Systems and methods for enrolling consumers in goods and services

• US 7,096,205 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2002
• Issued: 08/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Western Union
• Original Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hansen, Kurt L., Diveley, Keith W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Reagan, James A
• Application Number:
  US10/112,440
• Publication Number:
  US 20020178025A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,607 Days
• Field of Search: 705/51, 705/27, 705/14, 705/16, 705/26, 705/34, 705/35, 705 39- 45, 705 65- 67, 705 74- 78, 235375-381, 379/114
• US Class Current: 705/74
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/042 characterized in that the payment protocol involves at least one cheque
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/085 involving remote charge determination or related payment systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1085 involving automatic teller machines [ATMs]
• 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 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/342 Cards defining paid or billed services or quantities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3433 the counter having monetary units
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/347 Passive cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/351 Virtual cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3672 initialising or reloading thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 : insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3821 : Electronic credentials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/383 : Anonymous user system
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 : using an alias or single-use codes
• 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 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 30/0224 : based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 : Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 : Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 : Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0268 : at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 : Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 : Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 : Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 : Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/02 : by keys or other credit registering devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/025 : by means, e.g. cards, providing billing information at the time of purchase, e.g. identification of seller or purchaser, quantity of goods delivered or to be delivered

Abstract

Systems and methods for enrolling consumers in goods and services offered by a consumer provider are disclosed herein. Various of the methods include providing an enrollment system and displaying enrollment options via the enrollment system. Further, the methods include receiving enrollment requests and enrolling a consumer based on the enrollment request. The systems can be configured for effectuating the various enrollment methods.

Claims

1. A method for enrolling a requestor with one or more consumer providers, the method comprising:

at a payment provider location, providing an enrollment system, wherein the enrollment system comprises a point-of-sale device associated with a money transfer system maintained by a payment provider, wherein the enrollment system includes an entry device, a display screen, and a memory;

at the payment provider location, receiving into the point-of-sale device an identifier from the requestor, wherein the identifier relates to a payee and a prior indebtedness of the requestor to the payee for a good or service provided by the payee;

sending the identifier from the point-of-sale device to a host computer system;

at the host computer system, receiving a set of identifiers into a database comprising existing requestor account information, the database being operated by the payment provider, using the identifier to locate a transaction record relating to the requestor and the payee;

returning at least a portion of the transaction record to the point-of-sale device;

using the point-of-sale device to facilitate an in person payment to the payee from the requestor for the indebtedness;

using at least a portion of the transaction record to obtain information about a good or service from a consumer provider that is different than the payee and loading the information into the memory;

in association with facilitating the payment, displaying via the display screen at least one enrollment option relating to the consumer provider;

receiving via the entry device a request for enrollment from the requestor to enroll with the consumer provider; and

processing the request for enrollment, wherein the requestor is enrolled with the consumer provider.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the consumer provider is a first consumer provider, and the memory further contains information associated with a good or service available from a second consumer provider, and wherein the method further comprises:

displaying via the display screen another enrollment option, wherein the other enrollment option includes the information associated with the good or service available from the second consumer provider.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the good or service available from the consumer provider is a first good or service, and the memory further contains information associated with a second good or service available from the consumer provider, and wherein the method further comprises:

displaying via the display screen another enrollment option, wherein the other enrollment option includes the information associated with the second good or service.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the consumer provider is a first consumer provider, and the memory further contains information associated with a third good or service available from a second consumer provider, and wherein the method further comprises:

displaying via the display screen another enrollment option, wherein the other enrollment option includes the information associated with the third good or service available from the second consumer provider.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the good or service comprises information provided by a third party and related to the good or service offered by the consumer provider.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the information provided by the third party is reliability information related to the good or service offered by the consumer provider.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving via the entry device comprises receiving information about the requestor.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the information about the requestor is received from a database maintained by the payment provider.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the information about the requestor comprises credit information about the requestor.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the information about the requestor is compared against a database of known information to authenticate the requestor.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the request for enrollment comprises:

assigning an account number to the requestor; and

providing the account number to the requestor.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the request for enrollment comprises:

assigning an account number to the requestor, wherein the account number is inchoate; and

providing the account number to the requestor, wherein the requestor must contact the consumer provider to activate an account associated with the account number.

13. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving payment for the good or service from the requestor.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein at least a portion of the payment is electronically forwarded to the consumer provider.

15. A system for enrolling a consumer with one or more consumer providers, the system comprising:

an enrollment device, located at a payment provider location, wherein the enrollment device comprises a point-of-sale device associated with a money transfer system maintained by a payment provider, wherein the enrollment system includes an entry device, a display screen, a processor, and a memory;

instructions maintained on the memory and executable by the processor to;

receive into the point-of-sale device an identifier from the consumer, wherein the identifier relates to a payee and a prior indebtedness of the consumer to the payee for a good or service provided by the payee;

send the identifier from the point-of-sale device to a host computer system, wherein the host computer system includes a set of identifiers in a database comprising existing requestor account information, the database being operated by the payment provider, the set of identifiers being received from a consumer provider;

receive from the host computer system at least a portion of a transaction record relating to the consumer and the payee;

use the point-of-sale device to facilitate an in person payment to the payee from the consumer for the indebtedness;

receive information about a good or service from a consumer provider that is different than the payee and load the information into the memory;

in association with facilitating the payment, display via the display screen at least one enrollment option relating to the consumer provider;

in association with facilitating the payment, display via the display screen at least one enrollment option relating to the consumer provider;

receive via the entry device a request for enrollment from the consumer to enroll with the consumer provider; and

process the request for enrollment, wherein the consumer is enrolled with the consumer provider.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the enrollment device further comprises a communication device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the memory comprises a memory local to the enrollment device, and a database remote from the enrollment device, and wherein the enrollment device accesses the database over a communication network via the communication device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the information associated with the good or service available from the consumer provider is maintained on the database and the instructions are maintained on the memory local to the enrollment device.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the enrollment device is a first enrollment device, the system further comprising:

a payment provider control, wherein the first enrollment device is communicably coupled to payment provider control via the communication network; and

a second enrollment device communicably coupled to the payment provider control via the communication network.