Dual card

• US 20050077350A1
• Filed: 09/16/2004
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Starbucks Corporation
• Inventors: Courtion, Colette, Stumpf, Mary
• Granted Patent: US 7,917,432 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/342 Cards defining paid or billed services or quantities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/02 by keys or other credit registering devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/025 by means, e.g. cards, providing billing information at the time of purchase, e.g. identification of seller or purchaser, quantity of goods delivered or to be delivered
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/125 Offline card verification

Abstract

A dual card, which facilitates payment for goods or services from either a credit account or a stored value account, operates on both an open network and a closed network. The dual card is a payment card that integrates the ability to provide credit privileges and stored value privileges to a cardholder of the dual card. The features, benefits, and advantages of a stored value card are integrated with the credit card aspects of the dual card. The benefits, features, and advantages of a credit card are integrated with a stored value card.

Claims

1. A networked system in which payment transactions flow, comprising:

an open network for communicating credit transactions;

a closed network for communicating stored value transactions; and

a dual card on which information is stored for facilitating credit transactions over the open network and stored value transactions over the closed network.

2. The networked system of claim 1, further comprising a third party store in which the dual card is used to pay for goods or services, the third party store being capable of transmitting credit transactions over the open network.

3. The networked system of claim 1, further comprising a sponsor store of a sponsor business associated with the dual card, the sponsor store being capable of accepting the dual card as payment for goods or services, the sponsor store further being capable of transmitting stored value transactions over the closed network.

4. The networked system of claim 1, further comprising a credit card processor coupled to the open network for processing credit transactions.

5. The networked system of claim 1, further comprising a stored value processor coupled to the closed network for processing stored value transactions.

6. The networked system of claim 1, further comprising a dual card support center coupled to the closed network and the stored value processor, the dual card support center being capable of routing stored value transactions received from the closed network to the stored value processor.

7. A networked system in which payment transactions flow, comprising:

a closed network for communicating credit and stored value transactions; and

a dual card on which information is stored for facilitating credit transactions, the information being capable of facilitating stored value transactions over the closed network.

8. The networked system of claim 7, further comprising a point-of-sale machine, which is capable of extracting information from the dual card to send a credit transaction or a stored value transaction over the closed network.

9. The networked system of claim 7, further comprising a credit card processor for processing credit transactions.

10. The networked system of claim 7, further comprising a stored value processor for processing stored value transactions.

11. The networked system of claim 7, further comprising a stored value processor for processing stored value transactions.

12. In a networked system, a computer-readable medium having information stored thereon for a set of computer-implemented instructions to perform a method for communicating payment transactions, comprising:

credit information for facilitating credit transactions over an open network to pay for goods or services; and

stored value information for facilitating stored value transactions a closed network to pay for goods or services.

13. A method for creating a dual card account, comprising:

receiving a credit data file from a credit card issuing bank, the credit data file being indicative that credit privileges are available to a holder of the dual card;

generating a stored value confirmation file to be sent a stored value processor, the stored value data file being indicative that stored value privileges are available to the cardholder; and

issuing the dual card to the cardholder.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising loading a stored value account associated with the dual card with an initial amount of value.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving activation instructions by the cardholder to activate the dual card for use.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving a stream of revenue from the credit card issuing bank for the dual card issued to the cardholder, the stream of revenue including a monetary amount for a first credit transaction incurred by the cardholder.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the stream of revenue further includes a monetary amount for an anniversary renewal of the dual card with the credit card issuing bank.

18. A method for merging dual cards, comprising:

receiving multiple dual card numbers to be merged on a Web page; and

merging stored value accounts of multiple dual cards into one dual card stored value account.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising submitting by a dual card support center the received multiple dual card numbers to a stored value processor.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising instructing the stored value processor to merge stored value accounts into one stored value account.

21. A method for making payment transactions using a dual card, comprising:

receiving information from a payment card to pay for goods or services;

recognizing the payment card as the dual card based on its identification number; and

prompting to confirm whether a credit or stored value transaction is desired.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving a selection of a credit transaction, which is forwarded to a credit card processor where the credit transaction is processed.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving a selection of a stored value transaction, which is forwarded to a stored value processor where the stored value transaction is processed.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising prompting for additional payment if there is insufficient credit in a credit card account or value in a stored value account.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising prompting for a reload transaction to replenish a stored value account if the stored value account is under a threshold.