Transactions with reward points

• US 10,497,027 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2018
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Basheer, Sibish, Chirravuri, Nageshwara R., Durvasula, Sastry V S M, Govindasamy, Ravi, Koul, Priyadarshini, Kumar, Ashish, Manivannan, Premkumar, Muthukrishnan, Sathish B., Sood, Varun, Zafar, Sohail
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Luis A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Johnson, Robert C
• Application Number:
  US15/904,749
• Publication Number:
  US 20180181998A1
• Time in Patent Office: 645 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/08 Payment architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/384 using social networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/425 using two different networks, one for transaction and one for security confirmation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting

Abstract

A method comprises receiving, by a computer-based system for processing a transaction, a notification that a transaction account holder has taken an action, taking, in near real time, an action in response to the action taken by the transaction account holder, and/or communicating with a web-client associated with the transaction account holder in response to the action taken by the transaction account holder. The communicating with the web-client may occur in near real time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

supplementing, by a computer, profile information of a transaction account holder based on an interaction with a social media channel and a transaction;

transmitting, by the computer and to a web-client associated with the transaction account holder, a list of information available for selection by the transaction account holder;

transmitting, by the computer and to the web-client, transaction information associated with the transaction account holder;

determining, by the computer and in response to the selection, that the transaction account holder is a first time customer of a merchant or an existing customer of the merchant;

determining, by the computer and in response to being the existing customer of the merchant, a number of times the transaction account holder visited the merchant;

supplementing, by the computer, the profile information of the transaction account holder with the transaction information, with the number of times the transaction account holder visited the merchant, and with social media profile information,

wherein the supplementing is based on being the existing customer, the selection from the list of information and purchase data associated with the transaction account holder;

removing, by the computer, a subset of the profile information to create an anonymized profile;

providing, by the computer and in response to the removing, the anonymized profile to a merchant system of the merchant;

receiving, by the computer and from the merchant system and in response to the providing, a plurality of offers tailored to the transaction account holder based on the anonymized profile;

determining, by the computer and based on a business rule, a subset of the plurality of offers for which the transaction account holder is eligible;

transmitting, by the computer, the subset of the plurality of offers to the web-client of the transaction account holder;

receiving, by the computer and from the web-client, a selection of an offer from the subset of the plurality of offers; and

applying, by the computer, the offer to at least a portion of the transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising taking, by the computer, a second action in response to the interaction taken by the transaction account holder.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating, by the computer and to the web-client, a transaction account balance, a record of a transaction request and a list of recent transactions, in response to the interaction taken by the transaction account holder.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the computer and to the merchant system, suggested services based upon the profile information associated with the transaction account holder.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising supplementing, by the computer, the profile information based on the transaction account holder submitting an account number to the merchant system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the offer to the web-client of the transaction account holder is via the social media channel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a location of the transaction account holder is monitored via at least one of transactions by the transaction account holder or triangulation based technology using the web-client of the transaction account holder.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising tailoring, by the computer, the offer to be associated with a location of the transaction account holder.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by a computer, a trigger that the transaction account holder conducted the interaction with the social media channel.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying, by the computer and in response to receiving an authorization trigger, an employer of the transaction account holder about a use of a transaction account for the transaction.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction information includes at least one of a record of a transaction request for the purchase transaction, a transaction account balance, or a list of recent transactions.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer, a redemption of the offer from the transaction account holder; and

transmitting, by the computer and to the web-client and in response to receiving the redemption, an option to conduct at least the portion of the transaction using reward points.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the computer, the offer to a corporation system associated with the transaction account holder.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of rewards points associated with the offer are applied at least one of to the transaction or as a credit on a statement.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising supplementing, by the computer, the profile information with profiles established by at least one of the computer, a company, a transaction account profile, a public profile, a consumer created profile, a first profile created from a public database or a second profile created from a private database.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein communications between the computer and the merchant system uses point-to-point technology that is implemented using a frame relay system.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising supplementing, by the computer, the interaction with a first action including at least one of a spend based trigger, a threshold based trigger, a frequency based trigger, a category based trigger or a social event trigger.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the interaction includes at least one of a post to the social media channel or checking in with a location based service.

19. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

supplementing, by the computer, profile information of a transaction account holder based on an interaction with a social media channel and a transaction;

transmitting, by the computer and to a web-client associated with the transaction account holder, a list of information available for selection by the transaction account holder;

transmitting, by the computer and to the web-client, transaction information associated with the transaction account holder;

determining, by the computer and in response to the selection, that the transaction account holder is a first time customer of a merchant or an existing customer of the merchant;

determining, by the computer and in response to being the existing customer of the merchant, a number of times the transaction account holder visited the merchant;

supplementing, by the computer, the profile information of the transaction account holder with the transaction information, with the number of times the transaction account holder visited the merchant, and with social media profile information,

wherein the supplementing is based on being the existing customer, the selection from the list of information and purchase data associated with the transaction account holder;

removing, by the computer, a subset of the profile information to create an anonymized profile;

providing, by the computer and in response to the removing, the anonymized profile to a merchant system of the merchant;

receiving, by the computer and from the merchant system and in response to the providing, a plurality of offers tailored to the transaction account holder based on the anonymized profile;

determining, by the computer and based on a business rule, a subset of the plurality of offers for which the transaction account holder is eligible;

transmitting, by the computer, the subset of the plurality of offers to the web-client of the transaction account holder;

receiving, by the computer and from the web-client, a selection of an offer from the subset of the plurality of offers; and

applying, by the computer, the offer to at least a portion of the transaction.

20. A computer system comprising:

a tangible, non-transitory memory communicating with a processor,

the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations;

supplementing, by the processor, profile information of a transaction account holder based on an interaction with a social media channel and a transaction;

transmitting, by the processor and to a web-client associated with the transaction account holder, a list of information available for selection by the transaction account holder;

transmitting, by the processor and to the web-client, transaction information associated with the transaction account holder;

determining, by the processor and in response to the selection, that the transaction account holder is a first time customer of a merchant or an existing customer of the merchant;

determining, by the processor and in response to being the existing customer of the merchant, a number of times the transaction account holder visited the merchant;

supplementing, by the processor, the profile information of the transaction account holder with the transaction information, with the number of times the transaction account holder visited the merchant, and with social media profile information,

wherein the supplementing is based on being the existing customer, the selection from the list of information and purchase data associated with the transaction account holder;

removing, by the processor, a subset of the profile information to create an anonymized profile;

providing, by the processor and in response to the removing, the anonymized profile to a merchant system of the merchant;

receiving, by the processor and from the merchant system and in response to the providing, a plurality of offers tailored to the transaction account holder based on the anonymized profile;

determining, by the processor and based on a business rule, a subset of the plurality of offers for which the transaction account holder is eligible;

transmitting, by the processor, the subset of the plurality of offers to the web-client of the transaction account holder;

receiving, by the processor and from the web-client, a selection of an offer from the subset of the plurality of offers; and

applying, by the processor, the offer to at least a portion of the transaction.