WO2023061595A1

WO2023061595A1 - System and method for providing a digital receipt

Info

Publication number: WO2023061595A1
Application number: PCT/EP2021/078459
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jens Christian GUSTAFSSON-KLEIN; Jessica MIGUEZ DE MATOS; Joel David PIRELA PIRELA; Rajdeep Singh
Original assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2021-10-14
Filing date: 2021-10-14
Publication date: 2023-04-20

Abstract

System and method for providing a digital receipt The invention relates to on-site provisioning of a digital receipt DR documenting an in-person purchase of a product by a customer from a vendor. The digital receipt is based on traditional receipt data which are provided to a digital receipt provisioning system DRPS. The DRPS processes the receipt data by a printing machine emulator to generate the digital receipt. Subsequently, the digital receipt is provided to a device of the customer, e.g. to a smart phone, via Bluetooth or other near filed communication technologies. Such one-way provisioning does not require any registration of the customer or provisioning of private information, therewith allowing maximum data privacy.

Description

System and method for providing a digital receipt

The invention relates to a system and a corresponding method for providing digital receipts especially for business transactions , in particular related to in-person purchases .

In many countries , legislation requires a documenting receipt for all business related transactions between a first and a second party . For example , this applies to any purchases by a customer from a vendor in daily business in retail stores like groceries , bakeries , butchers etc . but also in case of e . g . road-toll booths . In general , such receipt is required in any transaction scenario in which an in-person purchase might happen .

Therein, an " in-person purchase" can include a business transaction in which the customer pays on-site by means of cash or by means of a credit card, a debit card etc . , but also contactless with a smart phone , a smart watch etc . , nowadays typically based on the "near field communication" technology (NFC ) . However, the in-person purchase can also include transactions in which the customer has ordered a product online or remotely and picks up the ordered product on-site . In the latter scenario , the payment might have been executed in advance or the customer might pay on-site , e . g . when picking up the product . In any case , with an in-person purchase the customer will receive the respective receipt for the transaction on-site .

The requirement for the receipt causes a lot of paper being demanded with limited value add for involved vendors and store owners , respectively, and for customers . Consequently, both parties -vendors as well as customers- wish to replace the paper receipts with a digital format . However, an implementation of suitable digital formats might give rise to data privacy issues . For example , setups of digital systems which would provide a digital receipt for a transaction as described above typically capture private data . Considering the customers ' perspective , the customers ' ability to remain private and anonymous , respectively, w . r . t . the purchase is not given since such private data can be stored and processed e . g . for marketing purposes , for tracking of buying habits , for creating customer profiles etc . From the vendors ' perspective , such digital systems are considered critical in case data of the vendors ' business transactions need to be uploaded to an online server .

Existing solutions , e . g . applied by large supermarket chains , which attempt to of fer digital receipts require the use of QR-codes and customer accounts . Such QR codes which are triggered and stored on a remote internet server so that full data privacy and data protection cannot be guaranteed .

Besides the data privacy issues , further existing solutions to be applied with point-of-sale systems or cash registers require programming of individual interfaces to be compatible with the point-of-sale system or cash register as the hardware and software market for such systems is very diverse and heterogenous . This increases the initial system roll-out and implementation costs , which inevitably needs to be paid either by the vendor or by the consumer . Typically, such costs need to be incurred by the vendor which decreases the likelihood and motivation to of fer and introduce the digital receipts option to customers .

Therefore , a solution is required which addresses the requirement for a paperless receipt for business related transactions between a first and a second party, i . e . between a vendor and a customer, and which serves the need to ensure data protection both for vendors and for customers . This is solved by the method suggested in claim 1 and by the system of claim 8 . The method concerns on-site provisioning of a digital receipt DR to a customer' s device , e . g . a mobile phone . The digital receipt DR is based on receipt data RECDAT which is provided on-site by a data source , e . g . a payment register . Both DR and RECDAT document an in-person purchase of a product by a customer from a vendor . The method comprises a step S3 of receiving the receipt data RECDAT by an on-site digital receipt provisioning system connected to the payment register from the payment register, a step S4 of generating the digital receipt DR in a computing unit of the digital receipt provisioning system based on the received receipt data RECDAT , and a step S5 of trans ferring the generated digital receipt DR to the device by a communication unit of the digital receipt provisioning system .

Thus , the solution provided herein represents an alternative to the use of the printing machine for printing a paper receipt according to RECDAT and suggests a provisioning of a digital receipt DR to the device of the customer instead of or, as the case may be , in addition to a traditional paper receipt .

In the step S4 , the computing unit can apply a printing machine emulator for generating the digital receipt DR fr the receipt data RECDAT .

In the step S5 , a communication unit of the digital receipt provisioning system can establish in a first intermediate step S5 . 1 of the step S5 a temporary wireless trans fer communication channel based on a fixed communication technology between the digital receipt provisioning system and the device . The generated digital receipt DR can then be trans ferred to the device via the temporary wireless trans fer communication channel in a second intermediate step S5 . 2 of step S5 . Possibly, the communication unit works with only one fixed communication technology, e . g . Bluetooth technology, WiFi technology, or Near Field Communication technology . However, the communication unit can be equipped with a plurality of communication technologies , i . e . at least two of - for example- Bluetooth technology, WiFi technology, and/or Near Field Communication technology . In that case , the communication unit is configured to select the fixed communication technology in the first intermediate step S5 . 1 of the step S5 from such plurality of communication technologies . The fixation of the fixed communication technology can be executed automatically in a negotiation process between the digital receipt provisioning system and the device . In other words , the first intermediate step S5 . 1 can comprise a step of automatic agreeing with the device which communication technology is to be applied for the trans fer of the digital receipt DR . Alternatively, the fixation can be executed manually by a user, e . g . the vendor, by operating an input device of the communication unit for manual fixation of the fixed communication technology . With this , the system and method is flexible enough to adapt to various customer devices which might be equipped with di f ferent communication technologies .

Optionally, the establishing of the temporary wireless trans fer communication channel happens only after such establishing has been legitimated by the device and its user, respectively, in a channel confirmation step CCS . This protects the device from being falsely addressed and it avoids that the digital receipt DR reaches a wrong device .

The method can furthermore comprise a trans fer confirmation step TCS , in which a sending of f of the digital receipt DR by the communication unit to the device is confirmed, wherein the trans fer confirmations step includes an internal provisioning of a reporting REP=REPOT from the communication unit to the computing unit which confirms the sending of f of the digital receipt DR to the device . Additionally or alternatively, the method can furthermore comprise a reception confirmation step RCS , in which a reception of the digital receipt DR by the device is confirmed by the device by providing a confirmation CONFREC from the device to the digital receipt provisioning system, wherein the reception confirmation step RCS is executed after the digital receipt DR has been success fully received at the device and wherein the reception confirmation step RCS includes an internal provisioning of a reporting REP=REPOR from the communication unit to the computing unit which confirms the reception of the confirmation CONFREC from the device by the communication unit . Therein, the " internal" provisioning refers to communication within the digital receipt provisioning system DRPS .

Consequently, the digital receipt provisioning system can provide a confirmation CONF to the payment register about the trans fer of the digital receipt DR to the device in a process completion confirmation step PCCS as soon as the reporting REP has been provided . This allows to document that the receipt has been provided to the customer which might be required in certain legislations .

The corresponding digital receipt provisioning system DRPS is configured to execute such a method for on-site provisioning of a digital receipt DR to the customer' s device . Still , DR is based on the receipt data RECDAT which are generated in and provided on-site by a data source , e . g . provided on-site by a payment register . The DRPS comprises an interface which is configured to connect the digital receipt provisioning system with the data source and the payment register, respectively, for receiving the receipt data RECDAT from the data source . I . e . the interface is used for trans ferring the receipt data RECDAT generated in the data source from the data source to the digital receipt provisioning system . Moreover, the DRPS comprises a computing unit which is configured to generate the digital receipt DR based on the received receipt data RECDAT and a communication unit which is connected to the computing unit to receive the digital receipt DR from the computing unit and which is configured to trans fer the received digital receipt DR to the device .

The interface might be embodied as a wired or wireless communication channel , e . g . utili zing Bluetooth or WiFi technology .

The computing unit can comprise a computer implemented printing machine emulator for generating the digital receipt DR based on the receipt data RECDAT . In more detail , the printing machine emulator is configured to emulate the electric signals comparable to a printing machine to generate the digital receipt DR based on the receipt data RECDAT . Other solutions for generation of the digital receipt DR from the receipt data RECDAT are possible .

The communication unit can be equipped with a plurality of communication technologies . In that case , the communication unit is configured for selection of one fixed communication technology of the plurality of communication technologies to be used for the trans fer of the digital receipt DR to the device .

The communication unit can comprise a computer implemented negotiation module which is configured to automatically select the fixed communication technology from the plurality of communication technologies in a negotiation process between the digital receipt provisioning system and the device , in which the negotiation module and the device agree which one of the plurality of communication technologies is to be applied for the trans fer of the digital receipt DR to the device . Alternatively or additionally to such automatic selection option, the digital receipt provisioning system can comprise an input device , e . g . a touch screen or a suitable hardware switch or button etc . , for manual selection of the fixed communication technology from the plurality of communication technologies . The plurality of communication technologies can comprise at least two of Bluetooth technology, WiFi technology, and/or Near Field Communication technology .

Furthermore , the system DRPS can comprise a computer implementable application to be installed on the device . The app can be configured to receive and display the digital receipt DR as trans ferred to the device and/or to confirm the establishing of a communication channel between the digital receipt provisioning system and the device for the trans fer of the digital receipt DR, i . e . the app might enable the user of the device by providing corresponding means like buttons or check boxes etc . to explicitly confirm that the communication channel can be established, and/or to confirm reception of the digital receipt DR at the device automatically or by a manual input of a user of the device , i . e . the app automatically confirms reception of the digital receipt DR or it enables the user to explicitly confirm such reception, and/or to execute the negotiation process with the negotiation module to automatically agree which one of the plurality of communication technologies is to be applied for the trans fer of the digital receipt DR to the device and/or to enable a user of the device to explicitly agree to start the negotiation process with the negotiation module . Of course , further functions are imaginable , e . g . data export for further evaluation by the customer .

Moreover, the system DRPS can comprise a further communication module for transmitting information about the purchase to a backend server etc . for evaluation . The further communication module can be embodied as a mobile communication module , e . g . based on a subscriber identity module ( S IM) technology . However, other wider-area-network options like Sigfox, Lora, NB- IoT are also possible . Yet another alternative for the reali zation of the further communication module and the corresponding communication channel is the use of more local network technologies to connect to an on-site infrastructure , like WiFi , Zigbee or Bluetooth .

The system DRPS can be configured to provide a confirmation CONF to the data source and payment register, respectively, via the interface about the trans fer of the digital receipt DR to the device as soon as a certain reporting REP has been provided and is available , respectively . For that purpose , the communication unit can be configured to provide a reporting REP=REPOT which confirms the sending of f of the digital receipt DR to the device as soon as a sending of f of the digital receipt DR by the communication unit to the device is completed . Additionally or alternatively, the communication unit can be configured to provide a reporting REP=REPOR which confirms the reception of a confirmation CONFREC provided by the device at the communication unit , wherein the confirmation CONFREC is provided by the device to the digital receipt provisioning system when the digital receipt DR has been received at the device .

At first , the proposed solution is a digital approach which allows to avoid printing paper receipts . However, besides this very basic advantage it of fers increased usability for the customer, being able to organi ze and store receipts in an ef ficient and transparent manner on the customer' s device or elsewhere . For example , the customer can keep receipts in case of warranty cases while deleting receipts which are not needed any more . Also , the digital solution suggested herein allows to easily and ef ficiently manage and compile data of receipts e . g . for potential tax returns etc . Such features can be of fered by the software application being part of the overall solution .

Moreover the solution is highly flexible and compatible regardless of the type of point-of-sale system and payment register, respectively, which lowers the one-time related roll-out and implementation costs . Therein, a point-of-sale system basically comprises a computer used for the payment transaction, e . g . a cash register etc . , which will print the receipt that the consumer is handed over as the documentation of the purchase .

As digital receipts are being trans ferred locally without use of any internet-based server, full data privacy can be ensured for both vendor and customer . The identity of the customer does not need to be known by the digital receipt provisioning system . After trans ferring to the customer' s device , the system does not need to store any transaction data .

The optional feature of communication with the backend server to trans fer and process high level transaction data is of fering business intelligence solutions to the vendors to optimi ze their business even in case such data do not comprise privacy details about the transactions . Typically, small and medium si zed vendor businesses do not have the resources like financial buf fers or technologic and domain knowhow to invest or implement sophisticated business intelligence solutions for their business development . The proposed feature overcomes this drawback .

As a summary, the invention relates to on-site provisioning of a digital receipt DR documenting an in-person purchase of a product by a customer from a vendor . The digital receipt is based on traditional receipt data which are provided to a digital receipt provisioning system DRPS . The DRPS processes the receipt data to generate the digital receipt . Subsequently, the digital receipt is provided to a device of the customer, e . g . to a smart phone , via Bluetooth or other near filed communication technologies . Such one-way provisioning does not require any registration of the customer or provisioning of private information, therewith allowing maximum data privacy .

It is to be understood that the elements and features recited in the appended claims may be combined in di f ferent ways to produce new claims that likewise fall within the scope of the present invention . Thus , whereas the dependent claims appended below depend from only a single independent or dependent claim, it is to be understood that these dependent claims can, alternatively, be made to depend in the alternative from any preceding or following claim, whether independent or dependent , and that such new combinations are to be understood as forming a part of the present speci fication .

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the following, possible embodiments of the di f ferent aspects of the present invention are described in more detail with reference to the enclosed figures . The obj ects as well as further advantages of the present embodiments will become more apparent and readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments , taken in conj unction with the accompanying figure in which :

FIG 1 shows a schematical representation of a digital receipt provisioning system;

FIG 2 shows a visuali zation of a method of providing a digital receipt DR .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG 1 shows a schematical representation of a digital receipt provisioning system 200 ( DRPS ) for providing and trans ferring a digital receipt DR to a device 300 of a customer, e . g . a smart phone , a smart watch, a tablet computer, a notebook computer etc . , i . e . any suitable electronic handheld device . In a simple embodiment , such handheld device can be embodied as a dongle , e . g . a NFC chip dongle , which is at least able to receive the digital receipt DR and which can, but which does not necessarily have to provide further functions . The digital receipt DR documents a purchase of a product by the customer from a vendor, as required by many legislatives . The purchase itself can be registered and processed by a payment register 100, e.g. a cash register or a similar device or a computer, operated by the vendor. In established practice, the registering and processing by the payment register 100 results in a formal finalization of the purchase which triggers the provisioning of the respective receipt to the customer and the generation of standard receipt data RECDAT which are required to generate the receipt, e.g. by a suitable printing machine. The finalization of the purchase which causes the requirement to provide the respective receipt can be triggered in various ways. For example, in case the customer orders and picks up the product on-site, i.e. in the vendor's shop or similar, the finalization can be triggered by the execution of the payment by the customer and by handing out the purchased product by the vendor. In practice, the vendor might activate the payment register 100 to initiate the process of providing the receipt upon various impressions. Being an in-person purchase as defined above, the customer might pay for the product on-site, e.g. in a corresponding shop of the vendor, by means of cash or by means of a credit card, a debit card etc. Such "in-person purchase", as defined above, shall also include contactless payment with a smart phone, a smart watch etc., nowadays typically based on the "near field communication" technology (NFC) . However, the concrete approach applied for execution of the payment is not relevant for the invention, but the various embodiments of the in-person purchase only demonstrate that the customer might pay for the product onsite. In principle, such payment might also be executed remotely or online and in advance. Nevertheless, in the scenario considered herein, the corresponding receipt would be transferred to the customer on-site, e.g. when the purchased product is picked up.

In any case, the execution of payment by the customer - whether on-site or in advance- is registered with the payment register 100. After the purchase has been finalized, for example by executing the payment by the customer and by handing out the product by the vendor, the vendor has to provide the corresponding receipt . Traditionally, the payment register 100 includes or is connected to a printing machine 110 which prints the receipt on paper . However, the solution provided herein represents an alternative to the use of the printing machine 110 and suggests a provisioning of a digital receipt DR to the device 300 of the customer instead of the paper receipt .

This solution is enabled by the digital receipt provisioning system 200 ( DRPS ) shown in FIG 1 . The DRPS 200 comprises an interface 210 to the payment register 100 , embodied as a communication channel 210 which connects the payment register 100 with the DRPS 200 . The communication channel 210 can be reali zed by a cable connection or wirelessly, e . g . via Bluetooth or WiFi , wherein the communication between the payment register 100 and the DRPS 200 can be run directly in a peer-to-peer fashion or with a cloud server in between (not shown) . In case the communication channel 210 applies Bluetooth technology, the use of the Basic Printing Profile (BPP ) might be advisable .

The communication channel 210 is used to trans fer the receipt data RECDAT from the payment register 100 to the DRPS 200 . Traditionally, these receipt data RECDAT are provided to the printing machine 110 to generate the receipt on paper, as indicated above . Correspondingly, the payment register 100 is configured to prepare and provide the receipt data RECDAT in a format which allows to control the printing machine 110 to print the receipt on paper .

However, in the solution provided herein the receipt data RECDAT are provided to the DRPS 200 which is configured to provide the digital receipt DR corresponding to the receipt data RECDAT instead of or in addition to utili zing the printing machine 110 and which comprises , for this purpose , a computing unit 220 , a communication unit 230 , and optionally a further communication module 240 . Since the DRPS 200 is intended to be compatible to existing payment registers 100 it has to be configured such that it can process the receipt data RECDAT provided by the payment register 100 . For the avoidance of doubt , it might be mentioned that the invention described herein does not require that the receipt data RECDAT are changed or adapted by the payment register 100 in any way . As will be described below, the DRPS 200 is configured to process the receipt data RECDAT as originally provided by the payment register 100 for the printing machine 110 .

The receipt data RECDAT is provided via the communication channel 210 to the computing unit 220 which is configured to generate the digital receipt DR from the receipt data RECDAT . For this , the computing unit 220 might comprise a printing machine emulator 221 to enable the communication between the payment register 100 and the digital receipt provisioning system 200 . The printing machine emulator 221 is configured to emulate the electric signals corresponding to the printing machine 110 to generate the digital receipt DR based on the receipt data RECDAT .

As soon as the payment register 100 has provided receipt data RECDAT to the digital receipt provisioning system 200 and its computing unit 220 , respectively, the printing machine emulator 221 of the computing unit 220 generates the electric signals which, for example , trans form a RECDAT bitmap to a digital plot to create the digital receipt DR . However, other implementations of the computing unit 220 for generating the digital receipt DR from the receipt data RECDAT are possible . In any case , the computing unit 220 generates the digital receipt DR based on the receipt data RECDAT . Since the receipt data RECDAT and its format , respectively, can be considered to be standardi zed and well known and applied by numerous payment registers of numerous producers , the conversion of RECDAT to DR can be considered to be a simple data conversion task which does not require to be detailed herein . However, the utili zation of a printing machine emulator 221 is a promising solution .

The generated digital receipt DR is subsequently provided from the computing unit 220 to the communication unit 230 of the digital receipt provisioning system DRPS 200 for communication with the customer' s device 300 , especially for trans ferring the digital receipt DR to the device 300 wirelessly . The communication unit 230 can be an integral part of the computing unit 220 or the units 220 , 230 are connected through wired or wireless means .

The communication unit 230 can be configured such that the communication of the DRPS 200 with the customer' s device 300 is based on Near Filed Communication (NFC ) technology . Alternatively or additionally, Bluetooth or WiFi technology can be applied by the communication unit 230 for the communication between the DRPS 200 and the device 300 .

Optionally, but preferably, the communication unit 230 is equipped with a plurality of communication technologies like NFC, Bluetooth, and WiFi . This allows the DRPS 200 to adapt to the communication technology applied by the customer' s device 300 . I . e . the communication technology applied by the communication unit 230 for trans ferring a particular digital receipt DR to a particular device 300 depends on the communication technology applied by that device 300 . The selection of communication technology for an upcoming particular trans fer to a particular device 300 can be performed with an input device 231 of the digital receipt provisioning system 200 which is connected to the communication unit 230 . For example , the input device 231 can be embodied as a touch screen or a suitable hardware switch or button etc . and the communication technology to be applied in the particular trans fer can be selected manually .

Information about such selected communication technology is then provided from the input device 231 to the communication module 230 via a connection 233 and the communication module 230 is configured to apply the selected communication technology for the upcoming particular trans fer .

Alternatively or additionally to the utili zation of the input device 231 for manual selection of the communication technology, the communication unit 230 can comprise a negotiation module 232 which is embodied and configured to automatically agree with the concerned device 300 in a negotiation process , e . g . with a suitable software application 250 ( in the following "app" 250 ) installed on the concerned device 300 , which one of the available communication technologies NFC, Bluetooth, or WiFi etc . is to be used for the trans fer of the digital receipt DR . After such negotiation and agreement , the communication module 230 is configured to apply the agreed communication technology for the upcoming particular trans fer .

As an option, the app 250 can be configured such that the customer has to confirm that the negotiation of the communication technology to be applied for the trans fer of the digital receipt DR can be executed . Such confirmation can be triggered by a respective action of the customer, e . g . by activating a respective check box or button etc . of the app 250 . Only after confirmation by the customer, the negotiation process of agreeing on the communication technology is started .

As soon as the communication technology to be applied for the trans fer of the digital receipt DR to the customer' s device 300 is fixed and agreed, respectively, and the communication module 230 is configured to apply the selected or agreed communication technology for the upcoming particular trans fer, a temporary wireless trans fer communication channel 270 for the trans fer of the digital receipt DR based on the agreed communication technology is established between the communication unit 230 and the device 300 and the trans fer of the digital receipt DR becomes possible . For the avoidance of doubt , such " fixation" of the communication technology can be performed manually by the input device 231 , automatically by the negotiation module 232 as described above or, in case the communication unit 230 is not equipped with a plurality of communication technologies but only utili zes one of them, the fixation is intrinsically achieved by using the only available communication technology .

In the simplest embodiment , the trans fer of the digital receipt DR to the customer' s device 300 is executed after the temporary wireless trans fer communication channel 270 has been established . However, as an option the app 250 can be configured such that the legitimacy of the trans fer communication channel 270 and the willingness to receive the digital receipt DR has to be confirmed by the customer before the trans fer of the digital receipt DR via the channel 270 . Such confirmation can be triggered by a respective action of the customer, for example by activating a respective activation means of the app 250 , e . g . a check box or a button etc . In this embodiment , the trans fer of the digital receipt DR from the digital receipt provisioning system DRPS 200 and its communication unit 230 , respectively, to the customer' s device 300 is executed only after such confirmation .

In any case , at this stage the process of generating and trans ferring the digital receipt DR to the customer is completed .

As an option, the DRPS 200 can be configured to provide a formal confirmation CONF to the payment register 100 about the trans fer of the digital receipt DR to the device 300 and to the customer, respectively . In a first embodiment , the generation and provisioning of the formal confirmation CONF is performed by the computing unit 220 as soon as the trans fer of the digital receipt DR to the device 300 has been executed, i . e . after the digital receipt DR has been sent of f by the communication unit 230 . Such execution can be reported by the communication unit 230 to the computing unit 220 and the confirmation CONF is generated and provided to the payment register 100 after such reporting REPO . In this case and as an additional measure after the trans fer of the digital receipt DR to the device 300 has been executed, the temporary wireless trans fer communication channel 270 can be terminated at this stage . In a second embodiment , the generation and provisioning of the formal confirmation CONF is performed by the computing unit 220 only after the device 300 has confirmed success ful reception of the digital receipt DR by generating and providing a reception confirmation CONFREC . For this or for other documentation or further purposes and as an option, the app 250 can be configured to provide the reception confirmation CONFREC to the communication unit 230 and to the digital receipt provisioning system 200 , respectively, via the communication channel 270 about success ful reception of the digital receipt DR at the device 300 . This confirmation CONFREC can be generated and trans ferred automatically, i . e . essentially managed by the app 250 itsel f , or it can be triggered by a respective action of the customer, for example by activating a respective activation means of the app 250 , e . g . a check box or a button etc . After such reception confirmation CONFREC has been received by the communication unit 230 , the digital receipt provisioning system DRPS 200 can communicate the completion of the process to the payment register 100 .

For this , the communication unit 230 can provide a respective reporting REPO about reception of the confirmation CONFREC to the computing unit 220 and the computing unit 220 provides the formal confirmation CONF about the completion of the process to the payment register 100 via the communication channel 210 . In this case and as an additional measure after having received the reception confirmation CONFREC, the temporary wireless trans fer communication channel 270 can be terminated at this stage .

As another option, the payment register 100 can process the provided formal confirmation CONF as a documentation for handing over the required receipt to the customer as it would process the provisioning of the traditional paper receipt . Optionally, the digital receipt provisioning system DRPS 200 can be equipped with a further communication module 240 and another communication channel 260 to a backend server 400 in order to enable reporting of , for example , a number of transactions of particular products in certain time spans and/or for ensuring potential future software updates the digital receipt provisioning system 200 . Further details of the transactions are not sent to the backend server 400 for data privacy reasons . The reporting of the number of transactions enables the of fering of business intelligence solutions to the vendor to optimi ze business even in case such data do not comprise privacy details about the transactions . For example , this allows to evaluate which products sell well during a particular time span, e . g . on a particular day, and which do not sell well in that time . The further communication module 240 can be embodied as a mobile communication module , e . g . based on a subscriber identity module ( S IM) technology . However, other wider-area-network options like Sigfox, Lora, NB- IoT are also possible . Yet another alternative for the reali zation of the further communication module 240 and the communication channel 260 is the use of more local network technologies to connect to an on-site infrastructure , like WiFi , Zigbee or Bluetooth .

Besides the components 210 , 220 , 230 , and -optionally- 240 of the digital receipt provisioning system DRPS 200 , which are essentially hardware components , the DRPS 200 also comprises the computer implemented app 250 . As mentioned above , the app 250 is installed on the concerned device 300 and can be configured to automatically agree with the communication unit 230 and its negotiation module 232 , respectively, which communication technology should be used for an upcoming trans fer of a digital receipt DR . Moreover, the app 250 can enable the customer to explicitly agree to starting the negotiation of the communication technology to be applied for the trans fer of the digital receipt DR . Also , the app 250 can enable the customer to explicitly agree to the legitimacy of the transfer communication channel 270 and the willingness to receive the digital receipt DR. As a further feature, the app 250 can either automatically confirm reception of the digital receipt DR or the app 250 can enable the customer to explicitly confirm such reception. The various enablements for the customer can be achieved by providing respective activation means, e.g. check boxes or buttons etc., in an user interface of the app 250.

FIG 2 shows a summarizing visualization of the method of providing a digital receipt DR which documents a purchase of a product by a customer from a vendor. Optional steps of the method a visualized by boxes with dashed lines. Details of individual method steps can be found in the respective sections of the description of FIG 1.

In a first step SI, the purchase of the product is finalized. The finalization triggers a second step S2 of the method in which receipt data RECDAT are generated by the payment register 100. In a third step S3, the receipt data RECDAT are provided via the communication channel 210 to the digital receipt provisioning system DRPS 200. The fourth step S4 includes the generation and the provisioning of the digital receipt DR based on the receipt data RECDAT and in the fifth step S5 the digital receipt DR is transferred from the digital receipt provisioning system DRPS 200 to the customer's device 300.

Therein, in the third step S3 the receipt data RECDAT are actually received by the computing unit 220 of the DPRS 200. The computing unit 220 generates in a first intermediate step S4.1 of the fourth method step S4 the digital receipt DR. In a second intermediate step S4.2 of the fourth step S4, the generated digital receipt DR is provided to the communication unit 230.

In more detail, the communication unit 230 establishes in a first intermediate step S5.1 of the fifth method step S5 the temporary wireless transfer communication channel 270 between the DRPS 200 and the device 300. The transfer of the digital receipt DR to the device 300 happens in a second intermediate step S5.2 of step S5 via the temporary wireless transfer communication channel 270. In case the DRPS 200 is equipped with more than one communication technology, the first intermediate step S5.1 itself comprises a first sub-step

55.1.1 and a second sub-step S5.1.2. In the first sub-step S5.1.1, the communication technology to be applied for the transfer of the digital receipt DR to the customer's device 300 is negotiated and fixed as described above. After such fixation and in the second sub-step S5.1.2, the temporary wireless transfer communication channel 270 is established correspondingly. In case the DRPS 200 is equipped with only one fixed communication technology, sub-steps S5.1.1 and

55.1.2 are not applicable.

With this, the provisioning of the digital receipt to the customer and its device 300, respectively, is completed.

As an option, the method can comprise a channel confirmation step CCS to be executed before the communication channel 270 is established, e.g. between sub-steps S5.1.1 and S5.1.2. The step CCS includes that the customer explicitly agrees to the legitimacy of the transfer communication channel 270 and the willingness to receive the digital receipt DR.

As a further option, the method can comprise a transfer confirmation step TCS of confirming the sending off of the digital receipt DR to the device 300 by the communication unit 230. Consequently, the transfer confirmation step TCS is executed after the fifth step S5 and after step S5.2, if applicable. The transfer confirmation step TCS includes the provisioning of a reporting REPO from the communication unit 230 to the computing unit 220 which confirms the sending off of the digital receipt DR to the device 300. As a further option, the method can comprise a reception confirmation step RCS of confirming the reception of the digital receipt DR by the device 300 by providing a confirmation CONFREC from the device 300 to the DRPS 200 and its communication unit 230 . The step RCS is executed after the digital receipt DR has been success fully received at the device 300 . As described above , the reception confirmation can be triggered automatically by the app 250 or manually by the customer . In any case , the step RCS , being an alternative or an addition to the trans fer confirmation step TCS , is executed after the fi fth step S5 and after step S5 . 2 , i f applicable . The reception confirmation step RCS includes the provisioning of a reporting REPO from the communication unit 230 to the computing unit 220 which confirms the reception of the confirmation CONFREC from the device 300 by the communication unit 230 .

As a further option, the method can comprise a process completion confirmation step PCCS in which the digital receipt provisioning system DRPS 200 provides a confirmation CONF to the payment register 100 about the trans fer of the digital receipt DR to the device 300 and to the customer, respectively . The process completion confirmation step PCCS is triggered by reception of the reporting REPO by the computing unit 220 which can be generated in the trans fer confirmation step TCS and/or in the reception confirmation step RCS , as described above .

The digital solution provided herewith achieves increased usability for the customer, being able to organi ze and store receipts in an ef ficient and transparent manner, e . g . ensuring to keep receipts in case of warranty cases , or ease of compiling data for potential tax returns etc . Especially, data privacy is guaranteed since the solution does not require any trans fer of any data to a central server or similar, but the whole process can be executed locally and on-site . The utili zation of the printing machine emulator 221 by the digital receipt provisioning system 200 achieves high compatibility to numerous payment registers 100 so that ef forts for integrating a digital receipt provisioning system 200 into an existing infrastructure are minimal . While the present invention has been described above by reference to various embodiments , it should be understood that many changes and modi fications can be made to the described embodiments . It is therefore intended that the foregoing description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting, and that it be understood that all equivalents and/or combinations of embodiments are intended to be included in this description . Thus , the invention is not restricted to the above illustrated embodiments but variations can be derived by a person skilled in the art without deviation from the scope of the invention .

Claims

23 Claims

1. Method for on-site provisioning of a digital receipt DR to a device (300) of a customer, wherein the digital receipt DR documents an in-person purchase of a product by the customer from a vendor and which is based on receipt data RECDAT, comprising

- a step S3 of receiving the receipt data RECDAT by an onsite digital receipt provisioning system (200) ,

- a step S4 of generating the digital receipt DR in a computing unit (220) of the digital receipt provisioning system (200) based on the received receipt data RECDAT,

- a step S5 of transferring the generated digital receipt DR to the device (300) by a communication unit (230) of the digital receipt provisioning system (200) .

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein in the step S4 the computing unit (220) applies a printing machine emulator (221) for generating the digital receipt DR.

3. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein in the step S5

- a communication unit (230) of the digital receipt provisioning system (200) establishes in a first intermediate step S5.1 of the step S5 a temporary wireless transfer communication channel (270) based on a fixed communication technology between the digital receipt provisioning system (200) and the device (300) ,

- the generated digital receipt DR is transferred to the device (300) via the temporary wireless transfer communication channel (270) in a second intermediate step S5.2 of step S5.

4. Method according to claim 3, wherein the communication unit (230) is configured to select the fixed communication technology in the first intermediate step S5.1 of the step S5 from a plurality of communication technologies, wherein the fixation of the fixed communication technology is executed - automatically in a negotiation process between the digital receipt provisioning system (200) and the device (300) or

- manually by operating an input device (231) of the communication unit (230) for manual fixation of the fixed communication technology.

5. Method according to any one of claims 3 to 4, wherein the temporary wireless transfer communication channel (270) is established after such establishing has been legitimated by the device (300) in a channel confirmation step CCS.

6. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein,

- in a transfer confirmation step TCS, a sending off of the digital receipt DR to the device (300) is confirmed, wherein the transfer confirmation step TCS includes a provisioning of a reporting REP=REPOT which confirms the sending off of the digital receipt DR to the device (300) , and/ or

- in a reception confirmation step RCS, a reception of the digital receipt DR by the device (300) is confirmed by the device (300) by providing a confirmation CONFREC from the device (300) to the digital receipt provisioning system (200) , wherein the reception confirmation step RCS is executed after the digital receipt DR has been received at the device (300) and wherein the reception confirmation step RCS includes a provisioning of a reporting REP=REPOR which confirms the reception of the confirmation CONFREC from the device (300) by the digital receipt provisioning system (200) .

7. Method according to claim 6, wherein, in a process completion confirmation step PCCS, the digital receipt provisioning system (200) provides a confirmation CONF to the payment register (100) about the transfer of the digital receipt DR to the device (300) as soon as the reporting REP has been provided.

8. Digital receipt provisioning system (200) , configured to execute a method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 for provisioning of a digital receipt DR to a device (300) , wherein the digital receipt DR is based on receipt data RECDAT provided by a data source (100) and documents an in- person purchase of a product by a customer, comprising

- an interface (210) which is configured to connect the digital receipt provisioning system (200) with the data source (100) for receiving the receipt data RECDAT from the data source (100) ,

- a computing unit (220) which is configured to generate the digital receipt DR based on the receipt data RECDAT,

- a communication unit (230) which is connected to the computing unit (220) to receive the digital receipt DR from the computing unit (220) and which is configured to transfer the received digital receipt DR to the device (300) .

9. System according to claim 8, wherein the computing unit (220) comprises a printing machine emulator (221) for generating the digital receipt DR based on the receipt data RECDAT .

10. System according to any one of claims 8 to 9, wherein the communication unit (230) is equipped with a plurality of communication technologies, wherein the communication unit (230) is configured for selection of one fixed communication technology of the plurality of communication technologies to be used for the transfer of the digital receipt DR to the device ( 300 ) .

11. System according to claim 10, wherein the communication unit (230) comprises a negotiation module (232) which is configured to automatically select the fixed communication technology from the plurality of communication technologies in a negotiation process between the digital receipt provisioning system (200) and the device (300) , in which the negotiation module (232) and the device (300) agree which one 26 of the plurality of communication technologies is to be applied for the transfer of the digital receipt DR to the device ( 300 ) .

12. System according to any one of claims 10 to 11, wherein digital receipt provisioning system (200) comprises an input device (231) for manual selection of the fixed communication technology from the plurality of communication technologies.

13. System according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein the system comprises a computer implementable application (250) to be installed on the device (300) , wherein the application (250) is configured to

- receive and display the digital receipt DR as transferred to the device (300) and/or

- confirm the establishing of a communication channel between the digital receipt provisioning system (200) and the device (300) for the transfer of the digital receipt DR and/ or

- confirm reception of the digital receipt DR at the device (300) automatically or by a input of a user of the device (300) and/or

- execute the negotiation process with the negotiation module (232) to automatically agree which one of the plurality of communication technologies is to be applied for the transfer of the digital receipt DR to the device (300) and/ or

- enable a user of the device (300) to agree to start the negotiation process with the negotiation module (232) .

14. System according to any one of claims 8 to 13, comprising a further communication module (240) for transmitting information about the purchase to a server (260) for evaluation .

15. System according to any one of claims 8 to 14, wherein the system (200) is configured to provide a confirmation CONF to the data source (100) via the interface (210) about the 27 transfer of the digital receipt DR to the device (300) as soon as a reporting REP has been provided, wherein

- the communication unit (230) is configured to provide a reporting REP=REPOT when a sending off of the digital receipt DR to the device (300) is completed and/or

- the communication unit (230) is configured to provide a reporting REP=REPOR which confirms the reception of a confirmation CONFREC from the device (300) by the communication unit 230, wherein the confirmation CONFREC is provided by the device (300) to the digital receipt provisioning system (200) when the digital receipt DR has been received by the device (300) .