Systems and methods for dynamic receipt generation with environmental information

Abstract

A new approach is proposed that contemplates systems and methods to enable an individual to complete a financial transaction by swiping a magnetic stripe card through a card reader connected to a mobile device. The size of the card reader is miniaturized to be portable for connection with the mobile device. The card reader is configured to reliably read data encoded in a magnetic strip of the card with minimum error in a single swipe and provide a signal that corresponds to the data read to the mobile device, which then decodes the incoming signal from the card reader and acts as a point-of-sale device to complete the financial transaction. Such an approach enables a person to become either a micro-merchant (payee) or a buyer/customer (payer) without having to purchase expensive card reader devices or software.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A point-of-sale system comprising:
 a payment card reader configured to be electrically coupled to a mobile device;   a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver of the mobile device configured to acquire location information;   a transaction engine running on the mobile device, the transaction engine configured to acquire financial transaction information about a financial transaction between a buyer and a seller at a location, and to acquire payment card information from the payment card reader coupled to the mobile device, and to acquire the location of the mobile device during the financial transaction between the buyer and the seller;   a server managed by an acquiring financial institution, the server configured to receive the financial transaction information and the payment card information from the transaction engine to process the financial transaction and provide a transaction result to the transaction engine; and   the transaction engine further configured to generate a dynamic receipt for the buyer that includes the transaction result and the location of the mobile device during the financial transaction between the buyer and the seller, the transaction result being received from the server of the financial institution and acquired by the transaction engine, and the location of the mobile device being acquired from the GPS receiver of the mobile device.   
     
     
         2 . The point-of-sale system of  claim 1  wherein the mobile device further comprises a camera configured to capture an image or a video of the transaction that is included in the dynamic receipt. 
     
     
         3 . The point-of-sale system of  claim 1  wherein the payment card reader has an output jack that is configured to be inserted into at least one of an audio input jack and a microphone input jack of the mobile device. 
     
     
         4 . The point-of-sale system of  claim 1  wherein the mobile device further comprises a biometric scanner configured to scan a finger print or a palm print of the buyer or the merchant, the finger print or the palm print being included in the dynamic receipt. 
     
     
         5 . The point-of-sale system of  claim 1  wherein the dynamic receipt includes information associated with the transaction, the information associated with the transaction including at least one of: a speed of the card swipe and an angle of the card swipe. 
     
     
         6 . The point-of-sale system of  claim 1  wherein the dynamic receipt is in electronic form. 
     
     
         7 . The point-of-sale system of  claim 1  wherein the GPS receiver captures coordinates of the mobile device during the financial transaction and records the coordinates of the mobile device it as part of the dynamic receipt. 
     
     
         8 . The point-of-sale system of  claim 1  wherein the financial transaction information includes one or more of a card number, a card holder's name, an expiration date and a security code. 
     
     
         9 . The point-of-sale system of  claim 1  wherein the dynamic receipt further includes a finger print or a palm print of the buyer. 
     
     
         10 . The point-of-sale system of  claim 1  wherein the dynamic receipt further includes a finger print or a palm print of the merchant. 
     
     
         11 . A method of generating a dynamic receipt, the method comprising:
 acquiring financial transaction information about a financial transaction using a mobile device that has a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver;   acquiring, by the mobile device, payment card information from a card reader coupled to the mobile device, the card reader configured to read the payment card information from the payment card, the payment card information to be used to process the financial transaction;   acquiring, by the mobile device, a location of the mobile device during the financial transaction from the GPS receiver;   sending, by the mobile device, the financial transaction information and the payment card information, to an acquiring institution server to process the transaction; and   generating a dynamic receipt for the buyer that includes the location of the mobile device during the financial transaction as acquired by the GPS receiver during the financial transaction, and a transaction result received from the acquiring institution server so that the location of the mobile device and the transaction result are included in the dynamic receipt.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the card reader is electrically coupled to the mobile device. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the payment card reader has an output jack that is configured to be inserted into at least one of an audio input jack and a microphone input jack of the mobile device. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising reading a magnetic stripe of a payment card using the card reader. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising capturing additional environmental information by the transaction engine that is added into the dynamic receipt by the transaction engine. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising using the location information to assess risk associated with the financial transaction. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising acquiring a finger print or a palm print of the buyer and including the finger print or the palm print in the dynamic receipt. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising acquiring a finger print or a palm print of the merchant and including the finger print or the palm print in the dynamic receipt. 
     
     
         19 . A point-of-sale system comprising:
 a payment card reader configured to be coupled to a mobile device;   a transaction engine running on the mobile device, the transaction engine configured to acquire financial transaction information about a financial transaction between a buyer and a seller at a location, and to acquire payment card information from the payment card reader coupled to the mobile device, and to acquire the location of the mobile device during the financial transaction between the buyer and the seller; and   a server managed by an acquiring financial institution, the server configured to receive the financial transaction information and the payment card information from the transaction engine to process the financial transaction and provide a transaction result to the transaction engine; and   wherein the point-of-sale system is configured to generate a dynamic receipt for the buyer that includes the transaction result and the location of the mobile device during the financial transaction between the buyer and the seller, wherein the location of the mobile device is acquired from the mobile device.   
     
     
         20 . The point-of-sale system of  claim 19  wherein the mobile device further comprises a camera configured to capture an image or a video of the transaction that is included in the dynamic receipt.