Split Mobile Payment System

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing enhanced transaction security via use of a split mobile payment system which allows a Consumer to pay for a purchase using his mobile device without exposing Payment Account information to the merchant. The split mobile payment system may include a mobile payment application (MPA), running on a Consumer's mobile device, which can communicate with a Payment Platform and merchant's in-store Point of Sale Payment Application (PPA). A barcode can be used as one means for identifying a Consumer's Payment Account to the Payment Platform via the PPA. In the event of a PIN being required, the PIN may be entered by the Consumer via the mobile device rather than the merchant's PPA.

We claim: 
     
         1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A split transaction server coordinating processing of a purchase transaction between a merchant and a consumer over a network with interaction involving the server, a merchant device, and a consumer device, the split transaction server comprising:
 a computer processor coupled to a memory, wherein the computer processor is programmed to coordinate processing of the purchase transaction by:   receiving by the computer processor from the consumer device over the network the purchase transaction via a network communications module including merchant information and consumer information, such that the merchant information is encoded information unusable by the consumer to directly access through a payment processing system a financial account of the merchant;   decoding by the computer processor the encoded information and retrieving, via a lookup from a merchant profile, merchant financial account information using the decoded information to directly access through the payment processing system the financial account of the merchant;   generating by the computer processor by the network communications module a configured notification that includes a request for entry of confirmation information from the consumer device for the purchase transaction;   contacting directly by the computer processor a consumer program application of the consumer device by sending the configured notification for display on a user interface of the consumer device requesting entry of the confirmation information for the purchase transaction from the user interface based on the configured notification;   receiving by the computer processor the confirmation information from the consumer device and generating a corresponding funds transfer request between the merchant financial account and a financial account associated with the consumer using a funds amount;   sending the funds transfer request by the computer processor to the payment processing system for subsequent settlement of the funds amount with the financial account of the consumer and the financial account of the merchant; and   sending by the computer processor the approval or the denial of the purchase transaction to at least one of the consumer device or the merchant device.   
     
     
         3 . The server of  claim 2 , wherein the encoded merchant financial account information is an optical machine readable image containing an encoded version of a financial account number encoded in symbology information of the optical machine readable image. 
     
     
         4 . The server of  claim 3 , wherein the computer processor is further programmed to: decode the symbology information into unencoded information using a coding scheme of the optical machine readable image as a barcode in order to extract the financial account of the merchant. 
     
     
         5 . The server of  claim 2 , wherein the purchase transaction is received from a first network connection with the consumer device and the approval or denial is sent using a second network connection with the merchant device, such that the first network connection and the second network connection are associated with different network devices. 
     
     
         6 . The server of  claim 2 , wherein the computer processor is further programmed to: receive a PIN from the consumer device in response to the confirmation information request. 
     
     
         7 . The server of  claim 2  further comprising receiving by the computer processor a selected financial account type from the consumer device in response to the confirmation information request, the selected financial account type one of a plurality of account types stored in a consumer profile accessible by the split transaction server. 
     
     
         8 . The split transaction server of  claim 2  further comprising: using by the computer processor the consumer information to obtain an image of the consumer from a consumer profile and sending the image to the merchant device over the network in order to verify an identity of the consumer with the merchant. 
     
     
         9 . The split transaction server of  claim 2  further comprising identifying the funds amount of the purchase transaction in the encoded information once decoded. 
     
     
         10 . A method for coordinating processing of a purchase transaction between a merchant and a consumer over a network with interaction involving a split transaction server, a merchant device and a consumer device, the split transaction method implementing stored instructions by a computer processor to perform the following steps of:
 receiving by the computer processor from the consumer device over the network the purchase transaction via a network communications module including merchant information and consumer information, such that the merchant information is encoded information unusable by the consumer to directly access through a payment processing system a financial account of the merchant;   decoding by the computer processor the encoded information and retrieving, via a lookup from a merchant profile, merchant financial account information using the decoded information to directly access through the payment processing system the financial account of the merchant;   generating by the computer processor by the network communications module a configured notification that includes a request for entry of confirmation information from the consumer device for the purchase transaction;   contacting directly by the computer processor a consumer program application of the consumer device by sending the configured notification for display on a user interface of the consumer device requesting entry of the confirmation information for the purchase transaction from the user interface based on the configured notification;   receiving by the computer processor the confirmation information from the consumer device and generating a corresponding funds transfer request between the merchant financial account and the financial account of the consumer using a funds amount;   sending the funds transfer request by the computer processor to the payment processing system for subsequent settlement of the funds amount with the financial account of the consumer and the financial account of the merchant; and   sending by the computer processor the approval or the denial of the purchase transaction to at least one of the consumer device or the merchant device.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the encoded merchant financial account information is an optical machine readable image containing an encoded version of a financial account number encoded in symbology information of the optical machine readable image. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the computer processor is further programmed to: decode the symbology information into unencoded information using a coding scheme of the optical machine readable image as a barcode in order to extract the financial account of the merchant. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the purchase transaction is received from a first network connection with the consumer device and the approval or denial is sent using a second network connection with the merchant device, such that the first network connection and the second network connection are associated with different network devices. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the computer processor is further programmed to: receive a PIN from the consumer device in response to the confirmation information request. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising receiving by the computer processor a selected financial account type from the consumer device in response to the confirmation information request, the selected financial account type one of a plurality of account types stored in a consumer profile accessible by the split transaction server. 
     
     
         16 . A split transaction server coordinating processing of a purchase transaction between a merchant and a consumer over a network with interaction involving the server, a merchant device, and a consumer device, the split transaction server comprising:
 a computer processor coupled to a memory, wherein the computer processor is programmed to coordinate processing of the purchase transaction by:   receiving by the computer processor from the consumer device over the network the purchase transaction via a network communications module including merchant information and consumer information, such that the merchant information is encoded information unusable by the consumer to directly access through a payment processing system a financial account of the merchant;   decoding by the computer processor the encoded information and retrieving, via a lookup from a consumer profile, consumer financial account information using the decoded information to directly access through the payment processing system the financial account of the consumer;   generating by the computer processor by the network communications module a configured notification that includes the consumer information with a request for entry of confirmation information of financial account type from the consumer device for the purchase transaction;   contacting directly by the computer processor a consumer program application of the consumer device by sending the configured notification for display on a user interface of the consumer device requesting entry of the confirmation information for the purchase transaction from the user interface based on the configured notification, the confirmation information including a request for the financial account type from a plurality of financial account types stored in a consumer profile accessible by the split transaction server;   receiving by the computer processor the confirmation information from the consumer device including the financial account type and generating a corresponding funds transfer request between the merchant financial account and the financial account of the consumer pertaining to the financial account type using a funds amount;   sending the funds transfer request by the computer processor to the payment processing system for subsequent settlement of the funds amount with the financial account of the consumer and the financial account of the merchant; and   sending by the computer processor the approval or the denial of the purchase transaction to at least one of the consumer device or the merchant device.   
     
     
         17 . The split transaction server of  claim 16 , wherein the plurality of financial account types is limited based on availability with the merchant. 
     
     
         18 . The split transaction server of  claim 17 , wherein the confirmation information includes password information for the financial account type. 
     
     
         19 . The split transaction server of  claim 17 , wherein the funds amount is obtained from the encoded information. 
     
     
         20 . The split transaction server of  claim 16  further comprising: using by the computer processor the consumer information to obtain an image of the consumer from a consumer profile and sending the image to the merchant device over the network in order to verify an identity of the consumer with the merchant.