Point service system

• US 7,124,109 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2001
• Issued: 10/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Point228 Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ata, Teruaki, Yamashita, Atsushi, Sakamoto, Kiyomi
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, Alain L.
• Application Number:
  US09/984,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20020052830A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,812 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Points accumulated through a customer'"'"'s purchase from a point service provider are kept track of by customer information databases in corresponding point service provider servers. A user uses user terminals to access a trade service provider, and receives various services, for example, point trading and point cash, offered by the trade service provider. The trade service provider accesses, as appropriate, the point service provider servers, so that the user'"'"'s accumulated points are checked or updated. In this manner, the user can effectively use his/her points with no waste, and accordingly the point service system can be improved in its effective use.

Claims

1. A point service system for offering point services over a network in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the point service system comprising:

a point service provider server having a customer information database for keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis;

a user terminal for making a point deal request including a point trading condition; and

a trade service provider which is connected, over the network, to said point service provider server and said user terminal,

wherein said trade service provider comprises;

a trading condition tracking database for keeping track of the point trading condition;

deal request reception means for receiving the point deal request from said user terminal;

deal making means for making a predetermined deal between users based on the point deal request by searching said trading condition tracking database to find any point trading condition corresponding to the point trading condition received by said deal request reception means for point trading; and

point change means for changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in said customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal between users made by said deal making means as a result of the point trading.

2. The point service system according to claim 1, wherein when said deal making means does not find any point trading condition corresponding to the point trading condition received by said deal request reception means in said trading condition tracking database, the received point trading condition is newly registered to said trading condition tracking database.

3. The point service system according to claim 2, wherein

the point trading condition includes information about a due date, and

said trading condition tracking database keeps track of the point trading condition until the due date is reached.

4. The point service system according to claim 1, wherein

said customer information database includes customer specific information, and

said point service system further comprises means for checking a validity of the point trading condition received by said deal request reception means based on the number of points of the user and the customer specific information kept track of in said customer information database.

5. A point service system for offering point services over a network in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the point service system comprising:

a point service provider server having a customer information database for keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis;

a user terminal for making a point deal request including cash information; and

a trade service provider which is connected, over the network, to said point service provider server and said user terminal,

wherein said trade service provider comprises;

a cash rate database for keeping track of a point cash rate and including information about an expiration date of the point cash rate on a point service provider basis;

deal request reception means for receiving the point deal request from said user terminal;

deal making means for making a predetermined deal based on the point deal request by calculating a cash amount based on the cash information received by said deal request reception means, and the point cash rate, and making a payment based on the cash amount; and

point change means for changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in said customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said deal making means as a result of the calculation performed by said deal making means, and

wherein the point cash rate varies over time and is set in consideration of a number of days left to the expiration date.

6. A point service system for offering point services over a network in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the point service system comprising:

a point service provider server having a customer information database for keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis;

a user terminal for making a point deal request including cash information; and

a trade service provider which is connected, over the network, to said point service provider server and said user terminal,

wherein said trade service provider comprises;

a cash rate database for keeping track of a point cash rate and including information about popularity of points on a point service provider basis;

deal request reception means for receiving the point deal request from said user terminal;

deal making means for making a predetermined deal based on the point deal request by calculating a cash amount based on the cash information received by said deal request reception means, and the point cash rate, and making a payment based on the cash amount; and

point change means for changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in said customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said deal making means as a result of the calculation performed by said deal making means, and

wherein the point cash rate varies over time and is set in consideration of the popularity of the points.

7. A point service system for offering point services over a network in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the point service system comprising:

a point service provider server having a customer information database for keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis;

a user terminal for making a point deal request; and

a trade service provider which is connected, over the network, to said point service provider server and said user terminal,

wherein said trade service provider comprises;

a restriction information tracking database for keeping track of restriction information which defines whether or not a predetermined deal including at least one of point trading and cashing of points is allowed on a point service provider basis;

deal request reception means for receiving the point deal request from said user terminal;

deal making means for determining, based on the restriction information, whether or not a deal relating to the point deal request received by said deal request reception means is allowed and making the predetermined deal based on the point deal request only when the deal is allowed; and

point change means for changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in said customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said deal making means.

8. A point service system for offering point services over a network in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the point service system comprising:

a point service provider server having a customer information database for keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis;

a user terminal for making a point deal request including a point trade request; and

a trade service provider which is connected, over the network, to said point service provider server and said user terminal,

wherein said trade service provider comprises;

a trading rate database for keeping track of a trading rate between point services on a point service provider basis;

deal request reception means for receiving the point deal request from said user terminal;

deal making means for making a predetermined deal based on the point deal request by calculating a number of points to be acquired based on the trading rate, and the point trade request received by said deal request reception means, and carrying out point trading; and

point change means for changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in said customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said deal making means as a result of the point trading.

9. The point service system according to claim 8, wherein the trading rate is determined based on a relationship between any relevant point service providers.

10. The point service system according to claim 8, wherein

said customer information database further includes customer specific information, and

said point service system further comprises means for checking a validity of the point trading request received by said deal request reception means based on the number of points and the customer specific information kept track of in said customer information database.

11. A trade service device for connection to a point service provider server for keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis in a customer information database and a user terminal over a network for offering point services in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the trade service device comprising:

deal request reception means for receiving a point deal request including a point trading condition from the user terminal;

a trading condition tracking database for keeping track of the point trading condition for point trading;

deal making means for making a predetermined deal between users based on the point deal request by searching said trading condition tracking database to find any point trading condition corresponding to the point trading condition received by said deal request reception means for point trading; and

point change means for changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in the customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal between users made by said deal making means as a result of the point trading.

12. A trade service device for connection to a point service provider server for keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis in a customer information database and a user terminal over a network for offering point services in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the trade service device comprising:

a cash rate database for keeping track of a point cash rate and including information about an expiration date of the point cash rate on a point service provider basis;

deal request reception means for receiving a point deal request including cash information from the user terminal;

deal making means for making a predetermined deal based on the point deal request by calculating a cash amount based on the cash information received by said deal request reception means, and the point cash rate, and making a payment based on the cash amount; and

point change means for changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in the customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said deal making means as a result of the calculation performed by said deal making means,

wherein the point cash rate varies over time and is set in consideration of a number of days left to the expiration date.

13. A trade service device for connection to a point service provider server for keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis in a customer information database and a user terminal over a network for offering point services in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the trade service device comprising:

a restriction information tracking database for keeping track of restriction information which defines whether or not a predetermined deal including at least one of point trading and cashing in of points is allowed on a point service provider basis;

deal request reception means for receiving a point deal request from the user terminal;

deal making means for determining, based on the restriction information, whether or not a deal relating to the point request received by said deal request reception means is allowed and making the predetermined deal based on the point deal request only when the deal is allowed; and

point change means for changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in the customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said deal making means.

14. A trade service device for connection to a point service provider server for keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis in a customer information database and a user terminal over a network for offering point services in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the trade service device comprising:

a trading rate database for keeping track of a trading rate between point services on a point service provider basis;

deal request reception means for receiving a point deal request including a point trading request from the user terminal;

deal making means for making a predetermined deal based on the point deal request by calculating a number of points to be acquired based on the trading rate, and the point trade request received by said deal request reception means, and carrying out point trading; and

point change means for changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in the customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said deal making means as a result of the point trading.

15. A point service method for offering various point services over a network in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the point service method comprising:

keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis in a customer information database;

receiving a point deal request including a point trading condition from a user terminal;

keeping track of the point trading condition in a trading condition tracking database for point trading;

making a predetermined deal between users based on the point deal request by searching the trading condition tracking database to find any point trading condition corresponding to the point trading condition received in said receiving operation for point trading; and

changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in the customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal between users made by said making of the predetermined deal.

16. A point service method for offering various point services over a network in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the point service method comprising:

keeping track of a point cash rate in a cash rate database including information about an expiration date of the point cash rate on a point service provider basis;

keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis in a customer information database;

receiving a point deal request including cash information from a user terminal;

making a predetermined deal based on the point deal request by calculating a cash amount based on the cash information received by said receiving of the point deal request, and the point cash rate, and making a payment based on the cash amount; and

changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in the customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said making of the predetermined deal as a result of the calculation performed by said making of the predetermined deal,

wherein the point cash rate varies over time and is set in consideration of a number of days left to the expiration date.

17. A point service method for offering various point services over a network in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the point service method comprising:

keeping track of restriction information which defines whether or not a predetermined deal including at least one of point trading and cashing in of points is allowed in a restriction information database on a point service provider basis;

keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis in a customer information database;

receiving a point deal request from a user terminal;

determining, based on the restriction information, whether or not a deal relating to the point deal request received by said receiving of the point deal request is allowed and making the predetermined deal based on the point deal request only when the deal is allowed; and

changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in the customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said making of the predetermined deal.

18. A point service method for offering various point services over a network in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the point service method comprising:

keeping track of a trading rate for point services in a trading rate database on a point service provider basis;

keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis in a customer information database;

receiving a point deal request including a point trading request from a user terminal;

making a predetermined deal based on the point deal request by calculating a number of points to be acquired based on the trading rate, and the point trading request received by said receiving of the point deal request, and carrying out point trading; and

changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in the customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said making of the predetermined deal as a result of the point trading.

19. A trade service device for connection to a point service provider server for keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis in a customer information database and a user terminal over a network for offering point services in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the trade service device comprising:

a cash rate database for keeping track of a point cash rate and including information about popularity of points on a point service provider basis;

deal request reception means for receiving a point deal request including cash information from the user terminal;

deal making means for making a predetermined deal based on the point deal request by calculating a cash amount based on the cash information received by said deal request reception means, and the point cash rate, and making a payment based on the cash amount; and

point change means for changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in the customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said deal making means as a result of the calculation performed by said deal making means,

wherein the point cash rate varies over time and is set in consideration of the popularity of points.

20. A point service method for offering various point services over a network in accordance with a number of points possessed by a customer, the point service method comprising:

keeping track of a point cash rate in a cash rate database including information about popularity of points on a point service provider basis;

keeping track of a number of points on a customer basis in a customer information database;

receiving a point deal request including cash information from a user terminal;

making a predetermined deal based on the point deal request by calculating a cash amount based on the cash information received by said receiving of the point deal request, and the point cash rate, and making a payment based on the cash amount; and

changing a number of points of a user which is kept track of in the customer information database when a change to the number of points of the user occurs due to the predetermined deal made by said making of the predetermined deal as a result of the calculation performed by said making of the predetermined deal,

wherein the point cash rate varies over time and is set in consideration of the popularity of points.