TRANSACTIONAL PROCESSING ENTITY DEVICE SUPPORT OF AN INTEGRATED OFFER NETWORK

• US 20100049588A1
• Filed: 03/27/2009
• Published: 02/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: DEBOW, HOWARD SCOTT
• Granted Patent: US 8,180,702 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0217 involving input on products or services in exchange for incentives or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A method begins by generate, for each of a plurality of merchant devices, an offer data file to produce a plurality of offer data files. The method continues by compiling, for one of a plurality of issuer devices, an options data file for a group of credit cards based on at least one of the plurality of offer data files. The method continues by transmitting the options data file to the one of the plurality of issuer devices. The method continues by receiving, from the one of the plurality of issuer devices, at least one selection from the options data file to produce an options program file for the group of credit cards. The method continues by receiving, from a card holder device associated with one of the group of credit cards, a selection of at least one option from the options program file to produce at least one selected option. The method continues by processing transactions of the one of the group of credit cards in accordance with the at least one selected option.

Claims

1. A method comprises:

generating, for each of a plurality of merchant devices, an offer data file to produce a plurality of offer data files;

compiling, for one of a plurality of issuer devices, an options data file for a group of credit cards based on at least one of the plurality of offer data files;

transmitting the options data file to the one of the plurality of issuer devices;

receiving, from the one of the plurality of issuer devices, at least one selection from the options data file to produce an options program file for the group of credit cards;

receiving, from a card holder device associated with one of the group of credit cards, a selection of at least one option from the options program file to produce at least one selected option; and

processing transactions of the one of the group of credit cards in accordance with the at least one selected option.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the offer data file for each of the plurality of merchant devices comprises:

processing, for one of the plurality of merchant devices, a merchant profile to identify at least one of market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and merchant information;

providing a list of offer options to the one of the plurality of merchant devices in accordance with the merchant profile; and

receiving, from the one of the plurality of merchant devices, selection of at least one offer from the list of offer options to produce the offer data file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the compiling the options data file for the one of the plurality of issuer devices further comprises at least one of:

compiling the options data file to include at least one feature sponsored by an issuer associated with the one of the plurality of issuer devices; and

compiling the options data file to include at least one service sponsored by an transactional processing entity associated with the transactional processing entity device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the selection of the option from the card holder device further comprises:

processing a card holder profile that includes at least one of account information, location preferences, product categories of interest;

service categories of interest, and benefit type preferences; and

processing a card holder selection file based on the selection of the option and in accordance with the card holder profile.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

compiling data regarding at least one of;

offer selections, offer usage, feature selections, feature usage, service selection, and service usage data from the processing transactions for a plurality of cards to produced compiled transaction data; and

generating at least one of;

recommended offers, recommended features, and recommended services based on the compiled transaction data.

6. A method comprises:

providing offer options to an issuer device;

entering a loop, wherein the loop includes;

receiving selection of an offer of the offer options from the issuer device to produce a selected offer;

performing a compatibility check of the selected offer with at least one of;

a previously selected offer and a remaining offer of the offer options; and

storing the selected offer to produce a stored offer when the compatibility check is favorable;

exiting the loop when a designated stimulus is detected; and

generating an offer program file for a group of cards based on one or more of the stored offers.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein performing the compatibility check further comprises:

verifying that the selected offer is compatible with one or more previously selected offers;

when the selected offer is compatible with the one or more previously selected offers, indicating that the compatibility check is favorable;

when the selected offer is not compatible with the one or more previously selected offers, performing at least one of;

prohibiting selection of the selected offer;

rejecting selection of the selected offer; and

requesting authorization to allow compatibility of the selected offer with the one or more previously selected offer.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the providing the offer options to the issuer device further comprises:

receiving offer criteria from the issuer device, wherein the offer criteria includes at least one of;

product category, service category, specific merchants, merchant types, location, credit card status, consumer type, and offer types; and

generating the offer options in accordance with the offer criteria.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprises at least one of:

including transactional processing entity services in the offer options; and

including issuer features in the offer options.

10. The method of claim 6 further comprises:

determining a change to at least one offer of the offer program file;

processing the change to the at least one offer in accordance with issuer update parameters to produce an updated offer program file;

determining new offers; and

processing the new offers in accordance with issuer new offer parameters to produce the updated offer program file.

11. A method comprises:

processing a merchant profile to identify at least one of market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and merchant information for a merchant associated with one of a plurality of merchant devices;

entering a loop, wherein the loop includes;

storing a new offer when a selection of a new offer is received to produce a stored offer;

modifying an existing offer when a modify offer request is received to produce a modified offer; and

exiting the loop when a designated stimulus is detected; and

producing, in accordance with the merchant profile, an offer data file that includes at least one of;

one or more stored offers and one or more modified offers.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprises:

generating a list of offer options for the one of the plurality of merchant devices in accordance with at least one of the merchant profile and a recommended offer data file; and

providing the list of offer options to the one of the of the plurality of merchant devices.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the storing a new offer comprises:

determining whether the new offer is selected from the list of offer options or is created;

when the new offer is created;

receiving parameters of the new offer;

adding the new offer to the list of offer options; and

storing the parameters of the new offer as part of the offer data file; and

when the new offer is selected from the list of offer options, receiving selection of the new offer from the list of offer options.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the generating the list of offer options comprises:

generating a general list of offer options based on the merchant profile; and

when the merchant device has custom list privileges, modifying the general list of offer options based on modification instructions received from the one of the plurality of merchant devices.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the modifying an existing offer comprises:

accessing the offer data file;

identifying an offer of the offer data file based on a received instruction;

determining whether the received instruction corresponds to modifying or deleting the offer;

when the received instruction corresponds to deleting the offer, deleting the offer from the offer data file; and

when the received instruction corresponds to modifying the offer, changing parameters of the offer in accordance with the received instruction.

16. A method comprises:

processing a card holder profile that includes at least one of account information, location preferences, product categories of interest;

service categories of interest, and benefit type preferences;

generating a list of available options from an options data file in accordance with the card holder profile;

providing the list of available options to a card holder device;

entering a loop, wherein the loop includes;

storing an option when a selection message is received to produce a stored offer, wherein the selection message identifies selection of the option from the list of available options;

modifying an existing option when a modify message is received to produce a modified option; and

exiting the loop when a designated stimulus is detected; and

producing a card holder selection file that includes at least one of;

one or more stored options and one or more modified options.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the processing the card holder profile comprises:

providing the card holder profile to the card holder device;

receiving, from the card holder device, a request to modify the card holder profile; and

modifying the card holder profile in accordance with the request to modify.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the options comprises at least one of:

merchant offers;

issuer features; and

transactional processing entity services.

19. The method of claim 16 further comprises, when automatic updating is enabled:

retrieving the card holder profile and the card holder selection file;

determining whether an option of the card holder selection file is valid;

when the option is not valid, deleting the option from the card holder selection file;

determining, based on the card holder profile, whether a new option is available;

when new are available, updating the card holder selection file with the new option.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprises, when automatic updating is not enabled:

retrieving the card holder profile and the card holder selection file;

generating a list of at least one of;

new options, existing options, and changed options in accordance with the card holder profile;

providing the list to the card holder device;

receiving an update message, wherein the update message includes instructions to update the card holder selection file with at least one of;

one or more of the new options, with a modification to one or more of the existing options, and one or more of the changed options;

validating the update message; and

updating the card holder selection file in accordance with the update message when the update message is validated.

21. An apparatus comprises:

a processing module; and

memory coupled to the processing module, wherein the processing module functions to;

generate, for each of a plurality of merchant devices, an offer data file to produce a plurality of offer data files;

compile, for one of a plurality of issuer devices, an options data file for a group of credit cards based on at least one of the plurality of offer data files;

transmit the options data file to the one of the plurality of issuer devices;

receive a selected options data file from the one of the plurality of issuer devices, wherein the selected options data file includes at least one option contained in the options data file;

receive, from a card holder device associated with one of the group of credit cards, a selection of at least one option from the selected options data file to produce at least one selected option; and

process transactions of the one of the group of credit cards in accordance with the at least one selected option.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processing module further functions to generate the offer data file for each of the plurality of merchant devices by:

processing a merchant profile to identify at least one of market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and merchant information; and

processing a merchant offers file to identify at least one offer sponsored by a merchant associated with one of the plurality of merchant devices.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processing module compiles the options data file for the one of the plurality of issuer devices by at least one of:

compiling the options data file to include at least one feature sponsored by an issuer associated with the one of the plurality of issuer devices; and

compiling the options data file to include at least one service sponsored by an transactional processing entity associated with the transactional processing entity device.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein, when receiving the selection of the option from the card holder device, the processing module further functions to:

process a card holder profile that includes at least one of account information, location preferences, product categories of interest;

service categories of interest, and benefit type preferences; and

process a card holder selection file based on the selection of the option and in accordance with the card holder profile.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processing module further functions to:

compile data regarding at least one of;

offer selections, offer usage, feature selections, feature usage, service selection, and service usage data from the processing transactions for a plurality of cards to produced compiled transaction data; and

generate at least one of;

recommended offers, recommended features, and recommended services based on the compiled transaction data.