Patent ID: 7810720

Claim:
A system for generating a sales transaction comprising: a merchant terminal for communicating with a customer computing device, said merchant terminal comprising: an optical scanner, said optical scanner directed to said customer computing device for reading information displayed thereon; and a merchant display device for displaying a first optically readable pattern, said optically readable pattern having merchant transaction information encoded thereon; said customer computing device comprising: a customer display device for displaying a second optically readable pattern, said second optically readable pattern having customer transaction information encoded thereon; and an optical camera for reading said merchant transaction information from said merchant display device; wherein said optical scanner reads customer account information from said customer display device, said merchant terminal communicates independently from said customer computing device with a financial institution associated with said customer account information to obtain approval for said transaction; said merchant terminal displaying transaction receipt information on said merchant display device; said optical camera reading said transaction receipt information from said merchant display device; wherein said optical scanner comprises a scanning window having a first side for positioning articles to be scanned and a second side for housing the scanning apparatus, wherein said merchant display is disposed on said second side of said scanning window, said optical scanner configured for the positioning of said customer computing device on said first side of said scanning window in a position capable of allowing scanning of said customer display device by said optical scanner and subsequent reading of said merchant display device by said customer optical camera without repositioning said customer display device or said merchant display or a component thereof.