MERCHANT-CONSUMER BRIDGING PLATFORM APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS

• US 20120303425A1
• Filed: 02/03/2012
• Published: 11/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Faith, Patrick, Katzin, Edward, Kumnick, Phillip L., Harris, Theodore David, Schulz, Jennifer A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,204,327 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/027 involving a payment switch or gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/32 using wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/384 using social networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/386 using messaging services or messaging apps using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS G06Q20/3255
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing

Abstract

The MERCHANT-CONSUMER BRIDGING PLATFORM APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS (“MCB-Platform”) various activity requests (e.g., transaction request, merchant information update request, offer issuance request, etc.) via MCB-Platform components into transaction records and merchant database updates outputs. In one implementation, a method is disclosed, comprising: receiving an activity request including merchant information associated with a merchant; retrieving a previously stored merchant record from a database; determining merchant information update indicia based on a comparison of the merchant information and the previously stored merchant record; determining a confidence metric for the merchant information update; retrieving a confidence requirement based on the activity request; determining, within a low-latency processing time-frame, whether the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement; performing the requested activity and updating the previously stored merchant record with the merchant information update indicia when the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement; and declining the activity request when the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement.

Claims

1. A merchant consumer bridging low-latency processor-implemented method, comprising:

receiving an activity request including merchant information associated with a merchant;

retrieving a previously stored merchant record from a database;

determining merchant information update indicia based on a comparison of the merchant information and the previously stored merchant record;

determining a confidence metric for the merchant information update;

retrieving a confidence requirement based on the activity request;

determining, within a low-latency processing time-frame, whether the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement;

performing the requested activity and updating the previously stored merchant record with the merchant information update indicia when the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement; and

declining the activity request when the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the activity request comprises any of a transaction payment request, a merchant database update request, and an offer issuance request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the activity request is received from a merchant point of sale terminal.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the transaction payment request further comprises consumer wallet information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the merchant record comprises any of a merchant ID, merchant address, merchant inventory, merchant alias, and merchant name.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the merchant record comprises any of a merchant URL, merchant web server ID, and merchant web server address.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forming a query on the merchant database based on a merchant ID.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein merchant information update indicia comprises an inconsistent data field between the received merchant information and the previously stored merchant record.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidence metric comprise a numeric value.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidence metric is determined by a scoring component.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the scoring component receives a variety of merchant related information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the variety of merchant related information comprises web claws from merchant websites.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the variety of merchant related information comprises merchant statistics.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the variety of merchant related information comprises prior transaction history with the merchant.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the scoring component generate the confidence metric based on the received variety of merchant related information, wherein the confidence metric is indicative of a confidence level of accuracy of the merchant information update indicia.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidence requirement is dependent on the activity type.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidence requirement comprises a threshold value of 0.8 to allow a transaction request.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the confidence requirement comprises a threshold value of 0.5 to allow an offer issuance request.

19. A merchant consumer bridging system, comprising:

a memory;

a processor disposed in communication with said memory, and configured to issue a plurality of processing instructions stored in the memory, wherein the processor issues instructions to;

receive an activity request including merchant information associated with a merchant;

retrieve a previously stored merchant record from a database;

determine merchant information update indicia based on a comparison of the merchant information and the previously stored merchant record;

determine a confidence metric for the merchant information update;

retrieve a confidence requirement based on the activity request;

determine, within a low-latency processing time-frame, whether the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement;

perform the requested activity and updating the previously stored merchant record with the merchant information update indicia when the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement; and

decline the activity request when the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement.

20. A merchant consumer bridging processor-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions executable by a processor to:

receive an activity request including merchant information associated with a merchant;

retrieve a previously stored merchant record from a database;

determine merchant information update indicia based on a comparison of the merchant information and the previously stored merchant record;

determine a confidence metric for the merchant information update;

retrieve a confidence requirement based on the activity request;

determine, within a low-latency processing time-frame, whether the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement;

perform the requested activity and updating the previously stored merchant record with the merchant information update indicia when the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement; and

decline the activity request when the determined confidence metric satisfies the retrieved confidence requirement.