System and method for funding a collective account by use of an electronic tag

• US 7,311,244 B1
• Filed: 04/04/2006
• Issued: 12/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Inventors: Schwarz, Jr., Charles E.
• Primary Examiner(s): PAIK, STEVEN SANGYUL
• Application Number:
  US11/397,544
• Time in Patent Office: 630 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/380, 235/382, 235/384, 235/451, 235/492, 340/870.17, 705/1, 705/13, 705/14, 705/17
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/342 Cards defining paid or billed services or quantities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3572 Multiple accounts on card
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0212 Chance discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0216 Investment accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0219 based on funds or budget
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0279 Fundraising management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/063 using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station identification of vehicles G08G
• 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

A system and method for funding a collective account via aggregating usage of electronic tags is disclosed. The system and method promotes the use of electronic tags, and the funding of collective accounts that may be associated with charitable or other philanthropic causes. Further benefits may be realized by replenishing the prefunded account that serves as the source of funds for the electronic tag to an affinity account that also benefits the charitable or other philanthropic cause.

Claims

1. A method for distributing a reward, comprising:

associating by a financial institution an RFID tag with an individual account, the financial institution and at least one organization wherein a tagholder is the holder of the individual account, wherein further the financial institution comprises one or more host computers;

aggregating by the financial institution purchase amounts for purchases made from a plurality of merchants using the individual account as a payment source;

determining by the financial institution if any of the purchases that were made using the individual account as a payment source were made by presenting the RFID tag to merchants;

aggregating by the financial institution purchase amounts for purchases made from a plurality of merchants by presenting the RFID tag to merchants;

calculating by a host computer a first reward based at least in part on RFID tag usage; and

attributing the first reward to the individual account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein RFID tag usage comprises the purchase amount of a purchase of at least one of goods or services from a merchant when the REID tag is presented to the merchant at time of purchase, the number of uses of the RFID tag to enable a purchase, the number of uses of the REID tag to facilitate access to an ATM device or combinations therein.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the reward is based at least in part on information supplied by the at least one organization.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag is branded with a symbol, name, colors or combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag comprises a sound generating device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward comprises cash, airline miles, reward points, services, goods, rebates, up front payments, statement credit, discounts, interest, facilitation of access, activation of a device, enablement of a non-financial transaction, one or more lottery tickets, one or more sweepstakes entries, one or more chances to win a prize or combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag comprises an LED or an LCD controllable via the tagholder.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag comprises at least one communication port allowing the tag to communicate with other devices.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag comprises at least one of a smart card, a plastic card, a bar coded sticker, a transponder readable by a reader/antenna, or combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the individual account comprises a credit account, a debit account, a stored value account, a home equity line of credit account, a mutual fund account, a money market account, a savings account, a checking account, a nonchecking deposit account, a telephone card account, a rewards account, a special premises account for use by employees of an entity or a margin account.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the reward is one of automatically distributed to the individual account substantially upon RFID tag usage or automatically distributed to the individual account periodically.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag is embedded in a key, a fob, a token, a pager, a watch, a PDA, a cellular phone, clothing or a plastic card.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag is one of physically presented to the merchant at a point of sale device, physically presented at a place of business, presented to the merchant over a network, presented to the merchant over a telephone connection or physically presented to facilitate access to an ATM machine.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating the RFID tag with at least one prefunded account, wherein the prefunded account has a balance;

maintaining at least one of the prefunded accounts; and

debiting the balance of at least one of the prefunded accounts in an amount related to RFID tag usage.

15. A system for distributing a reward, comprising:

a central processor of a financial institution configured to associate an RFID tag with an individual account and the financial institution, wherein a tagholder is the holder of the individual account, wherein further the financial institution comprises one or more host computers,

wherein the host computer is configured to aggregate purchase amounts for purchases made from a plurality of merchants using the individual account as a payment source;

wherein the host computer is further configured to determine if any of the purchases that were made using the individual account as a payment source were made by presenting the RFID tag to merchants and then to aggregate purchase amounts for purchases from a plurality of merchants that were made by presenting the RFID tag to merchants;

wherein further the host computer is configured to calculate a first reward based at least in part on RFID tag usage;

wherein the first reward is attributed to the individual account.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein RFID tag usage comprises the purchase amount of a purchase of at least one of goods or services from a merchant when the RFID tag is presented to the merchant at time of purchase, the number of uses of the RFID tag to enable a purchase, the number of uses of the RFID tag to facilitate access to an ATM device or combinations therein.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the RFID tag is branded with a symbol, name, colors or combinations thereof.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the RFID tag comprises a sound generating device.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the reward comprises cash, airline miles, reward points, services, goods, rebates, up front payments, statement credit, discounts, interest, facilitation of access, activation of a device, enablement of a non-financial transaction, one or more lottery tickets, one or more sweepstakes entries, one or more chances to win a prize or combinations thereof.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the RFID tag comprises an LED or an LCD controllable via the tagholder.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the RFID tag comprises at least one communication port allowing the tag to communicate with other devices.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the RFID tag comprises at least one of a smart card, a plastic card, a bar coded sticker, a transponder readable by a reader/antenna, or combinations thereof.

23. The system of claim 15, wherein the individual account comprises a credit account, a debit account, a stored value account, a home equity line of credit account, a mutual fund account, a money market account, a savings account, a checking account, a nonchecking deposit account, a telephone card account, a rewards account, a special premises account for use by employees of an entity or a margin account.

24. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further programmed to automatically distribute the reward to the individual account either substantially upon RFID tag usage or to automatically distribute the first reward to the individual account periodically.

25. The system of claim 15, wherein the REID tag is embedded in a key, a fob, a token, a pager, a watch, a PDA, a cellular phone, clothing or a plastic card.

26. The system of claim 15, wherein the RFID tag is one of physically presented to the merchant at a point of sale device, physically presented at a place of business, presented to the merchant over a network, presented to the merchant over a telephone connection or physically presented to facilitate access to an ATM machine.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein the RFID tag is associated with at least one prefunded account, wherein the prefunded account has a balance, wherein further the balance of the prefunded account is debited in an amount related to RFID tag usage.