Card-linked merchant promotional credit processing
AssigneeVisa International Service Association
InventorsPeter Rhee, Edmar Soriano, Alexander Campbell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system of servers and algorithms allows merchants to award value to a customer when certain criteria have been met, such as buy $100 worth of clothing and get a $20 credit toward a future purchase. Unlike a gift card, the funding for the award is held by the merchant until the award is used, at which time the award funds are transferred to the user's designated account, such as an open loop credit or debit card.
Claims19
A method of using a monitoring infrastructure for identifying qualifying events associated with a merchant award, the method comprising:
- generating, at a merchant server, a transaction for a user presenting a payment instrument with a personal account number (PAN);
- receiving, at a monitor, the transaction;
- comparing, via the monitor, the transaction to a merchant-specified criteria for a qualifying transaction;
- responsive to the transaction meeting the merchant-specified criteria, generating a first message that causes the merchant award having a first value to be associated with the PAN;
- identifying a second transaction associated with the PAN and that satisfies the rule;
- calculating a credit amount that is less than or equal to the first value to be applied to a transaction associated with the first record;
- and
- sending, via the monitor, a second message that causes the credit amount to be applied to the transaction;
- and
- generating, at the monitor, a credit message transferring at least a portion of the first value directly from the merchant to the clearing service.
A monitor that identifies and manages merchant awards, the monitor comprising:
- a central processing unit (CPU);
- a memory coupled to the CPU;
- an input coupled to the CPU and further coupled to a merchant;
- the CPU programmed with instructions stored in the memory to:
- receive first data from a merchant corresponding to a transaction between a user and the merchant, the first data including transaction details and an identity of the merchant and the user;
- select individual component elements from the first data set to generate a query string for a database,
- compare, using the query string at the database, the transaction to an offer sponsored by the merchant;
- responsive to identifying the offer that matches the transaction, generate a merchant award having a first value, the merchant award including a rule corresponding to redemption of the merchant award;
- associate the merchant award with a personal account number (PAN) an open loop card of the user;
- receive second data corresponding to a second transaction associated with the PAN;
- determine that the second transaction complies with the rule;
- responsive to the second transaction complying with the rule, calculate a credit amount to apply to the transaction, the credit amount less than or equal to the first value and less than or equal to a value of the transaction;
- generate a message that causes the credit amount to be moved from the merchant to the open loop card.
A method of identifying qualifying events associated with a merchant award, the method comprising:
- creating a first criteria for a user to receive the merchant award;
- creating a second criteria for the user to redeem the merchant award;
- registering, by a user, a personal account number (PAN) of an open loop card;
- identifying a first transaction of the user that meets the first criteria to receive the merchant award;
- storing, in a database, a first value associated with the merchant award in a user record indexed by the PAN;
- monitoring a second transaction subsequent to the first transaction using the PAN that meets the second criteria;
- calculating a credit amount based on the second transaction and the first value;
- adjusting the first value by the credit amount in the user record according to a value of the second transaction;
- and
- generating a credit equal to the first value to the open loop card.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.