Systems and methods to match identifiers

• US 8,843,391 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2011
• Issued: 09/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fordyce, Edward W. III, Amaro, Leigh, Winters, Michelle Eng, Savas, Nurtekin, Byce, Charles Raymond, Hagey, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Lastra, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US13/277,165
• Publication Number:
  US 20120109734A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,070 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.1
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

In one aspect, a system includes a transaction handler to process transactions, a data warehouse to store transaction data recording the transactions processed at the transaction handler and to store mapping data between first user identifiers and first account identifiers, a profile generator to generate a profile of a user based on the transaction data, and a portal coupled to the transaction handler to receive a query identifying a second user identifier used by the first tracker to track online activities of a user. The system is to identify a second account identifier of the user from the second user identifier based on the mapping data between the first user identifiers and the first account identifiers to facilitate targeted advertising using the profile of the user and/or to provide information about certain transactions of the user related to a previously presented advertisement.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, in a computing apparatus, first user data to track first online activities of users, the first user data identifying

first user identifiers,

times of the first online activities of the first identifiers, and

Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the first online activities of the first identifiers;

receiving, in the computing apparatus, second user data to track second online activities, the second user data identifying

first account identifiers configured to identify payment accounts in which payment transactions are processed via a transaction handler of a payment processing network,

times of the second online activities of the first account identifiers, and

Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the second online activities of the first account identifiers; and

matching, by the computing apparatus, the times of the first online activities and the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the first online activities identified in the first user data with the times of the second online activities and the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the second online activities identified in the second user data to identify mapping between the first user identifiers and the first account identifiers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user identifiers are browser cookie based identifiers;

and the first account identifiers are account numbers of financial transaction cards.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first user is generated by a first user tracker;

the second user data is generated by a second user tracker; and

the first user tracker and the second user tracker are operated by different web servers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second user tracker is used on one of:

a website of the transaction handler to verify passwords to use the first account identifiers for online transactions; and

a web server managing electronic payments for different merchants.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in the computing apparatus, transaction data related to a plurality of transactions processed at the transaction handler, each of the plurality of transactions being processed to make a payment from an issuer to an acquirer via the transaction handler in response to an account identifier of a customer, as issued by the issuer, being submitted by a merchant to the acquirer, the issuer to make the payment on behalf of the customer, the acquirer to receive the payment on behalf of the merchant;

receiving a second user identifier used by a first tracker to track online activities of a user;

identifying a second account identifier of the user from the second user identifier based on the mapping between the first user identifiers and the first account identifiers; and

providing, by the computing apparatus, transaction information based at least in part on a portion of the transaction data associated with the second account identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the transaction information identifies one or more purchases related to an advertisement presented to the user as identified by the second user identifier.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

identifying an advertisement for the user based on the transaction information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the advertisement comprises at least an offer selected from the group consisting of:

discount, incentive, reward, coupon, gift, cash back, benefit, product, and service; and

the offer is identified based on the transaction information.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the advertisement is presented in a context outside any transaction processed by the transaction handler.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first tracker is operated by a web server configured to track the user as an anonymous user deliver advertisements via a plurality of different websites operated by different entities.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

in response to a user selection of the advertisement, storing an offer provided in the advertisement in an account of the user.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the transaction information comprises a profile summarizing transaction data of the user using a plurality of values representing aggregated spending in various areas;

and the values are computed based on factor definitions identified from a factor analysis of a plurality of variables.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the factor analysis is based on transaction data associated with a plurality of users;

and the variables aggregate the transactions based on merchant categories.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the variables include spending frequency variables and spending amount variables.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

generating the profile using the transaction data of the user based on cluster definitions and factor definitions, wherein the cluster definitions and factor definitions are generated based on transaction data of a plurality of users.

16. A computer storage medium storing instructions configured to instruct a computing apparatus to perform at least:

receiving, in the computing apparatus, first user data to track first online activities of users, the first user data identifying

first user identifiers,

times of the first online activities of the first identifiers, and

Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the first online activities of the first identifiers;

receiving, in the computing apparatus, second user data to track second online activities, the second user data identifying

first account identifiers configured to identify payment accounts in which payment transactions are processed via a transaction handler of a payment processing network,

times of the second online activities of the first account identifiers, and

Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the second online activities of the first account identifiers; and

matching, by the computing apparatus, the times of the first online activities and the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the first online activities identified in the first user data with the times of the second online activities and the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the second online activities identified in the second user data to identify mapping between the first user identifiers and the first account identifiers.

17. A system, comprising:

a transaction handler having at least one processor configured to process transactions, each of the transactions being processed to make a payment from an issuer to an acquirer via the transaction handler in response to an account identifier of a customer, as issued by the issuer, being submitted by a merchant to the acquirer, the issuer to make the payment on behalf of the customer, the acquirer to receive the payment on behalf of the merchant;

a data warehouse having at least one data storage device configured to store transaction data recording the transactions processed at the transaction handler and to store mapping data between first user identifiers and first account identifiers, the mapping data generated from matching

first user data identifying

the first user identifiers,

times of first online activities of the first identifiers, and

Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the first online activities of the first identifiers, with

second user data identifying

the first account identifiers,

times of second online activities of the first account identifiers, and

Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the second online activities of the first account identifiers;

a profile generator configured to generate a profile of a user based on the transaction data, the profile including a plurality of values representing aggregated spending of the user in various areas to summarize transactions of the user; and

a portal coupled to the transaction handler to receive a query identifying a second user identifier, identify a second account identifier from the second user identifier based on the mapping data between the first user identifiers and the first account identifiers, and identify the profile of the user based on the second account identifier.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the portal is further configured to provide the profile of the user as a response to the query.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

an advertisement selector to identify an advertisement based on the profile of the user identified based on the second account identifier, wherein the portal is further configured to provide the advertisement as a response to the query.