Offer Identifier Linking Transaction Accounts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for linking transaction accounts to offers are cumbersome for offer providers, particularly small businesses, and require significant resources and consumer data sharing, which can deter consumers from using offers due to security concerns.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for linking transaction accounts to offers using a processing server that generates and manages offer identifiers, allowing offer providers to register offers without modifying existing systems, and enabling consumers to link accounts without sharing financial information directly with the offer provider, using a processing server that stores account and offer data and facilitates redemption through a payment network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If current methods are used to link transaction accounts to offers, then offer redemption can be achieved, but the process becomes cumbersome and requires significant resources from offer providers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a payment network as an intermediary that hosts offer data and manages the linking between offers and transaction accounts. This mediator handles the complex data storage, communication protocols, and redemption processing, freeing offer providers from implementing these complex systems themselves while enabling efficient offer redemption through centralized management
2Ease of operation
If offer providers collect consumer financial information directly, then account linking can be established, but consumer security concerns increase and willingness to accept offers decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the sensitive financial information handling from the offer provider's system and places it within the secure environment of the payment network. The offer provider only handles non-sensitive offer data and communication, while the payment network securely manages transaction account information, thereby reducing consumer security risks while maintaining linking functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The payment network acts as a trusted intermediary that consumers are already willing to share financial information with. By routing all financial data through this established secure channel rather than directly to offer providers, the system maintains consumer trust and security while enabling seamless account linking
Data Source
AI summary
A method for linking a transaction account to an offer includes: storing a plurality of account profiles, each profile including data related to a transaction account including an account identifier; receiving offer data from an entity, the data including data related to an offer for the purchase of goods or services; storing an offer data entry, the data entry including the offer data; generating an offer identifier associated with the offer data; transmitting the offer identifier to the entity; receiving an offer acceptance notification, the notification including a specific account identifier and the offer identifier; identifying a specific account profile that includes the specific account identifier; and updating at least one of the specific account profile and the offer data entry to indicate a linkage of the related transaction account to the offer data.