Anonymizing Token for Anonymous Payment Transactions
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing use of electronic wallets and digital money transfers has made cashless transactions more common, but individuals often lack cash and face inconvenience in managing and tracking peer-to-peer money transfers, especially since convenient payment methods like credit cards or bank account debits are not widely available for individuals, requiring them to reveal personal identity information.
Innovation Solution
A system that enables anonymous money transfers between individuals using an anonymizing token, which is generated by a mobile payment application and stored in an intermediary payment service system, allowing payees to receive money without revealing their identity to payers, and vice versa, through a network-based environment involving mobile devices and a payment service system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If credit cards or bank account debits are used for payment, then payment convenience is improved, but personal identity information must be revealed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an anonymizing token as an intermediary between the payer and payee. The token is generated by the payment service system and stored in association with the payee's account information. When a payment is made, the payer provides the token instead of direct account details, allowing the payment service system to process the transaction while keeping the payee's personal information hidden from the payer. This intermediary mechanism resolves the contradiction by enabling convenient electronic payments without direct exposure of personal identity information.
2Loss of information
If cash is used for payment, then personal identity information is protected, but payment tracking and management becomes cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The anonymizing token serves as a digital intermediary that combines the anonymity of cash with the tracking capabilities of electronic systems. The token can be physically handled like cash but is registered in the payment service system, enabling automatic tracking and management of transactions. The system can record payment amounts, dates, and parties involved while maintaining the payee's identity protection, thus resolving the contradiction between information protection and payment management convenience.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a digital copy or representation of the payee's account information in the form of an anonymizing token. This token contains sufficient information to process payments and track transactions but is a simplified representation that does not expose the full personal identity information. The token can be copied and transferred between parties while maintaining its functional value for payment processing and system tracking.
3Reliability
If account setup is required for payment, then payment security is improved, but transaction speed and simplicity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The payment service system performs preliminary actions by pre-generating and storing anonymizing tokens in association with payee accounts before actual transactions occur. When a payment is needed, the token is already prepared and can be immediately provided by the payer, eliminating the need for real-time account verification and setup. This preliminary preparation maintains security through pre-established account validation while significantly reducing transaction setup time.
Solution Approach 2:
The anonymizing token acts as a pre-established intermediary credential that encapsulates the security verification process. Instead of performing account setup and verification at the moment of payment, the system has already validated the payee's account and created a secure token representation. The payer uses this pre-validated token, which maintains payment security through the underlying account verification while bypassing the time-consuming setup process during the actual transaction.
Data Source
AI summary
Technology is disclosed for transferring money anonymously between a sender and a recipient by use of a one-time use token. The method includes generating a one-time use token account for association with a one-time use token. The method includes generating the token and providing the token to the sender device in a machine-readable and transferable format. The method includes receiving a request to charge the one-time use token account after the token has been provided to the recipient device as a form of payment for a transaction. The method includes determining that an amount of the transaction is less than an amount of funds associated with the token and that the time of the transaction is within a time period for the use of the token. The method includes facilitating a transfer to the recipient account and deducting the amount of the transaction from a sender account.