Conversion operations for loyalty points of different programs redeemable for services

• US 8,540,152 B1
• Filed: 05/23/2013
• Issued: 09/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: JBSHBM, LLC
• Original Assignee: Brian K. Buchheit
• Inventors: Buchheit, Brian K., Mghie, Sean I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Labaze, Edwyn
• Application Number:
  US13/901,175
• Time in Patent Office: 124 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 30/0227 Frequent usage incentive value reconciliation between diverse systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0228 On-line clearing houses

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, 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 said non-negotiable credits are loyalty points of the loyalty program possessed by a member, wherein the loyalty points are maintained in a loyalty program account owned or controlled by the entity, wherein the entity redeems the loyalty points for a set of entity services that the entity provides to the member, wherein said entity independent funds are different loyalty points of a different loyalty program of a commerce partner, wherein the different loyalty points are redeemable by the commerce partner for commerce partner services that the commerce partner provides to the member, wherein said entity independent funds are possessed by the member and are maintained in a funds account, wherein the funds account is neither owned or controlled by the entity or by any subsidiary or parent of the entity, wherein the entity does not accept the entity independent funds as payment for any of the entity services;

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

responsive to an indication of a conversion operation occurrence, the computer subtracting a quantity of the non-negotiable credits from the loyalty program 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, wherein the conversion operation occurrence causes the subtracting of the non-negotiable credits from the loyalty program account to occur approximately concurrently with an addition of a corresponding quantity of entity-independent funds being added to the funds account per the conversion operation occurrence.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the subtracted quantity of non-negotiable credits is greater than a quantity that mathematically results from applying a 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, wherein the entity services provided by the entity for which the non-negotiable credits are redeemable with the entity comprise at least one of:

travel services for an airlines,

travel services for a train,

travel services for a cruise ship,

vehicle rental services for a vehicle, or

lodging services for lodging the member,

wherein the commerce partner services provided by the commerce partner for which the entity independent funds are redeemable with the commerce partner comprise at least one of;

travel services for an airlines,

travel services for a train,

travel services for a cruise ship,

vehicle rental services for a vehicle, or

lodging services for lodging the member.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer performing the operation is an entity'"'"'s computer of the entity'"'"'s loyalty program, wherein the entity'"'"'s computer permits consumer redemption of the non-negotiable credits for entity services that the entity provides, wherein the entity'"'"'s computer does not permit consumer redemption of the entity independent funds for the entity services that the entity provides or for the commerce partner services that the commerce partner provides.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer performing the operation is a commerce partner'"'"'s computer of the commerce partner'"'"'s different loyalty program, wherein the commerce partner'"'"'s computer permits consumer redemption of the entity independent funds for commerce partner services that the commerce partner provides, wherein the commerce partner'"'"'s computer does not permit consumer redemption of the non-negotiable credits for the entity services that the entity provides, wherein the entity does not permit direct customer redemption of the entity independent funds for the entity services that the entity provides.

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

7. A method comprising:

a commerce partner agreeing to permit transfers or conversions of quantities of non-negotiable credits to entity independent funds, wherein the commerce partner receives compensation in cash or credit from an entity for transfers or conversions, wherein said non-negotiable credits are loyalty points of the loyalty program possessed by a member, wherein the loyalty points are maintained in a loyalty program account owned or controlled by the entity, wherein the entity redeems the loyalty points for a set of entity services that the entity provides to the member, wherein said entity independent funds are different loyalty points of a different loyalty program of a commerce partner, wherein the different loyalty points are redeemable by the commerce partner for commerce partner services that the commerce partner provides to the member, wherein said entity independent funds are possessed by the member and are maintained in a funds account, wherein the funds account is neither owned or controlled by the entity or by any subsidiary or parent of the entity, wherein the entity does not accept the entity independent funds as payment for any of the entity services;

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 conversion or 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 the funds account, wherein quantities of non-negotiable credits are subtracted from the loyalty point account approximately concurrent in time with the new quantities of entity independent funds being added to the funds account; 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 services, wherein the computer does not accept the non-negotiable credits of the loyalty program for the commerce partner services or at least does not accept the non-negotiable credits in absence of first converting or transferring the non-negotiable credits into entity independent funds.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the new quantity of entity independent funds added to the funds account is less than a quantity that mathematically results from applying a 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.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the entity services provided by the entity for which the non-negotiable credits are redeemable with the entity comprise at least one of:

travel services for an airlines,

travel services for a train,

travel services for a cruise ship,

vehicle rental services for a vehicle, or

lodging services for lodging the member,

wherein the commerce partner services provided by the commerce partner for which the entity independent funds are redeemable with the commerce partner comprise at least one of;

travel services for an airlines,

travel services for a train,

travel services for a cruise ship,

vehicle rental services for a vehicle, or

lodging services for lodging the member.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the computer performing the operation is an entity'"'"'s computer of the entity'"'"'s loyalty program, wherein the entity'"'"'s computer permits consumer redemption of the non-negotiable credits for entity services that the entity provides, wherein the entity'"'"'s computer does not permit consumer redemption of the entity independent funds for the entity services that the entity provides or for the commerce partner services that the commerce partner provides.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the computer performing the operation is a commerce partner'"'"'s computer of the commerce partner'"'"'s different loyalty program, wherein the commerce partner'"'"'s computer permits consumer redemption of the entity independent funds for commerce partner services that the commerce partner provides, wherein the commerce partner'"'"'s computer does not permit consumer redemption of the non-negotiable credits for the entity services that the entity provides, wherein the computer does not accept the non-negotiable credits of the loyalty program for the commerce partner services or at least does not accept the non-negotiable credits in absence of first converting or transferring the non-negotiable credits into entity independent funds.

12. The method of claim 7, 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.

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 loyalty program account of a loyalty program of an entity, wherein loyalty program account maintains a number of non-negotiable credits, which are loyalty points of the loyalty program, possessed by a member, wherein the loyalty program account is owned or controlled by the entity, wherein the entity redeems the loyalty points for a set of entity services that the entity provides to the member;

at least one processor, responsive to executing program instructions of at least one memory, accessing a second storage device containing information of a funds account of a different loyalty program of a commerce partner, wherein funds account maintains a number of entity independent funds, which are different loyalty points of the different loyalty program, possessed by the member, wherein the funds account is owned or controlled by the commerce partner, wherein the commerce partner redeems the different loyalty points for a set of commerce partner services that the commerce partner provides to the member, wherein the entity does not accept the entity independent funds as payment for the entity services, wherein the entity does not own or control the funds account, wherein the commerce partner does not own or control the loyalty program account, 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 an agreement exists between the entity and the commerce partner that permits transfers or conversions of non-negotiable credits to entity independent, 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 in accordance with the agreement;

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 loyalty program 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 funds account of the second storage device, wherein the subtracting of the quantity of non-negotiable credits from the loyalty program account and the adding of the entity independent funds to the funds account occurs approximately concurrently in time.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the subtracted quantity of non-negotiable credits from the loyalty program account is greater than a quantity that mathematically results from applying a fixed credits-to-funds conversion 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 funds account is less than a quantity that mathematically results from applying a fixed credits-to-funds conversion 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 entity services provided by the entity for which the non-negotiable credits are redeemable with the entity comprise at least one of:

travel services for an airlines,

travel services for a train,

travel services for a cruise ship,

vehicle rental services for a vehicle, or

lodging services for lodging the member,

wherein the commerce partner services provided by the commerce partner for which the entity independent funds are redeemable with the commerce partner comprise at least one of;

travel services for an airlines,

travel services for a train,

travel services for a cruise ship,

vehicle rental services for a vehicle, or

lodging services for lodging the member.

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.