Rewards Management System for Optimizing Payment Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Consumers often fail to maximize their credit card rewards due to the complexity of selecting the most rewarding card for their individual spending habits, requiring excessive research and effort.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that analyzes user and merchant data to generate a lookup table ranking purchasing options based on reward value, recommending the optimal payment method for each transaction, thereby simplifying the selection process and maximizing rewards.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If consumers manually research and select credit cards to maximize rewards, then reward optimization potential is improved, but user effort and time requirements increase excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically analyzes user spending data, merchant information, and credit card reward structures to identify and recommend optimal payment options without requiring manual user research or effort
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual consumer research and selection processes with an automated computational system that uses algorithms to analyze spending patterns, match merchants to appropriate cards, and calculate optimal reward outcomes
2Loss of energy
If consumers carry multiple credit cards to maximize rewards, then reward potential is improved, but device complexity and ease of operation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system acts as an intermediary between the consumer and multiple credit cards, managing the complexity of selecting among numerous cards by automatically identifying the optimal choice based on real-time transaction data and reward structures
Solution Approach 2:
The system consolidates the function of multiple specialized credit cards into a single unified platform that automatically selects the appropriate card for each transaction, eliminating the need for consumers to manually manage and choose among multiple cards
3Loss of information
If real-time reward analysis is performed at time of transaction, then reward optimization is improved, but processing time and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis by pre-processing and storing merchant data, credit card reward structures, and user spending patterns in databases before transactions occur, enabling rapid retrieval and comparison during actual transactions
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the reward optimization process into separate modular components: data collection and storage modules, analysis engines for different card types, and transaction processing modules, allowing parallel processing and reducing overall system complexity and processing time
Data Source
AI summary
This is a system for optimizing purchasing rewards, comprising a rewards management system data lake comprising a user database and a merchant database, wherein the user database is configured to store a plurality of purchasing options, and the merchant database is configured to store merchant data, wherein the merchant data comprises a merchant classification and transaction classification. The system comprises an optimization engine configured to analyze, periodically, the plurality of purchasing options against the merchant data to produce a reward value for each purchase option against the merchant type and the transaction type, and generating, periodically, a lookup table to rank the plurality of purchasing options based on the reward value. The system further comprises a transaction application programming interface configured to receive a transaction input, wherein the transaction input comprises a merchant code and a transaction code, evaluate the transaction input by matching the merchant code against the merchant classification and matching the transaction code with the transaction classification, identify an optimized purchasing option from the plurality of purchasing options in the lookup table, wherein the optimized purchasing option comprises the highest reward value, and generate a transaction output for the optimized purchasing option.