System and method for providing a gift card which affords benefits beyond what is purchased
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- issuing, by a computer based system for maintaining a financial network, a stored value transaction account, wherein new stored value transaction account offers are provided via a website, wherein the stored value transaction account is associated with a theme of a plurality of themes, wherein a particular stored value transaction account is selected by a purchaser based in part on a particular offer;
receiving, by the computer based system, purchase transaction data including data representing the merchant, wherein the purchase transaction data is a result of using the stored value transaction account in a transaction with the merchant, wherein the stored value transaction account is usable in transactions with any merchant in the financial network;
determining, by the computer based system, that the merchant is part of the subset of the merchants within the financial network;
obtaining, by the computer based system and in response to the determination that the merchant is part of the subset of the merchants, benefit data associated with the merchant, wherein at least one of the merchant or the subset of merchants within the financial network provide a benefit, wherein benefit data represents the benefit that is beyond what is purchased by the stored value transaction account, wherein the benefit data associated with use of the stored value transaction account is provided via the website, wherein the merchant is part of a subset of merchants associated with the theme, and wherein the merchant provides benefit data to the website; and
associating, by the computer based system, the benefit with the stored value transaction account.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system, computer product and method are provided for a card issuer providing a prepaid gift card to a purchaser, the gift card usable by a recipient of the card to pay merchants who participate in a financial network. The method includes receiving a payment of a predetermined amount, and loading the predetermined amount received from the purchaser into the prepaid gift card. The method further includes activating the loaded prepaid gift card, the activated prepaid gift card being usable by the recipient for paying any of the merchants in the financial network until the predetermined amount loaded in the prepaid gift card is exhausted, and being usable by the recipient to obtain a benefit beyond what is purchased from at least some of the merchants in the financial network.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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issuing, by a computer based system for maintaining a financial network, a stored value transaction account, wherein new stored value transaction account offers are provided via a website, wherein the stored value transaction account is associated with a theme of a plurality of themes, wherein a particular stored value transaction account is selected by a purchaser based in part on a particular offer; receiving, by the computer based system, purchase transaction data including data representing the merchant, wherein the purchase transaction data is a result of using the stored value transaction account in a transaction with the merchant, wherein the stored value transaction account is usable in transactions with any merchant in the financial network; determining, by the computer based system, that the merchant is part of the subset of the merchants within the financial network; obtaining, by the computer based system and in response to the determination that the merchant is part of the subset of the merchants, benefit data associated with the merchant, wherein at least one of the merchant or the subset of merchants within the financial network provide a benefit, wherein benefit data represents the benefit that is beyond what is purchased by the stored value transaction account, wherein the benefit data associated with use of the stored value transaction account is provided via the website, wherein the merchant is part of a subset of merchants associated with the theme, and wherein the merchant provides benefit data to the website; and associating, by the computer based system, the benefit with the stored value transaction account. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer based system, comprising:
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a computer network communicating with a memory; the memory communicating with a processor; and the processor, when executing a computer program for maintaining a financial network, is configured to; issue, by the processor, a stored value transaction account, wherein new stored value transaction account offers are provided via a website, wherein the stored value transaction account is associated with a theme of a plurality of themes, and wherein a particular stored value transaction account is selected by a purchaser based in part on a particular offer; receive, by the processor, purchase transaction data including data representing the merchant, wherein the purchase transaction data is a result of using the stored value transaction account in a transaction with the merchant, wherein the stored value transaction account is usable in transactions with any merchant in the financial network; determine, by the processor, that the merchant is part of the subset of the merchants within the financial network; obtain, by the processor, in response to the determination that the merchant is part of the subset of the merchants, benefit data associated with the merchant, wherein at least one of the merchant or the subset of merchants within the financial network provide the benefit, wherein benefit data represents the benefit that is beyond what is purchased by the stored value transaction account, wherein the benefit data associated with use of the stored value transaction account is provided via the website, wherein the merchant is part of a subset of merchants associated with the theme, and wherein the merchant provides benefit data to the website; and associate, by the processor, the benefit with the stored value transaction account. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A tangible non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instruction, the sequences on instruction when executed by a computer based system for managing stored value transaction account use, causes the computer based system to perform the operations comprising:
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issuing, by the computer based system, a stored value transaction account, wherein new stored value transaction account offers are provided via a website, wherein the stored value transaction account is associated with a theme of a plurality of themes, and wherein a particular stored value transaction account is selected by a purchaser based in part on a particular offer; receiving, by the computer based system, purchase transaction data including data representing the merchant, wherein the purchase transaction data is a result of using the stored value transaction account in a transaction with the merchant, wherein the stored value transaction account is usable in transactions with any merchant in the financial network; determining, by the computer based system, that the merchant is part of the subset of the merchants within the financial network; obtaining, by the computer based system, in response to the determination that the merchant is part of the subset of the merchants, benefit data associated with the merchant, wherein at least one of the merchant or the subset of merchants within the financial network provide the benefit, wherein benefit data represents the benefit that is beyond what is purchased by the stored value transaction account, wherein the benefit data associated with use of the stored value transaction account is provided via the website, wherein the merchant is part of a subset of merchants associated with the theme, and wherein the merchant provides benefit data to the website; and associating, by the computer based system, the benefit with the stored value transaction account. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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Specification