Mobile Payment Card Image Capture System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing payment methods using smart cards require costly chip readers and regular maintenance, and there is a need for alternative means to verify customer identity and make electronic payments.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that uses a mobile device with a camera to capture images of a payment card, transmit them to a remote server for identification, and implement transactions between bank accounts, eliminating the need for chip readers by using caller ID for merchant identification and optical character recognition or image comparison for card authentication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If smart card chip readers are used for payment verification, then payment security is improved, but device cost and maintenance requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a digital copy (photograph) of the payment card instead of requiring physical contact with a chip reader. The camera captures an image of the card, and the card details are extracted from this digital copy, eliminating the need for expensive chip reading hardware while maintaining payment verification capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/electrical chip reader system with an optical system (camera). Instead of physically inserting a card into a reader that makes electrical contact with the chip, the system uses a camera to capture an optical image of the card, then processes the image data to extract card information, substituting mechanical verification with optical capture and digital processing
2Device complexity
If optical character recognition is used to identify card details, then device cost is reduced, but measurement precision of card details may be affected
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the mobile device's existing camera and processing capabilities that are already available to the user, rather than requiring additional specialized equipment. The mobile device itself performs the optical capture and the server performs the character recognition, utilizing resources that would otherwise be idle or underutilized
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from extracting card information through physical contact (chip reading) to extracting information through optical imaging in a different dimension. By capturing the card as a 2D image and then processing that image data, the system accesses card information through a different dimensional approach (visual/optical domain rather than electrical contact domain)
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure describes making a payment transaction between a customer and a merchant using a payment card of the customer including: transmitting details of the payment transaction from a mobile device to a remote server; capturing at least one image of the payment card using the mobile device of the merchant; transmitting the at least one image of the payment card to the remote server; identifying, by the remote server, the merchant and the payment card captured in the at least one image; and implementing the payment transaction between bank accounts of the customer and the merchant.