Mobile App Proximity Contact Discovery for Bill Splitting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mobile payment systems are cumbersome when splitting bills among multiple participants, requiring users to manually enter individual email addresses, which becomes impractical with a large number of participants.
Innovation Solution
A mobile application that discovers and presents nearby contacts through proximity and social networks, allowing users to select individuals for bill splitting without manual address entry, using technologies like Bluetooth, GPS, and social media lists to identify and filter potential payers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users manually enter individual email addresses for each customer, then payment requests can be sent to all participants, but the process becomes very cumbersome when the number of participants rises over two
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically discovers and identifies nearby participants through proximity detection technologies (Bluetooth, GPS, RFID) without requiring manual email entry. The payer device autonomously generates a list of potential participants based on their physical proximity to the payment location, eliminating the need for users to manually search and enter email addresses for each participant.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary identification of participants by detecting devices in close proximity before the actual payment request is sent. This preliminary action of discovering and pre-selecting nearby participants occurs automatically, so when the payment request needs to be distributed, the list of recipients is already prepared and available.
2Productivity
If the payer device divides the total amount due by the number of customers to generate equal amounts, then each customer receives a payment request, but the payer must wait to get reimbursed by each customer
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary payment collection mechanism where the payer device collects payments from all participants simultaneously through a coordinated process. Instead of the payer waiting for individual reimbursements, the system manages the collection process centrally, allowing the payer to receive payment from multiple participants in a streamlined manner rather than sequentially.
3Reliability
If each customer receives a request on their mobile device and makes payment individually, then the payee receives full payment, but the process requires manual email address entry for each participant
Solution Approach 1:
Each participant's mobile device autonomously receives and processes payment requests without requiring manual intervention to enter email addresses. The system self-manages the distribution of payment requests to all identified participants and tracks their individual payment status, reducing the complexity of participant management while ensuring reliable payment collection.
Data Source
AI summary
An application or App on a payer's mobile device is used to discover people known to the user and who are in close proximity to the user at the time of a payment request. Discovery can be through searching contact lists and/or social networks of the payer and/or through the payer device discovering contacts around the payer and then searching the payer's contact or social network list to see if there are any matches. These people are then shown to the user on the user device, such as with a photo, icon, name, and/or email address. The user selects desired ones, which causes requests to be sent to the selected people, such as through text, voice, or email, to the respective devices. The selected people can then easily confirm or authorize a payment be sent to the user or to a payee.