System for conducting transactions independent of point of sale system

Abstract

A system that allows for conducting merchant transactions independent of a POS system. The system employs both a merchant venue-specific website and a mobile app. A customer at the merchant venue logs into the website with his or her mobile phone, and the mobile app is automatically notified of the login. The venue keeps track of the customer's total bill amount in any way, and enters it into the mobile app, which in turn updates the website with the total amount owed. The customer can then pay his or her bill through the website, via his/her phone. In this manner, a quick and easy payment system is implemented, allowing users to pay with the card or payment method of their choice, without need for a POS system and without need for downloading or installing any additional software on their mobile device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media collectively storing instructions that, when executed, cause one or more computers to collectively perform a method of conducting transactions at a venue independent of a point of sale system, the instructions comprising:
 a first set of instructions for generating a website, the website corresponding to a particular merchant venue and responsive to a first mobile computing device; and   a second set of instructions comprising a mobile application program executable on a second mobile computing device;   wherein the website is operable to:   check in a user to the particular merchant venue responsive to check in information transmitted from the first mobile computing device,   transmit an indicator to the application program that the user has checked in at the particular merchant venue,   receive an amount of a currency owed by the user from the application program, transmit the amount to the first mobile computing device,   receive a payment instruction from the first mobile computing device for paying at least the amount, and   initiate a financial transaction between the user and the merchant paying the at least the amount from the user to the merchant; and   
       wherein the mobile application program is operable to:
 responsive to the indicator, display an indication that the user has checked in, 
 receive the amount of a currency owed by the user as input from the second mobile computing device, 
 transmit the amount of a currency owed by the user to the website, and 
 
       upon completion of the financial transaction, receive an indicator that the user has paid at least the amount of a currency owed.