Method and systems for providing merchant services with right-time creation and updating of merchant accounts

• US 20040054625A1
• Filed: 09/17/2002
• Published: 03/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Weis, David G., Sharpee, Alan R., Kellogg, Linda L., Spurlock, Tony W., Mathison, Steven W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,424,455 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/41
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing merchant services with right-time creation and updating of merchant accounts. Merchant-specific information for each merchant is stored in a record and used to process purchase card transactions submitted by the merchant. When a user creates or updates a merchant account record, the user can indicate whether the update is to take effect immediately or at a user-specified later time. An immediate update is processed substantially without delay. Other updates are queued for later processing and processed at the user-specified later time.

Claims

1. A method for providing purchase card transaction processing services to a plurality of merchants, the method comprising:

associating a merchant account record with each merchant, the merchant account record including a plurality of fields for storing merchant-specific information;

processing a non-monetary transaction to update a merchant account record associated with a merchant, including;

identifying the merchant account record to be updated;

receiving input data including information identifying which of the plurality of fields is to be updated and new data to be stored in the identified field;

receiving an effective date on which the identified field is to be updated, the effective date corresponding to either immediate updating or updating at a subsequent scheduled time;

upon receiving an effective date corresponding to immediate updating;

updating the identified field to store the new data, wherein updating the field is performed substantially without delay upon receiving the effective date;

upon receiving an effective date corresponding to updating at a subsequent scheduled time;

queuing the input data in association with the effective date in an eventing queue;

automatically and periodically checking the eventing queue to determine whether the effective date has arrived; and

when the effective date has arrived, updating the identified field to store the new data; and

subsequently using the merchant-specific information from the updated merchant account record to process a monetary purchase card transaction submitted by the merchant.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an updated merchant information file from the updated merchant account record, wherein during processing of a monetary purchase card transaction, merchant-specific information is obtained by accessing the updated merchant information file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein processing a monetary purchase card transaction includes:

receiving transaction data for the monetary purchase card transaction from the merchant, the transaction data including a purchase card identifier and a transaction type identifier;

determining from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant is authorized to accept a purchase card corresponding to the purchase card identifier;

determining from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant is authorized to submit transactions of a type corresponding to the transaction type identifier; and

routing the transaction to a routing destination.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein processing a monetary purchase card transaction further includes:

creating a ticket record in a ticket data store using the transaction data for the monetary purchase card transaction; and

adding ticket status information to the ticket record, wherein the ticket status information is updated to reflect a current status of processing of the purchase card transaction.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein processing a monetary purchase card transaction further includes:

determining a transaction total from the transaction data;

determining a discount rate from the merchant-specific information; and

computing a net deposit amount by reducing the transaction total according to the discount rate.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein processing a monetary purchase card transaction further includes:

transferring funds corresponding to the net deposit amount to a merchant account for the merchant, wherein an identifier of the merchant account is included in the merchant-specific information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the merchant-specific information for the merchant includes a plurality of account identifiers, each account identifier associated with at least one of a plurality of usage codes, the method further comprising:

selecting one of the plurality of usage codes; and

using the account identifier associated with the selected usage code to identify the merchant account to which funds corresponding to the net deposit amount are to be transferred.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein processing a monetary purchase card transaction further includes:

determining from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant participates in a reserve; and

when the merchant participates in a reserve;

computing a reserve adjustment amount;

reducing the net deposit amount by the reserve adjustment amount;

transferring funds corresponding to the reserve adjustment amount to a reserve for the merchant; and

transferring funds corresponding to the reduced net deposit amount to a merchant account for the merchant.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to queuing the input data in association with the effective date in the eventing queue, performing an edit check to detect a conflict between the input data and reference data; and

notifying a user when a conflict is detected.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the reference data is data in another field of the merchant record.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the reference data is data relating to industry rules.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to queuing the input data in association with the effective date in the eventing queue, checking the eventing queue to detect a previously entered pending update to the same merchant account record; and

when a previously entered pending update is detected, notifying a user.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding a new merchant for which purchase card transactions are to be processed, wherein adding a new merchant includes:

creating a new merchant account record for storing merchant-specific information for the new merchant;

populating at least one of a plurality of fields in the new merchant account record with respective default values;

receiving input data including a value for at least one of the plurality of fields;

in response to a user request, activating the new merchant account, thereby enabling the new merchant to submit purchase card transactions, wherein activating the new merchant account is performed either substantially without delay upon receiving the user request or at a subsequent scheduled time, the user request specifying when activating the new merchant account is to be performed; and

subsequent to activating the new merchant account, using the merchant-specific information from the new merchant account record to process monetary purchase card transactions for the new merchant.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein activating the new merchant account includes:

generating a new merchant information file from the respective default values and the input data,

wherein during processing of monetary purchase card transactions for the new merchant, the merchant-specific information is obtained by accessing the new merchant information file.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a single user request, processing a non-monetary transaction to update more than one of the plurality of merchant account records, including;

identifying from the single user request a group of merchant account records to be updated;

receiving input data, including information identifying a field in each of the group of merchant account records to be updated and new data to be stored in the identified field; and

updating the identified field in each of the group of merchant account records either without substantial delay or at a subsequent scheduled time, wherein the input data specifies when the identified field is to be updated.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein processing a non-monetary transaction to update more than one of the plurality of merchant account records further includes:

receiving an effective date for the update, the effective date corresponding to either immediate updating or updating at a subsequent scheduled time; and

wherein updating the identified field in each of the group of merchant account records includes;

upon receiving an effective date corresponding to immediate updating, updating the identified field in each of the group of merchant account records without substantial delay; and

upon receiving an effective date corresponding to updating at a subsequent scheduled time;

queuing the input data in association with the effective date and the identified group of merchant account records in the eventing queue;

automatically and periodically checking the eventing queue to determine whether the effective date has arrived; and

when the effective date has arrived, updating the identified field in each of the group of merchant account records.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a single user request, updating a plurality of fields in one of the merchant account records using predetermined new data.

18. A method for providing purchase card transaction processing services to a plurality of merchants, the method comprising:

associating a merchant account record with each merchant, the merchant account record including a plurality of fields for storing merchant-specific information;

processing a non-monetary transaction to update a merchant account record associated with a merchant, including;

identifying the merchant account record to be updated;

receiving input data including information identifying which of the plurality of fields is to be updated and new data to be stored in the identified field;

performing an edit check to detect a conflict between the input data and reference data, wherein a user is notified upon detection of a conflict;

checking an eventing queue to detect a previously entered pending update to the same merchant account record, wherein a user is notified upon detection of a previously entered pending update;

receiving an effective date on which the identified field is to be updated, the effective date corresponding to either immediate updating or updating at a subsequent scheduled time;

upon receiving an effective date corresponding to immediate updating;

updating the identified field to store the new data, wherein updating the field is performed substantially without delay upon receiving the effective date;

upon receiving an effective date corresponding to updating at a subsequent scheduled time;

queuing the input data in association with the effective date in the eventing queue;

automatically and periodically checking the eventing queue to determine whether the effective date has arrived; and

when the effective date has arrived, updating the identified field to store the new data; and

subsequently using the merchant-specific information from the updated merchant account record to process a monetary purchase card transaction submitted by the merchant.

19. A method for providing purchase card transaction processing services to a plurality of merchants, comprising:

creating a new merchant account record for a new one of the plurality of merchants, the new merchant account record including a plurality of fields for storing merchant-specific information;

populating at least one of the fields with respective default values;

receiving input data for at least one of the fields;

in response to a user request, activating the new merchant account record, thereby enabling the new merchant to submit purchase card transactions for processing, wherein activating the new merchant account record is performed either substantially without delay upon receiving the user request or at a subsequent scheduled time; and

subsequently using the merchant-specific information from the new merchant account record to process a monetary purchase card transaction submitted by the new merchant.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the user request specifies when the activation of the new merchant account record is to be performed.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

generating a merchant information file from the merchant account record, wherein during processing of monetary transactions, merchant-specific information is obtained by accessing the merchant information file.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein processing a monetary purchase card transaction includes:

receiving transaction data for the monetary purchase card transaction from the merchant, the transaction data including a purchase card identifier and a transaction type identifier;

determining from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant is authorized to accept a purchase card corresponding to the purchase card identifier;

determining from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant is authorized to submit transactions of a transaction type; and

routing the transaction to a routing destination.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein processing a monetary purchase card transaction further includes:

creating a ticket record in a ticket data store using the transaction data received from the merchant; and

adding ticket status information to the ticket record, wherein the ticket status information is updated to reflect a current status of processing of the purchase card transaction.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein processing a monetary purchase card transaction further includes:

determining a transaction total from the transaction data;

determining a discount rate from the merchant-specific information; and

computing a net deposit amount by reducing the transaction total according to the discount rate.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein processing a monetary purchase card transaction further includes:

transferring funds corresponding to the net deposit amount to the merchant account for the merchant, wherein an identifier of the merchant account is included in the merchant-specific information.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the merchant-specific information for the merchant includes a plurality of account identifiers, each account identifier associated with at least one of a plurality of usage codes, the method further comprising:

selecting one of the plurality of usage codes; and

using the account identifier associated with the selected usage code to identify the merchant account to which funds corresponding to the net deposit amount are to be transferred.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein processing a monetary purchase card transaction further includes:

determining from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant participates in a reserve; and

when the merchant participates in a reserve;

computing a reserve adjustment amount;

reducing the net deposit amount by the reserve adjustment amount;

transferring funds corresponding to the reserve adjustment amount to a reserve for the merchant; and

transferring funds corresponding to the reduced net deposit amount to the merchant account.

28. The method of claim 19, wherein receiving input data for at least one of the fields includes:

performing an edit check to detect a conflict between the input data and reference data;

notifying a user if a conflict is detected; and

updating the at least one field if a conflict is not detected.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the reference data is data in another field of the merchant record.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the reference data is data relating to industry rules.

31. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

processing a non-monetary transaction to update one of the plurality of merchant records, wherein processing a non-monetary transaction includes;

identifying the merchant account record to be updated;

receiving input data including information identifying which of the plurality of fields is to be updated and new data to be stored in the identified field;

receiving an effective date on which the identified field is to be updated, the effective date corresponding to either immediate updating or updating at a subsequent scheduled time;

upon receiving an effective date corresponding to immediate updating;

updating the identified field to store the new data, wherein updating the field is performed substantially without delay upon receiving the effective date;

upon receiving an effective date corresponding to updating at a subsequent scheduled time;

queuing the input data in association with the effective date in an eventing queue;

automatically and periodically checking the eventing queue to determine whether the effective date has arrived; and

when the effective date has arrived, updating the identified field to store the new data.

32. A system for providing purchase card transaction processing services to a plurality of merchants, comprising:

a data store having a merchant account record associated with each of the plurality of merchants, each merchant account record including a plurality of fields for storing merchant-specific information;

control logic configured to process a non-monetary transaction to update a merchant account record associated with a merchant, including;

control logic configured to identify the merchant account record to be updated;

control logic configured to receive input data including information identifying which of the plurality of fields is to be updated, new data to be stored in the identified field, and an effective date on which the identified field is to be updated, the effective date corresponding to either immediate updating or updating at a subsequent scheduled time;

control logic configured to update the identified field to store the new data substantially without delay upon receiving an effective date corresponding to immediate updating;

control logic configured to queue the input data in an eventing queue upon receiving an effective date corresponding to updating at a subsequent scheduled time; and

control logic configured to automatically and periodically check the eventing queue to determine whether the effective date has arrived and to update the identified field to store the new data when the effective date has arrived; and

control logic configured to process a monetary purchase card transaction submitted by the merchant using the merchant-specific information from the updated merchant account record.

33. The system of claim 32, further comprising:

control logic configured to generate an updated merchant information file from the updated merchant account record,

wherein the control logic configured to process a monetary purchase card transaction is further configured to access the merchant information file to obtain the merchant-specific information.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the control logic configured to process a non-monetary transaction further includes:

control logic configured to detect a conflict between the input data and reference data and to notify a user when a conflict is detected.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the reference data is data in another field of the merchant account record.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein the reference data is data relating to industry rules.

37. The system of claim 32, wherein the control logic configured to process a non-monetary transaction further includes:

control logic configured to check the eventing queue to detect a previously entered pending update to the merchant account record and to notify a user when a previously entered pending update is detected.

38. The system of claim 32, further comprising:

control logic configured to create a new merchant account record for a new one of the plurality of merchants;

control logic configured to populate at least one of the fields in the new merchant account record with respective default values;

control logic configured to receive input data for at least one of the fields;

control logic configured to activate the new merchant account record in response to a user request, thereby enabling the new merchant to submit purchase card transactions for processing, wherein activating the new merchant account record is performed either substantially without delay upon receiving the user request or at a subsequent scheduled time.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the user request specifies when the activation of the new merchant account is to be performed.

40. The system of claim 38, further comprising:

control logic configured to generate a new merchant information file from the respective default values and the input data, wherein during processing of monetary purchase card transactions for the new merchant, the merchant-specific information is obtained by accessing the new merchant information file.

41. The system of claim 32, further comprising:

control logic configured to process a non-monetary transaction to update more than one of the plurality of merchant account records in response to a single user request, including;

control logic configured to identify from the single user request a group of merchant account records to be updated;

control logic configured to receive input data including information identifying a field in each of the group of merchant account records to be updated and new data to be stored in the identified field; and

control logic configured to update the identified field in each of the group of merchant account records, either without substantial delay or at a subsequent scheduled time, wherein the input data specifies when the identified field is to be updated.

42. The system of claim 32, further comprising:

control logic configured to update a plurality of fields in one of the merchant account records using predetermined new data in response to a single user request.

43. The system of claim 32, wherein the control logic configured to process a monetary purchase card transaction includes:

control logic configured to receive transaction data for the monetary purchase card transaction from the merchant, the transaction data including a purchase card identifier and a transaction type identifier;

control logic configured to determine from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant is authorized to accept a purchase card corresponding to the purchase card identifier;

control logic configured to determine from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant is authorized to submit transactions of a type corresponding to the transaction type identifier; and

control logic configured to route the transaction to a routing destination.

44. The system of claim 43, further comprising:

a ticket data store having a ticket record for each of a plurality of tickets;

control logic configured to create a new ticket record in the ticket data store using the transaction data received from the merchant; and

control logic configured to add ticket status information to the new ticket record, wherein the ticket status information is updated to reflect a current status of processing of the purchase card transaction.

45. The system of claim 43, further comprising:

control logic configured to determine a net deposit amount from the transaction data; and

control logic configured to transfer funds corresponding to the net deposit amount to a merchant account for the merchant, wherein an identifier of the merchant account is included in the merchant-specific information for the merchant.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein:

the merchant-specific information for the merchant includes a plurality of account identifiers, each account identifier associated with at least one of a plurality of usage codes; and

the control logic configured to transfer funds is further configured to select one of the plurality of usage codes and to use the account identifier associated with the selected usage code to identify the merchant account to which funds corresponding to the net deposit amount are to be transferred.

47. The system of claim 45, wherein the control logic configured to determine a net deposit amount from the transaction data includes:

control logic configured to determine a transaction total from the transaction data and to reduce the transaction total according to a discount rate, thereby generating an adjusted transaction amount; and

control logic configured to determine from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant participates in a reserve and, upon determining that the merchant participates in a reserve, to reduce the adjusted transaction amount by a reserve adjustment amount,

wherein the net deposit amount is equal to the adjusted transaction amount when the merchant does not participate in a reserve and the net deposit amount is equal to the reduced adjusted transaction amount when the merchant does participate in a reserve.

48. A system for providing purchase card transaction processing services to a plurality of merchants, comprising:

control logic configured to create a new merchant account record for a new one of the plurality of merchants, the new merchant account record including a plurality of fields for storing merchant-specific information;

control logic configured to populate at least one of the fields with respective default values;

control logic configured to receive input data for at least one of the fields;

control logic configured to activate the new merchant account record in response to a user request, thereby enabling the new merchant to submit purchase card transactions for processing, wherein activating the new merchant account record is performed either substantially without delay upon receiving the user request or at a subsequent scheduled time; and

control logic configured to use the merchant-specific information from the new merchant account record to process a monetary purchase card transaction submitted by the new merchant.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein the user request specifies when activating the new merchant account is to be performed.

50. The system of claim 48, further comprising:

control logic configured to generate a new merchant information file from the respective default values and the input data,

wherein the control logic configured to process a monetary purchase card transaction for the new merchant is further configured to obtain the merchant-specific information by accessing the new merchant information file.

51. The system of claim 48, further comprising:

control logic configured to process a non-monetary transaction to update a merchant account record associated with one of the plurality of merchants, including;

control logic configured to identify the merchant account record to be updated;

control logic configured to receive input data including information identifying which of the plurality of fields is to be updated, new data to be stored in the identified field, and an effective date on which the identified field is to be updated, the effective date corresponding to either immediate updating or updating at a subsequent scheduled time;

control logic configured to update the identified field to store the new data substantially without delay upon receiving an effective date corresponding to immediate updating;

control logic configured to queue the input data in an eventing queue upon receiving an effective date corresponding to updating at a subsequent scheduled time; and

control logic configured to automatically and periodically check the eventing queue to determine whether the effective date has arrived and to update the identified field to store the new data when the effective date has arrived.

52. The system of claim 48, wherein the control logic configured to process a monetary purchase card transaction includes:

control logic configured to receive transaction data for the monetary purchase card transaction from the merchant, the transaction data including a purchase card identifier and a transaction type identifier;

control logic configured to determine from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant is authorized to accept a purchase card corresponding to the purchase card identifier;

control logic configured to determine from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant is authorized to submit transactions of a type corresponding to the transaction type identifier; and

control logic configured to route the transaction to a routing destination.

53. The system of claim 52, further comprising:

a ticket data store having a ticket record for each of a plurality of tickets;

control logic configured to create a new ticket record in the ticket data store using the transaction data received from the merchant; and

control logic configured to add ticket status information to the new ticket record, wherein the ticket status information is updated to reflect a current status of processing of the purchase card transaction.

54. The system of claim 52, further comprising:

control logic configured to determine a net deposit amount from the transaction data; and

control logic configured to transfer funds corresponding to the net deposit amount to a merchant account for the merchant, wherein an identifier of the merchant account is included in the merchant-specific information for the merchant.

55. The system of claim 54, wherein:

the merchant-specific information for the merchant includes a plurality of account identifiers, each account identifier associated with at least one of a plurality of usage codes; and

the control logic configured to transfer funds is further configured to select one of the plurality of usage codes and to use the account identifier associated with the selected usage code to identify the merchant account to which funds corresponding to the net deposit amount are to be transferred.

56. The system of claim 54, wherein the control logic configured to determine a net deposit amount from the transaction data includes:

control logic configured to determine a transaction total from the transaction data and to reduce the transaction total according to a discount rate, thereby generating an adjusted transaction amount; and

control logic configured to determine from the merchant-specific information whether the merchant participates in a reserve and, upon determining that the merchant participates in a reserve, to reduce the adjusted transaction amount by a reserve adjustment amount,

wherein the net deposit amount is equal to the adjusted transaction amount when the merchant does not participate in a reserve and the net deposit amount is equal to the reduced adjusted transaction amount when the merchant does participate in a reserve.