Installment Authorization Data for Immediate Goods Release
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Solution Overview
Problem
Lay-by agreements impose storage costs on merchants and deny customers immediate access to goods or services until full payment is made, lacking flexibility and efficiency in payment transactions.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that facilitates payment by multiple future instalments, using an instalment payment server, mobile device, and merchant POS system to authorize and initiate payments through optical machine-readable representations like barcodes or QR codes, ensuring validity and releasing goods or services based on authorized instalments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a lay-by agreement is made to allow customers to purchase goods with insufficient funds, then customers can access goods before full payment, but merchants incur storage costs and customers cannot access goods until full payment is made
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the payment process into multiple future instalments rather than requiring full payment upfront. The system divides the total amount into scheduled payments, allowing customers to access goods immediately while merchants receive staged payments, eliminating the need for physical storage of goods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an instalment payment server as an intermediary between the customer and merchant. This server manages the authorisation data, tracks instalment payments, and coordinates between parties, enabling automatic payment processing without requiring merchant storage or manual tracking.
2Ease of operation
If lay-by agreements are used to enable future payments, then customers can budget payments over time, but transaction efficiency is reduced due to manual storage and payment tracking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service through automatic systems where the instalment payment server autonomously manages payment scheduling, tracks instalment status, and processes transactions without manual intervention. The system automatically generates authorisation data, validates payments, and updates records, eliminating manual storage and tracking operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical processes (physical storage, paper-based tracking) with automated electronic systems. The instalment payment server uses digital authorisation data and automated communication to manage the entire lay-by process, significantly improving transaction efficiency while maintaining payment convenience.
3Reliability
If merchants store items for lay-by customers, then customers have confidence goods are reserved, but merchants incur warehousing and interest costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a digital copy of the reservation through authorisation data stored electronically. Instead of physically storing goods, the system generates and stores digital records of customer authorisation and payment obligations, providing the same reservation guarantee without physical inventory holding.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the state of the reservation from physical to digital. By transforming the reservation into electronic authorisation data with tracked payment parameters, the system maintains customer confidence through verifiable digital records while eliminating the need for physical storage capacity.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques described herein are directed to receiving account information associated with an existing account of a user, and receiving a request to set up unique payment data associated with a maximum amount for transactions to be paid back using multiple future installments. The systems also generates the unique payment data that remains valid before an expiration date or until the maximum amount is exceeded. A merchant device receives data associated with a transaction, and the system determines, based at least in part on the data associated with the transaction, that the total amount is less than the maximum amount and that the data associated with the transaction is associated with a time. The system initiates the multiple future installments at respective points in time such that they are fulfilled by the existing account of the user.