Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7163145?dq=5,870,513
Timestamp: 2013-12-11 16:45:50
Document Index: 417977125

Matched Legal Cases: ['arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102', 'arty 102']

Patent US7163145 - Geographic area multiple service card system - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Advanced Patent Search | Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsThe invention provides consumers with the services of multiple cards or accounts while allowing consumers to carry a single card, transponder, code and/or other access device. Because the card may access combined services such as financial transaction services and transportation services, the system...http://www.google.com/patents/US7163145?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7163145 - Geographic area multiple service card systemPublication numberUS7163145 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 10/708,580Publication dateJan 16, 2007Filing dateMar 12, 2004Priority dateJan 21, 2000Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS7360699, US7503487, US20040238620, US20070084914, US20080052172, US20090144136, WO2005089227A2, WO2005089227A3Publication number10708580, 708580, US 7163145 B2, US 7163145B2, US-B2-7163145, US7163145 B2, US7163145B2InventorsPerry A. Cohagan, Mary Ann Fitzmaurice, Aliza Freud, Birgitta Mayer, Julia Menichilli, Jason Nanton, Ray Sharp, Scott Vosburgh, Penelope Wood-KulkoOriginal AssigneeAmerican Express Travel Related Services Co., Inc.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (67), Referenced by (9), Classifications (35), Legal Events (3) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetGeographic area multiple service card systemUS 7163145 B2Abstract The invention provides consumers with the services of multiple cards or accounts while allowing consumers to carry a single card, transponder, code and/or other access device. Because the card may access combined services such as financial transaction services and transportation services, the system may facilitate charging the financial account for the transportation services. The system may allow the consumer to use loyalty points or geographic based loyalty points to pay for the transportation services. The system may also limit the use of certain loyalty points based upon the geographic area for certain transportation services in certain geographic areas.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein said step of debiting said financial account comprises adjusting loyalty points in said financial account.
13. The method of claim 9, wherein said step of debiting said financial account comprises adjusting geographic area loyalty points in said financial account.
14. The method of claim 9, wherein said step of communicating said transaction account information further comprises considering anti-terrorism information.
15. The method of claim 9 further comprising replacing a multiple service transaction device, wherein said replacing comprises:
requesting a transaction device replacement administrator to create a replacement transaction device;
in response to said request, said transaction device replacement administrator communicating with a transaction device service engine;
said transaction device service engine communicating account information to a transaction device generator;
said transaction device generator communicating said account information to said service partner; and
said service partner communicating said account information to said transaction device replacement administrator.
16. The method of claim 9 further comprising canceling a service partner services, wherein said canceling comprises:
transmitting a file comprising indicia of an account to be canceled,
producing a cancellation report, and
producing a balancing report.
17. The method of claim 9 further comprising canceling a primary party account, wherein said canceling comprises:
18. The method of claim 9 further comprising transferring an account to a second service partner, wherein said transferring comprises:
transmitting a file comprising indicia of a service partner account,
producing a transferring account report, and
19. The method of claim 9 wherein, said financial account is configured to provide funds to said service partner account through at least one of real-time, batch mode, periodically, upon request and an algorithm.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation in part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/764,688 filed on Jan. 16, 2001 and entitled �Multiple-Service Card System�, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,742,704 (which itself claims benefit from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/177,530, filed Jan. 21, 2000) and also claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/482,644, filed Jun. 26, 2003, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION In today's world, there is a wide variety of services that are available to a consumer where access to the services depends upon the consumer's possession of a card or code. For example, some of the services to which a typical consumer may gain access by possessing a card, include entry to a transportation service (e.g., public transportation), access to a membership club, entry to an access-restricted location, access to credit services, telephone system use, and accrual of loyalty rewards/incentives such as frequent flier miles or grocery store discounts and rebates.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present invention facilitates providing consumers with the services of multiple cards or accounts while allowing consumers to carry a single card, transponder, code and/or other access device. The card may include one or more magnetic stripes. The invention enables a single card to function in multiple modes, for example, as both a credit card and a separate service partner's transportation card. The invention also provides methods for opening new accounts, methods for accomplishing card replacement, methods for canceling a transportation service, methods for canceling a primary party account, and methods for transferring an account to a different service partner account. The multiple-service card may include any combination of demographic information, a barcode, magnetic stripes, biometric and a photo in addition to standard credit card information.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Additional aspects of the present invention will become evident upon reviewing the non-embodiments described in the specification and the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, wherein like numerals designate like elements, and:
DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention may be described herein in terms of functional block components, screen shots, optional selections, and various processing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocks may be realized by any number of hardware and/or software components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, the present invention may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the software elements of the present invention may be implemented with any programming or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, COBOL, assembler, PERL, or the like, with the various algorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, it should be noted that the present invention may employ any number of conventional techniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, network control, and the like. For a basic introduction to cryptography, see �Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,� written by Bruce Schneider published by John Wiley & Sons (second edition, 1996), which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Additionally, although many of the embodiments be discussed with respect to a single, multi-service �card�, as used herein, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention contemplates any other type of device or system, such as, for example, a card, transponder, fob, code, rewards card, charge card, credit card, debit card, prepaid card, telephone card, smart card, magnetic stripe card, bar code card, radio frequency card and/or other access device. The card may include one or more magnetic stripes, bar code and/or other information technology. For example, the card may include two magnetic stripes on one side, one magnetic stripe on the front and one magnetic stripe on the back, a card with multiple faces (e.g., telescopic, expanding or hinged card) and/or the like. The transponder or code may access multiple accounts related to the primary party and service partner, respectively. For example, see U.S. Ser. No. 10/608,792, filed on Jun. 27, 2003, by O'Malley, et al., and entitled �Method And Apparatus For Enrolling With Multiple Transaction Environments�, which is hereby incorporated by reference. The �card� may also not include a physical card or other device; rather, the �card�, as used herein, may simply be an account or account number. Additionally, a �cardholder� or �consumer� includes any person or entity that uses a consumer card and participates in the present system and may include a person who is simply in possession of a financial account identifier, such as an authorization or account code.
Because the card may access combined services such as financial transaction services and transportation services, the system may facilitate charging the financial account for the transportation services. In this regard, upon using the card to access a transportation service, the system may also access the financial account and deduct the cost of the transportation service from the financial account. In one embodiment, the transaction may occur like a known point of sale retail purchase transaction. The deduction may be in substantially real-time, batch mode, periodically, upon request, based on an algorithm or any other routine. The system may allow the consumer to use loyalty points or geographic based loyalty points to pay for the transportation services. In this regard, the system may �convert� the loyalty points to a currency value. For more information related to converting loyalty points to a currency value, see, for example, U.S. Ser. No. 09/834,478, filed on Apr. 13, 2001, by Chien, et al., and entitled �System and Method for Using Loyalty Points,� which is hereby incorporated by reference. The system may also limit the use of certain loyalty points based upon the geographic area for certain transportation services in certain geographic areas (as described below).
The New Account Process: In an exemplary new account process, multiple process participants cooperate to accomplish the process steps. The process participants may include only the primary party 102, the card service engine 104, and the service partner 106, but those participants may also delegate their responsibilities to entities within their respective organizations or to other entities. Furthermore, the card service engine 104 may be the same party as either the primary party 102 or the service partner 106. Referring to FIGS. 2 a and 2 b, regardless whether, or to which entities, the various process steps are delegated, the new account process is initiated by a consumer's submission of application information (step 210) to either the service partner 106 or the primary party 102. If the consumer 108 submits the information to the service partner 106, the service partner 106 may route the information to the primary party or the service partner may perform the initial processing of the application information (step 220). If the consumer 108 submits the application information to the card service engine 104, however, the primary party 102 receives the application (step 210) from the consumer 108 and routes (step 210) the information to the service partner 106, which performs the initial processing (step 220).
The card generator 120, receives (step 280), periodically, the plastic file from the card service engine 104. Upon receipt of the plastic file, the card generator 120 identifies (step 281) all service partner charge and lending accounts on the primary party's renewal plastic file and transmits (step 282) an identified accounts file of all identified accounts to the service partner 106. The identified accounts file includes information such as the primary party's account numbers, consumer 108 names, the card generator processing identifiers, transaction dates, and the primary party's bag id's. A new identified accounts file is created periodically for renewal and periodic processing. Balancing reports are also sent (step 283) to show the total number of accounts sent to the service partner 106.
Card Replacement Processes: In an exemplary card replacement process, multiple process participants cooperate to accomplish the process steps. The process participants may include only the primary party 102, the card service engine 104, and the service partner 106, but those participants may also delegate their responsibilities to entities within their respective organizations or to other entities. Furthermore, the card service engine 104 may be the same party as either the primary party 102 or the service partner 106. Regardless to which entities the various process steps are delegated, the card replacement process may be initiated by the primary party 102, in conjunction with the consumer 108, or by the service partner 106. Further, special procedures may be called out in cases of fraud or emergency. In an exemplary embodiment, after initial processing, a plastic card replacement process is initiated.
Card Maintenance Pocesses/Service Partner Cancellation: In an exemplary service partner cancellation process, multiple process participants cooperate to accomplish the process steps. The process participants may include only the primary party 102, the card service engine 104, and the service partner 106, but those participants may also delegate their responsibilities to entities within their respective organizations or to other entities. Furthermore, the card service engine 104 may be the same party as either the primary party 102 or the service partner 106. Referring to FIG. 4, regardless to which entities the various process steps are delegated, the service partner cancellation process is initiated by the service partner 106, which transmits (step 410) a cancellation file to the primary party 102. The cancellation file contains data elements for all the primary party 102 consumers 108 who have cancelled their services with the service partner. These data elements include the cancellation date, the primary party″′ new account number, and the consumer″′ name.
Upon receipt of the cancellation file from the service partner 106, the primary party 102 produces (step 420) a service partner cancellation report on the report generator. This report is used by card service providers to transfer (step 430) consumers 108 to a new product. The primary party 102 also sends (step 421) a report to the consumer service administrator 114 and produces (step 422) a balancing report containing total records of the received cancellation file. In addition, the primary party 102 creates (step 423) a job control language process to execute the information administrator balancing job. Finally, the primary party 102 creates (step 424) a backup of the service partner″′ cancellation file and balancing reports for 90 days.
Card Maintenance Processes/Primary Party Consumer Cancellations or Transfers to non-Service Partner Products: In an exemplary consumer cancellation process, multiple process participants cooperate to accomplish the process steps. The process participants may include only the primary party 102, the card service engine 104, and the service partner 106, but those participants may also delegate their responsibilities to entities within their respective organizations or to other entities. Furthermore, the card service engine 104 may be the same party as either the primary party 102 or the service partner 106. Referring to FIGS. 5 a and 5 b, regardless to which entities the various process steps are delegated, the consumer cancellation process is initiated by the primary party″′ consumer service administrator″′ 114 receiving (step 510) a request from a consumer 108 to terminate or convert to another product.
If the consumer″′ desire to terminate cannot be verified, the transportation administrator identifies (step 540) consumer transfer options and opens (step 541) a memo queue specifying the product, to which the consumer 108 wants to transfer. In addition, the consumer service administrator 114 opens (step 542) a memo list and obtains (step 543) accounts that must be transferred to a new IA. Finally, the consumer service administrator 114 processes (step 544) the advancement of the rebate and performs (step 545) the migration transaction to move the consumer 108 to the new IA.
If the consumer″′ 108 desire to terminate is verified, the transportation administrator processes (step 550) the attrition, causing the card service engine 104 to update (step 551) the file with a cancel code. In addition, the card service engine 104 creates (step 552) and/or updates (step 553) the change/renewal file with the transfer code for extraction by the consumer service administrator 114.
Upon receipt (step 580) of the primary party″′ cancellation file from the consumer service administrator 114, the service partner 106 turns the credit flag indicator to N, thereby severing (step 581) the system linkage. In this situation, the service partner 106 may issue (step 582) a stand alone transportation card. Finally, the service partner 106 produces (step 583) a balancing report containing the total records of the transmitted file. This balancing report will be utilized (step 584) by the information administrator 112 after each transmission for balancing with the card generator 120.
As used herein, the term �network� shall include any electronic communications means which incorporates both hardware and software components of such. Communication among the parties in accordance with the present invention may be accomplished through any suitable communication channels, such as, for example, a telephone network, an extranet, an intranet, Internet, point of interaction device (point of sale device, personal digital assistant, cellular phone, kiosk, etc.), online communications, off-line communications, wireless communications, transponder communications, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), networked or linked devices and/or the like. Moreover, although the invention is frequently described herein as being implemented with TCP/IP communications protocols, the invention may also be implemented using IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI or any number of existing or future protocols. If the network is in the nature of a public network, such as the Internet, it may be advantageous to presume the network to be insecure and open to eavesdroppers. Specific information related to the protocols, standards, and application software utilized in connection with the Internet is generally known to those skilled in the art and, as such, need not be detailed herein. See, for example, Dilip Naik, �Internet Standards and Protocols� (1998); �Java 2 Complete�, various authors, (Sybex 1999); Deborah Ray and Eric Ray, �Mastering HTML 4.0� (1997); and Loshin, �TCP/IP Clearly Explained� (1997) and David Gourley and Brian Totty, �HTTP, The Definitive Guide�(2002), the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The various system components may be independently, separately or collectively suitably coupled to the network via data links which includes, for example, a connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) over the local loop as is typically used in connection with standard modem communication, cable modem, Dish networks, ISDN, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or various wireless communication methods. See, e.g., Gilbert Held, �Understanding Data Communications� (1996), hereby incorporated by reference. It is noted that the network may be implemented as other types of networks, such as an interactive television (ITV) network. Moreover, the system contemplates the use, sale or distribution of any goods, services or information over any network having similar functionality described herein.
In one exemplary embodiment, the ability to store a wide variety of information in different formats is facilitated by storing the information as a Block of Binary (BLOB). Thus, any binary information can be stored in a storage space associated with a data set. As discussed above, the binary information may be stored on the financial transaction instrument or external to but affiliated with the financial transaction instrument. The BLOB method may store data sets as ungrouped data elements formatted as a block of binary via a fixed memory offset using either fixed storage allocation, circular queue techniques, or best practices with respect to memory management ((e.g., paged memory, least recently used, etc.). By using BLOB methods, the ability to store various data sets that have different formats facilitates the storage of data associated with the financial transaction instrument by multiple and unrelated owners of the data sets. For example, a first data set which may be stored may be provided by a first issuer, a second data set which may be stored may be provided by an unrelated second issuer, and yet a third data set which may be stored, may be provided by an third issuer unrelated to the first and second issuer. Each of these three exemplary data sets may contain different information that is stored using different data storage formats and/or techniques. Further, each data set may contain subsets of data which also may be distinct from other subsets.
As stated above, in various embodiments of the present invention, the data can be stored without regard to a common format. However, in one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the data set ((e.g., BLOB) may be annotated in a standard manner when provided for manipulating the data onto the financial transaction instrument. The annotation may comprise a short header, trailer, or other appropriate indicator related to each data set that is configured to convey information useful in managing the various data sets. For example, the annotation may be called a �condition header�, �header�, �trailer�, or �status�, herein, and may comprise an indication of the status of the data set or may include an identifier correlated to a specific issuer or owner of the data. In one example, the first three bytes of each data set BLOB may be configured or configurable to indicate the status of that particular data set; e.g., LOADED, INITIALIZED, READY, BLOCKED, REMOVABLE, or DELETED. Subsequent bytes of data may be used to indicate for example, the identity of the issuer, user, transaction/membership account identifier or the like. Each of these condition annotations are further discussed herein.
Any of the communications, inputs, storage, databases or displays discussed herein may be facilitated through a website having web pages. The term �web page� as it is used herein is not meant to limit the type of documents and applications that might be used to interact with the user. For example, a typical website might include, in addition to standard HTML documents, various forms, Java applets, JavaScript, active server pages (ASP), common gateway interface scripts (CGI), extensible markup language (XML), dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), helper applications, plug-ins, and the like. A server may include a web service which receives a request from a web server, the request including a URL (http://yahoo.com/stockquotes/ge) and an IP address (123.56.789). The web server retrieves the appropriate web pages and sends the data or applications for the web pages to the IP address. Web services are applications which are capable of interacting with other applications over a communications means, such as the internet. Web services are typically based on standards or protocols such as XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI. Web services methods are well known in the art, and are covered in many standard texts. See, e.g., Alex Nghiem, �IT Web Services: A Roadmap for the Enterprise�(2003), hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention is described herein with reference to screen shots, block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus ((e.g., systems), and computer program products according to various aspects of the invention. It will be understood that each functional block of the block diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.
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Inc.Mobile transit fare paymentUS20130067079 *Sep 9, 2011Mar 14, 2013Walid MourtadaTransient market resource locator* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification235/380, 235/375, 235/384International ClassificationG07F7/00, G07F7/08, G07B15/02, G06K5/00, G07F7/10Cooperative ClassificationG06Q20/3574, G06Q20/363, G06Q30/0215, G07F17/0014, G07F7/1008, G07F7/0866, G07B15/02, G06Q50/10, G06Q20/341, G06Q30/02, G06Q20/102, G06Q20/357, G06Q20/227, G06Q10/087European ClassificationG07F17/00C, G06Q20/363, G06Q50/10, G06Q10/087, G06Q20/357, G06Q30/02, G07F7/08C, G06Q20/341, G06Q20/227, G06Q20/3574, G06Q20/102, G06Q30/0215, G07F7/10DLegal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionJun 25, 2010FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4Apr 3, 2007CCCertificate of correctionAug 4, 2004ASAssignmentOwner name: AMERICAN EXPRESS TRAVEL RELATED SERVICES CO., INC.Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:COHAGAN, PERRY A.;FITZMAURICE, MARY ANN;FREUD, ALIZA;ANDOTHERS;REEL/FRAME:014960/0239;SIGNING DATES FROM 20040325 TO 20040802RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google