SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING COUPON-LESS DISCOUNTS BASED ON A USER BROADCASTED MESSAGE

• US 20120226545A1
• Filed: 05/10/2012
• Published: 09/06/2012
• 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: Gebb, Luke, Muthukrishnan, Sathish B., Tiku, Sripriya, Wolf, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,576,294 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/384 using social networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4015 using location information
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase

Abstract

The systems and methods provide an offer to a user that may be accepted by the user through an action by the user. The action may be, for example, a broadcast through a social media channel. The parameters of the offer may defined that the broadcast comprise an offer identifier and may require that a user take subsequent action to fulfill the offer, The systems and methods may also be configured to monitor one or more broadcast channels, identify the source of a broadcast, identify transaction accounts associated with the source, evaluate transaction data associated with the transaction account, and provide benefits to the source and/or the transaction account.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

associating, by a computer based system capable of managing a reward program, a transaction account and broadcast platform profile information;

receiving, by the computer based system, a predefined subset of broadcasts from a broadcast platform;

identifying, by the computer based system, an offer identifier within the broadcast and a source of the broadcast, wherein the offer identifier is associated with offer information that defines an offer; and

associating, by the computer based system, an offer defined by the offer identifier to a transaction account associated with the source, wherein the source is associated with the broadcast platform profile information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast is transmitted via a push based short message service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast is published by a user through a social media platform.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the broadcast is published through at least one of You Tube, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer identifier comprises a # and a keyword.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the keyword comprises an indicator associated with a merchant.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the computer based system, the offer identifier and the offer information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the source is at least one of an account affiliate and a non-account affiliate.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting, by the computer based system, an invitation to apply for the transaction account in response to the source being the non-account affiliate.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises monitoring the broadcast from the source.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer identifier is a hashtag.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast is transmitted through Twitter, wherein the source is an account affiliate, and wherein the offer indicator is a hashtag.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer identifier is defined by a merchant and comprises text associated with the merchant.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer is defined by a merchant through an application programming interface.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer identifier is defined by a manufacturer and comprises text associated with a product.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer identifier comprises at least one of a picture, a graphical element, and a sound.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer comprises a first parameter defining the nature of the broadcast and a second parameter defining how to accept the offer.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer is a coupon less offer.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast platform profile information is at least one of a user identifier, an e-mail address, Twitter handle, and a username.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer identifier is defined by an account issuer.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer identifier is defined by a third party.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions, the sequences of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a computer based system capable of managing a reward program, cause the computer based system to be capable of performing operations comprising:

associating, by the computer based system, a transaction account and broadcast platform profile information;

receiving, by the computer based system, a predefined subset of broadcasts from a broadcast platform;

identifying, by the computer based system, an offer identifier within the broadcast and a source of the broadcast, wherein the offer identifier is associated with over information that defines an offer; and

associating, by the computer based system, an offer defined by the offer identifier to a transaction account associated with the source, wherein the source is associated with the broadcast platform profile information.

23. A computer based system comprising:

a network interface communicating with a non-transitory memory;

the non-transitory memory communicating with a processor capable of managing a reward program; and

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

associating, by the processor, a transaction account and broadcast platform profile information;

receiving, by the processor, a predefined subset of broadcasts from a broadcast platform;

identifying, by the processor, an offer identifier within the broadcast and a source of the broadcast, wherein the offer identifier is associated with offer information that defines an offer; and

associating, by the processor, an offer defined by the offer identifier to a transaction account associated with the source, wherein the source is associated with the broadcast platform profile information.