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US 7,424,441 B2Granted
Systems and methods for integrating loyalty and stored-value programs
AssigneesFirst Data Corporation, The Western Union Company
InventorsColleen George, John Cawthorne
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for operating an integrated stored-value and loyalty program within a financial infrastructure. An identifier and a packet of transaction information defining a transaction between a merchant and a customer are received at a loyalty host. Qualifying aspects of the transaction are identified from the packet of transaction information. A customer reward is determined from the identified qualifying aspects and a history of information defined by the identifier. Information defining the reward is transmitted to a stored-value host that records a value parameter that may be applied as value by the customer to another transaction.
Claims18
A method for operating an integrated stored-value and loyalty program within a financial infrastructure, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a loyalty host computer from a first point-of-sale terminal, an identifier and a packet of transaction information defining a first transaction between a first merchant and a customer;
- identifying, with the loyalty host computer, qualifying aspects of the first transaction from the packet of transaction information;
- determining, with the loyalty host computer, a customer reward from the identified qualifying aspects and a history of information defined by the identifier;
- transmitting information defining the reward from the loyalty host computer to a stored-value host computer different from the loyalty host computer;
- determining a set of stored-value parameters with the stored-value host computer from the information defining the reward;
- storing the set of stored-value parameters as a record at the stored-value host computer;
- receiving, at the stored-value host computer from a second point-of-sale terminal, the identifier and a transaction amount for a second transaction between a second merchant and the customer, wherein the second transaction is different from the first transaction and is initiated at a point in time later than the first transaction is initiated;
- identifying, with the stored-value host computer, the set of stored-value parameters from the identifier;
- translating, with the stored-value host computer, the set of stored-value parameters into a value amount;
- applying, with the stored-value host computer, at least a portion of the value amount to the transaction amount;
- and
- transmitting, from the stored-value host computer to the second point-of-sale terminal, a modified transaction amount as an amount to be used in effecting the second transaction.
9 more elements
A system for operating an integrated stored-value and loyalty program within a financial infrastructure, the system comprising:
- a loyalty host including a loyalty-host communications system, a loyalty-host processor, a loyalty-host storage device, and a loyalty-host computer-readable storage medium having a loyalty-host computer-readable program embodied therein;
- and
- a stored-value host including a stored-value-host communications system, a stored-value-host processor, a stored-value-host storage device, and a stored-value-host computer-readable storage medium having a stored-value host computer-readable program embodied therein,
- wherein the loyalty-host computer-readable program includes:
- instructions for receiving, with the loyalty-host communications system from a first point-of-sale terminal, an identifier and a packet of transaction information defining a first transaction between a first merchant and a customer;
- instructions for identifying, with the loyalty-host processor, qualifying aspects of the first transaction from the packet of transaction information;
- instructions for determining, with the loyalty-host processor, a customer reward from the identified qualifying aspects and a history of information defined by the identifier and stored on the storage device;
- and
- instructions for transmitting, with the loyalty-host communications system, information defining the reward to the stored-value host;
- and
- wherein the stored-value-host computer-readable program includes:
- instructions for determining, with the stored-value-host processor, a set of stored-value parameters from the information defining the reward;
- instructions for storing, on the stored-value-host storage device, the set of stored-value parameters as a record;
- instructions for receiving, with the stored-value-host communications system from a second point-of-sale terminal, the identifier and a transaction amount for a second transaction between a second merchant and the customer, wherein the second transaction is different from the first transaction and is initiated at a point in time later than the first transaction is initiated;
- instructions for identifying, with the stored-value-host processor, the set of stored- value parameters from the identifier;
- instructions for translating, with the stored-value-host processor, the set of stored-value parameters into a value amount;
- instructions for applying, with the stored-value-host processor, at least a portion of the value amount to the transaction amount;
- and
- instructions for transmitting, with the stored-value-host communications system to the second point-of-sale terminal, a modified transaction amount as an amount to be used in effecting the second transaction.
16 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.