SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING LOCATION BASED COUPON-LESS OFFERS TO REGISTERED CARD MEMBERS

• US 20120221392A1
• Filed: 05/08/2012
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Baker, Miles, Derocher, Diane, Durvasula, Sastry VSM, Newhouse, Sherree, Puranik, Manjushri H., Tiku, Sripriya V.
• Granted Patent: US 9,684,909 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.17
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location

Abstract

The system provides location based coupon-less offers based upon a location of a card member (CM). A location of a CM may be determined based upon one or more of a travel itinerary, a GPS signal, a proximity of a mobile communication device to a cellular base station, and/or a zip code. An offer from a merchant registered to provide coupon-less offers may be transmitted to a mobile communication device based upon the location. An offer, once accepted by a CM, may be matched to a record of charge associated with a transaction account held by the CM. A credit may be applied to the CM'"'"'s transaction account and a debit may be applied to a transaction account of the registered merchant. One or more offer categories and/or one or more offer category classes may be transmitted to the mobile communication device based upon the CM'"'"'s location.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

associating, by a computer based system capable of managing location based offers, a transaction account with profile information, wherein the profile information is associated with an account affiliate and an application capable of providing location information, and wherein the application is capable of operating on a computing device;

analyzing, by the computer based system, a first location of the account affiliate based on a first input to the computing device;

providing, by the computer based system, a first notification instruction for a first offer for the account affiliate based on the first location; and

associating, by the computer based system, the first offer with the transaction account based on a second input by the account affiliate.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving profile information from at least one of an account affiliate, a location determining entity, and the application capable of providing location information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer is from at least one of a merchant, a transaction account issuer, an acquirer, and a third party.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first offer is displayed to the account affiliate, in response to the first notification instruction.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first offer is a coupon-less offer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the account affiliate is at least one of an account holder, an account owner, a supplemental account holder, a beneficiary of an account and a rewards account holder.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first offer provides at least one of a discount, monetary value, loyalty points, item, experience, access, tickets and rebate amount.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer based system, transaction information associated with the transaction account;

comparing, by the computer based system, the transaction information with a criteria governing the first offer; and

determining, by the computer based system, a reward based on the transaction satisfying the criteria governing the first offer.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising applying, by the computer based system, the reward to the transaction account.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the reward is shown as a credit at least one of at the point of sale, on the computing device, in an electronic wallet and on a statement associated with the transaction account.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the reward has a monetary value.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising debiting, by the computer based system, a merchant account.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein a debit is provided to a merchant account.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the debiting is in response to the applying of the reward.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving a tee from the merchant in response to the applying of the reward.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the reward is based on a predetermined spend level associated with a merchant.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the reward is a product level discount.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a smart phone.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein a second location is determined by real time transaction data associated with a transaction associated with the transaction account.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising providing, by the computer based system, second notification instruction for a second offer based on the second location.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the location is based on a merchant identifier associated with the first input.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the first offer is within an area associated with the first location.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the computer based system, preferences associated with the transaction account, wherein the preferences at least partially define at least one of a type of offers that is provided to the account affiliate a source of information of the location.

24. A tangible computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer based system capable of managing location based offers, causes the computer based system to be capable of performing operations comprising:

associating, by the computer based system, a transaction account with profile information, wherein the profile information is associated with an account affiliate and an application capable of providing location information, and wherein the application is capable of operating on a computing device;

analyzing, by the computer based system, a first location of the account affiliate based on a first input to the computing device;

providing, by the computer based system, a first notification instruction for a first offer for the account affiliate based on the first location; and

associating, by the computer based system, the offer with the transaction account based on a second input by the account affiliate.

25. A system comprising:

a network interface communicating with a memory;

the memory communicating with a processor capable of managing location based offers; and

the processor, when executing a computer program, being capable of performing operations comprising;

associating, by the processor, a transaction account with profile information, wherein the profile information is associated with an account affiliate and an application capable of providing location information, and wherein the application is capable of operating on a computing device;

analyzing, by the processor, a first location of the account affiliate based on a first input to the computing device;

providing, by the processor, a first notification instruction for a first offer for the account affiliate based on the first location; and

associating, by the processor, the offer with the transaction account based on a second input by the account affiliate.