KR20070010434A - Method for accumulating point wherein member store designates recipient of point - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for accumulating points to a point receiver appointed by a member shop is provided to accumulate/donate the points to a point receiver by making the member shop fix the point receiver and accumulating the points to the point receiver if credit card or cash transaction is generated between the member shop and a user fixed as a point accumulator. User ID information, member shop ID information, and settlement price information are obtained(305). The first donation receiver related to the user is searched based on the user ID information(315). The second donation receiver related to the member shop is searched based on the member shop ID information(325). An actual receiver included in the first and second donation receiver at the same time is extracted(330). A part of the settlement price is accumulated to the actual receiver according to a predetermined accumulation ratio(350). In case that multiple actual receivers are extracted, the part of the settlement price is accumulated to only one actual receiver or the actual receivers based on priority.

Description

Method for Accumulating Point Wherein Member Store Designates Recipient of Point}

1 is a view showing an example of the environment in which the method of earning points according to the present invention is performed.

2 is a view showing another example of the environment in which the method of earning points according to the present invention is performed.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of performing a point earning method according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of a process of performing a point earning method according to the present invention;

5 is a view showing the entire process of the method of earning points according to the present invention.

Figure 6 is a flow chart showing another embodiment of the process of performing the point earning method according to the present invention.

7 is a view showing the entire process of the embodiment shown in FIG.

The present invention relates to a method for accumulating points, and in particular, a member designates a group or an individual to which the merchant intends to sponsor, and a person who designates to sponsor the designated group or individual generates a predetermined point or reserve when the transaction occurs with the merchant. It is about how to earn to an individual.

Korean Patent Application Publication Nos. 10-2004-0037654 and 10-2003-0062182 disclose a method in which a credit card holder designates a sponsorship target and accumulates points generated by the use of the credit card to the sponsor. . This method is employed by credit card companies to increase the use of credit cards. Points are generated at credit card companies and points are accumulated to sponsors. However, this method does not allow merchants to earn points to their desired sponsor.

Patent Application Publication No. 10-2004-0047063 discloses a method for obtaining a separate earning card and earning points generated from the earning card. In this case, points are generated for transactions from the customer who owns the credit card, which points can be credited and donated to the community designated by the credit card issuer. However, this method requires the issuance of a separate credit card and cannot be credited or donated to a target that is not designated by the credit card issuer.

Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2004-0039263 relates to a royalty marketing service method that does not use a card, wherein a loyalty management site promotes a registered merchant to a registered customer, and the registered customer manages a royalty at the merchant. Earn points offered by merchants by verbally reporting and transacting your site's ID. However, this method of earning points was only earned to individual users.

The present invention allows the merchant to designate a beneficiary who can earn points, and if the user who designates the beneficiary points as a target to accumulate points can also earn and donate predetermined points to the beneficiary when a transaction occurs through a card or cash.

Point earning method according to the present invention comprises the steps of (1) obtaining user identification information, merchant identification information, payment amount information, (2) a first sponsored beneficiary associated with the user based on the user identification information Searching for, (3) searching for a second sponsored beneficiary associated with the affiliated store based on the affiliated store identification information, and (4) one of the first sponsored beneficiary and the second beneficiary is included to overlap each other. Extracting the real beneficiary, and (5) accumulating a portion of the payment amount to the real beneficiary according to a predetermined accumulation rate.

When a plurality of real beneficiaries are extracted, a part of the payment amount is accumulated to only one real beneficiary or divided into two or more real beneficiaries based on priority.

In addition, it is preferable to further perform the step of delivering the result accumulated in the mistaken beneficiary to the payment relay server. In this way, the credit card receipts or cash receipts can be recorded in the credit history, so users and merchants can check the credit history.

The user identification information is information registered for issuing the card identification information or the cash receipt of the user.

According to another aspect of the present invention, when the plurality of real beneficiaries are extracted, transmitting the real beneficiary list to the payment terminal, and receiving the real beneficiary information that is the target of receiving the beneficiary points input to the payment terminal. .

According to this method, when a plurality of real beneficiaries are extracted, the user can select the real beneficiary information to actually earn points through the payment terminal.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 shows an example of an environment in which a method for earning points according to the present invention is performed. This environment is an environment in which a card inquiry machine 1 installed at a merchant stores a payment method such as a credit card or a debit card and makes a payment. In recent years, payments using a loyalty card are also possible, so the card lookup device 1 also includes a card lookup device 1 having a function of inquiring a point card. The card lookup machine 1 is connected to a payment relay server 3 called a van server (VAN Server) to enable data communication via a communication network 2, which is usually a wired telephone communication network. However, since the card lookup machine 1 can be connected to the payment relay server 3 through the Internet or through a wireless communication network, the card lookup machine 1 and the payment relay server 3 can communicate data. If you do that kind is not limited.

The payment relay server 3 is connected to the credit card company server 5 and the payment point server 7. "Payment points" in the present specification means points that can be earned and settled, such as OK cashback points. As used herein, the term "benefit points" means points earned by a merchant and a user to be selected as a beneficiary, and the concept is different from payment points. On the payment relay server 3 side, a customer database 8 and a merchant database 9 are provided. The customer database 8 and the merchant database 9 are separate from the database operated by the credit card company. It is preferable to operate by the side.

Beneficiary point management server (4) is connected to the payment relay server (3), the payment relay server (3) is a credit card company server (5) or payment point server (7) for the full payment received from the card inquiry machine (1) If the payment is approved normally in cooperation with the), and performs the benefit point earning process to be described later.

2 illustrates an environment in which payment through a personal computer 15 through a personal computer 15 or payment through an account transfer is performed in an internet shopping. In this environment, the card information swiped to the card lookup machine 1 is not transmitted to the payment relay server 30, but the card information input to the personal computer 15 by the user is transmitted. The card information input in this way is transmitted to the payment relay server 30, and transferred to the credit card company server 5 to approve payment. It is also preferable that the customer database 8 and the merchant database 9 are provided on the payment relay server 30 side. The payment relay server 30 in this environment is called a PG server, and is slightly different in a specific application or implementation method from the payment relay server 3 in the environment shown in FIG. 1, that is, a VAN server, but the basic functions are the same. Do.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of earning benefit points according to an embodiment of the present invention. The description of this embodiment describes a case of swiping a card to a card lookup device 1 installed at a merchant, but it is clear that the present invention can be applied to the online shopping environment shown in FIG. And Figure 5 shows the entire flow chart of the benefit point earning process according to the present invention. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference to FIGS. 2 and 5.

First, card swiping is performed in step 300. The card information is read by the card lookup device 1 through card swiping. The card information thus read is transmitted to the payment relay server 3 via the communication network 2. In more detail, the card query 1 generates a full text including card information, merchant information, transaction amount, and the like, and transmits it to the payment relay server 3. As shown in FIG. 5, the payment relay server 3 transmits the full text to the credit card company server 5, and the received credit card company server 5 performs the payment approval procedure. That is, it is determined whether payment is normally possible by referring to card information, merchant information, transaction amount, etc. included in the full text, and generates a full text of the approval result according to the result of the approval, and transmits it to the payment relay server 3. When payment is normally approved through the full text of the approval result, the payment relay server 3 transmits the user information, the merchant information, that is, the user identification information, and the merchant identification information to the beneficiary point server 4, and the transferred user identification information. And the beneficiary point server 4 acquires the merchant identification information (step 305).

Subsequently, in step 310, the beneficiary point server 4 searches the customer database 8 based on the received user identification information. The customer database 8 stores information on the beneficiaries of the beneficiary points previously registered by the card user. In this manner, the search step 315 extracts a first sponsored beneficiary identifier list associated with the customer, that is, the user. This list is a list of beneficiary point beneficiaries that the user has registered in advance on the settlement relay server 3 side. Users can designate these beneficiaries to donate a portion of their credit card or cash to the organization or people they want to sponsor.

In step 320, the merchant database 9 is searched based on the merchant identification information received from the payment relay server 3. The search result extracts a second list of beneficiary identifiers associated with the affiliate store. These beneficiary beneficiaries are beneficiary point beneficiaries that the merchant has registered on the settlement relay server 3 side in advance.

Merchants may contribute to revenue growth by donating a portion of their income, if the group or person targeted for the donation is a beneficiary point designated by the user. For example, if a franchise purchases goods or services from an early football member in order to increase sales from early football members in their area, a percentage of the purchase amount is donated to the early football team. I can do it.

In step 330, one first sponsored beneficiary identifier is selected from the extracted first sponsored beneficiary identifier list. Then, it is checked whether the extracted first sponsored beneficiary is on the second sponsored beneficiary identifier list (step 335). If there is no matching identifier, the corresponding first sponsored beneficiary identifier is deleted and the process proceeds to step 330. To return. And selecting another first sponsored beneficiary identifier and repeating the above process.

If there is a case where the first sponsored beneficiary and the second sponsored beneficiary match in step 335, the process proceeds to step 340 to add an identifier to the real beneficiary list. In addition, the real beneficiary may perform the procedure of accumulating the benefit points according to the accumulation rate (step 350). The accumulation rate may be designated by the affiliated store and / or the user, and considering that the entity that actually pays the reserve is the affiliated store. It would be desirable to specify this reserve rate.

Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating a benefit point earning process according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, it is assumed that there are two or more mistaken beneficiaries who overlap the first sponsored beneficiary and the second sponsored beneficiary.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, if there is an overlapping mistaken beneficiary among the first sponsored beneficiary and the second sponsored beneficiary in step 335, the beneficiary points are awarded to the real beneficiary according to the accumulation rate. After deleting the first sponsored beneficiary identifier extracted as the real beneficiary, it is checked whether there is an identifier remaining in step 355. That is, even if one real beneficiary identifier is extracted, the loop is continuously executed to extract additional real beneficiaries.

If there is no first sponsored beneficiary identifier remaining in step 355, the process proceeds to step 360 to accumulate points according to the earning rules.

If multiple real beneficiaries are extracted, the accumulation rules may be different depending on the situation. For example, when a merchant registers a plurality of second sponsored beneficiaries, priorities are registered to each beneficiary, and later, when a plurality of mistaken beneficiaries are extracted in the user's payment process, the highest priority is obtained. You can adopt a rule that accumulates all benefit points to a real beneficiary, or you can adopt a rule that divides benefit points according to priority ratios.

If the earned real beneficiaries are A (Priority 1), B (Priority 2), C (Priority 3), D (Priority 4), the benefit points earned In the case of 1000 won, A is (1000 X 1/10), B is (1000 X 2/10), C is (1000 X 3/10), D is (1000 X 4/10) Can be earned.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of accumulating another embodiment in which a plurality of real beneficiaries are extracted, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the entire embodiment.

4 and 6 are mostly the same, and the same reference numerals denote the same steps. 6 illustrates an embodiment in which a card user, that is, a payer, selects a target to receive benefit points from a plurality of real beneficiaries. In other words, if there is no remaining identifier in step 355 and the real beneficiary extraction process ends, the process proceeds to step 610 and transmits the extracted real beneficiary list to the card lookup machine 1. In FIG. 7, for the sake of simplicity, the point management server 4 is shown to be directly transmitted to the card inquiry machine 1, but it is actually transmitted to the card inquiry machine 1 via the payment relay server 3. It is common.

The user selects a real beneficiary who wants to accumulate points from a plurality of real beneficiary lists displayed on the card lookup 1, and the selected real beneficiary information is transmitted from the card lookup machine and received by the point management server 4. (Step 620) In FIG. 7, the real beneficiary information is directly transmitted from the card lookup machine 1 to the point management server 4 for the sake of simplicity, but in reality, the payment relay server ( It is common to transmit via 3). In this way, when receiving the real target beneficiary of the points, the point management server 4 accumulates points according to a predetermined rule to the selected real target beneficiary, the point result is transmitted to the payment relay server (3). The settlement relay server 3 generates a telegram containing the point accumulation result, and transmits the telegram to the card inquiry machine 1 as a final telegram.

The above method is also applicable to a case where a user transmits card information through his personal computer 15 and pays when doing online shopping.

On the other hand, the method according to the invention can be applied even when the user made a cash payment. In the case of issuing a cash receipt, the benefit point accumulation procedure is performed based on the identification information of the merchant and the user in the message transmitted from the card lookup 1 without the need for a separate payment approval process, and the result of earning the points is settled. It is transmitted from the relay server 30 to the card inquiry machine 1.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, the scope of the present invention is determined by the claims below, and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments and / or accompanying drawings. . It is also apparent that improvements, changes, and modifications apparent to those skilled in the art of the invention described above in the claims are included in the scope of the present invention.

According to the present invention, a group or an individual to be sponsored is designated in advance, card payment or cash payment is performed, and when the group or individual overlaps with an organization or an individual that the merchant intends to sponsor, a predetermined benefit point Since it is possible to earn, the merchant is provided with the advantage of attracting members of a specific group as a customer, the user is provided with the advantage of donating a predetermined amount to the group to which they belong without additional spending. In addition, a plurality of beneficiaries may be designated as well as any one group or individual, and a single settlement may be provided to benefit points from various groups or individuals.

Claims (5)

Obtaining user identification information, merchant identification information, payment amount information, Searching for a first sponsored beneficiary associated with the user based on the user identification information; Searching for a second sponsored beneficiary associated with the affiliated store based on the affiliated store identification information; Extracting a real beneficiary which is overlapped with each other among the first sponsored beneficiary and the second beneficiary; Including earning a portion of the payment amount to the real beneficiary according to a predetermined reserve rate, How to earn points. The method according to claim 1, If a plurality of real beneficiaries are extracted, earn a portion of the payment amount to only one real beneficiary, or by dividing a portion of the payment amount based on the priority to two or more real beneficiaries, points earning method. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Further performing the step of delivering the result earned to the mistaken beneficiary to the payment relay server, points earning method. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And the user identification information is information registered for issuing card identification information or cash receipt of the user. The method according to claim 1, Transmitting a real beneficiary list to a payment terminal when a plurality of real beneficiaries are extracted; Receiving the real beneficiary information that is the target of receiving the benefit points input to the payment terminal, Point earning method.

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