MOBILE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXCHANGING POINT VALUE

• US 20090048916A1
• Filed: 08/14/2007
• Published: 02/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Sayor, Virginia G., Nuzum, Todd, Friedman, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 8,838,472 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.140
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0212 Chance discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0233 Method of redeeming a frequent usage reward
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A transaction is conducted at a merchant location using redeemed loyalty points maintained in a loyalty point account for a customer. The transactions are conducted using a mobile device at a POS terminal. In response to receiving a customer ID from the mobile device, a loyalty server provides the monetary value of loyalty points. The customer may use the mobile device to redeem those points and have the value transferred into a financial account. A payment processing system connected to the POS terminal completes the transaction using the financial account.

Claims

1. A system for redeeming the value of points, wherein the points are held in a point account maintained on behalf of a customer, and wherein the redeemed value may be transferred into a transaction account, the system comprising:

a mobile device used by the customer for transmitting a mobile customer ID identifying the mobile device, wherein the mobile customer ID is associated with the point account;

a terminal providing a location for redeeming the value of points, the terminal including a reader for receiving the mobile customer ID, and using the transaction account to conduct a transaction at the terminal;

a point database for storing point account data, including the number of points in the point account held for the customer and a value associated with the points; and

a value server accessing the point database in response to the mobile customer ID received from the mobile device at the terminal and for determining the value of points held in the point database, so that value associated with points in the point database may be transferred into the transaction account.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile customer ID is associated with both the point account and the transaction account.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction account is a stored value account maintained on behalf of the customer.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein stored value account is an account maintained by a financial institution maintained on behalf of the customer, and wherein the value associated with points that is transferred into the stored value account is a monetary amount.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the stored value account is a debit card account.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a wireless telephone having an RFID tag for transmitting the mobile customer ID, and the terminal includes an RFID reader for receiving the mobile customer ID data.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the points are loyalty reward points, and wherein point account is a loyalty point account that stores a record of accumulated loyalty points.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the points are electronic retailer coupons accumulated by the customer and each having a redeemable value, and wherein the point account stores a record of the coupons accumulated by the customer.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein both the point account and the transaction account are both loyalty reward point accounts.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the terminal is a POS terminal where transactions may be conducted, and wherein the value transferred into the transaction account may be used for payments made for those transactions.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a payment processing server connected for receiving the mobile customer ID from the terminal; and

a payment processing database storing in relation to the mobile customer ID, a point account ID and a transaction account ID;

wherein the payment processing server accesses the payment processing database using the mobile customer ID to retrieve a point account ID, and provides the retrieved point account ID to the value server.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the customer is a first customer and the mobile device is a first mobile device for transmitting a first mobile customer ID, wherein the transaction account is maintained on behalf of a second customer, wherein a second mobile device is used by the second customer for transmitting a second mobile customer ID data identifying the second mobile device, wherein the terminal receives the second mobile customer ID, and wherein the payment processing server uses the first mobile customer ID and the second mobile customer ID to transfer the value of points in the point account of the first customer to the transaction account of the second customer.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the payment processing server is part of an acquirer system operated by a credit card processing entity.

14. A method for redeeming the value of points, wherein the points are held in a point account maintained on behalf of a customer, and wherein the redeemed value may be transferred into a transaction account, the method comprising:

providing a mobile device for use by the customer in transmitting a mobile customer ID identifying the mobile device, wherein the mobile customer ID is associated with the point account;

providing a terminal location for redeeming the value of points, the terminal location including a reader for receiving the mobile customer ID data, and using the transaction account to conduct a transaction at the terminal;

providing a point database for storing point account data, including the number of points in the point account held for the customer and a value associated with the points; and

providing a value server accessing the point database in response to the customer ID received from the mobile device at the terminal and for determining the value of points held in the point database, so that value associated with points in the point database may be transferred into the transaction account.

15. A system for redeeming the value of loyalty points, wherein the points are held in a point account maintained on behalf of a customer, and wherein the redeemed value may be transferred into a financial transaction account maintained on behalf of the customer, the system comprising:

a mobile device used by the customer for transmitting a mobile customer ID identifying the mobile device, wherein the mobile customer ID is associated with the point account and the financial transaction account;

a POS terminal for redeeming the value of points at a merchant location in order to conduct a transaction at the merchant location using the financial transaction account, the terminal including a reader for receiving the mobile customer ID data;

a payment processing server for completing transactions at the POS terminal using the financial transaction account, the payment processing server connected for receiving the mobile customer ID from the terminal;

a payment processing database for storing in relation to the customer mobile customer ID, a point account ID for the point account and a transaction account ID for the financial transaction account, wherein the payment processing server accesses the payment processing database using the mobile customer ID to retrieve the point account ID;

a point database for storing point account data, including the number of points in the point account held for the customer and a value associated with the points; and

a loyalty server accessing the point database in response to receiving the point account ID from the payment processing server, for providing the value of points held in the point database to the payment processing server, in order to transfer that value associated with points in the point database into the financial transaction account, so that the payment processing server may use that value for conducting a transaction at the POS terminal at the merchant location.