Determining targeted incentives based on consumer transaction history
First Claim
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1. A method of providing an incentive to a consumer, the method comprising:
- receiving data corresponding to a plurality of previous transactions associated with the consumer, the previous transactions occurring prior to the data being received;
a computer system determining one or more patterns of the previous transactions, wherein the determining of the one or more patterns of the previous transactions includes;
associating one or more keys with each previous transaction, each of the one or more keys corresponding to a particular type of transaction;
correlating pairs of previous transactions, each correlated pair associated with a particular pair of keys; and
for each correlated pair, determining time intervals between the transactions of the correlated pair; and
for each key pair;
tracking numbers of occurrences of correlated pairs having time intervals within specified time ranges in a table, the transactions of the correlated pairs being associated with corresponding keys of the key pair;
based on the determined patterns of the previous transactions, determining a likelihood for a future transaction having a particular key at a plurality of future times, each likelihood being determined by evaluating the number of occurrences of the previous transactions for the respective time in one or more tables corresponding to the particular key at a different time;
for each of the plurality of future times, comparing the likelihood to a first threshold;
based on the comparisons of the likelihoods at the plurality of future times to the first threshold, predicting a time window when the consumer is likely to initiate the future transaction by identifying when the likelihoods are above the first threshold, wherein a duration of the time window is variable, with a start of the time window based on when the likelihood at a first future time rises above the first threshold and an end of the time window based on when the likelihood at a second future time falls below the first threshold; and
sending an incentive associated with the future transaction to the consumer such that the consumer receives the incentive at a time correlated with the predicted time window.
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Abstract
Systems, apparatus, and methods for determining incentives based on consumer history. When, how, and to whom incentives are sent can be determined. For example, an incentive can be sent to a consumer to encourage a transaction at a time when the particular consumer is predisposed to initiate the transaction. Also, an incentive for a transaction can be sent to a consumer when that transaction has a high likelihood of leading to other transactions. An incentive can also be sent after a consumer initiates a transaction that is known to not have many subsequent transaction correlated to it.
92 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of providing an incentive to a consumer, the method comprising:
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receiving data corresponding to a plurality of previous transactions associated with the consumer, the previous transactions occurring prior to the data being received; a computer system determining one or more patterns of the previous transactions, wherein the determining of the one or more patterns of the previous transactions includes; associating one or more keys with each previous transaction, each of the one or more keys corresponding to a particular type of transaction; correlating pairs of previous transactions, each correlated pair associated with a particular pair of keys; and for each correlated pair, determining time intervals between the transactions of the correlated pair; and for each key pair; tracking numbers of occurrences of correlated pairs having time intervals within specified time ranges in a table, the transactions of the correlated pairs being associated with corresponding keys of the key pair; based on the determined patterns of the previous transactions, determining a likelihood for a future transaction having a particular key at a plurality of future times, each likelihood being determined by evaluating the number of occurrences of the previous transactions for the respective time in one or more tables corresponding to the particular key at a different time; for each of the plurality of future times, comparing the likelihood to a first threshold; based on the comparisons of the likelihoods at the plurality of future times to the first threshold, predicting a time window when the consumer is likely to initiate the future transaction by identifying when the likelihoods are above the first threshold, wherein a duration of the time window is variable, with a start of the time window based on when the likelihood at a first future time rises above the first threshold and an end of the time window based on when the likelihood at a second future time falls below the first threshold; and sending an incentive associated with the future transaction to the consumer such that the consumer receives the incentive at a time correlated with the predicted time window. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A computer product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions for controlling one or more processors to provide an incentive to a consumer, the instructions comprising:
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receiving data corresponding to a plurality of previous transactions associated with the consumer, the previous transactions occurring prior to the data being received; a computer system determining one or more patterns of the previous transactions, wherein the determining of the one or more patterns of the previous transactions includes; associating one or more keys with each previous transaction, each of the one or more keys corresponding to a particular type of transaction; correlating pairs of previous transactions, each correlated pair associated with a particular pair of keys; and for each correlated pair, determining time intervals between the transactions of the correlated pair; and for each key pair; tracking numbers of occurrences of correlated pairs having time intervals within specified time ranges in a table, the transactions of the correlated pairs being associated with corresponding keys of the key pair; based on the determined patterns of the previous transactions, determining a likelihood for a future transaction having a particular key at a plurality of future times, each likelihood being determined by evaluating the number of occurrences of the previous transactions for the respective time in one or more tables corresponding to the particular key a probability function at a different time; for each of the plurality of future times, comparing the likelihood to a first threshold; based on the comparisons of the likelihoods at the plurality of future times to the first threshold, predicting a time window when the consumer is likely to initiate the future transaction by identifying when the likelihoods are above the first threshold, wherein a duration of the time window is variable, with a start of the time window based on when the likelihood at a first future time rises above the first threshold and an end of the time window based on when the likelihood at a second future time falls below the first threshold; and sending an incentive associated with the future transaction to the consumer such that the consumer receives the incentive at a time correlated with the predicted time window. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. A method of providing an incentive to a consumer, the method comprising:
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receiving data corresponding to a plurality of previous transactions associated with the consumer, the previous transactions occurring prior to the data being received; determining, by a computer system, one or more patterns of the previous transactions, wherein determining one or more patterns of the previous transactions includes; associating one or more keys with each previous transaction, each of the one or more keys corresponding to a particular type of transaction, and correlating a first group of previous transactions to previous transactions of a first type associated with a first key, the transactions of the first group occurring after the respective transactions of the first type, each correlated pair of transactions associated with a particular key pair; for each key pair, determining time intervals between the correlated transactions; for each key pair, tracking numbers of occurrences of correlated transactions having time intervals within specified time ranges in a table; determining, by the computer system, a likelihood of any transaction within a time window occurring after a transaction of the first type initiated by the consumer, the likelihood being determined by evaluating the number of occurrences of correlated transactions having time intervals within the time window in one or more tables corresponding to the first key; and sending, to the consumer, an incentive for a future transaction of the first type based on the likelihood being greater than a threshold. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method of providing an incentive to a consumer, the method comprising:
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receiving data corresponding to a plurality of previous transactions associated with the consumer, the previous transactions occurring prior to the data being received; determining, by a computer system, one or more patterns of the previous transactions, wherein determining one or more patterns of the previous transactions includes; associating one or more keys with each previous transaction, each of the one or more keys corresponding to a particular type of transaction, and correlating a first group of previous transactions to previous transactions of a first type associated with a first key, the transactions of the first group occurring after the respective transactions of the first type, each correlated pair of transactions associated with a particular key pair; for each key pair, determining time intervals between the correlated transactions; for each key pair, tracking numbers of occurrences of correlated transactions having time intervals within specified time ranges in a table; determining, by the computer system, an amount of transactions that are correlated to transactions of the first type initiated by the consumer and that occur after the transactions of the first type, the amount of transactions determined based on the number of occurrences of correlated transactions in one or more tables corresponding to the first key; and after a transaction of the first transaction type occurs, sending an incentive for any transaction based on the amount of transactions that are correlated to the first transaction type being below a threshold. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31)
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Specification