Mobile merchant
AssigneeAT&T Mobility II LLC
InventorsMichael Alton Smith, Max Glenn Faulkner, Charles M. Link, II, Reginald Squirrell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mobile merchant service allows payment information, credit information, or other transaction information to be processed utilizing a mobile user device. The information can be transmitted utilizing USSD technology that provides a session oriented transaction. Information relating to the customer payment or account details are not maintained in the user device, providing security of personal information. The user device can be synchronized with other devices to facilitate reconciliation and performing financial or other functions.
Claims14
A method for wirelessly processing payment transactions, comprising:
- receiving authentication information associated with a mobile device associated with a merchant, the authentication information is received in a first unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) message;
- determining if the mobile device is authorized to process payment transactions based in part on the received authentication information;
- selectively requesting payment information from the mobile device, the payment information request is contained in a second USSD message;
- receiving in a third USSD message the requested payment information;
- verifying if the received payment information matches information in an account database;
- and
- sending a short message service (SMS) termination message that includes a verification if the received payment information matches information in the account database.
A wireless communications system that facilitates payment transfer utilizing a mobile device, comprising:
- an authentication component that receives in a first unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) message authentication information associated with a mobile device and determines whether the mobile device is authorized to access an account-based payment service, the mobile device is associated with a merchant;
- a verification component that receives payment information included in a second USSD message and verifies whether the payment information corresponds with a valid customer account;
- and
- a confirmation component that transmits to the mobile device a confirmation included in a third USSD message that confirms whether the payment information has been processed through the account-based payment service.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.