SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO APPLY THE BENEFIT OF OFFERS VIA A TRANSACTION HANDLER

• US 20130246150A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ovick, Joseph Bjorn, Carlson, Mark, Hagey, Ryan, Reid, Margaret, Stan, Patrick, Wright, Patrick, Koganti, Krishna Prasad, Powell, Glenn, Kumnick, Phillip Lyle
• Granted Patent: US 9,460,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3221 Access to banking information through M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives

Abstract

A system includes a transaction handler configured to split a transaction, initiated between an acquirer processor representing a merchant and an issuer processor representing an account holder, into separate transactions with the issuer processor and at least one sponsor processor that is configured to provide the benefit of offers to applicable transactions. A portal is configured to notify the account holder of the award/redemption of the benefit of an offer using a communication channel separate from the transaction terminal that initiates and approves the transaction between the account holder and the merchant.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

storing, in a computing apparatus, data associating an offer with an account of a user;

receiving, in the computing apparatus, an authorization request identifying a transaction in the account;

determining, based on the data associating the offer with the account and by the computing apparatus, whether a benefit of the offer is applicable to the transaction; and

in response to a determination that the benefit of the offer is applicable to the transaction,

communicating, by the computing apparatus, with a sponsor processor of the benefit for authorization of the benefit,

communicating, by the computing apparatus, with an issuer processor of the account for authorization in the account, and

combining, by the computing apparatus, a first authorization response from the sponsor processor and a second authorization response from the issuer processor to generate a third authorization response for the authorization request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the authorization request is received from an acquirer processor and the authorization response is transmitted to the acquirer processor as a response to the authorization request;

and the authorization request identifies the account as a single source of payment for the transaction.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the authorization request is a third authorization request;

the communicating with the sponsor processor includes transmitting to the sponsor processor a first authorization request identifying the benefit and receiving the first authorization response; and

the communicating with the issuer processor includes transmitting to the issuer processor a second authorization request identifying a second transaction amount in the account and receiving the second authorization response.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the third authorization request identifies a third transaction amount in the account;

and the method further comprises;

determining, by the computing apparatus, the second transaction amount by reducing the third transaction amount according to the benefit of the offer.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the third authorization response is generated to approve the transaction if the first authorization response approves the benefit and the second authorization response approves the second transaction amount in the account;

and the third authorization response is generated to reject the transaction if the first authorization response rejects the benefit or the second authorization response rejects the second transaction amount in the account.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

in response to the determination that the benefit of the offer is applicable to the transaction, communicating, by the computing apparatus, with a further sponsor processor for authorization of a further benefit of the offer;

wherein the combining comprises combining a further authorization response from the further sponsor processor, the first authorization response, and the second authorization response to generate the third authorization response.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in the computing apparatus, a trigger record identifying a first set of requirements and the offer;

wherein the determining of whether the benefit of the offer is applicable to the transaction includes

determining whether the transaction satisfies the first set of requirements specified in the trigger record, and

in response to a determination that the transaction satisfies the first set of requirements,

identifying the offer based on the trigger record, and

determining whether a second set of requirements of the offer are satisfied to qualify the transaction for the benefit.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating with the sponsor processor and the communicating with the issuer processor are performed concurrently.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing data associating a communication reference with the account of the user; and

transmitting a notification about application of the benefit to the transaction, concurrently with transmitting the third authorization response.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a transaction amount approved in the third authorization response is equal to the sum of a transaction amount approved in the first authorization response and a transaction amount approved in the second authorization response.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the computing apparatus includes a transaction handler in a payment communications network interconnected by the transaction handler;

and the communicating with the sponsor processor and the communicating with the issuer processor are performed on the payment communications network.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a notification of a reduction in transaction amount in the account, reduced in accordance with the offer, to the user at a communication reference associated with the account of the user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the authorization request is received from an acquirer processor;

and the notification is transmitted in parallel with transmission of the third authorization response to the acquirer processor.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining of whether the benefit of the offer is applicable to the transaction comprises:

storing a trigger record identifying the offer and a portion of requirements of the offer to be satisfied by the transaction to qualify for a benefit of the offer;

identifying the transaction based on matching the transaction with the portion of requirements; and

after the transaction and the offer are identified via matching the trigger record with transactions, determining whether the transaction satisfies the requirements for awarding the benefit of the offer.

16. The computing apparatus of claim 11, wherein the notification is transmitted to the communication reference when the third authorization response approves the first transaction.

17. The computing apparatus of claim 16, wherein the authorization request is a third authorization request;

to communicate with the sponsor processor the transaction handler generates a first authorization request to the sponsor processor;

to communicate with the issuer processor the transaction handler generates a second authorization request to the issuer processor; and

a transaction amount in the third authorization request is equal to a sum of a transaction amount in the first authorization request and a transaction amount in the second authorization request.

18. The computing apparatus of claim 17, wherein the third authorization response is generated to approve the first transaction if the first authorization response approves the first authorization request and the second authorization response approves the second authorization request;

and the third authorization response is generated to reject the transaction if the first authorization response rejects the first authorization request or the second authorization response rejects the second authorization request.

19. The computing apparatus of claim 17, wherein the transaction handler is configured to concurrently transmit the first authorization request and the second authorization request.

15. A computing apparatus having at least one processor and memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to perform operations, the computing apparatus comprising:

a data warehouse configured to store

first data associating a communication reference with an account of a user;

second data associating an offer with the account, the second data including a trigger record identifying the offer and a first set of conditions, the first set of conditions requiring a transaction in the account, the offer having a benefit applicable to a transaction satisfying a second set of conditions, the second set including the first set;

a transaction handler configured to process payment transactions to detect an authorization request for a first transaction when the first transaction satisfies the first set of conditions specified in the trigger record, wherein after the authorization request is detected, the computing apparatus identifies the offer based on the trigger record matching the first transaction and determines whether the second set of conditions is satisfied in view of the first transaction, wherein if the second set of conditions is satisfied, the transaction handler is configured to

communicate with a sponsor processor of the benefit for authorization of the benefit,

communicate with an issuer processor of the account for authorization in the account, and

generate a third authorization response for the authorization request based on a first authorization response from the sponsor processor and a second authorization response from the issuer processor; and

a portal configured to transmit a notification to the communication reference about application of the offer to the first transaction, concurrently with transmission of the third authorization response.

20. A non-transitory computer-storage medium storing instructions configured to instruct a computing apparatus to:

receive, in the computing apparatus, an authorization request identifying a transaction of a first amount in an account of a user;

determine, based on data stored to associate an offer with the account and by the computing apparatus, whether a benefit of the offer is applicable to the transaction; and

in response to a determination that the benefit of the offer is applicable to the transaction,

communicate, by the computing apparatus, with a sponsor processor of the benefit for authorization of the benefit of a second amount,

communicate, by the computing apparatus, with an issuer processor of the account for authorization to a third amount determined from a difference between the first amount and the second amount, and

generate, by the computing apparatus, a third authorization response for the authorization request based on a first authorization response for the second amount from the sponsor processor and a second authorization response for the third amount from the issuer processor.