Auctioning of announcements

• US 8,032,413 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2009
• Issued: 10/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Carlson, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): ALMATRAHI, FARIS S
• Application Number:
  US12/428,262
• Publication Number:
  US 20100274652A1
• Time in Patent Office: 895 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/14.49
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0252 based on events or environment, e.g. weather or festivals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

An announcement distributor distributes, or auctions an opportunity to distribute, an announcement to an announcement recipient such as a consumer, issuer, merchant, or acquirer within a payment processing system. The announcement when there has been a satisfaction of an announcement condition, such as the consumer being determined to be located within a predetermined spatial zone. The content of the announcement may, in turn, facilitate a subsequent cashless transaction for resources of merchants. Implementations describe various permutations of the content of the announcement, the announcement condition, and the announcement recipient.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

notifying, using a computing apparatus executing software, a plurality of auction participants that an announcement opportunity is up for auction, the announcement opportunity comprising an opportunity to communicate with a consumer after an announcement condition is satisfied, wherein the consumer is associated with a payment account, and the announcement condition includes presence of the consumer in a zone and further includes at least one criterion selected from the group consisting of a characteristic of the payment account, a tendency of the consumer to purchase a specific type of resource, and a demographic of the consumer;

receiving a plurality of bids, one from each of the plurality of auction participants;

selecting a winning bid of a first participant from the plurality of bids;

receiving data from a portable consumer device co-located with the consumer;

determining, using the data from the portable consumer device, a location of the consumer;

determining, using stored account information associated with the payment account, whether the announcement condition is satisfied, including determining whether the location is in the zone; and

after the announcement condition is satisfied, facilitating, using the computing apparatus, delivery of an announcement from the first participant to the consumer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment account is issued by an issuer within a payment processing system, and the account information is stored in a database within the payment processing system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of bids includes a first bid, and the notifying comprises transmitting an auction notification to the plurality of auction participants, and further comprising in reply to the auction notification, receiving the first bid from the first participant.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an authorization request for a transaction upon the payment account, wherein the authorization request is addressed from a point of interaction terminal of a merchant that is co-located with the consumer when the authorization request is received, and wherein the determining the location of the consumer includes using a code in the authorization request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving data comprises receiving an electronic transmission including the data that is addressed from the portable consumer device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating delivery includes electronically transmitting an announcement about the consumer to the first participant.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each respective bid of the plurality of bids includes a monetary offer, and wherein the winning bid satisfies a winning criterion selected from the group consisting of receiving the respective bid within a specified window of time, the respective bid including a highest monetary offer, and a combination of the foregoing.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the auction is of a type selected from the group consisting of English auction, Dutch auction, sealed-bid first-price auction, sealed-bid second- price auction, supply auction, demand auction, double auction, open auction, closed auction, buyout auction, raffle, and combinations of the foregoing.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the winning bid is a first winning bid, and further comprising selecting a second winning bid of a second participant from the plurality of bids, wherein the first participant is a first type of auction participant and the second participant is a second type of auction participant.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the consumer is a first consumer;

the first participant is a first merchant;

a transaction handler processes a plurality of transactions, each respective transaction being between a respective merchant and a corresponding respective consumer, and the plurality of transactions including a first transaction between the first merchant and the first consumer;

each respective transaction is upon a respective account of the corresponding respective consumer;

each respective merchant submits the corresponding respective transaction to a respective acquirer for processing by the transaction handler, the processing including requesting a respective issuer to obtain payment for the corresponding respective transaction from the corresponding respective account; and

the respective issuer forwards the payment to the corresponding respective acquirer to pay the corresponding respective merchant for the corresponding respective transaction.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of auction participants is selected from the group consisting of a merchant, an acquirer, an issuer that has issued the payment account to the first consumer, a transaction handler, and combinations of the foregoing.

12. A computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed on a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method, the method comprising:

notifying a plurality of auction participants that an announcement opportunity is up for auction, the announcement opportunity comprising an opportunity to communicate with a consumer after an announcement condition is satisfied, wherein the consumer is associated with a payment account, and the announcement condition includes presence of the consumer in a spatial zone and further includes at least one criterion selected from the group consisting of a characteristic of the payment account, a tendency of the consumer to purchase a specific type of resource, and a demographic of the consumer;

receiving a plurality of bids, one from each of the plurality of auction participants;

selecting a winning bid of a first participant from the plurality of bids;

receiving data from a portable consumer device co-located with the consumer;

determining, using the data from the portable consumer device, a location of the consumer;

determining, using stored account information associated with the payment account, whether the announcement condition is satisfied, including determining whether the location is in the spatial zone; and

after the announcement condition is satisfied, forming an announcement for electronic delivery to the first participant while the consumer is within the spatial zone.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the notifying is performed after the announcement condition is satisfied and before the receiving the plurality of bids.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the payment account is issued to the consumer by an issuer within a payment processing system, and the announcement condition further includes receipt of a transaction of the consumer upon the payment account.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises receiving an authorization request for a transaction upon the payment account, wherein the authorization request is addressed from a point of interaction terminal of a merchant that is co-located with the consumer when the authorization request is received, and wherein the determining the location of the consumer includes using a code in the authorization request.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the receiving data comprises receiving an electronic transmission including the data that is addressed from the portable consumer device.

17. A system, comprising:

memory storing account information associated with a payment account of a consumer; and

at least one processor coupled to access the memory and configured to implement a method comprising;

notifying a plurality of auction participants that an announcement opportunity is up for auction, the announcement opportunity comprising an opportunity to communicate with the consumer after an announcement condition is satisfied, wherein the announcement condition includes presence of a portable consumer device of the consumer within a spatial zone and further includes at least one criterion selected from the group consisting of a characteristic of the payment account, a tendency of the consumer to purchase a specific type of resource, and a demographic of the consumer;

receiving a plurality of bids, one from each of the plurality of auction participants;

selecting a winning bid of a first participant from the plurality of bids;

receiving data from the portable consumer device;

determining, using the data from the portable consumer device, a location of the portable consumer device;

determining, using the account information, whether the announcement condition is satisfied, including determining whether the location is within the spatial zone; and

after the announcement condition is satisfied, enabling a communication with the portable consumer device from the first participant.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises receiving an authorization request for a transaction upon the payment account, wherein the authorization request is addressed from a point of interaction terminal of a merchant that is co-located with the portable consumer device when the authorization request is received, and wherein the determining the location of the portable consumer device includes using a code in the authorization request.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the portable consumer device is selected from the group consisting of:

a financial card;

a contactless device including a wireless processor, a transmitter, and a receiver;

a smart card;

a cellular telephone;

a personal digital assistant;

a digital audio player;

a global positioning system enabled device;

a computer; and

combinations of the foregoing.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the data is selected from at least one of the group consisting of:

a merchant identification code associated with a merchant having a known location;

an altitude of the portable consumer device;

a latitude of the portable consumer device;

a longitude of the portable consumer device;

World Geodetic System coordinates of the portable consumer device;

data usable to determine a direction of movement of the portable consumer device; and

data usable to determine a speed of the portable consumer device.