Offline POS Payment Verification via One-Time Passwords
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to securely and efficiently confirm electronic payments at a point of sale without network connectivity, where sellers rely on customers' mobile devices with active connections to verify payment confirmations using one-time passwords.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a payment application on the customer's mobile device and a seller-controlled device to generate one-time passwords, leveraging a shared secret and additional data like time, counter, or amount, ensuring secure payment confirmation without requiring network connectivity at the point of sale.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the seller uses a point of sale without network connectivity to confirm payments, then the seller can operate offline, but the seller cannot securely verify payment confirmations from the payment system
Solution Approach 1:
The seller's device generates one-time passwords in advance using a shared secret before connecting to the payment system. This preliminary generation of verification codes allows the offline device to later verify payments securely without needing network connectivity at the moment of verification
Solution Approach 2:
One-time passwords serve as an intermediary mechanism that bridges the offline seller device and the online payment system. The OTP acts as a verifiable token that can be generated offline but is tied to the secure online payment confirmation, allowing secure verification without direct network connection at the point of sale
2Reliability
If the seller uses sophisticated hardware to securely verify payments offline, then payment security is improved, but the hardware requirements and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The seller's device uses its own existing resources (processor, memory, display) to generate and verify one-time passwords locally. The device serves itself by performing cryptographic operations using the shared secret stored in its memory, eliminating the need for specialized verification hardware
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses disposable one-time passwords that are generated and consumed quickly. Each OTP is valid for a single use and short time period, providing strong security without requiring long-term secure storage or complex hardware. The temporary nature of OTPs allows simple implementation on basic devices
Data Source
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AI summary
System and method to prove evidence of payment confirmation at a point of sale (POS) where both seller and customer obtain one-time passwords by making use of two differentiated password generation processes and devices on each party's side, of which a costumer's mobile device with network connectivity and a payment application running on this device and a seller's device without the need of having network connectivity, and an electronic payment system with network connectivity which knows the seller or the seller's point of sale by a previously addressed unique identifier and a shared secret previously set by the seller and the payment system.