Method and system for issuing, aggregating and redeeming merchant loyalty points with an issuing bank
First Claim
1. A method of operating a reward points system in conjunction with a network, the network interconnecting with a plurality of merchants and at least one issuing bank for issuing a credit card to a user, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. a user executing a purchase transaction with a merchant;
b. the user presenting a token during the purchase transaction, the token having a user identification associated therewith;
c. the merchant providing purchase transaction information to the issuing bank via the network to enable the issuing bank to add reward points to a merchant reward point account associated with the merchant and the user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A loyalty reward point system that utilizes the pre-existing infrastructure of network such as a credit card network. A user makes a purchase at a merchant using a token such as a credit card. As part of the purchase transaction, the user is awarded reward points from the merchant based on the purchase, which are stored in an account associated with the merchant and the user by the issuing bank. The reward account is maintained on the issuing bank server on behalf of the merchant and the user, and the number of reward points in the user'"'"'s account for that merchant is increased accordingly. The user may redeem the reward points earned from the transaction with the merchant at a later time, or may redeem the points with another merchant in the same marketing cluster, or may aggregate those reward points with those of other merchants into a reward point exchange account, and then redeem the aggregated reward points for goods or services from any approved merchant on the network, depending on the configuration of the system.
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Citations
100 Claims
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1. A method of operating a reward points system in conjunction with a network, the network interconnecting with a plurality of merchants and at least one issuing bank for issuing a credit card to a user, the method comprising the steps of:
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a. a user executing a purchase transaction with a merchant;
b. the user presenting a token during the purchase transaction, the token having a user identification associated therewith;
c. the merchant providing purchase transaction information to the issuing bank via the network to enable the issuing bank to add reward points to a merchant reward point account associated with the merchant and the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 89, 98, 99)
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51. A reward points system operating on a network, the network interconnecting with a plurality of merchants and at least one issuing bank for issuing a credit card to a user, wherein:
the merchant comprises;
means for executing a purchase transaction with a user;
means for accepting presentation of a token by a user for payment of the purchase transaction, the token having a user identification associated therewith; and
means for providing purchase transaction information to the issuing bank via the network to enable the issuing bank to add reward points to a merchant reward point account associated with the merchant and the user. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 100)
Specification