Patent Issued for Methods and systems for making a pre-payment from a vehicle (USPTO 11138592): United Services Automobile Association

2021 OCT 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Bear, Charles (San Antonio, TX, US), Luera, III, Leopoldo (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on September 24, 2020, was published online on October 5, 2021.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11138592 is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Whether it be pulling into a fast food restaurant, or parking in a public lot and trying to find the right change to feed a traffic meter, consumers are constantly looking for ways to save time and effort. Recently, consumers have leveraged payments in a mobile environment. For example, consumers may use digital wallets instead of physical wallets, and digital payment devices in place of physical payment instruments. Mobile wallets may be used in connection with vehicles. In accordance with various embodiments, a consumer may link a vehicle to a mobile wallet and make payments from the vehicle through dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) or other protocol.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Embodiments of the present invention provide various systems and methods for making payments from vehicles in connection with a mobile wallet. More specifically, in various embodiments, consumers may make a pre-payment from a vehicle in connection with a mobile wallet. In some embodiments, a mobile wallet is provided to the user, information populating at least one payment instrument to the mobile wallet is received from the user; information that the mobile wallet is usable with respect to a vehicle is received; signals that the mobile wallet has been presented to a payment location are received, the mobile wallet being presented to the payment location by the vehicle; an authorized pre-payment corresponding to one or more items or an amount is received from the user, the authorized pre-payment being associated with the payment location; a selection of a payment instrument from the mobile wallet for settlement of the pre-payment is received from the user; a token is received from the user at the payment location; and in response to receiving the token, the pre-payment is settled using the payment instrument.

“In some embodiments, in response to receiving the pre-payment, the user is provided with the token. The token may change on a transaction-per-transaction basis. In some embodiments, the token is a membership number associated with the user. In some embodiments, the token identifies the user and the pre-payment to the payment location.

“In some embodiments, possible payment locations for presentment of the mobile wallet are identified, presented to the user on a user interface, and a selection of the payment locations is received. In some embodiments, the user is provided with one or more discounts based on the payment location. In some embodiments, items associated with the payment location are determined, the user is provided with a selectable list of the items associated with the payment location, a selection of a least one of the items is received, and the user is provided a total cost associated with the selected items. In some embodiments, the form of pre-payment is at least one of: a credit card, a pre-paid card, a stored value card, and a gift card.

“In some embodiments, the mobile wallet is integral with the vehicle. In some embodiments, the mobile wallet is tethered to or docked with the vehicle. In some embodiments, the mobile wallet is linked to the vehicle from a mobile device using near-field communication. In some examples, the mobile wallet is hosted remotely from the vehicle. In some embodiments, the vehicle is linked to the payment location using dedicated short-range communications.

“In some embodiments, the mobile wallet contains personal information from the user, which personal information is usable by the user for identifying the user to the payment location. In some embodiments, a provider of the mobile wallet is a membership organization and the user is a member of the membership organization. In some embodiments, the payment location is a fixed payment location. In some embodiments, the token provides verification for the payment to be settled. In some embodiments, personal identification from the mobile device is used to access a secure area using the vehicle, and the personal identification is presented to an access control device of the secure area by the vehicle.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method comprising: linking a vehicle to a mobile wallet; determining that the vehicle is within an acceptable range of a payment location; in response to determining that the vehicle is within the acceptable range of the payment location, sending, to the payment location by the vehicle, a pre-payment corresponding to one or more items available for purchase, wherein the pre-payment uses at least one payment instrument from the mobile wallet, and wherein the pre-payment identifies the at least one payment instrument to the payment location via the mobile wallet; and receiving, at the vehicle in response to the pre-payment being received by the payment location, a token, wherein the token identifies a user, the pre-payment, and the one or more items, and wherein the token is presented at the payment location to complete the purchase by verifying the pre-payment corresponding to the one or more items.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: identifying possible payment locations for presentment, wherein the possible payment locations are payment locations within a proximity of the vehicle; presenting the possible payment locations to the user on a user interface; and receiving a selection of the payment location.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: determining the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location; providing the user with a selectable list of two or more of the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location; receiving a selection of at least one of the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location; and providing a total cost associated with the selection of the at least one of the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile wallet is linked to the vehicle from a mobile device via near-field communication.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the token changes on a per-transaction basis.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the token includes a membership number identifier associated with the user.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile wallet contains personal information for identifying the user to the payment location.

“8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a process comprising: linking a vehicle to a mobile wallet; determining that the vehicle is within an acceptable range of a payment location; in response to determining that the vehicle is within the acceptable range of the payment location, sending, to the payment location by the vehicle, a pre-payment corresponding to one or more items available for purchase, wherein the pre-payment uses at least one payment instrument from the mobile wallet, and wherein the pre-payment identifies the at least one payment instrument to the payment location via the mobile wallet; and receiving, at the vehicle in response to the pre-payment being received by the payment location, a token, wherein the token identifies a user, the pre-payment, and the one or more items, and wherein the token is presented at the payment location to complete the purchase by verifying the prepayment corresponding to the one or more items.

“9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the process further comprises: identifying possible payment locations for presentment, wherein the possible payment locations are payment locations within a proximity of the vehicle; presenting the possible payment locations to the user on a user interface; and receiving a selection of the payment location.

“10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the process further comprises: determining the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location; providing the user with a selectable list of two or more of the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location; receiving a selection of at least one of the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location; and providing a total cost associated with the selection of the at least one of the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location.

“11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the mobile wallet is linked to the vehicle from a mobile device via local, wireless communication.

“12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the token changes on a per-transaction basis.

“13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the token includes a membership number associated with the user.

“14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the mobile wallet contains personal information for identifying the user to the payment location.

“15. A computing system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform a process comprising: linking a vehicle to a mobile wallet; determining that the vehicle is within an acceptable range of a payment location; in response to determining that the vehicle is within the acceptable range of the payment location, sending, to the payment location by the vehicle, a pre-payment corresponding to one or more items available for purchase, wherein the pre-payment uses at least one payment instrument from the mobile wallet, and wherein the pre-payment identifies the at least one payment instrument to the payment location via the mobile wallet; and receiving, at the vehicle in response to the pre-payment being received by the payment location, a token, wherein the token identifies a user, the pre-payment, and the one or more items, and wherein the token is presented at the payment location to complete the purchase by verifying the prepayment corresponding to the one or more items.

“16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the process further comprises: identifying possible payment locations for presentment, wherein the possible payment locations are payment locations within a proximity of the vehicle; presenting the possible payment locations to the user on a user interface; and receiving a selection of the payment location.

“17. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the process further comprises: determining the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location; providing the user with a selectable list of at least two of the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location; receiving a selection of at least one of the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location; and providing a total cost associated with the selection of the at least one of the one or more items available for purchase at the payment location.

“18. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the mobile wallet is linked to the vehicle from a mobile device via near-field communication.

“19. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the token changes on a per-transaction basis.

“20. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the token includes a membership number associated with the user.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Bear, Charles. Methods and systems for making a pre-payment from a vehicle. U.S. Patent Number 11138592, filed September 24, 2020, and published online on October 5, 2021. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11138592.PN.&OS=PN/11138592RS=PN/11138592

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