DESC:FIELD
The present disclosure generally relates to payment systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a system and a method for facilitating generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers.
DEFINITIONS
As used in the present disclosure, the following terms are generally intended to have the meaning as set forth below, except to the extent that the context in which they are used indicates otherwise.
Electronic device/ User device/ Mobile device – The terms ‘electronic device’, ‘user device’, and ‘Mobile device’ hereinafter may be referred to as a device, used by a user of the present disclosure, wherein the user device includes but is not limited to a mobile phone, a laptop, a tablet, an iPad, a PDA, a notebook, a net book, a smart device, a smart phone, a personal computer, a handheld device and the like.
Payment Service Provider – The term ‘Payment Service Provider (PSP)’ hereinafter may be referred to as an internet bank, a payments bank, a Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI), or any other centrally and/or government-regulated entity that is allowed to acquire customers and provide payment (credit/debit) services to the customers (individuals or entities). The PSPs are entities that provide front-end/ applications which will use the UPI libraries for facilitating payments. The PSP applications can be accessed by the users on their user devices to carry out payment transactions. Examples of PSP include Airtel Payments Bank, Paytm Payments Bank, Axis bank, State Bank of India, HDFC bank, etc.
Banks – The term “banks? hereinafter refers to credit societies, schedule banks, cooperative banks, microfinance institutions, retail and commercial banks, thrifts bank (thrift savings plans), savings and loan associations, insurance companies, and the like. A bank may or may not be a PSP.
Payment transactions – The term “payment transactions? hereinafter may be referred to as financial as well as non-financial transactions. The financial transactions comprise collect/pull and pay/push, person-to-person (P2P), person-to-account (P2A), business-to-customer (B2C), and person-to-merchant (P2M) payment transactions, wherein the payment is made or received in the form of money, voucher, reward, gift, or the like. The non-financial transactions include, but are not limited to, mobile banking registration, generation of a verification code, checking balance, setting or changing PIN, logging a complaint, and checking transaction status.
Unified Payment Interface server – The term ‘Unified Payment Interface server (UPI server)’ hereinafter may be referred to as a central switch that provides an interface and facilitates communication between a plurality of PSPs and banks for carrying out financial and non-financial transactions.
Payment Service Provider application – The term ‘Payment Service Provider application (PSP application)’ hereinafter may be referred to as an application or a tool provided by each PSP. The PSP application is a mobile application provided on a web portal or play store and/or a web application. The PSP application facilitates users to register and communicate with the UPI server through the PSP.
Payment Service Provider server – The term ‘Payment Service Provider server (PSP server)’ hereinafter may be referred to as a server hosting a PSP application.
Remitter bank – The term “Remitter Bank” hereinafter may be referred to as a bank holding a bank account of the Payer (i.e., an individual or an entity) from where the voucher amount is debited. In the case of a B2C transaction, the remitter bank is the same as the payer PSP, whereas in the case of a P2P transaction, the remitter bank is different from the payer PSP. Further, the remitter bank may or may not be a PSP.
Acquiring bank – The term “Acquiring bank” hereinafter may be referred to as a bank or a financial institution that processes payments on behalf of a merchant. The acquiring bank is the bank to which the voucher amount is credited.
Global address – The term ‘Global address’ hereinafter may be referred to as a unique address generated by a PSP for a user, who may or may not hold an account in said PSP. The global address is generated based on a unique identifier such as a mobile number, an identification card number, or a bank account number of the user.
Proxy Global address – The term ‘Proxy Global address’ hereinafter may be referred to as a global address in which a unique identifier (such as a mobile number, an identification card number, and a bank account number) of the user is replaced with a unique user identifier (UUID) generated by the UPI server.
Registered user – The term ‘registered user’ hereinafter may be referred to as a person who holds a bank account and who has generated a UPI ID associated with the account and a PIN by registering with one of the UPI-enabled payment service provider applications (PSP applications) for carrying out electronic payment transactions.
UPI ID – The term ‘UPI ID’ hereinafter may be referred to as an address associated with a bank account of the registered user; the address includes a mobile number, a bank account number, or any other identifier that can uniquely and securely identify the registered user’s bank account. The UPI ID can be created by the registered user for performing UPI-based payment transaction(s) using the PSP applications.
Digital voucher – The term ‘Digital voucher’ hereinafter may be referred to an electronic voucher which is usually delivered to the user by e-mail or SMS or through a digital meaning and can be redeemed in store, or redeemed online with or without a verification code.
Pre-paid digital voucher – The term ‘Pre-paid digital voucher’ hereinafter may be referred to an electronic voucher which is already been verified and paid for by a payer in advance.
Purpose code – The term ‘Purpose code’ hereinafter may be referred to a code that denotes a specific purpose to the beneficiaries to ensure that the vouchers are redeemed by the beneficiaries for a specific pre-assigned purpose only.
Communication means – The term “communication means” hereinafter may be referred to as a means for transmitting and receiving electronic data. The communication means may include, for example, the Internet, the World Wide Web, an intranet, cable (including fiber optic cable), magnetic communications, electromagnetic communications (including RF, microwave, and infrared communications), and electronic communications. Wireless communication means can support various wireless communication network protocols and technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE), Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) and Global System for Mobile Telecommunication (GSM).
BACKGROUND
The background information herein below relates to the present disclosure but is not necessarily prior art.
Vouchers in the form of coupons or paper certificates have been conventionally used to avail specific services or to obtain a discount on the purchase of certain products or services. Further, card-based electronic vouchers are also popular and are issued by companies to provide offers and discounts on various products and services to their customers.
However, these vouchers, being physical in nature, are difficult to manage. In addition, paper-based and card-based vouchers are difficult to create, print, and physically distribute to a large number of people. Further, the process of creating, printing, and issuing the physical vouchers entails high costs and time, which is not desired.
Moreover, the physical vouchers are easier to copy and reproduce fraudulently. The voucher issuers find it extremely difficult to track the redemption of these vouchers and to ensure that their services are availed only by the intended users/beneficiaries.
To overcome the above problems, a number of voucher issuance systems have been developed to allow the creation and distribution of digital vouchers or digital gift cards. However, the voucher creation facility provided by these systems is platform specific. In other words, the voucher issuing platforms allow voucher creation only for the products and services offered by them. Thus, none of the current voucher generation systems provides a single interface to enable the creation of vouchers for different purposes or different merchants. Further, for creating a platform-specific voucher, generally, a user has to register with the platform. Similarly, the redemption of such vouchers is only possible if the beneficiary is registered with the platform. This creates a hurdle for the governments or private entities which may need to issue a large number of vouchers to a large number of beneficiaries simultaneously as it is difficult for the government/ private entities to ensure that the intended beneficiaries are registered with the platforms where the voucher is created or with the merchants against which voucher is issued and that the vouchers are redeemed only by the intended users/beneficiaries.
In addition to the above, the conventional voucher issuance systems do not allow voucher creation for feature phones. Further, the conventional systems provide no means to distribute purpose-specific vouchers to the beneficiaries or to ensure that the vouchers are redeemed by the beneficiaries for a specific pre-assigned purpose only. Moreover, the present systems do not provide an interoperable voucher creation solution, wherein a user can create a prepaid digital voucher using a mobile/payment application of any bank, irrespective of whether or not that user holds an account in the bank.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and a method for facilitating generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers which alleviates the above-mentioned drawbacks.

OBJECTS
Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies, are as follows:
It is an object of the present disclosure to ameliorate one or more problems of the prior art or to at least provide a useful alternative.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and a method for facilitating generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method which allows safe and secure delivery of vouchers to the beneficiaries.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and a method for facilitating generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers for various use cases such as donations, supply of groceries,distribution of Covid-19 testing and vaccination services, etc.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method which allows a UPI registered user to issue a one-time & multiple use digital voucher to any beneficiary who may or may not be registered with the UPI.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method which allows beneficiaries not registered with the UPI to redeem and avail the services of the prepaid digital vouchers.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method which allows corporates or governments to issue prepaid digital vouchers to customers or the general public for a variety of purposes.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method which facilitates target and leak-proof delivery of services.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method which optimizes the process of delivery of services and schemes to the intended beneficiaries.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method which reduces the administrative load and cost associated with the delivery of health and wellness-related services.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method which forms a digital solution for cashless and contactless payment for the services sponsored by Government and private organizations.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method which facilitates generation and distribution of person- and purpose-specific digital vouchers.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method which allows low-cost digital distribution of vouchers to ensure that the vouchers reach the intended beneficiaries directly for a specific purpose.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method which makes real-time tracking of various services, programs, or schemes of the Government or other entities possible.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and a method for facilitating generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers that can be accepted at UPI merchant acceptance points enabled for acceptance or at specific locations as per a scheme designed at the time of issuance of such instrument.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method that facilitates the issuance of prepaid digital vouchers to the beneficiaries who do not have a bank account.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and a method that facilitates redemption of prepaid digital vouchers by beneficiaries who do not have a bank account.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method that enables beneficiaries to redeem the prepaid digital vouchers and avail of services without having smart phones or internet connections.
Other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying figures, which are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
SUMMARY
The present disclosure envisages a system for facilitating generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers. The system includes a request receiving interface, a saving module, a unique user identifier (UUID) generating module, a voucher generation module, and a voucher sending interface.
The request receiving interface is configured to receive at least one digital voucher creation request, a unique mandate number (UMN) of a payer, a pre-assigned purpose code, a plurality of inputs, and at least one global address of a beneficiary from a payment service provider (PSP) server for generating at least one digital voucher.
In an aspect, the PSP server receives a digital voucher creation request via a payee’s bank or via an application hosted by the PSP server of the payer.
In an aspect, the inputs are selected from a group of a voucher amount, a Unified Payment Interface (UPI) PIN, a plurality of bank account details of a payer, a voucher validity date range, demography of a beneficiary, and a merchant category.
The saving module is configured to cooperate with the request receiving interface to receive the digital voucher creation request, the UMN, the pre-assigned purpose code, the plurality of inputs, and the global address of the beneficiary and is further configured to store each of the digital voucher creation request along with associated the UMN of the payer, the pre-assigned purpose code, the plurality of inputs and the global address of the beneficiary into a voucher repository;
The unique user identifier (UUID) generating module is configured to generate a UUID for each of the digital voucher creation request and is further configured to store the UUID associated with each the digital voucher creation request in the voucher repository;
The voucher generation module is configured to generate a pre-paid digital voucher and a response for each of the UUID and associated record in the voucher repository; and
The voucher sending interface is configured to cooperate with the voucher generation module to receive the pre-paid digital voucher and the response is further configured to send it to the PSP server.
In an aspect, the system further comprises a proxy module configured to replace the global address with a proxy address global address of the beneficiary in the pre-paid digital voucher.
In an aspect, the PSP server renders the received prepaid digital voucher to the payer and/or the beneficiary in a digital format upon receiving the pre-paid digital voucher when the response represents a successful voucher creation at the system.
In an aspect, the pre-paid digital voucher can be selected from an SMS, a QR code, a barcode, a string, a pattern, and the like.
In an aspect, the system comprises a unified payment interface (UPI) sub-system for facilitating the redemption of prepaid digital vouchers, the sub-system includes a redemption request receiver module, a redemption request verification module, and a validated redemption request.
The redemption request receiver module is configured to receive at least one digital voucher redemption request from a PSP server along with a purpose code, a proxy global address of the merchant, a UUID, and a unique mandate number (UMN) of a payer.
The redemption request verification module is configured to cooperate with the redemption request receiver module to receive the digital voucher redemption request the purpose code, the proxy global address of the merchant, the UUID and the UMN, and is further configured to validate the digital voucher redemption request by extracting the corresponding record from the voucher repository for generating a second response.
The validated redemption request sending module is configured to cooperate with the redemption request verification module to receive the second response and is further configured to send the second response to the PSP server.
In an aspect, the redemption request verification module is further configured to fetch the UMN of a payer from an internal repository using UUID in case not received by the redemption request receiver module.
The present disclosure further envisages a method for facilitating generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING
A system and a method for facilitating generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers of the present disclosure will now be described with the help of the accompanying drawing, in which:
Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system for facilitating generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 1A-1B illustrate a flow diagram of a method facilitating generation, distribution and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 1C illustrates a (B2C transaction) flow diagram of a method for facilitating a first user (i.e., an entity) to generate and distribute prepaid digital vouchers to one or more second users, in accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figures 2A and 2B illustrate a (P2P transaction) flow diagram of a method for facilitating a payer (i.e., an individual) to generate and distribute a prepaid digital voucher to at least one beneficiary, in accordance with a second exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figures 3A and 3B illustrate a (B2C transaction) flow diagram of a method for facilitating redemption of a prepaid digital voucher by a beneficiary, wherein the voucher is distributed by an entity to the beneficiary, in accordance with a third exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figures 4A and 4B illustrate a (P2P transaction) flow diagram of a method for facilitating redemption of a prepaid digital voucher by a beneficiary, where the voucher is shared with the beneficiary by an individual, in accordance with a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 5A illustrates a block diagram of a system for facilitating an entity to generate and distribute a prepaid digital voucher to at least one beneficiary, in accordance with a fifth exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 5B illustrates a block diagram of a system for facilitating a beneficiary to redeem a prepaid digital voucher provided by an entity, in accordance with a sixth embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 6A illustrates a block diagram of a system for facilitating a person to generate and distribute a prepaid digital voucher to at least one beneficiary, in accordance with a seventh exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 6B illustrates a block diagram of a system for facilitating a beneficiary to redeem a prepaid digital voucher provided by a person, in accordance with an eighth exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 7 illustrates an exemplary Payment Service Provider application (PSP application) interface showing user flow for issuance/creation of prepaid digital voucher in a P2P transaction, in accordance with an ninth exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; and
Figures 8 and 9 illustrate an exemplary PSP application interface showing user flow for the redemption of prepaid digital vouchers in a P2P transaction, in accordance with a tenth exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Embodiments, of the present disclosure, will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
Embodiments are provided so as to thoroughly and fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to the person skilled in the art. Numerous details are set forth, relating to specific components, and methods, to provide a complete understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that the details provided in the embodiments should not be construed to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, well-known processes, well-known apparatus structures, and well-known techniques are not described in detail.
The terminology used, in the present disclosure, is only for the purpose of explaining a particular embodiment and such terminology shall not be considered to limit the scope of the present disclosure. As used in the present disclosure, the forms "a,” "an," and "the" is intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly suggests otherwise. The terms “including,” and “having,” are open ended transitional phrases and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not forbid the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The particular order of steps disclosed in the method and process of the present disclosure is not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance as described or illustrated. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps is employed.
When an element is referred to as being "connected to," or "coupled to" another element, it is directly connected or coupled to the other element. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed elements.
Vouchers in the form of coupons or paper certificates have been conventionally used to avail specific services or to obtain a discount on the purchase of certain products or services. Further, card-based electronic vouchers are also popular and are issued by companies to provide offers and discounts on various products and services to their customers.
However, these vouchers, being physical in nature, are difficult to manage. In addition, paper-based and card-based vouchers are difficult to create, print, and physically distribute to a large number of people. Further, the process of creating, printing, and issuing the physical vouchers entails high cost and time, which is not desired.
Moreover, the physical vouchers are easier to copy and reproduce fraudulently. The voucher issuers find it extremely difficult to track the redemption of these vouchers and to ensure that their services are availed only by the intended users/beneficiaries.
To overcome the above problems, a number of voucher issuance systems have been developed to allow the creation and distribution of digital vouchers or digital gift cards. However, the voucher creation facility provided by these systems is platform specific. In other words, the voucher issuing platforms allow voucher creation only for the products and services offered by them. Thus, none of the current voucher generation systems provides a single interface to enable the creation of vouchers for different purposes or different merchants. Further, for creating a platform specific voucher, generally, a user has to register with the platform. Similarly, redemption of such voucher is only possible if the beneficiary is registered with the platform. This creates a hurdle for the governments or private entities which may need to issue a large number of vouchers to a large number of beneficiaries simultaneously as it is difficult for the government/ private entities to ensure that the intended beneficiaries are registered with the platforms where the voucher is created or with the merchants against which voucher is issued and that the vouchers are redeemed only by the intended users/beneficiaries.
In order to address the aforementioned problems, the present disclosure envisages systems (hereinafter referred to as “system 1000”) and methods (hereinafter referred to as “method 100”, “method 200”, “method 300”, “method 400” or “method 5000”) for facilitating generation, distribution and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers, of the present disclosure are now being described with reference to Figure 1 through Figure 9.
The system 1000 and methods (100, 200, 300, 400, 5000) of the present disclosure facilitate corporates, government entities, non-government entities as well as individuals to issue vouchers to other individuals. The vouchers are issued for specific purposes for e.g., health check-ups, or as coupons for food or grocery.
Referring to Figure 1 the system 1000 includes a request receiving interface 1002, a request saving module 1004, a unique user identifier (UUID) generating module (1006), a voucher generation module 1008and a voucher sending interface 1010.
The request receiving interface 1002 is configured to receive at least one digital voucher creation request, a unique mandate number (UMN) of a payer, a pre-assigned purpose code, a plurality of inputs, and at least one global address of a beneficiary from a PSP server for generating at least one digital voucher.
In an aspect, the PSP server receives a digital voucher creation request via a payee’s bank or via an application hosted by the PSP server of the payer.
In an aspect, the inputs are selected from a group of a voucher amount, a UPI PIN, a plurality of bank account details of a payer, a voucher validity date range, demography of a beneficiary, and a merchant category.
The request saving module 1004 is configured to cooperate with the request receiving interface 1002 to receive the digital voucher creation request, the UMN, the pre-assigned purpose code, the plurality of inputs, and the global address of the beneficiary and is further configured to store each of the digital voucher creation request along with associated the UMN of the payer, the pre-assigned purpose code, the plurality of inputs and the global address of the beneficiary into a voucher repository 1111;
The unique user identifier (UUID) generating module (1006) is configured to generate a UUID for each of the digital voucher creation request, and is further configured to store the UUID associated with each the digital voucher creation request in the voucher repository 1111;
The voucher generation module 1008 is configured to generate a pre-paid digital voucher and a response for each of the UUID and associated record in the voucher repository 1111; and
The voucher sending interface 1010 is configured to cooperate with the voucher generation module 1008 to receive the pre-paid digital voucher and the response and is further configured to send it to the PSP server.
In an aspect, the system further comprises a proxy module configured to replace the global address with a proxy address global address of the beneficiary in the pre-paid digital voucher.
In an aspect, the PSP server renders the received prepaid digital voucher to the payer and/or the beneficiary in a digital format upon receiving the pre-paid digital voucher when the response represents a successful voucher creation at the system.
In an aspect, the pre-paid digital voucher can be selected from an SMS, a QR code, a barcode, a string, a pattern, and the like.
In an aspect, the system comprises a unified payment interface (UPI) sub-system 1012 for facilitating the redemption of prepaid digital vouchers, the sub-system includes a redemption request receiver module 1014, a redemption request verification module 1016 and a validated redemption request 1018.
The redemption request receiver module 1014 is configured to receive at least one digital voucher redemption request from a PSP server along with a purpose code, a proxy global address of the merchant, a UUID and a unique mandate number (UMN) of a payer.
The redemption request verification module 1016 is configured to cooperate with the redemption request receiver module 1014 to receive the digital voucher redemption request the purpose code, the proxy global address of the merchant, the UUID and the UMN and is further configured to validate the digital voucher redemption request by extracting the corresponding record from the voucher repository 1111 for generating a second response.
The validated redemption request 1018 sending module is configured to cooperate with the redemption request verification module 1016 to receive the second response and is further configured to send the second response to the PSP server.
In an aspect, the redemption request verification module 1016 further configured to fetch UMN of a payer from an internal repository using UUID in case not received by the redemption request receiver module 1014.
Referring to Figure 1A-1B illustrating a flow diagram of a method 5000 for facilitating generation, distribution and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers, in accordance with an embodiment. The order in which the method 5000 is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any appropriate order to carry out the method 5000 or an alternative method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the method 5000 without departing from the scope of the subject matter described herein. The method for facilitating generation, distribution and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers, includes steps of:
At step 5002: the method 5000 includes receiving, by a request receiving interface 1002, digital voucher creation request, a unique mandate number (UMN) of a payer, a pre-assigned purpose code, a plurality of inputs and at least one global address of a beneficiary from a PSP server for generating at least one digital voucher.
At step 5004: the method 5000 includes receiving, by a request saving module 1004, the digital voucher creation request, the UMN, the pre-assigned purpose code, the plurality of inputs and the global address of the beneficiary by the request receiving interface 1002.
At step 5006: the method 5000 includes storing, by the request saving module 1004, each of the digital voucher creation requests along with associated the UMN of the payer, the pre-assigned purpose code, the plurality of inputs and the global address of the beneficiary into a voucher repository 1111.
At step 5008: the method 5000 includes generating, by a unique user identifier (UUID) generating module (1006), a UUID for each of the digital voucher creation request and further configured to store the UUID associated with each the digital voucher creation request in the voucher repository 1111.
At step 5010: the method 5000 includes generating, by a voucher generation module, a pre-paid digital voucher and a response for each of the UUID and associated record in the voucher repository 1111.
At step 5012: the method 5000 includes receiving, by a voucher sending interface 1010, the pre-paid digital voucher and the response from the voucher generation module.
At step 5014: the method 5000 includes sending, by the voucher sending interface 1010, the pre-paid digital voucher and the response to the PSP server.
The method for facilitating generation, distribution and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers, further includes steps of:
• receiving, by a redemption request receiver module 1014, at least one digital voucher redemption request from a PSP server along with a purpose code, a proxy global address of the merchant, a UUID and a unique mandate number (UMN) of a payer.
• receiving, by a redemption request verification module 1016, the digital voucher redemption request the purpose code, the proxy global address of the merchant, the UUID and the UMN from the redemption request receiver module 1014.
• validating, by the redemption request verification module 1016, the digital voucher redemption request by extracting the corresponding record from the voucher repository.
• generating, by the redemption request verification module 1016, a second response.
• receiving, by a validated redemption request 1018 sending module, the second response from the redemption request verification module 1016.
• sending, by the validated redemption request 1018 sending module, the second response to the PSP server.
Figure 1C shows a method 100 for facilitating a first user to generate and distribute prepaid digital vouchers to one or more second users. The first user is a representative of a corporate entity, a government entity/ organization/ institution, or a non-government organization. The second users may be the selected beneficiaries of the prepaid digital voucher. The method comprises the following steps:
At step 102, a payment service provider (PSP) associated with the first user (hereinafter “payer PSP”) generates a request for voucher creation for each second user. The voucher creation request comprises at least a voucher amount, a voucher validity date range, a pre-assigned purpose code for voucher creation, a merchant category, a payer address of the first user comprising a unique mandate number (UMN), and a global address of the second user, wherein the global address contains a unique global identifier associated with the second user.
At step 104, a unified payments interface (UPI) server receives the voucher creation request from the payer PSP switch.
At step 106, the UPI server stores the voucher creation request in a repository.
At step 108, the UPI server generates a unique user identifier (UUID) for the stored voucher creation request.
At step 110, the UPI server replaces the global address of the second user in the voucher creation request with a proxy global address that contains the UUID in place of the global identifier to generate a prepaid digital voucher. The prepaid digital voucher comprises at least the proxy global address of the second user, the voucher amount, the merchant category, pre-assigned purpose code, and the voucher validity date range. In an embodiment, the prepaid digital voucher is generated in the form of an SMS or a QR code. In the case of a QR code, the prepaid digital voucher may additionally include the payer address containing the UMN.
At step 112, the UPI server sends the generated prepaid digital voucher along with a “voucher creation successful” response to the payer PSP.
At step 114, the payer PSP switch renders the received prepaid digital voucher to the first user and/or the second users in a digital format upon receiving the voucher and the successful response from the UPI server.
The first user may approach its preferred bank i.e., the payer PSP where it holds a current account for the generation of pre-paid digital vouchers for the selected second users. In this case, the second users may be employees or workers of the corporate entity or people of a certain age, category, or group as selected by the government/non-government institution. The payer PSP should be authorized by the central bank or the reserve bank to issue prepaid instruments. The payer PSP may then follow the process laid out above in steps 102-114 to generate prepaid vouchers for each of the second users and render the generated cards to the first and/or the second users.
Figures 2A and 2B show a method 200 for facilitating a payer i.e., an individual to generate and distribute a prepaid digital voucher to at least one beneficiary. The method comprises the following steps:
At step 202, the payer is enabled to request the creation of a voucher for the beneficiary through an application hosted by a payment service provider (PSP) of the payer. This is achieved by allowing the payer to enter a unique global identifier of the beneficiary, a voucher amount, a voucher validity date range, a merchant category, and a UPI PIN into the application.
At step 204, the payer PSP receives the information entered by the payer.
At step 206, the payer PSP generates and sends a voucher creation request to a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) server, the voucher creation request comprising a payer address, a global address of the beneficiary, the voucher amount, the UPI PIN, the payer bank account details, a pre-assigned purpose code for voucher creation, and the voucher validity date range, wherein the payer address includes a unique mandate number (UMN) and the global address of the beneficiary includes the unique global identifier of the beneficiary.
At step 208, the UPI server sends the voucher creation request to a remitter bank associated with the payer, where the remitter bank is identified based on the payer bank account details. The remitter bank may or may not be the same as the payer PSP. In case the remitter bank is the same as the payer PSP, the voucher creation request will be relayed to the switch of the payer PSP.
At step 210, the remitter bank’s switch validates the UPI PIN of the payer upon receiving the voucher creation request.
At step 212, the remitter bank’s switch blocks the voucher amount for the beneficiary upon successful validation if sufficient funds are available in the payer’s account.
At step 214, the remitter bank’s switch sends a successful response to the UPI server upon blocking the voucher amount.
At step 216, the UPI server stores the voucher creation request in a repository upon receiving the success response from the remitter bank and generates a unique user identifier (UUID) for the stored voucher creation request. The UPI server maps the UUID against the stored voucher details including the UMN.
At step 218, the UPI server replaces the global address of the beneficiary in the voucher creation request with a proxy global address containing the UUID in place of the global identifier.
At step 220, the UPI server sends the proxy global address of the beneficiary to the payer PSP.
At step 222, the payer PSP generates the prepaid digital voucher for the beneficiary based on at least the proxy global address of the beneficiary, the merchant category, the pre-assigned purpose code, the voucher amount and the voucher validity date range.
At step 224, the payer PSP renders a voucher creation success message on the payer PSP application.
At step 226, the payer PSP application enables the payer to share the generated prepaid digital voucher with the beneficiary in digital format.
The prepaid digital voucher is generated in any machine-readable form such as, but not limited to, a QR code, a barcode, a string, a pattern, and the like. In case the prepaid digital voucher is generated in the form of a machine-readable code such as a QR code, it will additionally include the payer address containing the UMN. The payer PSP issuing the voucher is configured to assign a specific/pre-defined purpose code to the amount blocked against the prepaid digital vouchers.
Figures 3A and 3B illustrate a method 300 for facilitating redemption of a prepaid digital voucher by a beneficiary, wherein the voucher is distributed by an entity to the beneficiary. The method comprises the following steps –
At step 302, a merchant scans the prepaid digital voucher using a merchant application. The merchant application can be a merchant acquiring application or a third-party application, as sponsored by the acquiring bank.
At step 304, the merchant application identifies the prepaid digital voucher based on the pre-assigned purpose code.
At step 306, the merchant application sends a transaction request to an acquiring bank of the merchant.
At step 308, the acquiring bank verifies whether the merchant is a genuine merchant or not upon receiving the transaction request. The acquiring bank may use standard techniques for merchant verification.
At step 310, the acquiring bank sends a validation request to the UPI server with a validation request message, the message comprising the proxy global address of the beneficiary, the merchant category code and the exact name of the merchant. When the prepaid digital voucher is in the form of a QR code, the validation request message may additionally include the payer address. The payer address may include a unique mandate number (UMN).
At step 312, the UPI server checks the validity and purpose of the prepaid digital voucher upon receiving the validation request and message based on the stored voucher creation request in the repository. In this step, the UPI server may check whether the UUID received in the digital voucher is stored in the repository. When the prepaid digital voucher is in the form of QR code, the UPI server may further check whether the UMN received in the digital voucher is the same as the UMN mapped against the UUID in the repository of the UPI server. Thus, in case the prepaid digital voucher is in the form of SMS, the UPI server only checks if the received UUID is present in the repository and extracts the corresponding UMN (i.e., UMN mapped against the UUID) from the repository. Upon successful checks, the UPI server sends a validation request to the payer PSP.
At step 313, the payer PSP performs checks to determine whether the digital voucher is in a position to be redeemed or not (for example, whether the voucher is valid or expired) and sends a confirmation response to the UPI server.
At step 314, upon receiving the confirmation response, the UPI server sends a validation success response along with the global address of the beneficiary containing beneficiary global identifier, the voucher amount and the valid MCC encoded in the voucher to the acquiring bank.
At step 316, the acquiring bank validates the beneficiary by sending a verification code to the mobile number of the beneficiary or by using an offline verification method upon receiving the validation success response from the UPI server.
At step 318, the acquiring bank overwrites the beneficiary address with the UPI ID of the merchant.
At step 320, the acquiring bank populates the account details (e.g., account number and IFSC) to be used for crediting the voucher amount to the merchant, to the UPI server.
At step 322, the UPI server validates the UMN with basic parameters such as validity and execution parameters.
At step 324, the UPI server sends an execution message to the payer PSP.
At step 326, the payer PSP validates the mandate parameters, by authorizing the debit transaction and debiting the voucher amount associated with the voucher creation request, and sending a successful response to the UPI server.
At step 328, the UPI server sends a credit message to the acquiring bank on receiving the successful response.
At step 330, the acquiring bank credits the bank account of the beneficiary with the voucher amount.
Figures 4A and 4B show a method 400 for facilitating redemption of a prepaid digital voucher by a beneficiary, where the voucher is shared with the beneficiary by an individual. The method comprises the following steps:
At step 402, a merchant scans the prepaid digital voucher using a merchant application.
At step 404, the merchant application identifies the prepaid digital voucher based on the pre-assigned purpose code.
At step 406 the merchant application sends a transaction request to an acquiring bank of the merchant.
At step 408, the acquiring bank verifies whether the merchant is a genuine merchant or not upon receiving the transaction request.
At step 410, the acquiring bank sends a validation request to the UPI server with a validation request message, the message comprising the proxy global address of the beneficiary, the merchant category code, and the exact name of the merchant. The message may additionally include the payer address, when the digital voucher is in the form of a QR code. The payer address includes a unique mandate number (UMN).
At step 412, the UPI server checks the validity and purpose of the prepaid digital voucher upon receiving the validation request and message. The UPI server may check the validity and purpose of voucher by comparing the received message with the voucher record stored in the repository. In this step, the UPI server may check whether the UUID received in the digital voucher is stored in the repository. When the prepaid digital voucher is in the form of a QR code, the UPI server may further check whether the UMN received in the digital voucher is the same as the UMN mapped against the UUID in the repository of the UPI server. Thus, in case the prepaid digital voucher is in the form of SMS, the UPI server only checks if the received UUID is present in the repository and extracts the corresponding UMN (i.e., UMN mapped against the UUID) from the repository. Upon successful checks, the UPI server sends a validation request to the remitter bank.
At step 413, the remitter bank performs checks to determine whether the digital voucher is in a position to be redeemed or not (e.g., whether the voucher is valid or expired) and sends a confirmation response to the UPI server.
At step 414, the UPI server receives the confirmation response and sends a validation success response along with the global address of the beneficiary containing beneficiary global identifier, the voucher amount and the valid MCC encoded in the voucher to the acquiring bank.
At step 416, the acquiring bank validates the beneficiary by sending a verification code to the mobile number of the beneficiary or by using an offline verification method upon receiving the validation success response from the UPI server.
At step 418, the acquiring bank overwrites the beneficiary address with the UPI ID of the merchant.
At step 420, the acquiring bank sends a voucher collect request and the account details to be used for crediting a voucher amount to the merchant, to the UPI server.
At step 422, the UPI server validates the UMN with basic parameters such as validity and execution parameters.
At step 424, the UPI server sends the voucher collect request to the payer PSP.
At step 426, the payer PSP validates the UMN and sends the voucher collect request to the remitter bank upon successful validation.
At step 428, the remitter bank debits the account of the payer with the voucher amount and sends a status message to the UPI server.
At step 430, the UPI server sends a credit message to the acquiring bank on receiving a successful status message, for crediting the bank account of the initiate with the voucher amount.
At step 432, the acquiring bank credits the bank account of the beneficiary with the voucher amount.
At step 434, the remitter bank and/or the payer PSP notify the payer about the successful redemption of the voucher.
Upon identifying the voucher by the purpose code, the acquiring bank is configured to perform various checks including, but not limited to, maximum permissible transaction amounts, velocity, etc., to mitigate any fraud risk in the ecosystem.
It should be understood that the remitter bank is the same as the payer PSP. In this case, all the functions of the remitter bank will be performed by the payer PSP.
The voucher amount blocked by the payer PSP (i.e., voucher issuing bank) is sent to the account of the payer (individual or entity) under the following conditions:
• Upon expiry of the voucher i.e., when the voucher is not redeemed within the voucher validity date range.
• If the beneficiary decides to redeem only a partial amount, the rest of the amount will be credited to the payer’s account.
The payer PSP is configured to send an SMS or a notification to the payer or cause to send an SMS or a notification to the beneficiary upon such expiry or partial credit.
The voucher amount of prepaid digital voucher created and distributed to the beneficiary/end beneficiary may not exceed a pre-defined amount.
The voucher is designed to be for one-time/ multiple use and may or may not be reloadable. The PSPs issuing the voucher may have the ability to validate the block, perform duplication checks, and the like.
The payer PSPs is configured to blacklist the individuals or entities on which fraud has been reported in the past and restrict the blacklisted individuals or entities from creating prepaid digital vouchers.
The voucher management system of PSPs issuing the prepaid digital voucher is configured to deploy certain checks and limits on voucher redemption, such as the number of times an intended beneficiary can receive a certain voucher.
Since the voucher creation is supported by the UPI server; an individual can create a prepaid digital voucher using the PSP application of any PSP, irrespective of whether or not that individual holds an account in the PSP. This means that an individual having an account in bank “A” can use a PSP application of bank “B” to block funds in bank “A” for the creation of the prepaid digital voucher. The individual can then share the created voucher with any user, whether registered or not registered with the UPI ecosystem (i.e., UPI-enabled PSP application), via SMS or other digital forms. The recipient of the voucher may redeem the voucher at a merchant’s location, the merchant category being specified in the digital voucher. The merchant for whom voucher creation is permitted is specified in a database of the payer PSP. The merchants may include, but are not limited to, department stores, groceries and supermarkets, drug stores and pharmacies, nursing and personal care facilities, hospitals, medical and dental care facilities, and medical services and health practitioners.
The payer PSP server is configured to ensure that modification of the created voucher is allowed.
The present disclosure further envisages a system for facilitating generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers. The system may comprise a voucher management system (VMS) 502 and a unified payments interface server (UPI server) 504. The VMS 502 is associated with a payment service provider (PSP) 20 which issues the voucher and is configured to maintain information related to the issued digital vouchers.
As shown in Figures 5A and 5B, in the event, digital vouchers are to be created by an entity or an organization 10 for one or more users, the entity or organization 10 may approach a PSP 20 where it holds a bank account. The PSP 20 may generate a voucher creation request for each user. The voucher creation request may comprise values associated with at least a voucher amount, a voucher validity date range, a global address of the user, and a payer address of the first user comprising a unique mandate number (UMN), the global address containing a unique global identifier associated with the user. The PSP 20 may send the voucher creation request to the UPI server 504. Upon receiving the voucher creation request, the UPI server 504 will create a record for the request in a repository 504a and generate a unique user identifier (UUID) against the request. The UPI server 504 will then replace the global address of the user in the voucher creation request with a proxy global address containing the UUID in place of the global identifier to generate a prepaid digital voucher and send the digital voucher along with a “voucher creation successful” response to the payer PSP 20. The digital voucher may comprise at least the proxy global address of second user, the voucher amount and the voucher validity date range. Additionally, the payer PSP 20 may assign a (pre-determined) purpose code to the prepaid digital voucher and also include details (such as name, type, etc.) of the merchant in the prepaid voucher at the time of voucher creation request. The digital voucher may also include the payer address containing the UMN. For example, where the digital voucher is in the form of a QR, it will contain the payer address. Alternatively, when the digital voucher is in the form of an SMS, it will not include the payer address.
The payer PSP 20 may then deliver the vouchers created for each of the users to the entity/organization or the users directly in a digital format. The global identifier is a unique identifier associated with the user such as, but not limited to, a mobile number, an identity card number (e.g., passport or permanent account number), a bank account number, and the like. The unique global address is an address/string including the user’s unique global identifier, e.g., mobile.@prepaid.npci. The proxy global address may include the UUID number, e.g., @prepaid.NPCI.
When the user goes to the merchant for redeeming the digital voucher, the merchant scans the voucher using a merchant application or device 30. The merchant application or device 30 identifies the digital voucher based on the purpose code assigned to it and sends a transaction request to an acquiring bank 40 of the merchant. The acquiring bank 40 performs standard verification of the merchant to determine whether the merchant is genuine or not and then sends a validation request message to the UPI server 504. The validation request message may comprise the proxy global address of the beneficiary, the merchant category code, and the exact name of the merchant. Additionally, the validation request message may comprise the payer address which includes the unique mandate number (UMN). Upon receiving the validation request message, the UPI server 504 checks the validity and purpose of the prepaid digital voucher based on the information stored in its repository 504a. In this step, the UPI server 504 may compare the details such as UUID and/or UMN received in the digital voucher with the details stored in its repository 504a at the time of voucher creation. The UPI server 504 then sends a validation request to the payer PSP 20. The payer PSP 20 coordinates with the VMS 502 to perform checks to determine whether the digital voucher is in a position to be redeemed or not and sends a confirmation response to the UPI server. Upon receiving the confirmation response, the UPI server 504 sends a validation success response along with the global address of the beneficiary containing the beneficiary global identifier, the voucher amount, and the valid MCC encoded in the voucher to the acquiring bank 40. The acquiring bank 40 may validate the beneficiary by sending a verification code to the mobile number of the beneficiary or by using an offline verification method upon receiving the validation success response from the UPI server 504. The acquiring bank 40 may then overwrite the beneficiary address with the actual UPI ID of the merchant. Additionally, the acquiring bank 40 may populate the account details (account number and IFSC) to be used for crediting the voucher amount to the merchant. The UPI server 504 validates the UMN with basic parameters such as validity and execution parameters and sends an execution message to the PSP 20. The PSP 20 may validate the mandate parameters, authorize the debit transaction, and give a successful response to the UPI server 504. As part of the validation process, the PSP 20 may also perform a duplication check based on the information maintained in the VMS. The UPI server 504 sends a credit message to the acquiring bank 40 on receiving the successful response. The acquiring bank 40 credits the bank account of the beneficiary with the voucher amount.
As shown in Figures 6A and 6B, in the event, digital vouchers are to be created by an individual or a person i.e., payer for another individual/person i.e., beneficiary, the payer may login to the UPI-enabled PSP application 602 installed in his mobile device 60 and select an option for “prepaid voucher” creation on the interface provided by the application 602. The payer may enter details such as a beneficiary global identifier (e.g., mobile number), a voucher amount, a merchant code/type, a voucher validity date range, and is further prompted to enter a UPI PIN. The payer PSP 20 will receive the entered information and generate and send a voucher request to a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) server 504. The voucher-request may comprise a payer address, a pre-assigned purpose code for voucher creation, a global address of the beneficiary, the voucher amount, the UPI PIN, and the voucher validity date range, wherein the payer address includes a unique mandate number (UMN) and the global address of the beneficiary includes a unique global identifier of the beneficiary. The UPI server 504 may send the voucher request to a remitter bank 80. The remitter bank 80 may validate the UPI PIN of the payer upon receiving the voucher request. Additionally, the remitter bank 80 may determine whether the payer has sufficient funds for blocking the voucher amount. Upon successful checks and validation, the remitter bank 80 may block the voucher amount for the beneficiary. Thereafter, the remitter bank 80 may send a successful response to the UPI server 504. The UPI server 504 may replace the global address of the beneficiary in the voucher creation request with a proxy global address containing the UUID in place of the global identifier upon receiving the success response. The UPI server 504 may send the proxy global address of the beneficiary to the payer PSP 20. The payer PSP 20 may generate a prepaid digital voucher for the beneficiary based on at least the proxy global address of the beneficiary, the voucher amount, the merchant category, the pre-assigned purpose code, and the voucher validity date range. If the digital voucher is in the form of a QR code, it may further include the payer's address. The payer PSP 20 may further render a voucher creation success message on the payer PSP 20 application and enable the payer to share the generated prepaid digital voucher with the beneficiary in digital format.
Upon receiving the digital voucher, the beneficiary may go to the merchant for redeeming the digital voucher and availing the service. The merchant may scan the voucher using a merchant application or device 30. The merchant application or device 30 identifies the digital voucher based on the purpose code assigned to it and sends a transaction request to an acquiring bank 40 of the merchant. The acquiring bank 40 may perform a standard verification of the merchant to determine whether the merchant is genuine or not and then send a validation request message to the UPI server 504. The validation request message may comprise the proxy global address of the beneficiary, the merchant category code, and the exact name of the merchant. The validation request message may further comprise the payer address if the digital voucher is in the form of a QR code. The payer address includes a unique mandate number (UMN). Upon receiving the validation request message, the UPI server 504 checks the validity and purpose of the prepaid digital voucher. The UPI server 504 may check the validity and purpose of voucher by comparing the received message with the digital voucher record stored in the repository 504a. The UPI server 504 then sends a validation request to the remitter bank 80. The remitter bank 80 performs checks to determine whether the digital voucher is in a position to be redeemed or not and sends a confirmation response to the UPI server 504. The UPI server 504 sends a validation success response along with the global address of the beneficiary containing the beneficiary global identifier, the voucher amount, and the valid MCC encoded in the voucher to the acquiring bank 40 upon successful check. The acquiring bank 40 may validate the beneficiary by sending a verification code to the mobile number of the beneficiary or by using an offline verification method upon receiving the validation success response from the UPI server 504. The acquiring bank 40 may then overwrite the beneficiary address with the actual UPI ID of the merchant. Additionally, the acquiring bank 40 may populate the account details (account number and IFSC) to be used for crediting voucher amount to the merchant. The UPI server 504 may validate the UMN with basic parameters such as validity and execution parameters and send a voucher collect request to the payer PSP 20. The payer PSP 20 may validate the UMN and send the voucher collect request to the remitter bank 80 upon successful validation. The remitter bank 80 may debit the account of the payer with the voucher amount and send a successful status message/response to the UPI server 504. As part of the validation process, the remitter bank 80 may also perform a duplication check. The UPI server 504 may send a credit message to the acquiring bank 40 on receiving the successful status response. The acquiring bank 40 credits the bank account of the beneficiary with the voucher amount. The payer PSP 20, and/or the acquiring bank 40 may notify the payer, the beneficiary, and/or the merchant about the successful redemption of the voucher.
Figure 7 illustrates the PSP application interface showing user flow for issuance/creation of prepaid digital voucher in a P2P transaction. As shown in the Figure, the user goes to a voucher section and enters the details (mobile number) of the intended beneficiaries of the voucher. The user further enters details such as voucher amount, the purpose of the voucher, validity range, etc. in the PSP application. The user then confirms voucher creation and enters UPI PIN for authentication. Upon successful checks, authentication, and voucher creation at the backend, the user receives a message indicating the created voucher and its details. Upon creation, the voucher will be automatically shared with the beneficiary via an SMS. For example, the SMS may include the following content – “Dear User, a prepaid voucher for is created by of INR valid till . Please show this message to a merchant for redeeming the voucher. For queries, please call . Voucher ID < > or call . Voucher ID: SJKDFN43958ERKGBRSUTH549IJER9FU>”. The user may have an option to share the voucher in the form of a QR code or re-share the SMS with the beneficiary.
Figures 8 and 9 illustrate the PSP application interface showing user flow for the redemption of prepaid digital vouchers in a P2P transaction. The user goes to a merchant for voucher redemption and opens the received digital voucher. The voucher is in the form of an SMS as shown in Figure 8 or a QR code as shown in Figure 9. The merchant may use an application installed on his device to scan the digital voucher. Upon scanning, the beneficiary UUID and the UMN associated with the voucher are displayed on the screen. The merchant is prompted to enter the voucher amount on the screen. Further, the user is prompted to enter a verification code for user verification. Based on the verification code, the user is validated. The voucher amount is debited from the payer’s account in the backend and the user screen will indicate a message “voucher redeemed successfully”.
The PSP, banks, user/mobile devices, PSP applications, and the UPI server disclosed herein may communicate with one another via a wireless communication means.
The payer PSP is configured to send reminder messages to the beneficiary at pre-defined intervals until the voucher is redeemed.
In business-to-customer transactions, the voucher is pre-approved by the bank, whereas in person-to-person transactions, the voucher is not pre-approved. At the time of voucher creation, the PSP application of the payer may restrict the payer to select merchant code/type from a pre-defined list.
In an exemplary working embodiment, the present invention can be implemented as a digital solution for cashless and contactless payment for the services sponsored by the Government and private organizations. For example, the systems and methods are used to smoothly deliver drugs and diagnostic services, payment for COVID vaccination, food or grocery distribution services, and services related to the delivery of LPG cylinders, fertilizers, and the like, to the intended beneficiaries only. For example, if an entity wishes to provide a vaccine to an individual “A” and ensure that vaccine is administered to that individual only and direct payment is made to the vaccination centre, it may use the present system for delivering this service. The entity may approach a PSP/bank to issue a pre-paid digital voucher against the mobile number of the individual. The entity may share information related to the voucher such as the purpose of the voucher, mobile number of “A”, voucher amount, desired voucher validity date range, etc. with the bank. The bank blocks the voucher amount for the individual “A” for the defined purpose and reaches out to the UPI server to facilitate the creation of a digital voucher. The bank then sends the created digital voucher to “A”. For redemption of the voucher, “A” fixes an appointment at a vaccination centre which is enabled for voucher acceptance. The digital voucher is scanned at the vaccination centre. Upon scanning, an acquirer bank sends a verification code to “A” on his/her mobile number. “A” shares the received verification code with the hospital staff to be validated. The hospital staff validates “A” and vaccinates the beneficiary.
The system and methods can be used by individuals or entities for the generation of gift cards on occasions such as birthdays, festivals, etc., for rewarding their employees, for providing entertainment vouchers such as OTT subscriptions, shopping, etc., or for providing health vouchers for a check-up, treatment or post-hospitalization. Since, the actual transaction (transfer of money) takes place between a payer (i.e., entity or individual) and the merchant from payer PSP i.e., voucher issuing bank to the merchant’s acquiring bank, the beneficiaries are not required to own a bank account. Further, since the voucher can be shared with the beneficiaries via an SMS, they are not required to have a smart phone for availing of the goods and services upon redeeming the voucher. The system and method ensure that the person redeeming the voucher is an intended beneficiary of the voucher only by performing checks at the time of redemption. The beneficiaries need not be a part of the UPI ecosystem. Thus, the system and method facilitate the generation, distribution, and redemption of person- and purpose-specific digital vouchers.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Individual components of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, are interchangeable. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the present disclosure, and all such modifications are considered to be within the scope of the present disclosure.
TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENTS AND ECONOMICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The present disclosure described herein above has several technical advantages including, but not limited to, a system and a method for facilitating generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers that:
• facilitate generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers;
• allow safe and secure delivery of vouchers to the beneficiaries;
• facilitates generation and distribution of vouchers for various use cases such as donations, supply of groceries, and distribution of Covid-19 testing and vaccination services;
• allow a UPI registered user to issue a one-time/ multiple use digital voucher to any beneficiary that is registered or not registered with the UPI;
• allow beneficiaries not registered with the UPI to redeem the prepaid digital vouchers;
• allow corporates or governments to issue prepaid digital vouchers to customers or the general public for a variety of purposes;
• facilitate target and leak-proof delivery of services;
• optimize the process of delivery of services and schemes to the intended beneficiaries;
• reduce the administrative load and cost associated with the delivery of health and wellness-related services;
• form a digital solution for cashless and contactless payment for the services sponsored by Government and private organizations;
• facilitate generation and distribution of person- and purpose-specific digital vouchers;
• allow low-cost digital distribution of vouchers to ensure that the vouchers reach the intended beneficiaries directly for a specific purpose;
• make real-time tracking of various services, programs, or schemes of the Government or other entities possible;
• facilitate redemption of prepaid digital vouchers by beneficiaries who do not have a bank account;
• facilitate the distribution of prepaid digital vouchers to beneficiaries who do not have smart phones or internet connectivity;
• enables beneficiaries to redeem the prepaid digital vouchers and avail of the services without requiring smart phones or internet connection; and
• facilitate the generation, distribution, and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers that can be accepted at all UPI merchant acceptance points or at specific locations as per a scheme designed at the time of issuance of such instrument.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS USED IN DETAILED DESCRIPTION AND DRAWING
10 – Entity/Organization
20 – Payer Payment Service Provider (Payer PSP)
30 – Merchant device/ application
40 – Acquiring bank
60 – User device
80 – Remitter bank
502 – Voucher management system
504 – Unified Payments Interface server (UPI server)
504a – Repository
602 – Payment Service Provider application (PSP application)
1000- System
1002 - request receiving interface
1004 – request saving module
1006 - unique user identifier (UUID) generating module
1008 - voucher generation module
1010 - voucher sending interface
1111 – voucher repository
1012 - unified payment interface (UPI) sub-system
1014 - redemption request receiver module
1016 - redemption request verification module
1018 - validated redemption request

Equivalents
The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained with reference to the non-limiting embodiments in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
The foregoing description of the specific embodiments so fully reveals the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein.
The use of the expression “at least” or “at least one” suggests the use of one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as the use may be in the embodiment of the disclosure to achieve one or more of the desired objects or results.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles, or the like that has been included in this specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the disclosure. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form a part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the disclosure as it existed anywhere before the priority date of this application.
The numerical values mentioned for the various physical parameters, dimensions or quantities are only approximations and it is envisaged that the values higher/lower than the numerical values assigned to the parameters, dimensions or quantities fall within the scope of the disclosure, unless there is a statement in the specification specific to the contrary.
While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the components and component parts of the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the disclosure. These and other changes in the preferred embodiment as well as other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the disclosure and not as a limitation.

,CLAIMS:We Claim:
1. A unified payment interface (UPI) system for facilitating the generation and distribution of prepaid digital vouchers, said system comprising:
a request receiving interface (1002) configured to receive at least one digital voucher creation request, a unique mandate number (UMN) of a payer, a pre-assigned purpose code, a plurality of inputs, and at least one global address of a beneficiary from a PSP server for generating at least one digital voucher;
a request saving module (1004) configured to cooperate with said request receiving interface (1002) to receive said digital voucher creation request, said UMN, said pre-assigned purpose code, said plurality of inputs and said global address of said beneficiary, and further configured to store each of said digital voucher creation request along with said associated UMN of said payer, said pre-assigned purpose code, said plurality of inputs and said global address of said beneficiary into a voucher repository (1111);
a unique user identifier (UUID) generating module (1006) configured to generate a UUID for each of said digital voucher creation request and further configured to store said associated UUID with each said digital voucher creation request in said voucher repository (1111);
a voucher generation module (1008) configured to generate a pre-paid digital voucher and a response for each of said UUID and associated record in said voucher repository (1111); and
a voucher sending interface (1010) configured to cooperate with said voucher generation module (1008) to receive said pre-paid digital voucher and said response and further configured to send it to said PSP server.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said PSP server receives a digital voucher creation request via a payee’s bank or via an application hosted by PSP server of said payer.
3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said inputs are selected from a group of a voucher amount, a UPI PIN, a plurality of bank account details of a payer, a voucher validity date range, demography of a beneficiary and a merchant category.
4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said system further comprises a proxy module configured to replace said global address with a proxy global address of said beneficiary in said pre-paid digital voucher.
5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said PSP server renders the received prepaid digital voucher to said payer and/or said beneficiary in a digital format upon receiving said pre-paid digital voucher when said response represents a successful voucher creation at said system.
6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said pre-paid digital voucher is selected from an SMS, a QR code, a barcode, a string, a pattern, and the like.
7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said system comprises a unified payment interface (UPI) sub-system (1012) for facilitating the redemption of prepaid digital vouchers, said sub-system comprising:
a redemption request receiver module (1014) configured to receive at least one digital voucher redemption request from a PSP server along with a purpose code, a proxy global address of the merchant, a UUID and a unique mandate number (UMN) of a payer;
a redemption request verification module (1016) configured to cooperate with said redemption request receiver module (1014) to receive said digital voucher redemption request said purpose code, said proxy global address of the merchant, said UUID and said UMN and further configured to validate said digital voucher redemption request by extracting the corresponding record from said voucher repository (1111) for generating a second response; and
a validated redemption request (1018) sending module configured to cooperate with said redemption request verification module (1016) to receive said second response and further configured to send said second response to said PSP server.
8. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said redemption request verification module (1016) is further configured to fetch UMN of a payer from an internal repository using UUID in case not received by said redemption request receiver module (1014).
9. A unified payment interface (UPI) method for facilitating the generation, distribution and redemption of prepaid digital vouchers, said method comprising:
receiving, by a request receiving interface (1002), digital voucher creation request, a unique mandate number (UMN) of a payer, a pre-assigned purpose code, a plurality of inputs and at least one global address of a beneficiary from a PSP server for generating at least one digital voucher;
receiving, by a request saving module (1004), said digital voucher creation request, said UMN, said pre-assigned purpose code, said plurality of inputs and said global address of said beneficiary by said request receiving interface (1002);
storing, by said request saving module (1004), each of said digital voucher creation request along with said associated UMN of said payer, said pre-assigned purpose code, said plurality of inputs and said global address of said beneficiary into a voucher repository (1111);
generating, by a unique user identifier (UUID) generating module (1006), a UUID for each of said digital voucher creation request and further configured to store said UUID associated with each said digital voucher creation request in said voucher repository (1111);
generating, by a voucher generation module, a pre-paid digital voucher and a response for each of said UUID and associated record in said voucher repository (1111);
receiving, by a voucher sending interface (1010), said pre-paid digital voucher and said response from said voucher generation module; and
sending, by said voucher sending interface (1010), said pre-paid digital voucher and said response to said PSP server.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said method further comprising:
receiving, by a redemption request receiver module (1014), at least one digital voucher redemption request from a PSP server along with a purpose code, a proxy global address of the merchant, a UUID and a unique mandate number (UMN) of a payer;
receiving, by a redemption request verification module (1016), said digital voucher redemption request said purpose code, said proxy global address of the merchant, said UUID and said UMN from said redemption request receiver module (1014)
validating, by said redemption request verification module (1016), said digital voucher redemption request by extracting the corresponding record from said voucher repository (1111);
generating, by said redemption request verification module (1016), a second response;
receiving, by a validated redemption request (1018) sending module, said second response from said redemption request verification module (1016); and
sending, by said validated redemption request (1018) sending module, said second response to said PSP server.

Dated this 25th October, 2022

MOHAN DEWAN, IN/ PA-25
OF R. K. DEWAN & CO.
APPLICANT’S PATENT ATTORNEY
TO,
THE CONTROLLER OF PATENTS,
THE PATENT OFFICE
AT CHENNAI