Consumer specific conditional rewards

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10121152-B2
Application number	US-86248707-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2007
Priority date	Sep 29, 2006
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

A set of conditional rewards are associated with a consumer. Thereafter, notice of a reward is given for each of the consumer's transactions upon one of the consumer's accounts that satisfies one of the conditional rewards in the set. The set may be selected by the consumer, or by the issuer such as when the issuer uses a transaction history of purchases made on the consumer's account to determine the set of conditional rewards that would match a past purchasing trend of the consumer. A Globally Unique Identifier, unique within a plurality of transaction processing systems, can be associated with the consumer and used to match the transactions to a corresponding conditional reward.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
sending, by a computing apparatus and to a communications device associated with a consumer, a first set of conditional rewards derived based on a transaction history of the consumer, the first set of conditional rewards associated with a first account category for a first account of the consumer;
receiving, by the computing apparatus, a first subset of conditional rewards selected by the consumer from the first set of conditional rewards;
storing, by the computing apparatus, in a database, a globally unique identifier associated with the first subset of conditional rewards, the first account of the consumer, and the first account category of the first account;
setting, by the computing apparatus, a trigger to change processing by a transaction handler from processing a conditional reward for a purchase transaction at a level of processing based on a bank identification number to processing a conditional reward for a purchase transaction based on the first subset of conditional rewards;
receiving, by the computing apparatus and via a communication network, first transaction information regarding a first purchase transaction between the consumer and a merchant conducted on the first account of the consumer using a first portable consumer device, wherein the first transaction information regarding a first purchase transaction includes the globally unique identifier associated with the first subset of conditional rewards and the first account of the consumer;
after receiving the first transaction information, accessing, by the computing apparatus, the database;
determining, by the computing apparatus and using the globally unique identifier, that the first purchase transaction satisfies a first conditional reward within the first subset of conditional rewards based on accessing the database, wherein determining that the first purchase transaction satisfies the first conditional reward within the first subset of conditional rewards comprises:
determining that the globally unique identifier included in the first transaction information regarding the first purchase transaction matches the globally unique identifier associated with the first subset of conditional rewards and the first account of the consumer stored in the database;

overriding, by the computing apparatus, processing of the first purchase transaction at the level of the bank identification number based on the trigger, the overriding comprising processing the first purchase transaction based on the first conditional reward within the first subset of conditional rewards;
automatically changing, by the computing apparatus and in the database an association of the globally unique identifier from the first account category of the first account of the consumer to a second account category of a second account of the consumer based on an analysis of past purchase transactions, accessed via the database, wherein the analysis of the past purchase transactions is performed based on transaction information regarding the past purchase transactions conducted on the first account of the consumer;
in response to changing the association of the globally unique identifier from the first account category of the first account of the consumer, automatically sending, by the computing apparatus, to the communication device associated with the consumer, a second set of conditional rewards derived based on a frequency of the past purchase transactions conducted on the first account of the consumer within a time period for a type of inventory from the merchant, wherein the second set of conditional rewards is associated with the second account category, and each of the second set of conditional rewards representing a value to be credited to the consumer upon a satisfaction of a condition for a future purchase transaction between the consumer and the merchant, wherein the future purchase transaction is to be for the type of inventory;
storing, by the computing apparatus and in the database, the globally unique identifier associated with the second set of conditional rewards, the second account of the consumer, and the second account category of the second account;
storing, by the computing apparatus and in the database, an association between the globally unique identifier, a first account identifier of the first account of the consumer associated with the first portable consumer device, and a second account identifier of the second account of the consumer associated with a second portable consumer device;
receiving, by the computing apparatus and via the communication network, second transaction information regarding a second purchase transaction between the consumer and the merchant conducted using the first portable consumer device, wherein the second transaction information regarding the second purchase transaction includes the globally unique identifier;
after receiving the second transaction information, accessing, by the computing apparatus, the database;
determining, by the computing apparatus and using the globally unique identifier, that the second purchase transaction satisfies a second conditional reward within the second set of conditional rewards based on accessing the database, wherein determining that the second purchase transaction satisfies the second conditional reward within the second set of conditional rewards comprises:
determining that the globally unique identifier included in the second transaction information regarding the second purchase transaction matches the globally unique identifier associated with the second set of conditional rewards, the second account of the consumer stored in the database, and the second account category of the second account, and
determining that the globally unique identifier is stored in the database in association with the first account identifier of the first account of the consumer associated with the first portable consumer device;

subsequent to the second purchase transaction, activating, by the computing apparatus, the second account of the consumer associated with the second portable consumer device and inactivating the first account of the consumer associated with the first portable consumer device, wherein the second account of the consumer associated with the second portable consumer device is valid for purchase transactions conducted using the second portable consumer device based on the computing apparatus activating the second account of the consumer associated with the second portable consumer device and the first account of the consumer associated with the first portable consumer device is invalid for transactions based on the computing apparatus inactivating the first account of the consumer associated with the first portable consumer device;
in response to determining that the second purchase transaction satisfies the second conditional reward within the second set of conditional rewards, transmitting, by the computing apparatus, a notification to the communication device associated with the consumer, the transmitting to provide notice on the communication device associated with the consumer that the second purchase transaction satisfies the second conditional reward, and to enable linking by the communication device associated with the consumer to a website at which the second conditional reward can be redeemed, via a web-enabled session; and
in response to detection of a bank identification number received from a transaction terminal of the merchant during processing of the second purchase transaction using the second portable consumer device, activating, by the computing apparatus, processing, by the transaction handler, of the second conditional reward independent of the first subset of conditional rewards, the processing comprising invoking a predetermined computing operation associated with the second conditional reward.

Assignees

• Fordyce Iii Edward W
• Patel Karteek Hasmukh
• Bodington Shaun
• Visa Usa Inc

Inventors

• Fordyce Iii Edward W
• Patel Karteek Hasmukh
• Bodington Shaun

Classifications

• G06Q30/02 Primary

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title

• G06Q30/0207

  Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates · CPC title

• G06Q30/0234

  Rebates after completed purchase · CPC title