Payment systems and methods for managing payment card use

Abstract

A method, at a mobile device, of assigning a preferred payment application stored on the mobile device to a merchant, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a selection of a merchant at the mobile device; receiving a selection of a preferred payment application; and mapping the payment application to the merchant by creating a record containing an application identifier and a merchant identifier.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, at a mobile device, of assigning a preferred payment application stored on the mobile device to a merchant, the method comprising the steps of:
 receiving a selection of a merchant at the mobile device;   receiving a selection of a preferred payment application; and   mapping the payment application to the merchant by creating a record containing an application identifier and a merchant identifier.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 receiving a record request message from a terminal; and   sending a record containing the application identifier and the merchant identifier(s) to a terminal.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 receiving a record request message from a terminal; and   sending a plurality of records, each record containing an application identifier, and at least one record containing a merchant identifier.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the merchant identifier identifies one of a unique merchant, a unique terminal or a group of merchants. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the merchant identifier identifies a group of merchants using a merchant category code. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving a selection of a merchant at the mobile device comprises receiving an input from a user via a user interface of the mobile device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving a selection of a preferred payment application at the mobile device comprises receiving an input from a user via a user interface of the mobile device. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of creating a record containing an application identifier and a merchant identifier comprises adding a merchant identifier to a record containing the application identifier. 
     
     
         9 . A method, at a terminal, of selecting a payment application stored on a mobile device, the method comprising the steps of:
 sending a record request message to the mobile device;   receiving one or more records from the mobile device;   searching the one or more records for a merchant identifier which is associated with the terminal;   if an associated merchant identifier is found, searching the record which contains the associated merchant identifier for an application identifier; and   processing a transaction using a payment application identified by the application identifier.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising the step of terminating a transaction process if no associated merchant identifier is found. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising the step of searching the one or more records for a default payment application if no associated merchant identifier is found. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the step of searching the one or more records for a default payment application comprises performing, at the terminal, a payment application selection following standard processes. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the merchant identifier identifies one of a unique merchant, a unique merchant location or a group of merchants. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the merchant identifier identifies a group of merchants using a merchant category code. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the merchant identifier identifies a transit merchant. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the transaction is a transit aggregation type transaction performed with a transit merchant. 
     
     
         17 . A mobile device configured to assign a preferred payment application stored on the mobile device to a merchant, by:
 receiving a selection of a merchant at the mobile device;   receiving a selection of a preferred payment application; and   mapping the payment application to the merchant by creating a record containing an application identifier and a merchant identifier.   
     
     
         18 . A terminal configured to select a payment application stored on a mobile device by:
 sending a record request message to the mobile device;   receiving one or more records from the mobile device;   searching the one or more records for a merchant identifier which is associated with the terminal;   if an associated merchant identifier is found, searching the record which contains the associated merchant identifier for an application identifier; and   processing a transaction using a payment application identified by the application identifier.