Method and system for issuing, aggregating and redeeming merchant loyalty points with an acquiring bank
First Claim
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.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
-
Citations
41 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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
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 merchantwherein 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. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
-
Specification