Receipt Vault Interception for Payment Transaction Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems lack an efficient mechanism for managing and retrieving receipts for payment account transactions, particularly in scenarios where returns are necessary, as receipts are often not centralized or easily accessible for consumers and merchants.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a receipt vault system that intercepts authorization messages during transactions, appends a vault location to these messages, and stores receipts for later retrieval, allowing consumers and merchants to access and manage receipts as needed for returns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If receipts are issued separately to consumers through email or physical delivery, then consumers can receive proof of purchase, but consumers and merchants cannot efficiently access or retrieve receipts for returns
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by intercepting the authorization message during the original transaction and appending the receipt vault location before the transaction completes. This ensures the receipt is pre-positioned in the vault with the correct location identifier, enabling efficient later retrieval without requiring separate receipt generation or storage steps
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a receipt engine as an intermediary component that sits between the authorization system and the vault. This intermediary intercepts authorization messages, appends the vault location, and coordinates receipt storage, thereby resolving the contradiction by providing a centralized access mechanism while maintaining the original transaction flow
2Productivity
If a centralized receipt storage system is implemented, then receipt retrieval is facilitated, but the transaction processing system becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the receipt management function from the general transaction processing system by introducing a specialized receipt engine component. This segmentation allows the core transaction system to remain simple while the receipt engine handles the complexity of centralized storage and retrieval, thereby improving return processing efficiency without significantly complicating the overall system
Solution Approach 2:
The receipt engine serves multiple functions: it intercepts authorization messages, appends vault locations, coordinates receipt storage, and enables later retrieval. By consolidating these diverse functions into a single multi-functional component, the system achieves efficient return processing without proportionally increasing complexity
3Reliability
If the receipt vault location is appended to the authorization message, then receipts can be stored and retrieved efficiently, but the authorization message structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The vault location is appended to the authorization message in advance, during the original transaction authorization process. This preliminary action ensures the location information is already embedded when the receipt needs to be stored or retrieved later, eliminating the need for complex lookup or matching operations and thereby improving storage reliability without significant structural complexity
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for use in managing receipts associated with payment account transactions are disclosed. One exemplary method includes intercepting, by a computing device, an authorization message associated with a transaction involving a payment account and a merchant. The method also includes accessing, by the computing device, a profile for the payment account where the profile includes a vault location in a receipt vault data structure specific to the payment account, and appending, by the computing device, the vault location to the authorization message, whereby the merchant is permitted to deposit a receipt for the transaction at the vault location in the receipt vault data structure.