SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INCENTING RFID TRANSACTION DEVICE USAGE AT A MERCHANT LOCATION

• US 20050160003A1
• Filed: 04/07/2005
• Published: 07/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Berardi, Michael J., Elwood, Jennifer Anne, Bliman, Michal, VonWald, Kristin L., Perry, Trevor J., Hood, Matthew C., Isenberg, Susan E., Bonalle, David S., Saunders, Peter D.
• Application Number:
  US10/907,602
• Publication Number:
  US 20050160003A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.170
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/352 Contactless payments by cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/29 the pass containing active electronic elements, e.g. smartcards

Abstract

A system and method for providing incentives at a merchant location for using a RF identification (RFID) transaction device for transaction completion is provided. An RFID transaction device account number includes a marker for identifying that the transaction is being completed using an RFID transaction device. A merchant system recognizes the marker and provides incentives to the RFID device user accordingly. In one embodiment, the incentives are provided to an RFID device user in real-time. Alternatively, the merchant system may provide the incentives to the customer at a later time. Further still, incentives may be provided to the user based on a prior transaction history, user profile, or any other data related to the user, user account, merchant, product or service.

Claims

1. A method for incenting a radio frequency identification (RFID) transaction at a merchant system comprising:

receiving a transaction account number from an RFID transaction device;

identifying a transaction account number marker associated with said transaction account number; and

providing an incentive in accordance with said transaction account number marker.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing said transaction account number to a plurality of distinct transaction account numbers stored on a merchant database;

retrieving a transaction history related to said transaction account number, wherein said transaction account number correlates to at least one of said plurality of distinct transaction account numbers;

providing said incentive in accordance with said transaction history; and

storing a record of said incentive in said transaction history.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning a transaction history data file to said transaction account number, said transaction history data file being stored on a merchant system database; and

storing a record of said incentive in said transaction history data file.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing a transaction request in accordance with said incentive.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of providing an incentive comprises providing an incentive based upon at least one of prior transaction history, frequency of RFID device usage, amount of purchases using said RFID device, total amount of purchases in a given time period, geographical location of said merchant system, type of merchant, user profile, user data, user account data, merchant data, product data and service data.

6. A method for providing an incentive for completing a transaction using an RFID transaction device at a merchant system, said method comprising:

receiving a transaction account number, at a merchant system, from said RFID transaction device;

identifying said transaction account number as corresponding to said RFID transaction device; and

providing said incentive from said merchant system based on said transaction account number.

7. A merchant system for providing an incentive to an RFID transaction device user comprising:

a host configured to receive a transaction request, process said transaction request in accordance with an incentive wherein said incentive is received from a merchant database, and forward said transaction request to a transaction account issuer; and

,

said merchant database configured to store a transaction history, a loyalty file corresponding to a transaction account number, and an incentive file for storing a plurality of incentives to be provided to said RFID transaction device user.

8. A computer-readable storage medium containing a set of instructions for a general purpose compute, the computer readable medium configured for:

receiving a transaction account number from an RFID transaction device;

identifying a transaction account number marker associated with said transaction account number; and

providing an incentive in accordance with said transaction account number marker.