Voucher system and method of use

• US 8,011,578 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2010
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Inventors: Schultz, Mark A., Oakman, Token Lee, Bjoraker, Erik BenDon
• Primary Examiner(s): MAI, THIEN T
• Application Number:
  US12/814,235
• Publication Number:
  US 20100250378A1
• Time in Patent Office: 452 Days
• Field of Search: 235/380, 235/379, 235/383, 379/114.2, 705/39, 705/16, 705/26.41, 705/38
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A system for managing voucher use includes a database, a voucher, and a processor. The database stores an account defining at least one approved item available for purchase and a financial balance. The voucher includes an identifier linking the voucher to the account. The processor is in communication with the database and is adapted to use the identifier to access the account. The processor is adapted to determine if an item selected for purchase is an approved item and to apply at least a portion of the financial balance toward the purchase of the selected item only if the selected item is an approved item. Other voucher systems and associated methods are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A system for managing and facilitating financial transaction instrument use, the system comprising:

a database storing a plurality of accounts each defining approved goods available for purchase and a corresponding prepaid financial balance, wherein;

the corresponding prepaid financial balance is available as payment toward one or more future purchases from any one or more of a plurality of affiliated retail settings, the database being accessible by a distribution agency, and

the distribution agency is configured to access the plurality of accounts to assign the approved goods available for purchase defined by the database for each of the plurality of accounts and to fund the corresponding prepaid financial balance for each of the plurality of accounts,

a retail organization, separate from the distribution agency, including the plurality of affiliated retail settings, offering a plurality of goods for retail purchase at the plurality of affiliated retail settings, and issuing a plurality of financial transaction instruments for redemption, wherein;

each of the plurality of financial transaction instruments includes an identifier linking a respective one of the plurality of financial transaction instruments to a corresponding one of the plurality of accounts,

each of the plurality of financial transaction instruments is provided by the retail organization to the distribution agency, wherein the distribution agency funds the corresponding prepaid financial balance for each of the plurality of accounts linked to the plurality of financial transaction instruments,

the retail organization includes a point-of-sale processor positioned at one of the plurality of affiliated retail settings, and

the point-of-sale processor is in communication with the database and is configured to apply at least a portion of the corresponding prepaid financial balance toward a purchase of consumer selected goods from the retail organization when a respective one of the plurality of financial transaction instruments is provided by a consumer, the consumer being separate from the distribution agency and the retail organization;

wherein the plurality of accounts each include expiration data specifying one of a date upon which any residual prepaid financial balance funded by the distribution agency to the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts becomes available for recapture by the distribution agency and an occurrence upon which any residual prepaid financial balance funded by the distribution agency to the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts becomes available for recapture by the distribution agency.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a bar code.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the point-of-sale processor is configured to:

access the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts for each of the plurality of financial transaction instruments using the identifier linking the respective one of the plurality of financial transaction instruments to the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts,

determine if each one of the consumer selected goods for purchase is one of the approved goods as defined by the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts, and

apply at least a portion of the corresponding prepaid financial balance of the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts toward the purchase of only the consumer selected goods determined to be approved goods.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the retail organization includes the database.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the retail organization receives funding from the distribution agency for the corresponding prepaid financial balance for each of the plurality of accounts, and the any residual prepaid financial balance is recaptured by the distribution agency from the retail organization.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the plurality of financial transaction instruments can only be redeemed at the plurality of affiliated retail settings.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the point-of-sale processor is adapted to substantially prevent application of the corresponding prepaid financial balance toward any consumer selected goods that are not determined to be approved goods.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts defines a restricted good definition list such that goods falling within the restricted good definition list are precluded from being included as one of the approved goods.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts includes a transaction details field including a listing of particular identities of individual ones of the consumer selected goods purchased with the respective one of the plurality of financial transaction instruments linked to the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts, and

the particular identities provide sufficient information so the individual ones of the consumer selected goods is identified beyond a category of the consumer selected goods.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the retail organization further comprises:

an administrator processor in communication with the database, the administrator processor being configured to support a website based upon the database, wherein the website is configured to facilitate access to and customization of the plurality of accounts by the distribution agency.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein:

each of the plurality of accounts includes a transaction details field including a listing of all consumer selected goods purchased with the respective one of the plurality of financial transaction instruments linked to the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts, and

the transaction details field is accessible via the website.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the administrator processor is configured to enable access to the plurality of accounts via the website and is configured to enable use of the website by the distribution agency to define the approved goods and to define the prepaid financial balance of each of the plurality of accounts.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein:

the administrator processor is configured to process orders for additional financial transaction instruments to be issued to the distribution agency, to generate a bill to the distribution agency for the additional financial transaction instruments to be issued to the distribution agency, and to credit the distribution agency for recaptured residual prepaid financial balances of the plurality of financial transaction instruments, and

the bill includes a cost to the distribution agency for funding the prepaid financial balance for each of the additional financial transaction instruments.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of financial transaction instruments are distributed by the distribution agency to a first plurality of recipients;

the retail organization includes an administrator processor in communication with the database and supporting a website based upon the database,

the plurality of accounts are configured to be accessible by the distribution agency via the website such that following the one of the date and the occurrence specified by the expiration data, the distribution agency is able to initiate and complete recapture of any residual prepaid financial balance from each of the plurality of accounts via the website, and

any recaptured residual prepaid financial balances are added to a credit account of the charitable organization such that any recaptured residual prepaid financial balances are available to fund one or more future financial transaction instrument distributions to a second plurality of financial transaction instrument recipients that differ from the first plurality of financial transaction instrument recipients.

15. A method for supporting machine readable vouchers and for accepting the machine readable vouchers toward purchases of items, the method comprising:

maintaining a database storing a plurality of accounts;

providing a plurality of machine readable vouchers to a distributing organization, each of the plurality of the machine readable vouchers including an identifier linking each of the plurality of machine readable vouchers to a different corresponding one of the plurality of accounts;

receiving monetary value from the distributing organization to fully fund an initial prepaid financial balance for each of the plurality of accounts, wherein the distributing organization is configured to distribute each one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers to a different beneficiary to allow the different beneficiary to use the initial prepaid financial balance for the different corresponding one of the plurality of accounts linked to the one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers toward at least one purchase of one or more items offered for retail sale;

reading with a redemption terminal located at a retail site operated by a retail organization the identifier of the one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers presented at the redemption terminal;

accessing, via the redemption terminal, the different corresponding one of the plurality of accounts linked to the identifier read with the redemption terminal, wherein the database is electrically accessible via the redemption terminal;

applying up to all of the initial prepaid financial balance associated with the one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers toward a cost of at least some of selected items presented for purchase at the redemption terminal; and

refunding to the distributing organization any of the initial prepaid financial balance funded by the distributing organization remaining in the different corresponding ones of the plurality of accounts after application of the one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers toward the cost if any of the initial prepaid financial balance funded by the distributing organization remains;

wherein all the operations of maintaining, providing, receiving, reading, accessing, applying, and refunding are performed by the retail organization.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the different corresponding one of the plurality of accounts defines approved items for the different beneficiary, and

the method further comprises;

determining whether selected items presented for purchase at the redemption terminal are approved items as defined by the different corresponding one of the plurality of accounts such that applying up to all of the initial prepaid financial balance associated with the one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers toward the cost of the at least some of the selected items includes applying up to all of the initial prepaid financial balance associated with the one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers toward only a cost of ones of the selected items determined to be approved items during the determining operation, and

preventing use of any of the initial prepaid financial balance associated with the one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers toward a cost of ones of the selected items determined not to be approved items.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

collecting data at the redemption terminal about the application of up to all of the initial prepaid financial balance associated with the one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers toward the cost of the ones of the selected items determined to be approved items, wherein the data includes details identifying individual ones of the selected items determined to be approved items; and

storing the collected data to the different corresponding one of the plurality of accounts.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

reporting the application of the one of the plurality of the machine readable vouchers toward the cost to the different corresponding one of the plurality of accounts; and

updating the initial prepaid financial balance defined by the different corresponding one of the plurality of accounts based on the cost of the selected items determined to be approved items.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

permitting access to the plurality of accounts via a website, wherein the website is configured to allow the distributing organization to order additional machine readable vouchers and to manage the plurality of accounts associated with the additional machine readable vouchers via a computer processing unit in electrical communication with the database via an Internet network.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein:

refunding to the distributing organization occurs upon receiving a request for refunding provided by the distributing organization to a website operated by the retail organization,

the request follows a predetermined expiration date provided by the distributing organization for the corresponding one of the plurality of accounts, and

refunding to the distributing organization includes;

refunding any of the initial prepaid financial balance funded by the distributing organization remaining in the corresponding different one of the plurality of accounts to a credit account provided by the retail organization for the distributing organization, and

accepting funds in the credit account from the refunding to fund a prepaid financial balance of another one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers, the another one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers being provided by the distributing organization to a second beneficiary that differs from the different beneficiary provided the one of the plurality of machine readable vouchers.