Systems and methods to match identifiers

• US 8,595,058 B2
• Filed: 08/03/2010
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• 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:
  US12/849,798
• Publication Number:
  US 20110093327A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,211 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 associated with first user identifiers used by a first user tracker to track first online activities of users, wherein

the first user identifiers are browser cookie based identifiers, and

the first user data includes at least first data fields for timestamp, and Internet Protocol (IP) address;

receiving, in the computing apparatus, second user data associated by a second user tracker with second online activities of respective first account identifiers that uniquely identify accounts in a transaction handler, wherein

the first account identifiers are account numbers of financial transaction cards,

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

the second user data includes at least second data fields for timestamp, and Internet Protocol (IP) address; and

matching, by the computing apparatus, at least the first data fields for timestamp and Internet Protocol (IP) address in the first user data with at least the second data fields for timestamp and Internet Protocol (IP) address 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 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.

3. 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 the 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.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the transaction information identifies one or more purchases related to an advertisement presented to the user as identified by the second user identifier.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

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

6. The method of claim 5, 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.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the advertisement is presented in a context outside any transaction processed by the transaction handler.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first tracker is operated by a web server;

the first tracker is to track the user as an anonymous user; and

the web server is to deliver advertisements via a plurality of different websites operated by different entities.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

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

10. The method of claim 3, 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.

11. The method of claim 10, 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.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the variables include spending frequency variables and spending amount variables.

13. The method of claim 10, 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.

14. A computer storage medium storing instructions which, when executed on a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving, in a computing apparatus, first user data associated with first user identifiers used by a first user tracker to track first online activities of users, wherein

the first user identifiers are browser cookie based identifiers, and

the first user data includes at least first data fields for timestamp, and Internet Protocol (IP) address;

receiving, in the computing apparatus, second user data associated by a second user tracker with second online activities of respective first account identifiers that uniquely identify accounts in a transaction handler, wherein

the first account identifiers are account numbers of financial transaction cards,

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

the second user data includes at least second data fields for timestamp, and Internet Protocol (IP) address; and

matching, by the computing apparatus, at least the first data fields for timestamp and Internet Protocol (IP) address in the first user data with at least the second data fields for timestamp and Internet Protocol (IP) address in the second user data to identify mapping between the first user identifiers and the first account identifiers.

15. A system, comprising:

a transaction handler 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 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

at least first data fields for timestamp and Internet Protocol (IP) address in first user data associated with the first user identifiers used by a first user tracker to track first online activities of users, and

at least second data fields for timestamp and Internet Protocol (IP) address in second user data associated with second online activities of the first account identifiers that uniquely identify accounts in the transaction handler;

a profile generator 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 used by the first tracker to track online activities of the user, and 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.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the portal is to provide the profile of the user as a response to the query.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

an advertisement selector to identify an advertisement based on the profile of the user, wherein the portal is to provide the advertisement as a response to the query.