Abstract:
A method of combining reward points from a plurality of rewards program accounts in a single rewards program into a joint redemption account is disclosed. The method comprises establishing a joint redemption or community reward account to which program members can contribute rewards points; allowing one or more contributing program members to contribute rewards points from their respective rewards program accounts to the community reward account; redeeming the points from the community reward account for a predetermined reward; and withdrawing the redeemed points from each contributing program member&#39;s rewards account according to that program member&#39;s contribution to the community reward account upon redemption of the points from the community reward account and not ever transferring points into another member&#39;s account to prevent to corporation from incurring incremental legal ownership risk.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     This invention generally relates to rewards points obtained through the use of charge or credit cards and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to cumulating points from multiple individual accounts into a joint account for purposes of redemption without ever conveying ownership of the points to the account holder  
         [0003]     2. Background  
         [0004]     Many loyalty or affinity programs, such as credit/charge card companies, hotel and lodging companies, airlines, retail stores, and the like, have rewards programs whereby a member of the program can accumulate points by charging purchases on the credit/charge card, by staying at the hotel or lodging for a specified number of nights, by taking flights on the airline, etc. The points accumulated by the program member can be exchanged for a variety of rewards, such as products, services, hotel stays, airline flights, etc.  
         [0005]     To attract and keep customers, many merchants have established customer rewards programs. Each time a customer purchases the merchant&#39;s goods or services, including, but not limited to, usage of a credit or charge card services to purchase store products, airline tickets, hotel stays, etc., the customer who is a member of the rewards program will accrue points in the program commensurate with the value of the purchase.  
         [0006]     Loyalty or affinity programs are designed to encourage and increase a particular customer behavior by offering a variety of rewards that can be redeemed using accumulated loyalty rewards points. Typically, a customer can redeem his/her loyalty rewards points for rewards, such as merchandise, gift certificates, charitable donations, cash, or points/miles in a participating partner loyalty or affinity program. In a typical redemption scenario, as long as the customer has adequate points, he/she can redeem a fixed number of loyalty rewards points for a particular reward.  
         [0007]     Over time the program member may accrue thousands or tens of thousands of points. The points can be redeemed by the program member for various rewards, such as products like cameras, televisions, radios, etc., for airline tickets, or hotel stays, car rentals, etc.  
         [0008]     Most, if not all, rewards programs restrict the use or transfer of rewards points. Most rewards program agreements state that the points are not the property of the program member, they cannot be freely transferred, and they can only be accrued by an individual program member. There are strict prohibitions against selling or bartering points. Almost all rewards program agreements contain language that specifically prohibit such transfers. One such program agreement contains the following language: 
        Accrued points and miles do not constitute property of the member. Points accrued by a . . . Rewards member are for the member&#39;s benefit only and may not be transferred to anyone. Points are transferable to a legal spouse only in the case of documented death of the member. Points are not transferable to another person for any other reason, including divorce or inheritance.        
 
         [0010]     Another program agreement contains the following restrictions: 
        The accumulation of points does not entitle members to any vested rights with respect to points, miles, rewards, or program benefits. In accumulating points, members may not rely upon the continued availability of any reward or reward level.        
 
         [0012]     Still another (airline) rewards program agreement contains the following statement: 
        Accrued mileage and certificates do not constitute property of the member. Neither accrued mileage nor certificates are transferable (i) upon death, (ii) as part of a domestic relations matter, or (iii) otherwise by operation of law.        
 
         [0014]     Many rewards programs do not allow points to be transferred from one member account to another under any circumstances. A few rewards programs permit a limited right of transfer of points from one member account to another member account. Usually, the transferee account must be that of a spouse or other family member. In essentially all known cases, once the transfer is made, the points cannot be reclaimed by the transferor and returned to the transferor&#39;s account.  
         [0015]     There are many times, however, when a group of rewards program members would like to pool their rewards points to achieve greater “buying” power. For example, a club or church organization may want to redeem points for a common item, such as a vacation trip for the winner of a contest, or to acquire a new television for a common room in a club house. Another example is a program member who is planning a honeymoon. The program member would like to allow friends and family members to be able to contribute program points to their account to enable the program member to redeem the points for airline tickets, hotel stays, car rentals, and the like. Typically the individual club members who are also rewards program members would not have enough points in their individual accounts to redeem them for the desired item. However if they were able to combine their points into a joint account, the jointly accumulated points would be sufficient to redeem the desired item.  
         [0016]     It would be very desirable to permit rewards program members to aggregate their points in a single joint account within the rewards program. This would give that group of members greater buying power for a reward that might be beyond the reach of any one of the program members. It would also be desirable to permit program members to withdraw from the joint account before points are redeemed or to retain their contributed points in the event the joint account is terminated prior to redemption of the accumulated points.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0017]     The present invention overcomes some or all of the problems associated with previous rewards programs by providing a method of combining reward points from multiple accounts within the same rewards program into a joint redemption account. The method comprises establishing an on-line joint redemption or community reward account to which program members can contribute rewards points; allowing one or more contributing program members to contribute rewards points from their respective rewards program accounts to the community reward account; redeeming the points from the community reward account for a predetermined reward; and withdrawing the redeemed points from each contributing program member&#39;s rewards account according to that program member&#39;s contribution to the community reward account upon redemption of the points from the community reward account.  
         [0018]     Further embodiments, features, and advantages of the present invention, as well as the structure and operation of the various embodiments of the present invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES  
       [0019]     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate the present invention and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the invention and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the invention.  
         [0020]      FIG. 1  is a flow chart of a joint redemption program in which creation and participation are accomplished entirely on-line; and  
         [0021]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart of a joint redemption program in which participation in a joint redemption reward is conducted through a program agent. 
     
    
       [0022]     The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawing in which an element first appears is typically indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0023]     While specific configurations and arrangements are discussed, it should be understood that this is done for illustrative purposes only. A person skilled in the pertinent art will recognize that other configurations and arrangements can be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the pertinent art that this invention can also be employed in a variety of other applications.  
         [0000]     Terminology  
         [0024]     The terms “merchant” as used herein shall mean any person, entity, distributor system, software, and/or hardware that is a provider, broker, and/or any other entity in the distribution chain of goods or services. For example, a merchant may be a credit card issuer, a hotel chain, an airline, a grocery store, a retail store, a travel agency, a service provider, an online merchant, or the like.  
         [0025]     A “transaction account” as used herein refers to an account associated with an open account card or a closed account card system (as described below). The transaction account may exist in a physical or non-physical embodiment. For example, a transaction account may be distributed in non-physical embodiments such as an account number, frequent-flyer account, telephone calling account or the like. Furthermore, a physical embodiment of a transaction account may be distributed as a financial instrument.  
         [0026]     “Open cards” are financial transaction cards that are generally accepted at different merchants. Examples of open cards include the American Express®, Visa®, MasterCard® and Discover® cards, which may be used at many different retailers and other businesses. In contrast, “closed cards” are financial transaction cards that may be restricted to use in a particular store, a particular chain of stores or a collection of affiliated stores. One example of a closed card is a card that may only be accepted at, a clothing retailer, such as a Saks Fifth Avenue® store.  
         [0027]     The term “rewards program” (RP) and/or “awards program” and/or the plural form of these terms are used interchangeably throughout this description to denominate a program in which points are awarded for money spent by a program member with a merchant, such as by charging purchases to a credit/charge card, purchasing and using airline tickets or rail travel tickets, paid hotel stays, car rentals, etc.  
         [0028]     The terms “program member” (PM), “contributing program member” (CPM), “card member” (CM), “account holder”, “consumer”, “customer,” “participant,” and/or the plural form of these terms are used interchangeably throughout herein to refer to a person or entity who is the owner of a transaction account.  
         [0029]     An “account,” “account number” or “account code”, as used herein, may include any device, code, number, letter, symbol, digital certificate, smart chip, digital signal, analog signal, biometric or other identifier/indicia suitably configured to allow a consumer to access, interact with or communicate with a financial transaction system. The account number may optionally be located on or associated with any financial transaction instrument (e.g., rewards, charge, credit, debit, prepaid, telephone, embossed, smart, magnetic stripe, bar code, transponder, radio frequency card or payment statement).  
         [0030]     Persons skilled in the relevant arts will understand the breadth of the terms used herein and that the exemplary descriptions provided are not intended to be limiting of the generally understood meanings attributed to the foregoing terms.  
         [0031]     It is noted that references in the specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it would be within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.  
         [0000]     Program Embodiments  
         [0032]     The present invention permits a group of rewards program members to aggregate their points in a single joint redemption (or community reward) account within a rewards program. This gives the group greater buying power for a reward that might be beyond the reach of any individual one of the program members. The present invention also permits program members to withdraw from the joint account before points are redeemed or to retain their contributed points in the event the joint account is terminated prior to redemption of the accumulated points. The present invention accomplishes these desired results in the following way.  
         [0033]     A merchant having a rewards program establishes a “community rewards” website. The community rewards website may be an area on the main rewards program website devoted to community rewards or it may be a link to an associated rewards program community rewards website that lists active “community rewards.” The rewards program website and the community rewards portion or link are accessible by all members of the merchant&#39;s rewards program.  
         [0034]     Any eligible program member can set up a specific “community reward” (CR) on the community rewards website. The program member who sets up the community reward will typically, although not necessarily, be the administrator of that community reward. The administrator has the option to allow all members of the merchant&#39;s rewards program to participate in the community reward or to allow only a selected subset of the entire rewards program membership to participate in the particular community reward.  
         [0035]     It will be understood that more than one community reward can be established on the community rewards website. Each community reward may but would not necessarily, have separate eligibility requirements unique to that particular community reward. For example, a church sponsored community reward might be set up to purchase an airline ticket to bring a deserving family from a foreign country to the United States. A club sponsored community reward may be used to purchase a large screen TV for a clubhouse common room. The community reward may, but need not, be established in such a way that only members of the church or club would be eligible to contribute points to the community reward. Eligible participants would be given a password or unique community reward ID number to obtain access to the community reward. Other examples of community rewards would be apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts.  
         [0036]      FIG. 1  is a flow chart showing the on-line administration and participation in a community reward program. In step  102 , an account holder accesses a rewards program (RP) website. If the account holder is not already a registered member of the rewards program, he/she must register at step  104 . After the initial registration, the account holder, now a registered program member (PM), can bypass step  104  and log directly into the RP website, in a manner well known to those skilled in the relevant arts.  
         [0037]     Once the PM has accessed the RP website, he/she is generally taken to the RP website home page in step  106 . From there, at step  108 , the PM can access the joint redemption or community rewards page, which contains a list of all active community rewards (CR). Also at the joint redemption page, the PM has the ability to establish a new CR. At step  110 , the PM can elect to establish a new CR. At step  112 , the PM establishes a new CR with the following attributes: 
        A unique ID or name for the community reward.     A sign off check box for the terms and conditions (T&#39;s&amp;C&#39;s) for the community reward (typically the T&#39;s&amp;C&#39;s are established by the rewards program merchant).     A description of the reward to be redeemed from a specific list of products and/or services available from the merchant.     The point value goal of the community reward. A big screen television, for example, might have a point value of 200,000 points. In other words, to acquire the big screen television would require redeeming 200,000 points. To redeem an international airline ticket may require 60,000 points.     The start and end dates for contributions.     A description of the reward disposition (i.e., the identity of the reward recipient).     A statement of the eligibility requirements to participate in the community reward (e.g., whether the CR is open to the entire membership of the rewards program or to only a selected subset of the entire membership who meet certain criteria).     The identity of the community reward administrator and owner of the community reward (if not the program member who sets up the community reward) who could be contacted by the merchant if there are any questions concerning the community reward or the disposition of the redeemed reward.     The names and email addresses to those PMs who are eligible to contribute to the community reward.        
 
         [0047]     When the community reward is created, a unique Id number is generated.  
         [0048]     Once the community reward is established, the system sends out invitations, typically e-mail or other electronic mail notices, to those rewards program members who are eligible to contribute to the community reward. The invitation will typically provide information about the reward, the total points contribution required, the starting and ending dates for contributing points, the eligibility requirements for contributing points, and the recipient of the community reward, and the system generated unique CR ID number.  
         [0049]     Once a CR has been established, rewards program members can log on to the reward program community reward website and the joint redemption page as described above. The joint redemption page lists all of the available community rewards that are active. The PM then locates the name of the desired community reward. If the PM finds the desired CR listed on the joint redemption page at step  108 , he/she selects the desired CR at step  114  to participate in the selected CR at step  116 . The PM can also seach for the CR using the unique CR ID number. The eligible PMs can then access the selected CR, using a password, if necessary. Once the CR is selected, the PM will then enter the number of reward points the member intends to contribute to the community reward. The PM will also be required to agree to the CR Ts&amp;Cs at this point, by checking the appropriate “Accept” box, as is well known to those skilled in the relevant art.  
         [0050]     Typically, the system will ask the contributing program member to confirm the number of points to be contributed to the selected community reward. Once the program member confirms the contribution, then at step  118 , the system may withdraw those points from the program member&#39;s account or may put a hold on those points to prevent the program member from withdrawing those points for another purpose. At step  120  the system will update the CR status to show the total number of points contributed to date. At the same time, the system will update the PM&#39;s account to show the number of RP points remaining in the PM&#39;s account following the member&#39;s contribution to the CR.  
         [0051]     Once the contribution end date is reached, at step  122 , if the points goal has been achieved, two options are available. In one example, the points will automatically be redeemed for the predetermined reward. That is, as soon as the points goal has been reached, the system will automatically redeem the contributed points for the predetermined reward. In a second example, the community reward administrator takes the necessary steps to redeem the contributed points for the reward. At step  124 , the system then sends an email notification to participating PMs that the CR has been completed and that the RP points have been deducted from the PM&#39;s account.  
         [0052]     If the CR end date is reached and the point goal has not been achieved, again, two options are available. In one example, the system will automatically terminate the CR and the contributed points will be returned to the individual PM accounts at step  126 . In a second example, the administrator has the option to extend the termination date or to terminate the community reward without redeeming the contributed points. In the latter event, if the community reward is terminated without redeeming the contributed points, at step  126  the system notifies the participating PMs that the CR has been terminated without redeeming the contributed points and that the points have been returned to the contributors&#39; respective accounts. Once the points have been returned to the respective PM accounts, the points are then available to the respective program members to do with them as they wish.  
         [0053]     As a variant to the above described example, the PM may only be required to indicate the number of RP points he/she intends to contribute to the CR account. In essence, the PM pledges points to the CR. At this point, the system does not withdraw the point from the PM&#39;s account nor place a hold on those points. The system updates the CR status to add the number of points the PM intends to contribute to the then pending total. If the PM desires to use some or all of those points for another purpose, then upon redemption of those points by the PM, the total of contributed points to the CR is reduced by an appropriate amount. For example, suppose the PM has 100,000 points in his/her RP account. The PM pledges to contribute 50,000 points to a CR account. However, after making the election but before the CR is redeemed, the PM decides to use 70,000 points for another purpose (e.g., to redeem the points for airline tickets). To do that, the PM needs to use 20,000 points that had been intended for the CR. Upon redemption of the points by the PM, the number of contributed points to the CR is reduced to 20,000 points, and the remaining points contributed to the CR account by that PM is 30,000 points.  
         [0054]     An alternate embodiment is shown in  FIG. 2 . In this embodiment, either or both of the creation and participation in the CR can be done by telephone. As would be appreciated by one skilled in the relevant art(s), the CR can be created by having a PM contact a reward program agent by telephone. The program agent will access the creating PM&#39;s account and create the CR. A CR created in this way (manually) will have substantially the same attributes as a CR created automatically as described above with respect to  FIG. 1 . Once the CR is established, the program agent will give the creating PM (now the CR administrator) the unique CR ID number.  
         [0055]      FIG. 2  assumes that at step  202 , the CR administrator has created the CR as described above. At step  204 , the CR administrator notifies the eligible PMs that a CR has been established, also as described above.  
         [0056]     A PM wishing to contribute points from his/her account to the CR then contacts a rewards program agent by telephone at step  206  and provides the program agent with the PM&#39;s account number and the CR&#39;s ID number. At step  208 , the rewards program agent accesses the PM&#39;s rewards account. At step  210 , the agent selects the CR specified by the PM. At step  212 , the agent makes a contribution of the PM&#39;s points to the CR as specified by the PM. The agent will also confirm orally that the PM accepts the Ts&amp;Cs of the CR before making the specified contribution. When the contribution is made, at step  214  the system updates the CR status to show the total number of points contributed to date. At the same time, the system will update the PM&#39;s account to deduct the contributed points.  
         [0057]     The variant described above with respect to the first embodiment is equally applicable to this second embodiment. In these variants, the contributed points can be considered as pledges. At any time prior to redemption of the CR, the pledge or any part of it can be withdrawn by the contributing PM.  
         [0058]     When the CR is completed at step  216 , the administrator either redeems the reward and the system communicates the redemption to the contributing PMs at step  218 , or the system communicates that the reward was not redeemed and that the CR was terminated without an award, at step  220 . In the former case, the points will be irrevocably deducted from the participating PM accounts; in the latter case, the points will be returned to the participating PM accounts.  
         [0059]     With the community reward program of the present invention, the contributing member has the ability to withdraw his/her contribution before the deadline date occurs. For example, the contributing program member may decide that he/she has contributed more points than they originally intended to contribute. Or they may have a change of heart and decide that they do not wish to maintain their contribution. In such event, the contributing program member can go to the community reward site and withdraw his/her contribution. Once the contribution is withdrawn, the contributed points are returned to the program member&#39;s account as though no contribution had been made. At that time, the system will update the CR status and the PM&#39;s account in a similar manner as described above.  
         [0060]     One of the advantages of the community reward program of this invention is that the contributed points are not irrevocably lost to the program member once the contribution has been made. If the points goal is not reached so that the community reward is terminated without redeeming the contributed points, or, prior to the termination date the contributing member decides to withdraw his/her contribution, the contributed points are returned to the program member&#39;s account and are freely usable for future contributions or redemptions by the program member.  
       CONCLUSION  
       [0061]     While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.  
         [0062]     In addition, it should be understood that the figures illustrated in the attachments, which highlight the functionality and advantages of the present invention, are presented for example purposes only. The architecture of the present invention is sufficiently flexible and configurable, such that it may be utilized (and navigated) in ways other than that shown in the accompanying figures.  
         [0063]     Further, the purpose of the foregoing Abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Abstract is not intended to be limiting as to the scope of the present invention in any way.