FINANCIAL TRANSACTION ROUTING

• US 20140129358A1
• Filed: 11/05/2012
• Published: 05/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Mathison, Steve
• Application Number:
  US13/669,224
• Publication Number:
  US 20140129358A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/17
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/027 involving a payment switch or gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/352 Contactless payments by cards
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/0866 by active credit-cards adapted therefor G07F7/1008 takes precedence

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention are directed toward selecting a preferred transaction application and/or routing options that are provided by a transaction card. The preference can be determined, for example, based on the lowest interchange fee, a bulk rate, and/or an incentive. In some embodiments a transaction card provides a plurality of transaction applications and/or routing options to a POS device and the POS device can communicate these options to a host processor along with transaction data. The host processor can then determine a preference associated with each of the routing options and/or transaction applications, and provide a recommendation to the POS as to which transaction application and/or routing option have preference.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving transaction data at a point of sale device;

receiving a listing of a plurality of transaction applications at the point of sale device a from a transaction card;

sending the plurality of transaction applications and at least a subset of the transaction data from the point of sale device to a host processor;

receiving an indication of a recommended transaction application from the host processor, wherein the recommended transaction application is a preferred transaction applications from the plurality of transaction; and

processing the transaction with the recommended transaction application.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the preferred transaction application comprises the transaction application with the lowest interchange fees, a transaction application associated with a bulk rate, or a transaction application associated with an incentive.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recommended transaction application includes a plurality of recommended transaction applications sorted based on the preference for processing a transaction with the transaction data.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transaction data includes a transaction amount.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of transaction applications comprises either a debit processing scheme, a credit processing scheme, or scheme associated with interchange costs.

6. A method comprising:

receiving through a communication network at a host processor a listing of a plurality of transaction applications from a point of sale device;

receiving through a communication network transaction data for a specific transaction from the point of sale device;

determining an preferred transaction application from the listing of plurality of transaction applications based on the transaction data; and

sending a recommendation identifying one of the transaction applications from the listing of transaction applications to the point of sale device.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the determining an interchange fee comprises looking up interchange fee information for each transaction application in a database.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the recommendation comprises the name of the transaction application, a code associated with the transaction applications, or a number associated with the transaction application.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the recommendation comprises a number indicating the position of the transaction application within the listing of transaction applications.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of transaction applications comprises either a debit or credit processing scheme.

11. The method according to claim 6, wherein the preferred transaction application is chosen based on the interchange fee.

12. A point of sale device comprising:

a contactless card reader;

a merchant interface;

a network interface; and

a processor communicatively coupled with the contactless card reader, the merchant interface, and the network interface, wherein the processor is configured to;

receive transaction information from a merchant transaction system though the merchant interface;

receive a plurality of transaction applications from a transaction card through the contactless card reader;

send the plurality of transaction applications and at least a subset of the transaction information to a host processor through the network interface; and

receive a recommendation from the host processor through the network interface indicating a preferred transaction application from the plurality of transaction applications.

13. The point of sale device according to claim 12, further comprising attempting to settle the transaction using the of transaction application recommended by the host processor.

14. The point of sale device according to claim 12, wherein the network interface and the merchant interface are a single interface.

15. The point of sale device according to claim 12, further comprising sending a SIC code associated with the merchant to the host processor through the network interface.

16. The point of sale device according to claim 12, further comprising receiving a bank identification number from the applications from a transaction card through the contactless card reader, and sending the bank identification number to the host processor through the network interface.

17. The point of sale device according to claim 12, further comprising sending an identifier identifying the merchant to the host processor through the network interface.

18. A host processor comprising:

a network interface;

a database comprising a lookup table that provides preferences for a plurality of transaction applications; and

a processor communicatively coupled with the network interface and the database, wherein the processor is configured to;

receive transaction data from a point of sale device through the network interface, wherein the transaction data comprises a transaction amount and a plurality of transaction applications;

determine the preferred transaction application; and

communicate the preferred transaction application to the point of sale device.

19. The host processor according to claim 18, wherein the preferred transaction application comprises the transaction application with the lowest interchange fees, a transaction application associated with a bulk rate, or a transaction application associated with an incentive.