Smart payment instrument selection

• US 20040024703A1
• Filed: 07/30/2002
• Published: 02/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Roskind, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,930,270 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/227 characterised in that multiple accounts are available, e.g. to the payer
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/357 Cards having a plurality of specified features
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system

Abstract

A method and apparatus is provided for constructing and using a smart wallet, i.e. a repository of payment instruments, such as, for example, credit cards, with automatic selection when making a purchase in an online environment. In one embodiment of the invention, the wallet service first finds the intersection of acceptable instruments between a merchant and a user. For example, the invention matches a list of user held credit cards against a list of acceptable credit cards at a merchant. The wallet service then intelligently selects, or at least ranks in order, the payment instruments based on value to the customer. The ranking can take into account: a) cash back rates; b) mileage rates for the specific potential purchase; and c) temporal discounts such as shipping or coupon discounts for the specific product type; etc. The act of automatically making a selection of a payment instrument, such as a credit card, in an online environment is analogous to what a human does when buying things at a store. The advantage is that an automatic system can integrate all the discount notices and coupons that are typically mailed to a cardholder. The system preferably presumes that a smart wallet is given information about a transaction, and has collected information about the payment instruments.

Claims

1. A method for automatically selecting a payment instrument, comprising the steps of:

notifying a merchant application of a desire to make a purchase transaction for an offered product or service;

said merchant application sending information comprising information of said purchase transaction to a corresponding smart wallet application, said smart wallet application having stored discount information and information about one or more payment instruments;

said smart wallet application processing said purchase transaction information and said discount information and suggesting at least one payment instrument from said one or more payment instruments; and

selecting a payment instrument from said suggested at least one payment instrument.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said sent information from said merchant application further comprises payment instruments acceptable by said merchant application.

3. The method of claim 2, said processing step further comprising the step of:

said smart wallet finding an intersection of said stored one or more payment instruments and said payment instruments acceptable by said merchant application.

4. The method of claim 1, said suggesting at least one payment instrument further comprising the step of:

ranking said at least one payment instruments in order based on a predetermined value.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

said smart wallet application sending said selected payment instrument information to said merchant application for further processing.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

said smart wallet application automatically suggesting and selecting said payment instrument based on predetermined criteria.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

said smart wallet application contacting a bank with said selected payment instrument.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

said merchant application contacting a bank with said selected payment instrument.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said sent selected payment instrument information is encoded.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing discount information to said smart wallet application on an on-going basis for storing and tracking.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said providing discount information step further comprises any of the steps of, or any combination of steps of, but by no means limited to the steps of:

sending said discount information by electronic means; and

data processors inputting said discount information.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

using said smart wallet application as a discount tracker to review available discounts.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing for multiple financial instrument selections for a single purchase to obtain multiple discounts.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

bundling multiple purchases for charging to said selected payment instrument, when no other discounts by any other payment instruments are offered.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

said smart wallet application making purchasing needs suggestions based on stored information.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said discount information comprises, but is by no means limited to:

temporal discounts;

cash back rates; and

mileage rates.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said payment instrument is any of, but is by no means limited to, a credit card, a debit card, and the like.

18. An apparatus for automatically selecting a payment instrument, comprising:

means for notifying a merchant application of a desire to make a purchase transaction for an offered product or service;

means for said merchant application sending information comprising information of said purchase transaction to a corresponding smart wallet application, said smart wallet application having stored discount information and information about one or more payment instruments;

means for said smart wallet application processing said purchase transaction information and said discount information and suggesting at least one payment instrument from said one or more payment instruments; and

means for selecting a payment instrument from said suggested at least one payment instrument.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said sent information from said merchant application further comprises payment instruments acceptable by said merchant application.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, means for processing further comprising:

means for said smart wallet finding an intersection of said stored one or more payment instruments and said payment instruments acceptable by said merchant application.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, said means for suggesting at least one payment instrument further comprising:

means for ranking said at least one payment instruments in order based on a predetermined value.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for said smart wallet application sending said selected payment instrument information to said merchant application for further processing.

23. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for said smart wallet application automatically suggesting and selecting said payment instrument based on predetermined criteria.

24. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for said smart wallet application contacting a bank with said selected payment instrument.

25. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for said merchant application contacting a bank with said selected payment instrument.

26. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said sent selected payment instrument information is encoded.

27. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for providing discount information to said smart wallet application on an on-going basis for storing and tracking.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said means for providing discount information further comprises any of, or any combination of, but by no means limited to:

means for sending said discount information by electronic means; and

means for data processors inputting said discount information.

29. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for using said smart wallet application as a discount tracker to review available discounts.

30. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for providing for multiple financial instrument selections for a single purchase to obtain multiple discounts.

31. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for bundling multiple purchases for charging to said selected payment instrument, when no other discounts by any other payment instruments are offered.

32. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for said smart wallet application making purchasing needs suggestions based on stored information.

33. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said discount information comprises, but is by no means limited to:

temporal discounts;

cash back rates; and

mileage rates.

34. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said payment instrument is any of, but is by no means limited to, a credit card, a debit card, and the like.