WO2016119037A1

WO2016119037A1 - System and method for personal savings accumulation

Info

Publication number: WO2016119037A1
Application number: PCT/CA2015/050052
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dharmender KUMAR
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2015-01-26
Filing date: 2015-01-26
Publication date: 2016-08-04
Anticipated expiration: 2017-07-26

Abstract

Described herein is a system for a system for personal savings accumulation based on a purchase transaction between a customer and a vendor, the system comprising: a storage system comprising a plurality of account records for customers and a plurality of account records for vendors; an interface device connected to a network for receiving from a vendor information relating to a purchase transaction with a customer, one or more income credits to be allocated to the customer account and a cash equivalent to an administrator account held in a financial institution, and for transferring a portion of the cash equivalent to the customer's tax-advantaged account held in a financial institution; a processor communicative with the storage system and the interface device, the processor determining the number of income credits and the cash equivalent by calculation from a predetermined parameter as a function of the amount of the purchase transaction. Methods and computer readable media providing the same are also described.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERSONAL SAVINGS ACCUMULATION

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to savings accumulation, and more specifically to personal savings accumulation.

Description of the Related Art

Personal savings rate or household savings rate statistics are often cited in discussions of economic stability. For example, analysis of economic outlook of member countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has routinely included household savings rate data. While specific numbers in the household/personal savings rate data are prone to error and variance, trends of declining personal/household savings rate has been recognized over the past two decades.

The significance of household savings has been identified by many financial analysts. From an individual's perspective a significant effect of sufficient household savings is the ability to maintain a desired lifestyle after retirement age. From a societal perspective, levels of household savings may impact a country's ability to service its national debt.

In OECD studies household saving is generally defined as the difference between a household's disposable income (mainly wages received, revenue of the self-employed and net property income) and its consumption (expenditures on goods and services.). Since the early- to-mid- 1990s, savings rates have been stable in some countries but have declined in others - in some cases sharply, including in Australia, Canada, Japan, Hungary, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. With the great recession of 2007-2008 that trend reversed itself, and household saving rates increased in 2009 in many countries. However, in 2010 they started declining once again in a number of places and are projected to continue to do so through 2015 as evident from Table 1.

Table 1. Household Saving Rates - forecasts (Percentage of disposable household income), OECD (2014), Economics: Key Tables from OECD, No. 7. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/hssv-gr-table-2014-l-en; Source: OECD Economic Outlook No. 95 published 06 May 2014 with methodology provided at OECD Economic Outlook Sources and Methods (http://www.oecd.org/eco/sources-and-methods.htm).

In the context of a link between household savings rate and a country's debt, it has been suggested that higher levels of household savings allow a larger portion of a country's overall debt to be financed internally. Analysts consider this to be more sustainable option than high debt levels primarily financed by external (foreign) creditors. Italy and Spain's high debt levels may be mitigated by their higher rates of savings. Countries such as the US and the UK, which have somewhat lower debt levels, also have lower household saving rates. Very strong household savings may have traditionally financed Japan's very large debt burden, but the country has seen a significant decline in saving rates over the past decade.

Although the link between household/personal savings rate and economic outlook has been established, factors that encourage or promote increases in household/personal savings are poorly understood. For example, while conventional wisdom may predict that high income makes saving more likely; this has not been shown by analysis of financial date . It may be that where people make the most money, the costs of goods and services are proportionately high. It also appears that there is no conclusive relationship between savings rate and other major economic factors in the countries where people save the most.

One explanation involves the "wealth effect," in which increases in the real value of assets stimulate consumption and decrease savings. For example, the steep rise in the financial wealth of households beginning in the mid- 1990s— which was principally due to the soaring stock market— coincided with a falloff in the personal saving rate.

Another suggested explanation for a decline in the saving rate is associated with the coincident rise in labor productivity in the latter half of the 1990s. Households may not place an emphasis on increasing savings based on a perception that a higher labor income associated with a rise in labor productivity will continue into the future.

Another suggested explanation is that financial innovation has relaxed liquidity constraints that many households had been facing by increasing their access to the credit markets, and decreasing motivation to save.

Regardless of the explanation, a need to stabilize or increase household/personal savings has been voiced by many financial analysts.

Accordingly, there is a continuing need for systems and methods for personal savings accumulation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an aspect there is provided a system for personal savings accumulation based on a purchase transaction between a customer and a vendor, the system comprising: a storage system comprising a plurality of account records for customers and a plurality of account records for vendors;

an interface device connected to a network for receiving from a vendor information relating to a purchase transaction with a customer, one or more income credits to be allocated to the customer account and a cash equivalent, and for transferring a portion of the cash equivalent to the customer's tax-advantaged account held in a financial institution;

a processor communicative with the storage system and the interface device, the processor determining the number of income credits and the cash equivalent by calculation from a predetermined parameter as a function of the amount of the purchase transaction.

In still further aspects there are provided, method and computer readable medium for providing the same.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows a block diagram describing an example of a vendor interacting with the personal savings accumulation system;

Figure 2 shows a block diagram describing an example of processing of the advertising information and parameter(s) provided in Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a block diagram describing an example of propagating an advertising campaign and awarding income credits based on the information and parameter(s) processed in Figure 2;

Figure 4 shows a block diagram describing an example of a customer interacting with the personal savings accumulation system;

Figure 5 shows a block diagram describing an example of processing of the customer defined purchasing interest and parameter(s) provided in Figure 4;

Figure 6 shows a block diagram describing an example of receiving advertising campaign display and tracking transaction based income credit transfers and redemptions according to predetermined parameter(s) processed in Figure 5.

Figure 7 shows a system map describing an illustrative implementation of the personal savings accumulation system in a geographically centralized computer system; and Figure 8 shows a system map describing an illustrative implementation of the personal savings accumulation system in a geographically distributed computer system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMB ODEVIENT

A personal savings accumulation system, or method for providing the same, is based on connection of a plurality of vendors each selling goods and/or services with a plurality of customers each willing to buy goods and/or services, with vendors awarding income credits to customers based on a portion of each transactional amount. As such, savings for each customer may be accumulated as a portion of each transaction amount with a vendor.

A typical vendor may be any individual or entity that offers for sale at least one good or ware or at least one service.

A typical customer may be any individual that wishes to buy at least one good or ware or at least one service.

The system allows a vendor to promote goods or services offered for sale and include information used to by a customer to make purchases through a virtual marketplace based on a network of computers or through a point of sale device at a physical location of the vendor.

The system allows for parameters designated by each vendor and parameters designated by each customer to be distributed to any number of computing devices and any number of networked destinations, such as an internet websites accessed through an internet browser, to provide a convenient forum for vendors and customers to engage each other.

Referring to the drawings, an example of the system will be described in the context of a vendor and a customer for illustrative purposes. In practice, the system can accommodate any number of user interactions including one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one and many- to-many.

Figure 1 shows a block diagram describing an example of a vendor providing parameters for offers for sale and awarding of income credits. Typically, prior to performing steps shown in Figure 1 the vendor would have typically registered a vendor account by providing information prompted by the system. A vendor may be charged a membership fee at the initial registration of the vendor account. The vendor would have been provided with a user name and password or any other convenient method to securely access the vendor account and a unique identifier would have been assigned to the vendor account. The vendor may perform the steps shown in Figure 1 using a personal computing device or using a website interface connected to a server computer. For convenience the steps are described in the context of the purchaser's personal computing device. Typically, upon start up of the vendor's computing device an end-user interface application software previously installed on the computing device will start (110) and initiate a networked communication with a server computer of the system. Each vendor is registered with an account and a unique identifier associated with the vendor's account. To allow the vendor to access the vendor's account the server computer will typically require login information (120) that may be provided by the application software in the form of a stored electronic data packet such as an electronic cookie. In the absence of automated login information provided by the application software, the vendor is prompted to manually enter the login information (122) such as a user name and password. Once in a logged in environment the vendor can select or provide advertising information (130) optionally based on an array of choices provided by the application software. Advertising information may include any information relating to an offer for sale, for example, vendor name, vendor location, vendor image, images of items for sale, description of items for sale, promotional time ranges, and the like. The vendor may also select, provide or update parameters for awarding income credits to customers (140). Parameters may include any parameter associated with a transaction and subsequent awarding of income credits, for example, minimum transaction amount, maximum transaction amount, percentage of transaction to be awarded as income credit, stepped increase in income credit based on increased range of transaction amount, base level fixed income credit per transaction per day.

As the selection of the desired advertising information and the parameters of awarding income credits are completed the designated advertising information and the designated parameter(s) may be synchronously or asynchronously uploaded (150) to the server computer using any convenient data transfer scheme.

Figure 2 shows a block diagram describing an example of processing steps performed by the server computer on the designated advertising information and the designated parameter(s) for awarding income credits. The server computer receives (210) the designated advertising information and the designated parameter(s) for awarding income credits from the vendor's computing device. Based on the information provided during the vendor's login (120/122) the server computer can store the designated parameter(s) for awarding income credits in memory and associate the designated parameter(s) with the vendor's account record (220). The server computer can also process the designated advertising information to associate a unique advertising campaign identifier (230) and store the unique advertising campaign identifier and advertising information in memory (240). The unique advertising campaign identifier is associated with the vendor's account record (250) and may also be associated with a vendor's designated income credit parameters, particularly where the income credit parameters are specific to an advertising campaign. The unique advertising campaign identifier may be sent to the vendor's computing device (260) and received by the application software and stored in memory (270). The designated advertising information can then be accessed based on the unique advertising campaign advertiser. Each vendor can establish multiple advertising campaigns with each campaign having a unique advertising campaign identifier, and each campaign allowing for potential designation of differing advertising information and differing parameter(s) for awarding income credits. The designated advertising information may then be accessed and displayed within the system to potential customers on each customer's computing device.

Figure 3 shows a block diagram describing an example of steps performed by the system to allow the vendor to display advertising information and track customer activity relating to an advertising campaign. The vendor's application software sends the unique advertising campaign identifier to the server computer (310) to initiate propagation of advertising information, and based on this identifier the server computer obtains the advertising information and using matching algorithms analyzes a database of customer information including for example customer defined purchasing interests, customer defined preferences, customer transaction history, customer internet search history, customer internet viewing history, etc. and displays the advertising information to corresponding matching customers (320). The advertising information display may include the vendor's designated income credit parameter(s). Any suitable matching algorithms may be used. Furthermore, any suitable model of advertising on computing devices may be used including those that do not require matching algorithms. Customer purchases relating to a specific advertising campaign can be compiled according to each unique advertising campaign identifier (330). Unique identifier for each customer is recorded with each purchase transaction (340) and income credits are awarded to the customer's account based on the vendor's predetermined designated income credit parameter(s) (350). A cash equivalent for the income credits and optionally a premium charged by an administrator of the system is transferred from the vendor to a central account held in a financial institution (360). A major portion or all of the cash equivalent is ultimately transferred to the customer's tax-advantaged account held in a financial institution. The vendor's account records are periodically updated to reflect transaction information and income credit information including income credits awarded and cash equivalents transferred relating to each unique advertising campaign identifier (370).

Figures 4 to 6 show an example of a customer using the system to accumulate savings while using the system to conduct purchase transactions. Figure 4 shows a block diagram describing an example of a customer providing information relating to desired purchases and desired income credit parameters. Typically, prior to performing steps shown in Figure 4 the customer would have typically registered a customer account by providing information prompted by the system and would have selected a tax-advantaged account to be opened and held in a financial institution. A customer may be charged a membership fee at the initial registration of the customer account. The customer would have been provided with a user name and password to access the customer account and a unique identifier would have been assigned to the customer account. The customer may also be provided with a membership card that encodes the customer unique identifier in any suitable format including near field communication, magnetic strip, barcode, and the like, for use with vendor poin-of-sale devices. The customer may perform the steps shown in Figure 4 using a personal computing device or using a website interface connected to a server computer. For convenience the steps are described in the context of the customer's personal computing device. Typically, upon start-up of the customer's computing device an end-user interface application software previously installed on the computing device will start (410) and initiate a networked communication with a server computer of the system. The server computer will typically require login information (420) that may be provided by the application software in the form of a stored electronic data packet such as an electronic cookie. In the absence of automated login information provided by the application software, the customer is prompted to manually enter the login information (422) such as a user name and password. Once in a logged in environment the customer can access and search posted vendor advertising information. The customer can provide information relating to desired purchases or relevant categories of purchasing interest (430). Optionally, the system may track and analyze a customer's search, viewing and/or transactional history to automatically infer relevant categories of purchasing interest. The customer can also select or provide parameters of desired income credit rewards (440) based on an array of choices provided by the application software. Possible parameters may encompass any parameter associated with a transaction and subsequent awarding of income credits, for example, minimum transaction amount, maximum transaction amount, percentage of transaction to be awarded as income credit, stepped increase in income credit based on increased range of transaction amount, or base level fixed income credit per transaction per day.

As the selection of purchasing interest information and the income credit parameters are completed the selected purchasing interest information and the selected parameter(s) information may be synchronously or asynchronously uploaded (450) to the server computer using any convenient data transfer scheme.

Figure 5 shows a block diagram describing an example of processing steps performed by the server computer on the customer's purchasing interest information and parameter(s) for desired income credit reward schemes. The server computer receives (510) the purchasing interest information and the parameter(s) for desired income credits from the customer's computing device. Based on the information provided during the customer's login (420/422) the server computer can store the designated parameter(s) for desired income credits reward schemes in memory and associate the designated parameter(s) with the customer's account record (520). The server computer can also process the customer defined purchasing interest information to associate a unique purchasing interest identifier (530) and store the unique purchasing interest identifier and customer purchasing interest information in memory (540). The unique purchasing interest identifier may include information extracted from the customer defined purchasing interest information. The unique purchasing interest identifier is associated with the customer's account record (550) and may also be associated with a customer's designated parameters of desired income credit reward scheme, particularly where the income credit parameters are specific to each of a plurality of purchasing interest designations. The unique purchasing interest identifier may be sent to the customer's computing device (560) and received by the application software and stored in memory (570). The unique purchasing interest identifier may be used to search for relevant vendor advertising information and/or to access the associated purchasing interest information or income credit parameter information as needed.

Figure 6 shows a block diagram describing an example of steps performed by the system to allow the customer to select from or engage a plurality of advertising campaigns and track income credits awarded and redeemed as a result of the customer's purchasing activity. The customer's application software sends information including the unique purchasing interest identifier to the server computer (610), and based on purchasing interest search terms incorporated within the identifier and/or further purchasing interest information associated with the identifier and the customer's account, the server computer analyzes a database of vendor advertising campaigns using matching algorithms and returns a plurality of vendor advertising campaigns to display in the customer's computing device (620). Any suitable matching algorithms may be used. Furthermore, any suitable model of advertising on computing devices may be used including those that do not require matching algorithms. The plurality of vendor advertising campaigns may be ranked in any convenient manner including, for example, a ranking according to greatest income credit benefit for the customer. Each advertising campaign may indicate the income credit parameter(s) designated by the vendor. The customer may act on an advertising campaign by using an electronic commerce platform to purchase directly from the displayed advertising campaign or may conduct a purchase at the vendor's physical location with the customer's membership card read by a vendor's point-of-sale device (630). Customer purchases can be recorded and compiled according to each unique customer identifier (640). Unique identifier for each customer is recorded with each purchase transaction and income credits are awarded to the customer's account based on the vendor's predetermined designated income credit parameter(s) (650). Income credits are redeemed for a cash equivalent transferred to the customer's tax-advantaged account held in a financial institution (660). The customer's account records are periodically updated to reflect transaction information and income credit information including income credits awarded and cash equivalents transferred to a tax- advantaged savings account relating to each unique customer identifier (670).

Figure 7 shows a system map describing an example of an implementation (700) of the system. In the implementation (700) the system comprises a plurality of customers (710) each with at least one computing device and plurality of vendors (720) each with at least one computing device and at least one good or service to offer for sale. Customer computing devices (710) communicate over a network with a website application to receive customer account data, income credit data, tax-advantaged savings account data, matched vendor advertisements or promotional offers, and/or transactional history data from a customer manager module (740) while vendor computing devices (720) communicate with a website application to receive vendor account data, income credit data, cash equivalent transfer data, advertising campaign data, transactional history data from a vendor manager module (750). The vendor manager module (750) may communicate with the customer manager module (740) mediated through an operable linkage with a processor (760) and a memory (770). The customer manager module (740), the vendor manager module (750), the processor (760) and the memory (770) together form a personal savings manager server (730). Memory (770) may include volatile memory such as various RAM types, and non-volatile such as ROM, magnetic storage systems, optical storage systems and the like. Once income credits are transferred from a vendor to a customer and a cash equivalent is transferred from the vendor to an administrator, income credits held by the customer can be redeemed for transfer of a major portion of the cash equivalent to a customer's tax-advantaged savings account held in a financial institution (780).

Figure 8 shows a system map describing an example of a cloud (805) based implementation of the system where functions for maintaining and updating customer profiles (810), tracking and monitoring customer income credit balances and redemptions (820), maintaining account manager profiles, commissions, access and analytics (830), updating and monitoring customer and vendor cash transfers and/or account balances (840), maintaining and updating vendor profiles (850), and maintaining and monitoring vendor income credit transfers and cash equivalent obligations (860) are distributed over a plurality of server computers and data storage systems. In operation, the system enables a market place or exchange for vendors wishing to sell a good or service and customers wishing to purchase a good or service with a portion of the transaction amount transferred to a customer's tax-advantaged savings account. The system allows for connection of a plurality of vendors with a plurality of customers to promote consumer activity while also increasing a customer's personal savings in a tax- advantaged savings account.

An administrator or controller of the system can establish and oversee modules for procuring vendors and customers, opening tax-advantaged savings accounts, tracking and maintaining balanced accounts for income credit transfers and redemption of income credits to provide a secure method of consumer activity to people who wish to increase personal savings. An administrator of the system may establish account managers and establish modules to enable account managers to recruit, engage, and track both vendors and customers.

Recruitment of customers and/or vendors may be through any convenient method of promotion or solicitation including for example, through commission agents, electronic media such as TV and radio, website or internet based advertisements, door to door, email campaigns, telemarketing, word of mouth, etc.

The system will typically have sufficient tracking and monitoring capacity to provide a secure environment for both sides of a transaction (customer/buyer and vendor/seller). Account managers may be designated for recruitment, engagement and oversight of both customer and vendor activity. Account managers may be assigned a specific geographical region, for example geographical regions based on postal codes or zip codes. Account managers can be provided access to modules to track and analyze data from customers and vendors within the assigned geographical region.

The system allows for vendor advertising campaigns and parameters of awarding income credits to be distributed to any number of computing devices and any number of networked destinations, such as an internet websites accessed through an internet browser, to provide a convenient forum for vendors and customers to engage each other, and to promote consumer activity with incentives to the customer of increasing personal savings holdings. An example of the system and method have been described above. Illustrative variants and modifications will now be described.

The system may accommodate any type of tax-advantaged account. Tax-advantaged account refers to an economic bonus which applies to certain accounts or investments that are, by statute, tax-reduced, tax-deferred, or tax-free. Governments establish the tax advantages to encourage private individuals to contribute money when it is considered to be in the public interest. An example is retirement plans, which often offer tax advantages to incent savings for retirement. In the United States, many government bonds (such as state bonds or municipal bonds) may also be exempt from certain taxes.

Examples of tax-advantaged accounts in various countries include Australia's superannuation system, Belgium's pensioensparen, Brazil's and Portugal's Fundo de pensao, Canada's Registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) or Registered education savings plan (RESP) or Tax free savings account (TFSA), France's special retirement plan, Germany's Betriebliche Altersversorgung, India's Public Provident Fund, Malaysia's Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja, Mexico's retirement funds administrators, New Zealand's KiwiSaver system, Singapore's Central Provident Fund, Spain's Plan de pensiones, The United Kingdom's pension provision and individual savings account, United States 401(k), 403(b), 529 and individual retirement accounts (IRA).

A 529 plan is an example of a United States tax-advantaged savings plan designed to encourage saving for future college costs. 529 plans, legally known as "qualified tuition plans," are sponsored by states, state agencies, or educational institutions and are authorized by Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code.

There are two types of 529 plans: pre-paid tuition plans and college savings plans. All fifty states and the District of Columbia sponsor at least one type of 529 plan. In addition, a group of private colleges and universities sponsor a pre-paid tuition plan.

In the United States, a 401(k) plan is the tax-qualified, defined-contribution pension account defined in subsection 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code. Under the plan, retirement savings contributions are provided (and sometimes proportionately matched) by an employer, deducted from the employee's paycheck before taxation (therefore tax-deferred until withdrawn after retirement or as otherwise permitted by applicable law), and limited to a maximum pre-tax annual contribution of $18,000 (as of 2015)

A Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) is a type of Canadian account for holding savings and investment assets. RRSPs have various tax advantages compared to investing outside of tax-preferred accounts. They were introduced in 1957 to promote savings for retirement by employees and self-employed people.

They must comply with a variety of restrictions stipulated in the Canadian Income Tax Act. Approved assets include savings accounts, guaranteed investment certificates (GICs), bonds, mortgage loans, mutual funds, income trusts, corporate shares, foreign currency and labour-sponsored funds. Rules determine the maximum contributions, the timing of contributions, the assets allowed, and the eventual conversion to a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) at age 71.

The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is another example of a tax-advantaged account that provides tax benefits for saving in Canada. Investment income, including capital gains and dividends, earned in a TFSA is not taxed, even when withdrawn. Contributions to a TFSA are not deductible for income tax purposes, unlike contributions to a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP).

Despite the name, a TFSA does not have to be a cash savings account. Like an RRSP, a TFSA may contain cash and/or other investments such as mutual funds, certain stocks, bonds, or Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs)

A Registered Education Savings Plan, or RESP, is another example of a tax- advantaged investment vehicle used by parents to save for their children's post-secondary education in Canada. The principal advantages of RESPs are the access to the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) and a source of tax-deferred income. Interest income and/or investment growth earned within an RESP are not taxed as long as the funds remain in the plan. Withdrawals from an RESP are taxed in the hands of the student, which usually means they pay little or no tax.

A Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (DPSP) is an employer-sponsored profit sharing plan registered as a trust with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). A DPSP gives an employer the option of linking plan contributions to the profitability of the business. On a periodic basis, the employer shares business profits with employees by contributing to the DPSP on each employee's behalf. Employees do not contribute to DPSPs. There is no minimum required contribution, so there is negligible profit in any year, the employer is not required to contribute. However, DPSPs are subject to maximum contribution limits set by CRA. This plan type is only available as a group arrangement and is usually offered in conjunction with a Group Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP).

The tax-advantaged account will typically be held in a financial institution. Any type of financial institution may be accommodated within the system. A financial institution is an institution that provides financial services for its clients or members including, for example, a financial service of acting as a financial intermediary. Most financial institutions are government regulated. Three major types of financial institutions are: 1. Depositary Institutions - deposit-taking institutions that accept and manage deposits and make loans, including banks, building societies, credit unions, trust companies, and mortgage loan companies; 2. Contractual Institutions including insurance companies and pension funds; and 3.Investment Institutions - including investment banks, underwriters, brokerage firms.

The relationship between income credits and cash equivalents may accommodate any suitable predetermined calculation. Typically, the relationship between income credits and cash equivalents will be transparent to both customers and vendors to increase confidence in the system.

The vendor will typically pay a pre-determined commission based on the purchase amount made by the customer. For example, at the time of business registration the vendor may agree to pay the administrator 10% commission on a sales amount. Subsequently, if the customer purchases $100 of a good or service from the vendor, the vendor issues 10% i.e. 10 Income Credits to the customer. The vendor would also pay cash equivalents of $10 (in this example, the relationship of income credits to cash equivalents is 1 : 1, but any other suitable relationship may be accommodated) to the administrator as commission. Each vendor can agree to pay different rates of commissions to the administrator (for example, ranging from 1% to 20%) and rates of income credits issued per transaction can change accordingly. The administrator will distribute a portion of the cash equivalent $10 in commissions to the customer. The portion allotted to the customer may be calculated based on predetermined formula including removal of operating costs from the cash equivalent and dividing the net profit from the cash equivalent between the customer and the administrator according to a pre-determined ratio. The portion of cash equivalents allotted to the customer will typically be a transparent relationship to income credits. In one example, the customer's share of cash equivalents can be calculated as below:

In another example, the customer's share of cash equivalents is based on a fixed percentage conversion of income credits. In yet another example, the customer's share of cash equivalents may be increased in as a time-limited promotion. In still another example, vendors may be provided with the option of providing additional cash equivalents to double the customer's total cash received per redeemed income credit. In a further example, the customer may be provided with an opportunity to earn free income credits from the administrator and/or the vendor. Still many further examples of modifying income credit to cash equivalent relationships are contemplated and can be accommodated by the system.

The system may accommodate any type of end-user computing device provided the computing device can be networked to the system and is configured to display images. For example, the computing device may be a desktop, laptop, notebook, tablet, personal digital assistant (PDA), PDA phone or smartphone, gaming console, portable media player, and the like. The computing device may be implemented using any appropriate combination of hardware and/or software configured for wired and/or wireless communication over the network. The computing device hardware components such as displays, storage systems, processors, interface devices, input/output ports, bus connections and the like may be configured to run one or more applications to allow, for example, an image to be isolated from a displayed document, extraction of unique identifiers from images, sending of the unique identifier to a remote computer, receiving actions and optionally action parameters associated with the unique identifier, representing the actions in a graphic overlay at or near the image, and/or a selection of an action in the graphic overlay. The terms end-user computing device and client computing device may be used interchangeably when the system is implemented in a client/server arrangement.

The server computer may be any combination of hardware and software components used to store, process and/or provide information relating to the personal savings accumulation including vendor advertising and income credit and cash equivalent transfer, customer income credit balances and redemption. The server computer components such as storage systems, processors, interface devices, input/output ports, bus connections, switches, routers, gateways and the like may be geographically centralized or distributed. The server computer may be a single server computer or any combination of multiple physical and/or virtual servers including for example, a web server, an image server, an application server, a bus server, an integration server, a meta actions server, and the like. The server computer components such as storage systems, processors, interface devices, input/output ports, bus connections, switches, routers, gateways and the like may be configured to run one or more applications to, for example, generate a unique identifier for an advertising campaign, generate a URL for the advertising campaign, associate predetermined choice of actions with the unique identifier, receive a request from an end-user computing device including the unique identifier, send the predetermined actions to the end-user computing device, and/or receive the selection of one or more of the predetermined actions from the end-user computing device.

While the system has been illustrated using a client/server implementation, the system may also accommodate a peer-to-peer implementation.

The network may be a single network or a combination of multiple networks. For example, the network may include the internet and/or one or more intranets, landline networks, wireless networks, and/or other appropriate types of communication networks. In another example, the network may comprise a wireless telecommunications network (e.g., cellular phone network) adapted to communicate with other communication networks, such as the Internet. Typically, the network will comprise a computer network that makes use of a TCP/IP protocol (including protocols based on TCP/IP protocol, such as HTTP, HTTPS or FTP). The system may adapted to follow any computer communication standard including Extensible Markup Language (XML), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Java Message Service (JMS), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), and the like.

The purpose of using unique identifiers is to be able to sort information relevant to each vendor, customer, vendor advertisement campaign, customer purchasing interest, and the like according to unique identifiers. Many different types of unique identifier schemes may be useful. For example, a code scheme may be based on a unix time appended a numerical or alphanumerical incremental series. A portion of each unique identifier may have a random or entropy component. Each unique identifier may optionally be obfuscated through an encryption function or a hashing function. Hashing functions provide a convenient compromise of security and speed. Examples of hashing functions include MD5 or any of the Secure Hash Algorithms SHA1, SHA2 (SHA224, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512) and SHA3.

The system may accommodate any type of still or moving image file including JPEG, PNG, GIF, PDF, RAW, BMP, TIFF, MP3, WAV, WMV, MOV, MPEG, AVI, FLV, WebM, 3 GPP, SVI and the like. Furthermore, a still or moving image file may be converted to any other file without hampering the ability of the system software to identify and process the image. Thus, the system may accommodate any image file type and may function independent of a conversion from one file type to any other file type.

Vendor advertising campaigns and corresponding text and/or image may be represented by any convenient form or user interface element including, for example, a window, a tab, a text box, a button, a hyperlink, a drop down list, a list box, a check box, a radio button box, a cycle button, a datagrid or any combination thereof. Furthermore, the user interface elements may provide a graphic label such as any type of symbol or icon, a text label or any combination thereof. The user interface elements may be spatially anchored or centered around the corresponding advertising display such that the user interface elements may appear at or near their corresponding advertisement text and/or image. Otherwise, any desired spatial pattern or timing pattern of appearance of user interface elements may be accommodated by the system. The system described herein and each variant, modification or combination thereof may also be implemented as a method or code on a non-transitory computer readable medium (i.e. a substrate). The computer readable medium is a data storage device that can store data, which can thereafter, be read by a computer system. Examples of a computer readable medium include read-only memory, random-access memory, CD-ROMs, magnetic tape, optical data storage devices and the like. The computer readable medium may be geographically localized or may be distributed over a network coupled computer system so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

Variants and modifications described above are for illustrative purposes. Still further variants, modifications or combinations thereof are contemplated and will be recognized by the person of skill in the art.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A system for personal savings accumulation based on a purchase transaction between a customer and a vendor, the system comprising:

a storage system comprising a plurality of account records for customers and a plurality of account records for vendors, each customer account record comprising a unique customer identifier, a quantity of income credits and information relating to a customer's tax- advantaged account held in a financial institution, each vendor account record comprising a unique vendor identifier and a predetermined parameter for calculating income credits and cash equivalents per purchase transaction;

an interface device connected to a network for receiving from a vendor information relating to a purchase transaction with a customer, one or more income credits to be allocated to the customer account and a cash equivalent to an administrator account held in a financial institution, and for transferring a portion of the cash equivalent to the customer's tax- advantaged account held in a financial institution;

a processor communicative with the storage system and the interface device, the processor determining the number of income credits and the cash equivalent by calculation from the predetermined parameter as a function of the amount of the purchase transaction.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined parameter is a percentage that is the same for all purchase transactions.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the percentage is from about 1% to 20%.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined parameter is a percentage that varies among the plurality of vendors.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the predetermined parameter is from about 1% to 20%.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined parameter comprises a fixed base value common to all vendors and a variable value set by each vendor.

7. The system of any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising an advertising module for displaying vendor advertisements on a customer computing device.

8. The system of any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a plurality of management accounts for access of transaction information of vendors and customers.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein each management account comprises a unique geographical region identifier and provides access to the transaction information defined by the unique geographical region.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the geographical region is based on a postal code or zip code scheme.

11. The system of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the tax-advantaged account is selected from the group consisting of Australia's superannuation system, Belgium's pensioensparen, Brazil's and Portugal's Fundo de pensao, Canada's Registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) or Registered education savings plan (RESP) or Tax free savings account (TFSA), France's special retirement plan, Germany's Betriebliche Altersversorgung, India's Public Provident Fund, Malaysia's Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja, Mexico's retirement funds

administrators, New Zealand's KiwiSaver system, Singapore's Central Provident Fund, Spain's Plan de pensiones, The United Kingdom's pension provision and individual savings account, United States 401(k), 403(b), 529 and individual retirement accounts (IRA).

12. The system of any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the financial institution is selected from the group consisting of banks, building societies, credit unions, trust companies, mortgage loan companies, insurance companies, pension funds, investment banks, underwriters, and brokerage firms.

13. A computer-implemented method for personal savings accumulation based on a purchase transaction between a customer and a vendor, the system comprising:

storing a plurality of account records for customers and a plurality of account records for vendors, each customer account record comprising a unique customer identifier, a quantity of income credits and information relating to a customer's tax-advantaged account held in a financial institution, each vendor account record comprising a unique vendor identifier and a predetermined parameter for calculating income credits and cash equivalents per purchase transaction;

receiving from a vendor information relating to a purchase transaction with a customer, one or more income credits to be allocated to the customer account and a cash equivalent to an administrator account held in a financial institution;

determining the number of income credits and the cash equivalent by calculation from the predetermined parameter as a function of the amount of the purchase transaction; and transferring a portion of the cash equivalent to the customer's tax-advantaged account held in a financial institution.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the predetermined parameter is a percentage that is the same for all purchase transactions.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the percentage is from about 1% to 20%.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the predetermined parameter is a percentage that varies among the plurality of vendors.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the predetermined parameter is from about 1% to 20%.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the predetermined parameter comprises a fixed base value common to all vendors and a variable value set by each vendor.

19. The method of any one of claims 13 to 18, further comprising displaying vendor advertisements on a customer computing device.

20. The method of any one of claims 13 to 19, further comprising storing a plurality of management accounts for access of transaction information of vendors and customers.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein each management account comprises a unique geographical region identifier and provides access to the transaction information defined by the unique geographical region.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the geographical region is based on a postal code or zip code scheme.

23. The method of any one of claims 13 to 22, wherein the tax-advantaged account is selected from the group consisting of Australia's superannuation system, Belgium's pensioensparen, Brazil's and Portugal's Fundo de pensao, Canada's Registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) or Registered education savings plan (RESP) or Tax free savings account (TFSA), France's special retirement plan, Germany's Betriebliche Altersversorgung, India's Public Provident Fund, Malaysia's Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja, Mexico's retirement funds

24. The method of any one of claims 13 to 23, wherein the financial institution is selected from the group consisting of banks, building societies, credit unions, trust companies, mortgage loan companies, insurance companies, pension funds, investment banks, underwriters, and brokerage firms.

25. A computer readable medium embodying a computer program for providing personal savings accumulation based on a purchase transaction between a customer and a vendor, the system comprising:

computer readable code for storing a plurality of account records for customers and a plurality of account records for vendors, each customer account record comprising a unique customer identifier, a quantity of income credits and information relating to a customer's tax- advantaged account held in a financial institution, each vendor account record comprising a unique vendor identifier and a predetermined parameter for calculating income credits and cash equivalents per purchase transaction;

computer readable code for receiving from a vendor information relating to a purchase transaction with a customer, one or more income credits to be allocated to the customer account and a cash equivalent to an administrator account held in a financial institution;

computer readable code for determining the number of income credits and the cash equivalent by calculation from the predetermined parameter as a function of the amount of the purchase transaction; and

computer readable code for transferring a portion of the cash equivalent to the customer's tax-advantaged account held in a financial institution.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the predetermined parameter is a percentage that is the same for all purchase transactions.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the percentage is from about 1% to 20%.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the predetermined parameter is a percentage that varies among the plurality of vendors.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 28, wherein the predetermined parameter is from about 1% to 20%.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the predetermined parameter comprises a fixed base value common to all vendors and a variable value set by each vendor.

31. The computer readable medium of any one of claims 25 to 30, further comprising computer readable code for displaying vendor advertisements on a customer computing device.

32. The computer readable medium of any one of claims 25 to 31, further comprising computer readable code for storing a plurality of management accounts for access of transaction information of vendors and customers.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 32, wherein each management account comprises a unique geographical region identifier and provides access to the transaction information defined by the unique geographical region.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 33, wherein the geographical region is based on a postal code or zip code scheme.

35. The computer readable medium of any one of claims 25 to 34, wherein the tax- advantaged account is selected from the group consisting of Australia's superannuation system, Belgium's pensioensparen, Brazil's and Portugal's Fundo de pensao, Canada's Registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) or Registered education savings plan (RESP) or Tax free savings account (TFSA), France's special retirement plan, Germany's Betriebliche Altersversorgung, India's Public Provident Fund, Malaysia's Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja, Mexico's retirement funds administrators, New Zealand's KiwiSaver system, Singapore's Central Provident Fund, Spain's Plan de pensiones, The United Kingdom's pension provision and individual savings account, United States 401(k), 403(b), 529 and individual retirement accounts (IRA).

36. The computer readable medium of any one of claims 25 to 35, wherein the financial institution is selected from the group consisting of banks, building societies, credit unions, trust companies, mortgage loan companies, insurance companies, pension funds, investment banks, underwriters, and brokerage firms.

37. A system for personal savings accumulation based on a purchase transaction between a customer and a vendor, the system comprising:

a storage system comprising a plurality of account records for customers and a plurality of account records for vendors;