Conversion operations of non-negotiable credits to funds between an entity and a commerce partner

• US 8,523,063 B1
• Filed: 04/16/2013
• Issued: 09/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Brian K. Buchheit, Sean I. Mcghie
• Original Assignee: Brian K. Buchheit, Sean I. Mcghie
• Inventors: McGhie, Sean I., Buchheit, Brian K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Labaze, Edwyn
• Application Number:
  US13/863,605
• Time in Patent Office: 140 Days
• Field of Search: 235/380, 235/375, 235/379, 235/487, 235/486, 235/382, 705/14, 705/39, 463/25
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• 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 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/381 Currency conversion
• 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: G07F 17/3244 Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes

Abstract

An entity and a commerce partner agree to permit transfers or conversions of non-negotiable credits to entity independent funds in accordance with a fixed credits-to-funds ratio. An account for non-negotiable credits of a loyalty program member is established. A set of two or more interactions earning additional non-negotiable credits for the loyalty program member in accordance with terms of the loyalty program is detected, resulting in the additional non-negotiable credits being added to the account. Responsive to an indication of a conversion operation occurrence, a quantity of the non-negotiable credits is subtracted from the account. The subtracted quantity of non-negotiable credits is at least a quantity of non-negotiable credits that were converted or transferred to a new quantity of entity independent funds using the fixed credits-to-funds ratio.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

an entity agreeing to permit transfers or conversions of non-negotiable credits to entity independent funds in accordance with a fixed credits-to-funds ratio, wherein the entity agrees to compensate a commerce partner by paying an amount in cash or credit for each non-negotiable credit redeemed by the commerce partner, wherein the non-negotiable credits are loyalty points of a loyalty program of the entity, wherein the entity independent funds are loyalty points of a different loyalty program of the commerce partner, wherein the entity independent funds are redeemable under terms-of-use of the different loyalty program for consumer partner goods or for consumer partner services, wherein terms-of-use of the different loyalty program does not permit commerce partner goods or commerce partner services to be exchanged for the non-negotiable credits in absence of the non-negotiable credits being transferred or converted into the entity independent funds of the different loyalty program;

a computer for the loyalty program of the entity establishing an account for non-negotiable credits of a loyalty program member;

the computer detecting a set of two or more interactions earning additional non-negotiable credits for the loyalty program member in accordance with terms-of-use of the loyalty program, wherein the computer adds the additional non-negotiable credits to the account; and

responsive to an indication of a conversion operation occurrence, the computer subtracting a quantity of the non-negotiable credits from the account, said subtracted quantity of non-negotiable credits comprising at least a quantity of non-negotiable credits that were converted or transferred to a new quantity of entity independent funds using the fixed credits-to-funds ratio.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the subtracted quantity of non-negotiable credits is greater than a quantity that mathematically results from applying the fixed credits-to-funds ratio to the new quantity of entity independent funds due to a surcharge incurred for the conversion operation, wherein the surcharge is in non-negotiable credits, entity independent funds, or combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer for the loyalty program of the entity performing the conversion operation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the conversion operation was performed by a computer for the different loyalty program of the commerce partner, said method further comprising:

the computer for the loyalty program receiving the indication of the conversion operation occurrence within a message sent over a network from the computer for the different loyalty program.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the loyalty program of the entity is an airline, hotel, or credit card loyalty program, wherein the different loyalty program of the commerce partner is an airline, hotel, or credit card loyalty program.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer performs the establishing, detecting, and subtracting within a single human-to-machine interaction session.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer for the different loyalty program performs the detecting of the communication, the granting of the new quantity of entity independent funds, and the redeeming of at least a portion of the entity independent funds within a single human-to-machine interaction session.

8. A method comprising:

a commerce partner agreeing to permit transfers or conversions of quantities of non-negotiable credits to entity independent funds in accordance with a fixed credits-to-funds ratio, wherein the commerce partner receives compensation from an entity, wherein said compensation is in an amount in cash or credit for each non-negotiable credit redeemed by the commerce partner, wherein the non-negotiable credits are loyalty points of a loyalty program of the entity, wherein the entity independent funds are loyalty points of a different loyalty program of the commerce partner, wherein the commerce partner or an agent/partner acting on behalf of the commerce partner provides commerce partner goods or commerce partner services to members of the different loyalty program in response to members redeeming the entity independent funds, wherein the commerce partner does not provide the commerce partner goods or the commerce partner services in exchange for quantities of the non-negotiable credits in absence of the non-negotiable credits being transferred or converted into the entity independent funds of the different loyalty program, wherein the agent/partner acting on behalf of the commerce partner does not provide the commerce partner goods or commerce partner services in exchange for quantities of the non-negotiable credits in absence of the non-negotiable credits being transferred or converted into the entity independent funds of the different loyalty program, wherein terms-of-use of the different loyalty program permit transfers or conversions of non-negotiable credits to entity independent funds;

a computer for the different loyalty program detecting a communication over a network to grant a member of the different loyalty program a new quantity of the entity independent funds, wherein the new quantity of entity independent funds results from a conversion operation, said conversion operation being a transfer of at least a subset of the non-negotiable credits into the new quantity of entity independent funds based on the fixed credit-to-funds ratio, wherein the subset of the non-negotiable credits are expended as part of the conversion or transfer;

responsive to the communication, the computer granting the member the new quantity of the entity independent funds, which are added to an account of entity independent funds maintained for the member; and

the computer redeeming at least a portion of the new quantity of entity independent funds in exchange for user selected ones of the commerce partner goods or user selected ones of the commerce partner services, wherein the computer does not accept the non-negotiable credits of the loyalty program for the commerce partner goods or for the commerce partner services in absence of converting or transferring the non-negotiable credits into entity independent funds.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the new quantity of entity independent funds added to the account is less than a quantity that mathematically results from applying the fixed credits-to-funds ratio to the subset of non-negotiable funds due to a surcharge incurred for the conversion operation, wherein the surcharge is in non-negotiable credits, entity independent funds, or combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

the computer for the different loyalty program of the commerce partner performing the conversion operation.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the conversion operation was performed by a computer for the loyalty program, said method further comprising:

the computer for the different loyalty program receiving the communication, which is sent from the computer for the loyalty program.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the loyalty program of the entity is an airline, hotel, or credit card loyalty program, wherein the different loyalty program of the commerce partner is an airline, hotel, or credit card loyalty program.

13. A method comprising:

at least one processor, responsive to executing program instructions of at least one memory, accessing a storage device containing information of a non-negotiable credit account of a specific member of a loyalty program of an entity, wherein non-negotiable credits of the non-negotiable credit account are loyalty points of a loyalty program of the entity, wherein non-negotiable credits of the non-negotiable credit account have been earned by the specific member though activities related to the loyalty program, wherein the storage device maintains loyalty program records for the entity, wherein the loyalty program redeems the non-negotiable credits for a restricted list of goods or services;

at least one processor, responsive to executing program instructions of at least one memory, accessing a second storage device containing information of an entity independent funds account of the specific member of a different loyalty program of a commerce partner, wherein entity independent funds of the entity independent funds account are different loyalty points of a different loyalty program of the commerce partner, wherein entity independent funds of the entity independent funds account have been earned by the specific member though activities related to the different loyalty program, wherein the second storage device maintains different loyalty program records for the commerce partner, wherein said non-negotiable credits and the entity-independent funds have different restrictions-on-use established by terms-of-use of the loyalty program and established by terms-of-use of the different loyalty program, wherein the different loyalty program redeems the entity independent funds for commerce partner goods or for commerce partner services, wherein the commerce partners goods or commerce partner servicers are not in the restricted list of goods or services, wherein an agreement exists between the entity and the commerce partner that permits transfers or conversions of non-negotiable credits to entity independent funds in accordance with a fixed credits-to-funds ratio, wherein the agreement specifies that the entity compensates the commerce partner by paying an amount in negotiable funds for each non-negotiable credit redeemed per the agreement;

at least one processor, responsive to executing program instructions of at least one memory, performing a conversion operation to transfer a subset of the non-negotiable credits into a new quantity of entity independent funds based at least in part upon the fixed credit-to-funds ratio;

at least one processor, responsive to executing program instructions of at least one memory, and responsive to the conversion operation, subtracting a quantity of the non-negotiable credits from the non-negotiable credit account of the storage device, said subtracted quantity of non-negotiable credits comprising at least the subset of non-negotiable credits; and

at least one processor, responsive to executing program instructions of at least one memory, and responsive to the conversion operation, adding at least a portion of the new quantity of entity independent funds to the entity independent funds account of the second storage device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the subtracted quantity of non-negotiable credits from the non-negotiable credit account is greater than a quantity that mathematically results from applying the fixed credits-to-funds ratio to the new quantity of entity independent funds due to a surcharge incurred for the conversion operation.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least a portion of the new quantity of entity independent funds added to the entity independent funds account is less than a quantity that mathematically results from applying the fixed credits-to-funds ratio to the subset of non-negotiable funds due to a surcharge incurred for the conversion operation.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the specific member is charged a fee for the conversion operation.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is inside a computer for the loyalty program of the entity.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is inside a computer for the different loyalty program of the commerce partner.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the loyalty program of the entity is an airline, hotel, or credit card loyalty program, wherein the different loyalty program of the commerce partner is an airline, hotel, or credit card loyalty program.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor performs the accessing of the storage device, the accessing of the second storage device, the conversion operation, the subtracting of the quantity of non-negotiable credits, and the adding of the portion of the new quantity of entity independent funds within a single human-to-machine interaction session.