Distributed payment system and method

摘要

The present invention provides a payment system that allows a mobile communications device (MCD) to interact with a merchant processing device (MPD) and a payment engine. A communications component associated with the payment engine can send requested barcodes to the MPD, receive barcodes or alphanumeric Universal Product Codes from customer MCDs, and handle payment authorizations and settlements. A barcode management component can generate and interpret barcodes based upon merchant offerings and client requests. A security algorithms component can employ an offset pair algorithm to convert each digit from a payment card information into an offset pair of digits to facilitate security in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

主权项

1. A method for conducting an electronic transaction between a merchant and a customer, the method comprising a number of steps performed a server processor of a payment system, the number of steps including:
establishing, by the server processor of the payment system, a customer payment account with a customer; ciphering, by the server processor of the payment system, the established customer payment account; receiving, by the server processor of the payment system, a request from a merchant for a barcode, wherein the request for the barcode includes information of an item offered by the merchant and a transaction amount; generating, by the server processor of the payment system, the requested barcode including the information of the received item offered by the merchant and the transaction amount; sending, by the server processor of the payment system, the requested barcode including the information of the item offered by the merchant and the transaction amount to a merchant device, wherein the requested barcode including the information of the item offered by the merchant and the transaction amount is received and displayed by the merchant device, and is subsequently collected by a customer mobile communication device from the merchant device and then transmitted by the customer mobile communication device to the server processor of the payment system in an SMS message; receiving, by the server processor of the payment system, the barcode from the customer mobile communication device; determining, by the server processor of the payment system, that the customer has a payment account established with the payment system; based on the determination that the customer has an account established with the payment system, receiving a personal identification number (PIN) from the customer mobile communication device; deciphering, by the server processor of the payment system, the ciphered customer payment account; conducting, by the server processor of the payment system, the transaction between the merchant and the customer using the deciphered customer payment account and the information from the barcode; and sending, by the server processor of the payment system, a payment notification to the merchant.