Offline Mobile Payment Processing with Single-Device Mode Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional mobile payment systems require a network connection between user devices, merchant payment systems, and payment servers, limiting their functionality when disconnected from payment servers.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that enables offline transactions by allowing user devices to receive offline payment requests from merchant payment systems via local communications, store payment approval messages, and transmit offline transaction information to payment servers when connectivity is restored.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a network connection is required between user device and payment server to process mobile payments, then payment security and reliability are improved, but payment functionality deteriorates when network connectivity is unavailable
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by establishing a network connection before disconnection to enable offline payment mode. The user device receives payment account information and enables offline transactions in advance, so that when network connectivity is lost, the device can still process payments using the pre-configured offline mode and stored payment information.
2Ease of operation
If offline payment mode is enabled on multiple user devices simultaneously, then user convenience is improved, but account security deteriorates due to risk of overdrafts
Solution Approach 1:
The payment server implements a feedback mechanism by monitoring and tracking which user device has offline payment mode enabled. When a first user device connects to the server, the server checks if offline mode is already enabled on another device, and if so, disables it on the first device. This feedback loop ensures that only one device can perform offline transactions at a time, preventing account overdrafts while maintaining user convenience.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method for facilitating offline transactions includes: receiving, by a first user device, an offline payment request from a merchant payment system via a first local communications connection; providing, by the first user device, a payment approval message to the merchant payment system via the first local communications connection; providing, by the first user device, the offline transaction information to the payment server corresponding to the payment approval message to the payment server when the first user device and the payment server are connected via a network; determining, by the first user device, that an instruction to transfer the offline mode of the first user device to a second user device has been received; and disabling, by the first user device, the offline mode of the first user device.