Connected payment card systems and methods

What is this patent about?

'364 is related to the field of payment card management and security, specifically addressing the vulnerabilities associated with traditional payment card systems. Existing systems often manage security on an account-by-account basis, requiring customers to freeze or close entire accounts due to a single merchant breach, which can be highly disruptive. The patent aims to provide more granular control and enhanced security for payment card transactions.

The underlying idea behind '364 is to use merchant-specific tokens to represent payment card account information. Instead of directly using the primary account number (PAN) for transactions, a unique token is generated for each merchant. This token acts as a surrogate value, such that if a data breach occurs at one merchant, only the token is compromised, not the actual PAN. The customer can then manage these tokens individually, enabling or disabling them as needed, and even re-provisioning them in case of a breach or suspected fraud.

The claims of '364 focus on a financial institution computing system that includes a token database, a network interface, and a token management circuit. The system enables a graphical user interface (GUI) on a customer device, allowing the customer to manage merchant-specific tokens. The claims cover the dynamic provisioning of new tokens, the re-provisioning of tokens after a data breach, and the ability to enable or disable tokens for specific merchants, thereby controlling which merchants can charge a particular payment card account.

In practice, the invention allows a customer to use a mobile app or online banking portal to view a list of merchants associated with their payment card and the corresponding tokens. The customer can then selectively enable or disable these tokens, effectively granting or denying permission for those merchants to charge their account. If a data breach occurs at a particular merchant, the system automatically disables the token for that merchant and alerts the customer, who can then re-provision a new token for that merchant without affecting other merchants.

This approach differs significantly from prior solutions that require freezing or closing an entire payment card account in response to a security breach. By using merchant-specific tokens and providing customers with granular control over these tokens, the invention minimizes disruption and enhances security. The system also supports the dynamic provisioning of one-time tokens for single transactions, further reducing the risk of fraud and unauthorized charges. The dynamic provisioning happens without a separate token request.