Stored value cards have become widely used for many financial transactions, including welfare and “food stamp” programs. For example, under the U.S. food stamps program, many states have set up systems (funded by the federal government) where monthly food stamp values are transferred to a debit account, enabling the recipient to use a debit card to purchase a wide array of food items. Food stamp programs normally permit almost all types of “foods” to be purchased, even those that offer little nutritional value.
More recently, government programs have been initiated that target certain kinds of nutritional foods that are to be purchased at regular intervals in order to promote more healthful eating habits. For example, the WIC (women, infants and children) program, which is also funded largely by the federal government, normally provides paper coupons or checks to recipients, stating specific kinds of foods to be purchased within specified dates. The foods are those that are particularly healthful to mothers and to their newborn and young children. Thus, a WIC check will list the specific food items (formula, milk, vegetables, etc.) and the number of such items to be purchased using a single check. In some instances, the check is signed by the recipient when it is redeemed, and carries a maximum (“do not exceed”) value. A retailer honoring the WIC check is required to enter the amount of the purchase on the check at the time of the purchase, have the recipient sign it, and make sure that only the specific items are purchased (certain brands and certain quantities). The check will also have a data range during which the check must be used (a “first date to use” and a “last date to use” will appear on the check).
Other programs (such as the federally funded “Farmers Market Nutrition Program”) may provide coupons having certain face values, but if purchases are made for eligible items less than the coupon face value, the difference is kept by the merchant. Thus, for example, a recipient may be given a certain number of $5 dollar coupons, which are to be used within a specified period of time for purchasing fresh produce at a “farmer's” market. If any coupon is used for purchase of an eligible item having a cost less than the $5 dollar face amount, the merchant (not the consumer) keeps the difference.
While these highly structured benefits programs, such as the WIC program, have significant societal and individual advantages (e.g., better eating habits and improved health), they can be difficult to administer and do not drive cost conscious behaviors. For example, even if the recipient may be able purchase items for much less than the established maximum value on a WIC check (e.g., by use of “cents off” store coupons or other promotional programs offered by stores or manufacturers), there is little incentive for either the recipient or the merchant to take advantage of those promotional programs. The recipient has no incentive since he/she gets the same items with a single check, regardless of whether other discounts available. A merchant has no incentive to encourage the recipient to take advantage of discounts, since it will lower the price but not increase volume of sales (e.g., a WIC check is good only for a specified quantity of food, and no more than that quantity, even if the price is lower). There is also no convenient way for the merchant to encourage customers to purchase other non-eligible items, for example, by permitting the recipient to use savings from discounts on program eligible items to purchase other non-eligible items.
There is provided, in accordance with the present invention, a system and method for managing a stored value account used to make purchases, Wherein the account is credited with virtual coupons. The virtual coupons may be associated with a specified maximum value and a specified product, and redeemable for the purchase of the specified product at a price no more than the specified maximum value.
In some embodiments, there is provided a system and method for managing an account, wherein the system includes a database for storing credits to the account, the credits representing virtual coupons having a specified maximum value and a specified product. When the specified product is purchased, the associated coupon is debited from the account and the difference between the maximum value of the debited coupon and the purchase price of the specified product is stored in the database.
In another embodiment, the account credited with virtual coupons is a first account. Transactions may be made to the account through the use of a presentation instrument, such as a financial card, which identifies the first account. A second account may be associated with the first account and also identified by the presentation instrument. Thus a single presentation instrument may be used for purchases against both the first account and the second account.
In one embodiment, the first account is a benefits account credited with virtual coupons issued by a government funded program, such as the WIC (Women, Infants, Children) program. In other embodiments, the second account may either be a financial credit card or debit card account, or alternatively, an account using credits issued under a different government program, such as the federally funded “food stamps” program.
A more complete understanding of the present invention may be derived by referring to the detailed description of the invention and to the claims, when considered in connection with the Figures.
There are various embodiments and configurations for implementing the present invention. One such implementation is shown in
Terminals (such as the POS terminals 102) used for conducting retail and similar transactions are well known. Although not illustrated in
When products are taken by a customer to the POS terminal 102, product information or a product ID is entered (e.g., at a keyboard or through use of a bar code scanner). Product information is used to retrieve pricing information (e.g., at a price look-up table within the POS terminal or in a database elsewhere within the retail network 104). The customer may use cash or a financial card (e.g., credit, debit or similar card), and in the case of a card, information may be read at the POS terminal (e.g., at a magnetic stripe reader) and transmitted to a bank or financial institution through financial network 110 in order to authorize the transaction and post it to the appropriate account. The card may be presented at any time during the transaction (before, during or after) product IDs are entered. POS devices and networks for conducting credit card and similar transactions are known and can be found in co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/116,689, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PERFORMING TRANSACTIONS AT A POINT-OF-SALE,” filed Apr. 3, 2002, by Eamey Stoutenburg, et al., which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/634,901, entitled “POINT OF SALE PAYMENT TERMINAL,” filed Aug. 9, 2000, by Randy J. Templeton et al. The entire disclosures of the referenced patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference.
The benefits network 116 is used for processing information entered at the POS terminals 102 that pertains to the redemption of electronic or virtual coupons maintained in a benefits account. In particular, it is anticipated that a customer uses a benefits debit card (to be described later in conjunction with
In the system of
The networks 104, 110 and 116 may be implemented using the Internet, an intranet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a virtual private network, or any combination of the foregoing. The networks may include both wired and wireless connections, including optical links. For example, the POS terminals may be portable wireless terminals (stationary or mobile) linked to the retail network 104 by wireless communications channels.
While each of the networks 104, 110 and 116 is illustrated in
Also, while the POS terminals 102, DBMS 120 and database 122 are illustrated as separate devices or systems geographically distributed across various networks, they (and their functionality) could all be co-located at a single location and could even all be integrated into a single computing system or device.
The card 150 is used to identify the participant (as someone eligible for benefits under a government funded program), and provide information to the POS terminal 102 in order to verify eligibility and/or settle transactions. One side of the card may be embossed with the participant/customer name 152, an account number 154, and an expiration date 156. The card may have the name or logo 158 of the payer (program administrator).
The back side of the card may include a signature line 160, and printed program information 162. Program information may include instructions for use of the card, a program administrator phone number, and other similar information.
The card also includes one or more information encoding features. Information encoding features may include a magnetic stripe 164, a bar code 166, a smart chip (not shown), and the like. It is to be understood that many other examples of a presentation instrument and associated information encoding features are possible.
In the illustrated embodiment, the card number 154 identifies the administrator/institution/agency maintaining the benefits account as well as the customer's individual account. Similar to conventional credit or debit card transactions, such information is used by the POS terminal and retail network 104 to route the transaction data to the benefits network 116, where the account of the participant (customer) is accessed (to be more fully described later).
The card 150 permits the participant to identify and purchase products that are eligible for redemption using the virtual coupon units stored in her account. Thus, after the product ID for each product to be purchased is entered at POS terminal 102, and after participant information (benefits account number, etc.) is read from the card at the POS terminal 102, such information is transmitted through retail network 104 and benefits network 116 to DBMS 120. The DBMS 120 accesses database tables in database 122 that have the participant's account information and also information concerning eligible products and purchases. The customer is then informed at the POS terminal 102 whether specific products are eligible for purchase using the account. The customer is then asked whether such eligible purchases are to be paid for using the benefits account (i.e., debiting purchases against the virtual coupons maintained in the account).
In addition to displaying the normal purchase amount for each eligible product, the screen 310 seen in
It should be appreciated that information other than that seen in
The screen in
Such data can also be used for many purposes useful to the program administrator and its participants, such as determining the coupon use habits of participants, encouraging participants to take advantage of discounts by permitting the discount (or a portion thereof) to be credited to the participant to use for other (eligible or non-eligible) product purchases, etc.
Of course, other data related to the transaction can also be stored in relation to redeemed coupons (date of purchase, other food products being purchased at the same time, the extent of discounts that participants are obtaining, etc.).
While not specifically shown, other information may also be provided in connection with each account, such as a PIN (in the event required for accessing the account), participant name, address, related accounts (the use of which will be described later), and any other personal information of the participant useful in managing the account.
As should be apparent, the database table 410 may be updated as needed, e.g., when a participant is periodically re-certified as eligible to receive benefits, and at that time the database can be loaded with the IDs of the various products that can be purchased and the dates during which each product may be purchased.
The functionality implementing the embodiments described in
Turning to
If the account is active and has at least one valid coupon, then the information in screen 310 seen in
It should be appreciated that the flow diagram in
It should be appreciated from the preceding discussion that the present invention provides a novel method and system for facilitating purchase of products or items, where items may be purchased by redemption of virtual or electronic coupons maintained in an account. While detailed descriptions of presently preferred embodiments of the invention have been given above, various alternatives, modifications, and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art without varying from the spirit of the invention. For example, while the benefits card 150 is described for use in purchasing program eligible products, it may also be used to facilitate the purchase of non-eligible products. For example, a separate credit card/debit card account could be associated with the benefits account (e.g., the associated account number is related to and stored with the benefits account number in table 410 of database 122), so that non-eligible products may be purchased using an associated credit/debit card account at the same time that eligible items are purchased using the benefits account. In such case, when the benefits account is accessed, the related non-benefits account number may be retrieved and sent to the POS terminal, and used by the POS terminal to access the separate account over the financial network 110. If desired, the savings from discounts used with redeemed coupons could be stored in the related account.
Also, a participant may be eligible for several programs, e.g., a WIC program for purchase of only a limited number of WIC eligible food products, and a food stamps program for purchase of a much wider variety of food products. The same card could be used to redeem WIC coupons maintained in a WIC benefits account and to purchase other food products using “food stamps” maintained in a separate food stamp account.
Thus the customer may avoid having to carry two cards, one for WIC purchases and a separate card for other purchases.
Further, the participant need not carry a card. Rather the presentation instrument could be an RFID (radio frequency identification device), which is carried by the participant (e.g., as a key fob) and which electronically transmits benefits information when passed near a transceiver at the POS terminal, so that the entire transaction can be conducted without presenting or reading/swiping a card. As a further example, the presentation instrument need not be a tangible instrument at all, but could be simply an identifier or password issued by the program administrator (e.g., string of characters) that a customer has memorized and that could be entered (along with an optional security code/PIN) at the POS terminal whenever a transaction is to be conducted.
Therefore, the described embodiments should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims.