Gift card conversion and digital wallet

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11250416-B2
Application number	US-202117231055-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2021
Priority date	Mar 17, 2011
Publication date	Feb 15, 2022
Grant date	Feb 15, 2022

Abstract

A method and a system convert the value of a gift card for use with a mobile device. The value of the gift card is determined from an issuer of the gift card. The value of the gift card is stored in a digital payment account in a storage device. The digital payment account stores values of gift cards from issuers. A financial transaction corresponding to the issuer of the gift card is performed on the digital payment account. The value of a first gift card from a first issuer of a first digital payment account is exchanged with the value of a second gift card from a second issuer of a second digital payment account.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer system comprising:
one or more hardware processors; and
executable instructions accessible on a computer-readable storage medium that, when executed, cause the one or more hardware processors to perform operations comprising:
generating a first link, in a first mobile computing device, between an account associated with the first mobile computing device and a gift card;
aggregating a balance of the account with a balance of the gift card; and
in response to a presentation of a representation of the first gift card on the first mobile computing device, initiating, via the first mobile computing device and the first link, a financial transaction based on the balance of the gift card.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
retrieving an updated value of the gift card from an issuer of the gift card; and
updating the gift card balance based on the updated value of the gift card.

3. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the gift card balance is in digital wallet associated with the mobile device and the first link is generated between the digital wallet and the account associated with the first mobile device.

4. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the account associated with the mobile device is a checking account associated with a user who is associated with the mobile device.

5. The computer system of claim 4 , the operations further comprise:
conducting the financial transaction using the gift card balance; and
updating the gift card balance based on the financial transaction.

6. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the account associated with the mobile device is a disposable gift card financial account associated with a user who is associated with the mobile device.

7. The computer system of claim 6 , wherein the operations further comprise deleting the disposable gift card financial account when the gift card balance becomes zero.

8. A method comprising:
generating a first link, in a first mobile computing device, between an account associated with the first mobile computing device and a gift card;
aggregating a balance of the account with a balance of the gift card; and
in response to a presentation of a representation of the first gift card on the first mobile computing device, initiating, via the first mobile computing device and the first link, a financial transaction based on the balance of the gift card.

9. The method of claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
retrieving an updated value of the gift card from an issuer of the gift card; and
updating the gift card balance based on the updated value of the gift card.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the gift card balance is in digital wallet associated with the mobile device and the first link is generated between the digital wallet and the account associated with the first mobile device.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the account associated with the mobile device is a checking account associated with a user who is associated with the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 11 , the operations further comprise:
conducting a financial transaction using the gift card balance; and
updating the gift card balance based on the financial transaction.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the account associated with the mobile device is a disposable gift card financial account associated with a user who is associated with the mobile device.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise deleting the disposable gift card financial account when the gift card balance becomes zero.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing a set of instructions, the set of instructions executable by one or more computer processors to perform operations comprising:
generating a first link, in a first mobile computing device, between an account associated with the first mobile computing device and a gift card;
aggregating a balance of the account with a balance of the gift card; and
in response to a presentation of a representation of the first gift card on the first mobile computing device, initiating, via the first mobile computing device and the first link, a financial transaction based on the balance of the gift card.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , the operations further comprising:
retrieving an updated value of the gift card from an issuer of the gift card; and
updating the gift card balance based on the updated value of the gift card.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the gift card balance is in digital wallet associated with the mobile device and the first link is generated between the digital wallet and the account associated with the first mobile device.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the account associated with the mobile device is a checking account associated with a user who is associated with the mobile device.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18 , the operations further comprise:
conducting the financial transaction using the gift card balance; and
updating the gift card balance based on the financial transaction.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the account associated with the mobile device is a disposable gift card financial account associated with a user who is associated with the mobile device and the operations further comprise deleting the disposable gift card financial account when the gift card balance becomes zero.

Assignees

• Ebay Inc

Inventors

• Yankovich Steve
• Melcher Ryan
• Veres Robert Dean

Classifications

• G06Q30/06 Primary

  Buying, selling or leasing transactions · CPC title

• G06Q20/3276

  using a pictured code, e.g. barcode or QR-code, being read by the M-device · CPC title

• G06Q40/04

  Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange · CPC title

• G06Q20/351

  Virtual cards · CPC title

• G06Q20/28

  Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before" · CPC title