System and method for discounting fuel

• US 20060293947A1
• Filed: 06/22/2005
• Published: 12/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Excentus Corporation (Professional Datasolutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Excentus Corporation (Professional Datasolutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nicholson, G. Randy
• Granted Patent: US 7,742,942 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0227 Frequent usage incentive value reconciliation between diverse systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0232 Frequent usage rewards other than merchandise, cash or travel
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

A system and method of discounting a price-per-unit (PPU) of fuel during a fueling transaction by a customer at a fuel merchant. In one aspect, the invention identifies an issuer of the customer'"'"'s credit card, associates the issuer with a PPU discount for the fuel, and discounts the posted PPU by an amount equal to the PPU discount associated with the identified credit card issuer. In another aspect, the invention determines that the customer participates in a reward program with a vendor with whom the fuel merchant has a relationship agreement for providing PPU discounts for fuel in exchange for redeemed reward points from the reward program. The customer'"'"'s reward points are converted to a PPU discount, and the posted PPU of the fuel is discounted accordingly.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of discounting a price-per-unit (PPU) of fuel at a fuel merchant, said method comprising:

reading a customer'"'"'s financial card number to begin a fueling transaction at the fuel merchant;

identifying an issuer of the financial card by analyzing the financial card number;

associating the identified issuer of the financial card with a PPU discount for the fuel;

discounting a PPU of the fuel posted on the fuel dispenser by an amount equal to the PPU discount associated with the identified issuer of the financial card; and

dispensing fuel to the customer at the discounted PPU.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying an issuer of the financial card includes analyzing a Bank Identification Number (BIN) range within the financial card number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating the identified issuer of the financial card with a PPU discount for the fuel includes:

retrieving from a relationship database, the PPU discount associated with the identified issuer of the financial card, wherein the relationship database associates a PPU discount with at least one financial card issuer.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing in the relationship database, identities of a plurality of financial card issuers, wherein each given financial card issuer is associated with a PPU discount negotiated by the given financial card issuer and the fuel merchant.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the PPU discount associated with the identified issuer of the financial card is a fixed discount value that does not vary with the posted PPU of the fuel.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the PPU discount associated with the identified issuer of the financial card is a percentage of the posted PPU of the fuel, and the method further comprises, prior to the discounting step, the step of calculating a current PPU discount based on the PPU of the fuel posted on the fuel dispenser and the percentage PPU discount.

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

calculating a redeemed discount by multiplying the PPU discount by the number of units of fuel purchased in the fueling transaction;

providing the redeemed discount to a clearing mechanism; and

allocating the redeemed discount between the issuer of the financial card and the fuel merchant.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of providing the redeemed discount to a clearing mechanism includes the steps of:

storing the redeemed discount in a redeemed discounts database; and

interfacing the clearing mechanism with the redeemed discounts database.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising transferring funds by the clearing mechanism from an account associated with the financial card issuer to an account associated with the fuel merchant, wherein the transferred funds are equal to the redeemed discount.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial card is selected from a group consisting of credit cards, debit cards, and loyalty cards.

11. A system for discounting a price-per-unit (PPU) of fuel at a fuel merchant, said system comprising:

an input device in a fuel dispenser for reading a customer'"'"'s financial card number to begin a fueling transaction at the fuel merchant;

means for identifying an issuer of the financial card by analyzing the financial card number;

a relationship database for associating the identified issuer of the financial card with a PPU discount for the fuel; and

a dispenser controller for retrieving the PPU discount from the relationship database and discounting a PPU of the fuel posted on the fuel dispenser by an amount equal to the retrieved PPU discount.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the input device is selected from a group consisting of a magnetic card reader, a smart card reader, a radio frequency identification device (RFID) controller, an audio recognition device, a biometric recognition device, and an optical reader.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the relationship database stores identities of a plurality of financial card issuers, wherein each given financial card issuer is associated with a PPU discount negotiated by the given financial card issuer and the fuel merchant.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for calculating a redeemed discount by multiplying the PPU discount by the number of units of fuel purchased in the fueling transaction

means for providing the redeemed discount to a clearing mechanism; and

means for allocating the redeemed discount between the issuer of the financial card and the fuel merchant.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the means for providing the redeemed discount to a clearing mechanism includes:

a redeemed discounts database; and

an interface adapted to provide the clearing mechanism with access to the redeemed discounts database.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the clearing mechanism includes means for transferring funds from an account associated with the financial card issuer to an account associated with the fuel merchant, wherein the transferred funds are equal to the redeemed discount.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the financial card is selected from a group consisting of credit cards, debit cards, and loyalty cards.

18. A computer-implemented method of discounting a price-per-unit (PPU) of fuel during a fueling transaction by a customer at a fuel merchant, said method comprising:

reading the customer'"'"'s financial card number to begin the fueling transaction;

identifying the customer by analyzing the financial card number;

determining that the identified customer participates in a reward program with a vendor with whom the fuel merchant has a relationship agreement for providing PPU discounts for fuel in exchange for redeemed reward points from the reward program;

exchanging at least a portion of the customer'"'"'s reward points for a predefined PPU discount for fuel, said predefined PPU discount being associated with the vendor;

discounting the PPU of the fuel posted on the fuel dispenser by an amount equal to the predefined PPU discount; and

dispensing fuel to the customer at the discounted PPU.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the vendor is an airline, and the reward points are frequent flyer miles.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

calculating a redeemed discount by multiplying the PPU discount by the number of units of fuel purchased in the fueling transaction;

converting the redeemed reward points to a cash value at a rate agreed upon by the vendor and the fuel merchant;

crediting cash value equal to the redeemed discount to an account associated with the fuel merchant; and

debiting cash value equal to the redeemed discount to an account associated with the vendor.

21. A computer-implemented method of discounting a price-per-unit (PPU) of fuel during a fueling transaction by a customer at a fuel merchant, said method comprising:

reading the customer'"'"'s financial card number to begin the fueling transaction;

identifying the customer by analyzing the financial card number;

determining that the identified customer participates in a reward program with a reward point host with whom the fuel merchant has a relationship agreement for providing PPU discounts for fuel in exchange for redeemed reward points from the reward program;

retrieving from the reward point host, information regarding the customer'"'"'s available reward points;

converting the customer'"'"'s available reward points to a PPU discount for fuel;

discounting the PPU of the fuel posted on the fuel dispenser by an amount equal to the PPU discount; and

dispensing fuel to the customer at the discounted PPU.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising, after the converting step, the step of obtaining the customer'"'"'s approval to apply the PPU discount to the fueling transaction.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of obtaining the customer'"'"'s approval includes the steps of:

providing the customer with a number of different PPU discounts associated with redemption of different numbers of reward points; and

receiving a selection by the customer of an approved PPU discount.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

calculating a redeemed discount by multiplying the PPU discount by the number of units of fuel purchased in the fueling transaction; and

providing the redeemed discount to a clearing mechanism.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of providing the redeemed discount to a clearing mechanism includes the steps of:

storing the redeemed discount in a redeemed discounts database; and

interfacing the clearing mechanism with the redeemed discounts database.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising transferring funds by the clearing mechanism from an account associated with the reward point host to an account associated with the fuel merchant, wherein the transferred funds are equal to the redeemed discount.