Instant Payment via Messaging Intermediary
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Consumers are reluctant to make electronic transactions due to the time and inconvenience involved in providing credit card and personal information, which contradicts their expectation of fast and convenient transactions.
Innovation Solution
Integrating a messaging server, such as Skype, with a financial service provider, like PayPal, to facilitate instant communication, allowing users to share payment and shipping information securely without exchanging sensitive details directly with merchants, using a 'handle' or 'key' referencing their information stored with the financial service provider.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users provide credit card and personal information directly to merchants, then payment transactions can be completed, but transaction time increases and user convenience decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having users register their payment information with the messaging server in advance. This pre-registration allows the information to be stored securely beforehand, so during actual transactions, users only need to provide a reference key rather than full payment details, significantly reducing transaction time while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The messaging server acts as an intermediary between users and merchants. Instead of users directly sharing sensitive payment information with merchants, the messaging server mediates the transaction by holding the actual payment details and only sharing necessary transaction information with merchants, thus reducing transaction time while preserving security.
2Productivity
If users share sensitive payment information with merchants, then transactions can be processed, but information security risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The messaging server serves as a trusted intermediary that holds users' sensitive payment information securely. During transactions, the server provides only the necessary transactional data to merchants while keeping actual payment details confidential, thereby enabling fast transactions without exposing users to information security risks.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts sensitive payment information from the direct user-merchant communication channel and stores it separately in the messaging server's secure database. This separation removes the security risk from the transaction flow while maintaining transaction speed, as merchants receive only the extracted necessary information.
3Reliability
If traditional payment information exchange methods are used, then transactions can be completed, but user convenience decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Users perform the cumbersome task of entering and securing their payment information only once during initial registration with the messaging server. For subsequent transactions, they simply provide a reference key, making the process convenient while the system handles the secure information management in the background.
Solution Approach 2:
The messaging server intermediary automates the secure information exchange process. Users interact only with the familiar messaging interface rather than complex payment forms, and the server handles all security protocols automatically, greatly improving ease of operation while maintaining reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and a system conducts payment transactions via instant messaging. The system includes a messaging interface to receive a payment transaction request at a payment application from a network-based device via a network. The messaging interface facilitates substantially instant communication over the network. The payment application, responsive to receiving the payment transaction request, transfers a payment from a user associated with the network-based device to a third party.