Method and apparatus for performing transaction item identification
AssigneeMastercard International Incorporated
InventorHarrison R. Siegel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
System and methods for determining items purchased in a transaction are described. Transaction information, such as a transaction amount, transaction location, and merchant ID may be used to generate a pre-tax transaction amount. A website affiliated with a transacted merchant may be parsed to determine whether one or more single items, or combinations of items, have prices that alone or when summed equal the pre-tax transaction amount. The items may be assigned probability values based on clustering and consumer profiling and an item ID may be stored for each item having the highest probability value.
Claims20
A method for identifying items of a transaction comprising the steps of:
- recording transaction information to a transaction information database;
- retrieving at least a portion of the transaction information from the transaction information database, the at least a portion of the transaction information being specific to a single transaction and including one or more of a merchant ID, a transaction amount, and a transaction location;
- determining a tax rate associated with the transaction;
- removing taxes applied during the transaction from the transaction amount, thereby producing a pre-tax transaction amount;
- querying a website affiliated with a merchant involved in the transaction;
- determining whether one or more items each have a price identical to the pre-tax transaction amount;
- clustering the one or more items;
- profiling a consumer account affiliated with a payment device used in the transaction;
- generating probability values for the one or more items;
- retrieving an item ID from the website, the item ID being affiliated with an item of the one or more items with the highest probability value;
- and
- recording the item ID in an itemized database.
A system for identifying transaction items comprising:
- a memory including a transaction information database and an itemized database;
- a processor operatively coupled to the memory;
- and
- a persistent storage device operatively coupled to the memory and storing in a non-transitory manner instructions which when loaded into the memory cause the processor to be operative to:
- store transaction information within the transaction information database, the transaction information including a merchant ID, a transaction amount, and a transaction location;
- retrieve the transaction information pertaining to a single transaction;
- determine a tax rate associated with the transaction;
- generate a pre-tax transaction amount using the transaction amount and the tax rate;
- parse a website affiliated with information contained within the merchant ID;
- determine whether an item on the website has a price equal to the pre-tax transaction amount;
- retrieve an item ID for the item having a price equal to the pre-tax transaction amount;
- and
- record the item ID within the itemized database.
A method for identifying an item of a transaction comprising the steps of:
- accessing transaction information contained within a transaction information database, the transaction information include a merchant ID and a transaction amount;
- determining a pre-tax amount for the transaction;
- parsing a website affiliated with the merchant ID;
- determining whether one or more single items on the website have prices equal to the pre-tax amount;
- determining an area within a transacted merchant establishment where the transaction occurred;
- assigning a probability value to each of the one or more single items using the area within the transacted merchant establishment where the transaction occurred;
- and
- storing an item ID for an item having the probability value that is greater than the probability value of the other of the one or more single items.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.