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Method and apparatus for reward calculation and disbursement

Method and apparatus for reward calculation and disbursement description/claims

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/911,341, filed Apr. 12, 2007, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to payment systems. In particular, some embodiments relate to methods, apparatus, systems, means and computer program products for processing rewards in a payment processing network.

Payment card loyalty programs have been in widespread use for some time. Most consumers who hold payment cards participate in some form of loyalty program, including merchant-specific frequent buyer programs, airline mileage programs, or the like. In general, these programs are successful, as many consumers who participate in loyalty programs indicate that their participation in the programs has an impact on their purchasing decisions.

Unfortunately, the ubiquity of these programs has led to dilution of their impact. With so many programs, and so little differentiation, customers' behaviors are not directly driven by the programs. As a result, many customers do not actively participate in many loyalty programs even after they have enrolled.

The reward delivery mechanism for most loyalty programs has primarily been the use of store coupons, statement inserts or other printed coupons that require a customer to redeem the coupon in a future purchase. Currently, it is estimated that the percentage of reward coupons that are redeemed by customers is less than 1% of the total coupons distributed.

Further, many merchants simply do not have the expertise or ability to effectively use their customer data to develop and administer reward programs. It would be desirable to reduce the barriers to consumers to make it easier for them to participate and receive rewards. It would further be desirable to provide systems and methods that allow merchants to easily deploy and administer rewards programs.

Features and advantages of some embodiments of the present invention, and the manner in which the same are accomplished, will become more readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate preferred and exemplary embodiments and which are not necessarily drawn to scale, wherein:

FIGS. 1A and 1B together form a block diagram of a payment processing network provided according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a rewards system computer that is part of the system of FIGS. 1A-1B.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart that illustrates a process performed in accordance with aspects of the present invention in the system of FIGS. 1A-1B.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart that illustrates a certain details of the process illustrated in FIG. 3.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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