Coupon offers from multiple entities

• US 8,615,426 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2007
• Issued: 12/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Carlson, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Lastra, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US11/963,095
• Publication Number:
  US 20080154727A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,195 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.1
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions

Abstract

Offers from multiple entities provide an incentive for consumers to behave in a manner that is beneficial to the offer provider. Each offer is associated with rules that establish conditions that must be met for the offer to be valid. For example, a rule may be established to promote the use a specific form of payment, such as a particular credit card. Thus, the offer would only be valid if the consumer paid for the merchandise using the particular credit card. A merchant may generate its own offers or receive offers from a variety of sources (e.g., a payment processing organization, an issuer, or other external sources).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by an access device from a consumer during a transaction between the consumer and a merchant, a consumer identifier and a plurality of offer indicators, wherein the plurality of offer indicators are respectively associated with a plurality of offers provided by a payment processing organization and an issuer;

identifying, by the access device and during the transaction, the payment processing organization and the issuer;

sending, by the access device and during the transaction, the offer indicators to the payment processing organization and the issuer, respectively, after identifying the payment processing organization and the issuer during the transaction;

receiving, by the access device and during the transaction, validated offers from the payment processing organization and the issuer, respectively, wherein validation of each offer is based on one or more conditions associated with each offer;

determining, by the access device and during the transaction, different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided the payment processing organization and the issuer;

presenting, by the access device and to the consumer during the transaction, different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided by the payment processing organization and the issuer; and

receiving, by the access device from the consumer during the transaction, a selection of one of the validated offers from the payment processing organization and the issuer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the consumer identifier is a payment card account number.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the consumer identifier is a phone number.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to validating:

retrieving, by the access device, one or more conditions associated with each of the offers in the plurality of offers.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the access device is a point of sale terminal.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, receiving, by the access device information relating to items being purchased in the transaction, wherein validation of each offer is based on whether the items being purchased satisfy the one or more conditions.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving, by the access device, the selection of one of the validated offers by the payment processing organization and the issuer from the consumer comprises receiving a selection of a discounted amount associated with the selected validated offer.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the offer indicators are electronic coupon codes.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving, by the access device, the selection of one of the validated offers by the payment processing organization and the issuer from the consumer comprises receiving a selection of a discounted amount associated with the selected validated offer, the selected validated offer being associated with the issuer, and wherein the selection is made by using a payment card issued by the issuer to pay the merchant for items purchased in the transaction.

10. The method of claim 1

wherein the plurality of offer indicators are respectively associated with a plurality of offers provided by the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant;

wherein identifying, by the access device, the payment processing organization and the issuer which provide the plurality of offers comprises identifying, by the access device, the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant which provide the plurality of offers;

wherein communicating, by the access device, with the payment processing organization and the issuer after identifying the payment processing organization and the issuer comprises communicating, by the access device, with the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant after identifying the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant;

wherein receiving, by the access device, the validated offers from the payment processing organization and the issuer comprises receiving, by the access device, the validated offers from the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant;

wherein determining, by the access device, the different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided the payment processing organization and the issuer comprises determining, by the access device, the different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant;

wherein presenting, by the access device and to the consumer, the different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided by the payment processing organization and the issuer comprises presenting, by the access device and to the consumer, the different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided by the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant; and

wherein receiving, by the access device, the selection of one of the validated offers by the payment processing organization and the issuer comprises receiving, by the access device, the selection of one of the validated offers by the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant.

11. An access device comprising a processor, and a computer readable medium coupled to the processor, to implement a method comprising:

receiving, by the access device from a consumer during a transaction between the consumer and a merchant, a consumer identifier and a plurality of offer indicators, wherein the plurality of offer indicators are respectively associated with a plurality of offers provided by a payment processing organization and an issuer;

identifying, by the access device and during the transaction, the payment processing organization and the issuer;

sending, by the access device and during the transaction, the offer indicators to the payment processing organization and the issuer, respectively, after identifying the payment processing organization and the issuer during the transaction;

receiving, by the access device and during the transaction, validated offers from the payment processing organization and the issuer, respectively, wherein validation of each offer is based on one or more conditions associated with each offer;

determining, by the access device and during the transaction, different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided the payment processing organization and the issuer;

presenting, by the access device and to the consumer during the transaction, the different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided by the payment processing organization and the issuer; and

receiving, by the access device from the consumer during the transaction, a selection of one of the validated offers from the payment processing organization and the issuer.

12. The access device of claim 11 wherein the consumer identifier is a payment card account number.

13. The access device of claim 11 wherein the consumer identifier is a phone number.

14. The access device of claim 11 wherein the method further comprises, prior to validating:

retrieving, by the access device, the one or more conditions associated with each of the offers in the plurality of offers.

15. The access device of claim 11 wherein the access device is a point of sale terminal.

16. The access device of claim 11 wherein the method further comprises, receiving, by the access device information relating to items being purchased in the transaction, wherein validation of each offer is based on each offer and whether the items being purchased satisfy the one or more conditions.

17. The access device of claim 11 wherein receiving, by the access device, the selection of one of the validated offers by the payment processing organization and the issuer from the consumer comprises receiving a selection of a discounted amount associated with the selected validated offer.

18. The access device of claim 11 wherein the offer indicators are electronic coupon codes.

19. The access device of claim 11 wherein receiving, by the access device, the selection of one of the validated offers by the payment processing organization and the issuer from the consumer comprises receiving a selection of a discounted amount associated with the selected validated offer, the selected validated offer being associated with the issuer, and wherein the selection is made by using a payment card issued by the issuer to pay the merchant for items purchased in the transaction.

20. The access device of claim 11

wherein the plurality of offer indicators are respectively associated with a plurality of offers provided by the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant;

wherein identifying, by the access device, the payment processing organization and the issuer which provide the plurality of offers comprises identifying, by the access device, the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant which provide the plurality of offers;

wherein communicating, by the access device, with the payment processing organization and the issuer after identifying the payment processing organization and the issuer comprises communicating, by the access device, with the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant after identifying the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant;

wherein receiving, by the access device, the validated offers from the payment processing organization and the issuer comprises receiving, by the access device, the validated offers from the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant;

wherein determining, by the access device, the different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided the payment processing organization and the issuer comprises determining, by the access device, the different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant;

wherein presenting, by the access device and to the consumer, the different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided by the payment processing organization and the issuer comprises presenting, by the access device and to the consumer, the different discounted transaction amounts associated with the plurality of offers provided by the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant; and

wherein receiving, by the access device, the selection of one of the validated offers by the payment processing organization and the issuer from the consumer comprises receiving, by the access device, the selection of one of the validated offers by the payment processing organization, the issuer, and the merchant.