Method and system for issuing, aggregating and redeeming merchant loyalty points with an acquiring bank

• US 7,742,943 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2004
• Issued: 06/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Signature Systems LLC
• Original Assignee: Signature Systems LLC
• Inventors: Postrel, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Diaz; Susanna M
• Application Number:
  US10/835,550
• Publication Number:
  US 20050021401A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,246 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/39
• US Class Current: 705/14.3
• 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 30/0229 Multi-merchant loyalty card systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• 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

Abstract

A loyalty reward point system that utilizes the pre-existing infrastructure of network such as a credit card network. A user makes a purchase at a merchant using a token such as a credit card. As part of the purchase transaction, the user is awarded reward points from the merchant based on the purchase, which are stored in an account associated with the merchant and the user by the acquiring bank. The reward account is maintained on the acquiring bank server on behalf of the merchant and the user, and the number of reward points in the user'"'"'s account for that merchant is increased accordingly. The user may redeem the reward points earned from the transaction with the merchant at a later time, or may redeem the points with another merchant in the same marketing cluster, or may aggregate those reward points with those of other merchants into a reward point exchange account, and then redeem the aggregated reward points for goods or services from any approved merchant on the network, depending on the configuration of the system.

Claims

1. A method of operating a reward points program in conjunction with a network, the network interconnecting with a plurality of merchant computers and an acquiring bank computer that processes payment card transactions with a plurality of users on behalf of the plurality of merchant computers, each of said merchant computers associated with a merchant and the acquiring bank computer associated with an acquiring bank, the method comprising:

a. providing, at the acquiring bank computer, a reward point account database that stores a plurality of reward point accounts, each of said reward point accounts associated with a unique combination of a user and a merchant for tracking reward points earned by the user associated with that reward point account for transactions with the merchant associated with that reward point account, wherein all reward point accounts associated with a particular user are accessible with a user ID of a payment card associated with that particular user regardless of which merchant is associated with that reward point account,

b. a user executing a purchase transaction with a transacting merchant computer selected from the plurality of merchant computers by presenting a payment card for use by the transacting merchant computer for payment of at least part of the purchase transaction;

c. the transacting merchant computer transmitting via the computer network a transaction request to the acquiring bank computer, the transaction request comprising a user ID as obtained from the payment card and a payment approval request for the purchase transaction;

d. the acquiring bank computer adding reward points to the reward point account in the reward point account database that is associated with the user identified by the user ID and the transacting merchant;

e. establishing on the reward point account database a reward point exchange account associated with a user;

f. selecting reward points from each of a plurality of reward point accounts associated with the user for exchange into the reward point exchange account; and

g. aggregating the selected reward points into the reward point exchange account.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the transacting merchant computer transmits, as part of the transaction request, an instruction to the acquiring bank computer to add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the acquiring bank computer automatically adds reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on a previously defined rule.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the previously defined rule provides for the acquiring bank computer to automatically add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on an item purchased by the user.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the previously defined rule provides for the acquiring bank computer to automatically add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on a purchase price of an item purchased by the user.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the previously defined rule provides for the acquiring bank computer to automatically add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on the geographic location of the transacting merchant.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein the previously defined rule provides for the acquiring bank computer to automatically add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on the date of the purchase transaction.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the previously defined rule provides for the acquiring bank computer to automatically add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on the time of day of the purchase transaction.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising establishing a cluster of participating merchants, each of which have reward point accounts established with the reward point account database.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising allowing reward points from a reward point account associated with one of the participating merchants in the cluster to be redeemed with another participating merchant in the cluster.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising disallowing reward points from a reward point account associated with a merchant that is not a participating merchant in the cluster to be redeemed with a participating merchant in the cluster.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the participating merchants in the cluster sell different types of goods and services from each other.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the participating merchants in the cluster sell the same type of goods and services as each other.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the participating merchants in the cluster are in the same geographic region.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising the user redeeming aggregated reward points from the user'"'"'s reward point exchange account by

the user executing a redemption purchase transaction with a merchant computer;

the user indicating to the merchant computer that aggregated reward points from the reward point exchange account should be utilized for the redemption purchase transaction; and

the reward point exchange account being reduced by the number of aggregated reward points utilized for the redemption purchase transaction.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

establishing a cluster of participating merchants, each of which have reward point accounts established on the reward point account database;

allowing aggregation of reward points from each of the participating merchants in the cluster into the user'"'"'s reward point exchange account; and

disallowing aggregation of points from a merchant which is not a member of the cluster.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising allowing for redemption of aggregated reward points only with merchants that are members of the cluster.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the network is a global communications network.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the global communications network is the Internet.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the network is a wireless network.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the network is an interactive television network.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the user executes the purchase transaction at a physical point of sale associated with the merchant computer and the user physically presents the token to the merchant computer.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the user executes the purchase transaction via a web site associated with the merchant computer, and the user enters the user ID associated with the payment card to the web site.

24. A reward points system comprising a plurality of merchant computers interconnected over a network with an acquiring bank computer for processing payment card transactions with a plurality of users on behalf of the plurality of merchant computers, wherein each of the merchant computers is associated with a merchant and is programmed to:

execute a purchase transaction with a user who presents a payment card for payment of at least part of the purchase transaction; and

transmit a transaction request to the acquiring bank computer via the network, the transaction request comprising a user ID as obtained from the payment card and a payment approval request for the purchase transaction; and

wherein the acquiring bank computer is associated with an acquiring bank and comprises a reward point account database that stores a plurality of reward point accounts, each of said reward point accounts associated with a unique combination of a user and a merchant for tracking reward points earned by the user associated with that reward point account for transactions with the merchant associated with that reward point account, wherein all reward point accounts associated with a particular user are accessible with a user ID of a payment card associated with that particular user regardless of which merchant is associated with that reward point account; and

wherein the acquiring bank computer is programmed to add reward points to the reward point account in the reward point account database that is associated with the user identified by the user ID and the transacting merchant

wherein the reward point account database further comprises a plurality of reward point exchange accounts, each reward point exchange account associated with a user; and

wherein the acquiring bank computer is further programmed (i) to allow the selection of reward points from each of a plurality of reward point accounts associated with the user for exchange into the reward point exchange account, and (ii) to aggregate the selected reward points into the reward point exchange account.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the transaction request further comprises an instruction to the acquiring bank computer to add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user.

26. The system of claim 24 wherein the acquiring bank computer is programmed to automatically add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on a previously defined rule.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the previously defined rule provides for the acquiring bank computer to automatically add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on an item purchased by the user.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the previously defined rule provides for the acquiring bank computer to automatically add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on a purchase price of an item purchased by the user.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein the previously defined rule provides for the acquiring bank computer to automatically add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on the geographic location of the transacting merchant.

30. The system of claim 26 wherein the previously defined rule provides for the acquiring bank computer to automatically add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on the date of the purchase transaction.

31. The system of claim 26 wherein the previously defined rule provides for the acquiring bank computer to automatically add reward points to the reward point account associated with the transacting merchant and the user based on the time of day of the purchase transaction.

32. The system of claim 24 in which a cluster of participating merchants is established, each of which have reward point accounts established with the reward point account database.

33. The system of claim 32 in which reward points from a reward point account associated with one of the participating merchants in the cluster may be redeemed with another participating merchant in the cluster.

34. The system of claim 33 in which reward points from a reward point account associated with a merchant that is not a participating merchant in the cluster may not be redeemed with a participating merchant in the cluster.

35. The system of claim 24 wherein the acquiring bank computer is further programmed to reduce the number of aggregated reward points in the reward point exchange account by a number of aggregated reward points utilized for a redemption purchase transaction with an associated merchant computer.

36. The system of claim 24 wherein a cluster of participating merchants are established, each of which have reward point accounts established on the reward point account database;

and the acquiring bank computer is programmed to allow

reward points to be aggregated from each of the participating merchants in the cluster into the user'"'"'s reward point exchange account; and

to disallow

reward points to be aggregated from a merchant which is not a member of the cluster.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein aggregated reward points may be redeemed only with merchants that are members of the cluster.

38. The system of claim 24 wherein the network is a global communications network.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein the global communications network is the Internet.

40. The system of claim 24 wherein the network is a wireless network.

41. The system of claim 24 wherein the network is an interactive television network.