AU2012100854A4 - Improved electronic payment systems - Google Patents

Abstract

IMPROVED PAYMENT SYSTEMS The present invention relates to electronic payment systems and methods. 5 Embodiments of the payment system comprise at least one electronic point of sale terminal for receiving inputs and processing data relating to a sale and at least one separate electronic payment terminal coupled to be in communication with the at least one electronic point of sale terminal for receiving the data relating to the sale and processing payments for the sales. Upon receiving an acknowledgement of 10 the data relating to the sale from the at least one electronic payment terminal, the at least one electronic point of sale terminal characterizes the payment as complete and can receive inputs and process data relating to at least one further sale irrespective of completion of the payment. POS receives inputs & 30 processes data for sale 32 'IF POS transmits sales data to payment terminal 34 POS receives acknowledgment from payment terminal & characterizes 36 payment as complete P05 can receive inputs & process data for further sales 38 Payment terminal queues data relating to sales 40 Change Change payment type payment ivia payment terminal type? Void payment. Void via payment payment? terminal Process payment via payment terminal 50 , Reconcile with POS 52

Description

P/00/012 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Invention Title: "IMPROVED ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEMS" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 1 TITLE IMPROVED ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEMS FIELD OF THE INVENTION 5 The present invention relates to electronic payment systems. In particular, the present invention relates to improved electronic point of sale terminals and electronic payment terminals. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 10 Electronic payment cards are used by millions of people worldwide on a daily basis as a convenient alternative to payment by cash or cheque. In Australia and New Zealand, for example, electronic payments at a checkout of a merchant are referred to as electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS). Sale items are entered into a point of sale (POS) terminal, for example, by scanning a product 15 barcode, and a customer can pay using a debit or credit card. Depending on the type of payment card, the card is swiped through a magnetic stripe reader of a payment terminal to read a magnetic stripe on the card or the card is inserted in a slot of the payment terminal to read an integrated circuit (chip) of the card. 20 After a customer selects the appropriate account on the payment device, such as a cheque, savings or credit account, customer verification is provided by the entry of a PIN or by providing a signature. Following communication between the payment terminal and the financial institution, payment is completed and the next customer can be served.

2 Such payments are often more efficient than payment by cash and electronic payment cards saves customers carrying cash on their person. This system is also appealing because reconciliation is conducted at the time of the transaction. However, once a sale has been entered on the POS terminal, typically 5 another customer cannot be served and a further sale entered until the payment has been processed. This can cause delays, particularly during busy periods, which can impact on turnover for a business. Contactless payment cards are also available, which comprise a chip and embedded antenna, which emits an RF signal detected by the payment terminal 10 typically enabling payment without the need for the customer to enter a PIN or provide a signature, at least up to a threshold monetary amount. Whilst contactless payment cards help to speed up the financial transaction, the payment must still be processed before the next sale can be entered and processed on the POS terminal. 15 OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is a preferred object of the present invention to provide an improved payment system, method and/or apparatus that addresses or at least ameliorates the aforementioned problem. 20 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally, the present invention relates to a system in which an electronic point of sale terminal can process further sales without the need to wait for completion of a payment for the previous sale by an electronic payment terminal. 25 3 In one form, although not necessarily the broadest form, the present invention resides in a system comprising: at least one electronic point of sale terminal for receiving inputs and processing data relating to a sale; 5 at least one separate electronic payment terminal in communication with the at least one electronic point of sale terminal for receiving the data relating to the sale and for processing a payment for the sale; wherein, upon receiving an acknowledgement of the data relating to the sale from the at least one electronic payment terminal, the at least one electronic 10 point of sale terminal characterizes the payment as complete and can receive inputs and process data relating to at least one further sale irrespective of completion of the payment. Hence, the electronic point of sale terminal is free to process further sales without the need to wait for the payment to be processed by the electronic 15 payment terminal. Suitably, the at least one electronic payment terminal queues data relating to multiple sales for selective processing. Suitably, in response to an input, the at least one electronic payment terminal changes a type of payment from a type of payment input at the at least 20 one electronic point of sale terminal or the at least one electronic payment terminal voids the payment. For example, a credit card payment may have been entered at the electronic point of sale terminal, but the customer may need to pay with a debit card or cash at the electronic payment terminal or the customer may need to split the payment.

4 Suitably, reconciliation of payments processed by the at least one electronic payment terminal is performed programmatically or manually at the at least one electronic point of sale terminal. In another form, although not necessarily the broadest form, the present 5 invention resides in a method of processing payments in a system comprising at least one electronic point of sale terminal in communication with at least one separate electronic payment terminal, the method including: the at least one electronic point of sale terminal receiving inputs and processing data relating to a sale; 10 the at least one electronic point of sale terminal transmitting the data relating to the sale to the electronic payment terminal; and upon receiving an acknowledgement of the data relating to the sale from the at least one electronic payment terminal, the at least one electronic point of sale terminal characterizes a payment for the sale as complete and can receive 15 inputs and process data relating to at least one further sale irrespective of completion of the payment. Further aspects and/or features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description. 20 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the invention may be readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings are provided by way of example only, wherein: 5 FIG 1 is a schematic drawing illustrating systems in accordance with embodiments of the present invention; and FIG 2 is a general flow diagram illustrating methods in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. 5 Skilled addressees will appreciate that elements in the drawings are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the relative dimensions of some of the elements in the drawings may be distorted to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. 10 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference to FIG 1, a system 10 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention comprises at least one electronic point of sale terminal 12 for receiving inputs and processing data relating to sales. The inputs can be in the 15 form of, for example, real or virtual key presses to enter information relating to a product or service, such as a product description or unique identifier and a price for the product or service. Alternatively, such information can be obtained by scanning a bar code associated with the product with a bar code reader in communication with the point of sale terminal 12. The point of sale terminal 12 20 can comprise, or be in communication with a printer 14 for printing receipts containing details relating to the sale. System 10 also comprises at least one separate electronic payment terminal 16 coupled to be in communication with the at least one electronic point of sale terminal 12. The electronic payment terminal 16 receives data relating to 25 sales input to the point of sale terminal 12 and processes payments for the sales, 6 for example, via electronic payment cards and/or cash and/or cheque. Payment terminal 16 can comprise, or be in communication with a printer 18 for printing receipts containing details relating to the sale. In the example shown in FIG 1, system 10 comprises multiple electronic 5 point of sale terminals 12 coupled to be in communication with multiple electronic payment terminals 16. Communication between the point of sale terminals 12 and the payment terminals 16 can be by any suitable communication channels known in the art, such as wired, wireless or optical communication channels. For example, wired communication can be via an Ethernet connection whereas 10 wireless communication can utilize Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee or some other communication standard. In some embodiments, each electronic payment terminal 16 has a dedicated printer 18. In other embodiments, one or more printers 18 can be shared between multiple electronic payment terminals 16. In further embodiments, 15 one or more electronic payment terminals 16 can share one or more printers 14 associated with the point of sale terminals 12. In use, data relating to a sale is input and processed at one of the electronic point of sale terminals 12 and the data relating to the sale is transmitted to one of the electronic payment terminals 16. Upon receiving a signal representing an 20 acknowledgement of the data relating to the sale from the electronic payment terminal 16, the electronic point of sale terminal 12 characterizes a payment for the sale as complete irrespective of completion of the payment at the electronic payment terminal 16 to which the sales data was transmitted. The electronic point of sale terminal 12 is then free to receive inputs and process data relating to 25 further sales without the need to wait for the payment to be processed by the 7 electronic payment terminal 16. The payment can be processed by the electronic payment terminal 16 at a later time and without the need for the sales data to be re-entered. In some embodiments, the electronic payment terminal 16 queues data 5 relating to multiple sales for selective processing. A user can view the data for each sale on a display of the electronic payment terminal 16 and select the sale for which they wish to process the payment. The data can include an identification of the product or service, a price for the product or service and an identification of the electronic point of sale terminal 12 from which the data relating to the sale was 10 received. This functionality enables the sales queued at the electronic payment terminal 16 to be processed in any order. Whilst a particular payment type, such as payment by credit card, may have been entered at the electronic point of sale terminal 12, a customer is not restricted to paying for the sale according to the previously entered payment type. 15 In response to one or more inputs to the electronic payment terminal 16, the electronic payment terminal changes a type of payment listed for the sale from the type of payment input at the electronic point of sale terminal 12 to a new payment type. For example, a credit card payment may have been entered at the electronic point of sale terminal 12, but the customer may need to pay with a debit card or 20 cash at the electronic payment terminal 16. Alternatively, the customer may need to split the payment between multiple cards or pay with a combination of two or more of an electronic payment card and/or cash and/or a voucher. Alternatively, in response to one or more inputs to the electronic payment terminal 16, the electronic payment terminal voids the payment. For reconciliation 25 purposes, the sale for which the payment has been voided can be adjusted 8 accordingly at the electronic point of sale terminal 12. Reconciliation of payments processed by the electronic payment terminals 16 can be performed programmatically or manually at the electronic point of sale terminal 12. In another form, embodiments of the present invention reside in a method 5 of processing payments in the system 10 comprising at least one electronic point of sale terminal 12 in communication with at least one separate electronic payment terminal 16. With reference to the general flow diagram shown in FIG 2, according to some embodiments, the method 30 includes at step 32 the electronic point of sale 10 terminal 12 receiving inputs and processing data relating to a sale as described above. At step 34, the method 30 includes the electronic point of sale terminal 12 transmitting the data relating to the sale to one of the electronic payment terminals 16. This can be via a wired, wireless or optical connection as described above. 15 At step 36, the method 30 includes the electronic point of sale terminal 12 characterizing a payment for the sale as complete upon receiving a signal representing an acknowledgement of the data relating to the sale from the electronic payment terminal 16. At step 38, the method 30 includes the electronic point of sale terminal 12 20 receiving inputs and processing data relating to one or more further sales irrespective of completion of the payment. At step 40 the method 30 can include the electronic payment terminal 16 queuing data relating to multiple sales for selective processing. Once a sale has been selected via the electronic payment terminal 16, if a 25 change in the type of payment is required at step 42, in response to one or more 9 inputs to the electronic payment terminal 16, at step 44 the method 30 can include the electronic payment terminal 16 changing the type of payment listed for the sale from the type of payment input at the electronic point of sale terminal 12 to a new payment type. 5 If the payment needs to be voided at step 46, in response to one or more inputs to the electronic payment terminal 16, at step 48 the method 30 can include the electronic payment terminal 16 voiding or cancelling the payment, If the type of payment does not need to be changed and the payment is to be processed, at step 50 the method 30 includes processing the payment via the 10 electronic payment terminal 16. The method includes at step 52 reconciling the payments processed by the electronic payment terminal 16 programmatically or manually at the electronic point of sale terminal 12. It will be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention can be 15 implemented using one or more processors operatively coupled to respective storage media in the form of computer memory. Computer memory comprises a computer readable medium having computer readable program code components stored thereon, at least some of which are selectively executed by the one or more processors and are configured to cause the execution of the embodiments of the 20 present invention described herein. Hence, embodiments of the present invention address or at least ameliorate the aforementioned problem of the prior art and provide a useful commercial alternative. Upon receiving an acknowledgement of the data relating to the sale from the electronic payment terminal 16, the electronic point of sale terminal 12 25 characterizes the payment as complete and can receive inputs and process data 10 relating to further sales irrespective of completion of the payment. Hence, the electronic point of sale terminal 12 is free to process further sales without the need to wait for the payment to be processed by the electronic payment terminal 16. Sales can therefore be processed at a higher rate at the electronic point of sale 5 terminal 12 compared with prior art systems. Therefore, the present invention enables higher volumes of customers to be processed at electronic point of sale terminals compared with prior art systems. Systems configured to have the capability and functionality of the present invention can be switched between a conventional mode and a mode in 10 accordance with the present invention, for example, to accommodate busy periods where a higher throughput of customers and sales at the electronic point of sale terminal 12 is required. Embodiments of the present invention can be retrofitted to existing electronic payment systems. Therefore, new electronic point of sale terminals and 15 new electronic payment terminals do not need to be purchased to implement the present invention. In this specification, the terms "comprise", "comprises", "comprising" or similar terms are intended to mean a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a system, method or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include those 20 elements solely, but may well include other elements not listed. The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that the prior art forms part of the common general knowledge. Throughout the specification the aim has been to describe the preferred 25 embodiments of the invention without limiting the invention to any one embodiment 11 or specific collection of features. It is to be appreciated by those of skill in the relevant art that various modifications and changes can be made in the particular embodiments exemplified without departing from the scope of the present invention, which is defined by the appended claims.

Claims (5)

1. A system comprising: at least one electronic point of sale terminal for receiving inputs 5 and processing data relating to a sale; at least one separate electronic payment terminal in communication with the at least one electronic point of sale terminal for receiving the data relating to the sale and for processing a payment for the sale; 10 wherein, upon receiving an acknowledgement of the data relating to the sale from the at least one electronic payment terminal, the at least one electronic point of sale terminal characterizes the payment as complete and can receive inputs and process data relating to at least one further sale irrespective of completion of the payment. 15

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one electronic payment terminal queues data relating to one or more sales for selective processing. 20

3. The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein, in response to an input, the at least one electronic payment terminal changes a type of payment from a type of payment input at the at least one electronic point of sale terminal or the at least one electronic payment terminal voids the payment. 13

4. The system of any preceding claim, wherein reconciliation of payments processed by the at least one electronic payment terminal is performed programmatically or manually at the at least one electronic point of sale terminal. 5

5. A method of processing payments in a system comprising at least one electronic point of sale terminal in communication with at least one separate electronic payment terminal, the method including: the at least one electronic point of sale terminal receiving inputs 10 and processing data relating to a sale; the at least one electronic point of sale terminal transmitting the data relating to the sale to the electronic payment terminal; and upon receiving an acknowledgement of the data relating to the sale from the at least one electronic payment terminal, the at least one 15 electronic point of sale terminal characterizes a payment for the sale as complete and can receive inputs and process data relating to at least one further sale irrespective of completion of the payment.