POS Payment Terminal Store-and-Forward for Failed Communications

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Solution Overview

Problem

Checkout systems face challenges in consolidating and streamlining functionality, particularly in ensuring Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard compliance, which can lead to transaction failures and data loss due to isolation of payment systems from other hardware components.

Innovation Solution

A method and system that encrypts payment presentation information when communication with a payment processing service fails, allowing transmission to an external device such as a POS terminal or printer, enabling store-and-forward functionality to ensure transaction data is securely stored and retrieved later.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Object-affected harmful factors

If payment system is isolated from other hardware components to ensure PCI DSS compliance, then security is improved, but transaction reliability deteriorates due to communication failures

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovesecurityVSAvoidtransaction reliability

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The payment terminal stores transaction information locally in memory before transmission to the payment processing service. This preliminary storage action ensures that even if communication fails, the transaction data is preserved and can be transmitted later when connectivity is restored, thus maintaining transaction reliability without compromising the isolated secure payment processing environment.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If payment terminal stores transaction information locally to handle communication failures, then transaction reliability is improved, but data loss risk increases due to potential storage failures

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetransaction reliabilityVSAvoiddata loss risk

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The system uses an intermediary storage mechanism where the payment terminal temporarily stores transaction information in its memory before successful transmission to the payment processing service. This intermediary storage acts as a buffer that prevents data loss by ensuring transactions are captured even when communication fails, while the eventual successful transmission to the secure payment service ensures data integrity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Object-affected harmful factors

If payment terminal encrypts and transmits payment presentation information to external device, then data security is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata securityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and transmits only the essential payment presentation information (such as card number, expiration date, CVV) to the payment processing service after successful authentication. By taking out only the necessary data for processing and not the entire transaction record, the system maintains strong data security while minimizing the complexity of data handling and transmission.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

This approach enhances the reliability and efficiency of transaction processing by securely offloading transaction data, minimizing data loss, and allowing quick recovery from payment terminal failures without requiring recertification, thus improving the overall availability and responsiveness of the POS system.

Implementation Method 1

encrypting the payment presentation information and transmitting the encrypted payment presentation information from the payment terminal to an external device

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectEncryption:

Data Source

PatentUS12412170B2System for store and forward in point of sale transactions

Publication Date: 2025.09.09 TOSHIBA GLOBAL COMMERCE SOLUTIONS HLDG

AI summary

Aspects described herein include a method (and associated system and computer program product) comprises receiving an amount of a transaction from a point of sale (POS) terminal, and receiving, at a payment terminal, one or more user inputs comprising payment presentation information for the transaction. The method further comprises communicating the payment presentation information to a payment processing service to complete processing of the transaction. The method further comprises determining that the payment presentation information is not received at the payment processing service, and in response, encrypting the payment presentation information and transmitting the encrypted payment presentation information from the payment terminal to an external device.