WO2010027750A2

WO2010027750A2 - Merchant device support of an integrated offer network

Info

Publication number: WO2010027750A2
Application number: PCT/US2009/054810
Authority: WO
Inventors: Howard Debow
Original assignee: Visa U.S.A. Inc.
Priority date: 2008-08-24
Filing date: 2009-08-24
Publication date: 2010-03-11
Also published as: CA2734497A1; WO2010027749A3; WO2010027748A3; WO2010027750A3; WO2010027749A2; BRPI0917154A2; WO2010027748A2; AU2009288402A1; AU2009288402B2; AU2009288403A1; AU2009288403B2; CA2734498A1; BRPI0916913A2

Abstract

A method begins by initiating communication with a transactional processing entity device. The method continues by receiving a profile inquiry message from the transactional processing entity device. The method continues by providing a response to the profile inquiry message such that a merchant profile is generated or updated. The method continues by receiving an offer data file inquiry message from the transaction processing entity device. The method continues by providing an offer response to the offer data file inquiry message.

Description

MERCHANT DEVICE SUPPORT OF AN INTEGRATED OFFER NETWORK

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS

[0001] This patent application shares a common Specification and figures with the following co-pending patent applications filed on the same day as the present patent application:

1. U.S. Utility Application No. TBD. entitled "Transactional Processing Entity Device Support of an Integrated Offer Network", filed TBD (Attorney Docket No. P-14218US), which is a non-provisional of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/091 ,422, entitled "Transactional Processing Entity Device Support of an Integrated Offer Network" filed August 24, 2008; and

2. U.S. Utility Application No. TBD, entitled "Issuer Device Support of an Integrated Offer Network", filed J_BD (Attorney Docket No. P-14218US1), which is a non-provisional of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/091 ,423, entitled "Issuer Device Support of an Integrated Offer Network" filed August 24, 2008.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT [0002] Not applicable.

INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC [0003] Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Technical field of the invention

[0004] This invention relates generally to financial transaction processing systems and more particularly to incentive offers, services, and/or features within such systems. Description of related art

[0005] Millions of credit card transactions are accurately processed every day regardless of whether the purchaser is making a purchase in his/her home town, in another part of the world, or via the internet. Each transaction has a two stage process: authorization and clearing & settlement. Authorization is the process of approving or declining the transaction at the commencement of the transaction and clearing & settlement is the process of making the payment and accounting for the payment. [0006] The authorization process begins when a point-of-sale terminal (physical for in-store purchases, virtual for internet purchases) reads a purchaser's credit card information and obtains a transaction amount. The terminal transmits the credit card information and the transaction amount to an acquirer bank, which combines the credit card information and the transaction amount into an authorization request. The acquirer bank transmits the authorization request to a proprietary transaction processing network (e.g., VisaNet®), which routes the authorization request to an issuer bank (i.e., the bank that issued the credit card). Alternatively, the proprietary transaction processing network may perform a stand-in review and authorization.

[0007] When the authorization request is sent to the issuer bank, the bank, or a designated third party, reviews the request and approves or denies it. The issuer bank transmits a response to the proprietary transaction processing network indicating its decision. The proprietary transaction processing network forwards the response to the acquirer bank, which in turn, forwards the response to the point-of-sale terminal. [0008] The clearing & settlement process begins with clearing, which, in turn, begins when the point-of-sale terminal, or other merchant processing device, transmits sales draft information (e.g., account numbers and amounts) to the acquirer bank. The acquirer bank formats the sales draft information into a clearing message that it transmits to the proprietary transaction processing network. The network transmits the clearing message to the issuer bank, which calculates settlement obligations of the issuer bank, processing fees, and the amount due the acquirer bank. Settlement begins when the issuer bank transmits funds to a designated bank of the proprietary transaction processing network, which, after processing, transfers the funds to the acquirer bank. [0009] In an alternate credit card transaction processing system, the proprietary transaction network is owned by a single issuer bank. Thus, in contrast with the previously described system, the alternative system includes only one issue bank, not a large number of issuer banks, and, as such, the issuer bank's functions and the proprietary transaction network functions previously discussed are merged. In this alternate system, the processing of the single issuer is less than the multiple issuer system but creates a processing bottleneck due to the single issuer. [00010] Regardless of the type of credit card transaction processing system, such systems provides consumers, whether individuals, small companies, or large corporate entities, an easy mechanism for paying for goods and/or services. In an effort to promote use of credit cards for purchasing goods and/or services, issuers, merchants, and/or the transactional processing entities (e.g., Visa®) offer a variety of incentive programs. For example, a transaction processing entity may offer incentive programs relating to a particular merchant, by a particular category of goods and/or services from some merchants, by a type of incentive program (e.g., free shipping), and/or by features (e.g., lost/stolen card reporting). As another example, merchant's may offer discounts, free shipping, save $X on purchases greater than $Y, etc. As yet another example, an issuer may offer features such as Z% annual bonus, AA% reward on travel or entertainment, etc.

[00011] Such merchant offers, issuer features, and/or transactional processing entity services are managed in multiple areas of a financial transaction processing system due to different incentive programs targeting different market needs for issuers and/or merchants. As such, there are many incentive program opportunities for merchants and/or issuers to participate in, but do not because they are unaware of them or are unable to access them due to the multiple area management.

[00012] Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus of providing an integrated offers, features, and/or services.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[00013] Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a financial transaction processing system in accordance with the present invention; [00014] Figure 2 is a diagram of an example of an integrated collection of offers, features, and/or services in accordance with the present invention;

[00015] Figure 3 is a diagram of an example of transactional processing entity selected offers, features, and/or services made available to an issuer in accordance with the present invention;

[00016] Figure 4 is a diagram of an example of issuer selected offers made available to a first group of transactional cards in accordance with the present invention;

[00017] Figure 5 is a diagram of an example of selected offers made by a card holder of the first group of transactional cards in accordance with the present invention;

[00018] Figure 6 is a diagram of an example of issuer selected offers and/or features made available to a second group of transactional cards in accordance with the present invention;

[00019] Figure 7 is a diagram of an example of selected offers and/or features made by a card holder of the second group of transactional cards in accordance with the present invention;

[00020] Figure 8 is a diagram of an example of issuer selected offers, features, and/or services made available to a third group of transactional cards in accordance with the present invention;

[00021] Figure 9 is a diagram of an example of selected offers, features, and/or services made by a card holder of the third group of transactional cards in accordance with the present invention;

[00022] Figure 10 is a diagram of another example of transactional processing entity selected offers, features, and/or services made available to an issuer in accordance with the present invention;

[00023] Figure 11 is a diagram of another example of issuer selected offers made available to a first group of transactional cards in accordance with the present invention;

[00024] Figure 12 is a diagram of another example of selected offers made by a card holder of the first group of transactional cards in accordance with the present invention;

[00025] Figure 13 is a diagram of another example of issuer selected offers made available to a third group of transactional cards in accordance with the present invention; [00026] Figure 14 is a diagram of another example of selected offers made by a card holder of the third group of transactional cards in accordance with the present invention;

[00027] Figure 15 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a merchant device in accordance with the present invention;

[00028] Figure 16 is a logic diagram of an embodiment of a method in accordance with the present invention;

[00029] Figure 17 is a logic diagram of a further embodiment of a method in accordance with the present invention;

[00030] Figure 18 is a logic diagram of another further embodiment of a method in accordance with the present invention;

[00031] Figure 19 is a diagram of an example of a merchant profile in accordance with the present invention;

[00032] Figure 20 is a logic diagram of another embodiment of a method in accordance with the present invention;

[00033] Figure 21 is a diagram of an example of a list of offers for a merchant in accordance with the present invention;

[00034] Figure 22 is a diagram of an example of a merchant's offer data file in accordance with the present invention;

[00035] Figure 23 is a logic diagram of another embodiment of a method in accordance with the present invention; and

[00036] Figures 24 and 25 are diagrams of an example of modifying a merchant's offer data file in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[00037] Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a financial transaction processing system 10 that includes that includes a financial transaction entity device 12, a database 14, a proprietary network 16, a plurality of proprietary interfaces 18-30, a plurality of issuer devices 32-38, a plurality of merchant devices 40- 46, one or more acquirer devices 48, a proprietary gateway 50, a network 52 (e.g., the internet), and a plurality of cardholder devices 54-58. A merchant device 40-46 may be associated with one or more merchants that sells products and/or services. Such a merchant may have a single locally owned store, a chain of stores located any where in the world, and/or an e-business. An issuer device 32-38 is associated with an issuer of one or more types of credit cards (e.g., personal, business, pre-paid, debit, auto pay, single use, various status levels, customized logo, etc.).

[00038] The payment entity device 12, the database 14, and the proprietary network 16 may be operated and maintained by a single transactional processing entity to facilitate integration of offers, features, and/or services. For example, Visa, Inc. may provide its VisaNet® as the proprietary network 16 and have one or more computing devices (e.g., computers, servers, super computers, main frames, etc.) coupled to the proprietary network 16 to function as the transactional processing entity device 12, which may have one or more databases 14 coupled thereto.

[00039] In general, the transaction processing entity device 12 communicates with one or more of the plurality of merchant devices 40-46 to collect offers they support. For example, the offers may be product related (e.g., buy a specific pair of jeans, get five dollars off), may be product category related (e.g., buy golf merchandize, get ten percent off), may be service related (e.g., eye exam for seventy-five dollars); may be service category related (e.g., accounting services), may be generic (e.g., get two percent off on all purchases; get free shipping with purchases greater than fifty dollars; save fifteen dollars on purchases greater than two hundred dollars, etc.), may be consumer type related (e.g., men age 20-35; women age 20-35; golf enthusiasts; apparel enthusiasts, etc.), may be credit card status related (e.g., pre-paid, business, debit, gold status, platinum, etc.), may be card issuer related (e.g., Bank A issued cards, Bank C issued cards, etc.), may be location related (e.g., all California stores; all San Jose, CA stores; a specific store; etc.), and/or may be combinations (e.g., buy first eye wear at full price, get second one for half price; buy product X, get product Z for free). [00040] The communication between the transactional processing entity device 12 and one or more of the merchant devices 40-46 may occur via the proprietary network 16 and a proprietary interface 18-22 or via the proprietary network 16 and the proprietary gateway 50. For example, merchant device 40 communicates with the transactional processing entity device 12 via proprietary interface 18 and the proprietary network 16. Note that the proprietary interface 18-22 is a proprietary node, modem, bridge, etc., that serves as a private connection point to the proprietary network 16, which ensures that only the associated device (e.g., merchant device 40 for interface 18) has access to the proprietary network 16.

[00041] As another example, merchant device 46 may communicate with the transactional processing entity device 12 via an acquirer device 48, which is coupled to a proprietary interface 22. In this example, the acquirer device 48 functions as a communication relay between the merchant device 46 and the transactional processing entity device 12. Note that the merchant device 46 may be coupled to the acquirer device 48 via the network 52.

[00042] As a further example, example, merchant device 41 communicates with the transactional processing entity device 12 via the proprietary gateway 26 and the proprietary network 16. The proprietary gateway 26 is a proprietary node, modem, bridge, etc., that serves as a public connection point to the proprietary network 16, which ensures that only authorized entities have access to the proprietary network 16. Note that communications within the system 10 occur in accordance with the communication protocol (e.g., internet protocol, transmission control protocol, and/or a proprietary version thereof) of the proprietary network 16.

[00043] In addition to communicating with the merchant devices 40-46, the transactional processing entity device 12 communicates with the issuer devices 32-38 to determine the issuer's offer type preferences or criteria. For example, the issuer may request a general level of offers that it will use to select specific offer programs for various groups of cards (e.g., gold, platinum, a company card, a consumer enthusiast card [e.g., tennis], a gas card, etc.). The general level of offer criteria may include one or more generic offers from some or all of the merchants, specific products and/or product categories from some or all of the merchants, specific services and/or services categories from some or all of the merchants, etc. In this instance, the transactional processing entity device 12 compiles the list of offers in accordance with these criteria and provides a corresponding list of offers data file to the issuer device. [00044] As another example, the issuer may request a specific level of offers for a specific group of credit cards (e.g., cards with Company A's logo). The specific level of offers requested may be for one or more offers supported by Company A. In this instance, the transactional processing entity device 12 compiles offers supported by Company A and provides a corresponding list of offers data file to the issuer device. [00045] The issuer device 32-38 processes the list of offers for a given group of cards (e.g., gold card, cards with Company A's logo, etc.) to produce a list of available offers for the given group. The list of available offers may be provided to the transactional processing entity device 12 and/or may be maintained by the issuer device 32-38. [00046] A cardholder of a card in the given group accesses the list of available offers via a cardholder device 54-58 from the transactional processing entity device 12 and/or the issuer device 32-38. Once accessed, the cardholder device 54-58 selects one or more of the available options for its card and provides the selection(s) to the transactional processing entity device 12 (and to the issuer device 32-38). The transactional processing entity device 12 stores the selections for use when transactions are processed for the card.

[00047] When a transaction is processed for the card, the transactional processing entity device 12 retrieves the selected offer or offers and processes the transaction in accordance therewith. For example, if the selected offer is $10 off with a purchase of $75 or more, the transactional processing entity device determines when a transaction amount for the card exceeds $75. If not, the $10 off is not applied. If the transaction amount is greater than $75, the transactional processing entity device 12 processes the transaction with the $10 off applied.

[00048] In addition to offering its cardholders offers from various merchants, an issuer can offer issuer features and/or transactional processing entity services. Issuer features include, but are not limited to, one or more of annual fees, introductory annual percentage rate (APR), a fixed APR, a variable APR, cash back on purchases, reward points, and fund transfers. Transactional processing entity services include, but are not limited to, one or more of auto rental collision damage waiver, cardholder inquiry service, emergency cash disbursement, card replacement, lost/stolen card reporting, zero liability, lost luggage reimbursement, purchase security, rewards program, roadside dispatch, travel assistance, emergency assistance, travel accident insurance, sports and entertainment services, concierge services, warranty management, exclusive shopping, and year end summary reporting. [00049] If an issuer offers its cardholders in a specific group of cards issuer features and/or transactional processing entity services, the features and/or services are included in the list of available offers. In addition to selecting one or more offers, the cardholder device 54-58 may select one or more of the available issuer features and/or transactional processing entity services for its card. The cardholder device 54-58 provides the selection(s) to the transactional processing entity device 12 (and maybe to the issuer device 32-38). The transactional processing entity device 12 stores the selections for use when transactions are processed for the card. [00050] As the transactional processing entity device 12 is processing transactions for a variety of cards, it monitors one or more of, but not limited to, the type of purchases, the amount of purchases, the use of selected offers, features, and/or services for the purchases, type status or type of card, cardholder data, frequency of use, and time of day of purchase. From this data, the transactional processing entity device can generate recommended offers for individual merchants, can generate recommended features for individual issuers, and can generate recommended services for the transactional processing entity. The recommendations may include adding a new offer, feature, and/or service; deleting an offer, feature, and/or service; and/or modifying an offer, feature, and/or service. In addition, the transactional processing entity device 12 may generate a list of recommended offers, features, and/or services for an individual cardholder based on the collected transactional data.

[00051] In addition, the transactional processing entity device may automatically update the offers supported by the merchant, the list of offers provided to the issuer, the list of available offers, features, and/or services provided to the cardholder as new offers, features, and/or services become available, as offers, features, and/or services change, and/or as offers, features, and/or services expire. In this regard, merchants, issuers, and/or cardholder are provided with a centrally managed and maintained database of offers, features, and/or services, which benefits merchants of any size by getting their offers to a wider audience, which benefits issuers by having a centralized database of merchant offers that can be integrated with its features and/or transactional processing entity services, and which benefits cardholders by having a wide variety of offers, features, and/or services to select. [00052] Figure 2 is a diagram of an example of an integrated collection of offers, features, and/or services collected by the transactional processing entity device 12. In this example, the transactional processing entity device 12 has communicated with a plurality of merchant devices 40-46 (e.g., merchant 1 through merchant n) to collect their merchants' offers. The collection of offers will be discussed in greater detail with reference to Figures 15-18 and 22-29. The offers may be one or more consumer type based offers (e.g., special sales and/or discounts for men, women, children, cardholders that spend more that X per month on a credit card, sports enthusiast, apparel enthusiast, etc.), one or more issuer related offers (e.g., card issued from Bank Q, get 1% discount), one or more credit cardholder status based offers (e.g., gold status get 1% discount, platinum status get 2% discount, etc.), one or more location specific offers (e.g., get 5% off all purchases made at store X in City Y, State Z, get 2% off of purchases made in stores in City AA, State BB, etc.), one or more combined offers (e.g., which provides restrictions for which offers can be combined and/or lists specific offers that are combined), and/or one or more generic offers (e.g., 1 merchant bonus point for each dollar spent; $10 off of purchases greater than $75; free shipping with purchases greater than $100; 10% for purchases made between 2-5 PM eastern time, etc.).

[00053] In this example, the transactional processing entity device 12 organizes the offers based on the merchant supporting them. Alternatively, the transactional processing entity device 12 may organize the offers based on the type of offer (e.g., generic, consumer specific, issuer, credit card status, etc.), based on value of the offer, and/or any other desired segmentation of the offers.

[00054] The transactional processing entity device 12 may also store issuer features supported by a plurality of issuer devices (e.g., issuer 1 through issuer m). In this example, the transactional processing entity device 12 has communicated with a plurality of issue devices 32-38 to collect their issuers' features. The collection of features will be discussed in greater detail with reference to Figures 15-21. The issuer features may include one or more of, but not limited to, consumer type features (e.g., various annual APR, reward points, etc. for cardholders spending more that X per month on a credit card, sports enthusiast, apparel enthusiast, etc.), merchant features (e.g., buy from Merchant A, get 2x reward points), credit cardholder status features (e.g., additional various reward points based on status, various APR based on status, various annual fees based on status, etc.), location features (e.g., use at home get X reward points, use while traveling get Y reward points, etc.), combined features (e.g., which provides restrictions for which features can be combined and/or lists specific features that are combined), and generic features (e.g., basic reward programs). [00055] The transactional processing entity device 12 may further store the services its transactional processing entity supports. Such services include one or more of, but are not limited to, issuer specific services (e.g., use Bank 1 credit card, get free purchase security), location specific services (e.g., use in US, get free road side assistance), combined services (e.g., which provides restrictions for which services can be combined and/or lists specific services that are combined), generic services (e.g., available for all cards and may include auto rental car collision damage waiver, cardholder inquiry service, emergency cash disbursement, card replacement, lost/stolen card reporting, etc), merchant specific services (e.g., purchase from merchant A, get exclusive shopping options), credit card status services (e.g., first level get generic services, second level gets basic plus second level services, third level gets lower level services plus third level services [e.g., Visa Signature® card]), and/or consumer type services (e.g., travel assistance for travel enthusiasts, sports and entertainment ticket services for such enthusiasts, etc.).

[00056] The transactional processing entity device 12 may continually, or periodically, update the merchant offers, issuer features and/or services with new, modified or expired offers, features, and/or services. Such updating requires communication with the corresponding merchant devices 40-46 and/or issuer devices 32-38 as will be discussed in greater detail below.

[00057] Figure 3 is a diagram of an example of transactional processing entity device providing selected offers, features, and/or services to an issuer device in accordance with the issuer's offer criteria. In this example, the transactional processing entity device 12 takes the data in compiled in the example of Figure 2 and filters it based on the issuer's offer criteria. The offer criteria may exclude any offers supported by Merchant 1 and any issuer based offers. The offer criteria may further include offers for specific consumer types, for specific locations, credit card status, and/or generic offers. In this example, the offers that are provided to the issuer are shown in bold lines while the offers that were filtered out based on the offer criteria are shown in light-dashed lines.

[00058] In addition to providing offers in accordance with the offer criteria, which may be for a specific group of cards or for several groups of cards that the issuer will parse prior to making them available to the cardholders, the transactional processing entity device 12 provides the issuer with the features stored by the transactional processing entity device 12.

[00059] Further, the transactional processing entity device 12 may select one or more transactional processing entity services to provide to the issuer device based on issuer's offer criteria. In this example, the transactional processing entity device 12 filters its services to yield one issuer based service, one generic service, a pair of merchant based services (excludes any services related to Merchant 1), a plurality of credit card status services, and a plurality of consumer type services. Note that is just an example and any number of offers, features, and/or services may be provided to the issuer device.

[00060] Figure 4 is a diagram of an example of issuer selected offers made available to a first group of transactional cards. In this example, the issuer device is only allowing offers to be selected by cardholders of a card in the first group of transactional cards. Further, the issuer device has selected just few of the offers (i.e., the ones with bold lines) it was provided by the transactional processing entity device in Figure 3 for selection by credit cardholders of the first group. These selections are provided to the transactional processing entity device 12 along with the identity of the issuer and the card information regarding the transactional cards in the first group. The transactional processing entity device 12 stores this information and awaits communication from a cardholder device 54-58 associated with a card in the first group. As an alternative, the transactional processing entity device 12 may generate the available offers for the issuer based on group specific offer criteria and provide the available offers to the issuer device. [00061] Figure 5 is a diagram of an example of selected offers made by a card holder of the first group of transactional cards. In this example, a cardholder device 54-58 is communicating with the transactional processing entity device 12 to select one or more of the available offers. In this example, the gray shaded offers have been selected via the credit cardholder device 54-58. The transactional processing entity device 12 stores the selections for use when processing transactions of the card associated with the credit cardholder device 54-58.

[00062] Figure 6 is a diagram of an example of issuer selected offers and features made available to a second group of transactional cards, which is of a higher status than the first group. In this example, the issuer device is allowing offers and issuer features to be selected by cardholders of a card in the second group of transactional cards. The available offers and features are shown with bold lines while unavailable offers and features are shown with light-dashed lines. The selections of available offers and features are provided to the transactional processing entity device 12 along with the identity of the issuer and the card information regarding the transactional cards in the second group. The transactional processing entity device 12 stores this information and awaits communication from a cardholder device 54-58 associated with a card in the second group. As an alternative, the transactional processing entity device 12 may generate the available offers and/or features for the issuer based on group specific offer criteria and provide the available offers to the issuer device.

[00063] Figure 7 is a diagram of an example of selected offers made by a card holder of the second group of transactional cards. In this example, a cardholder device 54-58 is communicating with the transactional processing entity device 12 to select one or more of the available offers and/or one or more of the available features. In this example, the gray shaded offers and features have been selected via the credit cardholder device 54-58. The transactional processing entity device 12 stores the selections for use when processing transactions of the card associated with the credit cardholder device 54-58.

[00064] Figure 8 is a diagram of an example of issuer selected offers, features, and services made available to a third group of transactional cards, which is of a higher status than the first and second groups. In this example, the issuer device is allowing offers, issuer features, and transactional processing entity services to be selected by cardholders of a card in the third group of transactional cards. The available offers, features, and services are shown with bold lines while unavailable offers, features, and services are shown with light-dashed lines. The selections of available offers, features, and services are provided to the transactional processing entity device 12 along with the identity of the issuer and the card information regarding the transactional cards in the third group. The transactional processing entity device 12 stores this information and awaits communication from a cardholder device 54-58 associated with a card in the third group. As an alternative, the transactional processing entity device 12 may generate the available offers, features, and/or services for the issuer based on group specific offer criteria and provide the available offers to the issuer device. [00065] Figure 9 is a diagram of an example of selected offers made by a card holder of the third group of transactional cards. In this example, a cardholder device 54-58 is communicating with the transactional processing entity device 12 to select one or more of the available offers, one or more of the available features, and/or one or more of the available services. In this example, the gray shaded offers, features, and services have been selected via the credit cardholder device 54-58. The transactional processing entity device 12 stores the selections for use when processing transactions of the card associated with the credit cardholder device 54-58.

[00066] As illustrated in the examples of Figures 2-9, the transactional processing entity device 12 provides a centralized repository of offers, features, and/or services that can be made available to cardholders via an associated issuer. In addition, the offers and/or services may be made available to cardholder devices by the transactional processing entity device 12 with little or no involvement of the issuer device 32-38. [00067] Figure 10 is a diagram of another example of transactional processing entity device providing offers, features, and/or services to an issuer device. In this example, the transactional processing entity device 12 has taken the data of Figure 3 (i.e., the example offers, features, and services that are in accordance with the issuer's offer criteria) and organized it based on type of offers, features, and/or services. For example, one grouping of offers may be for a specific location (e.g., location A [e.g., United States], which includes offers from Merchants A, B, and D) and a second grouping of offers may be for a second specific location (e.g., location B [e.g., California], which includes offers from Merchants A, C, E, and F). Such location specific offers may be for a particular type of product in a particular location. For example, one offer may relate to pick-up trucks in Texas and another offer may relate to hybrid cars in California.

[00068] As another example, offers may be grouped based on consumer types (e.g., type 1 , 2, 3, etc.). For instance, consumer type 1 may be for men ages 35-50, consumer type 2 may be for women ages 35-50, and consumer type 3 may be for consumers with specific purchase habits (e.g., spends more than X per month an a credit card) and/or special interests (e.g., golf, movies, clothing, shoes, etc.). Other groupings of offers may be made based on merchant-issuer relationship, product type, service type, generic offer type, and credit card status. Note that more or less groupings may be made from the example categories and that more or less categories may be used to group the offers. Further note that an issuer may select a group of offers, individual offers, or any other combination of offers for a particular group of cards.

[00069] Figure 11 is a diagram of another example of issuer selected offers made available to a first group of transactional cards. In this example, the issuer device has taken the data of Figure 10 and selected two groups of offers (e.g., credit card status type 1 and generic B) for cards in the first group. These selections are provided to the transactional processing entity device 12 along with the identity of the issuer and the card information regarding the transactional cards in the first group. The transactional processing entity device 12 stores this information and awaits communication from a cardholder device 54-58 associated with a card in the first group. As an alternative, the transactional processing entity device 12 may generate the available offers for the issuer based on group specific offer criteria and provide the available offers to the issuer device.

[00070] Figure 12 is a diagram of an example of selected offers made by a card holder of the first group of transactional cards. In this example, a cardholder device 54- 58 is communicating with the transactional processing entity device 12 to select one or more of the available offers. In this example, the gray shaded offers have been selected via the credit cardholder device 54-58. The transactional processing entity device 12 stores the selections for use when processing transactions of the card associated with the credit cardholder device 54-58.

[00071] Figure 13 is a diagram of an example of issuer selected offers made available to a third group of transactional cards, which is of a higher status than the first and second groups. In this example, the issuer device is allowing offers to be selected by cardholders of a card in the third group of transactional cards. The available offers are shown with bold lines while unavailable offers, features, and services are shown with light-dashed lines. In addition, generic offer types A and B are not available due to a conflict with one or more other groupings of offers. For example, the generic offers may conflict (e.g., be redundant or not allowed) with the merchant-issuer based offers. [00072] The selections of available offers are provided to the transactional processing entity device 12 along with the identity of the issuer and the card information regarding the transactional cards in the third group. The transactional processing entity device 12 stores this information and awaits communication from a cardholder device 54-58 associated with a card in the third group.

[00073] Figure 14 is a diagram of an example of selected offers made by a card holder of the third group of transactional cards. In this example, a cardholder device 54- 58 is communicating with the transactional processing entity device 12 to select one or more of the available offers. In this example, the gray shaded offers have been selected via the credit cardholder device 54-58. The transactional processing entity device 12 stores the selections for use when processing transactions of the card associated with the credit cardholder device 54-58. As an alternative, the transactional processing entity device 12 may generate the available offers for the issuer based on group specific offer criteria and provide the available offers to the issuer device. [00074] Figure 15 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a merchant device 32-38 that includes a processing module 60, memory 62, and an input/output module 64. The input/output module 64 provides one or more input interfaces and one or more output interfaces for the processing module 60. The input interface may be for receiving inputs from a user via a mouse, keyboard, graphical user interface or other type of human-computer input mechanism. In addition, the input interface may be an input portion of a network card for receiving data from the proprietary network 16 and/or from the network 52. The output interface may be for providing data to a user via a monitor, printer, email, web browser, etc. In addition, the output interface may be on output portion of a network card for transmitting data to the proprietary network 16 and/or to the network 52.

[00075] The processing module 60 may be a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of the circuitry and/or operational instructions. The processing module 60 may have an associated memory 62 and/or an embedded memory element, which may be a single memory device, a plurality of memory devices, and/or embedded circuitry of the processing module. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any device that stores digital information. Note that when the processing module 60 implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/or memory element storing the corresponding operational instructions may be embedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. Further note that, the memory element stores, and the processing module executes, hard coded and/or operational instructions corresponding to at least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated in Figures 1-20.

[00076] Figure 16 is a logic diagram of an embodiment of a method that begins at step 70 where the merchant device initiates communication with a transactional processing entity device. Such a communication may be established via the proprietary network 16 and/or the network 52 using a conventional internet protocol (e.g., TCP/IP), a modification thereof, and/or a proprietary protocol. As such, the communication will involve packetizing, or generating frames, of the data being conveyed, where each packet or frame includes a header section and a data section. [00077] The method continues at step 72 where the merchant device receives a profile inquiry message from the transactional processing entity device. The transactional processing entity device may generate the message in response to setting up a new account for a merchant associated with the merchant device, in response to a request to access the profile from the merchant device, and/or on a periodic basis (e.g., once an hour, once a day, once a week, etc.). The method continues at step 74 where the merchant device provides a response to the profile inquiry message. The response may be to generate, modify, and/or maintain the merchant profile, which may include market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and/or merchant information.

[00078] The method continues at step 74 where the merchant device receives an offer data file inquiry message from the transaction processing entity device. For example, the receiving of the message may be receiving a list of offers, wherein the transactional processing entity device created the list of offers in accordance with the merchant profile. As another example, the receiving of the message may include receiving a current version of the offer data file.

[00079] The method continues at step 78 where the merchant device provides an offer response to the offer data file inquiry message. The offer response includes creating a new offer within an offer data file, modifying an offer within the offer data file, and/or deleting an offer within the offer data file. In an embodiment, the providing the response includes one or more of: selecting an offer from the list of offers for inclusion in the offer data file; modifying an offer on the list of offers to produce a modified offer for inclusion in the offer data file; modifying at least one parameter of an offer in the offer data file; and creating a custom offer for inclusion on the list of offers and in the offer data file when customization privileges are enabled.

[00080] Figure 17 is a logic diagram of an embodiment of a method that may be a continuation of the method of Figure 16. In this method, the merchant device receives a list of recommended offers from the transactional processing entity device at step 80. In an embodiment, the transactional processing entity device processes transactions of a plurality of credit cards in light of the options selected by the card holders of the cards. The transactional processing entity device compiles the offers, features, services and/or other usage data related to the transactions. Such data may include, but is not limited to, purchase amount, purchase date, purchase time, item(s) purchased, offers used, features used, services used, etc. The transactional processing entity device interprets the data to determine the types of offers, features, and/or services that are most used, least used, used for specific products, used for amounts of purchase, spending habits of consumer types, spending habits of credit card status types, identifying cardholders as certain types of consumers, etc. From this interpretation, the transactional processing entity device determines, in accordance with a merchant's profile and its current offers, potential new offers, potential changes to existing offers, deletion of existing offers, suggesting offering a new product and/or service, changing a purchase price for a particular product or service, etc.

[00081] The method continues at step 82 where the merchant device processes selection of at least one recommended offer for inclusion in its offer data file. For example, the merchant device may receive a graphic user interface command to add the selected recommended offer to its file.

[00082] Figure 18 is a logic diagram of another embodiment of a method that begins at step 90 where the merchant device logs on to the system. For example, the merchant device may establish a communication with the transactional processing entity device. Such a communication may be done via the proprietary network 16 and/or network 52 using a conventional internet protocol (e.g., TCP/IP), a modification thereof, and/or a proprietary protocol. As such, the communication will involve packetizing, or generating frames, of the data being conveyed, where each packet or frame includes a header section and a data section.

[00083] The method continues at step 92 where the merchant device determines whether it needs to process its merchant profile (e.g., create and/or update the profile). The merchant profile includes information to identify at least one of market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and merchant information for a merchant associated with one of a plurality of merchant devices. An example of a merchant profile 102 is shown in Figure 19 that includes a merchant identification section (e.g., name, address, etc.), a market focus section (e.g., local [e.g., city, county], regional [e.g., geographic area, state], national, international), product categories (e.g., apparel, shoes, books, music, movies, computers, software, electronics, sports, fitness, flower, general retail, etc.), service categories (e.g., food service, beverage service, auto repair, computer repair, consulting, insurance, etc.), and target consumer demographics (e.g., male, female, age range, sport specific participation [e.g., golf, tennis], specific spending habits [e.g., spends X per month, uses credit card for travel, travels M times per year, etc], purchasing preferences [e.g., internet, specialty stores, general retail stores], etc.). In this example, the merchant may check one or more boxes per relevant category to indicate its market, business, and consumer focus.

[00084] Returning to the method of Figure 18, the method continues at step 94 when the profile is to be processed, where the merchant device processes (e.g., creates and/or updates) the merchant profile (e.g., the market, business, and consumer focus data). The method continues with the merchant device entering a loop that includes steps 96 - 100. At step 96, the merchant device determines whether it will create a new offer for inclusion in an offer data file. If yes, the method continues at step 110 of Figure 20 to create and store an offer, which will be subsequently described. [00085] The method continues at step 98 where the merchant device determines whether it will delete or modify an existing offer in the offer data file. If yes, the method continues at step 140 of Figure 23 to modify and store an offer, which will be subsequently discussed. In not, the method continues at step 100 where the merchant device determines whether to exit the loop based on detection of a designated stimulus and produces a copy of the offer data file that includes at least one of: one or more stored offers and one or more modified offers.

[00086] The method of Figure 20 begins at step 110 where the merchant device determines whether it will create an offer or to select an offer from a list of offers. An example of a list of offers 130 is shown in Figure 21. The list 130 is generated by the transactional processing entity device based on the merchant profile and a copy may be stored by the merchant device. For example, for a given merchant, the transactional processing entity device may determine certain generic offers (e.g., 2% off all items, free shipping with purchases greater than $50, etc.), location offers (e.g., buy 10 of X get 1 free in all CA and TX stores), consumer specific offers (e.g., 5% off on men's shoes), and/or issuer offers (e.g., 1 bonus point per $1 spent for using Bank A card, exclusive shopping for using Bank B card) are of interest based on the merchant's business focus, market focus, and/or customer focus.

[00087] Returning to the method of Figure 20, if the offer is to be created, the method continues at step 112 where the merchant device creates offer parameters for inclusion in the list of offers. With reference to the example of Figure 21 , the merchant device provides offer parameters of 10% off of all merchandize purchased during 12/1/07 through 12/8/07. The transactional processing entity device adds the offer to the list and the merchant device may store the offer in its copy of the list as well. [00088] If, at step 120, the merchant device desires to select an offer from the list, the method continues at step 114 where the merchant device determines whether to make the selection from a general list (e.g., the offer list is generic to merchants in a similar line of business as the present merchant) or from a custom list (e.g., offers are determined specifically for the given merchant based on profile and/or collected transactional data). If the merchant device selects the general list option, the method continues at step 116 where the merchant device processes a selection of one or more of the offers on the list (including the merchant device created offers) and provides it to the transactional processing entity device.

[00089] If the merchant device desires to select from a custom list, it determines whether it has custom list services. If not, the method continues at step 122 where the merchant device determines whether to sign up for the custom list service. If not, the method repeats at step 110. If yes, the method continues at step 124 where the merchant device receives an acknowledgement of its custom list service subscription and the method continues at step 120.

[00090] At step 120, the merchant device processes selection of a custom offer. An example of a custom offer is shown in Figure 21 as the free product Y with purchase of product Z. In another embodiment, the list of offers is a custom list of offers generated specifically for the merchant device.

[00091] The method loops at step 126 depending on whether another offer is to be selected. When the loop is complete, the merchant device and/o the transactional processing entity device creates the list of offers and creates the Merchant's offers data file. An example of a merchant offer data file 132 is shown in Figure 22 that includes selections of one or more of the offers of the list of offers 130 of Figure 21. [00092] When, at step 98 of Figure 18, an offer is to be changed (e.g., deleted or modified), the method continues at step 140 of Figure 23 where the merchant device receives the list of offers and/or the merchant offers data file. The method continues at step 142 where the merchant device highlights (i.e., selects) an offer within the offer data file for changing. The method continues at step 144 where the merchant device determines whether change is for a modification or a deletion. If the change is to delete the offer, the method continues at step 146 where the merchant device requests deletion of the offer from the offer data file.

[00093] If the request is to modify the offer, the method continues at step 148 where the merchant device provides changes to one or more parameters of the offer. Figures 24 and 25 illustrate an example of modifying an offer in the offer data file 132-1 and 132-2. Figure 24 shows a highlighted offer. Figure 25 shows the change made to the offer.

[00094] As may be used herein, the terms "substantially" and "approximately" provides an industry-accepted tolerance for its corresponding term and/or relativity between items. Such an industry-accepted tolerance ranges from less than one percent to fifty percent and corresponds to, but is not limited to, component values, integrated circuit process variations, temperature variations, rise and fall times, and/or thermal noise. Such relativity between items ranges from a difference of a few percent to magnitude differences. As may also be used herein, the term(s) "coupled to" and/or "coupling" and/or includes direct coupling between items and/or indirect coupling between items via an intervening item (e.g., an item includes, but is not limited to, a component, an element, a circuit, and/or a module) where, for indirect coupling, the intervening item does not modify the information of a signal but may adjust its current level, voltage level, and/or power level. As may further be used herein, inferred coupling (i.e., where one element is coupled to another element by inference) includes direct and indirect coupling between two items in the same manner as "coupled to". As may even further be used herein, the term "operable to" indicates that an item includes one or more of power connections, input(s), output(s), etc., to perform one or more its corresponding functions and may further include inferred coupling to one or more other items. As may still further be used herein, the term "associated with", includes direct and/or indirect coupling of separate items and/or one item being embedded within another item. As may be used herein, the term "compares favorably", indicates that a comparison between two or more items, signals, etc., provides a desired relationship. For example, when the desired relationship is that signal 1 has a greater magnitude than signal 2, a favorable comparison may be achieved when the magnitude of signal 1 is greater than that of signal 2 or when the magnitude of signal 2 is less than that of signal 1.

[00095] The present invention has also been described above with the aid of method steps illustrating the performance of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functional building blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined herein for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships are appropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention.

[00096] The present invention has been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the performance of certain significant functions. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significant functions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocks may also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certain significant functionality. To the extent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and still perform the certain significant functionality. Such alternate definitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention. One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functional building blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules and components herein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discrete components, application specific integrated circuits, processors executing appropriate software and the like or any combination thereof.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A method comprises: initiating communication with a transactional processing entity device; receiving a profile inquiry message from the transactional processing entity device; providing a response to the profile inquiry message such that a merchant profile is generated or updated, wherein the merchant profile includes information regarding at least one of: market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and merchant information; receiving an offer data file inquiry message from the transaction processing entity device; and providing an offer response to the offer data file inquiry message, wherein the offer response includes at least one of: creating a new offer within an offer data file, modifying an offer within the offer data file, and deleting an offer within the offer data file.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the response to profile inquiry message comprises at least one of: creating the merchant profile; modifying the merchant profile; and maintaining current status of the merchant profile.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the offer data file inquiry message comprises at least one of: receiving a list of offers, wherein the transactional processing entity device created the list of offers in accordance with the merchant profile; and receiving a current version of the offer data file.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the providing the offer response comprises at least one of: selecting an offer from the list of offers for inclusion in the offer data file; modifying an offer on the list of offers to produce a modified offer for inclusion in the offer data file; modifying at least one parameter of an offer in the offer data file; and creating a custom offer for inclusion on the list of offers and in the offer data file when customization privileges are enabled.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprises: receiving a list of recommended offers from the transactional processing entity device; and processing selection of at least one recommended offer of the list of recommended offers for inclusion on the offer data file.

6. A method comprises: processing a merchant profile to identify at least one of market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and merchant information for a merchant associated with one of a plurality of merchant devices; entering a loop, wherein the loop includes: processing a new offer for inclusion in an offer data file; processing a request to modify an existing offer within the offer data to produce a modified offer; and exiting the loop when a designated stimuli is detected; and facilitating generation of the offer data file to include at least one of: one or more new offers and one or more modified offers.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprises: receiving a list of offer options to facilitate selection of the new offer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the processing the new offer comprises: determining whether to select the new offer from the list of offer options or to create the new offer; when the new offer is to created: determining parameters of the new offer; providing the new offer for inclusion in the list of offer options; and facilitating inclusion of the new offer in the offer data file; and when the new offer is to be selected from the list of offer options, processing the selection of the new offer from the list of offer options.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the list of offer options comprises at least one of: general offers based on the merchant profile; custom offers when a merchant device has customization privileges; and merchant created offers.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the processing a request to modify an existing offer within the offer data comprises: obtaining access the offer data file; identifying the existing offer within the offer data file based on a received instruction; determining whether the received instruction corresponds to modifying or deleting the offer; when the received instruction corresponds to deleting the offer, processing deletion of the existing offer from the offer data file; and when the received instruction corresponds to modifying the offer, processing change parameters of the existing offer in accordance with the received instruction.

11. An apparatus comprises: a processing module; and memory coupled to the processing module, wherein the processing module functions to: initiate communication with a transactional processing entity device; receive a profile inquiry message from the transactional processing entity device; provide a response to the profile inquiry message such that a merchant profile is generated or updated, wherein the merchant profile includes information regarding at least one of: market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and merchant information; receive an offer data file inquiry message from the transaction processing entity device; and provide an offer response to the offer data file inquiry message, wherein the offer response includes at least one of: creating a new offer within an offer data file, modifying an offer within the offer data file, and deleting an offer within the offer data file.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processing module providing the response to profile inquiry message comprises at least one of: creating the merchant profile; modifying the merchant profile; and maintaining current status of the merchant profile.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processing module receiving the offer data file inquiry message comprises at least one of: receiving a list of offers, wherein the transactional processing entity device created the list of offers in accordance with the merchant profile; and receiving a current version of the offer data file.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processing module providing the offer response comprises at least one of: selecting an offer from the list of offers for inclusion in the offer data file; modifying an offer on the list of offers to produce a modified offer for inclusion in the offer data file; modifying at least one parameter of an offer in the offer data file; and creating a custom offer for inclusion on the list of offers and in the offer data file when customization privileges are enabled.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processing module further functions to: receive a list of recommended offers from the transactional processing entity device; and process selection of at least one recommended offer of the list of recommended offers for inclusion on the offer data file.

16. An apparatus comprises: a processing module; and memory coupled to the processing module, wherein the processing module functions to: process a merchant profile to identify at least one of market focus, product categories, service categories, targeted consumer demographics, and merchant information for a merchant associated with one of a plurality of merchant devices; enter a loop, wherein the loop includes: processing a new offer for inclusion in an offer data file; processing a request to modify an existing offer within the offer data to produce a modified offer; and exit the loop when a designated stimuli is detected; and facilitate generation of the offer data file to include at least one of: one or more new offers and one or more modified offers.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processing module further functions to: receive a list of offer options to facilitate selection of the new offer.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing module processing the new offer comprises: determining whether to select the new offer from the list of offer options or to create the new offer; when the new offer is to created: determining parameters of the new offer; providing the new offer for inclusion in the list of offer options; and facilitating inclusion of the new offer in the offer data file; and when the new offer is to be selected from the list of offer options, processing the selection of the new offer from the list of offer options.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the list of offer options comprises at least one of: general offers based on the merchant profile; custom offers when a merchant device has customization privileges; and merchant created offers.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processing module processing a request to modify an existing offer within the offer data comprises: obtaining access the offer data file; identifying the existing offer within the offer data file based on a received instruction; determining whether the received instruction corresponds to modifying or deleting the offer; when the received instruction corresponds to deleting the offer, processing deletion of the existing offer from the offer data file; and when the received instruction corresponds to modifying the offer, processing change parameters of the existing offer in accordance with the received instruction.