System and method for approving transactions

Abstract

In a transaction between a merchant and a payer, approval of the transaction may be provided by a payment processing system using authentication information provided from a mobile device of the payer. The authentication information may include a location of the payer mobile device which may be compared to a location of a merchant payment device such that the transaction is approved if the payer mobile device is within a defined distance of the merchant payment device.

1 . A method of identifying whether to complete a first transaction between a merchant and payer based on information about a second different transaction between the merchant and the payer, the method comprising:
 identifying, by a merchant payment device, the payer from a payer identification device;   identifying, by the merchant payment device, whether a mobile communication device associated with the payer is available;   responsive to identifying that the mobile communication device is available, requesting, by the merchant payment device, the information about the second different transaction between the merchant and the payer from the mobile communications device;   identifying, by the merchant payment device, reply data from the mobile communication device responsive to the requesting;   verifying, by the merchant payment device, whether the reply data includes the information about the second different transaction between the merchant and the payer, wherein the verifying includes:
 generating a communication based on the reply data, wherein the communication includes encrypted information of the reply data; 
 transmitting the communication to a payment processing system; and 
   identifying, by the merchant payment device, an approval of the first transaction between the merchant and the payer responsive to a result of the verifying.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein generating, by the merchant payment device, the communication based on the reply data further comprises:
 generating, by the merchant payment device, a transaction record including details of the first transaction between the merchant and the payer;   wherein the generated communication includes the generated transaction record.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, by the merchant payment device, a request for a location of the mobile communications device to the mobile communications device. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the communication is generated based on location data received responsive to the request for the location, and wherein the generated communication includes the location data. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein generating, by the merchant payment device, the communication based on the reply data further comprises:
 identifying, by the merchant payment device, location data that represents a current location of the mobile device; and   generating, by the merchant payment device, the communication based on the location data, wherein the generated communication includes the location data.   
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, by the merchant payment device, a location of the mobile communications device from an incoming text message received from the mobile communications device;   wherein the generated communication includes information about the location.   
     
     
         7 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations for obtaining an approval of a first transaction between a merchant and a payer based on information about a second different transaction between the merchant and the payer, the operations comprising:
 identifying the payer from a payer identification device;   identifying whether a mobile communication device associated with the payer is available;   responsive to identifying that the merchant payment device is available, requesting the information about the second different transaction between the merchant and the payer from the mobile communication device;   identifying reply data from the mobile communication device responsive to the requesting;   verifying whether the reply data includes the information about the second different transaction between the merchant and the payer, wherein the verifying includes:
 generating a communication based on the reply data, wherein the communication includes encrypted information of the reply data; and 
 transmitting the communication to a remote device; and 
 identifying the approval of the first transaction between the merchant and the payer responsive to a result of the verifying. 
   
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to  claim 7 , wherein generating, by the merchant payment device, the communication based on the reply data:
 generating, by the merchant payment device, a transaction record including details of the first transaction between the merchant and the payer;   wherein the generated communication includes the generated transaction record.   
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise transmitting, by the merchant payment device, a request for a location of the mobile communications device to the mobile communications device. 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein generated communication includes location data received responsive to the request for the location of the mobile communication device. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the generated communication includes information about a location of the mobile communication device. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining, by the merchant payment device, a location of the mobile communications device from an incoming text message received from the mobile communications device;   wherein the generated communication includes information about the location.