Providing an Announcement About Transactions of a Target Merchant to a Consumer

• US 20110173075A1
• Filed: 03/23/2011
• Published: 07/14/2011
• 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, Mowzoon, May M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,442,867 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.58
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

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 is formed 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 method, comprising:

receiving, via a computer processing system, a query from a first consumer, the query including a request for an announcement including information about a transaction of a target merchant with a second consumer, the announcement to be delivered in response to a location of the target merchant being within a spatial zone delineated relative to a position of a portable consumer device of the first consumer;

receiving transaction data for each of a plurality of transactions including the transaction;

receiving a transmission including information usable to determine a position of the portable consumer device;

determining the position of the portable consumer device using the information in the transmission;

determining, via the computer processing system, whether the location of the target merchant is within the spatial zone;

identifying the transaction from among the plurality of transactions using data included in the query; and

forming the announcement for delivery to the first consumer, the announcement including information based on the transaction data for the transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the location is within the spatial zone comprises delineating the spatial zone based on at least one specified distance relative to the position of the portable consumer device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the transmission comprises receiving the transmission from the portable consumer device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission is an authorization request for a transaction between the first consumer and a merchant.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second consumer is a specified shopper identified in the query.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an indicator of the target merchant using data included in the query, wherein the identifying the transaction comprises using the indicator of the target merchant.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of transactions corresponds to one of a plurality of merchants, each transaction is between a consumer and a corresponding one of the plurality of merchants, and the transaction data for each transaction includes an indicator usable to identify the merchant corresponding to the transaction, the method further comprising determining a first indicator of the target merchant using data included in the query, wherein the identifying the transaction comprises using the first indicator.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the query is received while the portable consumer device is present within the spatial zone.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the information based on the transaction data comprises a price paid for a resource.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising subsequent to the forming the announcement, receiving a communication from the first consumer for delivery to the target merchant.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the communication includes an offer from the first consumer to purchase a resource at the same price as the resource was previously sold in the transaction of the target merchant.

12. A computer-readable medium including stored instructions that, when executed by a computing apparatus, perform a method comprising:

receiving, via the computing apparatus, a query from a first consumer, the query including a request for an announcement including information about a transaction of a target merchant, the announcement to be delivered in response to a location of the target merchant being within a spatial zone delineated relative to a position of a portable consumer device of the first consumer;

receiving transaction data for each of a plurality of transactions including the transaction;

receiving a transmission including information usable to determine a position of the portable consumer device;

determining the position of the portable consumer device using the information in the transmission;

determining, via the computing apparatus, whether the location of the target merchant is within the spatial zone;

identifying the transaction from among the plurality of transactions using data included in the query; and

forming the announcement for delivery to the first consumer, the announcement including information based on the transaction data for the transaction.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the information based on the transaction data comprises a quantity of a resource purchased in the transaction.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the portable consumer device is a cellular telephone.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the determining whether the location is within the spatial zone comprises delineating the spatial zone based on at least one specified distance relative to the position of the portable consumer device.

16. A transaction handler system, comprising:

memory to store data regarding an announcement condition for which a target merchant is located within a spatial zone delineated by at least one specified distance relative to a position of a portable consumer device of a shopper; and

a processor coupled to access the memory and configured to implement a method comprising;

receiving a request from the shopper for an announcement including data about at least one transaction of the target merchant, the announcement to be delivered in response to satisfying the announcement condition;

receiving a transmission including information usable to determine a position of the portable consumer device;

determining the position of the portable consumer device using at least the information included in the transmission;

determining a location of the target merchant relative to the spatial zone;

identifying the at least one transaction from among other transactions using at least information in the request; and

in response to the announcement condition being satisfied, forming an announcement for delivery to the shopper.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the announcement further includes a merchant offer for a future transaction for a resource previously sold in the at least one transaction.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the merchant offer includes a discounted price for the resource, and wherein the discounted price is lower than a price at which the resource was sold in the at least one transaction.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

processing, within a payment processing system, a plurality of transactions between a plurality of merchants and a plurality of consumers, the plurality of transactions comprising the at least one transaction;

wherein the transactions are conducted on accounts issued to consumers processed for payment to merchants;

wherein each merchant submits a transaction to an acquirer, the processing comprising requesting an issuer of the corresponding account to obtain payment for the submitted transaction; and

wherein the issuer forwards the payment for delivery to the acquirer to pay the submitting merchant for the submitted transaction.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the receiving the transmission comprises receiving the transmission from the portable consumer device.