Contactless mobile payment system

Abstract

This disclosure relates to methods and systems for mobile payments, where financial transactions can be conducted between customers and merchants via mobile devices when the mobile devices are brought in close proximity to each other. A customer enters a payment authorization code on a mobile device in order to authorize payment transactions. The disclosed system design and functionality allows for intuitive, real time, inexpensive and secure payment and cash-exchange transactions.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A transaction server of a mobile payment system for enabling payment by a mobile terminal of a customer, the transaction server comprising:
 a memory adapted for storing a unique identification (ID) associated with the customer, customer account information to identify an account of said customer to be used for performing a financial transaction with a financial institution to make a payment by said customer to a merchant account, wherein said customer account information is different from said unique ID, and mobile terminal information for identifying said mobile terminal of said customer and different from said unique ID to enable said transaction server to establish a communication with said mobile terminal, wherein the unique ID, the customer account information, and the mobile terminal information are associated with each other; point-of-sale (POS) terminal information for identifying a POS terminal of a merchant, and merchant account information for performing a financial transaction with the financial institution to receive a payment on a merchant account, wherein the POS terminal information and the merchant account information are associated with each other;   a communication unit adapted for communicating with said mobile terminal, said POS terminal, and the financial institution; and   a rules engine adapted for: associating the unique ID with the customer account information and the mobile terminal information through the mobile terminal or the POS terminal; receiving from said POS terminal, financial transaction information including said unique ID, said POS terminal information, and a payment amount; authenticating the financial transaction information based on rules determining the validity of the unique ID and the POS terminal information; transmitting an authentication request message to the mobile terminal using the mobile terminal information associated with the received unique ID, and in response receiving a payment authorization code in response to the authentication request message from the mobile terminal; and transmitting the financial transaction information to the financial institution together with the customer account information associated with the received unique ID, the payment authorization code, and the merchant account information associated with the received POS terminal information.   
     
     
         2 . The transaction server of  claim 1 , wherein the financial transaction information received from the POS terminal further comprises location information of the mobile terminal and location information of the POS terminal, and wherein the authenticating the financial transaction information is based on rules determining the validity of the unique ID, the POS terminal information, the location information of the POS terminal, and the location information of the mobile terminal. 
     
     
         3 . The transaction server of  claim 2 , wherein the authenticating the financial transaction information based on rules determining the validity of the unique ID, the POS terminal information, the location information of the POS terminal, and the location information of the mobile terminal further comprises determining whether the location information of the POS terminal is within a predetermined POS area or whether the location information of the mobile terminal is within a predetermined mobile terminal area. 
     
     
         4 . The transaction server of  claim 3 , wherein the authenticating the financial transaction information based on rules determining the validity of the unique ID, the POS terminal information, the location information of the POS terminal, and the location information of the mobile terminal further comprises determining whether the location information of the POS terminal matches with the location information of the mobile terminal. 
     
     
         5 . The transaction server of  claim 2 , wherein the authenticating the financial transaction information based on rules determining the validity of the unique ID, the POS terminal information, the location information of the POS terminal, and the location information of the mobile terminal further comprises determining whether the location information of the mobile terminal is within a predetermined mobile terminal area. 
     
     
         6 . The transaction server of  claim 5 , wherein the authenticating the financial transaction information based on rules determining the validity of the unique ID, the POS terminal information, the location information of the POS terminal, and the location information of the mobile terminal further comprises determining whether the location information of the POS terminal matches with the location information of the mobile terminal. 
     
     
         7 . The transaction server of  claim 2 , wherein the authenticating the financial transaction information based on rules determining the validity of the unique ID, the POS terminal information, the location information of the POS terminal, and the location information of the mobile terminal further comprises determining whether the location information of the mobile terminal is within a predetermined mobile terminal area. 
     
     
         8 . The transaction server of  claim 2 , wherein the authenticating the financial transaction information based on rules determining the validity of the unique ID, the POS terminal information, the location information of the POS terminal, and the location information of the mobile terminal further comprises determining whether the location information of the POS terminal matches with the location information of the mobile terminal. 
     
     
         9 . The transaction server of  claim 1 , wherein the memory is further adapted for storing a threshold, associated with the unique ID, for a payment amount which requires a payment authorization code, and wherein the rules engine is further adapted for authorizing the financial transaction only if the threshold associated with the received unique ID is exceeded by the payment amount. 
     
     
         10 . A mobile terminal of a customer of a mobile payment system, the mobile terminal comprising:
 an identification (ID) unit adapted for storing and transmitting or embodying and conveying a unique ID for identifying the customer, said unique ID being associated with customer account information and mobile terminal information on a transaction server of the mobile payment system; and   a mobile device adapted for:
 associating, in communication with the transaction server, the unique ID with the customer account information and the mobile terminal information; and 
 receiving an authentication request message from the transaction server; and in response transmitting the payment authorization code to the transaction server. 
   
     
     
         11 . The mobile terminal of  claim 10 , wherein the ID unit when adapted for storing and transmitting a unique ID is further adapted to transmit location information of the mobile terminal. 
     
     
         12 . The mobile terminal of  claim 10 , wherein the unique ID is an optical machine-readable code carried by the ID unit. 
     
     
         13 . The mobile terminal of  claim 10 , wherein the ID unit is detached from the mobile device. 
     
     
         14 . A point of sale (POS) terminal of a merchant of a mobile payment system, the POS terminal comprising:
 means for storing POS terminal information for identifying the POS terminal, the POS terminal information being associated with merchant account information on a transaction server of the mobile payment system;   means for receiving location information of a mobile terminal of the mobile payment system and a unique ID for identifying a customer from the mobile terminal, the unique ID being associated with customer account information and mobile terminal information on the transaction server; and   means for communicating with the transaction server for transmitting the received unique ID and location information of the mobile terminal, the POS terminal information, and a payment amount to the transaction server.   
     
     
         15 . The POS terminal of  claim 14 , wherein the mobile terminal comprises:
 an identification (ID) unit configured for storing and transmitting or embodying and conveying a unique ID for identifying the customer; and   a mobile device configured for:
 associating, in communication with the transaction server, the unique ID with the customer account information and the mobile terminal information; and 
 receiving an authentication request message from the transaction server, and in response, transmitting the payment authorization code to the transaction server. 
   
     
     
         16 . The POS terminal of  claim 15 , wherein the ID unit is detached from the mobile device. 
     
     
         17 . The POS terminal of  claim 15 , wherein the unique ID is an optical machine-readable code carried by the ID unit.