System and method for managing gifts

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage devices for receiving an identification of a giver, a gift, an amount of money to pay for the gift, and a recipient of the gift at a first time. The system can associate a policy with the gift, and initiate, at the first time, a transfer of at least part of the amount of money to pay for the gift from the giver payment account to a holding account that is separate from the recipient payment account. The system can monitor, according to the policy, purchases of the recipient using the recipient payment account to yield purchasing information based on the purchasing information, and determine whether the recipient has made a qualifying purchase according to the policy. If so, the system can apply the amount of money to pay for the gift from the holding account to the recipient payment account.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, via a processor, an identification of a giver, a gift, an amount of money to pay for the gift, and a recipient of the gift at a first time, wherein the giver is associated with a giver payment account that is an open loop account existing prior to the first time, and the recipient is associated with a recipient payment account, including a credit payment account or a debit payment account existing prior to the first time, and wherein the giver payment account and the recipient payment account are independent of each other and have no control over each other;   associating a policy with the gift, wherein the policy is at least in part giver defined;   monitoring, according to the policy, purchases of the recipient at a second time, which is later than the first time, using the recipient payment account to yield purchasing information;   determining whether the recipient has made a qualifying purchase using the recipient payment account according to the policy; and   if the qualifying purchase has occurred, applying at least part of the amount of money to the recipient payment account.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 presenting the gift to the recipient, while withholding from the recipient at least one of the amount of money, the giver, a merchant category associated with the policy, or a product category associated with the policy.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the recipient, a request to convert the gift from a first stored value medium to a second stored value medium;   identifying an exchange rate between the first stored value medium and the second stored value medium;   converting the gift from the first stored value medium to the second stored value medium according to the exchange rate; and   modifying the policy based on the second stored value medium.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 evaluating purchases made by the recipient based on available data elements;   weighting the available data elements via an algorithm that determines a level of certainty about the transaction being for a specific merchant; and   when the level of certainty exceeds a threshold, then applying the gift amount to the recipient payment account.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the available data elements comprise at least one of transaction store data passed by a credit card processor, complete or partial store names, address, zip code, transaction store data passed by a store, geo-tracking information about where the purchase was made, information provided by the recipient when using the gift, social network data, data from financial tracking tools, or communications between the giver and recipient. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the recipient is a worker receiving payment for rendering services for the giver, and wherein the gift further comprises at least one of a reward or a merchant promotion. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the policy describes a plurality of merchants, each of the plurality of merchants having at least one of a respective gift amount or incentive to apply to a respective qualifying purchase at one of the plurality of merchants. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one condition of the policy is based on an event outside of the control of the giver, the recipient, or a merchant at which the qualifying purchase occurs. 
     
     
         9 . A system comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 receiving an identification of a giver, a gift, an amount of money to pay for the gift, and a recipient of the gift at a first time, wherein the giver is associated with a giver payment account that is an open loop account existing prior to the first time, and the recipient is associated with a recipient payment account, including a credit payment account or a debit payment account existing prior to the first time, and wherein the giver payment account and the recipient payment account are independent of each other and have no control over each other; 
 associating a policy with the gift, wherein the policy is at least in part giver defined; 
 monitoring, according to the policy, purchases of the recipient at a second time, which is later than the first time, using the recipient payment account to yield purchasing information based on the purchasing information; 
 determining whether the recipient has made a qualifying purchase using the recipient payment account according to the policy; and 
 if the qualifying purchase has occurred, applying at least part of the amount of money to the recipient payment account. 
   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
 presenting the gift to the recipient, while withholding from the recipient at least one of the amount of money, the giver, a merchant category associated with the policy, or a product category associated with the policy.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving, from the recipient, a request to convert the gift from a first stored value medium to a second stored value medium;   identifying an exchange rate between the first stored value medium and the second stored value medium;   converting the gift from the first stored value medium to the second stored value medium according to the exchange rate; and   modifying the policy based on the second stored value medium.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
 evaluating purchases made by the recipient based on available data elements;   weighting the available data elements via an algorithm that determines a level of certainty about the transaction being for a specific merchant; and   when the level of certainty exceeds a threshold, then applying the gift amount to the recipient payment account.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the available data elements comprise at least one of transaction store data passed by a credit card processor, complete or partial store names, address, zip code, transaction store data passed by a store, geo-tracking information about where the purchase was made, information provided by the recipient when using the gift, social network data, data from financial tracking tools, or communications between the giver and recipient. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the recipient is a worker receiving payment for rendering services for the giver, and wherein the gift further comprises at least one of a reward or a merchant promotion. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the policy describes a plurality of merchants, each of the plurality of merchants having at least one of a respective gift amount or incentive to apply to a respective qualifying purchase at one of the plurality of merchants. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein at least one condition of the policy is based on an event outside of the control of the giver, the recipient, or a merchant at which the qualifying purchase occurs. 
     
     
         17 . A computer-readable storage device storing instructions which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, via a processor, an identification of a giver, a gift, an amount of money to pay for the gift, and a recipient of the gift at a first time, wherein the giver is associated with a giver payment account that is an open loop account existing prior to the first time, and the recipient is associated with a recipient payment account, including a credit payment account or a debit payment account existing prior to the first time, and wherein the giver payment account and the recipient payment account are independent of each other and have no control over each other;   associating a policy with the gift, wherein the policy is at least in part giver defined;   monitoring, according to the policy, purchases of the recipient at a second time, which is later than the first time, using the recipient payment account to yield purchasing information based on the purchasing information;   determining whether the recipient has made a qualifying purchase using the recipient payment account according to the policy; and   if the qualifying purchase has occurred, applying at least part of the amount of money to the recipient payment account.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable storage device of  claim 17 , the operations further comprising:
 presenting the gift to the recipient, while withholding from the recipient at least one of the amount of money, the giver, a merchant category associated with the policy, or a product category associated with the policy.   
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable storage device of  claim 17 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving, from the recipient, a request to convert the gift from a first stored value medium to a second stored value medium;   identifying an exchange rate between the first stored value medium and the second stored value medium;   converting the gift from the first stored value medium to the second stored value medium according to the exchange rate; and   modifying the policy based on the second stored value medium.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable storage device of  claim 17 , the operations further comprising:
 evaluating purchases made by the recipient based on available data elements;   weighting the available data elements via an algorithm that determines a level of certainty about the transaction being for a specific merchant; and   when the level of certainty exceeds a threshold, then applying the gift amount to the recipient payment account.