Secure IoT-Based Installment Payment Management System and Method for Operational Control of Electrical Appliances.

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for securely controlling the operation of electrical appliances purchased under an installment payment program. The invention comprises an embedded electronic control module integrated with an appliance, a centralized cloud-based payment management server, an authentication engine, a customer communication device, and a local wireless communication interface. The embedded controller automatically places the appliance into a restricted operational state upon expiration of a predefined installment period. Following successful payment verification, the cloud server generates a unique authorization credential associated with the appliance and transmits the credential to the customer's communication device. The customer communication device establishes a local wireless communication session with the embedded controller and securely transfers the authorization credential. The embedded controller verifies the credential, authenticates the appliance identity, and restores normal appliance operation upon successful validation. The disclosed invention improves installment payment compliance while reducing operational costs by eliminating manual unlocking procedures and minimizing service intervention. The invention applies to air conditioners and other electronically controllable consumer and commercial electrical appliances.