Merchant configured advertised incentives funded through statement credits

• US 9,697,520 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2011
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Keshan, Surendra, Macllwaine, John Hamilton, Stan, Patrick, Carlson, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): LI, SUN M
• Application Number:
  US13/053,113
• Publication Number:
  US 20110231235A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,297 Days
• Field of Search: 705 14, 705 35, 705 26, 705 143, 705 1417, 705 1427, 707 7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts

Abstract

An advertised incentive system receives advertised incentive configuration information provided by a merchant. The advertised incentive configuration information defines the content of advertised incentive banners. The advertised incentive banners are provided as needed to merchants to display on the merchant'"'"'s website. Advertised incentive registration information is received from an account holder after the account holder interacts with the advertised incentive banner. Transaction information is received that contains a qualified purchase made by the account holder. The advertised incentive registration and the qualified purchase are matched. A statement credit is issued against the account holder'"'"'s account and a debit is issued against the merchant'"'"'s account in the amount of the statement credit.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a computing apparatus comprising;

a transaction handler to process transactions of an account holder,

a communication portal, coupled to the transaction handler, configured to receive communications from a merchant computing device regarding advertised incentives for display in a shopping cart of the merchant, and

at least one database, coupled for access by the transaction handler, configured to store registration information for advertised incentives;

providing, by the communication portal, a merchant interface to allow the merchant to create an advertised incentive program by specifying an advertised incentive program configuration, the merchant interface further allowing the merchant to instantly activate the advertised incentive program and to instantly deactivate the advertised incentive program, the advertised incentive program configuration defining an advertised incentive and defining what transaction is qualified for the advertised incentive, and the merchant interface further allowing the merchant to disable the advertised incentive based on receiving, from the merchant computing device, a change in configuration for the advertised incentive;

receiving, as part of the advertised incentive program configuration, via the communication portal, an advertised incentive image and an alternate image;

storing, in the at least one database, the advertised incentive program configuration and an indication that the merchant has activated the advertised incentive program;

receiving, from a server that provides the shopping cart, an assigned identifier for the advertised incentive;

sending, by the transaction handler, to the server, based on the advertised incentive program configuration, content for an advertised incentive banner of the shopping cart for display to the account holder, the content to include the advertised incentive image when the advertised incentive is enabled and to include the alternate image when the advertised incentive is disabled, the sending the content to control the shopping cart in a website of the merchant so as to display the advertised incentive image when activated by the account holder in the shopping cart, and to enable a transaction using the advertised incentive when a purchase device of the merchant generates an authorization request for the transaction;

reserving, by software rendering the website, an area in the shopping cart for the advertised incentive banner;

providing, by the transaction handler, the content directly to the reserved area;

receiving, by the transaction handler, while the advertised incentive program is activated, the authorization request from the purchase device to authorize a qualifying purchase transaction, the qualifying purchase transaction qualifying for the advertised incentive according to the advertised incentive program configuration;

executing, by the transaction handler, the advertised incentive with respect to a payment account of the account holder, upon which payment account the qualifying purchase transaction was authorized; and

in response to receiving the authorization request, sending, by the transaction handler, to the purchase device, authorization data to cause the purchase device to complete the qualifying purchase transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertised incentive comprises a statement credit incentive.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving input from the account holder to register for the advertised incentive.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

crediting the payment account of the account holder according to the statement credit incentive;

debiting the payment account of the account holder according to the qualifying purchase transaction; and

debiting an account of at least one entity responsible for funding the statement credit.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

crediting the payment account of the account holder according to the statement credit incentive;

debiting the payment account of the account holder according to the qualifying purchase transaction; and

debiting an account of at least one entity responsible for funding the statement credit.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the advertised incentive program configuration defines what transaction is qualified for the advertised incentive via at least one of:

defining one of a product or a service, to be purchased in the qualifying purchase transaction;

defining a time period in which to complete the qualifying purchase transaction;

defining a consumer purchase account with which to complete the qualifying purchase transaction;

or

defining a merchant location where the qualifying purchase transaction is to occur.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving input from the account holder to register for the advertised incentive.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertised incentive program configuration defines what transaction is qualified for the advertised incentive via at least one of:

defining one of a product or a service, to be purchased in the qualifying purchase transaction;

defining a time period in which to complete the qualifying purchase transaction;

defining a consumer purchase account with which to complete the qualifying purchase transaction;

or

defining a merchant location where the qualifying purchase transaction is to occur.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a cookie on a web browser of the account holder, and receiving the assigned identifier for the advertised incentive from the cookie.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the assigned identifier further identifies registration information for the account holder.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising using the cookie to recall previously-provided registration information for the account holder.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertised incentive banner is configured so that the account holder can register for the advertised incentive by activating the advertised incentive banner.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving, upon activation of the advertised incentive banner, a request for a statement credit registration form.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the content for the advertised incentive banner of the shopping cart further includes text.

15. A non-transitory, tangible machine readable medium storing instructions, the instructions, when executed by a computing device, causing the computing device to:

provide, by a communication portal, a merchant interface allowing a merchant to create an advertised incentive program by specifying an advertised incentive program configuration, the merchant interface further allowing the merchant to instantly activate the advertised incentive program and to instantly deactivate the advertised incentive program, the advertised incentive program configuration defining an advertised incentive and defining what transaction is qualified for the advertised incentive, the communication portal coupled to a transaction handler, and the communication portal configured to receive communications from a merchant computing device regarding advertised incentives for display in a shopping cart of the merchant, and the merchant interface further allowing the merchant to disable the advertised incentive based on receiving, from the merchant computing device, a change in configuration for the advertised incentive;

receive, as part of the advertised incentive program configuration, via the communication portal, an advertised incentive image and an alternate image;

store in at least one database the advertised incentive program configuration and an indication that the merchant has activated the advertising incentive program, the at least one database coupled for access by the transaction handler, and configured to store registration information for advertised incentives;

receive, from a server that provides the shopping cart, an assigned identifier for the advertised incentive;

send, by the transaction handler, to the server, based on the advertised incentive program configuration, content for an advertised incentive banner of the shopping cart for display to an account holder, the content to include the advertised incentive image when the advertised incentive is enabled and to include the alternate image when the advertised incentive is disabled, the sending the content to control the shopping cart in a website of the merchant so as to display the advertised incentive image when activated by the account holder in the shopping cart, and to enable a transaction using the advertised incentive when a purchase device of the merchant generates an authorization request for the transaction;

reserve, by software rendering the website, an area in the shopping cart for the advertised incentive banner;

provide, by the transaction handler, the content directly to the reserved area;

receive, by the transaction handler, while the advertised incentive program is activated, the authorization request from the purchase device to authorize a qualifying purchase transaction, the qualifying purchase transaction qualifying for the advertised incentive according to the advertised incentive program configuration;

execute, by the transaction handler, the advertised incentive with respect to a payment account of the account holder, upon which payment account the qualifying purchase transaction was authorized; and

in response to receiving the authorization request, send, by the transaction handler, to the purchase device, authorization data to cause the purchase device to complete the qualifying purchase transaction.

16. The non-transitory, tangible machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the advertised incentive includes a statement credit incentive.

17. A system comprising:

a communication portal configured to receive communications from a merchant computing device regarding advertised incentives for display in a shopping cart of the merchant, the communication portal further configured to provide a merchant interface allowing a merchant to create an advertised incentive program by specifying an advertised incentive program configuration, the merchant interface further allowing the merchant to instantly activate the advertised incentive program and to instantly deactivate the advertised incentive program, the advertised incentive program configuration defining an advertised incentive and defining what transaction is qualified for the advertised incentive, the communication portal further configured to receive, as part of the advertised incentive program configuration, an advertised incentive image and an alternate image, and the merchant interface further allowing the merchant to disable the advertised incentive based on receiving, from the merchant computing device, a change in configuration for the advertised incentive;

at least one database storing the advertised incentive configuration and an indication that the merchant has activated the advertised incentive program, the at least one database configured to store registration information for advertised incentives; and

a transaction handler to process transactions of a consumer, the transaction handler configured to receive, from a server that provides the shopping cart, an assigned identifier for the advertised incentive, and to send content for an advertised incentive banner of the shopping cart for display to the consumer, the content to include the advertised incentive image when the advertised incentive is enabled and to include the alternate image when the advertised incentive is disabled, the sending the content to control the shopping cart in a website of the merchant so as to display the advertised incentive image when activated by the consumer in the shopping cart, and to enable a transaction using the advertised incentive when a purchase device of the merchant generates an authorization request for the transaction;

the server further configured to reserve, by software rendering the website, an area in the shopping cart for the advertised incentive banner;

the transaction handler further configured to provide the content directly to the reserved area;

the transaction handler further configured to receive, while the advertised incentive program is activated, the authorization request from the merchant to authorize a qualifying purchase transaction, the qualifying purchase transaction qualifying for the advertised incentive according to the advertised incentive program configuration;

the transaction handler further configured to execute the advertised incentive with respect to a consumer payment account of the consumer upon which consumer payment account the qualifying purchase transaction was authorized;

the transaction handler further configured to, in response to receiving the authorization request, send, by the transaction handler, to the purchase device, authorization data to cause the purchase device to complete the qualifying purchase transaction.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the advertised incentive comprises a statement credit incentive.