METHOD OF PROVIDING AND PROCESSING A PLURALITY OF STORED-VALUE CARDS

• US 20110057032A1
• Filed: 11/11/2010
• Published: 03/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Inventors: SMITH, Dennis R., SCHULTZ, Mark A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,997,483 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: A45C 11/18 Ticket-holders or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/229 Hierarchy of users of accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system

Abstract

A method of providing and processing a plurality of stored-value cards includes providing a stored-value card assembly including the plurality of stored-value cards in a housing. The plurality of stored-value cards includes a first stored-value card and a last stored-value card. Each of the plurality of stored-value cards is associated with a different account identifier linking each one of the plurality of stored-value cards to a different financial record or account. The different account identifiers collectively define a series of account identifiers. The method further includes scanning the different account identifier associated with the first stored-value card using a point-of-sale terminal, and scanning the different account identifier associated with the last stored-value card using the point-of-sale terminal. The housing indicates which of the different account identifier associated with the first stored-value card and the last stored-value card should be scanned first. Other card assemblies and associated methods are also disclosed.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A system for presenting and processing a plurality of financial transaction cards, the system comprising:

a financial transaction card assembly including;

a plurality of financial transaction cards each linked to a different financial account in a sequential range of financial accounts, the plurality of financial transaction cards including a first financial transaction card, linked to a first financial account of the sequential range of financial accounts via a first account identifier, and a second financial transaction card, linked to a last financial account of the sequential range of financial accounts via a second account identifier, and

a package enclosing the plurality of financial transaction cards and indicating the first account identifier and the second account identifier respectively associated with the first financial transaction card and the second financial transaction card of the plurality of financial transaction cards; and

a point-of-sale terminal including a reader configured to read at least the first account identifier and the second account identifier, wherein upon reading the first account identifier and the second account identifier of the financial transaction card assembly, the point-of sale terminal is configured to activate all the different financial accounts in the sequential range of financial accounts such that all of the plurality of financial transaction cards are ready for financial redemption toward a price of one or more purchases of one or more of goods and services.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the first account identifier and the second account identifier are each a different bar code.

23. The system of claim 21, further comprising a database remote from the plurality of financial transaction cards and the point-of sale terminal, the database storing each of the different financial accounts in the sequential range of financial accounts and facilitating tracking a monetary value associated with each of the different financial accounts in the sequential range of financial accounts and available toward the price of the one or more purchases of the one or more of goods and services.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the point-of-sale terminal is configured to receive a monetary value from an operator and to load each of the different financial accounts in the sequential range of financial accounts with the monetary value such that the monetary value is available toward the price of the one or more purchases of the one or more of goods and services using a corresponding one of the plurality of financial transaction cards.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein:

each of the plurality of financial transaction cards includes a different account identifier linking each of the plurality of financial transaction cards to a corresponding one of the different financial accounts of the sequential range of financial accounts, and

the different account identifiers corresponding with the plurality of financial transaction cards, other than the first account identifier and the second account identifier, are substantially obscured while the plurality of financial transaction cards are enclosed in the package.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the point of sale terminal is configured to activate all the different financial accounts in the of the sequential range of financial accounts without reading the different account identifiers corresponding with the ones of the plurality of financial transaction cards other than the first financial transaction card and the second financial transaction card.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of financial transaction cards includes at least three financial transaction cards.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein the first financial transaction card and the second financial card of the financial transaction card assembly are positioned within the package such that the point-of-sale terminal can read the first account identifier directly from the first financial transaction card and the second account identifier directly from the second financial transaction card.

29. The system of claim 21, wherein the point-of-sale terminal is configured to process a retail sale.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of financial transaction cards is visible through the package.

31. The system of claim 21, wherein the package includes two different materials.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein:

one of the two different materials defines a sleeve extending around the plurality of financial transaction cards, and

the other of the two different materials defines a wrapper enclosing the sleeve and the plurality of financial transaction cards.

33. The system of claim 21, wherein:

the package includes a card wrapper enclosing only the plurality of financial transaction cards, and

the plurality of financial transaction cards are viewable through the card wrapper.

34. A stored-value card system comprising:

a database storing a series of financial records bounded by a first financial record and a last financial record; and

a stored-value card assembly including;

a number of stored-value cards each associated with a different one of the series of financial records by a different one of a plurality of machine-readable identifiers, the number of stored-value cards including a first stored-value card associated with the first financial record and a last stored-value card associated with the last financial record, and

means for completely surrounding the number of stored-value cards, the means for completely surrounding the number of stored-value cards including means for indicating the different ones of the plurality of machine-readable identifiers corresponding to the first stored-value card and the first financial record and to the last stored-value card and the last financial record.

35. The stored-value card system of claim 34, wherein one or more of the plurality of machine-readable identifiers other than the different ones of the plurality of machine-readable identifiers corresponding to the first stored-value card and the first financial record and to the last stored-value card and the last financial record are obscured within the stored-value card assembly.

36. The stored-value card system of claim 34, further comprising a retail register configured to:

read the plurality of machine-readable identifiers, and

activate all of the different ones of the series of financial records based on reading only two of the different ones of the plurality of machine-readable identifiers, the only two of the different ones of the plurality of machine-readable identifiers corresponding to the first stored-value card and the first financial record and to the last stored-value card and the last financial record, wherein the only two different ones of the plurality of machine-readable identifiers are read from the stored-value card assembly.

37. The stored-value card system of claim 36, wherein:

each of the series of financial records has a zero balance until activated by the retail register, and

the retail register loads each of the series of financial records with a common balance value when activating all of the series of financial records.

38. The stored-value card system of claim 34, wherein the database facilitates tracking a monetary balance for each of the series of financial records available toward a price of a retail purchase when one of the number of stored-value cards corresponding with a respective different one of the series of financial records is presented during the retail purchase.

39. A financial transaction card system for presenting and processing a plurality of financial transaction cards, the system including:

a database storing a sequential range of financial records bounded by a first financial record and a last financial record;

a financial transaction card assembly including;

a plurality of financial transaction cards each linked with a different one of the sequential range of financial records by a different one of a plurality of machine-readable account identifiers, the plurality of financial transaction cards including a first financial transaction card associated with the first financial record and a last financial transaction card associated with the last financial record;

a package completely surrounding the plurality of financial transaction cards, the package including means for indicating the different ones of the plurality of machine-readable account identifiers corresponding to the first financial transaction card and the first financial record and to the last financial transaction card and the last financial record; and

a point-of-sale terminal including a reader configured to read the different ones of the plurality of machine-readable account identifiers, wherein upon reading the different ones of the plurality of machine-readable account identifiers corresponding to the first financial transaction card and the first financial record and to the second financial transaction card and the second financial record, the point-of sale terminal is configured to activate all of the sequential range of financial records such that all of the plurality of financial transaction cards are ready for financial redemption toward a price of one or more purchases of one or more of goods and services.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the plurality of machine-readable account identifiers are a plurality of bar codes.