METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING AND ALERTING AVAILABILITY OF PREFERRED AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINES
First Claim
1. An apparatus for generating an alert for a cardholder who utilizes an automated teller machine (ATM) terminal, for which a transaction fee is charged, the apparatus comprising:
- a geo-coding data store having recorded therein geographic coordinates corresponding to street addresses;
a terminal locations data store having recorded therein locations of alternate ATM terminals, for which the cardholder would be charged a reduced transaction fee, as compared to the transaction fee that was charged, or no transaction fee;
at least one computer processor interfaced with said geo-coding data store and said terminal locations data store, wherein said at least one computer processor is operatively connected to employ said geo-coding database to determine geographic coordinates for an acquiring ATM terminal used by the cardholder to conduct a transaction, for which a transaction fee is incurred, corresponding to a street address obtained as part of transaction data received from the acquiring ATM terminal in connection with the transaction, employ said terminal locations data store to search for, using one or more predetermined search parameters, at least one of the alternate ATM terminals, having geographic coordinates within a predetermined geographic proximity to those of the fee-based ATM terminal, and generate alert information including a street address of the at least one of the alternate ATM terminals.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An alert process and apparatus employs a geo-coding database to find geographic coordinates corresponding to a street address of a fee-based ATM terminal for which one or more transaction fees or charged to a cardholder to use, employs a terminal locations data store to obtain a street address of an ATM terminal for which no fees or relatively lower fees, would be charged to the cardholder to use, having geographic coordinates closely matching those of the fee-based ATM terminal, and generates alert information including the street address of the non fee-based terminal. Cardholders can be alerted with locations of other ATM'"'"'s that could have been used for lesser fees or for free, and that are in the vicinity of the ATM that originated the transaction subject to fees. The alert can also present the cardholder with additional benefits or incentives such as discount coupons and/or fee reimbursements.
56 Citations
30 Claims
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1. An apparatus for generating an alert for a cardholder who utilizes an automated teller machine (ATM) terminal, for which a transaction fee is charged, the apparatus comprising:
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a geo-coding data store having recorded therein geographic coordinates corresponding to street addresses; a terminal locations data store having recorded therein locations of alternate ATM terminals, for which the cardholder would be charged a reduced transaction fee, as compared to the transaction fee that was charged, or no transaction fee; at least one computer processor interfaced with said geo-coding data store and said terminal locations data store, wherein said at least one computer processor is operatively connected to employ said geo-coding database to determine geographic coordinates for an acquiring ATM terminal used by the cardholder to conduct a transaction, for which a transaction fee is incurred, corresponding to a street address obtained as part of transaction data received from the acquiring ATM terminal in connection with the transaction, employ said terminal locations data store to search for, using one or more predetermined search parameters, at least one of the alternate ATM terminals, having geographic coordinates within a predetermined geographic proximity to those of the fee-based ATM terminal, and generate alert information including a street address of the at least one of the alternate ATM terminals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of generating alerts for cardholders who conduct a transaction at an automated teller machine (ATM) terminal, for which at least one transaction fee was incurred, the method comprising:
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accessing with a specially programmed computer a geo-coding data store having recorded therein geographic coordinates corresponding to street addresses, and employing said geo-coding database to determine geographic coordinates for an acquiring ATM terminal used by the cardholder to conduct a transaction, for which a transaction fee is incurred, that correspond to a street address obtained as part of transaction data received from the acquiring ATM terminal in connection with the transaction; accessing a terminal location'"'"'s data store having recorded therein location information for alternate ATM terminals for which the cardholder would be charged a lower transaction fee or would not be charged the at least one transaction fee, and employing said locations data store to obtain a street address of at least one of the alternate ATM terminals having geographic coordinates within a predetermined geographic vicinity of the acquiring ATM terminal; and generating alert information including the street address of the at least one on-us terminal. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification