System and method for designating accounts from which to trade rewards

• US 8,447,650 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2011
• Issued: 05/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Signature Systems LLC
• Original Assignee: Signature Systems LLC
• Inventors: Postrel, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Meinecke Diaz, Susanna M
• Application Number:
  US13/154,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20120143667A1
• Time in Patent Office: 714 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.33
• US Class Current: 705/14.33
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/22 Payment schemes or models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/343 Cards including a counter
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0208 Trade or exchange of goods or services in exchange for incentives or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0209 Incentive being awarded or redeemed in connection with the playing of a video game
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0212 Chance discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0223 based on inventory
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0227 Frequent usage incentive value reconciliation between diverse systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0228 On-line clearing houses
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0229 Multi-merchant loyalty card systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0233 Method of redeeming a frequent usage reward
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 : Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 : Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3255 : Incentive, loyalty and/or promotion schemes, e.g. comps, gaming associated with a purchase, gaming funded by advertisements

Abstract

A system and method for operating a reward points accumulation and redemption program wherein a user earns rewards from a plurality of independent reward issuing entities, with each tracking the user'"'"'s earned rewards. A trading server accumulates some or all of the user'"'"'s earned rewards from the reward servers and credits the accumulated rewards into a single reward exchange account associated with the user. The user may then select an item for purchase with the accumulated rewards. The item is provided to the user in exchange for a subset or all of the rewards. Reward points may also be redeemed in exchange for services, such as the playing of a video game or Internet access.

Claims

1. A method of operating a trading server computer comprising:

a) a trading server computer transmitting a first web page to a user computer for a user operating the user computer to enroll a plurality of user reward accounts with the trading server computer, each of said user reward accounts stored on an associated reward server computer and associated with the user for storing rewards awarded to the user for transactions between the user and an associated reward issuing entity, each of said user reward accounts indicated by the user to be accessed by the trading server for exchanging rewards into a user reward exchange account stored in association with trading server computer;

b) the trading server computer receiving instructions from the user computer comprising a user profile indicating a prioritization of the plurality of user reward accounts to be accessed by the trading server computer for exchanging rewards into the user reward exchange account;

c) the trading server computer transmitting to the user computer a second web page comprising a display of a plurality of items that may be purchased by redemption of rewards from the user reward exchange account;

d) the trading server computer exchanging rewards from the user operating the user computer that indentify an item selected for purchase from the second web page;

e) the trading server computer exchanging rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account and combining the exchanged rewards with each other in the user reward exchange account; and

f) the trading server computer redeeming the combined rewards from the user reward exchange account for the item selected for purchase by decreasing the combined rewards in the user reward exchange account.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the trading server computer exchanges rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account at a predetermined rate of exchange.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of the trading server computer exchanging rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account comprises, for each of the plurality of user reward accounts:

the trading server computer requesting the reward server computer on which the reward account is stored to reduce the number of rewards in the user reward account; and

the trading server computer increasing the number of rewards in the reward exchange account by a corresponding amount.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising the step of the trading server computer receiving consideration from the reward server computer on which the reward account is stored.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the user profile indicates a prioritization for exchanging rewards from user reward accounts having a higher value before exchanging rewards from user reward accounts having a lower value.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the user profile indicates a requirement for the trading server computer to obtain approval from the user computer prior to exchanging rewards from a user reward account specified in the user profile.

7. A trading server computer comprising memory means, communications means, and processing means programmed to:

a) transmit a first web page via the communication means to a user computer for a user operating the user computer to enroll a plurality of user reward accounts with the trading server computer, each of said user reward accounts stored on an associated reward server computer and associated with the user for storing rewards awarded to the user for transactions between the user and an associated reward issuing entity, each of said user reward accounts indicated by the user to be accessed by the trading server for exchanging rewards into a user reward exchange account stored in the memory means in association with trading server computer;

b) receive instructions via the communication means from the user computer comprising a user profile indicating a prioritization of the plurality of user reward accounts to be accessed by the trading server computer for exchanging rewards into the user reward exchange account;

c) transmit to the user computer a second web page comprising a display of a plurality of items that may be purchased by redemption of rewards from the user reward exchange account;

d) receive instructions from the user operating the user computer that identify an item selected for purchase from the second web page;

e) exchange rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account and combine the exchanged rewards with each other in the user reward exchange account; and

f) redeem the combined rewards from the user reward exchange account for the item selected for purchase by decreasing the combined rewards in the user reward exchange account.

8. The trading server computer of claim 7 further programmed to exchange rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account at a predetermined rate of exchange.

9. The trading server computer of claim 7 further programmed to exchange rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account by, for each of the plurality of user reward accounts:

requesting the reward server computer on which the reward account is stored to reduce the number of rewards in the user reward account; and

increasing the number of rewards in the reward exchange account by a corresponding amount.

10. The trading server computer of claim 9 further programmed to receive consideration from the reward server computer on which the reward account is stored.

11. The trading server computer of claim 7 wherein the user profile indicates a prioritization for exchanging rewards from user reward accounts having a higher value before exchanging rewards from user reward accounts having a lower value.

12. The trading server computer of claim 7 wherein the user profile indicates a requirement for the trading server computer to obtain approval from the user computer prior to exchanging rewards from a user reward account specified in the user profile.

13. A method of operating a reward exchange system comprising:

a) a trading server computer transmitting a first web page to a user computer for a user operating the user computer to enroll a plurality of user reward accounts with the trading server computer, each of said user reward accounts stored on an associated reward server computer and associated with the user for storing rewards awarded to the user for transactions between the user and an associated reward issuing entity, each of said user reward accounts indicated by the user to be accessed by the trading server for exchanging rewards into a user reward exchange account stored in association with trading server computer;

b) the user computer sending instructions to the trading server computer comprising a user profile indicating a prioritization of the plurality of user reward accounts to be accessed by the trading server computer for exchanging rewards into the user reward exchange account;

c) the trading server computer transmitting to the user computer a second web page comprising a display of a plurality of items that may purchased by redemption of rewards from the user reward exchange account;

d) the user computer sending instructions to the trading server computer that indentify an item selected for purchase from the second web page;

e) the trading server computer exchanging rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account and combining the exchanged rewards with each other in the user reward exchange account; and

f) the trading server computer redeeming the combined rewards from the user reward exchange account for the item selected for purchase by decreasing the combined rewards in the user reward exchange account.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the trading server computer exchanges rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account at a predetermined rate of exchange.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of the trading server computer exchanging rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account comprises, for each of the plurality of user reward accounts:

the trading server computer requesting the reward server computer on which the reward account is stored to reduce the number of rewards in the user reward account;

the reward server computer on which the reward account is stored reducing the number of rewards in the user reward account; and

the trading server computer increasing the number of rewards in the reward exchange account by a corresponding amount.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of the reward server computer on which the reward account is stored sending consideration to the trading server computer.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the user profile indicates a prioritization for exchanging rewards from user reward accounts having a higher value before exchanging rewards from user reward accounts having a lower value.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the user profile indicates a requirement for the trading server computer to obtain approval from the user computer prior to exchanging rewards from a user reward account specified in the user profile.

19. A reward exchange system comprising:

a trading server computer;

a user computer operated by a user and selectively interconnected to the trading server computer via a computer network; and

a plurality of reward server computers, each of said reward server computers comprising a user reward account associated with the user for storing rewards awarded to the user for transactions between the user and an associated reward issuing entity;

wherein the trading server computer comprises memory means, communications means, and processing means programmed to;

a) transmit a first web page via the communication means to the user computer for the user operating the user computer to enroll the plurality of user reward accounts with the trading server computer, each of the user reward accounts indicated by the user to be accessed by the trading server for exchanging rewards into a user reward exchange account stored in the memory means in association with trading server computer;

b) receive instructions via the communication means from the user computer comprising a user profile indicating a prioritization of the plurality of user reward accounts to be accessed by the trading server computer for exchanging rewards into the user reward exchange account;

c) transmit to the user computer a second web page comprising a display of a plurality of items that may be purchased by redemption of rewards from the user reward exchange account;

d) receive instructions from the user computer that identify an item selected for purchase from the second web page;

e) exchange rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account and combine the exchanged rewards with each other in the user reward exchange account; and

f) redeem the combined rewards from the user reward exchange account for the item selected for purchased by decreasing the combined rewards in the user reward exchange account.

20. The reward exchange system of claim 19 wherein the trading server computer is further programmed to exchange rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account at a predetermined rate of exchange.

21. The reward exchange system of claim 19 wherein the trading server computer is further programmed to exchange rewards from each of the plurality of user reward accounts in accordance with the user profile into the user reward exchange account by, for each of the plurality of user reward accounts:

requesting the reward server computer on which the reward account is stored to reduce the number of rewards in the user reward account; and

increasing the number of rewards in the reward exchange account by a corresponding amount.

22. The reward exchange system of claim 21 wherein the trading server computer is further programmed to receive consideration from the reward server computer on which the reward account is stored.

23. The reward exchange system of claim 19 wherein the user profile indicates a prioritization for exchanging rewards from user reward accounts having a higher value before exchanging rewards from user reward accounts having a lower value.

24. The reward exchange system of claim 19 wherein the user profile indicates a requirement for the trading server computer to obtain approval from the user computer prior to exchanging rewards from a user reward account specified in the user profile.