American Express eyes blockchain for customer rewards systems — CoinDesk — “A new patent application published last week by the US Patent and Trademark Office details a concept for offering customer-specific types of rewards (including points, a virtual currency or specific items tied to a product). The filing indicates the financial giant would make these offers by compiling personalized data about the customer, such as their historic spending patterns.”
Patents
Mastercard applies for blockchain B2B payments patent
Method and system for recording point to point transaction processing — USPTO — “The present disclosure relates to the recording, processing, and displaying of point to point transactions, specifically providing a trade directory of parties in a secure environment, a ledger of transactions, and the settlement of aggregated person-to-person (P2P) and business-to-business (B2B) electronic payment transactions between bank accounts and third parties using a single transaction processing system.”
Helixion technology goes up for sale following liquidation
The international patent and software portfolio belonging to NFC payments specialist Helixion is now up for sale as the company enters liquidation... More
Apple Pay violates patents held by security technology inventor, lawsuit alleges
Apple Pay violates patents held by security technology inventor, lawsuit alleges — The New York Times — “A small Boston company, founded by the inventor of a popular corporate encryption technology called RSA SecurID, sued Apple and Visa on Sunday, arguing that the Apple Pay digital payment technology violates its patents.”
You’ll get a kick out of this: Qualcomm patents the ‘Internet of Shoes’
You’ll get a kick out of this: Qualcomm patents the ‘Internet of Shoes’ — The Register — “Qualcomm sees the shoes not only logging steps and helping navigation, but also monitoring the user’s gait, using the vibration motors to tell users when they should speed up their pace, and tracking both blood pressure and heart rate.”
Dynamics CEO shares details on how LG Pay will work with magnetic stripe card terminals
The Wireless Magnetic Communication technology being used for LG’s mobile payment service will allow consumers to pay with their phones in more places without having to change any of the point of sale terminals or re-educate merchants, technology provider Dynamics’ CEO has told NFC World. More
Apple patent shows touchscreen fingerprint scanner
A patent shows Apple is working on a “micro-LED active matrix display panel” that would allow a fingerprint scanner to be integrated into an iPhone touchscreen and could eventually replace the current Touch ID button... More
Apple Watch strap to get customisable links?
A newly published patent reveals Apple could be working on a strap design for the Apple Watch that will let wearers add extra functions to their device through modular links that connect together... More
Mastercard sizes up data sharing
A patent filed by Mastercard shows how it could use data from purchase histories to infer information about the cardholder that could be used, subject to privacy controls, to let merchants tailor pricing of products and services to the individual... More
Mastercard blockchain patent applications
Mastercard has filed patent applications describing systems and methods for authorising and securing blockchain transactions using existing payment networks... More
Jaguar files face and gait recognition system patent for vehicle entry
Luxury car manufacturer Jaguar is working on a facial and gait recognition system for vehicle owners to unlock their cars, enhancing the development of “vehicle personalisation”, according to a patent filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office last month... More
Apple patent reveals plans to add Siri to iMessage for P2P payments
Apple is investigating the possibility of adding the functionality of its Siri virtual assistant to its iMessage service that would enable iPhone users to perform P2P payment transactions, a recent patent published by the US Patent and Trademark Office reveals... More
LG to develop its own MST technology?
LG Electronics is working on an alternative to Samsung’s proprietary Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology for mobile payments, Android Authority reports... More
Apple blood vessel biometric patent
Apple is developing a biometric sensor that determines the wearer’s identity by the arrangement of blood vessels in their body... More
Samsung Pay prepping rewards programme
Samsung is preparing to launch its own rewards program that will let consumers earn and redeem points each time they use Samsung Pay... More
Apple granted patent for device-based car keys
Apple has been granted a patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office for a service that would store vehicle keys on an iPhone... More
Xiaomi to launch Xiaomi Pay?
Handset maker Xiaomi has filed a patent in Korea for a mobile payment service called Xiaomi Pay, The Korea Herald reports... More
Amazon files selfie pay patent
Amazon has applied for a patent that would enable consumers to authenticate a transaction by taking a picture of their face... More
Amex patent turns reward points into virtual currency
American Express is exploring a system that would let its customers use reward points for purchases in third-party digital wallets, according to a newly published patent application... More
Samsung looks into vein authentication
A patent filed by Samsung describes how a sensor on a smartwatch or other wearable device could authenticate identity by reading the user’s vein structure... More