A new patent from Amazon for a mobile payment method that protects a user’s personal information was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office yesterday.

The payment method uses temporary identifiers and codes, and relies on text messages for transmitting information.

Both parties to the transaction would need to be registered with Amazon’s service.

To use the service, the person making the payment sends a text to Amazon’s service indicating a payment amount. A code would be generated which could then be passed on to the payee, who could use it to credit his own Amazon account. The payee, in other words, does not receive confidential details about the payment method, or even who is sending the payment. Codes can be set to expire after a period of time has passed.

Controlling both ends of a transaction, protecting financial data … Sound a bit like PayPal? You bet. The text-based operation also seems like a departure for Amazon.

Amazon is nipping at PayPal’s heels in the mobile payment space. Mobile commerce platform provider ShopVisible pegged PayPal’s share of mobile payments at 46%, and Amazon Payments’ at 32%. Both topped credit cards, which came in at just 22%.

As it stands this is just a patent, but Amazon has a wealth of users’ credit cards on file and a broad and established platform for moving money online. You can bet this move got PayPal’s attention.