# US 12,217,283 B2 · Cross-merchant promotions > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,217,283 B2 - Document ID: US12217283B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/309,332 - Filed: 2023-04-28 - Published: 2023-08-17 - Granted: 2025-02-04 - Earliest claimed: 2014-09-10 - Assignees: Block, Inc. - Applicants: Block, Inc. - Inventors: Zachary Brock; John Ryan Crepezzi; Bruce Bell - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12217283B2 ## CPC - G06Q 30/0268: {at point-of-sale [POS]} - G06Q 30/0214: Referral reward systems - G06Q 30/0224: {based on user history} - G06Q 30/0238: at point-of-sale [POS] - G06Q 30/0255: {based on user history} - G06Q 30/0259: {based on store location} - G06Q 30/0271: {Personalized advertisement} - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract Technology is disclosed for facilitating and processing cross-merchant promotions. In examples, the disclosed technology comprises identifying a first merchant and a second merchant as complementary merchants based at least in part on first transaction data associated with a plurality of merchants; generating a recommendation for the first and second merchants to participate in a cross-merchant promotion; receiving an indication that the first merchant and the second merchant intend to participate in the cross-merchant promotion; receiving second transaction data for a second transaction of the first merchant; applying the cross-merchant promotion to the second transaction based at least in part on a payment card number offered for payment in the second transaction; processing payment for the second transaction based at least in part on the cross-merchant promotion; and apportioning the payment between the first and second merchant according to an agreement between them. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: based at least in part on first transaction data associated with transactions of a plurality of merchants, identifying, by a payment service, a first merchant and a second merchant of the plurality of merchants as complementary merchants; generating, by the payment service, a recommendation for the first merchant and the second merchant to participate in at least one cross-merchant promotion; receiving, by the payment service, an indication that the first merchant and the second merchant intend to participate in the at least one cross-merchant promotion; receiving, by the payment service, second transaction data associated with a second transaction associated with the first merchant, wherein the second transaction data includes a payment card number of a payment card offered for payment in the second transaction; based at least in part on the payment card number, determining to apply the at least one cross-merchant promotion to the second transaction based on a transaction history of a customer associated with the payment card number; processing a payment associated with the second transaction, wherein the payment is based at least in part on the at least one cross-merchant promotion; and apportioning, by the payment service, the payment between the first merchant and the second merchant according to an agreement between the first merchant and the second merchant. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system as claim 1 recites, wherein identifying the first merchant and the second merchant as complementary merchants is further based at least in part on output of a data model that has received as input inventory data associated with the plurality of merchants. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system as claim 1 recites, wherein identifying the first merchant and the second merchant as complementary merchants based at least in part on the first transaction data comprises determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are at least one of (1) merchants from whom one or more customers purchase within a time that satisfies a time criterion, (2) merchants associated with one or more customers sharing demographic attributes, (3) merchants associated with a same type of item, (4) merchants associated with transactions involving a same customer identifier, or (5) merchants associated with locations that are within a distance of each other that meets a distance criterion. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system as claim 1 recites, wherein identifying the first merchant and the second merchant as complementary merchants is further based at least in part on determining that one or more first inventory items of the first merchant and one or more second inventory items of the second merchant are at least one of (1) a similar item type, (2) purchased within a threshold amount of time of each other in a spending trend of at least one customer, or (3) purchased in a same transaction. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system as claim 1 recites, wherein identifying the first merchant and the second merchant as complementary merchants is further based at least in part on (i) an indication that the first merchant and the second merchant are willing to participate in cross-merchant promotions, or (ii) a business relationship between the first merchant and the second merchant. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system as claim 1 recites, the operations further comprising: responsive at least in part to receiving, by the payment service, the indication that the first merchant and the second merchant intend to participate in the at least one cross-merchant promotion, facilitating, the payment service, transmission of a notification of the at least one cross-merchant promotion to one or more customers of at least one of the first merchant or the second merchant, wherein the notification comprises at least one of a direct message, an online advertisement, or a digital receipt. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system as claim 1 recites, wherein the recommendation includes suggested items for promotion in the at least one cross-merchant promotion. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system as claim 1 recites, the operations further comprising: causing presentation, by the payment service and on at least one of a first merchant device of the first merchant or a second merchant device of the second merchant, of a notification of application of the at least one cross-merchant promotion in the second transaction. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system as claim 1 recites, the operations further comprising: receiving, by the payment service, and from a plurality of merchant computing devices associated with the plurality of merchants, the first transaction data, the plurality of merchant computing devices each executing an instance of a merchant application installed for configuring the plurality of merchant computing devices as point-of-sale (POS) terminals, the instances of the merchant application configuring the POS terminals to communicate the first transaction data over a network. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The system as claim 1 recites, wherein identifying the first merchant and the second merchant as complementary merchants is further based at least in part on input to a user interface provided by the payment service indicating a desired merchant type with which to be paired. ### Claim 11 A method comprising: based at least in part on first transaction data associated with transactions of a plurality of merchants, identifying, by a payment service, a first merchant and a second merchant of the plurality of merchants as complementary merchants; generating, by the payment service, a recommendation for the first merchant and the second merchant to participate in at least one cross-merchant promotion; receiving, by the payment service, an indication that the first merchant and the second merchant intend to participate in the at least one cross-merchant promotion; receiving, by the payment service, second transaction data associated with a second transaction associated with the first merchant, wherein the second transaction data includes a payment card number of a payment card offered for payment in the second transaction; based at least in part on the payment card number, determining to apply the at least one cross-merchant promotion to the second transaction based on a transaction history of a customer associated with the payment card number; processing a payment associated with the second transaction, wherein the payment is based at least in part on the at least one cross-merchant promotion; and apportioning, by the payment service, the payment between the first merchant and the second merchant according to an agreement between the first merchant and the second merchant. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method as claim 11 recites, wherein identifying the first merchant and the second merchant as complementary merchants is further based at least in part on output of a data model that has received as input inventory data associated with the plurality of merchants. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The method as claim 11 recites, wherein identifying the first merchant and the second merchant as complementary merchants based at least in part on the first transaction data comprises determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are at least one of (1) merchants from whom one or more customers purchase within a time that satisfies a time criterion, (2) merchants associated with one or more customers sharing demographic attributes, (3) merchants associated with a same type of item, (4) merchants associated with transactions involving a same customer identifier, or (5) merchants associated with locations that are within a distance of each other that meets a distance criterion. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The method as claim 11 recites, wherein determining that the first merchant and the second merchant are complementary merchants is further based at least in part on determining that one or more first inventory items of the first merchant and one or more second inventory items of the second merchant are at least one of (1) a similar item type, (2) purchased within a threshold amount of time of each other in a spending trend of at least one customer, or (3) purchased in a same transaction. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The method as claim 11 recites, wherein the recommendation includes suggested items for promotion in the at least one cross-merchant promotion. ### Claim 16 (depends on 11) The method as claim 11 recites, further comprising: causing presentation, by the payment service and on at least one of a first merchant device of the first merchant or a second merchant device of the second merchant, of a notification of application of the at least one cross-merchant promotion in the second transaction. ### Claim 17 (depends on 11) The method as claim 11 recites, wherein identifying the first merchant and the second merchant as complementary merchants is further based at least in part on input to a user interface provided by the payment service indicating a desired merchant type with which to be paired. ### Claim 18 One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions executable by one or more processors that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: based at least in part on first transaction data associated with transactions of a plurality of merchants, identifying, by a payment service, a first merchant and a second merchant of the plurality of merchants as complementary merchants; generating, by the payment service, a recommendation for the first merchant and the second merchant to participate in at least one cross-merchant promotion; receiving, by the payment service, an indication that the first merchant and the second merchant intend to participate in the at least one cross-merchant promotion; receiving, by the payment service, second transaction data associated with a second transaction associated with the first merchant, wherein the second transaction data includes a payment card number of a payment card offered for payment in the second transaction; based at least in part on the payment card number, determining to apply the at least one cross-merchant promotion to the second transaction based on a transaction history of a customer associated with the payment card number; processing a payment associated with the second transaction, wherein the payment is based at least in part on the at least one cross-merchant promotion; and apportioning, by the payment service, the payment between the first merchant and the second merchant according to an agreement between the first merchant and the second merchant. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as claim 18 recites, the operations further comprising: causing presentation, by the payment service and on at least one of a first merchant device of the first merchant or a second merchant device of the second merchant, of a notification of application of the at least one cross-merchant promotion in the second transaction. ### Claim 20 (depends on 18) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as claim 18 recites, the operations further comprising: receiving, by the payment service, and from a plurality of merchant computing devices associated with the plurality of merchants, the first transaction data, the plurality of merchant computing devices each executing an instance of a merchant application installed for configuring the plurality of merchant computing devices as point-of-sale (POS) terminals, the instances of the merchant application configuring the POS terminals to communicate the first transaction data over a network.