Loyalty program incentive determination

• US 8,620,738 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2007
• Issued: 12/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Karteek Hasmukh, Shepard, David Chauncey, Fordyce, Edward W. III
• Primary Examiner(s): Sittner, Matthew T
• Application Number:
  US11/848,112
• Publication Number:
  US 20080059306A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,315 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/14.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]

Abstract

The eligibility of an transaction between a consumer and a merchant toward an incentive for a loyalty program is determined using a globally unique identifier (GUID) matching algorithm. Information characterizing the transaction may include a GUID for the merchant and a GUID for an account of the consumer on which the transaction is payable. The GUIDs are each matched against GUIDs of merchants and accounts stored in a database, some of which are distinguished as loyalty program participants. When both the GUID for the merchant and the GUID for the account match with respective GUIDs in the database that are distinguished as loyalty program participants, the transaction is eligible toward the incentive.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

storing loyalty data for a loyalty program in a database, wherein the loyalty data includes a globally unique identifier (GUID) for a merchant within a transaction processing system and an account identifier for an account of a consumer in the transaction processing system, wherein the GUID is to be used in a plurality of transactions, and wherein the GUID and the account identifier are each associated with the loyalty program;

subsequent to the storing of the GUID, receiving data characterizing a transaction between the consumer and the merchant, the transaction using the account;

determining whether the received data contains the GUID;

in response to a determination that the received data does not contain the GUID, deriving the GUID using the received data;

identifying, via a computing device, an incentive in the loyalty program for the transaction by matching the loyalty data with the received data using the derived GUID and the account identifier, wherein the incentive is to be applied to the transaction;

forming a transmission including the incentive and addressed to the consumer; and

forming a transmission addressed to the merchant, the transmission including information regarding the incentive.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising receiving the transaction from an acquirer, and communicating the transaction to an issuer for payment by the consumer.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the identifying the incentive further includes using a commodity identifier for a commodity involved in the transaction, and wherein the commodity identifier is associated with the loyalty program.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the loyalty program comprises a plurality of business rules, and the identifying the incentive further includes using the plurality of business rules.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the deriving the GUID comprises deriving the GUID from an algorithm that categorizes the merchant into a merchant category for which there is a corresponding merchant code.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising deriving the incentive from the database.

7. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing a database comprising a plurality of merchant globally unique identifiers (GUIDs), a plurality of account identifiers, a plurality of commodity identifiers, and a plurality of incentives for a plurality of loyalty programs, each of the GUIDs corresponding to a respective merchant and associated with at least one of the loyalty programs, each GUID to be used for a plurality of transactions of the respective merchant, each of the account identifiers corresponding to a respective account, and each of the commodity identifiers corresponding to a respective commodity;

wherein the memory further stores instruction to instruct at least one processor to;

subsequent to storing the GUIDs, receive a notice of a first transaction between a first merchant and a first consumer for a first commodity, wherein the notice includes characterizing the first transaction by a first account identifier of the plurality of account identifiers associated with an account of the first consumer, and a first commodity identifier of the plurality of commodity identifiers corresponding to the first commodity;

determine whether the received contains a first GUID of the plurality of GUIDs for the first merchant;

in response to a determination that the first data does not contain the first GUID, derive the first GUID using the received data;

identify a first incentive of the plurality of incentives by matching the received with loyalty data stored in the database for the plurality of loyalty programs, the matching using the first GUID, the first account identifier, and the first commodity identifier; and

form a transmission identifying the first incentive and addressed to at least one of the first merchant and the first consumer.

8. The system as defined in claim 7, wherein the identifying the first incentive comprises using at least one loyalty program business rule to determine a value of the first incentive.

9. The system as defined in claim 7, wherein the instructions are further configured to instruct the at least one processor to receive an assignment of each of the GUIDs.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer readable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

store a merchant identifier for a merchant within a payment processing system, the identifier being globally unique within the payment processing system and the identifier to be used for a plurality of transactions of the merchant;

subsequent to the storing the merchant identifier, receive notice including data that a consumer charged a commodity to an account of the consumer within the payment processing system in a transaction with the merchant;

determine, via the computer, whether the received data contains the merchant identifier;

in response to a determination that the received data does not contain the merchant identifier, derive the merchant identifier using the received data;

identify in a database respective identifiers for each of the merchant, the account, the commodity, and a loyalty program incentive to award to the consumer for charging the commodity on the account, wherein the identifying the respective identifier for the merchant comprises using the merchant identifier as a search term; and

reward the consumer, after the receiving and the identifying, with the loyalty program incentive.

11. The computer-readable medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the loyalty program incentive is selected from the group consisting of:

providing a discount toward the transaction at a point of service (POS) of the merchant;

providing a second commodity at the POS free of charge;

providing cash at the POS; and

providing a pre-loaded second account at the POS.

12. The computer-readable medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to:

store data in the database, the data comprising a plurality of merchant globally unique identifiers (GUIDs), a plurality of account identifiers, a plurality of commodity identifiers, and a plurality of incentives, each of the GUIDs corresponding to a respective merchant and at least one of a plurality of loyalty programs, each of the account identifiers corresponding to a respective account and at least one of the loyalty programs, and each of the commodity identifiers corresponding to a respective commodity and at least one of the loyalty programs; and

wherein the identifying the respective identifier for the loyalty program incentive includes matching data characterizing the transaction with the respective identifiers for each of the merchant, the account, and the commodity.

13. A method, comprising:

storing a globally unique identifier (GUID) for a merchant within a transaction processing system, the GUID to be used for a plurality of transactions of the merchant;

receiving data characterizing a first transaction between a consumer and the merchant, wherein the first transaction is to be processed within the transaction processing system;

determining whether the data contains the GUID;

in response to a determination that the data does not contain the GUID, deriving, via a computing device, the GUID using the received data;

determining, via the computing device, whether the first transaction is eligible for a loyalty program using the derived GUID, the loyalty program including a plurality of rules;

in response to a determination that the first transaction is eligible for the loyalty program, determining an incentive for the first transaction using the plurality of rules, wherein the incentive is to be applied to the first transaction; and

forming a transmission to the merchant, the transmission including information regarding the incentive.

14. The method as defined in claim 13, wherein the GUID is derived from an algorithm that categorizes the merchant into a merchant category for which there is a corresponding merchant code.

15. The method as defined in claim 13, wherein the GUID is derived using another identifier in the transaction processing system for an acquirer of the merchant.

16. The method as defined in claim 15, wherein the GUID is derived further using an address or geographic location of the merchant.

17. The method as defined in claim 15, wherein the GUID is derived further using another identifier of the merchant, the another identifier being non-unique within the transaction processing system.

18. The method as defined in claim 13, wherein a first rule of the plurality of rules requires that the merchant and the consumer are each a participant of the loyalty program.

19. The method as defined in claim 13, further comprising transmitting information regarding the incentive to the consumer.

20. The method as defined in claim 13, further comprising in response to a determination that a second transaction is not eligible for the loyalty program, sending a transmission to the merchant or the consumer including information regarding a first rule of the plurality of business rules that is only partially satisfied, thereby informing the merchant or the consumer of a potential incentive associated with the second transaction.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer readable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

store a globally unique identifier (GUID) for a merchant to be used in a plurality of transactions within a transaction processing system;

subsequent to the storing of the GUID, receive data characterizing a first transaction between a consumer and the merchant, wherein the first transaction is processed within the transaction processing system;

determine, via the computer, whether the data contains the GUID for the merchant;

in response to a determination that the data does not contain the GUID, derive the GUID using the received data;

determine whether the first transaction is eligible for a loyalty program using the derived GUID, the loyalty program including a plurality of rules; and

in response to a determination that the first transaction is eligible for the loyalty program, determine an incentive for the first transaction using the plurality of rules.

22. The computer-readable medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the deriving the GUID comprises using a geographic location of the merchant and another identifier in the transaction processing system for an acquirer of the merchant.