Client customized virtual or physical card for use with selected merchants
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A kiosk system for customizing, activating and providing a physical card according to input from a client, said kiosk system comprising:
- a plurality of physical cards, each card of the plurality of cards representing an unactivated account between a cardholder and selected merchants;
a merchant database for storing information regarding a limited number of merchants who will accept the cards in a transaction;
a client interface connected to the merchant database for selectively activating an unactivated account, said client interface including;
an input component for presenting a screen shot to the client of the limited number of merchants and for receiving client selected merchants from the client consisting of less than all of the limited number of merchants;
an output component for communicating to the administrative processor the received client selected merchants and for communicating an assigned account number to an administrative processor remote from the kiosk system to initially activate the unactivated account before and independent of any transactions, the communicated information for later use by the administrative processor for approving and rejecting card transactions subsequent to activation;
said client interface interacting with the client and responding to said interacting to assign to one of the cards an unactivated account number which is associated with only the received client selected merchants, such that transactions involving the account number and the client selected merchants will be approved by the administrative processor and transactions involving the account number and merchants other than the client selected merchants will be rejected by the administrative processor;
a card creator connected to the client interface, said card creator selecting one of the plurality of cards and customizing the selected card by electronically adding the assigned account number associated with only the client selected merchants to the card without adding electronic information indicative of the client selected merchants to the card, and delivering the card to the client;
wherein a subsequent transaction after the unactivated account is activated involving the assigned account number of a particular card and one of the client selected merchants of the particular card will be approved by the administrative processor via the card network provider based on the communicated assigned account number and based on the communicated client selected merchants associated with the assigned account number,wherein a subsequent transaction after the unactivated account is activated involving the assigned account number of the particular card and merchants other than the client selected merchants will be rejected by the administrative processor via the card network provider based on the communicated assigned account number and based on the communicated client selected merchants associated with assigned account number, andwherein only client selected merchants are capable of redeeming the cards by communicating with the administrative processor via the card network provider so that the card is redeemed without modification at the point of sale of only client selected merchants.
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Abstract
A client selects several merchants with whom the card may be redeemed, the amount redeemable, and a design for the card, which is personalized for the card recipient.
29 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A kiosk system for customizing, activating and providing a physical card according to input from a client, said kiosk system comprising:
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a plurality of physical cards, each card of the plurality of cards representing an unactivated account between a cardholder and selected merchants; a merchant database for storing information regarding a limited number of merchants who will accept the cards in a transaction; a client interface connected to the merchant database for selectively activating an unactivated account, said client interface including; an input component for presenting a screen shot to the client of the limited number of merchants and for receiving client selected merchants from the client consisting of less than all of the limited number of merchants; an output component for communicating to the administrative processor the received client selected merchants and for communicating an assigned account number to an administrative processor remote from the kiosk system to initially activate the unactivated account before and independent of any transactions, the communicated information for later use by the administrative processor for approving and rejecting card transactions subsequent to activation; said client interface interacting with the client and responding to said interacting to assign to one of the cards an unactivated account number which is associated with only the received client selected merchants, such that transactions involving the account number and the client selected merchants will be approved by the administrative processor and transactions involving the account number and merchants other than the client selected merchants will be rejected by the administrative processor; a card creator connected to the client interface, said card creator selecting one of the plurality of cards and customizing the selected card by electronically adding the assigned account number associated with only the client selected merchants to the card without adding electronic information indicative of the client selected merchants to the card, and delivering the card to the client; wherein a subsequent transaction after the unactivated account is activated involving the assigned account number of a particular card and one of the client selected merchants of the particular card will be approved by the administrative processor via the card network provider based on the communicated assigned account number and based on the communicated client selected merchants associated with the assigned account number, wherein a subsequent transaction after the unactivated account is activated involving the assigned account number of the particular card and merchants other than the client selected merchants will be rejected by the administrative processor via the card network provider based on the communicated assigned account number and based on the communicated client selected merchants associated with assigned account number, and wherein only client selected merchants are capable of redeeming the cards by communicating with the administrative processor via the card network provider so that the card is redeemed without modification at the point of sale of only client selected merchants. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for creating and activating a virtual card, said virtual card representing an account between a cardholder and a limited number of merchants, said system comprising:
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an account parameters database storing information identifying a limited number of merchants who will accept the virtual cards in a transaction; a background database storing a plurality of virtual card backgrounds; a logo database storing a plurality of logos; an administrative processor; a client interface connected to the account parameters database, the background database, and the logo database, said client interface interacting with a client; to create the virtual card for the client, to present a screenshot to the client of the limited number of merchants stored in the account parameters database who will accept the virtual cards in a transaction, to select one or more merchants to be associated with the virtual card from the limited number of merchants identified by the information stored in the account parameters database, to select a virtual card background for the virtual card from the plurality of virtual card backgrounds stored in the background database, to select a logo for the virtual card from the plurality of logos stored in the logo database, and to assign to the virtual card an unactivated account number associated with only the client selected merchants, said client interface including an input component for receiving merchant selection information consisting of the client selected merchants, and an output component for transmitting the client selected merchants and unactivated account number information to the administrative processor remote from the kiosk for activating an unactivated account of the virtual card; a virtual card creator in communication with the client interface, said virtual card creator associating the assigned, unactivated account number associated with only the client selected merchants to the virtual card without including the merchant selection information as part of the virtual card, said virtual card creator displaying material on the virtual card based on the client interaction via the client interface, said material including the selected virtual card background, and the selected logo, and assigning to the virtual card an unactivated account number which will be accepted only by the one or more client selected merchants; and said administrator processor in communication with the client interface for administering the assigned account, said administrator processor receiving the account parameters associated with the unactivated, assigned account, said account parameters including an amount redeemable by the virtual cardholder, the client selected merchants, and the assigned account number, said administrator processor being accessible via a card network provider for activation of the assigned account number and for determining whether a merchant at the point of sale is one of the client selected merchants, wherein said card network provider is at least one of a credit card association and a debit card association, wherein a subsequent transaction after the unactivated account is activated involving the assigned account number of the virtual card and one of the client selected merchants will be approved by the administrative processor via the card network provider based on the communicated assigned account number and based on the communicated client selected merchants associated with the account number previously transmitted to the administrative processor by the client interface prior to the transaction, wherein a subsequent transaction after the unactivated account is activated involving the virtual card and other than one of the client selected merchants will be rejected by the administrative processor via the card network provider based on the communicated assigned account number and based on the communicated selected merchants associated with only the selected merchants previously transmitted to the administrative processor by the client interface prior to the transaction, and wherein only the merchants are able to redeem the virtual cards by communicating the account number to the administrative processor via the card network provider and without communicating the merchant selection information to the administrative processor so that the virtual card is redeemed without modification at the point of sale of one of the client selected merchants via the client interface. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification