Bidding to receive data after a consumer is in a zone

• US 9,659,325 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2013
• Issued: 05/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Carlson, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): FADOK, MARK A
• Application Number:
  US14/029,660
• Publication Number:
  US 20140019287A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,344 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

An announcement distributor distributes, or auctions an opportunity to distribute, an announcement to an announcement recipient such as a consumer, issuer, merchant, or acquirer within a payment processing system. The announcement when there has been a satisfaction of an announcement condition, such as the consumer being determined to be located within a predetermined spatial zone. The content of the announcement may, in turn, facilitate a subsequent cashless transaction for resources of merchants. Implementations describe various permutations of the content of the announcement, the announcement condition, and the announcement recipient.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, using a computing apparatus, a bid from a first computing device of a first merchant to receive an electronic announcement after at least one criterion of an announcement condition is satisfied, the electronic announcement including data about a consumer, and the at least one criterion including presence of the consumer within a zone, wherein the first computing device comprises a first database including resource data about resources of the first merchant;

sending, to the first computing device and using the computing apparatus, electronic notification that the bid is a winning bid;

receiving, from the first computing device, the resource data, wherein the resource data is automatically transmitted by the first computing device;

storing, in a second database, the resource data;

storing, in the second database, prior transaction information about prior transactions between the consumer and the first merchant;

collecting real-time transaction data associated with transactions occurring in an electronic payment processing system, the transactions including a first transaction of the consumer;

determining that the at least one criterion is satisfied, the determining comprising comparing each of the resource data, the real-time transaction data for the first transaction, and the prior transaction information to the at least one criterion, and the comparing comprising accessing the resource data and prior transaction information in the second database; and

in response to the determining that the at least one criterion is satisfied, sending, to the first computing device and using the computing apparatus, the electronic announcement, wherein the electronic announcement is sent so that the first computing device can communicate with a second computing device of the consumer while the consumer is present within the zone, wherein the first merchant is to directly provide, without first sending to a transaction handler computer, a communication to the second computing device of the consumer, and wherein the communication is personalized for the consumer based on data about the consumer included in the electronic announcement.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, using the computing apparatus, a transmission from a point-of-interaction terminal, the transmission including information usable to determine a location of the consumer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the consumer is associated with an account that is issued by an issuer within the payment processing system;

a first criterion of the at least one criterion is satisfied after the location is matched with the zone; and

a second criterion of the at least one criterion is satisfied after there is a match of an account characteristic of the account with a required account characteristic.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising after sending the electronic announcement:

receiving a transmission from the first merchant; and

sending the transmission to the issuer.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein data received by the point-of-interaction terminal from the second computing device of the consumer is included in the transmission.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving, from the point-of-interaction terminal, a specification of the at least one criterion.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium including stored instructions that, when executed by a system, cause the system to:

receive, by a transaction handler computer, from a first computing device of a first merchant, a bid for an option to receive data for communicating with a consumer after at least one announcement condition occurs, the at least one announcement condition including presence of the consumer within a spatial zone, wherein the first computing device comprises a first database including resource data about resources of the first merchant;

send, to the first computing device from the transaction handler computer, electronic notification that the bid is a winning bid;

receive, from the first computing device, the resource data, wherein the resource data is automatically transmitted by the first computing device;

store, in a second database, the resource data;

store, in the second database, prior transaction information about prior transactions between the consumer and the first merchant;

collect real-time transaction data associated with transactions occurring in an electronic payment processing system, the transactions including a first transaction of the consumer;

determine that the at least one announcement condition has occurred, the determining comprising comparing each of the resource data, the real-time transaction data for the first transaction, and the prior transaction information to the at least one criterion, and the comparing comprising accessing the resource data and prior transaction information in the second database; and

after sending the electronic notification and in response to the determining that the at least one announcement condition has occurred, send the data to the first computing device, wherein the data is sent so that the first computing device can communicate with a second computing device of the consumer while the consumer is present within the spatial zone, wherein the first merchant is to directly provide, without first sending to the transaction handler computer, a communication to the second computing device of the consumer, and wherein the communication is personalized for the consumer based on the data about the consumer sent to the first computing device.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein at least a portion of the data is to be included in an announcement sent by the first merchant to the second computing device via an RFID transmission.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the system to receive a transmission, the transmission including an account identifier read from an RFID reader and further including data usable to determine a location of the RFID reader.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the system to receive a transmission, the transmission including data received from a global positioning system receiver of the second computing device.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the system to send an auction initiation communication indicating that an auction for the option to receive the data has begun.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the at least one announcement condition includes a transaction occurring within a specified time interval, with a merchant located in the spatial zone, and upon a payment account issued to the consumer by an issuer.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein:

the instructions further cause the system to;

receive a transmission, different from the communication, from the first merchant; and

send the transmission to an issuer of a payment account of the consumer.

14. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to;

receive a bid from a first computing device of a first merchant to receive an electronic announcement after at least one criterion of an announcement condition is satisfied, the announcement including data about a consumer, and the at least one criterion including presence of the consumer within a zone, wherein the first computing device comprises a first database including resource data about resources of the first merchant;

send, to the first computing device, electronic notification that the bid is a winning bid;

receive, from the first computing device, the resource data, wherein the resource data is automatically transmitted by the first computing device;

store, in a second database, the resource data;

store, in the second database, prior transaction information about prior transactions between the consumer and the first merchant;

collect real-time transaction data associated with transactions occurring in an electronic payment processing system, the transactions including a first transaction of the consumer;

determine that the at least one criterion is satisfied, the determining comprising comparing each of the resource data, the real-time transaction data for the first transaction, and the prior transaction information to the at least one criterion, and the comparing comprising accessing the resource data and prior transaction information in the second database; and

in response to the determining that the at least one criterion is satisfied, send, to the first computing device, the electronic announcement, wherein the electronic announcement is sent so that the first computing device can communicate with a second computing device of the consumer while the consumer is present within the zone, wherein the first merchant is to directly provide, without first sending to a transaction handler computer, a communication to the second computing device of the consumer, and wherein the communication is personalized for the consumer based on data about the consumer included in the electronic announcement.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first merchant is to communicate with the second computing device of the consumer via an RFID transmission.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the first merchant is to read an account identifier from an RFID reader, and wherein the instructions further instruct the at least one processor to receive a transmission from the first computing device, the transmission including the account identifier and further including data usable to determine a location of the RFID reader.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the instructions further instruct the at least one processor to receive a transmission, the transmission including data received from a global positioning system receiver of the second computing device of the consumer.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the first merchant is to send a communication to the second computing device of the consumer, the communication including data received in the electronic announcement.