Facilitating consumer payments and redemptions of deal offers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11544728-B2
Application number	US-202117148908-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2021
Priority date	Jun 18, 2012
Publication date	Jan 3, 2023
Grant date	Jan 3, 2023

Abstract

Provided herein are systems, methods and computer readable storage media for facilitating payments for consumer transactions and redemption of deal offerings. In providing such functionality, the system can be configured to, for example, receive payment for one or more products, determine a deal voucher's current value and cause the redemption of the deal voucher.

First claim

That which is claimed:

1. A method comprising:
receiving payment transaction data from a merchant system via a network, the payment transaction data comprising data indicative of a transaction for a product or service and data indicative of a payment account being utilized to complete the transaction of the product or service;
retrieving, from a database, voucher data indicative of a previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher associated with the data indicative of a payment account, wherein the voucher data includes associations of stored deal vouchers with stored payment account identifier data that identify payment accounts used to purchase the stored deal vouchers,
wherein the retrieving of the voucher data associated with the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher is performed in response to determining that the data indicative of the payment account was received without receiving voucher identifier data;
preceding a completion of the transaction, determining that the data indicative of the payment account is associated with a payment account used to purchase the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher based on the voucher data; and
applying the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher to the transaction.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the data indicative of the payment account was utilized in a purchase of the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher that was not presented with the data indicative of the payment account during the transaction and subsequently received without also receiving identifier data associated with the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher from the merchant system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher to the transaction comprises:
in response to determining that the data indicative of the payment account is associated with the payment account used to purchase the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher:
determining a current monetary value of the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher;
transmitting deal voucher data, including at least the current monetary value of the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher to the merchant system via the network; and
processing the transaction using the payment account used to purchase the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
determining whether the product is associated with a second deal voucher, the second deal voucher having not been purchased by the payment account identified by the data indicative of the payment account;
in response to determining that the product is associated with the second deal voucher, the second deal voucher having not been purchased by the payment account, transmitting an offer for the second deal voucher to the merchant system;
receiving an indication to purchase the second deal voucher; and
in response to receiving the indication to purchase the second deal voucher, applying the second deal voucher to the transaction.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a voucher redeemed notification message from the merchant system, the voucher redeemed notification message including the voucher identifier data.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
retrieving the voucher data from a database based on the voucher identifier data; and
updating the voucher data to indicate redemption of the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher.

7. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
receive payment transaction data from a merchant system via a network, the payment transaction data comprising data indicative of a transaction for a product or service and data indicative of a payment account being utilized to complete the transaction of the product or service;
retrieve, from a database, voucher data indicative of a previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher associated with the data indicative of a payment account, wherein the voucher data includes associations of stored deal vouchers with stored payment account identifier data that identify payment accounts used to purchase the stored deal vouchers,
wherein the retrieving of the voucher data associated with the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher is performed in response to determining that the data indicative of the payment account was received without receiving voucher identifier data;
preceding a completion of the transaction, determine that the data indicative of the payment account is associated with a payment account used to purchase the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher based on the voucher data; and
apply the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher to the transaction.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
determine that the data indicative of the payment account was utilized in a purchase of the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher that was not presented with the data indicative of the payment account during the transaction and subsequently received without also receiving identifier data associated with the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher from the merchant system.

9. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein applying the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher to the transaction comprises:
in response to determining that the data indicative of the payment account is associated with the payment account used to purchase the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher:
determining a current monetary value of the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher;
transmitting deal voucher data, including at least the current monetary value of the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher to the merchant system via the network; and
processing the transaction using the payment account used to purchase the previously purchased, unredeemed deal voucher.

10. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
determine whether the product is associated with a second deal voucher, the second deal voucher having not been purchased by the payment account identified by the data indicative of the payment account;
in response to the determination that the product is associated with the second deal voucher, the second deal voucher having not been purchased by the payment account, transmit an offer for the second deal voucher to the merchant system;
receive an indication to purchase the second deal voucher; and
in response to receiving the indication to purchase the second deal voucher, apply the second deal voucher to the transaction.

11. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive a voucher redeemed notification message from the merchant system, the voucher redeemed notification message including the voucher identifier data.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
retrieve the voucher data from a database based on the voucher identifier data; and
update the voucher data to indicate redemption of the previously purchased, unredeemed dea

Assignees

• Groupon Inc

Inventors

• Kim Ben
• Puckett Joshua
• Zaytsev Andrey
• Alston Gene
• Park Richard
• Mcconnell Thomas Joseph

Classifications

• G06Q30/0222

  During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions · CPC title

• G06Q30/0207

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

• G06Q30/0238

  at point-of-sale [POS] · CPC title

• G06Q30/0215 Primary

  Including financial accounts · CPC title

• G06Q30/0268

  at point-of-sale [POS] · CPC title