Expedited Payment Terminal Processing via Local Chip Data Storage

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Solution Overview

Problem

Payment terminals often experience delays in processing transactions due to communication link failures, high latency, or high transaction volumes, leading to customer frustration and reduced merchant efficiency, especially when chip card transactions require physical insertion and prolonged processing times.

Innovation Solution

Implementing an expedited processing mode that allows merchants to opt-in for faster transaction processing by receiving electronic payment responses from chip cards, storing them locally, and transmitting approval requests to servers only when communication is stable, enabling earlier removal of chip cards and reducing processing time.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If payment terminals use standard chip card processing with server communication, then transaction security and reliability are improved, but transaction processing time increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetransaction securityVSAvoidtransaction processing time

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by storing payment information from chip cards locally in the payment terminal's memory before server communication is required. This allows the terminal to have payment data ready and reduces the time needed to wait for server responses during actual transactions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The payment processing system is segmented into local processing (reading chip card information and storing it locally) and remote processing (server verification). This segmentation allows the time-consuming server communication to occur separately and asynchronously, reducing the perceived transaction time at the terminal.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Reliability

If payment terminals wait for stable network connections before processing, then transaction reliability is improved, but customer satisfaction deteriorates due to delays

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetransaction completionVSAvoidcustomer satisfaction

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by capturing and storing payment information from chip cards locally before network stability is confirmed. This allows the terminal to proceed with processing once connectivity is available, rather than waiting for stable connections before starting the transaction.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The payment terminal performs self-service by locally storing payment information and initiating processing without requiring continuous stable network connection. The terminal can queue transactions and process them when connectivity is available, reducing customer wait time while maintaining reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

3Productivity

If payment terminals process high transaction volumes through standard protocols, then processing capacity is improved, but transaction duration increases due to server communication overhead

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetransaction volume capacityVSAvoidtransaction duration

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDuration of action of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by pre-reading and storing payment information from chip cards in local memory. This preliminary data capture eliminates the need for repeated server communications for each transaction, allowing high-volume processing with reduced duration per transaction.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system maintains continuity of useful action by keeping payment information continuously available in local storage rather than requiring repeated server requests. This allows the terminal to process multiple transactions in quick succession without interrupting the useful action of payment verification.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

Data Source

PatentUS9785930B1Expedited processing of electronic payment transactions

Publication Date: 2017.10.10 BLOCK INC

AI summary

A payment terminal may receive a request to process electronic payment information from a chip card in an expedited processing mode. The payment terminal may provide an opt-in request. If a user accepts, the payment terminal may receive a request for payment and request an electronic payment response from the chip card. The payment terminal may receive the electronic payment response from the chip card and store it in memory at the payment terminal. The payment terminal may approve the payment transaction associated with the electronic payment response, allowing the chip card to be removed from the payment terminal. The payment terminal may process additional requests for payment and associate payment-type and time indicators with each electronic payment response. The payment terminal may transmit approval requests to one or more payment servers when the terminal determines they may be transmitted, and, for each request, receive a payment approval response.