Systems and methods for pre-paid futures procurement

• US 8,346,611 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2009
• Issued: 01/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: First Data Corporation (Fiserv Incorporated)
• Inventors: Reid, William, Ostrowski, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Gart, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Goyea, Olusegun
• Application Number:
  US12/427,599
• Publication Number:
  US 20100268611A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,351 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/14.13, 705/14.23, 705/14.34, 705/35, 705/37, 705/39, 705/40
• US Class Current: 705/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A transaction processor can receive transaction information from a transaction between a customer and a merchant. The transaction information includes an account identifier associated with a financial account of the customer. The processor determines that the account identifier is associated with a fixed price futures contract. The transaction is completed at the current market price. Thereinafter, the processor can determine if the fixed price is lower than the current market price. If the fixed price is lower than the current market price, the process determines the difference in cost for the transaction if the fixed price were used. Then, the processor can create and send a resettlement transaction to the customer'"'"'s account to reimburse the customer for the difference. As such, the customer receives a simple method for paying for commodities at a set price without having special payment instruments or special accounts.

Claims

1. A settlement processor system for processing a commodity transaction for a fixed price, the settlement processor system being part of a third party system and being communicatively coupled with a merchant financial institution and a customer financial institution to provide settlement and resettlement services, the settlement processor system comprising:

one or more processors;

an interface operable, on the one or more processors, to receive information about a transaction from a merchant point-of-sale device, wherein the information about the transaction includes an identifier for a customer account and a price for the transaction;

an identifier component in communication with the interface, the identifier component operable, on the one or more processors, to determine whether the received identifier is related to a fixed price agreement;

a settlement engine in communication with the identifier component, the settlement engine operable, on the one or processors, to transmit settlement information to the customer financial institution to settle the transaction by transfer of funds to the merchant financial institution; and

a broker in communication with the settlement engine and the identifier component, the broker operable, on the one or more processors, to receive the transaction information when the identifier component determines the received identifier is related to a fixed price agreement, the broker operable to generate a resettlement transaction for the difference between the fixed price in the fixed price contract and the price for the transaction and send the resettlement transaction,

wherein the settlement engine transmits resettlement information to the merchant financial institution to reimburse the customer by transfer of funds to the customer financial institution.

2. The settlement processor system as defined in claim 1, further comprising a pre-paid contract database operable to store information about one or more fixed price contracts.

3. The settlement processor system as defined in claim 2, wherein the identifier component is operable to read at least a portion of the received identifier to determine if the transaction is associated with a fixed price contract.

4. The settlement processor system as defined in claim 3, wherein the identifier component is operable to compare at least a portion of the received identifier to one or more identifiers for fixed price contracts in the pre-paid contract database to determine if the transaction is associated with a fixed price contract.

5. The settlement processor system as defined in claim 4, wherein, when at least a portion of the received identifier compares to an identifier for the fixed price contract in the pre-paid contract database, the broker is operable to read one or more contract terms from the fixed price contract.

6. The settlement processor system as defined in claim 5, wherein the broker is operable to read the fixed price from the fixed price contract and operable to compare the fixed price to the price for the transaction.

7. The settlement processor system as defined in claim 6, wherein the broker is operable to send the resettlement when the fixed price is lower than the price for the transaction.

8. The settlement processor system as defined in claim 7, wherein the resettlement is for a difference in a cost for the transaction if the fixed price was used instead of the price for the transaction.

9. The settlement processor system as defined in claim 1, wherein the broker creates a resettlement file for each resettlement to be processed during a predetermined amount of time and sends all the resettlements in the resettlement file as a batch process.

10. The settlement processor system as defined in claim 1, wherein the identifier component is operable to compare a merchant of the transaction against a merchant file created for the fixed price contract and operable to send a message to the broker to determine a resettlement when the merchant is in the merchant file.

11. A method for conducting pre-paid futures transactions, the method being executable in a computer system of a third party system communicatively coupled with a merchant financial institution and a customer financial institution, the computer system having a processor and memory, and the method comprising:

the processor receiving transaction information from a merchant, wherein the transaction information includes a transaction price, a merchant identifier, and an customer account identifier;

the processor reading the customer account identifier;

the processor transmitting settlement information to the customer financial institution to settle the transaction by a transfer of funds to the merchant financial institution;

the processor comparing at least a portion of the customer account identifier with one or more identifiers for one or more fixed price contracts to determine if a resettlement transaction should be conducted;

the processor determining the fixed price associated with the fixed price contract;

the processor comparing the fixed price to the transaction price to determine if the fixed price is lower than the transaction price;

the processor determining a difference in cost for the transaction if the fixed price were used for the transaction compared to the transaction price;

the processor creating the resettlement transaction for the difference in cost; and

the processor transmitting settlement information associated with the resettlement transaction to the merchant financial institution to reimburse the customer the difference in cost for the transaction by transfer of funds to the customer financial institution.

12. The method as defined in claim 11, further comprising:

the processor reading a merchant file associated with the identified fixed price contract;

the processor determining if the merchant associated with the merchant identifier is in the merchant file; and

when the merchant associated with the merchant identifier is in the merchant file, the processor creating the resettlement transaction.

13. The method as defined in claim 11, further comprising:

the processor reading one or more other terms of the fixed price contract;

the processor determining if the one or more other terms are satisfied by the transaction; and

when the one or more other terms are satisfied by the transaction, the processor creating the resettlement transaction.

14. The method as defined in claim 11, further comprising:

the processor creating a resettlement batch file with two or more resettlement transactions created during a period of time; and

the processor sending all the resettlement transactions in the resettlement batch file as a batch process.

15. The method as defined in claim 14, wherein the processor creates two or more resettlement batch files, wherein each resettlement batch file is related to one financial institution.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium readable by a computer system of a third party system communicatively coupled with a merchant financial institution and a customer financial institution, the computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions causing the computer system to execute a method for conducting pre-paid futures transactions, the method comprising:

instructions for receiving transaction information from a merchant, wherein the transaction information includes a transaction price, a merchant identifier, and a customer account identifier;

instructions for reading the customer account identifier;

instructions for transmitting settlement information to the customer financial institution to settle the transaction by a transfer of funds to the merchant financial institution;

instructions for comparing at least a portion of the customer account identifier with one or more identifiers for one or more fixed price contracts;

when at least a portion of the customer account identifier compares with an identifier of a fixed price contract, instructions for determining if a resettlement transaction should be conducted;

instructions for determining the fixed price associated with the fixed price contract;

instructions for comparing the fixed price to the transaction price to determine if the fixed price is lower than the fixed price;

when the fixed price is lower than the fixed price, determining a difference in cost for the transaction if the fixed price were used for the transaction compared to the transaction price;

instructions for creating the resettlement transaction for the difference in cost; and

instructions for transmitting settlement information associated with the resettlement transaction to the merchant financial institution to reimburse the customer the difference in cost for the transaction by transfer of funds to the customer financial institution.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as defined in claim 16, further comprising:

instructions for reading a merchant file associated with the identified fixed price contract;

instructions for determining if the merchant associated with the merchant identifier is in the merchant file; and

when the merchant associated with the merchant identifier is in the merchant file, instructions for creating the resettlement transaction.