BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to automated payment systems.

Description of the Related Art

Payment collection agents are employed in many countries to collect payment for services and goods. For example, a payment collection agent may make rounds collecting payment for utility services {e.g., electrical power service, water service, garbage collection service, television or radio license, cable or satellite television services, Internet services) or other services or goods.

In some instances, payment collection agents also function as couriers, delivering goods or packages, and collecting payment on delivery for the goods or packages. Many times courier will accept cash on delivery of the good or package, in a transaction commonly referred to as cash-on-delivery (COD). As technology has advanced, customers may wish to tender payment on delivery in other forms, for example with a credit or debit card.

Conventional payment systems used to process cash payments may take several weeks to provide corresponding funds to merchants. For example, a merchant may request a courier entity {e.g., DHL®, UPS®, Federal Express®) to deliver goods to a consumer and to collect a payment from the consumer for the cost of the goods and associated shipping and associated courier charges (e.g., COD processing charges).

After a collection agent or courier agent receives payment from the consumer, the collection or courier agent frequently handles additional consumers. For example, a courier agent may deliver additional goods to other consumers and collect payment. Alternatively, a collection agent may collect payment from additional consumers. When all collections have been made, the collection or the courier agent drops off the collected cash at a branch office of a collection or courier entity (i.e., business). Typically, on the next day, a branch manager deposits the cash collected the previous day into the collection or courier entity's bank account. When a particular merchant's account with the collection or courier entity reaches a threshold, the merchant may request a wire transfer to the merchant's bank account or a check in an amount that is owed to the merchant by the courier entity. It may take one to four weeks for the merchant to receive a payment depending on the size of the merchant or the frequency with which the merchant employs the collection or courier entity.

If the collection or courier agent is able to accept payments using alternatives to cash, for instance transaction cards {e.g., credit cards, debit cards, and/or gift or prepaid cards), NFC or electronic wallet payments or transfers, funds that are deposited in the collection or courier entity's bank account must be reconciled with funds owed to merchants before payments can be made to the merchants. The reconciliation process is prone to errors and may take a long time. Further, it is not currently practical for a collection or courier agent to process transaction card or other types of payments that are credited directly to a merchant's bank account. For example, if the collection or courier entity collects payment for twenty merchants, each collection or courier agent making collections on behalf of a given courier entity would have to manage twenty different respective terminals (i.e. , one terminal for each merchant).

BRIEF SUMMARY

Accordingly, there is a need for a mobile collection terminal that can automate payment processing for payments made to merchants in connection with payments (e.g., COD payments) received by collection or courier agents of a collection or courier entity. Additionally, there is a need for a mobile collection terminal that is linked to multiple bank accounts of multiple merchants and that can process payments via transaction cards and other forms of payment including NFC and electronic wallet payments or transfers. Moreover, there is a need for a system that can automate payment processing for payments made to merchants in connection with payments {e.g., COD, transaction card, NFC or electronic wall payments) received by agents of a collection or courier entity.

A method of operation in a mobile collection terminal may be summarized as one which includes a processor and a processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the processor, the mobile collection terminal operated by a collection agent of a collection entity in a collection of payments from a plurality of consumers, the method including in response to a first collection transaction in which a payment for a first good or service is collected by the collection agent from a first consumer, generating information which allocates at least a portion of a first collected amount to a first merchant of the first good or service; in response to a second collection transaction in which payment for a second good or service is collected by the collection agent from either the first consumer or a second consumer, generating information which allocates at least a portion of a second collected amount to a second merchant of the second good or service, the second merchant different than the first merchant; and providing the generated information to at least one remote computing system.

The method of operation in a mobile collection terminal may further include, in response to a third collection transaction in which payment for a third good or service is collected by the collection agent from either the first or the second consumer, generating information which allocates at least a portion of a third collected amount to a third merchant, the third merchant different from the first and the second merchants.

The method of operation in a mobile collection terminal may further include, in response to a third collection transaction in which payment for a third good or service is collected by the collection agent from a third

consumer, generating information which allocates at least a portion of a third collected amount to a third merchant, the third merchant different from the first and the second merchants.

The first collection transaction may be a collection for a first utility service provided by a first utility service provider, and the second collection transaction may be a collection for a second utility service provided by a second utility service provider, the second utility service provider different from the first utility service provider. The collection agent may be a courier agent, the first collection transaction may be a first delivery and collection transaction in which the first good or service is delivered to the first consumer and payment for the first good or service is collected by the courier agent, and the second collection transaction may be a second delivery and collection transaction in which the second good or service is delivered to either the first consumer or to the second consumer and payment for the second good or service is collected by the courier agent.

The method of operation in a mobile collection terminal may further include, in response to a third delivery and collection transaction in which a third good or service is delivered to either the first or the second consumer and payment for the third good or service is collected by the courier agent, generating information which allocates at least a portion of a third collected amount to a third merchant, the third merchant different from the first and the second merchants.

The method of operation in a mobile collection terminal may further include, in response to a third delivery and collection transaction in which a third good or service is delivered to a third consumer and payment for the third good or service is collected by the courier agent, generating

information which allocates at least a portion of a third collected amount to a third merchant, the third merchant different from the first and the second merchants.

The method of operation in a mobile collection terminal may further include receiving payment amount information by the mobile collection terminal and manually entered by the collection agent, which payment amount information indicates respective amounts manually collected by the collection agent for at least one collection transaction.

The method of operation in a mobile collection terminal may further include: reading payment account information from a tangible payment medium which indicates a financial account from which payment is to be deducted for at least one delivery and collection transaction; and obtaining payment amount information which indicates at least one payment amount to be deducted from the financial account.

Reading payment account information from a tangible payment medium may include at least one of magnetically, electrically, optically, or wirelessly reading information from at least one of a credit card, a debit card, a prepaid card, a smart card, a radio frequency identification transponder, electronic wallet, or a near field communications device. Reading payment account information from a tangible payment medium may include reading payment account information via at least one transducer that is removably physically coupleable to a housing of the mobile collection terminal.

The method of operation in a mobile collection terminal may further include machine reading transaction information from at least one piece of transaction media via at least one transducer communicatively coupled with the processor of the mobile collection terminal.

Machine reading transaction information from at least one piece of transaction media via at least one transducer may include optically scanning or imaging at least one machine-readable symbol carried by a bill of lading, a bill of sale, or an airway bill, and associating the first collected amount with the transaction using information encoded in the machine-readable symbol.

Providing the generated information to at least one remote computing system may include providing payment information for payment from a mobile wallet account. Providing the generated information to at least one remote computing system may include providing the generated information to each of a plurality of banking systems associated with respective ones of at least the first and the second merchants. Providing the generated information to each of a plurality of banking systems associated with respective ones of at least the first and the second merchants may include generating a request to at least one banking system to credit an account associated with the first merchant. Providing the generated information to at least one remote computing system may include providing the generated information to each of a plurality of back office accounting systems associated with respective ones of at least the first and the second merchants. Providing the generated information to at least one remote computing system may include wirelessly communicating the generated information from the mobile collection terminal.

The method of operation in a mobile collection terminal may further include at least temporarily storing the generated information in the processor-readable storage medium, and wherein providing the generated information to at least one remote computing system may include

communicating the generated information via a tethered connection.

Generating information may include associating in the processor- readable storage medium at least the first and the second collected amounts with respective order information which specifies a respective order for which the first and the second collected amounts are collected. Associating in the processor-readable storage medium at least the first and the second collected amounts with respective order information which specifies a respective order for which the first and the second collected amounts are collected, may include associating at least the first and the second collected amounts with respective order information which includes a merchant identifier that specifies a

respective merchant from which the good or service was ordered. Generating information may include associating in the processor-readable storage medium a collection agent identifier that uniquely identifies the collection agent, and a mobile collection terminal identifier that uniquely identifiers the mobile collection terminal. Generating information which allocates at least a portion of a first collected amount to a first merchant, may include generating information which allocates a first portion of the first collected amount to the first merchant and which allocates a second portion of the first collected amount to the collection entity.

A mobile collection terminal operated by a collection agent of a collection entity in a collection of payments from a plurality of consumers may be summarized as including: a processor; and a processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the processor, the storage medium storing processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to: in response to a first collection transaction in which a payment for a first good or service is collected from a first consumer by the collection agent, generate information which allocates at least a portion of a first collected amount to a first merchant; in response to a second collection transaction in which a payment for a second good or service is collected from either the first consumer or to a second consumer by the collection agent, generate

information which allocates at least a portion of a second collected amount to a second merchant, the second merchant different than the first merchant; and provide the generated information to at least one remote computing system.

The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal to, in response to a third collection transaction in which payment for a third good or service is collected by the collection agent from either the first or the second consumer, generate information which allocates at least a portion of a third collected amount to a third merchant, the third merchant different from the first and the second merchants. The storage medium may store processor- readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal to, in response to a third collection transaction in which payment for a third good or service is collected by the collection agent from a third consumer, generate information which allocates at least a portion of a third collected amount to a third merchant, the third merchant different from the first and the second merchants. The first collection transaction may be a collection for a first utility service provided by a first utility service provider, and the second collection transaction may be a collection for a second utility service provided by a second utility service provider, the second utility service provider different from the first utility service provider. The collection agent may be a courier agent, the first collection transaction may be a first delivery and collection transaction in which the first good or service is delivered to the first consumer and payment for the first good or service is collected by the courier agent, and the second collection transaction may be a second delivery and collection transaction in which the second good or service is delivered to either the first consumer or to the second consumer and payment for the second good or service is collected by the courier agent. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal to, in response to a third delivery and collection transaction in which a third good or service is delivered to either the first or the second consumer and payment for the third good or service is collected by the courier agent, generate information which allocates at least a portion of a third collected amount to a third merchant, the third merchant different from the first and the second merchants. The storage medium may store processor- readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal to, in response to a third delivery and collection transaction in which a third good or service is delivered to a third consumer and payment for the third good or service is collected by the courier agent, generate information which allocates at least a portion of a third collected amount to a third merchant, the third merchant different from the first and the second merchants. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal to receive payment amount information manually entered by the collection agent, which payment amount information indicates respective amounts manually collected by the collection agent for at least one collection transaction. The storage medium may store processor- readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal to read payment account information from a tangible payment medium which indicates a financial account from which payment is to be deducted for at least one delivery and collection transaction; and obtain payment amount information which indicates at least one payment amount to be deducted from the financial account. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to at least one of magnetically, electrically, optically, or wirelessly read information from at least one of a credit card, a debit card, a prepaid card, a smart card, a radio frequency identification transponder, electronic wallet or a near field

communications device. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to read payment account information via at least one transducer that is removably physically coupleable to a housing of the mobile collection terminal. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to provide payment information for payment from a mobile wallet account. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to provide the generated information to each of a plurality of banking systems associated with respective ones of at least the first and the second merchants. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to generate a request to at least one banking system to credit an account associated with the first merchant. The storage medium may store processor- readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to provide the generated information to each of a plurality of back office accounting systems associated with respective ones of at least the first and the second merchants. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to wirelessly communicate the generated information from the mobile collection terminal. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal to at least temporarily store the generated information in the processor-readable storage medium, and communicate the generated information via a tethered

connection. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal to associate in the processor-readable storage medium at least the first and the second collected amounts with respective order information which specifies a respective order for which the first and the second collected amounts are collected. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal to associate at least the first and the second collected amounts with respective order information which includes a merchant identifier that specifies a respective merchant from which the good or service was ordered. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal to associate in the processor-readable storage medium a collection agent identifier that uniquely identifies the collection agent, and a mobile collection terminal identifier that uniquely identifiers the mobile collection terminal. The storage medium may store processor-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal to generate information which allocates at first portion of the first collected amount to the first merchant and which allocates a second portion of the first collected amount to the courier entity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a network that includes a mobile collection terminal and a courier system, according to one illustrated

embodiment.

Figure 2 is a block diagram of a computing system, according to one illustrated embodiment.

Figure 3 is a block diagram of a computing system, according to one illustrated embodiment.

Figures 4A and 4B illustrate a method of operating a computing system, according to one illustrated embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various disclosed embodiments. However, one skilled in the relevant art will recognize that embodiments may be practiced without one or more of these specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In other instances, well-known structures associated with computing systems have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring descriptions of the embodiments.

Unless the context requires otherwise, throughout the specification and claims which follow, the word "comprise" and variations thereof, such as, "comprises" and "comprising" are to be construed in an open, inclusive sense, that is as "including, but not limited to."

Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. It should also be noted that the term "or" is generally employed in its sense including "and/or" unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a network 100 that includes a mobile collection terminal 102 and a collection or courier system 104, according to one illustrated embodiment. The mobile collection terminal 102 and the collection or courier system 104 are communicatively coupled to at least one communications network 106. The at least one communications network 106 may include one or more cellular networks, one or more public switched telephone networks, the Internet, and/or one or more private data networks, for example. The mobile collection terminal 102 may take the form of a processor- based handheld device, for example, a smart phone, tablet computer, netbook computer, or similar device, optionally with one or more detachable

components such as a magnetic strip reader or radio-frequency identification (RFID) interrogator or reader.

Additionally, a first merchant system 108, a second merchant system 1 10, a third merchant system 1 12, a first banking system 1 14, and a second baking system 1 16 are communicatively coupled to the at least one communications network 106. The communications network 106 may enable the mobile collection terminal 102, the collection or courier system 104, the first merchant system 108, the second merchant system 1 10, the third merchant system 1 12, the first banking system 1 14, and the second baking system 1 16 to communicate with one another.

For example, the mobile collection terminal 102 may generate first information which allocates a portion of a first collected amount to a first merchant associated with the first banking system 1 14 and generate second information which allocates a portion of a second collected amount to a second merchant associated with the second banking system 1 16. In at least one implementation, the mobile collection terminal 102 provides the first information to the first banking system 1 14 and provides the second information to the second banking system. In at least one implementation, the mobile collection terminal 102 provides the first and the second information to the collection or courier system 104, which provides the first information to the first banking system 1 14 and provides the second information to the second banking system 1 16. In at least one implementation, the mobile collection terminal 102 provides the first information to the first merchant system 108 and provides the second information to the second merchant system 1 10.

Figure 2 is a block diagram of a computing system 200 according to one illustrated embodiment. The computing system 200 may be used to implement the mobile collection terminal 102 shown in Figure 1 . The computing system 200 is suitable for receiving payment amount information manually entered by courier agents, reading payment account information from tangible payment media including credit cards, debit cards, smartcards, or otherwise receiving payment for instance via near field communications (NFC) and/or electronic wallets. The computing system 200 is also suitable for generating payment transactions, for example making a payment to a

merchant's account via an electronic wallet of a collector or courier agent where the collector or courier agent has, for example, received cash from a consumer or customer. The computing system 200 is suitable for generating information which allocates portions of collected amounts to merchants, temporarily storing generated information in a storage medium, and providing generated

information to each of a plurality of banking systems.

The computing system 200 may include one or more processing units 212a and 212b (collectively processing unit 212), a system memory 214 and a system bus 216 that couples various system components including the system memory 214 to the processing units 212. The processing unit 212 may be any logic processing unit, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) 212a {e.g., ARM Cortext-A8, ARM Cortext-A9, Snapdragon 600, Snapdragon 800, NVidia Tegra 4, NVidia Tegra 4i, Intel Atom Z2580, Samsung Exynos 5 Octa, Apple A7, Motorola X8), digital signal processors (DSP) 212b, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc. The system bus 216 can employ any known bus structures or architectures, including a memory bus with memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus. The system memory 214 includes read-only memory (ROM) 218, random access memory (RAM) 222, and flash memory 224. A basic input/output system (BIOS) 220, which can form part of the ROM 218, contains basic routines that help transfer information between elements within the computing system 200, such as during start-up.

The computing system 200 also may include a plurality of interfaces such as network interface 260 and interface 250 supporting any other wireless/wired interfaces. Computer-readable storage media can be used to store the information that may be accessed by processing unit 212a. For example, such computer-readable storage media may include, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, or other solid state memory or any other medium.

The computing system 200 includes one or more radios 262a- 262c (three shown, collectively 262) and associated antennas 264a-264c (three shown, collectively 264). The transceivers or radios 262 can include any device capable of transmitting and receiving communications via electromagnetic energy. For example, the computing system 200 may include one or more cellular transceivers or radios 262a, one or more WI-FI® transceivers or radios 262b and one or more BLUETOOTH® transceivers or radios 262, along with respective associated antennas 264a-264c. Accordingly, the computing system 200 may be a smart phone or tablet computer that is capable of communicating via cellular, WI-FI®, and BLUETOOTH® and communications.

Non-limiting examples of cellular communications transceivers or radios 262a include a CDMA transceiver, a GSM transceiver, a 3G transceiver, a 4G transceiver, an LTE transceiver, and any similar current or future developed mobile device transceiver having at least one of a voice telephony capability or a graphical data exchange capability. In at least some instances, the cellular transceivers or radios 262a can include more than one interface. For example, in some instances, the cellular transceivers or radios 262a can include at least one dedicated, full- or half-duplex, voice call interface and at least one dedicated data interface. In other instances, the cellular transceivers or radios 262a can include at least one integrated interface capable of contemporaneously accommodating both full- or half-duplex voice calls and data transfer.

Non-limiting examples of WI-FI® transceivers or radios 262b include various chipsets available from Broadcom, including BCM43142, BCM4313, BCM94312MC, BCM4312, and WI-FI® chipsets available from Atmel, Marvell, or Redpine. Non-limiting examples of WI-FI® transceivers or radios 262b include various chipsets available from Broadcom, Texas

Instruments and Redpine.

Program modules can be stored in the system memory 214, such as an operating system 236 {e.g., iOS ^® , Android ^® , Windows ^® Phone, Windows ^® 8, and similar), one or more application programs 238, other programs or modules 240, and program data 242. Application programs 238 may include instructions that cause the processor unit(s) 212 to generate, process, and/or receive information related to deliveries of goods and services and information related to receipt of payments therefor, and to transmit generated information to other systems {e.g., collection or courier system 104, first merchant system 108, second merchant system 1 10, third merchant system 1 12, first banking system 1 14, and second banking system 1 16). More particularly, the

Application programs 238 include instructions that cause the processor unit(s) 212 to perform one or more of the acts described below in connection with the method shown in Figures 4A and 4B.

Other program modules 240 may include instructions for handling security such as password or other access protection and communications encryption. The system memory 214 may also include communications programs, for example, a Web client or browser 244 for permitting the computing system 200 to access and exchange data with sources such as Web sites of the Internet, corporate intranets, extranets, or other networks and devices as described herein, as well as other server applications on server computing systems. The browser 244 in the depicted embodiment is markup language based, such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML) or Wireless Markup Language (WML), and operates with markup languages that use syntactically delimited characters added to the data of a document to represent the structure of the document. A number of Web clients or browsers are commercially available such as those from Mozilla, Google, and Microsoft.

An operator can enter commands and information into the computing system 200 through input devices such as a touch screen 252, and/or via a graphical user interface. Other input devices can include a microphone, a pointing device, etc. These and other input devices, such as camera unit 256, are connected to one or more of the processing units 212 through the bus 216 or the interface 250 such as a serial port interface or universal serial bus (USB) port that is coupled to the system bus 216, although other interfaces such as a parallel port, a game port or a wireless interface can be used. The touch screen device 252 or other display device is coupled to the system bus 216 via a video interface 254, such as a video adapter.

In some implementations, the camera unit 256 may capture images which include machine-readable symbols, for instance one-dimensional machine-readable symbols {e.g., bar code symbols) and/or two-dimensional machine-readable symbols (e.g., area or stack code symbols, QR symbols).

The computing system 200 may include an audio jack 258 that is coupled to the system bus 216. For example, the audio jack 258 may be a three-contact standard 3.5 mm audio jack. The computing system 200 also includes a transducer 260 that can magnetically, electrically, optically, or wirelessly read information from at least one of a credit card, a debit card, a prepaid card, a smart card, a radio frequency identification transponder, or a near field communications device. The transducer 260 may optionally be physically and communicatively removably coupled to the computing system 200 via the interface 250 or the audio jack 258. For example, the transducer 260 may be a magnetic payment card reader, such as a model CF-MSCCR06- 2 mobile payment card reader available from Dongguan Geka Electronics Technology Co. Ltd., or a smart card reader, such as a model eMag pro mobile phone smart card reader available from Deftun Technology, Co.

The computing system 200 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers and/or devices as described above with reference to Figure 1 . For example, the computing system 200 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more cellular networks, mobile devices, landline telephones and other service providers or information servers. Communications may be via a wired and/or wireless network architecture, for instance wired and wireless enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, extranets, telecommunications networks, cellular networks, paging networks, and other mobile networks.

Figure 3 shows an example computing system 300, according to one illustrated embodiment. The computing system 300 may be used to implement the collection or courier system 104 shown in Figure 1 . The computing system 300 will at times be referred to in the singular herein, but this is not intended to limit the embodiments to a single device, since in typical embodiments, there may be more than one computer system or device involved. Unless described otherwise, the construction and operation of the various blocks shown in Figure 3 are of conventional design. As a result, such blocks need not be described in further detail herein, as they will be understood by those skilled in the relevant art.

The computing system 300 may include one or more processing units 312a, 312b (collectively 312), a system memory 314 and a system bus 316 that couples various system components including the system memory 314 to the processing units 312. The processing units 312 may be any logic processing unit, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) 312a, digital signal processors (DSPs) 312b, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc. The system bus 316 can employ any known bus structures or architectures, including a memory bus with memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus. The system memory 314 includes read-only memory (ROM) 318 and random access memory (RAM) 322. A basic input/output system (BIOS) 320, which can form part of the ROM 318, contains basic routines that help transfer information between elements within the computing system 300, such as during start-up.

The computing system 300 may also include a plurality of interfaces such as network interface 360 and interface 350 supporting modem 362 or any other wireless/wired interfaces. The computing system 300 optionally includes one or more radios 364a-364c (three shown, collectively 364) and associated antennas 366a-366c (three shown, collectively 366). The transceivers or radios 364 can include any device capable of transmitting and receiving communications via electromagnetic energy. For example, the computing system 300 may include one or more cellular transceivers or radios 364a, one or more WI-FI® transceivers or radios 364b and one or more

BLUETOOTH® transceivers or radios 364, along with associated antennas 366a-366c, collectively 366. Accordingly, the computing system 300 may be a smart phone or tablet computer that is capable of communicating via cellular, WI-FI®, and BLUETOOTH® and communications.

Non-limiting examples of cellular communications transceivers or radios 364a include a CDMA transceiver, a GSM transceiver, a 3G transceiver, a 4G transceiver, an LTE transceiver, and any similar current or future developed mobile device transceiver having at least one of a voice telephony capability or a graphical data exchange capability. In at least some instances, the cellular transceivers or radios 364a can include more than one interface. For example, in some instances, the cellular transceivers or radios 364a can include at least one dedicated, full- or half-duplex, voice call interface and at least one dedicated data interface. In other instances, the cellular transceivers or radios 364a can include at least one integrated interface capable of contemporaneously accommodating both full- or half-duplex voice calls and data transfer.

Non-limiting examples of WI-FI® transceivers or radios 364b include various chipsets available from Broadcom, including BCM43142, BCM4313, BCM94312MC, BCM4312, and WI-FI® chipsets available from Atmel, Marvell, or Redpine. Non-limiting examples of WI-FI® transceivers or radios 364b include various chipsets available from Broadcom, Texas

Instruments and Redpine.

The computing system 300 may include a hard disk drive 324 for reading from and writing to a hard disk 326, an optical disk drive 328 for reading from and writing to removable optical disks 332, and/or a magnetic disk drive 330 for reading from and writing to magnetic disks 334. The optical disk 332 can be a CD-ROM, while the magnetic disk 334 can be a magnetic floppy disk or diskette. The hard disk drive 324, optical disk drive 328 and magnetic disk drive 330 may communicate with the processing unit 312 via the system bus 316. The hard disk drive 324, optical disk drive 328 and magnetic disk drive 330 may include interfaces or controllers (not shown) coupled between such drives and the system bus 316, as is known by those skilled in the relevant art. The drives 324, 328 and 330, and their associated computer-readable storage media 326, 332, 334, may provide non-volatile and non-transitory storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computing system 300.

Although the depicted computing system 300 is illustrated employing the hard disk drive 324, optical disk drive 328 and magnetic disk drive 330, those skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that other types of computer-readable storage media that can store data accessible by a computer may be employed, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory, Bernoulli cartridges, RAMs, ROMs, smart cards, etc. For example, computer-readable storage media may include, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, compact disc ROM (CD-ROM), digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, solid state memory or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which may be accessed by processing unit 312a.

Program modules can be stored in the system memory 314, such as an operating system 336, one or more application programs 338, other programs or modules 340, and program data 342. Application programs 338 may include instructions that cause the processor(s) 312 to implement a collection or courier entity fulfillment and/or accounting system that manages fulfillment and/or accounting information received from or transmitted to other computer systems {e.g., mobile collection terminal 102, first merchant system 108, second merchant system 1 10, third merchant system 1 12, first banking system 1 14, and second banking system 1 16). More particularly, the

Application programs 338 include instructions that cause the processor unit(s) 212 to perform one or more of the acts described below in connection with the method shown in Figures 4A and 4B. Other program modules 340 may include instructions for handling security such as password or other access protection and communications encryption. The system memory 314 may also include communications programs, for example, a Web server 344 for permitting the computing system 300 to be accessed and exchange data with Web browsers of the Internet, corporate intranets, extranets, or other networks and devices as described herein, as well as other server applications on server computing systems. The Web server 344 in the depicted embodiment is markup language based, such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML) or Wireless Markup Language (WML), and operates with markup languages that use syntactically delimited characters added to the data of a document to represent the structure of the document. A number of Web clients or browsers are commercially available such as those from Mozilla, Google, and Microsoft.

While shown in Figure 3 as being stored in the system memory 314, the operating system 336, application programs 338, other

programs/modules 340, program data 342 and server 344 can be stored on the hard disk 326 of the hard disk drive 324, the optical disk 332 of the optical disk drive 328 and/or the magnetic disk 334 of the magnetic disk drive 330.

An operator can enter commands and information into the computing system 300 through input devices such as a keyboard 346 and/or a pointing device such as a mouse 348, and/or via a graphical user interface. Other input devices can include a microphone, joystick, game pad, tablet, scanner, etc. These and other input devices are connected to one or more of the processing units 312 through an interface 350 such as a serial port interface that couples to the system bus 316, although other interfaces such as a parallel port, a game port or a wireless interface or a universal serial bus (USB) can be used. A monitor 352 or other display device is coupled to the system bus 316 via a video interface 354, such as a video adapter. The computing system 300 can include other devices, such as speakers, printers, etc.

The computing system 300 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers and/or devices as described above with reference to Figure 1 . For example, the computing system 300 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more mobile devices, landline telephones and other service providers or information servers. Communications may be via a wired and/or wireless network architecture, for instance wired and wireless enterprise- wide computer networks, intranets, extranets, telecommunications networks, cellular networks, paging networks, and other mobile networks.

It should be understood that the various techniques described herein may be implemented in connection with hardware, software and/or firmware or, where appropriate, with a combination of such. Thus, the methods and apparatuses of the disclosure, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, DVDs, hard drives, flash drives, or any other machine-readable or processor-readable storage medium wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a processor of a computer or mobile device, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing various embodiments. In the case of program code execution on programmable computers or mobile devices, such generally includes a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device. One or more programs may implement or utilize the processes described in connection with the disclosure, e.g., through the use of an API, reusable controls, or the like. Such programs are preferably

implemented in a high level procedural or object-oriented programming language to communicate with a computing system including the computing system 300 depicted in Figure 3. However, the program(s) can be

implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations.

Figures 4A and 4B illustrate a method 400 of operation including acts performed by a collection or courier agent and those performed via a processor-based system with nontransitory computer- or processor-readable media, according to one illustrated embodiment.

The processor-based system may, for example include, or take the form of, the handheld terminal 102 {e.g., computing system 200). The handheld terminal 102 may be operated by a collection agent if only collections are being made, or by courier agent if delivery and collections are being made. The collection agent may work for a collection entity or business, while a courier entity may work for a courier entity or business.

Additionally or alternatively, the processor-based system may include one or more remote computer systems, located remotely from the handheld terminal 102, which in typical use is mobile. For instance, remote computer systems may include, or take the form of the collection or courier system 104 (e.g., computing system 300) operated by a collection or courier entity in connection with collection of payments from a plurality of consumers, and optionally in the delivery of goods or services to the consumers.

Additionally, or alternatively, remote computer systems may take the form of, or include, one or more merchant (e.g., seller of goods or services) computer system and/or one or more financial entity [e.g., bank, credit card company or issuer, NFC payment or electronic wallet provider) computer system.

The method 400 shown in Figures 4A and 4B may, for example, be performed after a plurality of merchants {e.g., seller of goods or services, service providers, utility service providers) have requested a collection entity or a courier entity to collect payments from the consumers, Also for example, the method 400 shown in Figures 4A and 4B may be performed after a plurality of merchants have requested a courier entity to deliver a plurality of goods or services to the consumers, and collect payment for the delivered goods and services. Notably, in some applications, collection or payment may be for a previously delivered good or service (e.g. , utility service), or for a good or service to be delivered at a later time, in which applications the agent is denominated as a collection agent. In some applications, payment may be in exchange for the concurrent delivery of a good or service by the agent at the time of collecting payment, in which applications the agent is denominated as a courier.

The method 400 starts at 402, for example in response to a collection or delivery agent starting a collection or delivery round (i.e. , a delivery route which includes series of collection and/or delivery stops). As noted above, the collection or delivery agent may employ a collection terminal to facilitate collection activity, and optionally facilitate delivery activity.

Optionally at 404, a delivery agent delivers a first good or service to a first consumer. The good or service may take any of a large variety of forms, for example a retail good.

Optionally at 406, the mobile collection terminal 102 reads information from media specifying information about the collection and, optionally about the delivery. For example, a transducer (e.g., machine- readable symbol reader, RFID interrogator or reader) may read information from a shipping statement, bill of sale, airway bill, or bill of lading, packaging, etc. Alternatively or additionally, the information may be read from a

nontransitory computer- or processor-readable medium (e.g., memory), which may form part of the mobile collection terminal 102 or which may be located remotely therefrom.

For example, the mobile collection terminal 102 reads collection amount information by scanning a machine-readable symbol or even human- readable symbols included on a shipping label, other document, or packaging. For example, the collection or courier agent causes the camera unit 256 of the computing system 200 to acquire an image of a bar code symbol or even human-readable characters included on an air waybill. In response, the camera unit 256 provides corresponding image data to the processing unit 212b, which performs image processing and/or decoding techniques to generate the collection amount information from the image data. The processing unit 212a may receive the collection amount information from the processing unit 212a or the system memory 214.

The collection amount information indicates a first amount to be collected by the collection or courier agent from a first consumer for a first collection transaction. The collection amount information may indicate a total amount to be collected by the collection or courier agent from the first consumer. The payment amount information may indicate the price of a first good or service, a tax on the first good or service, a charge for shipping the first good or service, and/or a charge for processing a cash on delivery (COD) payment.

The information read by the mobile collection terminal 102 may additionally identify an entity {e.g., person, business) from which collection is to be received, for instance including an entity name or other identifier, entity address and/or other entity identifying information. The information may further provide identify the good or service for which collection is sought. Such may include a make and model, name, SKU, serial number. The information may additionally identify a number of units or a good and/or time period of service for which collection is being made, etc. The information may further optionally identify a form of payment which is acceptable for the good or service, for instance cash, select credit cards, electronic wallet, etc.

At 408, the mobile collection terminal 102 determines whether payment is being made in cash or via a form of nontransitory financial media. Such may be determined based on a manual entry via a keyboard, keypad, touch screen display, button, switch or other user input device. Such may also be determined based on whether a piece of financial media has been read using the mobile collection terminal 102 or a transducer or other accessory communicatively coupled therewith.

If payment is being made in cash, at 410 the collection or courier agent collects cash from a first consumer or on behalf of the first consumer. At 412, the mobile collection terminal 102 receives an amount of the cash collection. The amount may be manually entered by the collection or courier agent. For example, the processing unit 212a of the computing system 200 may receive the payment amount information via the touch screen 252 or via a keyboard or keypad.

If the payment is not being made in cash, at 414 the mobile collection terminal 102 may automatically read {e.g., optically, electronically, magnetically, wirelessly, electrically) information from one or more pieces of financial media. For instance, one or more transducers of, or communicatively coupled with, the mobile collection terminal 102 may read financial account and payment information from any of a credit card, debit card, gift or prepaid card, smart card, RFID transponder, NFC module or device, or an electronic wallet implemented in a module or a device, for instance a an electronic and/or wireless communications device owned and/or operated by the first consumer. The transducers may, for example, optically image or optically scan (e.g., laser spot) a machine-readable symbol, human-readable symbol, or other

information. The transducers may, for example, magnetically read information encoded in a magnetic stripe. The transducers may, for example, wiredly or wirelessly read or otherwise interrogate a circuit, for instance an RFID transponder, or a device which implements NFC financial transactions or electronic wallet transactions.

Optionally at 416, the mobile collection terminal 102 validates the read information. For example, the mobile collection terminal 102 may query one or more nontransitory computer- or processor-readable media to determine whether an account number, personal identification number or code (PIN), expiration date, and/or validation code {e.g., 3 or 4 digit CW code) are valid, match one another, and/or have not be blacklisted or otherwise placed on hold or suspension.

At 418, the mobile collection terminal 102 generates information about the collection, and optionally about the delivery if a delivery was made. In particular, the generated information includes information which allocates at least a portion of the collected amount to a first merchant who is due payment from the first consumer for the first goods or services. The amount allocated to the merchant may consist of the entire amount collected, or may be a portion of the collected amount. The information may include a merchant identifier that identifies the first merchant {e.g., numbers and/or characters that identify the first merchant). The information may include a first amount which indicates a price of the first good or service, a second amount which indicates a tax collectable on the sale of the first good or service where applicable, a third amount which indicates a shipping charge, and a fourth amount which indicates a collection or payment (e.g., COD) processing charge.

The information may include account information for an account form which payment is coming or an account to be charged. This information may include an account identifier, that uniquely identifies a payment account or account to be charged {e.g., credit or debit card number). This information may include a security code {e.g., a card verification number, PIN) associated with the account in a nontransitory computer- or processor-readable medium. This information may include an account or card expiration date which indicates a last date that the account or card may be used for payment. This information may include image data, for instance an image or other digital representation of a signature associated with the account in a nontransitory computer- or processor-readable medium.

This information may also specify the goods or service for which the payment was collected and/or the entity making the payment. The information may, for example, include a good or service identifier that identifies the first good or service {e.g., numbers and/or characters that identify a transaction associated with the first good or service and/or or a textual description of the first good or service, make/model, SKU).

Where a delivery was made, this information may further specify information about the delivery. For instance, the information may specify a date and time of delivery, name or identifier of the collection or delivery agent {e.g., numbers and/or characters that identify the courier or delivery agent), an address at which the delivery was made, name of person accepting delivery, type and details of identification of the person accepting delivery, etc. The delivery related information may have been manually entered into the mobile collection terminal 102 by the delivery agent. Additionally or alternatively, the delivery related information may have been read via one or more transducers of, or communicatively coupled with, the mobile collection terminal 102. The information may also include an identifier of the mobile collection terminal 102 {e.g., numbers and/or characters that uniquely identify the mobile collection terminal 102).

For instance, the processing unit 212a of the computing system 200 implementing the mobile collection terminal 102 may generate information that associates in a processor-readable storage medium {e.g., flash memory 224) at least the first collected amount with order information which specifies an order for which the first collected amount is collected. Additionally, or alternatively, the processing unit 312a of the computing system 300

implementing the collection or courier system 104 may generate information that associates in a processor-readable storage medium {e.g., hard disk drive 324) at least the collected amount with order information which specifies an order for which the collected amount is collected.

In one implementation, the processing unit 212a of the computing system 200 implementing the mobile collection terminal 102 may generate information that associates in a processor-readable storage medium {e.g., flash memory 224) a collection or courier agent identifier that uniquely identifies the collection or courier agent and a mobile collection terminal identifier that uniquely identifiers the mobile collection terminal. The processing unit 212a of the computing system 200 implementing the mobile collection terminal 102 may generate information which allocates a first portion of the first collected amount to the first merchant and which allocates a second portion of the first collected amount to the collection or courier entity. For example, the processing unit 212a of the computing system 200 implementing the mobile collection terminal 102 generates information which allocates an amount including the cost of and a tax on the first good or service to the first merchant and which allocates an amount including a shipping charge and a COD processing charge to the collection or courier entity.

Alternatively, the processing unit 312a of the computing system 300 implementing the collection or courier system 104 may generate the information.

Optionally at 420, the mobile collection terminal 102 may cause a financial transaction to occur. For example, the mobile collection terminal 102 may cause an electronic transfer of funds. For instance, the mobile collection terminal 102 may cause an electronic transfer of funds from an electronic wallet associated with the mobile collection terminal 102 or associated with the collection or delivery agent. The electronic transfer may transfer funds to the first merchant, or credit an account maintained by a third party {e.g., bank) on behalf of the first merchant. Also for example, the mobile collection terminal 102 may cause a transfer of funds between one financial account and another financial account. For instance, between an account maintained by a third party {e.g., bank, credit or debit card issuer, NFC entity or electronic wallet provider) and an account maintained by a third party on behalf of the first merchant. Additionally or alternatively, the mobile collection terminal 102 may cause a portion of the collected amount to be transferred to the collection or delivery entity or to an account maintained by a third party {e.g., bank) on behalf of the collection or delivery agent.

The transfer of funds may take any of a variety of forms. For example, the transfer of funds may be an electronic transfer precipitated by the wired and/or wireless transmission of information identifying the transaction, payer or payer account and payee or payee account. For example, the transfer of funds may be a transfer between two electronic wallets or between two NFC accounts. The transfer of funds may be between two bank accounts, for example between two checking accounts. The transfer of funds may be between a credit card account or a checking or savings account associated with a debit card of the payer {e.g., consumer), and a bank account of the payee {e.g., merchant). The transfer of funds may be between various other accounts, with, or without intermediaries. As previously noted, a portion of a collected amount may be allocated to the merchant, seller or provider of goods and services. As also previously noted, a portion of a collected amount may be allocated to the collection or delivery entity and/or to the collection or delivery agent or individual who performs the collection and/or delivery.

Optionally at 422, a delivery agent delivers a second good or service to the first consumer or a second consumer.

Optionally at 424, the mobile collection terminal 102 reads information from media specifying information about the collection and, optionally about the delivery. Such is discussed in detail above with respect to 406, which discussion is not repeated here for the sake of brevity.

At 426, the mobile collection terminal 102 determines whether payment is being made in cash or via a form of nontransitory financial media. Such is discussed in detail above with respect to 408, which discussion is not repeated here for the sake of brevity.

If payment is being made in cash, at 428 the collection or courier agent collects cash from a first consumer or on behalf of the first consumer. At 430, the mobile collection terminal 102 receives an amount of the cash collection. The amount may be manually entered by the collection or courier agent. For example, the processing unit 212a of the computing system 200 may receive the payment amount information entered via the touch screen 252 or via a keyboard or keypad.

If the payment is not being made in cash, at 432 the mobile collection terminal 102 may automatically read {e.g., optically, electronically, magnetically, wirelessly, electrically) information from one or more pieces of financial media. Such is discussed in detail above with respect to 414, which discussion is not repeated here for the sake of brevity.

Optionally at 434, the mobile collection terminal 102 validates the read information. Such is discussed in detail above with respect to 416, which discussion is not repeated here for the sake of brevity. At 436, the mobile collection terminal 102 generates information about the collection, and optionally about the delivery if a delivery was made. Such is discussed in detail above with respect to 418, which discussion is not repeated here for the sake of brevity.

Optionally at 438, the mobile collection terminal 102 may cause a financial transaction to occur. Such is discussed in detail above with respect to 420, which discussion is not repeated here for the sake of brevity.

The method 400 may repeat for a third or more consumers, and/or for a third or more merchants, eventually terminating at 440.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various

embodiments of the devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, schematics, and examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, schematics, and examples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that each function and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the present subject matter may be implemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in standard integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers {e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more controllers {e.g.,

microcontrollers) as one or more programs running on one or more processors {e.g., microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of ordinary skill in the art in light of this disclosure.

Those of skill in the art will recognize that many of the methods or algorithms set out herein may employ additional acts, may omit some acts, and/or may execute acts in a different order than specified. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms taught herein are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of signal bearing media include, but are not limited to, the following: recordable type media such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, CD ROMs, digital tape, and computer memory.

The various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. For example, the mobile collection terminal 102 and/or the courier system 104 may receive first payment amount information that indicates a first payment amount collected in cash, receive second payment amount information that indicates a second payment amount to be deducted from a financial account, and generate information which allocates at least a portion of the first and the second collected amounts to the first merchant. All of the above U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applications and nonpatent publications referred to in this specification and/or listed in the

Application Data Sheet, including but not limited to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/989,347, filed May 6, 2014, are incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety.These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, the claims are not limited by the disclosure.