LOCATION BASED PROCESSING OF ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR DELIVERY TO AN ANNOUNCEMENT RECIPIENT

• US 20100274566A1
• Filed: 04/22/2009
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Carlson, Mark
• Application Number:
  US12/428,349
• Publication Number:
  US 20100274566A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

An announcement distributor distributes, or auctions an opportunity to distribute, an announcement to an announcement recipient such as a consumer, issuer, merchant, or acquirer within a payment processing system. The announcement when there has been a satisfaction of an announcement condition, such as the consumer being determined to be located within a predetermined spatial zone. The content of the announcement may, in turn, facilitate a subsequent cashless transaction for resources of merchants. Implementations describe various permutations of the content of the announcement, the announcement condition, and the announcement recipient.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising the steps of:

associating, using a computing apparatus executing software, an announcement recipient with a predetermined zone;

receiving, using the computing apparatus executing the software, an electronic transmission containing information sufficient to determine a location of a first consumer;

determining from the information, using the computing apparatus executing the software, if the location is within the predetermined zone;

and

when the location is determined to be within the predetermined zone;

identifying, using the computing apparatus executing the software, an address of the announcement recipient associated with the predetermined zone; and

transmitting, using the computing apparatus executing the software, an announcement, for delivery to the identified address, that the first consumer is located within the predetermined zone.

2. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using the computing apparatus executing the software, target consumer data; and

comparing, using the computing apparatus executing the software, the target consumer data with the received information to find a match, wherein the announcement further includes at least a portion of the target consumer data.

3. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

determining from the information, using the computing apparatus executing the software, a first direction of movement of the first consumer; and

comparing, using the computing apparatus executing the software, the first direction of movement to an announcement condition direction to find a match, wherein the step of transmitting the announcement occurs after the match of the announcement condition direction is found.

4. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 wherein the electronic transmission includes an authorization request for a transaction upon a payment account associated with the first consumer.

5. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 wherein the electronic transmission is addressed from at least one of:

a first portable consumer device of the first consumer;

a second portable consumer device of a second consumer that is communicatively linked to the first portable consumer device of the first consumer;

a point of interaction terminal that is co-located with the first consumer;

a near field communication terminal that is co-located with the first consumer; and

a far field communication terminal that is co-located with the first consumer.

6. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 wherein:

the first consumer is associated with an account that is issued by an issuer within a payment processing system; and

the announcement includes at least one of;

a name of the first consumer that is associated with the account;

an account category of the account;

a transaction history of the account indicating a frequency of purchases of a specific type of resource;

a demographic of the first consumer that is associated with the account; and

information about a transaction upon the account conducted with a merchant located within the predetermined zone.

7. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 wherein the announcement recipient is selected from the group consisting of:

a merchant;

an acquirer of the merchant;

an issuer that has issued an account to a corresponding said consumer;

a transaction handler; and

any combination thereof and, wherein;

the transaction handler processes a plurality of transactions, each between a corresponding said merchant and a corresponding said consumer;

each transaction is associated with an account of one of the consumers;

each of the merchants submits corresponding said transactions to at least one of the acquirers for processing by the transaction handler who requests corresponding said issuers to obtain corresponding payments for the corresponding said transactions from corresponding said consumer accounts; and

the corresponding said issuers forward the obtained corresponding payments to the at least one of the acquirers to pay the submitting said merchant for the submitted corresponding said transactions.

8. A computer implemented method for announcing data about a consumer to an announcement recipient, the computer implemented method comprising the steps of:

specifying, using a computing apparatus executing software, an announcement condition that includes at least a presence, within a spatial zone of interest to a first merchant, of a portable consumer device associated with the consumer;

obtaining, using the computing apparatus executing the software, target information including;

a code usable to determine an account identifier associated with an account issued to the consumer by an issuer within a payment processing system; and

location data usable to determine a location of the portable consumer device;

determining, using the computing apparatus executing the software, the account identifier using the code;

receiving, using the computing apparatus executing the software, data about the consumer corresponding to the account identifier;

determining, using the computing apparatus executing the software, the location of the portable consumer device from the location data;

comparing, using the computing apparatus executing the software, the determined location of the portable consumer device to the spatial zone to determine when the announcement condition is satisfied; and

forming, using the computing apparatus executing the software, a first transmission including at least a portion of the obtained data about the consumer, wherein the first transmission is for delivery to an announcement recipient after the announcement condition is satisfied.

9. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 8 further comprising the step of transmitting, using the computing apparatus executing the software, the first transmission for delivery to the announcement recipient while the portable consumer device is in the spatial zone.

10. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 8 further comprising the step of forming, using the computing apparatus executing the software, a second transmission for delivery to the announcement recipient including a history of a plurality of the first transmissions previously formed.

11. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 8 wherein the first transmission further includes at least one of:

a frequency of the presence of the portable consumer device within the spatial zone over a period of time; and

an indication that the consumer has engaged in a payment transaction upon the account while the portable consumer device has been present within the spatial zone.

12. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 8 wherein:

the step of obtaining target consumer information includes receiving, using the computing apparatus executing the software, an authorization request for a payment transaction upon the account; and

the payment transaction is between the consumer and a second merchant.

13. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 8 wherein the first merchant has a place of business located within the spatial zone.

14. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 8 wherein the step of specifying the announcement condition includes receiving, using the computing apparatus executing the software, a second transmission from the announcement recipient that specifies the announcement condition.

15. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 8 wherein the portable consumer device is selected from the group consisting of:

a financial card;

a contactless device including a wireless processor, a transmitter, and a receiver;

a smart card;

a cellular telephone;

a personal digital assistant;

a set-top box;

a computing apparatus; and

a combination of any of the above portable consumer devices.

16. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 8 wherein the location data includes at least one of:

a merchant identification code associated with a corresponding said merchant having a known location;

an altitude of the portable consumer device;

a latitude of the portable consumer device;

a longitude of the portable consumer device;

a World Geodetic System coordinates of the portable consumer device;

data usable to determine a direction of movement of the portable consumer device; and

data usable to determine a speed of the portable consumer device.

17. An apparatus comprising a computer readable medium including stored instructions that, when executed by a computing apparatus, the computing apparatus performs the steps of:

specifying an announcement condition that includes presence of at least one consumer within a spatial zone that is of interest to a merchant;

receiving a transmission including data usable to;

determine a location of a first said consumer; and

match the first said consumer to the at least one consumer;

using the data in the transmission to;

determine the location of the first said consumer; and

match the first said consumer with the at least one consumer;

determining that the announcement condition has been satisfied by at least matching the determined location of the first said consumer with the spatial zone;

and

forming an announcement about the at least one consumer for delivery to an announcement recipient, wherein the announcement is for delivery to the announcement recipient after the announcement condition has been satisfied and while the first said consumer is located in the spatial zone.

18. The apparatus as defined in claim 17 wherein:

the first said consumer is associated with a payment account that is issued by a corresponding issuer within a payment processing system;

account information associated with the account is stored in a database within the payment processing system; and

determining that the announcement condition has been satisfied further includes matching the corresponding said account information with at least one of;

a required account characteristic;

a required tendency to purchase a specific type of resource; and

a required demographic, wherein the corresponding said account information includes a corresponding demographic.

19. The apparatus as defined in claim 17 wherein the step of specifying the announcement condition includes receiving a second transmission from the announcement recipient that specifies the announcement condition.

20. The apparatus as defined in claim 17 wherein the step of determining that the announcement condition has been satisfied further includes:

determining a first direction of movement of the first said consumer; and

determining that the first direction of movement matches an announcement condition direction.