Machine-Implemented System and Method for Providing Timed Targeted Promotional Offers to Individual Payment Account Users with Feedback

• US 20090048926A1
• Filed: 08/14/2008
• Published: 02/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fiserv Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Clairmail Incorporated (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Madams, Peter, Salesky, Joseph H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,373,119 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.130
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0211 Determining the effectiveness of discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds

Abstract

A machine-implemented method includes determining when a particular promotional offer which is associated with a payment account of a particular consumer should be released to the particular consumer, and then transmitting a first message indicating the particular promotional offer to a device of the particular consumer. The first message indicates the merchant and the terms of the offer, which may include a specific time period during which the offer is valid. The method further includes detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the offer and, in response, automatically transmitting a second message to trigger a transfer of funds to an account of the consumer. The method can further include, in response to detecting that the consumer has accepted the offer, automatically and immediately transmitting a message to the consumer to confirm the transfer of funds to the account of the consumer, so as to provide feedback to the consumer.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining in a computer system when a particular promotional offer which is associated with a payment account of a particular consumer should be released to the particular consumer;

transmitting a first message indicating the particular promotional offer to a device of the particular consumer in response to determining that the particular promotional offer should be released to the particular consumer;

detecting in the computer system that the particular consumer has accepted the particular promotional offer; and

in response to detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the particular promotional offer,

automatically transmitting a second message to trigger a transfer of funds to the payment account of the consumer, and

automatically transmitting a third message to the consumer to notify the consumer of the transfer of funds.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein automatically transmitting the third message to the consumer comprises immediately transmitting the third message to the consumer in response to detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the particular promotional offer.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the promotional offer applies to a specific merchant for a specific time period, and wherein the first message indicates the merchant and the time period.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the payment account is a credit/debit account of the consumer.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising, in response to detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the particular promotional offer, automatically transmitting a third message to the consumer to confirm the transfer of funds to the account of the consumer.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein automatically transmitting the second message to trigger a transfer of funds to an account of the consumer comprises automatically transmitting the second message to a financial institution.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said device of the particular consumer is a mobile device

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the third message is also transmitted to the mobile device.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

storing a rule representing the particular promotional offer in a rules database; and

receiving at the computer system information representing a plurality of consumer transactions;

wherein detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the particular promotional offer comprises;

comparing in the computer system the information representing the consumer transactions to the rules database to determine if there is a match between any of the consumer transactions and the rule; and

detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the particular promotional offer if there is a match between any of the consumer transactions and the rule.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the promotional offer applies to a specific merchant and is time-limited.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the rule specifies the consumer, the merchant and a time frame during which the promotional offer is valid.

12. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the information representing the plurality of consumer transactions comprises a real-time stream of information representing consumer transactions.

13. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the plurality of consumer transactions are a plurality of credit/debit transactions.

14. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein receiving information representing a plurality of consumer transactions comprises receiving the information representing the plurality of consumer transactions from a credit/debit card processor.

15. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said determining when the promotional offer should be released to the particular consumer is based on a behavior of the consumer.

16. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said determining when the promotional offer should be released to the particular consumer is based on a past purchasing history of the consumer.

17. A method comprising:

determining in a computer system when a promotional offer which is associated with a credit/debit card account of a particular consumer should be released to the particular consumer;

in response to a determination in the computer system that the promotional offer should be released to the consumer,

storing a rule representing the promotional offer in a rules database, the rule specifying the consumer, a merchant to which the promotional offer applies and a time frame during which the promotional offer is valid, and

delivering to a mobile device of the consumer an alert indicating the promotional offer, including the merchant to which the promotional offer applies and the time frame during which the promotional offer is valid;

receiving at the computer system information representing a plurality of consumer credit/debit transactions;

comparing in the computer system information representing each of the consumer credit/debit transactions to the rules database to determine if there is a match between any of the consumer credit/debit transactions and a rule representing a promotional offer in the rules database;

in response to identifying a match between one of the consumer credit/debit transactions and a rule representing a promotional offer in the rules database,

automatically transmitting a first message to a financial institution to cause a transfer of funds to the credit/debit card account of the consumer, and

immediately transmitting a second message to the consumer to notify the consumer of the transfer of funds.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein said determining when a promotional offer should be released to a particular consumer is based on a behavior of the consumer.

19. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein the information representing the plurality of consumer credit/debit transactions comprises a real-time stream of information representing consumer credit/debit transactions.

20. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein receiving information representing a plurality of consumer credit/debit transactions comprises receiving the information representing a plurality of consumer credit/debit transactions from a credit/debit card processor.

21. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein the third message is transmitted to the mobile device of the consumer.

22. A processing system comprising:

a rules database to store a plurality of rules representing a plurality of promotional offers made to different consumers;

an offer release module to determine when a particular promotional offer which is associated with a payment account of a particular consumer should be released to the particular consumer and to cause a rule representing the particular promotional offer to be stored in the rules database when the particular promotional offer is released to the particular consumer;

a message delivery module to transmit to a mobile device of the particular consumer a first message indicating the particular promotional offer; and

an event engine to compare information representing a plurality consumer payment transactions to the rules database to determine if there is a match between any of the consumer payment transactions and a rule in the rules database, and in response to identifying said match, to trigger a second message for causing a transfer of funds to the payment account of the particular consumer and a third message for notifying the particular consumer of the transfer of funds.

23. A processing system as recited in claim 22, wherein the rule specifies the consumer, a merchant to which the promotional offer applies and a time frame during which the promotional offer is valid.

24. A processing system as recited in claim 22, wherein the first message indicates the merchant to which the promotional offer applies and the time frame during which the promotional offer is valid.

25. A processing system as recited in claim 22, wherein the event engine further triggers a third message in response to identifying a match between one of the consumer payment transactions and a rule in the rules database, the third message being destined for the consumer and confirming the transfer of funds to the account of the consumer.

26. A processing system as recited in claim 22, wherein the offer release module determines when the promotional offer should be released to the consumer based on a behavior of the consumer.

27. A processing system as recited in claim 22, wherein the information representing the plurality of consumer payment transactions comprises a real-time stream of information representing consumer credit/debit transactions.

28. A processing system as recited in claim 22, wherein the plurality of payment transactions are credit/debit transactions.

29. A processing system as recited in claim 28, wherein the information representing a plurality of consumer credit/debit transactions is received by the processing system from a credit/debit card processor.

30. A processing system as recited in claim 22, wherein the third message is sent to the mobile device of the consumer.

31. A processing system comprising:

a processor;

a network communicate device through which to communicate data with a remote system via a network; and

a machine readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processing system to perform a process including

determining when a particular promotional offer which is associated with a payment account of a particular consumer should be released to the particular consumer;

transmitting a first message indicating the particular promotional offer to a device of the particular consumer in response to determining that the particular promotional offer should be released to the particular consumer;

detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the particular promotional offer; and

in response to detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the particular promotional offer, automatically transmitting a second message to trigger a transfer of funds to the payment account of the consumer and immediately sending a third message to the consumer to notify the consumer of the transfer of funds.

32. A processing system as recited in claim 31, wherein the promotional offer applies to a specific merchant and is time-limited, and wherein the first message indicates the merchant and a time frame during which the promotional offer is valid.

33. A processing system as recited in claim 32, wherein the transfer of funds is a transfer of funds to a credit/debit account of the consumer.

34. A processing system as recited in claim 31, wherein said process further comprises, in response to detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the particular promotional offer, automatically transmitting a third message to the consumer to confirm the transfer of funds to the payment account of the consumer.

35. A processing system as recited in claim 31, wherein automatically transmitting the second message to trigger a transfer of funds to a payment account of the consumer comprises automatically transmitting the second message to a financial institution.

36. A processing system as recited in claim 31, wherein transmitting the first message indicating the promotional offer to a device of the consumer comprises transmitting the first message to a mobile device of the consumer.

37. A processing system as recited in claim 36, wherein transmitting the third message comprises transmitting the third message to the mobile device of the consumer.

38. A processing system as recited in claim 31, wherein said process further comprises:

storing a rule representing the particular promotional offer in a rules database; and

receiving information representing a plurality of consumer transactions;

wherein detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the particular promotional offer comprises;

comparing the information representing the consumer transactions to the rules database to determine if there is a match between any of the consumer transactions and the rule; and

detecting that the particular consumer has accepted the particular promotional offer if there is a match between any of the consumer transactions and the rule.

39. A processing system as recited in claim 38, wherein the promotional offer applies to a specific merchant and is time-limited.

40. A processing system as recited in claim 39, wherein the rule specifies the consumer, the merchant and a time frame during which the promotional offer is valid.

41. A processing system as recited in claim 38, wherein the information representing the plurality of consumer transactions comprises a real-time stream of information representing consumer transactions.

42. A processing system as recited in claim 38, wherein the plurality of consumer transactions are a plurality of credit/debit transactions.

43. A processing system as recited in claim 38, wherein receiving information representing a plurality of consumer transactions comprises receiving the information representing the plurality of consumer transactions from a credit/debit card processor.

44. A processing system as recited in claim 31, wherein said determining when the promotional offer should be released to the particular consumer is based on a behavior of the consumer.