Patent ID: 8468054

Claim:
An identification system comprising: a database storing mappings between vendor identifiers and rules useful in generating conveyable information that is used to identify a user or another item and that is in a format understandable by a system used by a vendor that corresponds to a vendor identifier, the mappings including at least: a first mapping between a first vendor identifier and a first rule useful in generating conveyable information that is used to identify a user or another item and that is in a first format understandable by a system used by a first vendor that corresponds to the first vendor identifier, and a second mapping between a second vendor identifier and a second rule useful in generating conveyable information that is used to identify a user or another item and that is in a second format understandable by a system used by a second vendor that corresponds to the second vendor identifier, the second mapping being different than the first mapping, the second vendor identifier being different than the first vendor identifier, the second rule being different than the first rule, the second format being different than the first format, and the second vendor being different than the first vendor; and a processing device that is configured to communicate with the database and that is configured to perform operations comprising: receiving, based on user input provided by a particular user, a request related to generating conveyable information for a particular vendor; based on the request, searching the mappings stored in the database using an identifier associated with the particular vendor; based on results of the searching, determining at least one rule useful in generating conveyable information for the particular vendor, the determining at least one rule useful in generating conveyable information for the particular vendor comprising determining a transform needed to transform the identification information into the format understandable by the system used by the particular vendor; determining identification information for a type of conveyable information requested by the particular user from which the request was received; generating conveyable information understandable by a system used by the particular vendor by applying the determined at least one rule useful in generating conveyable information for the particular vendor to the determined identification information for the type of conveyable information requested by the particular user; and causing, at a mobile device, output of the generated conveyable information to enable identification of the type of conveyable information requested by the particular user to a system of the particular vendor through the output of the mobile device.