Cloud Enabled Payment Processing System and Method

Abstract

A comprehensive platform for processing financial transactions is disclosed. The platform is a cloud based and comprises an application programming interface so that application developers can take advantage of the services provided by the framework. The platform replaces many of the expensive, outdated or inefficient aspects of traditional payment processing methods.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 identifying, by a computer for processing financial transactions and based upon a payer profile associated with a payment processing cloud and a payer request, an alternate payer device, wherein the payer request comprises a payer account identifier associated with a first payer, and wherein the computer is part of an Internet accessible payment processing cloud;   sending, by the computer, a cloud transaction identifier to the alternate payer device, wherein a first cloud transaction comprises the cloud transaction identifier based upon the payer request; and   sending, by the computer and based upon a transaction authorization, a first notification message to a first payee, wherein a payee account identifier is associated with the first payee, and wherein a payee payment request comprises the cloud transaction identifier.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising registering a plurality of payers and a plurality of payees. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving a get information request from a requesting device associated with at least one of the first payer and a first payee. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising determining transaction details based upon the get information request and sending an update comprising a subset of the transaction details, to the requesting device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the update comprises a receipt associated with the financial transaction. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the update comprises a request to specify a gratuity amount associated with the cloud transaction. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising receiving a gratuity message from the first payer and sending a second notification message to the first payee. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a delete request from the first payee;   identifying the cloud transaction; and   at least one of deleting the cloud transaction and updating the cloud transaction to de-authorize the cloud transaction.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first notification message to the payee informs the payee that the cloud transaction has been cancelled, and wherein the computer does not execute the submitting the transaction authorization request to the payment network. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an update information request comprising additional information from at least one of the first payer and the first payee; and   updating the cloud transaction with the additional information.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the payment processing cloud comprises an application programming interface (API) specifying application interface with the payment processing cloud. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of the payer request, the payee payment request, an update information request, a gratuity message, a get information request, a delete request and the transaction authorization request conform to the API. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the API at least one of: conforms to representational state transfer (“REST”) constraints, comprises a plurality of services each associated with a unique uniform resource locator, and enables sending and receiving via at least one of the Internet, HTTP, XML, short message service (SMS), multimedia message service (MMS), a web application, mobile web application and a micro application. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining a financial transaction account identifier based upon the payee account identifier. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the transaction authorization request comprises the financial transaction account identifier. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the payee payment request comprises at least one of user authentication data, a payment amount, a payment currency, a geographical location, a notification option, and a developers API key. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the payer request comprises at least one of user authentication data, a settlement account identifier, a transaction type, a payment amount, a payment currency, a developers API key and transaction details. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising updating the cloud transaction based upon the transaction authorization. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying the alternate payer device is further based upon the payee account identifier. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the payee device obtains the cloud transaction identifier from the payer device. 
     
     
         21 . A payment processing cloud system comprising:
 a network interface communicating with a memory;   the memory communicating with a processor for processing financial transactions; and   the processor, when executing a computer program, performs operations comprising:
 identifying, by the processor and based upon a payer profile associated with a payment processing cloud and a payer request, an alternate payer device, wherein the payer request comprises a payer account identifier associated with a first payer, and wherein the processor is part of an Internet accessible payment processing cloud; 
 sending, by the processor, a cloud transaction identifier to the alternate payer device, wherein a first cloud transaction comprises the cloud transaction identifier based upon the payer request; and 
 sending, by the processor and based upon a transaction authorization, a first notification message to a first payee, wherein a payee account identifier is associated with the first payee, and wherein a payee payment request comprises the cloud transaction identifier. 
   
     
     
         22 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by cloud-based payment processing computer, causes the computer to perform operations, comprising:
 identifying, by the computer and based upon a payer profile associated with a payment processing cloud and a payer request, an alternate payer device, wherein the payer request comprises a payer account identifier associated with a first payer, and wherein the computer is part of an Internet accessible payment processing cloud;   sending, by the computer, a cloud transaction identifier to the alternate payer device, wherein a first cloud transaction comprises the cloud transaction identifier based upon the payer request; and   sending, by the computer and based upon a transaction authorization, a first notification message to a first payee, wherein a payee account identifier is associated with the first payee, and wherein a payee payment request comprises the cloud transaction identifier.