RELATED APPLICATIONS

Benefit is claimed to India Provisional Application No. 3060/CHE/2009, titled "MACHINE-TO-MACHINE WIRELESS CARD READER SYSTEM AND THE METHOD THEREOF" by Logica Pvt. Ltd., filed on December 11, 2009, which is herein incorporated in its entirety by reference for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to card payment, more particularly the present invention relates to machine-to-machine card payment system and method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Recently, it has become a common practice for a customer, consumer, shopper, purchaser and the like to concurrently possess a multitude of credit cards, debit cards, rewards points cards, stored-value cards and the like from different banks and credit/debit card issuing bodies. It is common practice for such customer to personally carry all or most of such cards so as to provide himself or herself with the option of using any one payment card of his or her choice when making a payment transaction.

When credit/debit cards are physically carried, a customer runs the risk of misplacing and losing his or her credit/debit cards or having said cards being stolen. The reporting of lost cards is a troublesome, inconvenient and often stressful process, as the customer may have to inform the relevant credit/debit card company of the loss and in certain circumstances, would have to report the loss to the police and the like. Further, while the customer awaits a replacement, said customer is unable to utilize said lost credit/debit cards.

Often, due to high competition, banks and credit/debit card issuing bodies may provide promotional offers, such as discounts, attractive initiation fees or attractive financing rates in order to encourage the use of a specific type of credit/debit card. Often, there would be promotions and offers for specific types of credit/debit cards when used in specific stores, restaurants, shops and the like. As an example, the customer may be rewarded with a ten percent discount on his or her bill in XYZ restaurant if credit card A is used, but not if credit card B is used. As said, promotions and offers are often for a limited period and are constantly changing; it is difficult to keep track of all the promotions and offers existing in relation to each credit/debit card.

When making a payment transaction at a store, shop, restaurant or the like, it is common practice for a customer to ask the service staff if the use of any of the customer's credit/debit cards would result in a discount or a greater level of rewards points. Making such request is often time-consuming and troublesome; since staff may not always be available to indicate the most advantageous credit/debit card to use, further, service staff may not always be aware of the most advantageous credit/debit card to use and may have to spend time finding out whether a discount or reward would result from the use of a specific type of credit/debit card.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and system for performing machine-to-machine card payment. In one aspect, a system includes a mobile device for receiving a payment card account and payment information associated with a payment to a vendor from a user, and a card holder wirelessly coupled to the mobile device for reading a payment card associated with the payment card account. The system also includes a wireless transaction terminal wirelessly coupled to the card holder for performing a transaction associated with the payment based on the information read from the payment card and the payment information.

In another aspect, a method of performing a machine-to-machine payment includes receiving a payment card account and payment information associated with a payment to a vendor from a mobile device of a user, reading a payment card associated with the payment card account by a card holder. The method also includes performing a transaction associated with the payment to the vendor by a wireless transaction terminal based on the information read from the payment card and the payment information.

In yet another aspect, a device includes one or more card slots for holding one or more payment cards, a processor, and memory coupled to the processor. The memory includes a card reader module for receiving a payment card account and payment information associated with a payment to a vendor from a mobile device of a user, and for reading a payment card associated with the payment card account from the one or more payment cards. The memory also includes a payment module for transmitting information read from the payment card and the payment information to a wireless transaction terminal over a secure channel so that the wireless transaction terminal performs a transaction associated with the payment based on the information read from the payment card and the payment information. The device further includes a display for displaying a status of the transaction associated with the payment to the vendor, where the status of the transaction includes transaction successful, transaction declined, and transaction cancelled.

Other features of the embodiments will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a machine-to-machine card payment system, according to one embodiment.

Figure 2 is a process flowchart of an exemplary method of performing a machine-to-machine payment, according to one embodiment.

The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and system for performing machine-to-machine card payment. In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a machine-to-machine card payment system 100, according to one embodiment. In Figure 1, the machine-to-machine card payment system 100 includes a mobile device 102, a card holder 104, a wireless transaction terminal 106, and a payment gateway 108. The mobile device 102 includes a payment application 110. Further, the card holder 104 includes a processor 112, memory, 114, card slots 116, a machine-to-machine enabled card 118, and a display 120. The memory 114 includes a card reader module 122 and a payment module 124. The wireless transaction terminal 106 includes a transaction module 126.

As shown in Figure 1, the mobile device 102 is wirelessly coupled to the card holder 104. The card holder 104 is wirelessly coupled to the wireless transaction terminal 106 which in turn is wireless connected to the payment gateway 108.

For the purpose of illustration, consider that the card holder 104 is located remotely from the wireless transaction terminal 106 and holding a plurality of payment cards (e.g., credit card, debit cards, fleet card, stored value card and the like) associated with various payment card accounts in the card slots 116. The card holder 104 is powered through AC power point, USB port and so on. The card holder 104 includes the machine-to-machine enabled card 118 for communicating with the mobile device 102 and the wireless transaction terminal 106 using wireless technology such as GSM, CDMA and the like.

Suppose, if a user purchases a product/goods or avails a particular service from a vendor store and has to make a payment to the vendor. In such case, the user starts the payment application 110 from his/her mobile device 102 and enters login credentials. The payment application 110 authenticates the user based on the login credentials entered by the user. Upon successfully authentication, the payment application queries the user for vendor identifier information (identifier associated with the wireless transaction terminal), payment card account (e.g., card name, card type, or issuing authority) and payment information such as amount to be paid. The user enters the request information in the application interface associated with the payment application 110.
The payment application 110 transmits the vendor identifier information, payment card account, and payment information to the card holder 102 remotely located from the mobile device 102. The card reader module 122 upon receiving the information from the mobile device 102 reads one of the payment cards based on the payment card account. In one embodiment, the card reader module 122 reads the selected payment card using infrared, radio frequency technologies and extracts information such as a payment card number, an owner of the payment card and date of expiry of the payment card by reading the payment card. Then, the payment module 124 establishes a secure channel with the wireless transaction terminal 106 using the vendor identifier information using the machine-to-machine enabled card 118. Accordingly, the payment module 124 transmits the information read from the selected payment card and the payment information in encrypted form to the wireless transaction terminal 106 over the secured channel using the machine-to-machine enabled card 118.

The transaction module 126 parses the encrypted information received from the card holder 104 and performs a transaction through the payment gateway 108 for obtaining the payment from the user's payment card account. It is appreciated that, performing the transaction by processing the parsed information and obtaining the payment from the payment card account using the payment gateway 108 is well to the person skilled in the art. The wireless transaction terminal 106 may prompt the user for a transaction password (e.g., unique verification code) before completing the transaction. Upon successfully completing the transaction, the wireless transaction terminal 106 prints payment receipt and notifies the card holder 104 regarding the status of the transaction which may be transaction successful, transaction declined, or transaction cancelled. In one exemplary implementation, the card holder 102 displays the status of the transaction on the display 120. In another exemplary implementation, the card holder 104 notifies the mobile device 102 regarding the status of the transaction.

Figure 2 is a process flowchart 200 of an exemplary method of performing a machine-to-machine payment, according to one embodiment. At step 202, vendor identifier information is obtained from the wireless transaction terminal by a mobile device for making a payment to a vendor. At step 204, a user of the mobile device for making the payment to the vendor is authenticated based on login credentials. At step 206, payment information associated with the payment to the vendor is obtained from the user. At step 208, a payment card account is selected by the user for making the payment to the vendor. At step 210, the payment information, the selected payment card information, and the vendor identifier information is sent to the card holder.

At step 210, the selected payment card is read by the card holder and payment card information such as payment card number, owner of the payment card and date of expiry of the payment card is extracted. At step 212, a secure channel is established with the wireless transaction terminal using a wireless link based on the vendor identifier information. At step 214, the information read from the payment card and the payment information is provided to the wireless transaction terminal over the secure channel. At step 216, a transaction associated with the payment to the vendor is performed by a wireless transaction terminal based on the information read from the payment card and the payment information. At step 218, a status of the transaction is notified to the user upon completion of the transaction. The status of the transaction may include transaction successful, transaction declined, and transaction cancelled.

Although the present embodiments have been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the various embodiments. Furthermore, the various devices, modules, analyzers, generators, and the like described herein may be enabled and operated using hardware circuitry, for example, complementary metal oxide semiconductor based logic circuitry, firmware, software and/or any combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software embodied in a machine readable medium. For example, the various electrical structure and methods may be embodied using transistors, logic gates, and electrical circuits, such as application specific integrated circuit.

We Claim:

1. A system comprising:

a mobile device for obtaining a payment card account and payment information associated with a payment to a vendor from a user;

a card holder wirelessly coupled to the mobile device for reading a payment card associated with the payment card account; and

a wireless transaction terminal wirelessly coupled to the card holder for performing a transaction associated with the payment based on the information read from the payment card and the payment information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the payment card is selected from the group consisting of a debit card, a fleet card, a stored value card and a credit card.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein in receiving the payment card account and the payment information from the user, the mobile device authenticates the user for making a payment to the vendor based on login credentials of the user, receives payment information associated with the payment to the vendor from the user, and receives selection of a payment card from the user for making the payment to the vendor.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device obtains vendor information from the wireless transaction terminal for making the payment to the vendor, and provides the vendor information to the card holder, wherein the vendor information includes a vendor identifier associated with the wireless transaction terminal.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the card holder comprises a machine-to-machine enabled card for:
establishing a secure channel with the wireless transaction terminal using a wireless link based on the vendor identifier; and

providing the information read from the payment card and the payment information to the wireless transaction terminal over the secure channel, wherein the information read from the payment card comprises a payment card number, an owner of the payment card and date of expiry of the payment card.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the wireless transaction terminal performs a transaction associated with the payment to the vendor through a payment gateway based on the information read from the payment card and the payment information.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the card holder sends a status of the transaction performed by the wireless transaction terminal to the mobile device, wherein the status of the transaction includes transaction successful, transaction declined, and transaction cancelled.

8. A method of performing a machine-to-machine card payment comprising: obtaining a payment card account and payment information associated with a payment to a vendor from a mobile device of a user; reading a payment card associated with the payment card account by a card holder; and performing a transaction associated with the payment to the vendor by a wireless transaction terminal based on the information read from the payment card and the payment information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the payment card is selected from the group consisting of a debit card, a fleet card, a stored value card and a credit card.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the payment card account and the payment information from the mobile device of the user comprises: authenticating the user of the mobile device for making a payment to the vendor based on login credentials of the user; obtaining payment information associated with the payment to the vendor from the user; and obtaining selection of a payment card from the user for making the payment to the vendor.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising: obtaining vendor information from the wireless transaction terminal for making the payment to the vendor; and providing the vendor information to the card holder via a wireless link, wherein the vendor information includes a vendor identifier associated with the wireless transaction terminal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein reading the payment card associated with the payment card account by the card holder further comprises; reading the payment card associated with the payment card account; establishing a secure channel with the wireless transaction terminal using a wireless link based on the vendor identifier; and providing the information read from the payment card and the payment information to the wireless transaction terminal over the secure channel, wherein the information read from the payment card comprises payment card number, owner of the payment card and date of expiry of the payment card.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein performing the transaction associated with the payment based on the information read from the payment card and the payment information by the wireless transaction terminal, comprises:

performing a transaction associated with the payment through a payment gateway based on the information read from the payment card and the payment information.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprises:

notifying a status of the transaction to the user on the mobile device, wherein the status of the transaction includes transaction successful, transaction declined, and transaction cancelled.

15. The method claim 8 in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to perform the method of claim 8.

16. A device comprising:

one or more card slots for holding one or more payment cards;

a processor;

memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises a card reader module for obtaining a payment card account and payment information associated with a payment to a vendor from a mobile device of a user, and for reading a payment card associated with the payment card account from the one or more payment cards, and a payment module for transmitting information read from the payment card and the payment information to a wireless transaction terminal over a secure channel so that the wireless transaction terminal performs a transaction associated with the payment based on the information read from the payment card and the payment information.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the payment card is selected from the group consisting of a debit card, a fleet card, a stored value card and a credit card.

18. The device of claim 16, wherein the information read from the payment card comprises a payment card number, an owner of the payment card and date of expiry of the payment card.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the payment module receives vendor identifier information from the mobile device of the user.

20. The device of claim 19, further comprising a machine-to-machine enabled card for:

establishing a secure channel with the wireless transaction terminal using a wireless link based on the vendor identifier; and

providing the information read from the payment card and the payment information to the wireless transaction terminal over the secure channel.

21. The device of claim 16, further comprises a display for displaying a status of the transaction associated with the payment to the vendor, wherein the status of the transaction includes transaction successful, transaction declined, and transaction cancelled.

22. Method and system for performing machine-to-machine payment as described and explained with reference to the drawings.