The proximity method is Parousya's patented approach to identifying the right provider nearby and paying them without the two devices ever connecting directly. A provider broadcasts a short range signal over Bluetooth, NFC, ultra wideband, or WiFi Direct; the customer's phone detects it, identifies the nearest provider, and the transaction routes through a central server. Two United States patents anchor it, the parent US10657515B2 and the divisional US11392923B2, granted and validated across eleven jurisdictions. Nothing is sent until the customer chooses to act.
What the proximity method is
The proximity method is a way to identify the right provider nearby and pay them based on presence, rather than on a tap, a scan, or a location on a map. When a customer is beside the correct car, counter, or seller, the payment can be made without a gesture aimed at a machine. Presence is the trigger, and identification of the specific provider is the work.
It is not a wallet and not a terminal. It is a method, protected by patents, that a product or engineering team can build on. The two ideas that define it are that the customer's phone and the provider never connect directly, and that nothing is sent until the customer chooses to act. Everything else follows from those two commitments.
The two devices never connect directly.
Two channels: presence and payment
The method runs on two separate channels, and keeping them apart is what makes it work. A short range radio channel proves presence: the provider broadcasts, and the customer's phone senses the broadcast and identifies the nearest provider. A network channel moves the money: the pairing registers with a central server, and the transaction routes through that server to the right recipient.
The short range channel answers a question of place, which is who is near whom. The network channel answers a question of intent, which is what the customer wants to pay and to whom. Because the two channels never merge, the phone and the provider each talk only to the server, and never to each other. That separation is the reason the devices never connect directly.
The method, step by step
In practice the method moves through five steps. The first two happen over the air, close to the provider. The last three happen through the central server. Presence is established before intent, and money moves only on intent.
| Step | What happens | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Broadcast | A provider emits a short range signal | Short range radio |
| Detect and identify | The phone senses the signal and picks the nearest provider | Short range radio |
| Register the pairing | The phone and provider are paired through a central server | Network |
| Confirm | The customer chooses to act; nothing is sent before this | Network |
| Route | The server sends the transaction to the right recipient | Network |
The patents behind the method
Two United States patents anchor the method, and both share a priority date of 26 June 2014. The parent, US10657515B2, covers proximity identification and server routed payment, the core of the two channel architecture. The divisional, US11392923B2, extends it with three further capabilities. Reading the two together defines what a licensee can build.
| Patent | Priority date | Granted | Active until | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US10657515B2 (parent) | 26 June 2014 | 19 May 2020 | 29 November 2035 | Proximity identification and server routed payment |
| US11392923B2 (divisional) | 26 June 2014 | 19 July 2022 | 2 October 2035 | Third party querying, identification without payment, standalone device claims |
Where the method is granted
The method is granted and validated in eleven jurisdictions: the United States, China, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, and as a European Unitary Patent. That coverage spans North America, the major European markets, and several of the largest markets in Asia.
Australia is patent pending rather than granted, so it sits outside the eleven. A team evaluating a specific market should confirm coverage for that market against the current grants rather than assume it. The list above is the set that is granted and validated today.
What the divisional adds
The divisional patent US11392923B2 widens the method in three directions. Third party querying lets an authorized third party ask about a presence or a pairing, which matters wherever someone other than the two parties needs to confirm who is where. This capability belongs to the divisional, not to the parent.
Identification without a payment lets presence be established on its own, with no charge attached. That is the basis for safety and confirmation uses, where the point is to know that the right person is at the right place, not to move money. Standalone device claims cover the device side of the method directly, not only the system as a whole.
For a product team, those three capabilities widen what can be built under a single license. A safety feature that only confirms presence, an authorized platform that queries a pairing, or a device that implements the method itself all fall within the divisional's scope.
How to license the method
Parousya Technologies holds and licenses these patents rather than shipping a consumer product. The method fits teams whose customers pay, or are identified, at close range: rideshare and robotaxi, healthcare, retail, social commerce, and taxi safety. What they share is one hard problem, turning presence into a trusted action without a manual step and without the two devices connecting directly.
A licensing conversation starts with the use case, not the paperwork. The industry, the radio you plan to build on, and the device you have in mind shape the scope, and the scope shapes the terms. Bringing those three to the first conversation keeps it short.
Common questions
- What is the proximity method?
- Parousya's patented way to identify the right provider nearby and pay by presence. A provider broadcasts a short range signal, the phone identifies the nearest provider, and the payment routes through a central server, so the two devices never connect directly.
- Do the customer's phone and the provider connect directly?
- No, never. Each device talks only to the central server, which holds the pairing and routes the transaction. Keeping the devices apart removes the attack surface a direct link would create, and it is a core principle of the method.
- Which radios does the method use?
- Bluetooth, NFC, ultra wideband, or WiFi Direct. Naming several radios rather than one keeps the same method usable as device support and regulation shift, and lets it match range and precision to the setting.
- Where is the method patented?
- It is granted and validated in eleven jurisdictions: the United States, China, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, and as a European Unitary Patent. Australia is patent pending, not granted.
- What does the divisional patent add?
- US11392923B2 adds three capabilities to the parent: third party querying, identification without a payment, and standalone device claims. Third party querying belongs to the divisional alone.
Sources
- How does tap to pay work?The tap the method moves beyond.
- What is geofencing?Why location is not proximity.
- How do robotaxis work?The curbside handshake in practice.
- Server routed transaction, definedWhy the payment goes through a server.
- Divisional patent, definedHow the divisional extends the parent.
- Rideshare and robotaxiThe method's clearest use case.