Transactional processing entity device support of an integrated offer network

• US 8,180,702 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2009
• Issued: 05/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Debow, Howard Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil, Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US12/413,033
• Publication Number:
  US 20100049588A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,145 Days
• Field of Search: 705 10- 44
• US Class Current: 705/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0217 involving input on products or services in exchange for incentives or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A method begins by generate, for each of a plurality of merchant devices, an offer data file to produce a plurality of offer data files. The method continues by compiling, for one of a plurality of issuer devices, an options data file for a group of credit cards based on at least one of the plurality of offer data files. The method continues by transmitting the options data file to the one of the plurality of issuer devices. The method continues by receiving, from the one of the plurality of issuer devices, at least one selection from the options data file to produce an options program file for the group of credit cards. The method continues by receiving, from a card holder device associated with one of the group of credit cards, a selection of at least one option from the options program file to produce at least one selected option. The method continues by processing transactions of the one of the group of credit cards in accordance with the at least one selected option.

Claims

1. A transaction entity device implemented method comprising:

generating, via a transaction entity device, for each of a plurality of merchant devices, an offer data file to produce a plurality of offer data files;

compiling, via the transaction entity device, for one of a plurality of issuer devices, an options data file for a group of credit cards based on at least one of the plurality of offer data files;

transmitting, via the transaction entity device, the options data file to the one of the plurality of issuer devices;

receiving, by the transaction entity device, from the one of the plurality of issuer devices, at least one selection from the options data file to produce an options program file for the group of credit cards;

receiving, by the transaction entity device, from a card holder device associated with one of the group of credit cards, a selection of at least one option from the options program file to produce at least one selected option; and

processing, via the transaction entity device, transactions of the one of the group of credit cards in accordance with the at least one selected option.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the offer data file for each of the plurality of merchant devices comprises:

processing, for one of the plurality of merchant devices, a merchant profile to identify at least one of market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and merchant information;

providing a list of offer options to the one of the plurality of merchant devices in accordance with the merchant profile; and

receiving, from the one of the plurality of merchant devices, selection of at least one offer from the list of offer options to produce the offer data file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the compiling the options data file for the one of the plurality of issuer devices further comprises at least one of:

compiling the options data file to include at least one feature sponsored by an issuer associated with the one of the plurality of issuer devices; and

compiling the options data file to include at least one service sponsored by an transactional processing entity associated with the transactional processing entity device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the selection of the option from the card holder device further comprises:

processing a card holder profile that includes at least one of account information, location preferences, product categories of interest;

service categories of interest, and benefit type preferences; and

processing a card holder selection file based on the selection of the option and in accordance with the card holder profile.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

compiling data, via the transaction entity device, regarding at least one selected from the group consisting of;

offer selections, offer usage, feature selections, feature usage, service selection, and service usage data from the processing transactions for a plurality of cards to produce compiled transaction data; and

generating, via the transaction entity device, at least one selected from the group consisting of;

recommended offers, recommended features, and recommended services based on the compiled transaction data.

6. A transaction entity device implemented method comprising:

providing, via a transaction entity device, offer options to an issuer device;

entering a loop, wherein the loop includes;

receiving, by the transaction entity device, selection of an offer of the offer options from the issuer device to produce a selected offer;

performing, via the transaction entity device, a compatibility check of the selected offer with at least one of;

a previously selected offer and a remaining offer of the offer options; and

storing, via the transaction entity device, the selected offer to produce a stored offer when the compatibility check is favorable;

exiting the loop when a designated stimulus is detected; and

generating, via the transaction entity device, an offer program file for a group of cards based on one or more of the stored offers.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the performing the compatibility check further comprises:

verifying that the selected offer is compatible with one or more previously selected offers;

when the selected offer is compatible with the one or more previously selected offers, indicating that the compatibility check is favorable; and

when the selected offer is not compatible with the one or more previously selected offers, performing at least one of;

prohibiting selection of the selected offer;

rejecting selection of the selected offer; and

requesting authorization to allow compatibility of the selected offer with the one or more previously selected offer.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the providing the offer options to the issuer device further comprises:

receiving offer criteria from the issuer device, wherein the offer criteria includes at least one selected from the group consisting of;

product category, service category, specific merchants, merchant types, location, credit card status, consumer type, and offer types; and

generating the offer options in accordance with the offer criteria.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising least one of:

including transactional processing entity services in the offer options; and

including issuer features in the offer options.

10. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

determining a change to at least one offer of the offer program file;

processing the change to the at least one offer in accordance with issuer update parameters to produce an updated offer program file;

determining new offers; and

processing the new offers in accordance with issuer new offer parameters to produce the updated offer program file.

11. A transaction processing entity device implemented method comprising:

processing, via a transaction entity device, a merchant profile to identify at least one of market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and merchant information for a merchant associated with one of a plurality of merchant devices;

entering a loop, wherein the loop includes;

storing, via the transaction entity device, a new offer when a selection of a new offer is received to produce a stored offer;

modifying, via the transaction entity device, an existing offer when a modify offer request is received to produce a modified offer; and

exiting the loop when a designated stimulus is detected; and

producing, via the transaction entity device, in accordance with the merchant profile, an offer data file that includes at least one of;

one or more stored offers and one or more modified offers.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

generating, via the transaction entity device, a list of offer options for the one of the plurality of merchant devices in accordance with at least one of the merchant profile and a recommended offer data file; and

providing, via the transaction entity device, the list of offer options to the one of the of the plurality of merchant devices.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the storing a new offer comprises:

determining whether the new offer is selected from the list of offer options or is created;

when the new offer is created;

receiving parameters of the new offer;

adding the new offer to the list of offer options; and

storing the parameters of the new offer as part of the offer data file; and

when the new offer is selected from the list of offer options, receiving selection of the new offer from the list of offer options.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the generating the list of offer options comprises:

generating a general list of offer options based on the merchant profile; and

when the merchant device has custom list privileges, modifying the general list of offer options based on modification instructions received from the one of the plurality of merchant devices.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the modifying an existing offer comprises:

accessing the offer data file;

identifying an offer of the offer data file based on a received instruction;

determining whether the received instruction corresponds to modifying or deleting the offer;

when the received instruction corresponds to deleting the offer, deleting the offer from the offer data file; and

when the received instruction corresponds to modifying the offer, changing parameters of the offer in accordance with the received instruction.

16. A transaction processing entity device implemented method comprising:

processing, via a transaction entity device, a card holder profile that includes at least one of account information, location preferences, product categories of interest, service categories of interest, and benefit type preferences;

generating, via the transaction entity device, a list of available options from an options data file in accordance with the card holder profile;

providing, via the transaction entity device, the list of available options to a card holder device;

entering a loop, wherein the loop includes;

storing, via the transaction entity device, an option when a selection message is received to produce a stored offer, wherein the selection message identifies selection of the option from the list of available options;

modifying, via the transaction entity device, an existing option when a modify message is received to produce a modified option; and

exiting the loop when a designated stimulus is detected; and

producing, via the transaction entity device, a card holder selection file that includes at least one selected from the group consisting of;

one or more stored options and one or more modified options.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the processing the card holder profile comprises:

providing the card holder profile to the card holder device;

receiving, from the card holder device, a request to modify the card holder profile; and

modifying the card holder profile in accordance with the request to modify.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the options comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of:

merchant offers;

issuer features; and

transactional processing entity services.

19. The method of claim 16 further comprising, when automatic updating is enabled:

retrieving, by the transaction entity device, the card holder profile and the card holder selection file;

determining, via the transaction entity device, whether an option of the card holder selection file is valid;

when the option is not valid, deleting, via the transaction entity device, the option from the card holder selection file;

determining, via the transaction entity device, based on the card holder profile, whether a new option is available; and

when the new option is available, updating, via the transaction entity device, the card holder selection file with the new option.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising, when automatic updating is not enabled:

retrieving, by the transaction entity device, the card holder profile and the card holder selection file;

generating, via the transaction entity device, a list of at least one of;

new options, existing options, and changed options in accordance with the card holder profile;

providing, via the transaction entity device, the list to the card holder device;

receiving, by the transaction entity device, an update message, wherein the update message includes instructions to update the card holder selection file with at least one selected from the group consisting of;

one or more of the new options, with a modification to one or more of the existing options, and one or more of the changed options;

validating, via the transaction entity device, the update message; and

updating, via the transaction entity device, the card holder selection file in accordance with the update message when the update message is validated.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a processing module; and

memory, coupled to the processing module, having stored thereon a set of instructions, which when executed, perform a method comprising;

generating, for each of a plurality of merchant devices, an offer data file to produce a plurality of offer data files;

compiling, for one of a plurality of issuer devices, an options data file for a group of credit cards based on at least one of the plurality of offer data files;

transmitting the options data file to the one of the plurality of issuer devices;

receiving a selected options data file from the one of the plurality of issuer devices, wherein the selected options data file includes at least one option contained in the options data file;

receiving, from a card holder device associated with one of the group of credit cards, a selection of at least one option from the selected options data file to produce at least one selected option; and

processing transactions of the one of the group of credit cards in accordance with the at least one selected option.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further including generating the offer data file for each of the plurality of merchant devices by:

processing a merchant profile to identify at least one of market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and merchant information; and

processing a merchant offers file to identify at least one offer sponsored by a merchant associated with one of the plurality of merchant devices.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the compiling the options data file for the one of the plurality of issuer devices is by at least one selected from the group consisting of:

compiling the options data file to include at least one feature sponsored by an issuer associated with the one of the plurality of issuer devices; and

compiling the options data file to include at least one service sponsored by an transactional processing entity associated with the transactional processing entity device.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein receiving the selection of the option from the card holder device further comprises:

processing a card holder profile that includes at least one of account information, location preferences, product categories of interest;

service categories of interest, and benefit type preferences; and

processing a card holder selection file based on the selection of the option and in accordance with the card holder profile.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:

compiling data regarding at least one of;

offer selections, offer usage, feature selections, feature usage, service selection, and service usage data from the processing transactions for a plurality of cards to produce compiled transaction data; and

generating at least one of;

recommended offers, recommended features, and recommended services based on the compiled transaction data.