System and method for discounting fuel
DCFirst Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of discounting a price-per-unit (PPU) of fuel at a fuel merchant and increasing customer use of third-party financial cards issued by a plurality of third-party issuers, wherein the third-party financial cards are selected from a group consisting of credit cards and debit cards, said method comprising:
- storing in a database, a PPU discount associated with one of third-party issuers, wherein the PPU discount is defined in affinity-type agreements between a fuel merchant and third-party issuers;
reading a customer'"'"'s financial card number to begin a fueling transaction at the fuel merchant, wherein said financial card is available for use by said customer at a plurality of non-affiliated merchant locations;
identifying the third-party issuer of the financial card by analyzing the financial card number, each issuer having a PPU discount individually associated therewith;
associating the identified third-party issuer of the financial card with the stored PPU discount for the fuel;
discounting a PPU of the fuel posted on the fuel dispenser by an amount equal to the PPU discount associated with the identified issuer of the financial card;
dispensing a number of units of fuel to the customer at the discounted PPU;
calculating a redeemed discount by multiplying the dispensed number of units of fuel by the PPU discount associated with the identified third-party issuer of the financial card; and
allocating the redeemed discount between the third-party issuer of the financial card and the fuel merchant wherein said reading, identifying, associating and calculating are performed by a computing device.
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Abstract
A system and method of discounting a price-per-unit (PPU) of fuel during a fueling transaction by a customer at a fuel merchant. In one aspect, the invention identifies an issuer of the customer'"'"'s credit card, associates the issuer with a PPU discount for the fuel, and discounts the posted PPU by an amount equal to the PPU discount associated with the identified credit card issuer. In another aspect, the invention determines that the customer participates in a reward program with a vendor with whom the fuel merchant has a relationship agreement for providing PPU discounts for fuel in exchange for redeemed reward points from the reward program. The customer'"'"'s reward points are converted to a PPU discount, and the posted PPU of the fuel is discounted accordingly.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of discounting a price-per-unit (PPU) of fuel at a fuel merchant and increasing customer use of third-party financial cards issued by a plurality of third-party issuers, wherein the third-party financial cards are selected from a group consisting of credit cards and debit cards, said method comprising:
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storing in a database, a PPU discount associated with one of third-party issuers, wherein the PPU discount is defined in affinity-type agreements between a fuel merchant and third-party issuers; reading a customer'"'"'s financial card number to begin a fueling transaction at the fuel merchant, wherein said financial card is available for use by said customer at a plurality of non-affiliated merchant locations; identifying the third-party issuer of the financial card by analyzing the financial card number, each issuer having a PPU discount individually associated therewith; associating the identified third-party issuer of the financial card with the stored PPU discount for the fuel; discounting a PPU of the fuel posted on the fuel dispenser by an amount equal to the PPU discount associated with the identified issuer of the financial card; dispensing a number of units of fuel to the customer at the discounted PPU; calculating a redeemed discount by multiplying the dispensed number of units of fuel by the PPU discount associated with the identified third-party issuer of the financial card; and allocating the redeemed discount between the third-party issuer of the financial card and the fuel merchant wherein said reading, identifying, associating and calculating are performed by a computing device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for discounting a price-per-unit (PPU) of fuel at a fuel merchant and increasing customer use of a third-party financial card issued by a third-party issuer, wherein the third-party financial card is selected from a group consisting of different issuers of credit cards, said system comprising:
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an input device in a fuel dispenser for reading a customer'"'"'s financial card number to begin a fueling transaction at the fuel merchant, said financial card being usable by said customer at any of a number of non-affiliated vendor locations; means for identifying the third-party issuer of the financial card by analyzing the financial card number; a relationship database for associating the identified issuer of the financial card with a stored PPU discount for the fuel, said PPU discount individualized to said issuer, wherein the stored PPU discount is defined in an affinity-type agreement between the fuel merchant and the third-party issuer; a dispenser controller for retrieving the PPU discount from the relationship database, discounting a PPU of the fuel posted on the fuel dispenser by an amount equal to the retrieved PPU discount, and dispensing fuel to the customer at the discounted PPU; means for calculating a redeemed discount by multiplying the dispensed number of units of fuel by the PPU discount associated with the identified issuer of the financial card; and means for allocating the redeemed discount between the third-party issuer of the financial card and the fuel merchant. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification