Notification of resources of interest to members of a consumer group

• US 8,160,934 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2009
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• 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, Mowzoon, May M.
• Primary Examiner(s): ALMATRAHI, FARIS S
• Application Number:
  US12/428,364
• Publication Number:
  US 20100274598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,091 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/26.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• 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 30/0229 Multi-merchant loyalty card systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• 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:

receiving resource data identifying a resource set for a consumer group, the consumer group comprising a plurality of member consumers including a first consumer;

receiving transaction data for a first transaction, the transaction data including information for a purchased resource;

receiving position data usable to determine a location of the first consumer;

determining whether an announcement condition is satisfied, including determining, using the transaction data, whether the purchased resource is in the resource set, and determining, using the position data, whether the location of the first consumer is in a zone, and wherein the announcement condition includes a criterion that a targeting merchant is located in the zone and is capable of engaging in a future transaction for a resource in the resource set; and

after the announcement condition is satisfied, forming an announcement for delivery to at least one recipient selected from the group consisting of;

one of the plurality of member consumers located in the zone, and the targeting merchant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the criterion includes that the resource in the resource set is the purchased resource.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming comprises forming the announcement for delivery to the first consumer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the forming further comprises forming the announcement for delivery to the targeting merchant.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the resource set by removing the purchased resource from the resource set.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the announcement includes at least one item selected from the group consisting of:

a purchase price of the purchased resource;

a time that the purchased resource was purchased;

a name of one of the plurality of member consumers that purchased the purchased resource;

a date the purchased resource was purchased;

a resource identifier of the purchased resource;

a manufacturer identifier of the purchased resource; and

a message from one of the plurality of member consumers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the announcement includes a merchant offer for a future transaction for the purchased resource at a price less than or equal to a price paid for the purchased resource by one of the plurality of member consumers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the announcement includes at least one data selected from the group consisting of data about the first consumer, data about the resource set, and data about the targeting merchant.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the position data includes data from a portable consumer device of the first consumer, and 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 portable computing apparatus; and

combinations of the foregoing.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the first consumer an indicator that the purchased resource is to be compared against the resource set.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the first transaction from an acquirer for processing within a payment processing system, the processing including requesting an issuer to obtain a payment for the first transaction from an account issued to the first consumer by the issuer.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of member consumers includes a second consumer, and further comprising receiving a request for a transfer of a specified amount of funds from an account of the second consumer to a mutual payment account accessible by each of the plurality of member consumers.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving an authorization request to make a second transaction payable upon the mutual payment account for a resource in the resource set;

receiving an authorization response to the authorization request including an approval of an issuer of the mutual payment account to make the second transaction payable upon the mutual payment account; and

requesting the issuer to obtain payment from the mutual payment account for the second transaction.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of member consumers includes a second consumer, and further comprising:

receiving a request for partial payment towards a current transaction for at least one resource in the resource set, wherein the request includes an account identifier of an account issued to the second consumer by an issuer, and further includes an amount of funds to apply towards the partial payment; and

facilitating application of the amount of funds towards the current transaction.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the facilitating comprises:

receiving information about a selected merchant offering to sell the at least one resource; and

sending a request to the issuer to forward the amount of funds for delivery to the selected merchant as payment towards the current transaction.

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

receiving data specifying a consumer group, the consumer group comprising a plurality of member consumers including a first consumer, and the data including a plurality of consumer identifiers, wherein each respective consumer identifier corresponds to one of the member consumers, and the plurality of consumer identifiers includes a first consumer identifier for the first consumer;

receiving transaction data for a plurality of transactions by the plurality of member consumers, the transaction data including information for resources purchased by each respective member consumer and its respective consumer identifier;

identifying, using the transaction data, a predicted resource set for the consumer group;

receiving position data usable to determine a location of the first consumer;

determining whether an announcement condition is satisfied, including determining, using the position data, whether the location of the first consumer is in a zone, and wherein the announcement condition includes a criterion that a targeting merchant is located in the zone and is capable of engaging in a future transaction for a resource in the predicted resource set; and

after the announcement condition is satisfied, forming an announcement for delivery to at least one recipient, the announcement including information about the predicted resource set, and the at least one recipient selected from the group consisting of;

one of the plurality of member consumers located in the zone, and the targeting merchant.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the transaction data includes first data for a first plurality of transactions of the first consumer, and the method further comprises:

determining a subset of the predicted resource set based at least in part on the first data by comparing the predicted resource set with resources purchased in the first plurality of transactions; and

announcing the subset to the first consumer.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a query from the first consumer requesting information about the predicted resource set;

making a determination, using the first consumer identifier, whether the first consumer is in the consumer group; and

in response to the determination, announcing the information about the predicted resource set to the first consumer.

19. A system, comprising:

memory storing data for an interest group, the interest group comprising a plurality of members including a first member; and

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

receiving transaction data for a plurality of transactions by a person of interest with at least one merchant, the transaction data including information for at least one resource purchased by the person of interest;

identifying, using the transaction data, a resource set for the interest group, the resource set to include the at least one resource;

receiving position data usable to determine a location of the first member;

determining whether an announcement condition is satisfied, including determining, using the position data, whether the location of the first member is in a zone, and wherein the announcement condition includes a criterion that a targeting merchant is located in the zone and is capable of engaging in a future transaction for a resource in the resource set; and

after the announcement condition is satisfied, forming an announcement for delivery to at least one recipient selected from the group consisting of;

one of the plurality of members located in the zone, and the targeting merchant.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of transactions includes a first transaction with a first merchant, the at least one resource includes a first resource, the announcement includes information about the first transaction, and the method further comprises using an endorsement account to pay the first merchant for purchase of the first resource by the person of interest.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of transactions includes a first transaction with a first merchant, and the method further comprises:

receiving an authorization request having a merchant indicator associated with the first merchant;

determining whether the merchant indicator corresponds to an endorsee of the person of interest; and

forwarding an authorization response, responsive to the authorization request, for delivery to the first merchant.