WO2005013167A1

WO2005013167A1 - Method for management of payment cards which can be used in sales services, and device which uses this method

Info

Publication number: WO2005013167A1
Application number: PCT/IT2003/000502
Authority: WO
Inventors: Carmela Spata
Original assignee: Carmela Spata
Priority date: 2003-08-05
Filing date: 2003-08-05
Publication date: 2005-02-10
Also published as: WO2005013167A8; ITMI20041392A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for management of a plurality of payment cards (10), in particular payment cards of the smatcard type, which can be used in a sales service for consumer goods sold by at least one person purchasing, who is provided with the said payment card (10), comprising the following stages: storage in the said payment card (10) by means of storage means, of a plurality of information, the said plurality of information relating to the said consumer goods and to the said at least one person purchasing; and association of a value with the said plurality of information stored in the said payment card (10). The method has the characteristic that it comprises the further stage in which the said value, stored in the said payment card (10), can be utilised immediately afterwards by the said person purchasing, either as cash which can be spent immediately by the said person purchasing, or as a credit balance to be used within the said sales service.

Description

Title: "Method for management of payment cards which can be used in sales services, and device which uses this method" .

The present invention relates to a method for management of payment cards which can be used in sales services, in accordance with the preamble of claim 1, and to a device which uses the said method according to claim 8.

It has been found that the use of payment cards, whether the latter have a magnetic strip or micro-chip, etc., within the context of a sales service, makes it possible to establish a loyalty bond between the consumers/ purchasers and. the vendor.

In fact, consumer/loyalty mechanisms are known which are based on one of these cards, by means of which it is possible to collect points/advantages further to the purchase of one or more, products. In this situation, once a predetermined threshold of points/advantages has been reached,^~ the consumer/purchaser can choose from amongst a series of options. These options include for example the purchase, with or without a discount, of other products, or the possibility of requesting and subsequently collecting a gift from the vendor.

The technical problem on which the present invention is based is that, however, loyalty mechanisms of this type permit a limited number of means of entering the points/advantages accumulated, in the memory of the card. According to the present invention, this object is achieved by means of the management method as claimed in the characterising part of claim 1.

This therefore provides the consumer/purchaser with greater benefits from the payment card than with the known methodologies .

The characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a practical embodiment of it, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the attached drawing, which shows a diagram which represents the method according to the present invention.

Hereinafter in the present description, the term "card" identifies a micro-chip memory card, also known as a smartcard, according to international protocols ISO 7816 and ISO 14443, which can store a plurality of data, the term "terminal" identifies a terminal of the POS (Point of Sale) type, which can carry out the operations of reading and writing the information contained in the memory of the card, and the term "client software" is software which can control and initialise the terminals and the cards.

The method according to the invention is described with reference to the attached figure 1.

A vendor or a plurality of vendors 1 associated with one another (in accordance with the commercial technique known as co-marketing) carry out a campaign for promotion of a specific product or a plurality of products, and a loyalty campaign which is designed to establish a loyalty relationship between the consumers/purchasers and the vendor itself.

The vendor 1 uses a service management centre 2, for example a further company which is responsible for management of the method according to the present invention.

This service centre 2 has at least one electronic processor 3 , which is provided with at least one relational database 4, and this electronic processor 3 is in telematic communication with a plurality of terminals 5, each of which is located on the premises of one of the said plurality of vendors 1.

The relational database 4 can contain for example all the record information for the points of sale 1, the data for all the payment cards 10 issued, all the record information for the consumers/purchasers who hold the said payment cards 10, and it can record all the operations carried out by each payment card 10.

In addition, the service centre 2 makes an agreement with a credit institution 6, for example a bank, in order to guarantee the financial cover necessary for the promotional campaign. This agreement involves for example activation of a current bank account 7, the holder of which, in the present embodiment, is the service centre 2.

In particular, this current account 7 is divided structurally into a plurality of bank current sub- accounts 7i, where "i" is between 1 and N, and "N" is the number of consumers/purchasers who subscribe to the commercial initiative, each of the said bank sub- accounts 7i being able to be associated with a consumer/purchaser, or similarly with a payment card 10.

Corresponding to each current sub-account 7i it is possible to credit/debit a value or an item purchased by each consumer/purchaser according to the methodology described in detail hereinafter.

In addition, the credit institution 6 has a data processing centre 8 which is also provided with at least one relational database 9. As well as being connected to the communication networks which are conventionally provided for a banking institution, this data processing centre 8 is in telematic connection with the data processing centre 3 of the service management centre 2.

In fact, there is advantageously a telematic connection between the two relational databases 4 and 9 by means of the respective data processing centres 3 and 8. The methods and techniques by means of which it is possible to establish the telematic connection are known to a person skilled in the art.

It should be emphasised that the card 10 can be purchased or obtained by the purchaser/consumer from the vendor 1, or it can be obtained on request from the credit institution 6. In this last case the card 10 will be sent to the domicile 13 of the consumer/purchaser. It should also be noted that a PIN (Personal Identification Number) personal identification code is associated with the card 10, such as to permit financial operations outside the sales service offered by the plurality of vendors 1.

By means of this PIN, it is possible for identification of the consumer/purchaser to be carried out by the vendor 1, by the service centre 2 , and by the credit institution 6.

According to a particular embodiment of the present invention, in order to credit in the memory of the card 10 the points/advantages acquired by the consumer/ purchaser, at least one point/advantage is associated with each product offered by the vendor.

It will be appreciated that the purchase of one or more products by the consumer/purchaser gives rise to the stage of crediting of additional points/advantages.

Again with reference to figure 1, it can be noted that one or more terminals 5 are installed on the premises of each vendor; each terminal 5 can read and/or write in the memory of the card 10, by means of the client software.

The terminals 5 can be connected on-line to the service centre 2 via a telephone or GSM line, or by similar forms of connection; these terminals 5 can also function off-line, by saving the movements within the terminal itself and downloading these movements periodically to the database 4 of the service centre 2. Finally, it is also possible for the terminals 5 to be connected via a serial line to a local server (not shown in the figure) , which is located for example on the premises of the vendor 1, the said server being able to communicate via modem or TCP/IP with the data processor 3 of the service centre 2.

It can also be noted in this figure 1 that there is a stores unit 11 and a help-desk unit 12.

The stores unit 11 is the unit which is physically responsible for dispatching the articles requested and/or purchased by the consumer/purchaser . The dispatch can take place directly to the point of sale 1 or to the domicile 13 of the consumer/purchaser.

The stores 11 are connected to the service centre 2, such as to guarantee the traceability of every article sent, i.e. the stores 11 can guarantee the tracking of each object sent, by corresponding Internet interrogation either by the consumer/purchaser or by the vendor 1.

The help desk 12 provides support of an informative type to the consumer/purchaser, and can also settle any problems associated with the card 10, such as an incorrect value of points/advantages stored, or failure to store points/advantages after a product has been purchased etc., or problems which could arise when articles are dispatched. The help-desk unit 12 can also be interrogated by means of the Internet network, by the consumer/purchaser. The client software installed in the terminals 5 can guarantee in a single operation the stage of validation of the card 10 and the stage of writing in the memory of the card 10 itself.

In particular, the stage of validation of the card 10 consists of checking that the card 10 which is currently in use by the consumer/purchaser is firstly a card which forms part of the specific commercial initiative, and secondly that it is a card which is electrically and electronically valid, i.e. that it is a card which has not been tampered with.

By this means the device according to the invention guarantees the security of the information transmitted, and reduces to a minimum the risks of fraud.

For implementation of the present method there is a stage in which the consumer/purchaser, provided with his card 10, makes purchases from a vendor 1, such that by means of the service centre 2, his own entry 7i in the current account 7 is credited with the counter-value of the points/advantages accumulated as a consequence of the purchase.

Once the first crediting of points/advantages has been made to his own entry 7i in the current account, the consumer/purchaser has available a plurality of options, which include: the purchase with or without a discount of other products from the same vendor 1 or from another vendor involved in the commercial initiative, or the possibility of requesting and subsequently collecting a gift from the vendor, or, advantageously, of transforming the points/advantages into cash, or, advantageously, transforming the points/advantages into "electronic" cash which can be spent by means of international credit circuits, such as the circuit known by the name of CIRRUS-MAESTRO, or, advantageously, of carrying out operations relating to electronic commerce on the Internet network.

The methods for purchasing other products with or without a discount from the same vendor 1 or from another vendor involved in the commercial initiative, or the possibility of requesting and subsequently collecting a gift from the vendor 1, are methods which are known and will therefore not be analysed hereinafter in the present description.

Advantageously, the present invention guarantees the possibility for the consumer/purchaser to make a payment or collect cash by means of the connection between the credit institution 6 and the service centre 2. Thus, if the consumer/purchaser wishes to carry out a financial transaction, such as collection from a bank cash point, he must insert his own card 10 in the terminal (in this case this is a reading device of a fixed type provided with an appropriate slot into which the card 10 is inserted) , and by means of an alphanumerical keypad which is provided for this purpose, he must enter the PIN code associated with the card 10; the terminal is connected telematically to the electronic processor 8 of the credit institution 6 by means of existing telematic networks . After a conventional step of recognition and/or identification, the consumer/purchaser requests a specific amount of money.

The request is transmitted by the data processor 8 of the credit institution 6 to the data processor 3 of the service centre 2. In this case, the request for collection is encoded in a plurality of data which identify the financial transaction required by the consumer/purchaser.

At this point, the service centre 2 sends a request for authorisation^" of the transaction to the processing centre 8 of the credit institution 6, together with the data of the purchaser/consumer and the financial transaction.

The electronic processor 8 processes this data received, together with the data already present in the memory of the card 10.

In particular, the electronic processor 8 of the credit institution 6 compares the credit balance present on the card 10 with the amount of money which the purchaser/ consumer wishes to collect.

The electronic processor 8 authorises the collection if, and only if, the credit balance of the purchaser/ consumer is greater than, or equal to, the amount of money to be collected.

If the outcome of this check is positive, i.e. if there is the financial availability required, the management centre 2 will update in real time the relative value of the credit balance stored in the memory of the card 10.

It will be appreciated that for a financial transaction relating to a payment further to a purchase made by the purchaser/consumer by means of a credit card, the request for authorisation for payment has methods similar to those previously described with reference to the operations of a cash-point type.

By this means, the purchaser/consumer can utilise immediately afterwards his own credit balance stored in the memory of the card 10, thus obtaining the possibility of carrying out either economic transaction operations within the sales service or economic transaction operations outside the sales service.

It will be appreciated that in order to meet specific contingent requirements, a person skilled in the art may make numerous modifications and variations to the above- described, all of which are however included in the scope of protection of the invention as defined by the following claims .

Claims

1. Method for management of a plurality of payment cards (10) , in particular payment cards of the smartcard type, which can be used in a sales service for consumer goods sold by at least one vendor (1) to at least one person purchasing, who is provided with the said payment card (10), comprising the following stages: storage in the said payment card (10) by means of storage means, of a plurality of information, the said plurality of information relating to the said consumer goods and to the said at least one person purchasing; association of a value with the said plurality of information stored in the said payment card (10) ; characterised in that it comprises the further stage in which the said value, stored in the said payment card (10) , can be utilised immediately afterwards by the said person purchasing, either as cash which can be spent immediately, or as a credit balance to be used within the said sales service.

2. Method for management of a plurality of payment cards according to claim 1, characterised in that it comprises the further stages of: association with a product offered by the vendor (1) , of at least one advantage point representing a monetary counter-value which is correlated to the product; and on the basis of the purchase of the said product, crediting of an entry (7i) in a current account (7) with the monetary jΞpunter-value of the said at least one advantage point .

3. Method for management of a plurality of payment cards according to claim 2, characterised in that the said current account (7) is managed by a financial institution (6) .

4. Method for management of a plurality of payment cards according to claim 1, characterised in that the said payment card (10) comprises means for storage of an identification code (PIN) for the said person purchasing, of information relating to the said vendor (1) , and of information relating to the said at least one product purchased.

5. Method for management of a plurality of payment cards according to claim 1, characterised in that the said cash can be spent immediately in operations belonging to the group, i.e.: cash point collection operations, operations of a credit card type, and operations of an electronic commerce type on the Internet.

6. Method for management of a plurality of payment cards according to claim 1, characterised in that the said credit balance can be used within the scope of the said sales service comprising at least one operation belonging to the group, i.e.: purchase of a further product, purchase with discount of a further product, or requesting and supply of a gift.

7. Method for management of a plurality of payment cards according to claim 1 and claim 3 , characterised in that the said storage means are terminals (5) , the said terminals (5) being located on the premises of the said vendor and on the premises of the said financial institution (6) .

8. Device for management of a plurality of payment cards in a sales service for consumer goods sold by at least one vendor (1) to at least one person purchasing, comprising at least one payment card (10) of the type according to claim 1, characterised in that it comprises a service centre (2) with which there is associated a first electronic processor (3) , and a banking institution (6) with which there is associated a second electronic processor (8) , the said first (3) and second (8) electronic processors being provided respectively with means (4, 9) for storage of data relating to the said person purchasing, to a credit balance of the said person purchasing, and to data relating to a vendor, the said first (3) and second (8) electronic processors also being able to exchange data with one another by means of a telematic network (Internet)., such as to make the said credit balance of the said person purchasing useable immediately afterwards, either within or outside the said consumer goods sales service.