Payment Card Terminal For Mobile Phones

A method comprising:

• receiving, at a first mobile phone of a merchant associated with a first mobile phone number, first data characterizing a second mobile phone number associated with a customer, a payment card and a settlement amount for a transaction, the first data being user-generated input;
• initiating wireless transmission of second data characterizing a request to provide a payment card settlement service of a merchant account of a merchant account provider for the transaction, the wireless transmission to be from the first mobile phone over a carrier data network to an application server;
• receiving, by the application server and from a payment card association server and via a merchant account provider server, data characterizing whether the payment card associated with the customer can be used to settle the transaction;
• initiating by the application server, wireless transmission of a request to authorize settlement of the transaction with the payment card, the request to be transmitted in accordance with a wireless mobile phone messaging protocol to the second mobile phone using the second mobile phone number characterized in the first data;
• receiving by the application server a message generated by the second mobile phone characterizing customer-generated input authorizing settlement of the transaction;
• and
• wirelessly receiving third data characterizing authorization of settlement of the transaction with the payment card, the third data wirelessly received by the first mobile phone from the application server based on receiving the message authorizing the settlement of the transaction from the second mobile phone.

A method for implementation by one or more data processors forming part of at least one computing system, the method comprising:

• receiving, by at least one data processor, payment requests initiated by mobile phones of corresponding merchants, the mobile phones operating on a plurality of heterogeneous wireless communication networks, the payment requests each specifying respective transaction amounts, payment card account numbers, and mobile phone numbers for the corresponding customer;
• associating, by at least one data processor, each payment request with one of a plurality of merchant account provider servers;
• converting, by at least one data processor, formats of the payment requests to formats of the corresponding merchant account provider server;
• transmitting, by at least one data processor, the converted payment requests to the corresponding merchant account providers;
• receiving, by at least one data processor, authorizations for at least one of the payment requests from at least one of the corresponding merchant account providers;
• associating, by at least one data processor, the authorizations with mobile phones corresponding to the authorizations based on the mobile phone number specified in the request;
• and
• initiating, by at least one data processor, a request to authorize settlement for each payment request from the corresponding customers.

A method for implementation by one or more data processors comprising:

• receiving, by at least one data processor, first data characterizing a request to provide a payment card settlement service, the request characterizing a payment card of a customer with which to settle a transaction and merchant account information of a merchant account;
• accessing, by at least one data processor, a merchant account provider server to obtain processing of the request for the merchant account based on the merchant account information;
• receiving, by at least one data processor from the merchant account provider server, second data characterizing authorization to settle the transaction with the payment card for the merchant account;
• associating, by at least one data processor, the payment card with a cardholder profile for the customer, the cardholder profile comprising a mobile phone number, the cardholder profile being stored at a computing system associated with an issuer of the payment card or a payment card association;
• initiating, by at least one data processor, wireless transmission of a request to authorize settlement of the transaction with the payment card, the request to be transmitted in accordance with a wireless mobile phone messaging protocol to the mobile phone;
• receiving, by at least one data processor, a message generated by the mobile phone characterizing customer-generated input authorizing settlement of the transaction;
• and
• initiating, by at least one data processor, wireless transmission of third data characterizing the authorization for the settlement based on receiving the message authorizing the settlement of the transaction from the mobile phone.

A system comprising:

• a first mobile phone;
• a second mobile phone;
• an application server comprising memory and at least one data processor;
• a merchant account server comprising memory and at least one data processor;
• wherein:
• first data is received from the first mobile phone through a wireless carrier data network at the application server, the first data characterizes a request to provide a payment card settlement service, the first mobile phone is associated with a first mobile phone number, the request characterizing a payment card of a customer with which to settle a transaction and merchant account information of a merchant account;
• the merchant account provider server is accessed to obtain processing of the request for the merchant account based on the merchant account information, the merchant account information comprises the first mobile phone number;
• the application server receives second data from the merchant account provider server that characterizes authorization to settle the transaction with the payment card for the merchant account;
• the payment card is associated with a cardholder profile for the customer that comprises a second mobile phone with a second mobile phone number, the cardholder profile being stored at a computing system associated with an issuer of the payment card or a payment card association;
• the application server initiates wireless transmission of a request to authorize settlement of the transaction with the payment card, the request is transmitted in accordance with a wireless mobile phone messaging protocol to the second mobile phone;
• the application server receives a message generated by the second mobile phone characterizing customer-generated input authorizing settlement of the transaction;
• and
• the application server initiates wireless transmission of third data characterizing the authorization for the settlement based on receiving the message authorizing the settlement of the transaction from the second mobile phone, the third data is wirelessly transmitted through the wireless carrier data network to the first mobile phone.