INTEGRATION OF GIFT CARD SERVICES FOR MOBILE DEVICES AND SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES

• US 20090192928A1
• Filed: 01/29/2008
• Published: 07/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: First Data Resources LLC (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Transaction Wireless, Inc. (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Abifaker, Basil Munir
• Granted Patent: US 7,953,654 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0214 Referral reward systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for social networking services integrated with gift card services. In general, a profile of a member of a social networking service may be presented with one or more merchant credit services for prepaid merchant account credit, data characterizing a request to provide a credit service from the merchant credit services and a mobile phone number associated with an intended recipient of the first credit service may be received, and a message may be caused to be sent to the mobile phone number, where the message characterizes provision of the first credit service to the intended recipient. Interest in the credit service may be tracked and associated with a loyalty indicator associated with the member.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting a profile of a member of a social networking service with one or more merchant credit services for prepaid merchant account credit, the social networking service providing a platform in which a plurality of users interact with profiles of members of the social networking service via a graphical user interface, the profiles being generated by each of the respective members;

receiving user-generated data via the graphical user interface characterizing a request to provide a first credit service from the merchant credit services for the member having the presented profile, the request being initiated by activation of at least one graphical user interface element displayed within the graphical user interface that is associated with the first credit service;

associating the member having the presented profile with a mobile phone number; and

causing a message to be sent to the mobile phone number, the message characterizing provision of the first credit service to the member.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising increasing a loyalty indicator associated with the member in response to the receiving the request to provide the first credit service, the loyalty indicator being associated with an account of the member with the first credit service for loyalty-based services.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising increasing a loyalty indicator associated with the member in response to receiving data characterizing further interest in the first credit service, the loyalty indicator being associated with an account of the member with the first credit service for loyalty-based services.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising adding the first credit service to a list of merchant credit services associated with the profile of the member.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving data to personalize the message and wherein the causing the message to be sent comprises personalizing the message in accordance with the data to personalize the message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing the message to be sent further comprises causing the message to be sent to an electronic mail message address of the member.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing the message to be sent further comprises causing the message to be sent to a social network message address of the member.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is a Short Message Service message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprises a request to activate the first credit service.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first credit service is for a gift card in accordance with an amount specified in the request to provide the first credit service.

11. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer program product being operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

presenting, in a graphical user interface, a profile of a member of a social networking service with one or more merchant credit services for prepaid merchant account credit, the social networking service providing a platform in which a plurality of users interact with profiles of members of the social networking service via a graphical user interface, the profiles being generated by each of the respective members, each merchant credit service having an associated graphical user interface element displayed within the graphical user interface;

receiving user-generated data obtained via the graphical user interface characterizing a request to provide a first credit service from the merchant credit services and a mobile phone number associated with an intended recipient of the first credit service, the request being initiated by activation of one of the graphical user interface element in the graphical user interface; and

causing a message to be sent to the mobile phone number, the message characterizing provision of the first credit service to the intended recipient.

12. The product of claim 11 further comprising increasing a loyalty indicator associated with the intended recipient in response to receiving data characterizing further interest in the first credit service, the loyalty indicator being associated with an account of the intended recipient with the first credit service for loyalty-based services.

13. The product of claim 11 further comprising adding the first credit service to a list of merchant credit services associated with a profile of the intended recipient.

14. The product of claim 11 further comprising receiving data to personalize the message and wherein the causing the message to be sent comprises personalizing the message in accordance with the data to personalize the message.

15. The product of claim 11, wherein the causing the message to be sent further comprises causing the message to be sent to an electronic mail message address of the intended recipient.

16. The product of claim 11, wherein the causing the message to be sent further comprises causing the message to be sent to a social network message address of the intended recipient.

17. The product of claim 11, wherein the message is a Short Message Service message.

18. The product of claim 11, wherein the message comprises a request to activate the first credit service.

19. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting a profile of a member of a social networking service with a list of a plurality of merchant credit services for prepaid merchant account credit, the credit services to associate credit with a mobile phone number of an intended recipient of the credit services and provide information related to the credit to a mobile device having the mobile phone number through messages to the mobile phone number, the social networking service providing a platform in which a plurality of users interact with profiles of members of the social networking service via a graphical user interface, the profiles being generated by each of the respective members;

receiving data characterizing a request for further information regarding a first credit service from the list of the merchant credit services, the data characterizing the request received through an interface presenting the profile of the member with the list of one or more merchant credit services; and

increasing a loyalty indicator associated with the member in response to the receiving the data characterizing further information regarding the first credit service, the loyalty indicator being associated with an account of the member with the first credit service for loyalty-based services.

20. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving data characterizing a request for merchant credit services, the request originating from a mobile device having a mobile phone number, the mobile device accessing a profile of a member of a social networking service displaying at least one graphical user interface element on the profile that is associated with the merchant credit services, the social networking service providing a platform in which a plurality of users interact with profiles of members of the social networking service by mobile phones, the profiles being generated by each of the respective members; and

causing a message to be sent to a mobile phone number of an intended recipient of the merchant credit services, the message characterizing provision of a first credit service to the intended recipient.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the receiving the data characterizing the request comprises:

receiving data characterizing a request for a selection of gift cards, the request for the selection from the mobile device; and

receiving data characterizing a selected gift card from a list of gift cards, an amount for the selected gift card, and the mobile phone of the intended recipient, the receiving the data characterizing the selected gift card after data characterizing the list of gift cards corresponding to retailers is sent to the mobile device.