Linked Card Identification via Transaction Pattern Analysis

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods fail to effectively identify payment cards associated through their usage patterns, especially when cards are issued by different institutions or used by different individuals within the same household.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented method that analyzes transaction data from a payment network to identify declined transactions and subsequent transactions occurring within a predetermined time window and amount at the same terminal, associating payment devices based on these patterns.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If transaction data is analyzed to identify linked cards across different issuing institutions, then the ability to identify associated payment devices is improved, but the complexity of data processing and analysis increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveidentification accuracyVSAvoiddata processing complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the identification process into distinct analytical components: extracting transaction features, computing usage patterns, comparing patterns across cards, and making association decisions. This modular approach breaks down the complex task of identifying linked cards across different institutions into manageable steps, reducing processing complexity while maintaining identification accuracy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary analysis layer that processes transaction data through standardized feature extraction and pattern computation. This intermediary layer translates raw transaction data from different issuing institutions into a common format for comparison, enabling accurate identification of linked cards without directly handling the complexity of multiple institution-specific data formats.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If multiple transaction parameters are analyzed to determine card associations, then the reliability of identification is improved, but the computational resources required increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveassociation detection reliabilityVSAvoidcomputational resource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by focusing analysis on specific, locally-relevant transaction features rather than processing all possible transaction data uniformly. It identifies and analyzes key parameters such as transaction timing patterns, amount distributions, and merchant categories that are locally significant to card usage behavior, thereby improving reliability while reducing overall computational resource consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The patent transforms raw transaction parameters into derived usage pattern metrics through parameter changes. Instead of directly comparing raw transaction data, it computes aggregated patterns such as transaction frequency, time intervals, and spending distributions, which reduces the dimensionality of the data while preserving the essential information needed for reliable card association detection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Speed

If real-time analysis of transaction patterns is performed to identify linked cards, then the speed of identification is improved, but the processing load on the system increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveidentification speedVSAvoidsystem processing capacity

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-computing and storing usage pattern characteristics from historical transaction data. This allows the system to have identification-ready patterns available in advance, enabling rapid real-time identification of linked cards without performing complete pattern analysis during real-time transactions, thus improving speed while managing processing load.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements periodic action by analyzing transaction patterns at scheduled intervals rather than continuously processing every transaction in real-time. It computes usage patterns periodically from accumulated transaction data and updates card associations at these intervals, which reduces the continuous processing load while maintaining timely identification capability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #19Periodic action

Data Source

PatentUS10565585B2Method and system for identifying linked cards from authorization records

Publication Date: 2020.02.18 MASTERCARD ASIAPACIFIC PTE LTD

AI summary

A computer-implemented method of detecting associated payment devices comprises: receiving, by a processor from a payment network, transaction data representing a plurality of transaction records, a transaction amount, a transaction time, a terminal identifier, and a result code indicating success or failure of a transaction; identifying from said transaction records a declined transaction associated with a first payment device identifier, and determining a terminal identifier and transaction amount associated with the declined transaction; identifying from said transaction records a subsequent transaction occurring within a predetermined window of the declined transaction, the subsequent transaction being associated with the same terminal identifier and the same transaction amount as the declined transaction, the subsequent transaction being associated with a second payment device identifier that is different from the first payment device identifier; and storing, in a database, an association between the second payment device identifier and the first payment device identifier.