GB2542151A

GB2542151A - Process for initializing and utilizing a mobile phone as a transient, secure, point of sale terminal

Info

Publication number: GB2542151A
Application number: GB1515973.4A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Griffiths David
Original assignee: Gryffle Pay Ltd
Current assignee: Gryffle Pay Ltd
Priority date: 2015-09-09
Filing date: 2015-09-09
Publication date: 2017-03-15
Also published as: GB201515973D0

Abstract

A method for using a mobile phone 5 as a point of sale terminal, the mobile has an application that can securely communicate with a merchants point of sale payment service 2, and uses the mobiles near field communication service to communicate with a customers contactless payment card 7 to obtain the data necessary to complicate the payment transaction which the merchant has initiated. Preferably the initiation of the point of sale application on the mobile phone is operated by the merchant who populates the application with the payment and transaction details, which the customer can confirm prior to making the payment. Preferably to initiate the process the customer provides the merchant with their mobile phone number either via the merchants call centre or via the merchants website a. Preferably a session based encryption algorithm is used to secure communication of the data between the mobile phone application and the merchants point of sale payment service.

Description

Process for initializing and utilizing a mobile phone as a transient, secure, Point of Sale terminal

Background

Transaction fraud related to paying for goods and services over the Internet or over the telephone is high and is growing year on year. This fraud is made possible by the fact that only basic payment card data is needed to complete the transactions and that data is readily available to fraudsters. A variety of measures have been implemented in an attempt to eliminate this fraud but they all negatively impact the user experience, which has the effect of increasing the number of abandoned transactions thereby reducing a merchant's sales.

Statement of Invention

This invention is a process which enables a customer who wishes to buy goods or services from a merchant during a telephone or internet based transaction to invoke the use of their mobile phone as a transient Point of Sale terminal when the merchant offers this as a payment option.

When the customer selects this payment option they give the merchant their mobile phone number either verbally or by inputting it into the merchant's web page. The merchant then initiates a remote Point of Sale transaction which opens a Point of Sale application on the customer's mobile phone.

The Point of Sale application on the mobile phone shows sufficient transaction details that the customer can reassure themselves that this is the payment that they wish to make.

The customer then puts their payment card (debit/credit) in sufficiently close proximity to the mobile phone that data is exchanged between the card and the mobile phone using Near Field Communications (NFC) so that payment details are transferred to the Point of Sale application on the mobile phone.

The mobile phone Point of Sale application then exchanges this information via an encrypted data channel and cloud-based payment server with the merchant's payments provider completing payment and the transaction.

The advantages of this payment option for the customer is that they do not have the inconvenience and concerns regarding security of giving their card details to a third-party either over the phone or via the internet.

The advantages of this payment option for the merchant is that this constitutes a card-holder present transaction which reduces fraud where they bear the costs, and also has lower transaction costs.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: • Figure 1 shows the components and interactions for a payment initiated via a merchant web site • Figure 2 shows the components and interactions for a payment initiated over the telephone

In figure 1, a customer browsing a merchant's web site (1) chooses to make a purchase. They make their selection and then proceed normally to the checkout. The customer chooses to pay using their mobile phone as a transient Point of Sale terminal and provides the merchant with the mobile phone number.

The payment request is passed to the Payment Server (2), which manages the transaction from the Merchant (3) through to the Payment Networks (4). The Payment Server initiates a transaction session with the customer's mobile phone (5) and uses the Merchant Plug-In (6) to configure the mobile phone as a transient Point of Sale terminal.

The mobile phone screen displays the purchase details provided by the Merchant, and the customer taps their contactless payment card (7) against the mobile phone. The payment card details are encrypted and passed securely to the Payment Server where the authorisation request is completed.

The result of the authorisation request is returned to the mobile phone and to the Merchant Web Site. The completed transaction is closed, the Point of Sale application is terminated and the control of the mobile phone is returned to the customer.

Figure 2 shows an alternative embodiment in which a transaction is initiated by a Call Centre operative during a phone call. In this embodiment, the customer provides their mobile phone number and the transaction is generated via the Call Centre operator's workstation (8). Once initiated, the transaction follows the process embodied within figure 1.

Claims

1. An application on a mobile phone which can securely communicate with a merchant's Point of Sale payment service, and can communicate with the customer's payment card via the mobile phone's Near Field Communications service to gather the data necessary to enable and complete a payment transaction which the merchant has initiated.

2. A service on a cloud based server operated directly or indirectly by the merchant which can initiate the Point of Sale application (claim 1) on the customer's mobile phone as a transient Point of Sale terminal, populating said application with payment and transaction details so that the customer can confirm that this is the transaction they wish to make payment for, and which will close said application when the transaction is complete. -

3. A sessional based encryption algorithm which enables secure communication of data between the mobile phone's Point of Sale application (claim 1) and the merchant's Point of Sale payment service, and because it is sessional offers high levels of security to customer and merchant.