SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADMINISTERING A LOYALTY PROGRAM AND PROCESSING PAYMENTS

• US 20160110753A1
• Filed: 12/28/2015
• Published: 04/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Modiv Media, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Modiv Media (Catalina Marketing Corporation)
• Inventors: WESLEY, Robert J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,354,269 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/343 Cards including a counter
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• 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 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0233 Method of redeeming a frequent usage reward
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/02 by keys or other credit registering devices

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a system and method for administration of a customer loyalty program at a point of sale terminal. The system, in one embodiment, contains a database of customer records for the loyalty program where each customer record contains information about a customer'"'"'s payment device and information about a customer'"'"'s mobile device. The system may locate a customer record in a database based on payment device or mobile device information captured at the point of sale terminal and apply any applicable loyalty program discounts. The system may then forward the payment device information to a third-party payment processor for payment processing. The system may print out a receipt at the point of sale terminal indicating any discounts and containing a promotional message. The system may also send a promotional message to the customer'"'"'s mobile device using the mobile device information stored in the customer'"'"'s record.

Claims

1. A system for providing coupons to a mobile device in association with a purchase transaction at a Point of Sale (POS) system, the system comprising:

a computer system comprising one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, programs the computer system to;

receive, from the POS system, payment identification information in relation to the purchase transaction;

identify a user account based on the payment identifying information;

obtain coupon information based on the user account;

identify the mobile device based on the user account; and

cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

cause the POS system to print the coupon information.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

receive, from the POS system, transaction information for the purchase transaction; and

cause receipt information that includes the transaction information to be transmitted to the mobile device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein to cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device, the computer system is programmed to:

transmit the coupon information to the mobile device via a BLUETOOTH communication link.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein to cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device, the computer system is programmed to:

cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device via a network connection.

6. The system of claim 1, the system further comprising:

a memory device configured to store a phone number of the mobile device in association with the user account, wherein to cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device, the computer system is programmed to;

cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device via a Short Message Service (SMS) text message to the phone number.

7. The system of claim 1, the system further comprising:

a memory device configured to store the coupon information in association with the user account, wherein the coupon information is obtained from the memory device based on the association with the user account.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the payment identification information is obtained from the mobile device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the payment identification information is obtained from the mobile device via a payment device reader configured to read the payment identification information from the mobile device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the payment device reader is configured to read the payment identification information via a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag of the mobile device.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the payment device reader is configured to read the payment identification information via a Near Field Communication (NFC) communication link with the mobile device.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the coupon information includes a discount amount, from a price of an item, to be applied to the purchase transaction, and wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

generate an adjusted total for the purchase transaction based on the discount amount;

cause the adjusted total to be transmitted to a payment processing network for payment;

receive a confirmation from the payment processing network; and

cause the confirmation to be transmitted to the POS system.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the coupon information includes a discount amount, from a price of an item, to be applied to the purchase transaction, and wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

generate an adjusted total for the purchase transaction based on the discount amount; and

cause the adjusted total to be transmitted to the POS system.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the coupon information includes a discount amount, from a price of an item, to be applied to a future purchase transaction.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

receive, from the POS system, second payment identifying information, different from the payment identifying information, in relation to a second purchase transaction different from the purchase transaction;

identify the user account based on the second payment identifying information;

obtain second coupon information based on the user account;

identify the mobile device based on the user account; and

cause the second coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device.

39. The system of claim 8, wherein the mobile device identification information is received from the mobile device via a payment device reader configured to read the mobile device identification information from the mobile device.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the payment device reader is configured to read the mobile device identification information via a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag of the mobile device.

41. The system of claim 39, wherein the payment device reader is configured to read the mobile device identification information via a Near Field Communication (NFC) communication link with the mobile device.

16. A computer implemented method for providing coupons to a mobile device in association with a purchase transaction at a Point of Sale (POS) system, the method being implemented on a computer system having one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, program the computer system to perform the method, the method comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, from the POS system, payment identification information in relation to the purchase transaction;

identifying, by the computer system, a user account based on the payment identifying information;

obtaining, by the computer system, coupon information based on the user account;

identifying, by the computer system, the mobile device based on the user account; and

causing, by the computer system, the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device.

17. The method of claim 16, the method further comprising:

causing, by the computer system, the POS system to print the coupon information.

18. The method of claim 16, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, from the POS system, transaction information for the purchase transaction; and

causing, by the computer system, receipt information that includes the transaction information to be transmitted to the mobile device.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein causing the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device comprises:

transmitting, by the computer system, the coupon information to the mobile device via a BLUETOOTH communication link.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein causing the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device comprises:

causing, by the computer system, the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device via a network connection.

21. The method of claim 16, the method further comprising:

storing, by the computer system, in a memory device, a phone number of the mobile device in association with the user account, wherein to cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device; and

causing, by the computer system, the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device via a Short Message Service (SMS) text message to the phone number.

22. The method of claim 16, the method further comprising:

storing, by the computer system, in a memory device, the coupon information in association with the user account, wherein the coupon information is obtained from the memory device based on the association with the user account.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the payment identification information is obtained from the mobile device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the payment identification information is obtained from the mobile device via a payment device reader configured to read the payment identification information from the mobile device.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the payment device reader is configured to read the payment identification information via a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag of the mobile device.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the payment device reader is configured to read the payment identification information via a Near Field Communication (NFC) communication link with the mobile device.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein the coupon information includes a discount amount, from a price of an item, to be applied to the purchase transaction, the method further comprising:

generating, by the computer system, an adjusted total for the purchase transaction based on the discount amount;

causing, by the computer system, the adjusted total to be transmitted to a payment processing network for payment;

receiving, by the computer system, a confirmation from the payment processing network; and

causing, by the computer system, the confirmation to be transmitted to the POS system.

28. The method of claim 16, wherein the coupon information includes a discount amount, from a price of an item, to be applied to the purchase transaction, the method further comprising:

generating, by the computer system, an adjusted total for the purchase transaction based on the discount amount; and

causing, by the computer system, the adjusted total to be transmitted to the POS system.

29. The method of claim 16, wherein the coupon information includes a discount amount, from a price of an item, to be applied to a future purchase transaction.

30. The method of claim 16, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the computer system, from the POS system, second payment identifying information, different from the payment identifying information, in relation to a second purchase transaction different from the purchase transaction;

identifying, by the computer system, the user account based on the second payment identifying information;

obtaining, by the computer system, second coupon information based on the user account;

identifying, by the computer system, the mobile device based on the user account; and

causing, by the computer system, the second coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device.

31. A system for providing coupons to a mobile device in association with a mobile pay transaction at a Point of Sale (POS) system, the system comprising:

a computer system comprising one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more physical processors, programs the computer system to;

receive mobile device identification information in relation to the mobile pay transaction;

identify a user account based on the mobile device identification information;

obtain coupon information based on the user account; and

cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

cause the POS system to print the coupon information.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

receive, from the POS system, transaction information for the purchase transaction; and

cause receipt information that includes the transaction information to be transmitted to the mobile device.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein to cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device, the computer system is programmed to:

transmit the coupon information to the mobile device via a BLUETOOTH communication link.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein to cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device, the computer system is programmed to:

cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device via a network connection.

36. The system of claim 31, wherein the mobile device identification information comprises a phone number of the mobile device, and wherein to cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device, the computer system is programmed to:

cause the coupon information to be transmitted to the mobile device via a Short Message Service (SMS) text message to the phone number.

37. The system of claim 31, the system further comprising:

a memory device configured to store the coupon information in association with the user account, wherein the coupon information is obtained from the memory device based on the association with the user account.

38. The system of claim 31, wherein the mobile device identification information includes payment identification information.

42. The system of claim 31, wherein the coupon information includes a discount amount, from a price of an item, to be applied to the purchase transaction, and wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

generate an adjusted total for the purchase transaction based on the discount amount;

cause the adjusted total to be transmitted to a payment processing network for payment;

receive a confirmation from the payment processing network; and

cause the confirmation to be transmitted to the POS system.

43. The system of claim 31, wherein the coupon information includes a discount amount, from a price of an item, to be applied to the purchase transaction, and wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

generate an adjusted total for the purchase transaction based on the discount amount; and

cause the adjusted total to be transmitted to the POS system.

44. The system of claim 31, wherein the coupon information includes a discount amount, from a price of an item, to be applied to a future purchase transaction.