Trading Platform for the Redemption of Promotional Currency from Multiple Loyalty Programs
First Claim
1. A method of matching a buyer to one of a plurality of pointsholders, registered at a trading platform, associated with at least one loyalty program and having points with the at least one loyalty program and having an account with the trading platform stored in a database, the method comprising:
- receiving, from the buyer through a network connection, an offer to purchase a selected reward associated with the at least one loyalty program;
selecting, from the database, a pointsholder associated with the at least one loyalty program associated with the selected reward from the plurality of pointsholders; and
connecting the selected pointsholder and buyer to permit the selected pointsholder to sell the reward to the buyer.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A trading platform to allow holders of points or miles in loyalty programs to monetize their holdings, or to barter rewards, and connects parties interested in buying reward items or services with pointsholders capable of redeeming points to obtain the desired rewards. The trading platform creates matches between parties and can obtain a matchmaking or brokerage fee in the process without having to interact with the loyalty program itself.
90 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of matching a buyer to one of a plurality of pointsholders, registered at a trading platform, associated with at least one loyalty program and having points with the at least one loyalty program and having an account with the trading platform stored in a database, the method comprising:
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receiving, from the buyer through a network connection, an offer to purchase a selected reward associated with the at least one loyalty program; selecting, from the database, a pointsholder associated with the at least one loyalty program associated with the selected reward from the plurality of pointsholders; and connecting the selected pointsholder and buyer to permit the selected pointsholder to sell the reward to the buyer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17)
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9. (canceled)
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10. (canceled)
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15. (canceled)
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18. A trading platform for matching buyers of loyalty program rewards to pointsholders associated with a loyalty program, the platform comprising:
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a pointsholder interface for receiving enrollment requests from pointsholders associated with at least one loyalty program; a catalogue engine for generating a microcatalogue for each pointsholder from whom an enrollment request is received, the microcatalogue generated in accordance with the at least one loyalty program associated with the user, and a points level associated with the pointsholder at the at least one associated loyalty program, for generating a catalogue in accordance with any generated microcatalogues, and for providing a list of rewards stored in the generated catalogue in response to a browse request; a bidder interface for receiving requests to browse the catalogue from a bidder, and for transmitting the list of rewards to the bidder in response to receipt of the list from the catalogue engine, and for receiving from the bidder an offer on a selected reward; and a matching engine, for examining the offer received through the bidder interface, for selecting a pointsholder associated with a loyalty program determined in accordance with the selected reward, and for connecting the selected pointsholder and the bidder associated with the received offer to permit completion of the transaction outlined in the received offer. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification