Secure Tap Payment via Magnetic Field Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current payment methods in retail environments, such as NFC and optical scanning, face security vulnerabilities and inconvenience, with NFC being susceptible to tampering and optical methods prone to theft and lack of secure receipt data storage.
Innovation Solution
A secure tap-enabled payment mechanism using a portable device with magnetic field sensors and wireless transceivers that communicates with a cloud-based system, ensuring data remains encrypted and secure, eliminating physical identification and proprietary intermediary providers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If NFC payment is used for contactless payment, then payment speed is improved, but security vulnerability increases due to susceptibility to tampering
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces magnetic field sensors as an intermediary verification layer between the NFC payment system and the transaction completion. The sensors detect magnetic field interactions that occur during legitimate NFC transactions, creating an additional security checkpoint that prevents tampering while maintaining the rapid payment processing capability of NFC technology.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary verification by detecting magnetic field interactions before completing the payment transaction. This preliminary action validates the authenticity of the NFC communication channel, ensuring that the payment is processed only after security verification, thus preventing tampering while maintaining speed.
2Ease of operation
If optical scanning methods are used for payment, then convenience is improved, but security vulnerability increases due to susceptibility to theft and lack of secure receipt data storage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces magnetic field sensors as an intermediary verification layer between the optical scanning system and the transaction completion. The sensors detect magnetic field interactions that occur during legitimate transactions, creating an additional security checkpoint that prevents theft and ensures secure receipt data storage while maintaining the convenience of optical scanning payment methods.
3Reliability
If magnetic field sensors are added to enhance security, then security is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent leverages the universality of magnetic field sensors, which are already present in most modern smartphones for other functions (such as compass and gesture control). By repurposing these existing sensors for payment verification, the system enhances security without adding physical complexity to the device structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes the device's existing magnetic field sensors to perform security verification, allowing the device to self-verify transaction authenticity without requiring external verification equipment. This self-service approach enhances security while avoiding additional device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Provides a secure, convenient, and efficient payment process across all smart devices, reducing security risks and enhancing customer experience by maintaining data security and eliminating the need for proprietary providers.
Implementation Method 1
an electromagnetic component for producing a magnetic field and operable for detecting close-range interaction with that field by the magnetic field sensor of the device
Data Source
AI summary
A method for receiving and executing a request from an electronic communications device in a point-of-sale location, the device configured to receive, from a device reader, magnetic signature data from a magnetic field produced by the device reader and wirelessly receiving a reader unique identifier from the device reader. The device configured to communicate the magnetic signature data and unique identifier to a backend service as reader identifying data together with customer credentials. The backend service configured to match customer credentials with a customer database, and match reader identifying data to a reader database to verify the reader identify; the backend service configured to use verified reader identity to identify order data received from a terminal and to pass order data to a payment provider for executing payment.