<div dir="ltr">I'm not convinced this inversion is really a problem, but as this is quite a complex proposal (e.g. new barcode types) the best way to move it forward at this stage is to implement it in some existing wallets.<div>
<br></div><div>FWIW NFC is a lot more common than you might think. For the drive-thru case you could also consider using wifi hotspots with a special name or Bluetooth LE tags. So I suspect before trying to write a specification it'd be better to explore different technologies and see what works best in practice.</div>
<div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 9:44 PM, Paul Goldstein <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:paul@realfoot.com" target="_blank">paul@realfoot.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>Here's an idea for a BIP 70 extension to let wallets be scanned by merchant bar code readers to start off a payment request flow instead of the other way around (wallet scanning the merchant QR). Useful for brick and mortar merchants and mobile wallet apps.</div>
<div><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace">Motivation:</font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace">A mechanism is needed for mobile wallets to request a bill, so that a payment protocol flow can be initiated. Current mechanisms for initiating BIP70 payment flows generally require wallets to either scan a merchant barcode (not optimal, see below), or click on a specially formatted url link (only suitable while browsing and purchasing on a merchant website). </font></div>
<div><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace">Successful non-bitcoin mobile wallet apps to date (a popular coffee shop app comes to mind) allow for the wallet app to be scanned by the merchant and not the other way around (as is commonly done in bitcoin wallets today). For broad bitcoin adoption we need a mechanism for wallets to be scanned by merchant bar code readers at brick and mortar shops. This will also greatly ease checkouts at drive throughs and allows merchants to leverage existing hardware (barcode readers). </font></div>
<div><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace">Other technologies like NFC may obviate the need for this extension, however, those technologies remain somewhat uncommon and may not be suitable for smaller wearables hitting the market.</font></div>
<div><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace">message BillRequest {</font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace"> required uint64 time = 1;</font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace"> optional uint64 expires = 2;</font></div>
<div><font face="courier new, monospace"> required string bill_request_uri = 3;</font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace">} </font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace"><br>
</font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace">time - Unix timestamp (seconds since 1-Jan-1970 UTC) when the BillRequest was created.</font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace">expires <span style="white-space:pre-wrap">- </span>Unix timestamp (UTC) after which the BillRequest should be considered invalid (wallets may only be monitoring for messages for a short time).</font></div>
<div><font face="courier new, monospace">bill_req_addr - Typically a URL where a BIP70 payment request can be sent that is being monitored by the wallet. However this could also support URIs like "sms:860-555-1212" or "mailto:<a href="mailto:asdf@gmail.com" target="_blank">asdf@gmail.com</a>" allowing for a variety of connection options.</font></div>
<div><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace">Recommendations: it is recommended that wallet apps display a non-QR barcode like a PDF417 barcode to initiate the Bill Request flow. This will avoid confusion with existing QR code usage in wallet apps.</font></div>
<div><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace">--------</font></div><div><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Paul G.</font></div></div>
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