order.
6. A point of sale transaction system according to claim 1 wherein:
said point of sale terminal also includes sequential time based visually sensible indicia generation functionality, said time based visually sensible indicia generation functionality of said point of sale terminal being capable of generating a particular time sequence of particular indicia, said particular time sequence of particular indicia including a time sequence of two-dimensional arrays of pixels which time sequence of two-dimensional arrays of pixels provides at least one of payment card handshaking and security confirmation data and coupon acceptance data; and
said plurality of mobile communication devices also include:
video cameras capable of assimilating sequential time based visually sensible indicia generated by said sequential time based visually sensible indicia generation functionality of said point of sale terminal and by said sequential time based visually sensible indicia generation functionality of said plurality of mobile communication devices;
sequential time based visually sensible indicia receiving functionality; and
transaction data extraction functionality capable of extracting said at least one of payment card handshaking and security confirmation data and coupon acceptance data from said particular time sequence of particular indicia.
7. A transaction system according to claim 6 and wherein said particular time sequence of particular indicia comprises a multiplicity of visually sensible indicia which are generated each time in a different order.
8. A point of sale transaction system according to claim 6 and wherein said particular time sequence of particular indicia are video images.
9. A point of sale transaction system according to claim 6 and wherein at least some of said indicia are in different colors.
10. A point of sale transaction system according to claim 6 and wherein said particular time sequence of particular indicia comprises a multiplicity of visually sensible indicia generated in a particular time sequenced order.
11. A point of sale transaction system according to claim 6 and wherein said particular time sequence of particular indicia comprises a multiplicity of visually sensible indicia which are generated each time in a different particular order.
12. A transaction system according to claim 4 and wherein said time sequence of indicia comprises a multiplicity of visually sensible indicia which are generated each time in a different order.
13. A transaction system according to claim 5 and wherein said time sequence of indicia comprises a multiplicity of visually sensible indicia which are generated each time in a different order.
14. A transaction system according to claim 1 and wherein said time sequence of indicia comprises a multiplicity of visually sensible indicia which are generated each time in a different order.
15. A method for communicating at least one of payment card data and coupon data from a mobile communications device to a point of sale terminal, the method comprising:
generating at said mobile communications device a time sequence of indicia, said time sequence of indicia including a time sequence of two-dimensional arrays containing n columns and m rows of pixels at a plurality of times designated t 1 , t 2 , t 3 . . . tu, which time sequence of two-dimensional arrays of pixels provides at least one of payment card data and coupon data, said time sequence of two-dimensional arrays being characterized in that:
a first time sequence of pixels, at times t 1 , t 2 , t 3 . . . tu, appearing at a first single pixel location (i,j) of a two-dimensional n×m array in said time sequence of two-dimensional arrays represents a first single alpha-numeric character, which is either a single digit number or a single Latin character; and
a second time sequence of pixels, at times t 1 , t 2 , t 3 . . . tu, appearing at a second single pixel location (c,q) of said two-dimensional n×m array in said time sequence of two-dimensional arrays represents a second single alpha-numeric character, which is either a single digit number or a single Latin character;
displaying to said point of sale terminal said time sequence of indicia including said time sequence of two-dimensional arrays containing n columns and m rows of pixels at said plurality of times, designated t 1 , t 2 , t 3 . . . tu, which time sequence of two-dimensional arrays of pixels provides at least one of payment card data and coupon data;
receiving said time sequence of two-dimensional arrays at said point of sale terminal; and
decoding said time sequence of two-dimensional arrays received by said point of sale terminal, thereby to construct a string of digits of alphanumeric data wherein:
a first alphanumeric character of said string of digits of alphanumeric data is decoded from said first time sequence of pixels at times t 1 , t 2 , t 3 . . . tu appearing at said first single pixel location (i,j) in said time sequence of two-dimensional arrays representing a first single alpha-numeric character, which is either a single digit number or a single Latin character; and
a second alphanumeric character of said string of digits of alphanumeric data is decoded from said second time sequence of pixels at times t 1 , t 2 , t 3 . . . tu appearing at said second single pixel location (c,q) in said time sequence of two-dimensional arrays representing a second single alpha-numeric character, which is either a single digit number or a single Latin character.