Payment Gateway for Multi-Merchant Terminal Certification
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing payment processing systems for shared terminals, such as those used by multiple airlines at airports, face challenges in certification and maintenance due to the need to support multiple third-party payment applications, leading to complex certification regimes and difficulties in processing transactions securely across different payment providers.
Innovation Solution
A payment processing system that uses a common architecture to connect multiple payment providers for transaction processing, allowing a single terminal to support multiple merchants with their own payment service providers, while ensuring secure encryption and compliance with PCI standards through point-to-point encryption and secure key management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple third-party payment applications are installed on a shared terminal to support multiple merchants, then the terminal can process transactions for different payment providers, but the certification and maintenance complexity increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the payment processing functionality by introducing a payment gateway that acts as an intermediary layer between the terminal and multiple payment service providers. Each payment application communicates with the terminal through standardized interfaces, while the gateway handles provider-specific protocols and certification requirements separately, isolating complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
A payment gateway is introduced as an intermediary component that mediates between the terminal environment and multiple payment service providers. The gateway manages authentication, encryption, and communication protocols, allowing the terminal to support multiple providers without each application needing direct certification with every provider.
2Device complexity
If a payment aggregator is used to process payments for all merchants, then the terminal can be simplified to a single application, but existing payment provider relationships are lost and the aggregator becomes a single point of control
Solution Approach 1:
The terminal is designed with universal interfaces that can accommodate multiple payment service providers simultaneously. The payment gateway provides multi-functionality by supporting various payment protocols and providers through a unified architecture, allowing the terminal to maintain relationships with multiple providers without requiring separate dedicated terminals.
3Reliability
If separate payment processors are required for each merchant application running concurrently, then each merchant can have their own payment provider relationships, but the number of payment processors and key storage slots increases beyond terminal limits
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple payment processor functionalities are merged into a single payment gateway component. The gateway consolidates key management, authentication, and communication functions for multiple payment service providers, allowing the terminal to support concurrent merchant applications without requiring separate payment processor instances for each.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Payment processing system, workstation, terminal, or kiosk comprising a module (209) that receives a payment request that includes payment information comprising a merchant or transaction identifier. The module also receives encrypted payment data from a reader (210) that includes an account number encrypted according to a first key. The module then transmits the payment information and the encrypted payment data to a payment server (211). On receiving the payment information and the encrypted payment data, the payment server determines a payment service provider based on the merchant or transaction identifier and a location identifier and transmits the encrypted payment data and the determined payment service provider to a security module (215).