Generation and tracking of referrals in receipts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10909563-B1
Application number	US-201815980653-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 15, 2018
Priority date	Oct 30, 2014
Publication date	Feb 2, 2021
Grant date	Feb 2, 2021

Abstract

Introduced is a technology for facilitating a referral between a referrer and a referee, including the generation of the referral and the tracking of the referral redemption by the referee. The technology enables a customer to send a referral about a merchant to a friend by simply providing contact information associated with that friend (e.g., email address, telephone number, etc.), and further enables the friend to redeem a promotional offer included in the referral upon a use of the friend's payment card at the merchant's point-of-sale (POS) system, without having to provide any further information. In some instances, a transfer of a referral reward (e.g., points, discount, payment, etc.) is also transferred to the referrer in response to the redemption by the referee.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more processors;
a networking interface to communicate with:
a first point-of-sale (POS) system associated with a first merchant, the first POS system including a payment instrument reader device, and
a second POS system associated with a second merchant; and

a storage device storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the system to perform operations comprising:
receiving, via the networking interface from the first POS device, first transaction information including an indication of a first product and first payment card information collected by the payment instrument reader;
receiving an acceptance message indicating a promotional offer for a second product associated with the first product;
generating first data associating, at least partly in response to receiving the acceptance message, the first payment card information with the promotional offer for the second product;
receiving, via the networking interface from the second POS device, second transaction information including an indication of the second product and the first payment card information;
generating, based at least in part on the first data associating the first payment card information with the promotional offer for the second product, second data indicating that the second transaction information includes the indication of the second product; and
transmitting, based at least in part on the second data and via the networking interface to the second POS device, instructions to apply a deduction to a transaction amount associated with second product included in the second transaction information, the instructions causing an application associated with the second POS device to apply the deduction.

2. The system as claim 1 recites, wherein:
the acceptance message further indicates contact information; and
the operations further comprise:
transmitting, based at least in part on the contact information, a first receipt to a first customer device associated with a first customer, the first receipt indicating at least some of the first transaction information; and
transmitting, based at least in part on the contact information, a second receipt to the first customer device associated with the first customer, the second receipt indicating at least some of the second transaction information.

3. The system as claim 1 recites, wherein:
the acceptance message further indicates recipient information; and
the operations further comprise:
transmitting, based at least in part on the recipient information, an indication of the promotional offer to a second customer device associated with a second customer;
receiving a second acceptance from the second customer device, the second acceptance indicating the promotional offer and including second payment card information;
associating, at least partly in response to receiving the acceptance message, the second payment card information with the promotional offer;
receiving, via the networking interface from the first POS device or the second POS device, third transaction information including the second payment card information; and
transmitting, based at least in part on determining that the second payment card information and the third transaction information is associated with the promotional offer and via the networking interface to the first POS device or the second POS device, instructions to apply the deduction to a second transaction amount associated with the third transaction information.

4. The system as claim 3 recites, wherein the operations further comprise determining, at least partly in response to determining that the third transaction information is associated with the promotional offer, that a first user, associated with the first payment card information, referred the promotional offer to a second user, associated with the second payment card information.

5. The system as claim 4 recites, wherein the operations further comprise:
associating a referral payment amount with the first payment card information;
receiving fourth transaction data, via the networking interface from the first POS device or the second POS device, fourth transaction information including the first payment card information; and
transmitting, via the network interface to the first POS device or the second POS device, instructions to apply the referral payment amount to the further transaction data.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive, from a first POS device that includes a payment card reader, first transaction information including an indication of a first item, wherein the first POS device is associated with a first merchant;
receive, from the first POS device or a first user device, a first acceptance indicating a promotional offer for the first item or a second item associated with the first item and recipient information associated with a second user;
generate first data associating, based at least in part on receiving the first acceptance, the promotional offer with at least a portion of the first transaction information associated with the first item;
transmit, to a second user device associated with the second user and based at least in part on receiving the recipient information, a referral message indicating the promotional offer;
receive, from the second user device, a second acceptance;
generate second data associating, based at least in part on receiving the second acceptance, the promotional offer with the recipient information;
receive, from the first POS device or a second POS device associated with a second merchant, second transaction information including an indication of the first item or the second item;
determine that the second transaction information corresponds to the portion of the first transaction information associated with the first item or at least a portion of the recipient information; and
transmit, based at least in part on the determining and to the first POS device or the second POS device, instructions to apply a deduction associated with the promotional offer to a transaction amount associated with the first item or the second item included in the second transaction information before execution of the second transaction is completed, the instructions causing an application associated with the first POS device or the second POS device to apply the deduction.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claim 6 recites, wherein:
the second acceptance indicates second payment card information;
the second transaction information includes at least the portion of the recipient information; and
the instructions further cause the one or more processors to transmit, to the first POS device or the second POS device and based at least in part on the determining, the second payment card information and instructions to process the transaction amount, less the deduction, using the second payment card information.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claim 7 recites, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
determine, based at least in part on determining that the second transaction information corresponds to the portion of the recipient information, that the first user referred the second user; and
associate, based at least in part on the first user referring the second user, a payment credit with the first payment card information.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claim 7 recites, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
receive, from the first

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Aaron Paul
• Omi Keisuke
• Lutsky Merrill
• Prather Hillary
• Mccauley Nathan

Classifications

• G06Q30/0215 Primary

  Including financial accounts · CPC title

• G06Q30/0214 Primary

  Referral reward systems · CPC title