GB2388233A

GB2388233A - Transaction system using a memory card

Info

Publication number: GB2388233A
Application number: GB0207042A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gary Watts; Richard Buckley
Original assignee: Applied Card Technologies Ltd
Current assignee: Applied Card Technologies Ltd
Priority date: 2002-03-25
Filing date: 2002-03-25
Publication date: 2003-11-05
Also published as: GB0207042D0

Abstract

A transaction system which comprises means (12), operable when a transaction is effected, for reading data from and writing data to a memory card (c): the memory card stores records of a plurality of previous transactions made by the card holder, means for processing the data read from the card and determining what, if any, reward is to be made available to the card holder, and for writing a code to the card to identify the reward.

Description

TRANSACTION SYSTEM

The present invention relates to a transaction system and more particularly to a transaction system in which cards (e.g. smart cards) are held by customers and used when making purchases from a trader or merchant running a respective card 5 scheme.

It is known for traders to run card schemes, in which their customers are issued with cards which may be used, when making a purchase from the respective trader, to accumulate credit in some form: this credit is generally redeemed at a 10 later date. One such system involves the use of microprocessor smart cards which record details of the card holder's previous transactions: on each use of the card, this information is read from the card memory and processed to determine how many, if any, points should be awarded, on the basis of the transaction 15 history and present transaction, and a points counter in the card memory is incremented accordingly; the system further determines whether a discount voucher is to be printed and issued to the customer. The system suffers the drawback that microprocessor smart cards are required are preferred, with a 20 substantial memory capacity, which cards are relatively expensive. In addition, such a system requires the card holder to accrue sufficient credit or points in order to attain a reward. This points' driven system results in low card holder redemption rates in the short term as the value of points 25 accrued initially is low, often resulting in card holder apathy towards such schemes.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a transaction system which comprises means, operable when a transaction is effected, for reading data from and 30 writing data to a memory card, which memory card stores records of a plurality of previous transactions made by the card holder, means for processing the data read from the card and determining what, if any, reward is to be made available to the card holder, and writing a code to said card to identify said 35 reward.

The system in accordance with the present invention

therefore uses the transaction history recorded on the customers card, preferably together with information related to the current transaction, and customised business rules in order to provide a customised relationship (CRM) reward 5 specific to the card holder. The transaction and reward offer take place at the merchant or traderts premises typically using an electronic point of sale (EPOS) terminal and an apparatus or card terminal in accordance with the invention. Preferably the apparatus writes, to the card, data in respect of the 10 current transaction. The reward itself is recorded on the card and can be redeemed when desired by the card holder: the reward can however be set to expire a predetermined time (e.g. predetermined number of days) after the date it is issued; preferably the apparatus writes the expiry date, or the time 15 period (e.g. number of days) for which the reward remains available. It will be appreciated that the business rules operated by the apparatus can be tailored to make a selected award in response to a predetermined spend pattern on the part of the card holder.

20 Preferably each transaction record written to the card includes one or more of the following: (a) a transaction ID field, preferably comprising an

incremental number identifying the respective transaction record; 25 (b) a date field comprising the date on which the

transaction took place; (c) an amount field comprising the value spent in the

transaction; (d) a reward expiry field, defining the date on which the

30 offer of the reward expires or the length of time it remains on offer; (e) a device ID field comprising an identification number

or code for the terminal at which the card was processed. 35 Preferably the reward is written to a reward mask on the card and preferably comprises predetermined logic values written to predetermined bit positions of the mask. Preferably

the reward mask comprises a predetermined number of rewards, which are either activated (logic 1' in predetermined bit positions) or deactivated (logic 0').

Preferably data is encrypted before it is written to 5 the card.

Preferably the card terminal apparatus stores data relating to each reward which is issued, for subsequent transmission to a central database arranged to manage and update or modify the business rules for the respective card 10 scheme (customer relationship management scheme).

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIGURE 1 is a schematic block diagram of the apparatus 15 provided at each point of sale in a retail outlet, the apparatus incorporating a system in accordance with the present invention; FIGURE 2 is a schematic diagram showing one of the transaction records held in the memory of a card used in the 2 0 system of the present invention; and FIGURE 3 is a schematic diagram showing a reward mask of the card memory.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown apparatus provided at each point of sale in a retail outlet. The 25 apparatus comprises an EPOS (electronic point of sale) till 10 and a card terminal 12, both connected onto a till network 14 of the retail outlet. The card terminal 12, or its functionality, may be incorporated into the EPOS till 10. The till network 14 may comprise an Ethernet or RS232, for example.

3 0 The card terminal 12 needs to communicate with any other servers which are central to the customer relationship management scheme: this communication may be effected over a dedicated line (e.g. telephone line) or over the till network 14. The card terminal 12 may, for example, comprise the 35 MagIC6100 unit marketed by the French company Schlumberger or the 8550 unit marketed by the Australian company Intellect.

The card terminal 12 includes a card interface (for a

smart card C), a visual display and a printer, in addition to a data processor and communications device.

The system, which is not a points-based system, uses memory cards (preferably smart cards) held by customers of the 5 retail outlet. In use, and at each new transaction, the card C is presented to the terminal 12, which reads previous-

transaction data from the card, processes this data in accordance with customized business rules to determine whether any reward is to be given, then writes a code to the card 10 memory to indicate a specific reward, if appropriate. Details of the new transaction are also written to the card memory.

Figure 2 shows the data held in the card memory for each transaction. The card memory holds a limited number In' of transaction records: when the (n + lath transaction takes 15 place, data in respect of this transaction is overwritten on the 13t transaction and so on. The first field 21 of each

transaction record is an identifying number (i.e. 1 to n). The second field 22 records the date (day, month, year) the

transaction took place. The third field 23 records the amount

20 or value of the transaction. The fourth field 24 is a reward

mask, which will be described below. The fifth field 25

records the number of days, starting from the date of the transaction, that the reward remains available. The sixth field 26 records a scheme identifier, which identifies the card

25 terminal at which the transaction took place. Although the number of transactions records held on the card are limited, they are sufficient for the card terminal to process and determine a CRM (customer relationship management) profile of the customer.

30 The card terminal 12 uses predetermined business rules to take into account the CRM profile of the card holder and the current transaction details in order to determine a reward specific to the customer. The card terminal 12 holds a set of business rules which have been transmitted to it from a central 35 database. The particular set of rules can be limited in date and/or specific to specific days of the week and/or hours of the day. It is accordingly simple to formulate a set of rules

which promote say a discount weekend or a "happy-hour" period.

The following represents, by way of example, a set of business rules which may be operated by the card terminal. A transaction is made at the EPOS till 10 and representative data 5 is passed by the till 10 to the card terminal 12 for interpretation: if the transaction involves the purchase of a DVD and popcorn between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on a Sunday, then the card holder is awarded a free VHS rental and the corresponding code is written to the reward mask on the card C. 10 The reward mask will now be described with reference to Figure 3. Each reward is recorded in the form of a code consisting of a logic 1' in predetermined bit positions of the mask. By way of example, reward A is represented by a 1' in the 0' bit position, and comprises a free product. Reward B 15 is represented by a -1' in each of the 1' and 2' bit positions of the mask, and comprises a half-price product plus a 10% discount off another product.

In use of the system which has been described, either the card holder or the till operator inserts the smart card C 20 into the smart card reader of the card terminal 12. At this point, the card reader reads validating data from the card and this data is processed to check that the card if valid to the reward scheme being operated by the retailer or merchant. If the card is recognized as valid, data from the previous 25 transaction records is read and processed to calculate CRM metrics, i.e. data related to the card holder's previous transaction profile or history. The card terminal also reads the reward mask to determine if the card carries any rewards which have not expired: if any valid reward is found, then the 30 card terminal displays or prints this out, enabling the card holder to obtain immediate redemption. Next data in relation to the current transaction is captured by the EPOS till 10, either via a product barcode scanner or by means of the transaction value being entered on the till keyboard: this data 35 typically includes the purchase value, purchase type, date and time, retail store location or identification, merchant or salesperson identification, and redemption value (if any).

This data is transmitted to the card terminal for processing.

The card terminal then applies the predetermines business rules to process data relating to the current transaction together with the CRM metrics, to determine what reward, if any, is to 5 be given, then to write corresponding data to the reward mask and update the transaction records in the card memory.

The system needs only relatively inexpensive memory cards, because relatively little memory capacity is required and all data processing is carried out by the card terminal, 10 none on the card itself.

The system allows complete flexibility on the part of the merchant running the CRM scheme, enabling the merchant to modify the business rules under which the scheme is run, to introduce a new scheme, or to run special promotions.

Claims

1) A transaction system which comprises means, operable when a transaction is effected, for reading data from and writing data to a memory card, which memory card stores records S of a plurality of previous transactions made by the card holder, means for processing the data read from the card and determining what, if any, reward is to be made available to the card holder, and for writing a code to said card to identify said reward.

10 2) A transaction system as claimed in claim 1, arranged to write data to the card indicating the expiry date of the reward, or the period for which the reward remains available.

3) A transaction system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which each transaction record written to the card includes one 15 or more of the following: (a) a transaction ID field, identifying the respective

transaction record; (b) a date field identifying the date on which the transaction

took place; 20 (c) an amount field recording the value spent in the

transaction; (d) a reward expiry field defining the date on which the offer

of the reward expires or the length of time it remains on offer; and 25 (e) a device ID field identifying the terminal at which the

respective transaction was effected.

4) A transaction system as claimed in any preceding claim, arranged to write the reward to a reward mask on the card.

5) A transaction system as claimed in claim 4, in which

the reward is recorded in the form of predetermined logic values written to predetermined bit positions of the mask.

6) A transaction system as claimed in claim 5, in which the reward mask comprises a predetermined number of rewards 5 each of which is either activated or deactivated.

7) A transaction system as claimed in any preceding claim, arranged to encrypt data before writing it to the card.

8) A transaction system as claimed in any preceding claim, including a card terminal arranged to store data relating to 10 each reward which is offered, for subsequent transmission to a central database.

9) A transaction system substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings,