Patent Publication Number: US-2018040023-A1

Title: Routine suggestion system

Description:
CROSS REFERENCED TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/853,455, filed on Mar. 29, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to online and/or mobile payments and more particularly to system that uses routine purchases in a first location to suggest merchants in a second location. 
     Related Art 
     More and more consumers are purchasing items and services over electronic networks such as, for example, the Internet. Consumers routinely purchase products and services from merchants and individuals alike. The transactions may take place directly between a conventional or on-line merchant or retailer and the consumer, and payment is typically made by entering credit card or other financial information. Transactions may also take place with the aid of an on-line or mobile payment service provider such as, for example, PayPal, Inc. of San Jose, Calif. Such payment service providers can make transactions easier and safer for the parties involved. Purchasing with the assistance of a payment service provider from the convenience of virtually anywhere using a mobile device is one main reason why on-line and mobile purchases are growing very quickly. 
     Consumers often make purchases, sometimes using online and/or mobile payments, at regular, reoccurring time periods. For example, a consumer may regularly purchase coffee during particular time periods (e.g., weekday mornings) at the same coffee merchant in their hometown, or may purchase the same type of coffee during particular time periods at a variety of coffee merchants in their hometown. In another example, a consumer may regularly dine at particular times (e.g., a particular day of the week) at the same restaurant in their hometown, or may dine during particular time periods at the same type of restaurant (e.g., a Italian restaurant) in their hometown. In yet another example, a consumer may regularly exercise at particular times (e.g., a particular day of the week) at the same exercise location in their hometown, and that consumer may then regularly follow that exercise with a particular purchase. Such routines may be disrupted when the consumer leaves their hometown for another location (e.g., due to business, vacation, etc), as the consumer may end up in an unfamiliar location where the time and effort necessary to find the appropriate merchants that will allow the performance of these routines discourages the consumer from doing so. 
     Thus, there is a need for a routine suggestion system that simplifies the ability of a user to perform their routines in an unfamiliar location. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method for providing routine suggestions; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a routine suggestion system; 
         FIG. 3  is a is a front view illustrating a user device displaying a routine suggestion screen; 
         FIG. 4  is a is a front view illustrating a user device displaying a routine suggestion screen; 
         FIG. 5  is a front view illustrating a user device displaying a routine suggestion screen; 
         FIG. 6  is a is a front view illustrating a user device displaying a routine suggestion screen. 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a networked system; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a user device; 
         FIG. 9  is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a computer system; and 
         FIG. 10  is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a system provider device. 
     
    
    
     Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, wherein showings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of the present disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present disclosure provides systems and methods for providing user routine suggestions. A user may generate routine data in a home location by making similar purchases in the same time periods. For example, a user may purchase food regularly from the same merchant during the same time period or time periods each week, or purchase the same type of item from different merchants during the same time period or time periods each week. Those purchases may be stored and analyzed to create routine data that is associated with the home location of the user and that may detail repetitive purchasing routines by the user by associating routine purchase types (e.g., purchases from a particular merchant, purchases from type of merchant, purchases of an item type, etc.) with particular time periods. When the user travels to a location (a “current location”) that is more than a predetermined distance from the home location, the systems and methods may determine that a current time corresponds to a time period associated with a routine purchase type and, in response, retrieve merchants that are located in the current location and that provide the routine purchase type associated with the time period. Those merchants may then be displayed on a user device to allow the user to quickly and easily determine a merchant in their current location (away from their home location) at which they may make their routine purchase. Routine data may associate routine purchase types with linked purchase types that are purchases commonly made by the user following a routine purchase type in the home location, and when such a routine purchase type is made in a location that is a predetermined distance from the home location, the systems and methods may retrieve merchants that are located in the current location and that provide the linked purchase types. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , an embodiment of a method  100  for providing routine suggestions is illustrated. In an embodiment, a user may be provided a user account by a payment service provider, and that user account will be linked to one or more financial accounts of the user that are provided by account providers. The user may make purchases from merchants using the user account, and those purchases are funded using one of the financial accounts. Thus, in some embodiments, the payment service provider may be the routine suggestion system provider. However, in other embodiments, the routine suggestion system may be provided by an account provider that provides a financial account to the user, a third party system provider that retrieves purchase data from user accounts/financial accounts, and/or a user device. 
     The method  100  begins at block  102  where purchase data is retrieved and routine data in a home location is determined. Referring now to  FIG. 2 , an embodiment of a routine suggestion system  200  is illustrated. A user in the routine suggestion system  200  may include a user device  202  that is connected to a network  204  such as, for example, the Internet. A system provider device  206  is connected to the network  204  as well as to a database  208 . While the system provider device  206  is illustrated as directly connected to the database  208 , the system provider device  206  may be connected to the database  208  through the network  204  while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, at block  102  of the method  100 , the user may make purchases from merchants using the user device  202  and/or payment devices such as, for example, credit cards, check cards, and/or other payment devices known in the art. For example, the user device  202  may include a mobile phone, and the mobile phone may include a payment application or other payment functionality that allows the user to make payments to merchants via the user device  202 . As discussed above, the user may use a user account provided by a payment service provider in order to make purchases from merchants that are funded by one or more financial accounts provided by the payment service provider and/or accounts providers. In another example, the user may present a payment card linked to a financial account provided by the payment service provider and/or accounts providers in order to make purchases from merchants. 
     Purchase data related to the purchases made using the user device  202  and or payments cards at block  102  of the method  100  may be stored in a database. For example, when the system provider device  206  is operated by a system provider that provides the financial account used by the user to make purchases, purchase data may be stored by the system provider device  206  in the database  208 . In another example, purchase data may be stored by an account provider device  210  in a database (not illustrated), and the system provider device  206  may then periodically retrieve that purchase data and store that purchase data in the database  208 . In another embodiment, the user device  202  may be the system provider device and may retrieve and store the purchase data from financial institutions of the user. Thus, in some embodiments, the database  208  may be located in the user device  202 . 
     Purchase data related to purchases made by a user may be associated with a home location. In an embodiment, a user may define a home location where the user typically makes purchases (e.g., the location in which the user lives or spends a majority of their time), and that home location may then be saved as home location data  212  in the database  208 . In the example illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the home location data corresponds to an area  212   a  in San Francisco, Calif. The user may define the home location by selecting the area  212   a  on a map, providing a home address and a distance from that home address within which purchases will be associated with the home location, providing a city (e.g., San Francisco, Calif.) in which purchases will be associated with the home location, and/or performing a variety of other home location designation actions known in the art. In another embodiment, purchase data may be analyzed to determine a home location. For example, the system provider device may review all purchase data retrieved at block  102  of the method  100 , and determine an area within which over a predetermined percentage of purchases are made. In the example illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the purchase data associated with the user may have been analyzed (e.g., purchases made with the user device  202  that are associated with a GPS location, credit card purchases to a merchant associated with a merchant address, etc.) and determined to include 85% purchases made within the area  212   a  in San Francisco, Calif. While a few examples of the determination of a home location for a user have been described, one of skill in the art will recognize that a variety of other methods may be used to determine a home location where a user makes the majority of their purchases. 
     At block  102  of the method  100 , the retrieved purchase data that is associated with the home location may then be analyzed to determine routine data in the home location. In an embodiment, the purchase data associated with the home location is analyzed to determine one or more routine purchase types that that are each associated with reoccurring time periods. For example, the purchase data associated with the home location may be analyzed to determine purchases from the same or similar merchant (e.g., a particular coffee shop, a plurality of similar coffee shops, a particular restaurant, a plurality of similar restaurants, etc.) that reoccur (e.g., that are made daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) In another example, the purchase data associated with the home location may be analyzed to determine purchases of the same or similar items (e.g., coffee, a type of food, etc.) that reoccur (e.g., that are made daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) For example, a routine purchase type may be determined when a plurality of purchases for a particular item type have been made at a plurality of merchants associated with the home location during a reoccurring time period. The analysis of the purchase data associated with the home location at block  102  of the method  100  results in the determination of routine data for the home location that details reoccurring purchases by the user from similar merchants and/or of similar items. 
     Furthermore, purchase data may include details of each purchase, and those details may be included in the routine data for the home location. For example, routine data for the home location may include reoccurring purchases made from a particular merchant or similar merchants, along with details about what item, items, service, or services are commonly purchased from the particular merchant or similar merchants. 
     The analysis of the purchase data at block  102  of the method  100  may also include the determination of linked purchase types that are associated with routine purchase types. As discussed above, the purchase data associated with the home location is analyzed to determine one or more routine purchase types that that are each associated with reoccurring time periods. For each routine purchase type, the system provider device  206  may analyze the purchase data to determine whether a linked purchase is commonly made following the routine purchase type. In an embodiment, a user may make reoccurring purchases from a particular merchant, from similar merchants, or of similar items, and those reoccurring purchases may often be followed by a linked purchase. For example, the system provide device  206  may analyze the purchase data to determine a routine purchase type that involves a particular merchant during a reoccurring time period is followed 65% of the time by a linked purchase that may be from a different particular merchant, similar merchants, or of a particular or similar item, and that linked purchase type may be associated with the routine purchase type in the database  208 . 
     Examples of routine purchase types determined from the analysis of the purchase data at block  102  of the method  100  are illustrated in  FIG. 2 . In the illustrated embodiment, a plurality of home location routine data  214  is categorized by a merchant, a frequency, a time period, and whether that routine purchase type is associated with a linked purchase type. However, routine purchase data may be categorized by and/or include a variety of other information known in the art that is associated with purchase data without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. 
     In the illustrated embodiment, the home location routine data  214  includes a routine purchase type  216  that was determined from the purchase data and that details purchases made from a particular merchant (“Coffee Shop A”) that reoccur at a particular time period (between 6:30 and 7:30 am) multiple times per week (4-5 time per week). The routine purchase type  216  is not associated with a linked purchase, but is associated with purchase details that detail the types of purchases made from Coffee Shop A (e.g., a vanilla mocha 80% of the time, a breakfast sandwich 50% of the time, a black coffee 20% of the time, and a pastry 3% of the time.) Thus, the user may purchase coffee each weekday morning in their home location from the same coffee shop, and the routine data will include the routine purchase type  216  that indicates that the user makes this reoccurring purchase when in their home location. As discussed above, rather than including purchases from a particular merchant, the routine purchase type  216  may be associated with purchases from any of a variety of coffee shops, or coffee purchases from anywhere (e.g., the purchase data may indicate that the user purchases a vanilla mocha from a variety of merchants during the time period and at the frequency detailed in the routine purchase type  216 .) 
     In the illustrated embodiment, the home location routine data  214  also includes a routine purchase type  218  that was determined from the purchase data and that details purchases made from similar merchants (“Italian restaurants”) that reoccur at a particular time period (Sunday evenings) once per week. The routine purchase type  218  is not associated with a linked purchase, but is associated with purchase details that detail the types of purchases made when at Italian restaurants (e.g., chicken parmesan 95% of the time, spaghetti with meatballs 80% of the time, Caesar salad 65% of the time, lasagna 50% of the time, red wine 75% of the time, white wine 20% of the time, and tiramisu 35% of the time.) Thus, the user may dine at an Italian restaurant with their family each Sunday night, and the routine data will include the routine purchase type  218  that indicates that the user makes this reoccurring purchase when in their home location. As discussed above, rather than including purchases from similar merchants, the routine purchase type  218  may be associated with purchases from a specific Italian restaurant, or Italian food purchases from anywhere. 
     In the illustrated embodiment, the home location routine data  214  also includes a routine purchase type  220  that was determined from the purchase data and that details purchases made from a particular merchant (“Yoga Studio A”) that reoccurs at a particular time period (Thursday) once per week. The routine purchase type  220  is associated with a linked purchase from similar merchants (“Ice Cream shop”), and is associated with purchase details that detail the types of purchases made when at the Ice Cream shop (e.g., vanilla ice cream with strawberries 95% of the time, mint chip ice cream 5% of the time.) Thus, the user may attend a yoga class on Thursdays, and may often follow that yoga class with ice cream at any of a plurality of ice cream shops, and the routine data will include the routine purchase type  220  that indicates that the user makes these linked, reoccurring purchases when in their home location. As discussed above, rather than including purchases from a particular merchant, the routine purchase type  220  may be associated with purchases from any of a plurality of yoga studios, and with a particular ice cream shop. 
     While a plurality of routine purchase types have been described above, one of skill in the art will recognize that a variety of routine purchase types may be determined using purchase data that will fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, while the routine data is discussed above as being determined from purchase data associated with the home location, in some embodiments, purchase data associated with any location may be used to determine routine data (e.g., a user&#39;s reoccurring purchases in any locations of the same type of items, from the same types of merchants, and/or from particular merchants, may be used to determine the routine purchase types discussed herein.) 
     Referring back to  FIG. 1 , the method  100  then proceeds to block  104  where a current location is detected and determined to be over a predetermined distance from the home location. In an embodiment, the user device  202  may include a routine suggestion application or other routine suggestion engine that, when started on the user device  202 , automatically retrieves a current location of the user device  202  using a location determination device (e.g, a Global Positioning System (GPS)) in the user device  202 . In other embodiments, the routine suggestion application or other routine suggestion engine may operate “in the background” of the user device  202  to periodically check the current location of the user device  202 . Upon determination of the current location, the routine suggestion application may determine whether the current location is further than a predetermined distance from the home location. In an embodiment, the predetermined distance may be a default distance in the routine suggestion application (e.g., 100 miles). In other embodiments, the user may set the predetermined distance to a desired distance. In some embodiments, the predetermined distance may operate to confine use of the method  100  to states other than a home state of the user, while in other embodiments, the predetermined distance may operate to provide the method  100  in neighborhoods other than the home neighborhood of the user. In the examples provided below, the current location is Austin, Tex., which is in a different state than the illustrated home location of San Francisco, Calif. However, if the user&#39;s home location is in the Nob Hill neighborhood in San Francisco, Calif., the user may set the predetermined distance such that the method  100  is performed in the Noe Valley neighborhood San Francisco, Calif. 
     When the current location of the user device  202  is determined to over the predetermined distance from the home location, the method  100  then proceeds to block  106  where a current time is determined to correspond to a time period associated with a routine purchase type. In an embodiment, when the current location of the user device  202  is more than the predetermined distance from the home location, the routine suggestion application in the user device  202  may continuously or periodically determine whether a current time is within a predetermined time of any of the time periods associated with the routine purchase types in the database  208 . For example, when the current time is within 30 minutes, 1 day, or other time amount of a time period associated with a routine purchase type, the routine suggestion application may determine that the current time corresponds to a time period associated with a routine purchase type. In another example, when the current time falls within a time period associated with a routine purchase type, the routine suggestion application may determine that the current time corresponds to a time period associated with a routine purchase type. The predetermined time may be selected based on a number of factors including, for example, user calendar data that indicates how long a user will be in the current location that is greater than the predetermined distance from the home location. For example, a user calendar may include data that indicates that the user will be in the current location, which is greater than the predetermined distance from the home location, for a week. In such a situation, the routine suggestion application may retrieve each routine purchase type that is associated with that week and provide merchants (discussed below) for those routine purchase types immediately (i.e., the predetermined time may be a week when the user calendar data indicates that the user will be in that current location for a week.) 
     When the current location of the user device  202  is determined to be over the predetermined distance from the home location, and the current time corresponds to a time period associated with a routine purchase type, the method  100  proceeds to block  108  where merchants are retrieved that are associated with the current location and that provide the routine purchase type. In an embodiment, in response to determining that the current time corresponds to a time period associated with a routine purchase type, the routine suggestion application on the user device  202  may use the routine purchase type and the current location to search (e.g., over a network) a database of merchants in the current location that provide the routine purchase type. For example, if the routine purchase type includes a particular merchant, the routine suggestion application may access, over the network  204 , a database of merchants in the current location to see if it includes the particular merchant (e.g., a franchisee) or similar merchants. In another example, if the routine purchase type includes a type of merchant, the routine suggestion application may access, over the network  204 , a database of merchants in the current location to see if it includes similar merchants (e.g., the same type of merchant as the particular merchant.) In another example, if the routine purchase type includes an item type, the routine suggestion application may access, over the network  204 , a database of merchants in the current location to see if it includes merchants that sell that item. Determination of whether a merchant sells an item or provides a service may be made by searching user reviews for that merchant to determine whether those reviews include mentioned of that item or service, searching online menus provided by that merchant, accessing a merchant database of that merchant that details the items or services for sale, searching other user&#39;s purchase histories at that merchant for those items or services, and/or using a variety of other items or service determination methods known in the art. 
     In an embodiment, merchants retrieved at block  108  may be filtered using the purchase details that are associated with the routine purchase type. For example, the routine purchase type may be a reoccurring purchase at a coffee shop in the home location, and a plurality of coffee shop merchants associated with the current location may be retrieved. Those coffee shop merchants may then be filtered by the item(s) that the user typically purchases at the coffee shop in the home location (e.g., the vanilla mocha in the illustrated embodiment discussed above) by determining which of the retrieved coffee shop merchants in the current location serve those item(s). In one example, the routine purchase type may include an item or items that are associated with a majority of purchases that make up the routine purchase type, and the merchants may be filtered such that only merchants that provide that item or items are displayed at block  110  of the method  100 , discussed below. When a plurality of purchase details are associated with the routine purchase type, retrieved merchants that provide more of those purchase details (e.g., items, services, etc.) may be ranked higher than retrieved merchants that do not. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 , the method  100  then proceeds to block  110  where merchants are displayed to the user. Following retrieval of the merchants at block  108  of the method  100 , the routine suggestion application on the user device  202  may display those merchants on a display device of the user device  202 .  FIGS. 3, 4, and 5  below illustrate specific examples of the display of merchants at block  110  of the method  100  following blocks  102 ,  104 ,  106 , and  108 . However, a wide variety of modifications to those examples are envisioned as falling within the scope of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an embodiment of a user device  300  including a display device  302 . The display device  302  is displaying a routine suggestion screen  304  for a current location  306  (e.g., “Austin, Tex.”) that is a predetermined distance from a home location, as discussed above. The routine suggestion screen  304  includes a current location map  308  that provides a map of the current location determined at block  104 , along with a user indicator  308   a  that indicates to the user their current location relative to the current location map  308 . The routine suggestion screen  304  also includes a routine purchase type indicator  310  that details the routine purchase type associated with the current time determined at block  106 . In the illustrated example, the routine purchase type indicator  310  is indicating to the user that, when in their home location, they typically visit Coffee Shop A on weekdays between 6:30-7:30 am and purchase a vanilla mocha and a breakfast sandwich (e.g., items associated with a majority of the purchases in the routine purchase type.) 
     The routine suggestion screen  304  also includes a first routine purchase suggestion section  312  that details a merchant in the current location that provides the routine purchase type. In the illustrated example, the routine suggestion section  312  has been provided after the routine suggestion application determined that the particular merchant associated with the routine purchase type is located in the current location (e.g., the merchant in the routine suggestion section  312  may be a franchise location related to the particular merchant frequented by the user in the home location.) The routine suggestion section  312  also includes a merchant identifier  312   a  for the merchant that is displayed on the map  308  to allow the user to determine directions to that merchant (e.g., relative to the user indicator  308   a .) The routine suggestion screen  304  also includes a second routine purchase suggestion section  314  that details a plurality of merchants in the current location that provide the routine purchase type. In the illustrated example, the routine suggestion section  314  has been provided after the routine suggestion application has determined that a plurality of similar merchants associated with the routine purchase type are located in the current location (e.g., the merchants in the routine suggestion section  314  are coffee shops in the current location, and may provide items typically purchased by the user according to the routine purchase type.) The routine suggestion section  314  also includes merchant identifiers  314   a  and  314   b  for the merchants that are displayed on the map  308  to allow the user to determine directions to those merchants (e.g., relative to the user indicator  308   a .) 
       FIG. 4  illustrates an embodiment of the user device  300  with the display device  302  displaying a routine suggestion screen  400  for the current location  306  (e.g., “Austin, Tex.”). The routine suggestion screen  400  includes a current location map  402  that provides a map of the current location determined at block  104 , along with a user indicator  402   a  that indicates to the user their current location relative to the current location map  402 . The routine suggestion screen  400  also includes a routine purchase type indicator  404  that details the routine purchase type associated with the current time determined at block  106 . In the illustrated example, the routine purchase type indicator  404  is indicating to the user that, when in their home location, they typically visit an Italian restaurant on Sundays with their family (in an embodiment, purchase data may be analyzed to determine that the user visits the Italian restaurant with their family based on, for example, an amount of food ordered, a type of food ordered, etc.) 
     The routine suggestion screen  400  also includes a routine purchase suggestion section  406  that details merchants in the current location that provide the routine purchase type. In the illustrated example, the routine suggestion section  406  has been provided after the routine suggestion application has determined that a plurality of similar merchants associated with the routine purchase type are located in the current location (e.g., the merchants in the routine suggestion section  406  are Italian restaurants in the current location, and may be filtered and/or ranked by items typically purchased by the user according to the routine purchase type.) The routine suggestion section  406  also includes merchant identifiers  406   a ,  406   b , and  406   c  for the merchants that are displayed on the map  402  to allow the user to determine directions to those merchants (e.g., relative to the user indicator  402   a .) 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an embodiment of the user device  300  with the display device  302  displaying a routine suggestion screen  500  for the current location  306  (e.g., “Austin, Tex.”). The routine suggestion screen  500  includes a current location map  502  that provides a map of the current location determined at block  104 , along with a user indicator  502   a  that indicates to the user their current location relative to the current location map  502 . The routine suggestion screen  500  also includes a routine purchase type indicator  504  that details the routine purchase type associated with the current time determined at block  106 . In the illustrated example, the routine purchase type indicator  504  is indicating to the user that they typically visit Yoga Studio A on Thursday. 
     The routine suggestion screen  500  also includes a routine purchase suggestion section  506  that details merchants in the current location that provide the routine purchase type. In the illustrated example, the routine suggestion section  506  has been provided after the routine suggestion application has determined that a plurality of similar merchants associated with the routine purchase type are located in the current location (e.g., the merchants in the routine suggestion section  506  are yoga studios in the current location.) The routine suggestion section  506  also includes merchant identifiers  506   a ,  506   b , and  506   c  for the merchants that are displayed on the map  502  to allow the user to determine directions to those merchants (e.g., relative to the user indicator  502   a .) 
     Thus, when the user travels to a location away from their home location, that user may quickly and easily continue to make routine purchases because the systems and methods of the present disclosure learn their routine purchases in the home location and automatically display merchants at which the routine purchases may be made in the location away from the home location. 
     Following the display of the merchants at block  110 , the method  100  may proceed to block  112  where it is determined that a routine purchase type has been made that is associated with a linked purchase type. A user may use the display of merchants at block  110  to select a merchant for making the routine purchase type provided by that merchant, and at block  112  the routine suggestion application may determine that such a routine purchase type has been made. In an embodiment, the routine purchase type may be made using the user device  202 , and the routine suggestion application may detect that use and purchase at block  112 . In another embodiment, the routine purchase type may be made using another payment device such as a credit card, and details about that transaction may be received by and/or retrieved by the routine suggestion application at block  112 . In another embodiment, the routine suggestion application may detect the user is located at the merchant for a predetermined amount of time and, in response, the routine suggestion application may determine that the user has made the routine purchase type (e.g., the routine suggestion application may determine that the user is located at Yoga Studio B, illustrated in  FIG. 5 , for more than 30 minutes and, in response, determine that the user has made a routine purchase type of a yoga class.) 
     In response to determining that a routine purchase type has been made, the routine suggestion application may determine (e.g., through communication over the network  204  with the system provider device  206 , retrieved from a database in the user device  202 , etc.) that the routine purchase is associated with a linked purchase type in the database  208 . For example, in the embodiment illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 5 , the user may make a routine purchase type from a yoga studio, and the routine suggestion application will determine that the routine purchase type  220  includes a linked purchase type that includes a purchase at an ice cream shop that often follows a purchase of a yoga class. 
     The method  100  then proceeds to block  114  where linked merchants are retrieved that are associated with the current location and that provide the linked purchase type. In an embodiment, in response to determining that the routine purchase type has been made and is associated with a linked purchase type, the routine suggestion application on the user device  202  may use the linked purchase type and the current location to search a database of merchants in the current location that provide the linked purchase type (e.g., “linked merchants”.) For example, if the linked purchase type includes a particular merchant, the routine suggestion application may access (over the network  204 , in the user device  202 , etc.) a database of merchants in the current location to see if it includes the particular merchant (e.g., a franchisee) or similar merchants (e.g., the same type of merchant as the particular merchant frequented in the home location.) In another example, if the linked purchase type includes an item type, the routine suggestion application may access (over the network  204 , in the user device  202 , etc.) a database of merchants in the current location to see if it includes merchants that sell that item. 
     In an embodiment, linked merchants retrieved at block  114  may be filtered using the purchase details that are associated with the linked purchase type. For example, the linked purchase type may be a reoccurring purchase, which often follows a purchase at a particular yoga studio in the home location, at an ice cream shop in the home location, and a plurality of ice cream shop merchants associated with the current location may be retrieved. Those ice cream shop merchants may then be filtered by the item(s) that the user typically purchases at the ice cream shop in the home location (e.g., the vanilla ice cream with strawberries in the illustrated embodiment discussed above) by determining which of the retrieved ice cream shop merchants in the current location serve those item(s). In one example, the linked purchase type may include an item or items that are associated with a majority of purchases that make up the linked purchase type, and the merchants may be filtered such that only merchants that provide that item or items are displayed at block  110  of the method  100 , discussed below. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1, and 6 , the method  100  then proceeds to block  116  where linked merchants are displayed to the user. Following retrieval of the linked merchants at block  114  of the method  100 , the routine suggestion application may display those linked merchants on a display device of the user device  202 .  FIG. 6 , with reference to  FIG. 5  discussed above, illustrates a specific example of the display of linked merchants at block  116  following blocks  112  and  114  of the method  100 . However, a wide variety of modifications to that example are envisioned as falling within the scope of the present disclosure 
       FIG. 6  illustrates an embodiment of the user device  300  with the display device  302  displaying a routine suggestion screen  600  for the current location  306  (e.g., “Austin, Tex.”) following the determination that a purchase was made at a merchant displayed on the routine suggestion screen  500 , discussed above with reference to  FIG. 5 . The routine suggestion screen  600  includes a current location map  602  that provides a map of the current location determined at block  104 , along with a user indicator  602   a  that indicates to the user their current location relative the current location map  602 . The routine suggestion screen  600  also includes a linked purchase type indicator  604  that details the linked purchase type determined at block  112 . In the illustrated example, the linked purchase type indicator  604  is indicating to the user that, when in the home location, they typically visit Ice Cream Shop A after attending a yoga class and purchase a vanilla ice cream with strawberries (e.g., an item associated with a majority of the purchases in the routine purchase type.) 
     The routine suggestion screen  600  also includes a linked purchase suggestion section  606  that details merchants in the current location that provide the linked purchase type. In the illustrated example, the linked purchase suggestion section  606  has been provided after the routine suggestion application has determined that a plurality of similar merchants associated with the linked purchase type are located in the current location (e.g., the merchants in the routine suggestion section  606  are ice cream shops in the current location.) The linked purchase suggestion section  606  also includes merchant identifiers  606   a ,  606   b , and  606   c  for the merchants that are displayed on the map  602  to allow the user to determine directions to those merchants (e.g., relative to the user indicator  602   a .) In different embodiments, any number of linked purchase types may be associated with a routine purchase type or other linked purchase types. 
     Thus, systems and methods have been described that provide routine suggestions to a user by first determining routing purchase types of the user that include reoccurring purchases that occur during reoccurring time periods in a home location. When the user travels to a different location that is away from the home location, the systems and methods discussed herein may provide the locations of merchants in that different location that provide the routine purchase type so that the user may continue to make those routine purchase types during their usual time periods. Routine purchase types may be associated with any number of linked purchase types that include purchases that are often made in association with a routine purchase type, and following the determination that a routine purchase type has been made, the location of merchants that provide the linked purchase type may be provided to the user. Thus, a user&#39;s routine may be uninterrupted when that user is away from their usual location through the learning of those routines and the suggestions of merchants in different locations at which those routines may be conducted. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 7 , an embodiment of a network-based system  700  for implementing one or more processes described herein is illustrated. As shown, network-based system  700  may comprise or implement a plurality of servers and/or software components that operate to perform various methodologies in accordance with the described embodiments. Exemplary servers may include, for example, stand-alone and enterprise-class servers operating a server OS such as a MICROSOFT® OS, a UNIX® OS, a LINUX® OS, or other suitable server-based OS. It can be appreciated that the servers illustrated in  FIG. 7  may be deployed in other ways and that the operations performed and/or the services provided by such servers may be combined or separated for a given implementation and may be performed by a greater number or fewer number of servers. One or more servers may be operated and/or maintained by the same or different entities. 
     The embodiment of the networked system  700  illustrated in  FIG. 7  includes a plurality of user devices  702 , a plurality of merchant devices  704 , a payment service provider device  706 , a plurality of account holder devices  608 , and/or a system provider device  709  in communication over a network  710 . Any of the user devices  702  may be the user device  202  or  300 , discussed above. The merchant devices  704  may be merchants devices operated by the merchants discussed above. The payment service provider device  706  may be payment service provider devices operated by a payment service provider such as, for example, PayPal Inc. of San Jose, Calif. The account provider devices  708  may be account provider devices operated by the account providers discussed above such as, for example, credit card account providers, bank account providers, savings account providers, and a variety of other account providers known in the art. The system provider device  709  may be operated by any third party system provider other than the payment service provider or account provider. 
     The user device  702 , merchant devices  704 , payment service provider device  706 , account provider devices  708 , and/or system provider device  709  may each include one or more processors, memories, and other appropriate components for executing instructions such as program code and/or data stored on one or more computer readable mediums to implement the various applications, data, and steps described herein. For example, such instructions may be stored in one or more computer readable mediums such as memories or data storage devices internal and/or external to various components of the system  700 , and/or accessible over the network  710 . 
     The network  710  may be implemented as a single network or a combination of multiple networks. For example, in various embodiments, the network  710  may include the Internet and/or one or more intranets, landline networks, wireless networks, and/or other appropriate types of networks. 
     The user device  702  may be implemented using any appropriate combination of hardware and/or software configured for wired and/or wireless communication over network  710 . For example, in one embodiment, the user device  702  may be implemented as a personal computer of a user in communication with the Internet. In other embodiments, the user device  702  may be a smart phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), laptop computer, and/or other types of computing devices. 
     The user device  702  may include one or more browser applications which may be used, for example, to provide a convenient interface to permit the user to browse information available over the network  710 . For example, in one embodiment, the browser application may be implemented as a web browser configured to view information available over the Internet. 
     The user device  702  may also include one or more toolbar applications which may be used, for example, to provide user-side processing for performing desired tasks in response to operations selected by the user. In one embodiment, the toolbar application may display a user interface in connection with the browser application. 
     The user device  702  may further include other applications as may be desired in particular embodiments to provide desired features to the user device  702 . In particular, the other applications may include a payment application for payments assisted by a payment service provider through the payment service provider device  706 . The other applications may also include security applications for implementing user-side security features, programmatic user applications for interfacing with appropriate application programming interfaces (APIs) over the network  710 , or other types of applications. Email and/or text applications may also be included, which allow the user to send and receive emails and/or text messages through the network  710 . The user device  702  includes one or more user and/or device identifiers which may be implemented, for example, as operating system registry entries, cookies associated with the browser application, identifiers associated with hardware of the user device  702 , or other appropriate identifiers, such as a phone number. In one embodiment, the user identifier may be used by the payment service provider device  706  and/or account provider device  708  and/or system provider device  709  to associate the user with a particular account or database entries as further described herein. 
     The merchant device  704  may be maintained, for example, by a conventional or on-line merchant, conventional or digital goods seller, individual seller, and/or application developer offering various products and/or services in exchange for payment to be received conventionally or over the network  710 . In this regard, the merchant device  704  may include a database identifying available products and/or services (e.g., collectively referred to as items) which may be made available for viewing and purchase by the user. 
     The merchant device  704  also includes a checkout application which may be configured to facilitate the purchase by the payer of items. The checkout application may be configured to accept payment information from the user through the user device  702 , the account provider through the account provider device  708 , from the payment service provider through the payment service provider device  706 , and/or the system provider through the system provider device  709  over the network  710 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 8 , an embodiment of a user device  800  is illustrated. The user device  800  may be the user devices  202 ,  300 , and/or  702 , discussed above. The user device  800  includes a chassis  802  having a display  804  and an input device including the display  804  and a plurality of input buttons  806 . One of skill in the art will recognize that the user device  800  is a portable or mobile phone including a touch screen input device and a plurality of input buttons that allow the functionality discussed above with reference to the method  100 . However, a variety of other portable/mobile user devices and/or desktop user devices may be used in the method  100  without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 9 , an embodiment of a computer system  900  suitable for implementing, for example, the user device  202 , the user device  300 , the user device  702 , the user device  800 , the merchant devices  704 , the payment service provider device  706 , the account provider device  708 , and/or the system provider device  709 , is illustrated. It should be appreciated that other devices utilized by user, merchants, payment service providers, account providers, and/or system provider devices in the payment system discussed above may be implemented as the computer system  900  in a manner as follows. 
     In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, computer system  900 , such as a personal computer and/or a network server, includes a bus  902  or other communication mechanism for communicating information, which interconnects subsystems and components, such as a processing component  904  (e.g., processor, micro-controller, digital signal processor (DSP), etc.), a system memory component  906  (e.g., RAM), a static storage component  908  (e.g., ROM), a disk drive component  910  (e.g., magnetic or optical), a network interface component  912  (e.g., modem or Ethernet card), a display component  914  (e.g., CRT or LCD), an input component  918  (e.g., keyboard, keypad, or virtual keyboard), a cursor control component  920  (e.g., mouse, pointer, or trackball), and/or a location determination component  922  (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) device as illustrated, a cell tower triangulation device, and/or a variety of other location determination devices known in the art.) In one implementation, the disk drive component  910  may comprise a database having one or more disk drive components. 
     In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the computer system  900  performs specific operations by the processor  904  executing one or more sequences of instructions contained in the memory component  906 , such as described herein with respect to the user devices  202 ,  300 ,  702 , and  800 , the merchant devices  704 , the payment service provider device  706 , the account provider device(s)  708 , and/or the system provider device  709 . Such instructions may be read into the system memory component  906  from another computer readable medium, such as the static storage component  908  or the disk drive component  910 . In other embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the present disclosure. 
     Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer to any medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor  904  for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. In one embodiment, the computer readable medium is non-transitory. In various implementations, non-volatile media includes optical or magnetic disks, such as the disk drive component  910 , volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as the system memory component  906 , and transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, including wires that comprise the bus  902 . In one example, transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio wave and infrared data communications. 
     Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example, floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer is adapted to read. In one embodiment, the computer readable media is non-transitory. 
     In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution of instruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may be performed by the computer system  900 . In various other embodiments of the present disclosure, a plurality of the computer systems  900  coupled by a communication link  924  to the network  710  (e.g., such as a LAN, WLAN, PTSN, and/or various other wired or wireless networks, including telecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may perform instruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordination with one another. 
     The computer system  900  may transmit and receive messages, data, information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e., application code) through the communication link  924  and the network interface component  912 . The network interface component  912  may include an antenna, either separate or integrated, to enable transmission and reception via the communication link  924 . Received program code may be executed by processor  904  as received and/or stored in disk drive component  910  or some other non-volatile storage component for execution. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 10 , an embodiment of a user device/payment service provider device/account provider device/system provider device  1000  is illustrated. In an embodiment, the device  1000  may be the user devices  202 ,  300 ,  702 , and  800 , the payment service provider device  706 , the account holder device  708 , and/or the system provider device  709 . The device  1000  includes a communication engine  1002  that is coupled to the network  710  and to a routine suggestion engine  1004  that is coupled to a user database  1006  and a merchant database  1008 . The communication engine  1002  may be software or instructions stored on a computer-readable medium that allows the device  1000  to send and receive information over the network  710 . The routine suggestion engine  1004  may be software or instructions stored on a computer-readable medium that allows the device  1000  to receive purchase data, determine routine data and store it in the user database  1006 , detect a current location, determine that the current location is over a predetermined distance from a home location stored in the user database  1006 , determine a current time, determine that a current time corresponds to a time period associated with a routine purchase type in the user database  1006 , retrieve merchants associated with a current location that provide a routine purchase type from the merchant database  1008 , display merchants, determine that a routine purchase type has been made that is associated with a linked purchase type in the user database  1006 , retrieve linked merchants that are associated with the current location and that provide the linked purchase type from the merchant database  1008 , display linked merchants, and provide any of the other functionality that is discussed herein. While the databases  1006  and  1008  have been illustrated as located in the device  1000 , one of skill in the art will recognize that they may be connected to the routine suggestion engine  1004  through the network  110  without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. 
     Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosure may be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardware and software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein may be combined into composite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Where applicable, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein may be separated into sub-components comprising software, hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated that software components may be implemented as hardware components and vice-versa. 
     Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as program code and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readable mediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may be implemented using one or more general purpose or specific purpose computers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Where applicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may be changed, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-steps to provide features described herein. 
     The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosure to the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. As such, it is contemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modifications to the present disclosure, whether explicitly described or implied herein, are possible in light of the disclosure. For example, the above embodiments have focused on merchants and users; however, a user or consumer can pay, or otherwise interact with any type of recipient, including charities and individuals. The payment does not have to involve a purchase, but may be a loan, a charitable contribution, a gift, etc. Thus, merchant as used herein can also include charities, individuals, and any other entity or person receiving a payment from a user. Having thus described embodiments of the present disclosure, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is limited only by the claims.