Integrated Transaction Handler for Payment Offer Redemption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for processing payment transactions and redeeming offers, such as coupons and discounts, face inefficiencies due to separate processing systems, leading to resource wastage and time delays in providing benefits to users.
Innovation Solution
A system that automates the redemption of offer benefits by storing data associating offers with payment accounts and using a transaction handler to detect authorization requests that satisfy redemption requirements, allowing for the application of benefits during the payment processing, thereby integrating payment and offer processing for improved efficiency and reduced delays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If separate systems are used for processing payments and redeeming offers, then system independence and simplicity are maintained, but resource allocation efficiency deteriorates and processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the payment processing system and offer redemption system into a single integrated transaction handler. The transaction handler receives authorization requests containing both payment information and offer redemption requests, processes them simultaneously, and returns a unified authorization response. This consolidation eliminates the need for separate processing systems, directly improving resource allocation efficiency and reducing processing time while maintaining manageable complexity through unified architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The transaction handler is designed as a universal system that performs multiple functions: processing payment transactions, validating offer redemption requests, checking account balances, and managing benefit allocations. By making the transaction handler multi-functional, the system eliminates the need for specialized separate systems for each function, thereby improving productivity without proportionally increasing device complexity.
2Loss of time
If separate systems process payments and offers independently, then system simplicity is maintained, but time delay in providing offer benefits increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-validating offer redemption eligibility and pre-calculating benefit amounts during the authorization request processing stage. The transaction handler checks whether the transaction qualifies for offer redemption and determines the benefit amount before finalizing the payment processing. This preliminary validation and calculation eliminate subsequent processing delays, reducing the overall time to provision offer benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated transaction handler enables continuous processing by handling payment and offer redemption validation in a single uninterrupted workflow. Instead of completing payment processing then separately handling offer redemption (which would create idle time), the system continuously processes both functions simultaneously within the same transaction flow, eliminating gaps and reducing total provisioning time.
3Loss of energy
If separate systems are used for payment and offer processing, then resource allocation is simpler, but computation resource wastage increases
Solution Approach 1:
By merging payment processing and offer redemption validation into a single transaction handler, the system eliminates duplicate computation resources that would exist in separate systems. The integrated architecture shares common components such as authentication modules, database access layers, and transaction logging mechanisms, thereby reducing overall computation resource consumption and eliminating wastage from redundant processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The transaction handler acts as an intermediary that coordinates between payment processing functions and offer redemption validation. It receives a single authorization request containing both payment details and offer redemption criteria, processes them through shared validation logic, and returns a unified response. This intermediary role enables efficient resource sharing and coordination, reducing computation resource wastage while managing system complexity through centralized control.
4Productivity
If integrated processing is implemented, then transaction efficiency improves, but compatibility with conventional systems may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The transaction handler is designed with universal compatibility features that enable it to work with both conventional separate systems and the integrated architecture. It can process standard payment authorization requests and also handle extended requests containing offer redemption criteria. The system maintains compatibility with existing payment networks and protocols while adding offer redemption functionality, thereby improving productivity without sacrificing adaptability to different system configurations.
Data Source
AI summary
To automate the redemption of offer benefits, data associating offers and payment accounts is stored in the data warehouse of a first transaction handler. If a payment account to which an offer is associated is in the payment processing network of a second transaction handler separate from the first transaction handler, the system uses a payment processor that is in both the payment processing network of the first transaction handler and the payment processing network of the second transaction handler to communicate with the first transaction handler to detect the authorization request in the payment account that satisfies the benefit redemption requirements of the respective offer and apply the offer benefit to the transaction when the authorization request is detected.