Loyalty incentive program using transaction cards

• US 9,665,879 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2012
• Issued: 05/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Aloni, Ruth L., Axelrod, Benzion T., Bowman, Jean L., Funda, Jack J., Tiku, Sripriya V., Polon, Jonathan S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Luis A
• Application Number:
  US13/467,503
• Publication Number:
  US 20120221399A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,847 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1438, 705 1434, 705 1436, 705 143, 705 1417, 705 141, 705 39, 705 261
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]

Abstract

A system and method provide rewards or loyalty incentives to card member customers. The system includes an enrolled card member customer database, an enrolled merchant database, a participating merchant offer database and a registered card processor. The registered card processor receives a record for charge for a purchase made with an enrolled merchant by an enrolled card member customer and uses the record of charge to determine whether the purchase qualifies for a rebate credit in accordance with a discount offer from the enrolled merchant. If the purchase qualifies for a rebate credit, the registered card processor provides the rebate credit to an account of the enrolled card member customer. The system provides a coupon-less way for merchants to provide incentive discounts to enrolled customers.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating, by a reward card engine of a computer based system, a registration identifier for a first transaction account and a second transaction account;

associating, by the reward card engine of the computer based system, the registration identifier with the first transaction account and the second transaction account,

wherein the first transaction account is associated with a reward program on a reward system, in response receiving first transaction account identifying information by the computer based system and the first transaction account satisfying eligibility criteria,

wherein the second transaction account is associated with the reward program, in response receiving second transaction account identifying information by the computer based system and the second transaction account satisfying eligibility criteria, and

wherein the registration identifier indicates that each of the first transaction account and the second transaction account are associated with the reward program;

receiving, by an offer registration system of the computer based system, offer information and merchant information from a merchant system,

wherein the offer information is stored in an offer database and the merchant information is stored in a merchant database;

creating, by the offer registration system of the computer based system, an offer with the offer information and the merchant information,

associating, by the computer based system, the first transaction account and the second transaction account with an offer distribution engine,

wherein the offer distribution engine is capable of accessing and distributing offers stored in the offer database;

selecting, by the computer based system, a subset of the offers that meet offer parameters for the first transaction account and the second transaction account;

authorizing, by an authorization server of the computer based system, a transaction with the merchant system in response to an account affiliate initiating the transaction with the merchant system using at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account;

wherein the authorization is based on a first amount of available credit associated with the at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account;

receiving, by the computer based system and in response to the authorizing, the registration identifier and transaction information for the transaction from the merchant system for the transaction between the merchant system and the account affiliate;

determining, by the computer based system, that the transaction is associated with at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account based on the registration identifier and the transaction information;

reducing, by the computer based system, the first amount of available credit for at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account by a transaction amount included with the authorization;

accessing, by the computer based system and in response to the authorizing, the subset of offers;

analyzing, by the computer based system, the transaction information to determine that the transaction qualifies for the offer of the subset of offers ;

selecting, by the computer based system and in response to the analyzing, the offer;

generating, by the computer based system, a record of the offer associated with the transaction;

receiving, by the computer based system, the transaction information for the transaction from the merchant system in response to a settlement operation for the transaction between the merchant system and a transaction account issuer system;

adjusting, by the computer based system, the transaction amount associated with at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account based on the offer and the transaction;

adjusting, by the computer based system, the first amount of available credit for at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account, in response to the adjusting the transaction amount; and

associating, by the computer based system, the record of the offer with at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account in response to the transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering, by the computer based system, the first transaction account, wherein the account affiliate is eligible to receive the offer in accordance with an offer from the computer based system in response to the registering.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer based system is operated by at least one of a payment acquirer, the transaction account issuer, or a loyalty program provider.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer is sponsored by a merchant associated with the merchant system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer has a monetary value.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the monetary value is applied to the first transaction account.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the monetary value is associated with the transaction.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction information relates to at least one of authorization information, payment information, settlement information, dispute information or acquirer information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering, by the computer based system, the first transaction account and the second transaction account with the reward program.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the record of the offer is associated with the transaction information on a first statement for the first transaction account in response to the transaction being initiated with the first transaction account, and wherein the record of the offer is associated with the transaction information on a second statement for the second transaction account in response to the transaction being initiated with the second transaction account.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the account affiliate is common to the first transaction account and the second transaction account.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer has a monetary value that is converted to loyalty points based on a preference selected during registration.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating the registration identifier is facilitated by an electronic solicitation.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the computer based system, the offer based on the transaction and a rule.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the computer based system, the first transaction account identifying information and account affiliate information associated with the account affiliate.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the record of the offer is associated with at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting is reducing the transaction amount.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer processing engine is configured to determine at least one of a first source or a second source of the reward based on an offer type associated with the offer.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first source is a transaction account provider and the second source is a loyalty program provider.

20. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a computer based system, causes the computer based system to be capable of performing a method comprising:

generating, by a reward card engine of the computer based system, a registration identifier for a first transaction account and a second transaction account;

associating, by the reward card engine of the computer based system, the registration identifier with the first transaction account and the second transaction account,

wherein the first transaction account is associated with a reward program on a reward system, in response receiving first transaction account identifying information by the computer based system and the first transaction account satisfying eligibility criteria,

wherein the second transaction account is associated with the reward program, in response receiving second transaction account identifying information by the computer based system and the second transaction account satisfying eligibility criteria, and

wherein the registration identifier indicates that each of the first transaction account and the second transaction account are associated with the reward program;

receiving, by an offer registration system of the computer based system, offer information and merchant information from a merchant system,

wherein the offer information is stored in an offer database and the merchant information is stored in a merchant database;

creating, by the offer registration system of the computer based system, an offer with the offer information and the merchant information,

associating, by the computer based system, the first transaction account and the second transaction account with an offer distribution engine,

wherein the offer distribution engine is capable of accessing and distributing offers stored in the offer database;

selecting, by the computer based system, a subset of the offers that meet offer parameters for the first transaction account and the second transaction account;

authorizing, by an authorization server of the computer based system, a transaction with the merchant system in response to an account affiliate initiating the transaction with the merchant system using at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account;

wherein the authorization is based on a first amount of available credit associated with the at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account;

receiving, by the computer based system and in response to the authorizing, the registration identifier and transaction information for the transaction from the merchant system for the transaction between the merchant system and the account affiliate;

determining, by the computer based system, that the transaction is associated with at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account based on the registration identifier and the transaction information;

reducing, by the computer based system, the first amount of available credit for at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account by a transaction amount included with the authorization;

accessing, by the computer based system and in response to the authorizing, the subset of offers;

analyzing, by the computer based system, the transaction information to determine that the transaction qualifies for the offer of the subset of offers ;

selecting, by the computer based system and in response to the analyzing, the offer;

generating, by the computer based system, a record of the offer associated with the transaction;

receiving, by the computer based system, the transaction information for the transaction from the merchant system in response to a settlement operation for the transaction between the merchant system and a transaction account issuer system;

adjusting, by the computer based system, the transaction amount associated with at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account based on the offer and the transaction;

adjusting, by the computer based system, the first amount of available credit for at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account, in response to the adjusting the transaction amount; and

associating, by the computer based system, the record of the offer with at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account in response to the transaction.

21. A system comprising:

a processor;

a tangible network interface communicating with a tangible, non-transitory memory;

the tangible, non-transitory memory communicating with the processor; and

the processor, when executing a computer program, is capable of performing operations comprising;

generating, by a reward card engine in communication with the processor, a registration identifier for a first transaction account and a second transaction account;

associating, by the reward card engine in communication with the processor, the registration identifier with the first transaction account and the second transaction account,

wherein the first transaction account is associated with a reward program on a reward system, in response receiving first transaction account identifying information by the processor and the first transaction account satisfying eligibility criteria,

wherein the second transaction account is associated with the reward program, in response receiving second transaction account identifying information by the processor and the second transaction account satisfying eligibility criteria, and

wherein the registration identifier indicates that each of the first transaction account and the second transaction account are associated with the reward program;

receiving, by an offer registration system in communication with the processor, offer information and merchant information from a merchant system,

wherein the offer information is stored in an offer database and the merchant information is stored in a merchant database;

creating, by the offer registration system in communication with the processor, an offer with the offer information and the merchant information,

associating, by the processor, the first transaction account and the second transaction account with an offer distribution engine,

wherein the offer distribution engine is capable of accessing and distributing offers stored in the offer database;

selecting, by the processor, a subset of the offers that meet offer parameters for the first transaction account and the second transaction account;

authorizing, by an authorization server in communication with the processor, a transaction with the merchant system in response to an account affiliate initiating the transaction with the merchant system using at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account;

wherein the authorization is based on a first amount of available credit associated with the at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account;

receiving, by the processor and in response to the authorizing, the registration identifier and transaction information for the transaction from the merchant system for the transaction between the merchant system and the account affiliate;

determining, by the processor, that the transaction is associated with at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account based on the registration identifier and the transaction information;

reducing, by the processor, the first amount of available credit for at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account by a transaction amount included with the authorization;

accessing, by the processor and in response to the authorizing, the subset of offers;

analyzing, by the processor, the transaction information to determine that the transaction qualifies for the offer of the subset of offers;

selecting, by the processor and in response to the analyzing, the offer;

generating, by the processor, a record of the offer associated with the transaction;

receiving, by the processor, the transaction information for the transaction from the merchant system in response to a settlement operation for the transaction between the merchant system and a transaction account issuer system;

adjusting, by the processor, the transaction amount associated with at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account based on the offer and the transaction;

adjusting, by the processor, the first amount of available credit for at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account, in response to the adjusting the transaction amount; and

associating, by the processor, the record of the offer with at least one of the first transaction account or the second transaction account in response to the transaction.