WO2015016780A1

WO2015016780A1 - A loyalty system

Info

Publication number: WO2015016780A1
Application number: PCT/SG2014/000360
Authority: WO
Inventors: Seng Aik Daniel DUA
Original assignee: LI, Bao Qing, Vincent
Priority date: 2013-07-29
Filing date: 2014-07-29
Publication date: 2015-02-05
Also published as: WO2015016767A1; WO2015016780A8; TW201604816A

Abstract

A loyalty system for exchanging reward points from a plurality of rewards programs comprising a plurality of consumer modules (302) configured to accept login credentials from each consumer from those of the plurality of rewards programs for which that consumer is enrolled; a merchant server (307) for each of or for groups of the plurality of rewards programs, each configured to provide a plurality of goods or services redeemable for an advertised amount of rewards points under that merchant's rewards program and/or storing accumulated reward points for consumers enrolled with that merchant's rewards program; a server module (310) configured to connect the plurality of consumer modules (302) to the plurality of merchant servers (307), and storing programmed instructions configured to: receive input from the consumer to exchange accumulated reward points from a first merchant reward program into universal points from a universal points program, determine a conversion rate based on the first merchant rewards program and a real time currency exchange rate, display the determined conversion as an offer to the consumer, if the consumer accepts the offer, sending a debit request to the first rewards program at the respective merchant server (307) and crediting the offered universal points to a universal points account for the respective consumer.

Description

A loyalty system

Field of invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus for exchanging reward points to universal points and a loyalty system comprising such an apparatus.

Background of invention

Loyalty points awarded by businesses to encourage desired consumer spend patterns through a reward program is a common practice by airlines, boutiques, department stores, pharmacies, banks, fuel retailers etc.

According to (ANDRIOTIS, 2012), an average American household participates in an estimated 18 consumer rewards programs. However there is no clear indication of many companies offering such loyalty programs, where consumers get discounts or bonuses for shopping often.

According to a study in 2011 about $16 billion dollars of reward points go unredeemed each year in the US.

Consumers leave reward points unredeemed for reasons not limited to:

1. Lack of awareness in number of reward points available on various reward programs signed up

2. Have insufficient points to make the lowest value redemption

3. Lack of awareness of expiry date

4. Unsure about structure d loyalty program

5. Unsure about redemption possibilities

6. Unsure about redemption process

For example merchants share publish redemption catalogue with pre-negotiated deals with their consumers. An example of such deal is, exchange 20,000 points for a Brand X 21" LCD TV. However, the consumer cannot buy a 26" LCD TV even if they have more points because it was not part of the catalogue options. Another example is the consumer, who is a customer of Merchant Y, cannot walk in to Merchant X retail store to purchase any goods with reward points from Merchant Y as the reward points are not recognized by Merchant X. Buying or redemption of a 21" LCD TV at Merchant X retail store is not possible due to this reason. Thus in most cases the redemption process is only managed via the merchant who issued the points.

Some rewards programs limit the consumer to redemption options/catalogues by geography. For example, a consumer who signed up for a credit card rewards program in Singapore is only entitled to select redemption from a catalogue limited to Singapore consumers. The consumer cannot redeem goods reflected in catalogues provided by the same merchant in other countries.

As an attempt to overcome this problem, a website called points.com allows very limited exchange of points between loyalty programs. However each loyalty program has different restrictions and the system is not consumer friendly or transparent. There is no easy way for the consumer to know at any one time how many points they have in total across all the programs or easily perceive what the relevant value of each loyalty point is.

The term point is used herein to mean, (but is not limited to), any form of credits, miles, points, rebates, virtual dollars or other accumulated loyalty value that is provided between merchants, intermediaries and/or consumers.

Summary of invention

It may therefore be desirable to provide for better utilization of points by consumers and/or better consumer retention by merchants.

At the very least it may be desirable to provide consumers with a useful choice. It may therefore be desirable to introduce an end to end solution powered by a Universal Points (UP) system which can link and provide an all win situation for consumers, merchants and corporations. The UP solution aims to provide consumers with the convenience to convert and consolidate reward points from various reward programs, merchants with the benefit of gaining critical customer retention from increased sales and marketing activities, and corporations with the benefit of enhancing their cost savings and fostering stronger engagement with their employees.

In general terms in a first aspect the invention proposes an independent reward points program and a reward points trading system between a plurality of 3^rd party loyalty programs and the independent reward points program. The independent reward points may be pegged to an actual value in a real currency. This may allow consumers to immediately appreciate the relevant values of the reward points in each program and/or to easily appreciate the actual value of all of the combined reward points portfolio. The independent reward points program may exchange reward points to or from a consumer from a plurality of 3^rd party loyalty programs to a common type of points, e.g.: Universal Points ("UP"), which the consumer is enrolled in.

In a second aspect the invention proposes that a consumer initiates &/or negotiates for a particular points earning arrangement in an agreement with a merchant. This allows consumers to consolidate required expenses with the selected Merchant and in doing so, fulfill the terms of the Agreement to earn a rebate in UP upon maturity of the Agreement. The benefit of this process for the merchant may be that they will receive proactive leads triggered by consumers who wishes to mandate their expenditure with the merchant through a formal agreement. This may also increase the sales productivity and sales volume for the merchant.

In a third aspect the invention proposes that a corporation can initiate & negotiate for a particular points redemption arrangement with a merchant, .This may allow the corporation to consolidate required expenses with the selected merchant and in doing so, fulfill the terms of the agreement to earn a rebate in UP upon maturity of the agreement. The benefit of this process for the merchant may be that they will receive proactive leads triggered by corporations who wishes to mandate their expenditure with the merchant through a formal agreement. This also increases the sales productivity and sales volume for the merchant. In a fourth aspect the invention proposes that a consumer may search for redemption options categorized by Activity. This may make the consumer interface easier for the consumer, and more efficient to identify redemption items of particular interest as the search results will provide consumer with a checklist of all items which are relevant to the Activity This checklist provides the convenience for the consumer to purchase multiple required items in one instance saving time and efforts. Consumer may also get a bulk discount from a merchant for the mass purchase and merchant may benefit from increased sales volume.

In a fifth aspect the invention proposes that a consumer's UP may be used to purchase any goods or service via a virtual concierge. This may have the advantage that the consumer is not limited to only redemption items on the loyalty program catalogue for each merchant.

In a first specific expression of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for exchanging reward points from a plurality of rewards programs to universal points from a universal points rewards program, the apparatus comprising:

a database storing for each reward program, a predetermined conversion rate for the conversion of each reward point to universal points;

a I/O unit configured to receive a consumer's request from a consumer output device to exchange a particular number of reward points into the universal points; and

a calculation unit configured to retrieve the predetermined conversion rates from the database and to calculate a number of universal points that can be exchanged using the particular number of reward points based on the predetermined conversion rates;

wherein the I/O unit is further configured to transmit the calculated number of universal points to the consumer output device.

In a second specific expression of the invention there is provided a loyalty system for exchanging points from a plurality of rewards programs comprising

a plurality of consumer modules configured to accept login credentials from each consumer from those of the plurality of rewards programs for which that consumer is enrolled;

a merchant server for each of or for groups of the plurality of rewards programs, each configured to provide a plurality of goods or services redeemable for an advertised amount of points under that merchant's rewards program and/or storing accumulated points for consumers enrolled with that merchant's rewards program;

a server module configured to connect the plurality of consumer modules to the plurality of merchant servers, and storing programmed instructions configured to:

receive input from the consumer to exchange accumulated points from a first merchant reward program into universal points from a universal points rewards program,

determine a conversion rate based on the first merchant rewards program and a real time currency exchange rate,

display the determined conversion as an offer to the consumer,

if the consumer accepts the offer, sending a debit request to the first rewards program at the respective merchant server and crediting the offered universal points to a UP account for the respective consumer.

In a third specific expression of the invention, there is provided a system for arranging a contract between a consumer and a merchant, the system comprising

a negotiating module configured to provide an offer from a consumer and receive an acceptance of a merchant and/or provide an offer from a merchant and receive an acceptance of a consumer; and

a monitoring module configured to provide a report on compliance of the accepted offer.

In a fourth specific expression of the invention, there is provided a system for arranging a contract between a business and a merchant, the system comprising

a negotiating module configured to provide an offer from a business and receive an acceptance of a merchant and/or provide an offer from a merchant and receive an acceptance of a business; and a monitoring module configured to provide a report on compliance of the accepted offer.

In a fifth specific expression of the invention, there is provided a method of customising a reward program for a merchant comprising:

registering a merchant, receiving a catalogue of goods or services provided by the merchants,

receiving a satellite currency of the merchant,

receiving a settlement bank account of the merchant,

providing a rewards program interface for the merchant based on the catalogue, and settling a redemption request from a consumer for the goods or services based on the satellite currency and the settlement bank account.

In a sixth specific expression of the invention, there is provided a method for displaying reward redemption offers from a merchant comprising:

receiving a consumer section of a category of activities,

searching for good and/or service in a catalogue based on the selected activity, and

displaying the searched good and/or service provided by the merchant under the selected activity .

In a seventh specific expression of the invention, there is provided a method of providing a concierge service to a consumer of a rewards program comprising:

receiving input from the consumer to redeem points from a reward program for goods or services not associated with the reward program,

determining a supplier for the requested goods or services,

offering a price to the consumer, and

if the consumer accepts the offer, sending a credit request to the supplier and debiting a points account of the respective consumer.

The method provided in the eighth specific expression of the invention may further comprise

automatically determining a plurality of suppliers for the requested goods or services;

automatically requesting available quantity and/or price from the plurality of suppliers for the requested goods or services;

automatically providing the offer to the consumer based on any replies to the request. Brief description of the drawings

One or more embodiments will be described with the reference of the below drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a flow diagram of a prior art Interface Engine for a Rewards Program

Figure 2 is a flow diagram of a prior art Interface Engine for a Group Rewards Program;

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a hardware and communication configuration according to a first embodiment;

Figure 4 is a flow diagram of the currency exchange conversion system in the first embodiment; Figure 5 is a flow diagram of universal points purchase;

Figure 6 is a flow diagram of universal points redemption;

Figure 7 is a flow diagram of a points earning arrangement between a consumer and a merchant;

Figure 8 is a flow diagram of a points redemption arrangement between a corporate and a merchant;

Figure 9 is a flow diagram of a program customization;

Figure 10 is a flow diagram of a virtual concierge;

Figure 11 is a flow diagram of searching redemption items by activity;

Figure 12 is a flow diagram of merchant reconciliation after a transaction;

Figure 13 is a flow diagram of a consumer registration;

Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of the user interfaces;

Figure 15 is a screen shot of the admin interface;

Figure 16 is a screen shot of the consumer interface;

Figure 17 is a screen shot of the merchant interface.

Figure 18 is a screen shot of a calendar in the first embodiment;

Figure 19 is a flow diagram of a method for a user to lodge events in the calendar and to receive offers;

Figure 20 is a flow diagram of a method for a merchant to market products to and to receive counter offers from a consumer;

Figure 21 shows an example of an e-deal a consumer may receive;

Figure 22 shows the structure of the first embodiment in the development environment;

Figure 23 shows the structure of the first embodiment in the production environment;

Figure 24 shows the structure of an AWS cloud; Figure 25 shows the structure of a multi-tiered architecture of the first embodiment in the production environment.

Figure 26a shows a first part of a flow diagram of a method for a user to exchange reward points for UPs;

Figure 26b shows a second part of the flow diagram of Figure 26a; and

Figure 27 shows how the first embodiment allows corporations, consumers and merchants to trade products and services between one another using UPs.

Detailed description

Figures 1 and 2 are typical rewards systems that are currently available where an individual 100 earns reward points by making purchases at/using a merchant 104, and through an existing rewards program 102, the individual 100 is capable of redeeming the points directly through the same merchant 104 (Figure 1). The merchant may also be a redemption partner 104 as shown in Figure 2.

According to the first embodiment .a system allows for accumulated points from a plurality of merchant reward programs to be exchanged for "universal points" that may be stored in an independent account stored on an independent server from the plurality of merchant reward programs. This allows the consolidation of the accumulated points from different merchant reward programs to UP in a single universal points account. The accumulated points may be from different merchant reward programs from the same country belonging to a single consumer or the accumulated points may be from the same merchant reward program but from different countries belonging to a single consumer. These accumulated reward points from various merchant reward programs belonging to a single consumer may be converted to UP that may then be used to redeem goods or services that are not restricted by geographical or industrial differences. This system allows for the consolidation of the reward points from various merchant reward programs with various terms and conditions to a single universal point system with possibly only one set of restrictions making the process of collecting and redeeming reward points more convenient and efficient for the consumer.

Each consumer may be given a secured means to login into his or her individual consumer module of the system. Each consumer may have more than one rewards program, each offered by a different merchant. A single consumer module may be capable of consolidating all the information related to the plurality of enrolled rewards programs for that consumer. The consumer thus with a single login to the consumer module may be able to view the details of the plurality of enrolled rewards program associated to him or her.

Each merchant server may have their own list of goods or services redeemable for an advertised amount of rewards points under that merchant's rewards program. A merchant may be but is not limited to a credit card company, airline company, department store and the like. The merchant server may also provide a service of storing accumulated points for consumers enrolled with that merchant's rewards program.

Figure 3 shows a system 300 according to the first embodiment comprising a consumer module 302, a merchant module 306 and a Universal Points ("UP") module (i.e. server module) 304. An UP server 310 exchanges value from a plurality of rewards programs which are stored in each merchant's database 308 to the UP rewards program stored in a UP database 312.

The consumer module 302 is configured to accept login credentials from each consumer. The consumer module 302 then displays to the enrolled rewards programs for that consumer and offers exchange, redemption top-up and other options.

Each merchant database 308 stores a plurality of goods or services redeemable for an advertised amount of rewards points under that merchant's rewards program as well as storing accumulated reward points for consumers enrolled with that merchant's rewards program. The UP server 310 serves as an interface between the merchant server 307, the merchant database 308, the UP database 312 and the consumer module 302. Software is executed on the UP server 310 which enables processes including exchanging merchant reward points for UP, exchanging UP for merchant reward points, redeeming UP for goods and services at a merchant, redeeming merchant reward points for goods and services at a merchant and administrative account related processes for the merchants and the consumers. The UP module 304 may comprise a UP server 310 (comprising a UP ecommerce server in the form of an Application server), a database 312 and a communications link that allow each consumer module 302 to connect to the plurality of merchant servers 307 that the consumer is enrolled with. The UP ecommerce server may include software to provide a real-time conversion of reward points from the different merchant reward programs into UP. The e-commerce server may also include software for managing the business logic for all contents, including User profile management, reward points system, campaign and advertisements management, data integration with third party systems including Point-of-Sale (POS).

For example when the consumer logs in on the consumer module 302, the UP server 310 may make an update request to the merchant servers 307. Each merchant server 307 may send a reply advising the current number of reward points. Referring to Figure 4 for example the reward points may be for a rewards program hosted in the US. The UP database 312 stores a look up table which provides a conversion of the reward points for that merchant to their equivalent value in USD 400. This conversion may be based on a buying price for each reward point. For example, if the buying price is USD 2 per reward point, then the conversion of 100 reward points is USD200. The buying price may be a merchant contractual rate set by the merchant after he/she has taken into account his/her desired profit margin and/or other factors. In some cases, the buying price is fixed for a certain period of time and pre-loaded into the system for this period of time. The UP ecommerce server accesses a real-time-currency conversion rate from USD-SGD 402 (the host currency of UP in this case is SGD) using the communication link to a host bank site. Alternatively the UP ecommerce server uploads interbank exchange rates on a daily basis. The UP ecommerce server then multiplies the equivalent value in USD 400 by the currency conversion rate from USD-SGD 402 to obtain the equivalent value in SGD 404. The equivalent value in SGD 404 therefore represents the value in UP. For instance, using the above example, if the USD:SGD rate is 1.2:1 , then USD200 is converted to SGD240 which means that 100 reward points for that merchant with the rewards program hosted in the US is converted to 240UP (in the case where each UP is worth SGD1). Other rewards programs may be in other satellite currencies 406.

The UP server 310 provides technical benefits to the consumer in terms of increased accuracy of redemption, more efficient user interface for redemption and a wider range of redemption options. The UP server 310 provides technical benefits to the merchant in terms of more accurate and more regular settlement of reward points. The UP server 310 provides technical benefits to the operator in terms of smaller data storage requirements of the conversion between the respective merchant rewards programs, increased accuracy of the conversions, lower financial risk for the conversions, and faster processing of transactions with consumers and merchants. The UP server 310 is a data repository which will capture important consumer behaviours through their purchases and redemptions of different products offered by merchants. The system stores the data over time in a structured format in multiple tables in a database server the like of a SQL server, and thus this historical data is stored in a more compact form, and is more accurate than prior art data, which is normally spread over various vendors and is not able to be consolidated. The data can be used with machine learning to identify consumer behaviours in relation to points usage, and to refine sales marketing strategies and campaigns by merchants. Examples of the data captured to analyse consumer behaviours are as follows:

1. Details of all purchases (date of purchase, amount, occasion, etc)

2. Details of products purchased (type, model, brand, etc)

3. Details of merchant (location, industry, etc)

4. Details of promotions / campaigns if applicable (type, name, discount applicable, etc)

5. Mode of payment (Credit Gard used, etc)

6. Delivery preference (address, classification, recipient, etc)

The consumer module 302 may be a software application that may be downloaded and installed on a computer or a mobile phone. This allows the consumer easy access to all the information regarding the accumulated reward points and UP on the go. The information on all the different accumulated points may be provided and the total number of UP is shown in the consumer module 302. The consumer module 302 provides the functions of cross border utilization of UP, redemption of the UP with listed merchants in the merchant servers 306, the option of topping up points with case when there are insufficient UP for the redemption and the like. In particular, when setting up the consumer module 302, the consumer will have to login, review and agree to the terms and conditions, authorise marketing materials, set up a Consumer ID and password and a basic consumer profile that may then be used for repeated access by the consumer. The consumer module 302 also provides a function which allows the consumer to update their profiles with details such as basic consumer information like (full name, NRIC / passport number, date of birth, gender, mailing address, mobile number, residential number) and advance profile details such as important dates for events critical to the consumer, preference to receiving marketing materials and E Magazine, top 3 sports, top 3 activities, preferred mode of communication, privacy settings etc.

A method 1300 of consumer registration is shown in Figure 13.

Other functions that may be offered by the consumer module 302 include a daily login reward which may be a multimedia interactive program to reward consumers every day when they log into their portal using the consumer module 302. When the consumer makes purchases online using the server module 304, the consumer may be given additional chances to win more UP.

Each merchant server 307 may be hosted by third parties and will conform to a communication protocol.

This system 300 allows consumers to consolidate, combine or convert various merchant reward points into a one common program, UP. The consumers are able to match the value of the various merchant reward points through the conversion rate and with the use of the UP program to have access to global merchant offerings. The consumers may also be allowed to complete the redemption process with or without combination of cash. Group purchases where consumers combine their UP, or negotiate bulk discounts with merchants are also possible.

UP accumulation

Figure 5 shows a method 500 for a consumer to exchange their merchant reward points for UP. The consumer logs in 502 via the consumer module 302. The consumer may choose to view all the accumulated reward points from the plurality of merchant rewards programs converted to UP at one go, select a few of the merchants to be converted to UP or view each accumulated reward points from each merchant rewards program separately. In order to display the conversion offer the UP server 310 determines the conversion rate as explained above. The total amount of UP after conversion from the first merchant rewards program is displayed as an offer to the consumer. The consumer can then enter 504 the number of UP to acquire, the number of merchant rewards points to exchange or separately a monetary payment amount in a currency to directly purchase UP. The consumer may be given an option to accept the offered conversions 506. The consumer may accept all the offers at one go or select one or more of the offers without selecting all the offers.

Accepting the offer 508 results in a payment option page 510. If it is a merchant reward exchange debit a request is sent to the first rewards program at the respective merchant server and crediting the offered UP to a UP account for the respective consumer. Alternatively the consumer is directed to a payment page where Credit Card details are required 512. Once the successful exchange response or payment response is received 514 the new UP may be stored 516 in the UP database 312.

UP redemption

The consumer may use the UP to purchase goods or services offered by the merchants. If the balance of UP is insufficient, the consumers may be able to offset the difference with cash and/or credit card payment.

Figure 6 shows a method 600 for a consumer to exchange their UP for merchant reward points or redeeming UP for goods or services provided by the merchant. The consumer logs in 602 via the consumer module 302.

The merchant servers 306 provide details of the accumulated reward points and the redemption options available. The consumer selects an item and quantity to redeem 604. The UP server 310 sends a hold request 606 for the requested goods and quantity to the merchant server 307 for the duration of the transaction. The offer conversion is calculated 608 and displayed as an offer to the consumer 610. If the requested good is priced in a currency other than the consumer's resident currency (e.g. SGD), price conversion is performed. For example, if a resident of Singapore wishes to purchase an item costing AUD20, then this price is converted to SGD24 based on a rate of SGD:AUD = 1 :1.2 which is equivalent to 24UP (in the case where each UP is worth SGD1). The offer is then displayed as 24UP to the consumer. The merchant may also determine a selling price for each of its reward program points. For example, the merchant may set a selling price of AUD2 for each reward point. This is converted to SGD2.40 which means that each reward point requires 2.40UP (in the case where each UP is worth SGD1). Similarly, the selling price may be determined by the merchant based on his/her desired profit margin and/or other factors, and may be fixed for a period of time with the selling price pre-loaded into the system for this period of time.

If the consumer accepts the offer 612, if it is a UP debit the UP database 312 is queried for sufficient balance. If it is a merchant reward exchange debit a request is sent to the first rewards program at the respective merchant server 307. If it is a direct payment (in the case where the consumer's UP balance is insufficient and the consumer chooses to offset the difference with credit card payment for buying more UPs) the consumer is directed to a payment page where Credit Card details are required 614. Once the successful exchange response or payment response is received 616 the UP database 312 /merchant database 308 is updated 618 with the new balance.

Merchant Admin

The UP server 310 may allow the function of a merchant "administrator". Login is provided an ID and password upon signing up. The merchant administration may allow rewards management to be maintained by the merchant. The merchant can use this function to credit reward points based on their own rewards program into a consumer's account. This may be done by the merchant awarding reward points based on their own rewards program via an electronic credit either directly to the_. consumer module or through the server module 304 wherein the points are awarded as UP (in this case, the reward points are converted to UP in the same manner as that described previously with reference to Figure 4). Before the reward points are credited to the consumer, the request made by the merchant is reviewed by the system 300 for authenticity and reward points are credited to the consumer's account in the consumer module 302. This process is instantaneous. For large amounts this process may bypass the system 300 for manual reviewing prior to the crediting of reward points. Manual loading of points is also possible, where the merchant sends a request via communication outside the system 300 and the loading of credits is manually uploaded.

The merchant module 306 may also provide the function of campaign management where the merchants can launch, manage price and timeline, update, collaborate and tag their products instantly. This information may be made available to the consumer via the server module 304.

The merchant module 306 may allow for the merchant to be able to carry out inventory management where the merchants can load stock / inventory and model numbers to ensure stock availability, this provides a live inventory overview and that triggers will be sent to merchants when stocks are running low. When certain good or services are out of stock, this information may be fed back to the consumer via the server module 304. A temporary message customized by the merchant can be displayed in such situations to the consumer.

The merchant module 306 may provide other functions such as a means for reporting all commercial activities related to the UP program associated with that specific merchant allowing the merchant to do strategic planning to improve their rewards programs. The reporting details may include but are not limited to campaign performance, sales, viewership and consumer reviews.

Other functions that may be offered by the merchant module 306 include a means to advertise their good or services using E Magazines, publications and websites related to the server module 304 and/or directly to the consumer module 302. Merchants can upload or remove their artwork and copies or contents using this function. Using "Utry", a new innovative and interactive way of online shopping where consumers can experience a product in a "live" video demonstrating how the product is useful, its strengths and attributes, a merchant can load related information about how a product is applied, the attributes, comparison, ratings of the product, etc for consumers to review directly on the merchant server 306, server module 304 or consumer module 302.

The separate server module 304 that interacts with the merchant module 306 and the consumer module 302 within the system 300 has several advantages. For example, the server module 304 may provide specific services to the merchant, such as a contact helpdesk where the merchant may have a direct communication channel with the server module 304. The communication channel may include but is not limited to emails, instant chats and video calls. Merchants may also request for an appointment with a representative of the server module 304 via this function as well.

The separate server module 304 provides a service where merchants may customise their own rewards program based on the merchants that are participating in this UP program that is available in the UP database 312. This customisation may be a simple and straightforward process where the merchants can select other redemption merchants from a list of participating merchants available in the UP database 310. Selected redemption merchants may accept the partnership as per their default settings or provide subsequent online approval if required. The participating merchants which are part of the merchant module 306 may refer other merchants to the UP program. This may involve the new merchants having to enter information of the referee merchant as required by server module 304. The conversion status can be tracked and the referring merchant will be notified accordingly when the referee merchant is successfully signed up.

The server module 304 may also provide an E magazine, possibly a monthly publication which will portray latest products, offers and advertisements from participating merchants from the merchant rewards database 308 made available on the consumer module 302. The consumer may also post their feedback and rating for a product or service which they have purchased.

As discussed above, the merchants may set buying and selling prices of the UP. The server module 304 connected to the UP database 312 provides information relating to the selling price and the buying price of universal points which is pre-loaded onto the system 300 as per agreement with the merchants, prior to administrative consumer activation. The selling price determines the conversion rate when trading with the merchant who is fulfilling the redemption. When a consumer wants to purchase the merchant's product using UP, the price of the merchant's product is converted to SGD if it is not already in SGD and in the case where each UP is worth SGD1 , the price of the merchant's product in SGD is equivalent to the number of UPs required to buy the merchant's product. If the consumer proceeds with the purchase using the UPs, the UPs are converted to the merchant's pegged currency (e.g. assuming that each UP is worth SGD1 , 24UP which is equivalent to SGD24 is converted to AUD20) and the converted amount (e.g. AUD20) is then credited into the account settlement where payment to merchant is completed. The buying price determines the conversion rate of which the merchant converts their consumers' existing reward points into UP. The process requires the merchant awarding the reward points to determine the value of reward points accrued by the consumer and then purchasing them using the system 300, the conversion is made seamless with the server module 304. The UP purchased are then invoiced through the settlement module and payment is collected. This is shown in Figure 12.

The value of the consumer reward points are stored in the currency based on resident country indicated in the profile of the consumer in the consumer module 302. For example the UP may be stored using SGD or any other currency. Consumers can utilize their reward points to purchase goods from merchants from other geographic regions but the reward points paid will be based on value of product after currency conversion which is a service provided by the server module 304.

Account Settlement:

Each merchant will need to indicate their resident currency and provide a settlement bank account. Merchants are given a trading limit and terms. Invoices and settlements are automatically electronically transacted monthly based on the account information. Transaction history and past settlement reports can be retrieved via this function.

Management of contracts

Figures 7 and 8 show the flow of management of contracts to mandate purchase between consumers and merchants, and between corporations and merchants. The advantages of this feature for consumers are:

• Earn a rebate in UP by consolidating their expenses with a selected merchant over an agreed period of time

• Do an accurate comparison between various merchants to obtain the best offer for their purchases.

The advantages for merchants are:

• Increase in their bottom line as they stand to gain additional business from consumers who are willing to mandate their expenses

• Provides an opportunity to secure and retain these customers as their long term customers

• Receive proactive leads triggered by consumers who have the desire to mandate their expenses

• Increases the sales productivity and lowers the operating expenses for the merchant

a. This feature allows UP to set up and manage a contract between consumers and merchants whereby a consumer will commit to mandate all his expenses with a particular merchant in an agreed span of time. b. The merchant can also specify other criteria in this contract that can include but are not limited to minimum consumer spend per annum, average monthly consumer spend, type of products consumer needs to purchase. c. At the end of the contract, the merchant will reward the consumer an amount of rebates in terms of universal points in accordance to an agreed table, example shown as below.

d. As each contract expires, the consumer will be offered the option to renew the contract with the merchant and the merchant will be able to specify any change in criteria subjected to acceptance from the consumer. e. The entire process will be managed through UP. The process is as follows.

i. The request for contract is initiated by the consumer to participating merchants.

ii. Participating merchants who are interested, must respond with a contract offer within a given timeframe. iii. After the timeline is due, consumer reviews the-time based contract proposals from merchants who have responded.

iv. Consumer can raise questions about the contract proposals and conduct negotiations via the UP module 304 with the merchants.

v. Consumers can choose to accept a single contract proposal from one of the merchants or decline all contract proposals within the timeline given.

Customization of Rewards Program for Corporation

Basically this feature allows corporations to customize their very own Rewards Program for their customers. Example, Company ABC does not have an existing Rewards Program but wishes to leverage on the UP system's 300 extensive network of merchants and our existing products or services to create their own customized Rewards Program. The benefits for Company ABC are:

• Quick ramp up for Company ABC to own a world class Rewards Program

• Ability to customize the Rewards Program to suit their business objectives and their customers' needs

• Save valuable time and resources from building a Rewards Program from scratch

• Leverage on UP's overall volume and demand to obtain cheaper rates for products and services

• Low maintenance and operating costs as end to end negotiation, redemption and fulfilment processes will be undertaken by the UP system 300

• Ability to manage the Rewards Program efficiently and conveniently

• Ability to expand the Rewards Program into an online sales and marketing platform

Search by Activity

The consumer module 302 may provide the function of searching by activity where the consumer may use an advanced search function which offers the consumer the ability to search for products specific to an activity in the rewards database 308. The detailed explanation for how this type of searching may be done is shown in Figure 11. For example, the consumer may search for fishing trip, mountain hiking excursion, etc and the list of related items will appear for selection and review. Examples for fishing may be travel products to get there, accommodation options nearby, fishing equipment, food and supplies for the trip etc.

Figure 11 shows the process of search by activity. The results may be provided either in relation to pre-specified pull down lists of activities (based on a stored look up table for each activity), or may be generated in real-time using freeform key word searching. Freeform searching would use contextual or subject based clustering to identify products related to that activity.

Virtual concierge

The system of the present invention and the use of UP allow for the possibility of redemption of any item available for sale in the market using these reward points. There is an advantage also conferred to the merchant who can leverage on the UP program and enhance their existing loyalty and rewards programs.

Figure 10 shows the function of a virtual concierge which is a high touch service aimed to provide consumers with personalized service in managing their end to end purchase or redemption process with the UP program. The consumer can suggest for a product or service which he or she wishes to redeem using the UP and in the event that the product or service is unavailable from UP participating merchants, this service will then purchase the required product or service directly from a merchant selected by UP program via the server module 304 at an agreed cost with the consumer.

The system may first parse the consumer's request to confirm there are no available products or services within the current offerings. If is confirmed there are no products or service available the system may automatically send RFPs to selected merchants based on the parsed consumer request. Any responses are parsed and offered to the consumer for their approval.

User Interface

As shown in Figure 14 there may be a range of different interfaces for the system 300. For example there is an administrative interface 1402, consumer interface 1404, corporate interface 1406 and merchant interface 1408. Administrative interface

A screen shot of the administrative interface 1402 is shown in Figure 15. This includes the following options:

1. Fraud and Risk Management

This function is designed to control the system settings associated with how UP system 300 detects out of pattern transactions from consumer, merchant or corporation. It also allows the UP system 300 to customize various limits (example, transaction limit, floor limit, ceiling limit, etc).

2. User Profile Management

This function allows UP Admin to manage the profiles of all users accessing the UP system 300, including creation, modification, deletions and changing the access levels of the users. It can also change any settings on alerts to a user depending on user's preferences.

3. Reporting and Analytics

This function customizes the various reports and analytics which users can access via the UP system 300.

4. Contract and Rates Management

This function stores all the contract related information with consumers, merchants and corporations. It is a repository which stores scanned copies of the original contracts with merchants and pricing contracts which exist between consumer and merchant or corporation and merchant. It also allows the control of redemption and purchase rates with merchants. In addition, it can amend the settings of alerts to warn the upcoming expiry of a contract.

5. Finance Management (Billing, Recon)

This function controls the financial aspects (example, invoicing, reconciliation, etc) with all users.

6. Logistic & Tracking Management

This function allows the UP system 300 to track the delivery status of all redemptions, view and modify the information of logistic partners.

7. Ads and Campaign Management

This function controls the details of all advertising and campaigns running within UP owned sites, including merchants' Home pages hosted or powered by the UP system 300.

8. Inventory and Database Management

This function allows the creation, deletion and modification of all product details and inventory related information (example, quantity, mode of delivery, supplier name, etc).

9. Online Auction and Exhibition Management

This function controls the aspects of online auctions or exhibitions conducted via UP website, including participating merchants, products submitted for auctions or exhibitions, discounts available, conditions applicable, etc.

10. Product Reviews Management

This function controls the moderation of all reviews submitted for products by all types of users including insertion, deletion, etc of the reviews to UP website.

11. Forum Management

This function allows UP admin to control the online forum hosted in UP website, including the moderation, modification and deletion of all comments, all threads.

12. Concierge Management

This function allows UP admin to control the critical and mandatory fields required for all concierge requests, parameters which UP system uses to select potential merchants and the parameters which UP system uses to prioritize the selected merchants.

Consumer interface

A screen shot of the administrative interface 1404 is shown in Figure 16. This includes the following options:

1. Profile Management

This function allows consumer to manage the all aspects of his or her profile (example, age, location, contact details, preferred mode of delivery, important dates, etc) in the UP system.

2. Reporting and Analytics

This function allows consumer to access the various reports and analytics in the UP system.

3. Contract Management

This function stores all the contract related information for which the consumer has set up with one or more merchant(s). In addition, it can amend the settings of alerts to warn the upcoming expiry of a contract.

4. Submit Product Reviews

This function allows consumer to submit a new review of a product and rate the product. 5. Redemption

This function allows consumer to do a redemption of a product via UP online.

6. Purchase of Universal Points

This function allows consumer to purchase Universal Points for their account.

7. Virtual Concierge Request

This function allows consumer to submit a new request for a product which is currently not available in UP product catalogue for redemption. It also allows consumer to view the status of a request they have submitted previously. A consumer can also choose to terminate any of submitted request from this function.

8. Customer Service

This function allows consumer to get in touch with our Customer Service team via a webchat service, resolving their enquiries, issues or challenges real time.

9. Employee Benefits program (applicable only if the corporation which consumer is working for has established an Employee Benefits program for their employees)

This function allows consumer to access the Employee Benefits program under the Corporation which s/he is working for and submit redemptions.

Corporation interface

The corporate interface 1406 includes the following options:

1. Profile Management

This function allows corporation to manage the all aspects of its profile (example, age, location, contact details, preferred mode of delivery, important dates, etc) in the UP system.

2. Reporting and Analytics

This function allows corporation to access the various reports and analytics in the UP system.

3. Contract Management

This function stores all the contract related information for which the corporation has set up with one or more merchant(s). In addition, it can amend the settings of alerts to warn the upcoming expiry of a contract.

4. Submit Product Reviews

This function allows corporation to submit a new review of a product and rate the product. 5. Redemption

This function allows corporation to do a redemption of a product via UP online.

6. Purchase of Universal Points

This function allows corporation to purchase Universal Points for their account.

7. Virtual Concierge Request

This function allows corporation to submit a new request for a product which is currently not available in UP product catalogue for redemption. It also allows corporation to view the status of a request they have submitted previously. A corporation can also choose to terminate any of its submitted requests from this function.

8. Customer Service

This function allows corporation to get in touch with our Customer Service team via a webchat service, resolving their enquiries, issues or challenges real time.

9. Employee Benefits program

This function allows corporation to access and modify the different aspects of the Employee Benefits program under the corporation established for their employees.

Merchant Interface

A screen shot of the merchant interface 1408 is shown in Figure 17. This includes the following options:

1. Profile Management

This function allows merchant to manage the all aspects of its profile (example, age, location, contact details, preferred mode of delivery, important dates, etc) in the UP system 300.

2. Reporting and Analytics

This function allows merchant to access the various reports and analytics in the UP system 300.

3. Contract Management

This function stores all the contract related information for which the merchant has set up with one or more consumer and/or corporation. It is a repository which stores scanned copies of the original contracts with consumer and/or corporation. It also allows the control of redemption and purchase rates with UP. In addition, it can amend the settings of alerts to warn the upcoming expiry of a contract. 4. Access Product Reviews

This function allows merchant to review all the user submitted reviews and ratings for their products.

5. Customer Service

This function allows merchant to get in touch with our Customer Service team via a webchat service, resolving their enquiries, issues or challenges real time.

6. Logistic & Tracking Management

This function allows merchant to view and track the delivery status of all redemptions.

7. Ads and Campaign Management

This function allows merchant to submit and modify the details of all advertising and campaigns running within UP owned sites, including merchants' Home pages hosted or powered by UP.

8. Inventory and Database Management

9. Online Auction and Exhibition Management

This function allows merchant to request to join any online auctions or exhibitions conducted via UP website. Merchant will need to provide relevant information on products, details of discounts and conditions applicable, etc.

U-Link (Events Calendar)

The consumer module 302 may further provide the function of allowing the user (consumer or corporation) to lodge particular events in a calendar so that at a predetermined time before the event, the user is provided with a list of offers relating to products that the user may wish to purchase for the event.

Figure 18 shows a screenshot of a calendar used in the consumer module 302. The user has the option of adding an event to the calendar e.g. an event on 17 December 2013 and can also choose whether to add guests or details with the event. Figure 19 shows a method 1900 for a user to lodge events in the calendar and to receive offers.

The method 1900 comprises steps 1902 - 1918. In step 1902, the user adds in an event on an important date in the calendar, in step 1904, the user enters options and custom fields for the event (e.g. guests and other details), in step 1906, the user sets a privacy filter to determine who can access the calendar. The consumer module 302 then checks if consent to send marketing communication has been obtained. If consent to send marketing communication has not been obtained 1980, the method goes to step 1910 to begin a consent solicitation process to obtain the user's consent for sending marketing communication. If the user refuses to provide consent or the user did not select any particular requirements on what sort of products he/she would like to purchase for the event 1982, no action is taken and the calendar functions like a normal calendar 1984 that merely serves to remind the user of the event. If on the other hand, consent to send marketing communication has been obtained 1978 and the user has pre-selected the sort of products he/she would like to be offered, these requirements are sent to pre-mapped merchants in step 1912 via the UP module 304. A predetermined time (this may be pre-set by the client or may be a fixed value within the UP module 304) before the event, a reminder is sent to the client by the calendar. Upon receiving the reminder, the client sends a request for the list of offers to the UP module 304 which then forwards this request to the pre-mapped merchants. The pre-mapped merchants then respond to the UP module 304 with the relevant offers (in the form of automated preset products or manuals) in step 1914. These responses are consolidated by the UP module 304 and are formatted to standard communication formats in step 1916 before they are sent to the user. Upon receiving the offers, the user begins the purchase process by selecting the products to buy with UPs in step 1918.

Two key functionalities of the method 1900 are as follows: 1. Important Date Reminders

The method allows users to set reminders on important dates (events) on a one-off or recurring basis e.g. Birthdays. The user may provide a list of other UP system users to the consumer module 302 and may automatically load these UP system users' birthdays into the user's calendar if these UP system users have previously provided permission to do so.

During their registration process with the UP system 300, merchants may be requested to associate their products with various product categories. They can also opt to receive details such as the budget, event type and product category a user may be interested in purchasing for a particular event. These merchants are contractually bound to respond to the user using the UP system 300.

The user can pre-set requirements including product categories of the offers he/she wishes to receive, merchants to provide the offers and/or his/her budgets (requirements) for various events. In particular, the user is provided with a list of various event types. These event types may include for instance "Birthdays" which may include every birthday the user puts on the calendar and "Festivals" which may include all sorts of festivals such as Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter etc. The user can set different product categories and/or budgets for different event types. Whenever the user sets an event on the calendar, the user is also requested to enter the event type of the event e.g. "Birthdays" or "Festivals".

As an example, a user can set product categories "flowers", "chocolates", "toys", a budget of $100 and Merchants A, B as the pre-mapped merchants for the event type "Birthdays". A few days before a birthday event logged into the user's calendar, the user is sent a reminder. The user then sends a request to the UP server 312 and in response, the user is presented with a list of offers relating to flowers, chocolates, toy from Merchants A and B which cost below $100.

From the list of offers from the merchants provided to the user based on the pre-set categories and/or budgets, the user can actively seek gift ideas. Further, the consumer module 302 checks if there is a privacy agreement (i.e. whether consent to send marketing communication has been obtained) before forwarding the user's requirements to the pre-set (i.e. pre-mapped) merchants. Each merchant queues all the users' requirements based on the event dates into its repository for sorting and communication management and upon receiving a particular user's request for offers, sends a list of offers matching the particular user's requirements to the user.

2. Event Date Reminders

Notifications regarding multiple events may be published on the UP website. These events may include sales events, exhibitions, conventions etc. Each user can add events from the published list of events to the user's calendar. The user also has the option of actively seeking event updates and purchasing entrance tickets from the UP website. Similarly, the consumer module 302 checks if there is a privacy agreement before forwarding to the merchants the user's requirements for what events to actively seek. Each merchant queues all the users' requirements (based on the dates the merchant receives the users' requirements) into its repository for sorting and communication management and if the merchant is planning to offer any event matching a user's requirements, the merchant sends the event details to the user. Therefore, the merchants can conduct marketing through the UP system 300 based on the requirements of the users who have signed up for event updates.

Dynamic Sales and Marketing Communications (DSMC)

The merchant module 306 may further provide the function of allowing the merchants to market products at certain prices and receive price counter offers from the consumers or corporations.

Figure 20 shows a method 2000 for a merchant to market products to and receive counter offers from a consumer. Method 2000 comprises steps 2002 - 2020. In step 2002, the consumer receives e-deals (flyers) from the UP module 304 via email or sms. Figure 21 shows an example of an e-deal the consumer may receive. In step 2004, if the consumer is interested in the goods in the e-deals and wishes to counter offer a price, the consumer logs in to the UP module 304 either online or via Mobile Apps Tablet Apps. This may be done by clicking on a "Counter Offer" button in the e-deals. In step 2006, the consumer may then provide a counter offer price for the goods by altering selected fields and accepting certain terms and conditions for assurance of accepting counter offer (which means that in the case where the merchant accepts the counter offer, the consumer's UP account is deducted without the need for further approval from the consumer - this helps to ensure genuine counter offers). In step 2008, the consumer submits the counter offer price to the merchant after accepting the merchant's terms and conditions. The merchant then receives a notification regarding the counter offer price in step 2010. The merchant then logs into the UP module 304 to review the counter price offer in step 2012 and if the merchant declines the counter price offer or does not respond to the consumer within a certain period of time (which is stated in an Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the UP system administrator and the merchant) e.g. X Days 2080, a decline notification informing the consumer of the rejection of the counter offer is sent to the consumer via the UP module 304 in step 2014. On the other hand, if the merchant finds the offer acceptable, the merchant accepts the offer in step 2016. In this case, the consumer UP account is then charged based on the counter offer price and the goods are sent to the consumer in step 2018. In step 2020, a notification and invoice are sent to the consumer via the UP module 304.

The merchant may manage counter offers more effectively by setting thresholds with the e-deals. For example, the merchant may set thresholds of SGD250 and SGD280. In this case, if the counter offer is below SGD250, the UP module 304 sends a decline notification to the consumer automatically and if the counter offer is above SGD280, the UP module 304 accepts the counter offer automatically. Hence, the merchant does hot have to log onto the UP module 304 to decline or accept such offers. In this case, only counter offers which are above SGD250 and below SGD280 are sent to the merchant for review.

A consumer may utilize the UP system 300 at the point which he/she makes a payment to a merchant registered with the UP system 300 (Point-of-Sale POS). This can be done using a UP card or other cardless methods such as thumbprints etc. For example, the consumer can provide a UP card issued to him/her that stores his/her amount of UPs. At the POS, the UPs in the consumer's account are deducted for the item the consumer is trying to purchase in the manner similar to that discussed above. If there is not enough UP in the consumer's UP account, the consumer may be asked by the merchant if he/she wants to pay the balance via credit card or via exchanging more reward points from other merchants for UPs. The credit card details of a consumer may be pre-loaded into the UP databases 312 and in the event that the consumer decides to proceed with the credit card payment, such details are automatically retrieved from the database 312 for use for the credit card payment. In other words, the consumer does not have to register his/her credit card details at the POS and this increases the convenience for the consumer.

The UP module 304 is comprised in an apparatus that comprises the UP database 312 storing for each reward program (registered with the UP system 300), a predetermined conversion rate (e.g. the buying price set by the merchant) for the conversion of each reward point to universal points. The apparatus further comprises an I/O unit configured to receive consumer's requests from consumer output devices (e.g. mobile phone, computer, POS device) and a calculation unit configured to retrieve the predetermined conversion rates from the UP database 312 and calculate the number of universal points that can be exchanged for each consumer's request. These calculated numbers are then transmitted by the I/O unit to the consumer output devices. The apparatus further comprises an access unit for accessing merchant servers and a search unit for searching the UP database 312. The I/O unit, access unit, search unit and calculation unit may be part of Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers but this is not necessary.

Figure 22 shows an example of the UP server 310 in the development environment whereas Figure 23 shows an example of the UP server 310 in the production environment.

As shown in Figure 22, the UP server comprises an internal zone separated from a demilitarized zone (DMZ) web via a first Network Access Control List (ACL) 2202. Web servers, FTP/SFTP servers, Mail servers and SMS servers are located in the DMZ whereas Database (DB) servers and Applications (Apps) servers are located in the internal zone. In this example, the web servers, FTP/SFTP servers, mail servers and sms servers in the UP server are AWS servers. Instances comprising web servers, Application servers, mail servers etc. (i.e. UP server instances) are created to implement the UP server 310 operations. The AWS servers are connected to the AMAZON Network via a second Network ACL 2204. The second Network ACL 04, 2204 serves to restrict access from the AMAZON Network to all the servers and the first Network ACL 2202, 2302 serves to further restrict access from the DMZ to the internal zone.

The web servers are in the form of NGINX web servers which are event-driven web servers. Using event-driven web servers helps in handling the huge amount of concurrent connections made by the consumers and merchants at a sustained rate and the huge amount of packets transferred per second. In particular, in the UP server, the web server instance(s) are configured to run on NGINX which are connected to web clients and upstream application via TCP sockets. The NGINX is configured to handle incoming requests and distribute these requests to the pool of upstream Application servers to fulfil the requests. The NGINX web server also serves as an Acceleration HTTP proxy which is capable of handling multiple connects at the same time. This allows the system to manage simultaneous users' requests. When a new connection is accepted and the overhead is low, the HTTP proxy uses a local pool of keep-alive connections and reduces the number of such keep-alive connections to the minimum necessary. Therefore, connections are not held unnecessarily and the NGINX web server can process more transactions per second.

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) comprises several cloud computing services which include the Amazon Elastic Load Balancers, Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR) web service and the Amazon CloudSearch. These cloud computing services are used in this example. In particular, the Elastic Load Balancers, the EMR (using the Hadoop's File Distribution System) and the NGINX web server each contributes to improving the speed and load management of the UP server 310.

Figure 24 shows the structure of an AWS cloud that implements the UP server 130 whereby the AWS cloud comprises an Elastic Load Balancer 2402. In this embodiment, the Elastic Load Balancer 2402 is used for the Load Balancing tier to distribute traffic across the UP server's multiple instances 2404. This enables the system to seamlessly manage the amount of load to respond to incoming application traffic. Such a setup can also help detect the health of underlying Web and App instances including their CPU and network usage. Upon detection of a failure in any of the instances, the setup allows the routing of requests to "healthy" or working instances, Using Elastic Load Balancing also increases the flexibility in modifying the network for instance, it allows scaling of the network by adding or removing resources or instances as required, and this helps to reduce the downtime of the network.

In the production environment, the UP server 310 has a multi-tiered architecture including multiple internal and internet-facing Load Balancers that can route traffic between tiers. Figure 25 shows an AWS cloud having the multi-tiered architecture in the production environment. In this architecture, the Amazon Route 53 is a Domain Name (DNS) service. The Amazon Elastic Load Balancing is used to balance the load for the UP server 310 across instances 2502 in multiple availability zones of a region (e.g. US and Southeast Asia zones). Instances that fail can be replaced seamlessly by a standby instance so that this standby instance can continue the required operations. This helps to minimize the disruption caused by the failed instance. Each instance is associated with an Elastic Block Store which is a persistent off-instance storage of volumes that is automatically replicated. In particular, point-in-time snapshots 2504 are created to store data on volumes with each point-in-time snapshot associated with an instance. This helps to facilitate the above-mentioned seamless replacement of failed instances. The architecture further comprises Amazon CloudFronts which manages uploaded and shared content for online services.

Further, the NGINX web server is configured to handle load balancing by distributing each request to different Application servers. The request is managed by the Application server receiving the request and data from the Application server is routed back to the channel (e.g. website, mobile or Point-of-Sale (POS)) which initiated the request. The number of Application servers is scalable to accommodate the growth in traffic volume. A client's session is persisted using ip-hash which obtains a client's IP address as a hashing key to determine which server in the group of servers should be selected to service the client's request. Hence, in the UP system 300, a request from a same client is always directed to the same server except when the server is unavailable.

To support the huge amount of concurrent connections accessing big data, the UP server 300 manages packet handling, memory management and processor scheduling at the Application server as well.

The Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR) web service is also used to achieve high-availability and manage big data processing modules such as the conversion of reward points to UP and vice versa. In particular, the EMR serves to dynamically increase or decrease the number of processing nodes depending on the volume and rate of data input. The EMR is also capable of handling big data using Hadoop's architecture which is an infrastructure software that can help to quickly access and store big datasets using Hadoop's distributed file system. To elaborate, Apache Hadoop is an open-source software that allows for the distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers. This software is designed to scale up from single servers to thousands of machines. To exploit the EMR's capability in handling big data and the Amazon CloudSearch's fast search capabilities, a customer data loader program is built on the EMR to pump data seamlessly into the CloudSearch. Another service used is the Amazon CloudSearch that cooperates with the EMR to provide high-speed search functionalities. The Amazon CloudSearch is internally powered by Apache Solr so the search can be "outsourced" to a service without having to worry about hardware provisioning, setup and maintenance as these can also be scalable based on the system's needs. In particular, the system is configured such that search of big index data such as the consumer's reward programs, the merchant's products etc. to be used by the system is handled separately. This helps to provide a fast, efficient and secure search capability since the Amazon CloudSearch is able to handle hundreds of indexes and millions of documents depending on the hardware setup which can be easily scaled within the AWS cloud.

The UP database 312 is in the form of a MySQL database in the development environment. In the production environment, the MySQL database is migrated to Apache HBase so as to support bigger data. The Apache HBase is a distributed non-relational database that utilizes Hadoop's Distribution File System. Such a file system is capable of hosting very large tables (having billions of columns and/or rows) and can provide a real-time read/write access of big data.

A list of Amazon web services (AWS) and UP server instances in the AWS used in the examples is provided below in Table 1.

Amazon Elastic MapReduce A web service that manages UP's big data using Hadoop's

File Distribution system.

This allows processing of large and_, simultaneous data across clusters to manage POS and payment transactions in real-time.

Amazon CloudSearch A separate service is created in Amazon's CloudSearch

which retrieves updated and active conversion rates to be used by POS systems, third party secure connections and the UP website

A dedicated web service is used to manage fast search on products for the shopping website which includes active and real-time search on product details i.e. brand, category, per activity, price, availability etc.

Amazon CloudFront A content delivery network web service that manages media (i.e. videos, images) on a cross origin resource sharing and

geo-targeting to detect the user's country location and route the request to the nearest fastest zone.

This web service handles on-demand media streaming.

NGINX Web Server This is an instance server managed by UP which can

manage multiple transactions per second.

NGINX web server can exclusively manage and handle HTTP/HTTPS requests

NGINX Application Server Used for running application programs to execute reward

points to universal points exchange logic

Manages and processes requests from the UP website, mobile and batch requests.

SFTP A batch process picks up files dropped by Merchants'

invoices

These files are parsed and processed to update points and transactions

Mail Outbound emails are sent to UP users for notifications,

alerts, information and reporting services

Secure inbound messaging is used by UP staff for communications and collaboration

SMS SMS used as OTP (One Time Pin) to authorize transactions,

view or manage sensitive information, receive alerts, information and notifications

Table 1

Figures 26a and 26b are two parts of a flow diagram (linked by the letters A, B, C, D) showing a method for a user (or client) to exchange a merchant's reward points for UPs used for the UP system 300.

As shown in the flow diagram, the client performs a login in step 2602 by sending login details (including a client's id for the UP system 300) through the front-end of the UP system 300 (which is the browser of the client) to the server-side comprising the UP server 310. Upon receiving the login details, the server-side retrieves encrypted credentials using the client's id in the form of an email address in step 2604. These credentials are then decrypted in step 2608. If the decrypted credentials are found to be not valid, the method ends in step 2610. Otherwise, the user profile is displayed at the browser in step 2608. At the browser, preloading of images is performed using memcached which is a memory caching system that works in conjunction with the NGINX server. This helps to increase the speed of loading graphics at the browser. The client then sends a selection request to select the option "Rewards Program" in step 2612 via the front-end to the server-side. Upon receiving such a selection request, the server-side retrieves the encrypted details ("Loyalty Program Enrolments") of the rewards programs the consumer is enrolled in using the function GetClientLoyaltyProgramEnrollmentsO in step 2614. In particular, the server-side sends a query to the server of each of the merchants administering the rewards programs (i.e. merchant server). This query may contain the client's member id for that merchant. Upon receiving the query, the merchant server opens up access of this client's details to the UP server 310. Such details may include for example, the number of valid reward points the consumer has for this merchant's reward program. The connection between the UP server and each merchant server is a secure connection which in this example, is a SSL connection with 128-bit encryption. The connection between the UP server 310 and the merchant server is temporary and after the UP server 310 has successfully retrieved the necessary details, the connection is cut off. By accessing a merchant server as and when a consumer selects to exchange reward points, the client's details need not be permanently stored in the UP database 312. Instead, the client's details may be stored temporarily and then deleted once they have been used for displaying the required information to the client. However, the UP database 312 may store member ids for the consumers and/or corporations in a more permanent memory storage unit. Such member ids are the form of identification for the merchants' reward programs and are contained in the queries sent to the merchant servers as stated above.

If a merchant does not have an existing reward program (and hence, no existing server for administering a reward program), the merchant may use the UP module 304 for its reward program. For example, the details for this merchant's reward program may be stored at the UP database 312 and in step 2604, the UP server 310 accesses this merchant's details from the UP database 312. Each merchant's details are encrypted and each merchant is only allowed to access its own reward program details.

The client's details are then decrypted in step 2616 and the reward points for each of the merchants administrating the reward programs are displayed via the client's browser in step 2618. Such steps allow the client to know the number of valid reward points he/she has for each reward program or whether he/she is still enrolled in a particular reward program so that he/she does not try to exchange reward points which he/she actually does not have. The client then selects one or more reward points which may be from one or more merchants ("Merchant points") to convert to UP in step 2620. This selection request is sent through the front-end to the server-side. In step 2622, upon receiving the selection request, the server-side retrieves the encrypted UP points conversion matrix for each merchant whose reward points are selected by the client. In particular, the server-side looks up the buying price for the merchant and calculates the number of UPs that the client can exchange for with the number of reward points he/she selected. This number of UPs is presented in the form of a UP points conversion matrix and is encrypted. In step 2624, the encrypted UP points conversion matrix is decrypted at the front-end. The conversion points result i.e. decrypted UP points conversion matrix is then displayed via the client's browser. The client then decides whether to proceed with the conversion and if no, the client may perform step 2620 again to select other reward points from other merchants to convert. If the client decides to proceed with the conversion, the selected merchants' details are encrypted at the front-end in step 2628 and sent to the server-side. The server-side proceeds to use the encrypted selected merchants' details without first decrypting them. An additional layer of client-side encryption to encrypt sensitive information is hence provided to help ensure that even if a third party manages to connect to the UP database 312, the third party cannot obtain the sensitive information as it cannot decrypt the information without the password. However, data from the server-side is decrypted when they are displayed in the client's browser e.g. in step 2624 so that the client can receive the information.

Using the encrypted selected merchants' details, the server-side then updates the client's UP points balance and the reward points balances (for the selected merchants in steps 2630 and 2632 respectively. A billing transaction is then added for each of the selected merchants at the server-side in step 2634. A notification that the reward points from the selected merchants have been successfully converted is then displayed via the client's browser in step 2636 and the client may then log out in step 2638.

In the UP system 300, SSL is used for all login functionalities. In particular, an SSL connection is used by a user to login and access information from the UP server 310 so that the connection is secure. Encryption of data including profile, passwords and payment information is done using the SHA-3 implementation at the client's end and such encrypted information is saved to the UP database 312. For enhanced security, a fixed openssl release may be utilized for the SSL connections from the client to server-side and a BCRYPT encryption may be added at the client side. Decryption of these data can only be performed using the user's hashed and encrypted password. Hence, a middleman attack can only access encrypted content and is unable to decrypt such content.

Independent processes are run on-demand to help ensure that currency exchange rates are accurate as of the date of transaction (there may be a need to connect to a server of an external agency to retrieve up-to-date currency rates) Other than using predetermined values of the buying and selling prices of the UPs for each merchant, date of validity of the reward points, real-time currency exchange rates, the conversion of UP to reward points and vice versa and other transactions of the UP system 300 is made more accurate by having back-end data integrity and concurrency checks for the billing and payment system. In particular, such checks are used to dynamically check incoming and outgoing transactions. In particular, various check and balance processes are put in place for ensuring the accuracy of transactions between the UP module 304 and the consumers, corporations and merchants. These processes help to prevent fraud or employee abuse or any other deliberate move to take advantage of the UP system 300. For example, one of the checks may be to check that in any transaction, the dollar value of the Universal Points from the consumer is not less than the dollar value of the product redeemed in the transaction from the merchants. Integrity checks may be done to locate inadvertent data errors such as unexpected data modifications right after a transaction or unexpected data changes. Such checks may also be performed to locate data integrity violations such as situations whereby reward points and/or UPs accounts are still updated for transactions that have been cancelled, returned or deleted.

Communication of the login details, the user credentials and the Loyalty Program Enrolments from the server-side to the front-end or from the client to the server-side is performed using the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol.

On the network side, a secure virtual private network may be established between the merchant servers and the UP server 310 to allow communication between the merchant servers and the UP server 310. For example, for invoicing and consolidation, the merchant servers may drop files to the UP server 310's secured FTP. These merchants' files may be with additional metadata. The UP server 310 may scan these files for viruses before processing them. The files may either be stored in the UP database 312 and then processed by batch by the UP server 310 or be processed in real-time by the UP server 310. To facilitate such file processing, a file template may be provided for merchants with the file template format being different for different industries (retail/ travel/ services etc.). The files may be processed in the UP server 310 based on the file template format.

With the technical setup as described above, the UP system 300 allows corporations, consumers and merchants to trade products and services between one another using a common denomination - Universal Points. This is illustrated in Figure 27. Both the buying and selling points of the UPs for each merchant are customized. These buying and selling prices essentially form the basis of trading between other parties and each merchant, and govern the margins of each transaction automatically to the merchant and in some cases, the UP system administrator. The UP system 300 makes use of real-time feed on currency exchange rates to reflect accurate costs of redemption or sale prices for transactions which occur across geographical markets. Thus, the UP system 300 addresses inflationary issues by taking into consideration inputs from merchants regarding the fixed costs of their products, buying and selling prices of the UPs as set by the merchants and the real-time currency exchange rates (if applicable).

Whilst exemplary embodiments of the invention have been described in detail, many variations are possible within the scope of the invention as claimed as will be clear to a skilled reader.

Claims

1. An apparatus for exchanging reward points from a plurality of rewards programs to universal points from a universal points rewards program, the apparatus comprising:

an I/O unit configured to receive a consumer's request from a consumer output device to exchange a particular number of reward points into the universal points; and

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an access unit wherein upon the I/O unit receiving the consumer's request, the access unit is configured to transmit a query to a merchant server of each of the merchants whose reward points the consumer requests to exchange; and wherein the query is configured to cause each merchant server to allow the access unit to access details related to the reward points of the consumer.

3. The apparatus in claim 1 or 2, wherein the I/O unit is comprised in an event-driven web server.

4. The apparatus in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the calculation unit is one of multiple calculation units configured to determine the number of universal points and wherein the selection of the calculation unit to perform the calculation is based on a number of tasks each of the calculation units is performing at the time of the selection.

5. The apparatus in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the database comprises further predetermined conversion rates and the apparatus comprises a search unit configured to search for the predetermined conversion rates for the particular number of reward points from the database.

6. The apparatus in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the predetermined conversion rates for different reward programs are different.

7. The apparatus in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the calculation is performed based on the predetermined conversion rates and real-time currency exchange rates.

8. The apparatus in claim 7, wherein the predetermined conversion rate for each reward program comprises a monetary value of each reward point in a first currency.

9. The apparatus in claim 8, wherein the calculation comprises calculating a total monetary value of the particular number of reward points based on the predetermined conversion rate and converting the total monetary value into a second currency using a real-time currency exchange rate.

10. A loyalty system for exchanging points from a plurality of rewards programs comprising

display the determined conversion as an offer to the consumer,

11. The system in claim 10 wherein the server module is configured to store further programmed instructions configured to

receive input from the consumer to exchange universal points to points from a first merchant reward program,

display the determined conversion as an offer to the consumer,

if the consumer accepts the offer, sending a credit request to the first rewards program at the respective merchant server and debiting the UP account for the respective consumer.

12. The system in claim 10 or 11 wherein the server module is configured to store further programmed instructions configured to

receive input from the consumer to redeem universal points for goods or services from a first merchant reward program,

determine a conversion rate based on the goods or services, the first merchant rewards program and a real time currency exchange rate,

display the determined conversion as an offer to the consumer,

if the consumer accepts the offer, sending a credit request to the respective merchant server and debiting the UP account for the respective consumer.

13. The system in any one of claims 10 - 12, further comprising a currency conversion module configured to provide a real time currency conversion rate between a satellite currency of the first merchant reward program and a host currency of the system or the consumer.

14. The system in claim 13 wherein the server module storing a plurality of an equivalent monetary values for a point in each respective merchant reward program, the equivalent monetary value being in a designated satellite currency of the respective merchant reward program.

15. The system in claim 14 wherein the determined conversion rate comprising the equivalent monetary value converted to the host currency of the system using the real time currency conversion rate from the satellite currency.