Payment Card Referral Tracking via POS Integration

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Solution Overview

Problem

Traditional referral programs face challenges in tracking and maintaining referrals, especially when hyperlinks are reshared and in offline transactions at physical merchant locations, leading to difficulties in rewarding customers accurately.

Innovation Solution

A referral technology that allows customers to send referrals via contact information, enabling automatic redemption of promotional offers using a payment card at the merchant's point-of-sale system, with a payment service system managing the association and tracking of referrals for rewards.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If traditional hyperlink-based referral tracking is used, then existing customers can share referrals on social networks, but the tracking becomes burdensome and unreliable when hyperlinks are reshared by others

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvereferral sharing capabilityVSAvoidreferral tracking accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a payment card as an intermediary carrier that embeds unique referral identification information. Instead of relying on shareable hyperlinks that can be reshared, the referral ID is embedded in the physical payment card itself, creating a reliable one-to-one mapping between card and referral that cannot be accidentally or intentionally misattributed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent creates a digital copy of the referral identification information within the payment card's data structure. This digital copy serves as a permanent, unchangeable record that links the cardholder to the referral, eliminating the ambiguity of hyperlink sharing while maintaining the ability to track referrals accurately.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

2Adaptability or versatility

If hyperlink-based referral detection is used, then online referrals can be tracked, but offline transactions at physical merchant locations cannot be detected

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvereferral detection scopeVSAvoidreferral tracking complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The payment card serves multiple functions: it acts as both a payment instrument and a referral tracking carrier. The same card used for offline transactions at physical locations also contains the referral identification information, enabling seamless tracking across both online and offline channels without requiring separate systems.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces the mechanical hyperlink-clicking detection method with an automated system that reads referral information directly from the payment card's data structure during transaction processing. This substitution eliminates the need for manual hyperlink activation and enables automatic tracking of offline transactions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

3Loss of information

If manual hyperlink tracking is used, then referrals can be monitored, but the process becomes complicated and time-consuming

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvereferral information trackingVSAvoidreferral maintenance time

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables self-service referral tracking by automatically reading and processing referral identification information from the payment card during the transaction itself. The cardholder's referral status is determined and processed without requiring manual intervention, hyperlink activation, or separate tracking steps, significantly reducing time and effort.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

4Productivity

If referral rewards are distributed manually based on hyperlink clicks, then existing customers can earn rewards, but the process is burdensome and may not accurately reward the correct customer

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvereferral reward distributionVSAvoidreferral attribution accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The payment card serves as a reliable intermediary that carries the unique referral identification information from the referrer to the transaction system. This ensures that rewards are automatically and accurately attributed to the correct referrer based on the card used, eliminating manual tracking errors and ensuring measurement precision.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS10909563B1Generation and tracking of referrals in receipts

Publication Date: 2021.02.02 BLOCK INC

AI summary

Introduced is a technology for facilitating a referral between a referrer and a referee, including the generation of the referral and the tracking of the referral redemption by the referee. The technology enables a customer to send a referral about a merchant to a friend by simply providing contact information associated with that friend (e.g., email address, telephone number, etc.), and further enables the friend to redeem a promotional offer included in the referral upon a use of the friend's payment card at the merchant's point-of-sale (POS) system, without having to provide any further information. In some instances, a transfer of a referral reward (e.g., points, discount, payment, etc.) is also transferred to the referrer in response to the redemption by the referee.