Merchant ordering system using optical machine readable image representation of invoice information

Abstract

A system and method for assisting ordering and payment processing of an order invoice associated with a product selected by a customer. The system comprises collecting product data about the product and generates the order invoice information for use by at least an accounting system of the merchant. The system receives symbology information in an aggregated barcode associated with the order invoice, the symbology information including at least a portion of the order invoice information encoded using a coding scheme of a barcode. The system provides an image of the aggregated barcode to the customer for use in generating a transaction request for settlement of the order invoice, and receives a transaction response indicating transaction approval or transaction denial of the order invoice.

We claim: 
     
         1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A system for processing symbology information of a barcode, the system comprising:
 a database including merchant financial account information stored in merchant profile data for a plurality of merchants;   a transaction processing system coupled to the database and comprising a computer processor coupled to a memory, wherein the computer processor is programmed via a set of instructions stored in the memory to process order information pertaining to a product of a merchant including product data and merchant data of the merchant by:
 receiving a transaction request including customer identification and an image of the barcode directly from a mobile device of a customer without sending the transaction request to an order interface of the merchant, the image a result of scanning by the mobile device with an imager of the mobile device thereby creating the image of the barcode, the symbology information including at least a portion of the order information encoded using a coding scheme of the barcode, said portion of the order information including the merchant data; 
 decoding the symbology information of said image to obtain the merchant data; 
 comparing by the computer processor the merchant data obtained from said image to the merchant profile data in the database to identify the merchant financial account information of the merchant; and 
 sending a transaction response to the order interface of the merchant, the transaction response generated by the transaction processing system based on the transaction request received directly from the mobile device, the transaction response including processing details of the transaction request indicating a transaction approval or a transaction denial of the order information, the processing details based on the customer identification matching customer financial account information that is withheld from the order interface of the merchant. 
   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein said portion of the order information includes product prices and product identifiers aggregated for a plurality of products selected by the customer and the total invoice amount of invoice data incorporates said product prices. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein said portion of the order information includes payment terms. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 22  further comprising the order interface coupled to a point of sale (POS) terminal with a display, such that the barcode is presented on the POS terminal for display on the display, thereby providing for access to the barcode by the customer using the imager. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 22  further comprising the order interface coupled to a printer, such that the barcode is provided to the printer for printing of the barcode on a physical medium, thereby providing for access to the barcode by the customer using the imager. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the product is selected from the group comprising: goods and services. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the order information relates a type of order selected from the group consisting of: a restaurant bill; a retail purchase either in person or online; and a services agreement. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the merchant data is an abstracted version of the merchant financial account information, such that the transaction processing system is able to link the merchant data with the actual merchant financial account information stored by the transaction processing system. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the transaction approval includes customer identification information and indication of a funds transfer to the merchant financial account satisfying the total invoice amount. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein said portion of the order invoice information includes a quantity of the product or a description of the product. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the customer identification is for use by the transaction processing system in accessing actual customer financial account information during processing of the transaction request. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the mobile device is configured to include invoice information associated with the barcode in the transaction request. 
     
     
         33 . A method for processing symbology information of a barcode having order information pertaining to a product of a merchant including product data and merchant data of the merchant, the method comprising:
 electronically receiving a transaction request including customer identification and an image of the barcode directly from a mobile device of a customer without sending the transaction request to an order interface of the merchant, the image a result of scanning by the mobile device with an imager of the mobile device thereby creating the image of the barcode, the symbology information including at least a portion of the order information encoded using a coding scheme of the barcode, said portion of the order information including the merchant data;
 decoding the symbology information of said image to obtain the merchant data; 
 comparing by the computer processor the merchant data obtained from said image to the merchant profile data in a database to identify the merchant financial account information of the merchant, the database including merchant financial account information stored in merchant profile data for a plurality of merchants; and 
 sending a transaction response to the order interface of the merchant, the transaction response generated by the transaction processing system based on the transaction request received directly from the mobile device, the transaction response including processing details of the transaction request indicating a transaction approval or a transaction denial of the order information, the processing details based on the customer identification matching customer financial account information that is withheld from the order interface of the merchant. 
   
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein said portion of the order information includes product prices and product identifiers aggregated for a plurality of products selected by the customer and the total amount of the data incorporates said product prices. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34  further comprising the step of providing the barcode on a point of sale (POS) terminal with a display for display on the display, thereby providing for access to the barcode by the customer using the imager. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 34  further comprising the step of providing the barcode on a printer for printing of the barcode on a physical medium, thereby providing for access to the barcode by the customer using the imager. 
     
     
         37 . A method for processing symbology information of a barcode having order information pertaining to product data of a merchant, the method comprising:
 electronically receiving a transaction request including customer identification and at least a portion of the symbology information directly from a mobile device of a customer without sending the transaction request to an order interface of the merchant, the symbology information a result of scanning by the mobile device with an imager of the mobile device thereby creating an image of the barcode, said at least a portion of the symbology information encoded using a coding scheme of the barcode, said at least a portion of symbology information including merchant data of the merchant;
 decoding said at least a portion of the symbology information to obtain the merchant data; 
 comparing by the computer processor the merchant data obtained from said at least a portion of the order information to the merchant profile data in a database to identify the merchant financial account information of the merchant, the database including merchant financial account information stored in merchant profile data for a plurality of merchants; and 
 sending a transaction response to the order interface of the merchant, the transaction response generated by the transaction processing system based on the transaction request received directly from the mobile device, the transaction response including processing details of the transaction request indicating a transaction approval or a transaction denial of the order information, the processing details based on the customer identification matching customer financial account information that is withheld from the order interface of the merchant. 
   
     
     
         38 . A method for processing symbology information of a barcode having order information pertaining to product data of a merchant, the method stored on a computer readable medium for execution by a computer processor to perform:
 scanning by a mobile device with an imager of the mobile device thereby creating an image of the barcode including the symbology information, at least a portion of the symbology information encoded using a coding scheme of the barcode, said at least a portion of symbology information including merchant data of the merchant;   electronically sending a transaction request to a transaction processing system including customer identification and said at least a portion of the symbology information directly from the mobile device of a customer without sending the transaction request to an order interface of the merchant;   receiving a transaction response from the transaction processing system by the mobile device, the transaction response generated by the transaction processing system based on the transaction request received directly from the mobile device, the transaction response including processing details of the transaction request indicating a transaction approval or a transaction denial of the order information, the processing details based on the customer identification matching customer financial account information that is withheld from the order interface of the merchant and based on merchant financial account information of the merchant that is withheld from the mobile device;   wherein the transaction processing system obtained the merchant financial account information by decoding said at least a portion of the symbology information to obtain the merchant data, compared the merchant data to merchant profile data for a plurality of merchants stored in a database to identify the merchant financial account information of the merchant.