Mobile Device Intermediary for Offline Retail Payments
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Vending machines and similar payment accepting units often require persistent network connections for cashless payments, which can be unreliable in areas without internet access, limiting their ability to accept mobile payments.
Innovation Solution
A mobile-device-to-machine payment processing system that uses a combination of short-range and long-range communication technologies to facilitate transactions over non-persistent network connections, allowing for hands-free and manual 'swipe-to-pay' modes, and enabling multiple vending transactions without the need for continuous network connectivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If persistent network connections are required for cashless payments, then payment reliability is improved, but device complexity and operational costs worsen due to need for cellular connections on machines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cellular communication capability from the payment accepting unit and relocates it to the user's mobile device. The mobile device establishes a persistent connection with the payment network, while the payment accepting unit only needs short-range communication capability. This removes the complexity of cellular connections from the machine while maintaining reliable payment processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device serves as an intermediary between the user and the payment accepting unit. It maintains the persistent network connection and relays payment information to the machine via short-range communication. This intermediary approach allows the machine to operate without cellular connectivity while still enabling reliable cashless payments.
2Adaptability or versatility
If persistent network connections are required for cashless payments, then payment processing capability is improved, but loss of time increases due to connection establishment requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile device establishes and maintains a persistent connection with the payment network before the user needs to make a purchase. This preliminary action ensures that payment authorization and processing capabilities are already available when the user approaches the payment accepting unit, eliminating connection establishment delays during the transaction.
Solution Approach 2:
The persistent network connection on the mobile device maintains continuous readiness for payment processing. Instead of establishing connections during each transaction, the connection remains active and ready, allowing immediate payment processing when the user initiates a purchase, thus eliminating connection establishment time.
3Reliability
If cellular connections are installed on machines, then payment reliability is improved, but operational costs worsen due to connection maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cellular communication function from the payment accepting unit and assigns it to the user's mobile device. The machine only requires short-range communication (e.g., Bluetooth, NFC) which consumes minimal energy. This eliminates operational costs associated with cellular connection maintenance on machines while preserving payment reliability through the mobile device's persistent connection.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device, which the user already possesses and operates, handles the energy-intensive cellular communication and network connection maintenance. The payment accepting unit leverages this capability without incurring additional operational costs for cellular connectivity, effectively making the system self-sufficient regarding network connectivity.
4Ease of operation
If short-range communication is used for mobile payments, then ease of operation is improved, but measurement precision worsens due to signal reliability issues
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile device acts as an intermediary that uses its reliable cellular connection to communicate with the payment network. The short-range communication between the mobile device and payment accepting unit is supplemented by this more reliable long-range connection, ensuring that payment authorization and transaction data are accurately transmitted even if short-range signals experience interference.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges short-range communication (for proximity-based payment initiation) with long-range cellular communication (for reliable data transmission). The short-range channel triggers the payment and establishes proximity, while the long-range channel ensures accurate and reliable communication with the payment network, combining the advantages of both communication methods.
Data Source
AI summary
A mobile device with a first transceiver, a second transceiver, one or more processors, and memory bridges communications between an offline retail machine with a short-range communication capability and a remote server by obtaining via the first transceiver a single-use request code from an information packet broadcast by the offline retail machine; transmitting via the second transceiver the single-use request code to a remote server; obtaining via the second transceiver from the remote server a grant token including the single-use request code; detecting a trigger condition for initiating provision of a product or service by the offline retail machine; and in response to detecting the trigger condition, initiating performance of the provision of the product or service by transmitting the grant token to the offline retail machine via the first transceiver.