AUCTIONING OF ANNOUNCEMENTS

• US 20100274652A1
• Filed: 04/22/2009
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Carlson, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,032,413 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.250
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• 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 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0252 based on events or environment, e.g. weather or festivals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• 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 for auctioning, to a plurality of auction participants, options to communicate with consumers, the computer implemented method comprising the steps of:

performing, using a computing apparatus executing software, an auction, wherein;

the plurality of auction participants each bid for the option to communicate, after at least one specified condition occurs, with at least one said consumer;

the at least one of the specified condition includes presence of the at least one said consumer in a first zone; and

at least one said auction participant has a winning bid; and

after the at least one specified condition occurs, facilitating, using the computing apparatus executing the software, a communication to the at least one said consumer from the at least one said auction participant that has the winning bid.

2. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 wherein the step of performing the auction includes:

electronically transmitting, using the computing apparatus executing the software, an auction notification to the plurality of auction participants; and

receiving, using the computing apparatus executing the software, a corresponding electronic bid from at least one of the auction participants.

3. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the step of determining, using the computing apparatus executing the software, whether the at least one specified condition has occurred including:

establishing a location of the at least one said consumer; and

comparing the established location with the first zone to find a match.

4. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 3, further comprising receiving, using the computing apparatus executing the software, an authorization request for a transaction upon a payment account associated with the at least one said consumer, wherein:

the authorization request is addressed from a point of interaction terminal of a corresponding said merchant that is co-located with the at least one said consumer when the authorization request is received; and

the establishing of the location of the at least one said consumer includes, using a code in the authorization request to determine the location.

5. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 3 further comprising the step of receiving, using the computing apparatus executing the software, an electronic transmission including information usable to establish the location of the at least one said consumer, wherein the transmission is addressed from at least one of the following:

a portable consumer device of the at least one said consumer;

a point of interaction terminal that is co-located with the at least one said consumer;

a near field communication terminal that is co-located with the at least one said consumer; and

a far field communication terminal that is co-located with the at least one said consumer.

6. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 wherein the step of facilitating the communication includes electronically transmitting, using the computing apparatus executing the software, an announcement about the at least one said consumer to the at least one said auction participant with the winning bid.

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

each said bid has a corresponding monetary offer for the option to communicate with the at least one said consumer; and

the winning bid satisfies a winning criterion that is selected from the group consisting of;

receiving a corresponding said bid within a specified window of time;

a highest said monetary offer among the corresponding monetary offers of the each said bid; and

a combination of the above winning criteria.

8. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 further comprising the step of determining, using the computing apparatus executing the software, when the at least one specified condition occurs, including:

receiving data addressed from a portable consumer device co-located with a first said consumer;

using the received data to;

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

determine a location of the first said consumer; and

matching the determined location of the first said consumer with the first zone.

9. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 8 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;

the determining when the at least one specified condition occurs further includes using the received data to find a match between 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 of the first said consumer.

10. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 wherein the auction is of a type selected from the group consisting of:

English auction;

Dutch auction;

sealed-bid first-price auction;

sealed-bid second-price auction;

supply auction;

demand auction;

double auction;

open auction;

closed auction;

buyout auction;

raffle; and

combinations of any of the above types of auctions.

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

there are a plurality of types of the auction participants; and

for each of the plurality of types, at least one of the corresponding auction participants is awarded one of the winning bids.

12. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of auction participants is selected from the group consisting of:

a merchant;

an acquirer of the merchant;

an issuer that has issued an account to the at least one consumer;

a transaction handler; and

any combination thereof, wherein;

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

each transaction is upon a corresponding account of a corresponding said consumer;

each of the merchants submits a corresponding said transaction to a corresponding said acquirer for processing by the transaction handler who requests a corresponding said issuer to obtain payment for the corresponding said transaction from a corresponding said account; and

the corresponding said issuer forwards the obtained payment to the corresponding said acquirer to pay the corresponding said merchant for the corresponding said transaction.

13. A computer implemented method for auctioning an announcement about a consumer to a plurality of auction participants, the computer implemented method comprising the steps of:

performing, using a computing apparatus executing software, an electronic auction, wherein;

a plurality of auction participants each electronically bid on receiving the announcement after at least one announcement condition occurs;

the at least one announcement condition includes presence of the consumer within a spatial zone; and

at least one auction participant has a winning bid;

determining, using the computing apparatus executing the software, when the at least one announcement condition occurs;

and

after the at least one announcement condition occurs, forming, using the computing apparatus executing the software, the announcement for electronic delivery to the at least one auction participant that has the winning bid while the consumer is within the spatial zone.

14. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 13 further comprising the step of transmitting, using the computing apparatus executing the software, an auction initiating communication to the plurality of auction participants:

after the at least one announcement condition occurs; and

before the step of performing the electronic auction.

15. The computer implemented method as defined in claim 14 wherein the announcement condition includes receipt of a transaction of the consumer upon a payment account issued to the consumer by an issuer within a payment processing system.

16. 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 conditions for performing an electronic auction, wherein the specified conditions include presence of a portable consumer device of a corresponding consumer within a spatial zone; and

performing an electronic auction, wherein a plurality of auction participants electronically bid for an option to communicate with the portable consumer device within the spatial zone;

determining when the announcement conditions occur;

and

after the announcement conditions occur, enabling a communication with the portable consumer device within the spatial zone from at least one of the auction participants having a corresponding winning said bid.

17. The apparatus as defined in claim 16 wherein the computer readable medium further comprises stored instructions that, when executed by the computing apparatus, the computing apparatus performs the step of receiving an authorization request for a transaction upon a payment account of the corresponding consumer, wherein:

the authorization request is addressed from a point of interaction terminal of a corresponding merchant that is co-located with the portable consumer device when the authorization request is received; and

the determining when the announcement conditions occur includes;

using a code in the authorization request to determine a location of the portable consumer device; and

comparing the determined location to the spatial zone to find a match.

18. The apparatus as defined in claim 16 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 digital audio player;

a global positioning system enabled device;

a computer; and

a combination of any of the above portable consumer devices.

19. The apparatus as defined in claim 16 wherein:

the step of determining when the announcement conditions occur includes;

receiving a location data, transmitted from the portable consumer device, usable to identify a location of the portable consumer device;

using the received location data to determine the location of the portable consumer device; and

comparing the determined said location of the portable consumer device with the spatial zone to find a match.

20. The apparatus as defined in claim 19 wherein the location data includes at least one of:

a merchant identification code associated with a 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.