GB2611752A - Merchant review system and associated method - Google Patents

Merchant review system and associated method Download PDF

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GB2611752A
GB2611752A GB2114490.2A GB202114490A GB2611752A GB 2611752 A GB2611752 A GB 2611752A GB 202114490 A GB202114490 A GB 202114490A GB 2611752 A GB2611752 A GB 2611752A
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merchant
machine
optical label
payment
customer
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Anthony Apperley Nigel
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • G06Q30/0282—Rating or review of business operators or products
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
    • G06Q20/20—Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/30—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
    • G06Q20/32—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/30—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
    • G06Q20/32—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices
    • G06Q20/322—Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • G06Q30/0281—Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions

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  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Strategic Management (AREA)
  • Finance (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Development Economics (AREA)
  • Economics (AREA)
  • Marketing (AREA)
  • Game Theory and Decision Science (AREA)
  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Cash Registers Or Receiving Machines (AREA)

Abstract

A method of providing review profile data associated with a merchant to a customer having a portable electronic device 18 with a camera during a customer-merchant transaction interaction. The method involves generating a machine-readable optical label 16 based on review profile data associated with the merchant. Preferably, the optical label is a matrix bar code or quick response code, and the review-profile data is a URL of a review webpage 14 associated with the merchant. The generated optical label is stored external to the merchant, preferably at a payment service provider 12. The optical label is then electronically transferred to a payment terminal 22 of the merchant during a customer-merchant transaction interaction. The review profile data is transferred to the portable electronic device of the customer by electronically displaying the optical label on a display 20 of the payment terminal and the portable electronic device reading the optical label via the camera.

Description

Intellectual Property Office Application No G1321144902 RTM Date:24 March 2022 The following terms are registered trade marks and should be read as such wherever they occur in this document: QR code Intellectual Property Office is an operating name of the Patent Office www.gov.uk/ipo Merchant Review System and Associated Method The present invention relates to a merchant review system and to a method of providing review-profile data associated with a merchant to a customer having a portable electronic device with a camera during a customer-merchant transaction interaction.
Customers can typically upload online or electronic reviews of merchants (i.e., businesses which sell goods or services) on publicly available websites. These reviews allow for prospective customers to identify suitable and trusted merchants to use. It is therefore desirable for merchants to receive more reviews from customers.
For businesses which primarily operate online, and therefore typically carry out 10 transactions with customers online, it is usually straightforward for merchants to contact customers and encourage them to upload reviews. This is since the merchant would normally have an email address of the customer to which review reminders can be sent.
However, for in-person or brick-and-mortar merchants, without having customer contact details it can be challenging to prompt customers to upload reviews.
Furthermore, it can be difficult for merchants having multiple local branches to encourage customers to upload reviews to a profile associated with a local branch, rather than to the merchant as a whole. Prospective customers can find reviews specific to their local area more convincing than general merchant reviews.
A merchant worker may be able to personally prompt the customer to upload a review. 20 However, this is unreliable and time consuming.
It is therefore desirable to provide a means by which customers can be systematically and conveniently prompted to upload a review for a brick-and-mortar merchant on a designated review webpage.
The present invention seeks to provide a solution to these problems.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing review-profile data associated with a merchant to a customer having a portable electronic device with a camera during a customer-merchant transaction interaction, the method comprising the steps of: a) generating a machine-readable optical label based on review-profile data associated with the merchant; b) storing said machine-readable optical label on a data storage device external to the merchant; and c) during a customer-merchant transaction interaction in which a transaction occurs by a payment terminal of the merchant reading the payment device of the customer, the payment terminal having a display device and a reader for reading a payment device of the customer, and being 5 communicatively connected with an external payment service provider and the data storage device, i. transferring the machine-readable optical label from the data storage device to a payment terminal of the merchant, ii. transferring the review-profile data from the payment terminal to the portable electronic device of the customer by electronically displaying on the display device of the payment terminal the machine-readable optical 10 label and the portable electronic device reading the machine-readable optical label via the camera.
In this way a customer is automatically prompted to leave a review of the merchant. By displaying the optical label on the payment terminal, a large portion of customers are reached since most customers would pay for goods or services using a payment terminal. Additionally, a customer is likely to notice the optical label, since their attention is already directed to the payment terminal. By storing the optical label on the data storage device external to the merchant, and then transferring the label to the payment terminal during the interaction, the payment terminal is not required to be preprogrammed with the optical label. As such, the merchant is not required to take any action with regards to programming the payment terminal, and pre-existing and relatively conventionally configured payment terminals can be used with ease. Furthermore, changes to the optical label can be made without requiring programming of the payment terminal, for example if the review-profile data is required to be changed for any reason.
Preferably, the machine-readable optical label may be a black and white matrix bar code. 25 Therefore, the optical label can be used with payment terminals with display devices which have limited or no colour display capability. A matrix bar code can store more data than a linear bar code.
Advantageously, the machine-readable optical label may be a Quick Response (OR) code. Most conventional smartphones, which are common portable electronic devices, 30 have in-built OR code reading capability.
Beneficially, the review-profile data may be a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a review webpage associated with the merchant.
The review profile data may be a URL of an intermediate webpage, the webpage having hyperlinks to review webpages profiles on a variety of different review websites. The different review websites could be operated by different entities, and could permit reviews in different formats, for example text-based reviews or video-based reviews. The customer can then select which review website they would prefer to use to leave a review. This can improve the chances of the customer deciding to leave a review, since, by providing multiple different review websites, there is a greater likelihood that the customer would be familiar with one of the review websites. Greater familiarity with the website may encourage some customers to leave a review.
In the event that the merchant has multiple different branches, each branch may have its own machine-readable optical label having its own webpage with hyperlinks to its own review webpage profiles. Merchants can thereby collect reviews in a variety of locations and on a diverse range of review websites, from a single, centralised location, which is their payment terminal or each of their payment terminals.
For a merchant with multiple stores, a OR code can be generated based on a URL relating to a review profile web page associated with a specific store. Therefore, the payment terminal in the specific store can display the OR code for the specific URL to allow a customer to leave a review on the specific review profile web page.
In a preferable embodiment, sub-step V. of step 0) occurs after the transaction has 20 occurred. The customer may be more likely to scan the optical label after the transaction has occurred.
Optionally, the method may further comprise the step d) prior to step a) of determining display-device dimension data based on the dimensions of the display device of the payment terminal of the merchant, and during step a) generating the machine-readable optical label further based on the display-device dimension data. In this way, the optical label can be correctly displayed by the payment terminal. This may optimise the speed at and accuracy of which the optical label can be read by the portable electronic device.
Additionally, the method may further comprise the step e) prior to step a) or d) of generating an identifier associated with the merchant and during step b) associating the machine-readable optical label on the data storage device with the identifier. Therefore, in the instance where the data storage device comprises multiple different optical labels from multiple different merchants, the correct optical label can be identified.
Preferably, the data storage device may include a plurality of different machine-readable optical labels associated with a plurality of different merchants, wherein step c) further comprises the sub-step iii) prior to sub-step i) of the payment terminal transferring merchant identification data associated with the merchant which has said payment 5 terminal to the data storage device, the machine-readable optical label associated with said merchant being selected based on the merchant identification data, and during sub-step i) said machine-readable optical label being transferred to the payment terminal. In this way, if the data storage device has multiple different optical labels from multiple different merchants, the relevant optical label for the relevant merchant can be selected 10 and sent to the correct payment terminal.
Advantageously, the data storage device may include a plurality of different machine-readable optical labels associated with a plurality of different payment terminals, wherein step c) further comprises the sub-step iii) prior to sub-step i) of the payment terminal transferring payment-terminal identification data associated with said payment terminal to the data storage device, the machine-readable optical label associated with said payment terminal being selected based on the payment-terminal identification data, and during sub-step i) said machine-readable optical label being transferred to the payment terminal. In this way, if the data storage device has multiple different optical labels for multiple different payment terminals, the relevant optical label for the relevant payment terminal can be selected and sent to the correct payment terminal. For example, the same merchant may have different payment terminals with differently dimensioned display devices. As such, the same optical label coding may need to be formatted in different ways to suit the different terminals. By identifying the relevant payment terminal, the correct optical label can be sent to the relevant payment terminal.
Preferably, during sub step ii. an instruction to scan the machine-readable optical label in order to leave a review may be displayed on the display device of the payment terminal alongside the machine-readable optical label. This can assist the customer in scanning the optical label. The instruction may be in the form of text.
Beneficially, the customer-merchant transaction interaction may involve the customer purchasing goods and/or services from the merchant, and during step a) generating the machine-readable optical label being further based on goods-and/or-service identifier data associated with said goods and/or services. It will be appreciated that the payment terminal could in some instances transmit details of the goods or services purchased. In this instance, an optical label could be instantaneously generated to be associated with the goods or services. For example, the optical label could have review-profile data to allow the user to upload a review associated with purchasing those specific goods or services. The review could then be automatically posted to a web page associated with the specific product and/or service on the retailer's website According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a merchant review system comprising: a machine-readable-optical-label generation device configured to generate a machine-readable optical label based on review-profile data associated with a merchant; a data storage device external to the merchant communicatively communicated with the machine-readable-optical-label generation device configured to receive the machine-readable optical label therefrom and store the machine-readable optical label; a payment terminal having a display device, a reader for reading a payment device of a customer, and being communicatively connected with an external payment service provider and the data storage device, the payment terminal communicated with the data storage device and configured to receive the machine-readable-optical-label from the data storage device and display the machine-readable optical label to the customer during a customer-merchant transaction interaction in which a transaction occurs by the payment terminal reading the payment device; and a portable electronic device having a camera, the portable electronic device configured to read the machine-readable optical label via the camera.
Preferably, the data storage device may include a plurality of different machine-readable optical labels stored thereon, the plurality of different machine-readable optical labels associated with a plurality of different merchants.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing review-profile data associated with a merchant to a customer having a portable electronic device with a camera during a customer-merchant transaction interaction, the method comprising the steps of: a) generating a machine-readable optical label based on review-profile data associated with the merchant; b) electronically transferring the machine-readable optical label to a payment terminal of the merchant, the payment terminal having a display device and a reader for reading a payment device of the customer, and being communicatively connected with an external payment service provider; and c) during a customer-merchant transaction interaction in which a transaction occurs by the payment terminal reading the payment device, transferring the review-profile data to the portable electronic device of the customer by electronically displaying on the display device of the payment terminal the machine-readable optical label and the portable electronic device reading the machine-readable optical label via the camera.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a merchant review system comprising: a machine-readable-optical-label generation device configured to generate a machine-readable optical label based on review-profile data associated with a merchant; a payment terminal having a display device, a reader for reading a payment device of a customer, and a communication connection for communicating with an external payment service provider, the payment terminal communicated with the machine-readable-optical-label generation device so as to receive the machine-readable optical label therefrom, and configured to display the machine-readable optical label during a customer-merchant transaction interaction in which a transaction occurs by the payment terminal of the merchant reading the payment device of the customer; and a portable electronic device having a camera, the portable electronic device configured to read the machine-readable optical label via the camera.
The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a flow diagram of an embodiment of a method in accordance with first and third aspects of the present invention; and Figure 2 shows an embodiment of a diagrammatic representation of a merchant 20 review system in accordance with second and fourth aspects of the present invention.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a merchant having a physical or bricks-and-mortar premises would initially notify a review system co-ordinator 10 or a payment service provider 12 that they wish to prompt customers to upload reviews S101. If the merchant notifies the payment service provider 12, then the payment service provider 12 would in turn notify the review system co-ordinator 10.
The review system co-ordinator 10 would then generate review-profile data associated with the merchant, or would be provided with review-profile data by the merchant. For example, either the review system co-ordinator 10 would set up a webpage 14 having a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for permitting customers to upload reviews of the merchant, or the review system co-ordinator 10 would use a pre-existing webpage 14 having a URL already operated by the merchant.
The review system co-ordinator 10 would then use a machine-readable optical label generation device or machine-readable optical label generation means to generate a machine-readable optical label 16 based on the review-profile data S102. For example, the optical label 16 would contain the URL of the webpage 14 in coded form.
The machine-readable optical label 16 is preferably a black and white matrix bar code, such as a Quick Response (QR) code. However, other optical labels may be considered such as High Capacity Colour Barcodes. The machine-readable optical label 16 is readable by a portable electronic device 18, such as a mobile or cellular smartphone, with a camera. As such, the portable electronic device 18 would have circuitry or a processor for decoding or reading the optical label 16 to obtain the review-profile data, for example, to obtain the URL. Since most conventional smartphones have in-built circuitry for reading OR codes visible to the camera, it is most preferred that a OR code is used.
The merchant may also transmit to the review system co-ordinator 10 data relating to dimensions of a display device 20 of one or more payment terminals 22 operated by the merchant. For example, the size of the screen of the payment terminal 22 is transmitted to the review system co-ordinator 10. The optical label 16 is then generated by the review system co-ordinator 10 based also on these dimensions so that the formatting of the optical label 16 is such that it would display correctly on the display device 20 of the relevant terminal 5103.
The or each payment terminal 22 would also include a reader for reading a payment device of the customer and would be communicatively connected 24 with the payment service provider 12. The reader may be for reading an integrated circuit payment card 26, such as a credit or debit card, and/or may have a contactless reader for reading a payment card 26 or payment-enabled smartphone with near-field communication (NFC) capability, such as payment devices with a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip.
The connection 24 between the payment terminal 22 and the payment service provider 12 is a two-way connection to permit the payment terminal 22 to request payment services, and the payment service provider 12 to confirm that payment services have been provided. Additionally, the connection 24 is such that the payment service provider 12 can provide the optical label 16 from the data storage device. As such, the payment terminal 22 is communicatively connected with the data storage device.
The optical label 16 is then transferred from the review system co-ordinator 10 to the payment service provider 12 to be stored on a data storage device of the payment service provider 12, S104. The optical label 16 on the data storage device is associated with an identifier or identification code relating to the merchant or to the specific payment terminal 22 of the merchant. This allows for the relevant optical label 16 to be correctly located in the instance of multiple optical labels being stored on the data storage device associated with different payment terminals 22 of the merchant and/or with different payment terminals 22 associated with different merchants.
The review system co-ordinator 10 may also include an identifier or identification code 10 associated with the optical label 16. This would allow databases of the payment service provider 12 and the review system co-ordinator 10 to be linked.
When a customer wishes to purchase goods or services from the merchant, they enter into a customer-merchant transaction interaction with the merchant. A customer-merchant transaction interaction may be defined as a brief period of time during which a customer is interacting with the merchant and a transaction occurs. For example, the customer-merchant transaction interaction may have a duration of no more than a minute.
During the customer-merchant transaction interaction, the merchant presents the payment terminal 22 to the customer. The customer then uses their payment device, such as a payment card 26, with the payment terminal 22 and the reader of the payment terminal 22 reads the payment device. The payment terminal 22 then communicates with the payment service provider 12 and requests payment services S105. In other words, the payment terminal 22 transmits details of the customer payment device and the value of the transaction to the payment service provider 12 in a conventional manner.
The payment terminal 22 also identifies itself to the payment service provider 12, for example with an identification code.
The request for payment services by the payment terminal 22 would in effect also be a request for the optical label 16 from the payment service provider 12, S106.
The payment service provider 12 can then provide payment services in the usual way 30 S107, and confirms to the payment terminal 22 that payment has been taken. At the same time, the payment service provider 12 looks up the correct optical label 16 associated with the identification code of the payment terminal 22.
Having found the correct optical label 16, the payment service provider 12 then transfers the optical label 16 to the payment terminal 22 during the customer-merchant transaction S108 interaction and this is displayed on the display device 20 of the payment terminal 22, 5109. This is the preferred method for displaying the optical label 16 on the payment terminal 22, since the optical label 16 is not required to be stored or programmed onto the payment terminal 22 itself long term, and the optical label 16 can be readily updated without requiring re-programming of the payment terminal 22.
The optical label 16 is therefore displayed to the customer just after the transaction occurs, but during the customer-merchant transaction interaction. Of course, it will be appreciated that in some instances the optical label 16 may be displayed to the customer during the transaction or just before the transaction.
However, rather than transferring the optical label 16 to the payment terminal 22 during the customer-merchant transaction interaction, it will be appreciated that an alternative could be considered. Such an alternative would be where the payment terminal 22 is pre-programmed with the optical label 16. In this case, the optical label 16, having been generated, would be stored on an internal memory device or hard drive of the payment terminal 22. The payment terminal 22 could then be programmed to display the optical label 16 during a customer-merchant transaction interaction, for example after a transaction occurs.
In either case, the customer would note the optical label 16 displayed on the display device 20 of the payment terminal 22. The optical label 16 is preferably displayed with text 28 encouraging or instructing the user to scan the optical label 16 to upload a review.
This text 28 may also be transferred by the payment service provider 12 to the payment terminal 22, for example as image data.
The customer would then use the camera on the smartphone, or other portable or personal electronic device, to read the optical label 16 and obtain the review-profile data S110. As such, the review-profile data is transferred from the payment terminal 22 to the smartphone. The smartphone would then have the URL of the review profile webpage 14 of the merchant. The customer can thereby access the webpage 14, S111 and upload a review regarding the review profile webpage 14, S112.
It will be appreciated that the review profile data may be a URL of an intermediate webpage, the webpage having hyperlinks to review webpages profiles on a variety of different review websites. The different review websites could be operated by different entities, and could permit reviews in different formats, for example text-based reviews or video-based reviews. The customer can then select which review website they would prefer to use to leave a review.
In the instance that the merchant has multiple branches, preferably there is review-profile data specific to individual branches. In other words, the different branches have different review profile webpages. The different branches thus have different and individual optical labels generated based on the different and individual review-profile data. On the data storage device at the payment service provider 12, the relevant optical label 16 would be associated with the payment terminal 22 in the relevant branch. This permits individual branches of larger businesses to accrue relevant reviews.
It is therefore possible to provide a method of providing review-profile data associated with a merchant to a customer so that the customer can leave a review on a review profile webpage of the merchant. The review-profile data is encoded into a machine-readable optical label, such as a OR code. Once generated, the OR code is stored in the payment service provider's database. The OR code is automatically received from the database and displayed by a payment terminal when a customer makes payment for goods or services, and no manual intervention is required. The customer can scan the payment terminal with their smart phone to access the review profile webpage.
The words 'comprises/comprising' and the words 'having/including' when used herein with reference to the present invention are used to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of 25 one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.
It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable sub-combination.
The embodiments described above are provided by way of examples only, and various other modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the field without departing from the scope of the invention as defined herein.

Claims (15)

  1. Claims 1 A method of providing review-profile data associated with a merchant to a customer having a portable electronic device with a camera during a customer-merchant transaction interaction, the method comprising the steps of: a) generating a machine-readable optical label based on review-profile data associated with the merchant; b) storing said machine-readable optical label on a data storage device external to the merchant; and c) during a customer-merchant transaction interaction in which a transaction occurs by a payment terminal of the merchant reading the payment device of the customer, the payment terminal having a display device and a reader for reading a payment device of the customer, and being communicatively connected with an external payment service provider and the data storage device, i. transferring the machine-readable optical label from the data storage device to a payment terminal of the merchant, U. transferring the review-profile data from the payment terminal to the portable electronic device of the customer by electronically displaying on the display device of the payment terminal the machine-readable optical label and the portable electronic device reading the machine-readable optical label via the camera.
  2. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the machine-readable optical label is a black and white matrix bar code.
  3. 3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the machine-readable optical label is a Quick Response (QR) code.
  4. 4 A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the review-profile data is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a review webpage associated with the merchant.
  5. 5. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein sub-step ii. of step c) occurs after the transaction has occurred.
  6. 6 A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising the step d) prior to step a) of determining display-device dimension data based on the dimensions of the display device of the payment terminal of the merchant, and during step a) generating the machine-readable optical label further based on the display-device dimension data.
  7. 7 A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising the step of e) prior to step a) or d) of generating an identifier associated with the merchant and during step b) associating the machine-readable optical label on the data storage device with the identifier.
  8. 8 A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the data storage device includes a plurality of different machine-readable optical labels associated with a plurality of different merchants, wherein step c) further comprises the sub-step iii) prior to sub-step i) of the payment terminal transferring merchant identification data associated with the merchant which has said payment terminal to the data storage device, the machine-readable optical label associated with said merchant being selected based on the merchant identification data, and during sub-step i) said machine-readable optical label being transferred to the payment terminal.
  9. 9 A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the data storage device includes a plurality of different machine-readable optical labels associated with a plurality of different payment terminals, wherein step c) further comprises the sub-step iii) prior to sub-step i) of the payment terminal transferring payment-terminal identification data associated with said payment terminal to the data storage device, the machine-readable optical label associated with said payment terminal being selected based on the payment-terminal identification data, and during sub-step i) said machine-readable optical label being transferred to the payment terminal.
  10. 10. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein during sub step ii. an instruction to scan the machine-readable optical label in order to leave a review is displayed on the display device of the payment terminal alongside the machine-readable optical label.
  11. 11. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the customer-merchant transaction interaction involves the customer purchasing goods and/or services from the merchant, and during step a) generating the machine-readable optical label being further based on goods-and/or-service identifier data associated with said goods and/or services.
  12. 12. A merchant review system comprising: a machine-readable-optical-label generation device configured to generate a machine-readable optical label based on review-profile data associated with a merchant; a data storage device external to the merchant communicatively communicated with the machine-readable-optical-label generation device configured to receive the machine-readable optical label therefrom and store the machine-readable optical label; a payment terminal having a display device, a reader for reading a payment device of a customer, and being communicatively connected with an extemal payment service provider and the data storage device, the payment terminal communicated with the data storage device and configured to receive the machine-readable-optical-label from the data storage device and display the machine-readable optical label to the customer during a customer-merchant transaction interaction in which a transaction occurs by the payment terminal reading the payment device; and a portable electronic device having a camera, the portable electronic device configured to read the machine-readable optical label via the camera.
  13. 13. A merchant review system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the data storage device includes a plurality of different machine-readable optical labels stored thereon, the plurality of different machine-readable optical labels associated with a plurality of different merchants.
  14. 14. A method of providing review-profile data associated with a merchant to a customer having a portable electronic device with a camera during a customer-merchant transaction interaction, the method comprising the steps of: a) generating a machine-readable optical label based on review-profile data associated with the merchant; b) electronically transferring the machine-readable optical label to a payment terminal of the merchant, the payment terminal having a display device and a reader for reading a payment device of the customer, and being communicatively connected with an external payment service provider; and c) during a customer-merchant transaction interaction in which a transaction occurs by the payment terminal reading the payment device, transferring the review-profile data to the portable electronic device of the customer by electronically displaying on the display device of the payment terminal the machine-readable optical label and the portable electronic device reading the machine-readable optical label via the camera.
  15. 15. A merchant review system comprising: a machine-readable-optical-label generation device configured to generate a machine-readable optical label based on review-profile data associated with a merchant; a payment terminal having a display device, a reader for reading a payment device of a customer, and a communication connection for communicating with an external payment service provider, the payment terminal communicated with the machine-readable-optical-label generation device so as to receive the machine-readable optical label therefrom, and configured to display the machine-readable optical label during a customer-merchant transaction interaction in which a transaction occurs by the payment terminal of the merchant reading the payment device of the customer; and a portable electronic device having a camera, the portable electronic device configured to read the machine-readable optical label via the camera.
GB2114490.2A 2021-10-11 2021-10-11 Merchant review system and associated method Pending GB2611752A (en)

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