Multifunctional Payment Cards With Point-of-Sale Service Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing payment systems lack the ability to seamlessly integrate additional services or features beyond traditional payment transactions, such as game actions, check-ins, redeeming coupons, earning loyalty points, or making charitable donations, directly through a payment card or device.
Innovation Solution
A payment card or device equipped with buttons or touch-sensitive displays allows users to associate additional services, which are communicated to a point-of-sale system along with payment information, enabling third-party service providers to enact desired features like redeeming vouchers, earning loyalty points, or making charitable donations, through a processing facility and remote server interaction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional payment card systems are used, then payment transactions can be processed, but additional services (game actions, check-ins, coupons, loyalty points, charitable donations) cannot be integrated
Solution Approach 1:
The payment card is transformed into a multi-functional device by adding buttons that can trigger various additional services beyond payment transactions. The system allows a single card to perform diverse functions including game actions, location check-ins, coupon redemption, loyalty point earning, and charitable donations, making the device universal rather than single-purpose
Solution Approach 2:
A remote facility acts as an intermediary between the payment card system and third-party service providers. This mediator receives button selection data from the card, processes it through a processing facility, and forwards it to appropriate third-party services, enabling integration without direct complex connections between the card and each service provider
2Adaptability or versatility
If buttons are added to the card for service selection, then additional services can be accessed, but the card design becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The card interface is segmented into distinct functional elements: payment processing area and button selection area. Each button is assigned to a specific additional service, creating clear segmentation of functions. This modular segmentation allows users to access different services through discrete button presses without overwhelming the interface
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the card have different qualities and functions. The buttons are positioned in specific locations on the card surface, with each location having a designated purpose. The card's magnetic stripe or contactless area maintains its standard payment function while the button area provides additional service access, creating local differentiation of functionality
3Ease of operation
If multiple services are integrated into the payment system, then user experience is enhanced, but data processing and management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by capturing button selection data at the point of sale along with payment information. The remote facility pre-processes this data, identifies which third-party services should be notified, and prepares the appropriate data packets before forwarding to service providers. This preliminary processing simplifies the overall data management complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The remote facility serves as a data management intermediary that handles the complexity of processing multiple service types. It receives unified button selection data, routes it to appropriate third-party services, and manages the interactions between the payment system and various service providers, thereby simplifying the overall system architecture
Data Source
AI summary
An ecosystem provider may provide an ecosystem associating payment method cards and applications. The applications may provide features to a user. The features may include methods of contributing to charities and/or methods of obtaining collectible items by meeting performance metrics. The performance metrics may be related to the use of payment methods and/or payment method cards.