Methods and systems for using a mobile device to effect a secure electronic transaction

This invention describes a system for secure mobile payments where a user's phone never directly sends their payment information. Instead, the phone sends basic user identification and details about the transaction to a secure backend server. This server then retrieves the user's payment information and sends it directly to the merchant's payment system to complete the purchase. The claims specify that the transaction can occur with various entities like e-commerce sites or physical terminals, and the payment target can be a merchant server or point-of-sale terminal.