Conditional balance management for non-issuer debit instruments

Abstract

A computer receives information about a debit account controlled by a third-party issuer, a user owing the account and instructions for managing the account after a specified trigger date. Operating according the instructions, an unknown remaining balance in the account may be exhausted after the trigger date has passed, using a sequence of charges responsive to the initial balance, to the last charge amount completed or attempted, and to whether or not the last charge amount is accepted. In the alternative, or in addition, the account may be managed to convert the remaining balance to a non-monetary coupon (e.g., “virtual currency”) for use in an online computer game or the like, after the trigger date.

1 . A method, comprising:
 automatically monitoring a current date, using at least one computer, to determine when the current date is not earlier than a future date correlated to a debit account having an authorized user, the debit account controlled by a third-party issuer;   in response to determining that the current date is not earlier than the future date, automatically charging the account using at least one charge transaction in a series of charges to substantially exhausting an unknown remaining balance amount of the debit account, using at least one computer; and   initiating a payment transaction for an amount computed using a total including one or more of successfully completed charges performed as part of the automatically charging the account, according to payment instructions received from the authorized user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein automatically charging the account further comprises calculating the series of charges to comprise a series of diminishing amounts. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein automatically charging the account further comprises calculating an initial one of the series of charges based on an initial balance of the debit account reported by the user in conjunction with registering an identifier of the debit account. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein automatically charging the account further comprises calculating one or more charges in the series of charges based at least in past on whether or not any preceding one of the series of charges is accepted by the third-party issuer. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein automatically charging the account further comprises calculating one or more charges in the series of charges based at least in part on an amount of any preceding one of the series of charges. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein automatically charging the account further comprises continuing the automatically charging using generally diminishing charge amounts until a charge amount not greater than a smallest applicable monetary unit is refused by the third-party issuer. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising initiating the payment transaction for a non-monetary coupon amount restricted for use in a specified online environment. 
     
     
         8 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions configured so that execution of the instructions by a processor will cause a computer to perform the operations of:
 registering an identifier for a debit account controlled by a third-party issuer and having an authorized user, and an associated future date in a database;   automatically monitoring a current date to determine when the current date is not earlier than a future date associated with a debit account controlled by a third-party issuer, the debit account having an authorized user;   in response to determining that the current date is not earlier than the future date, automatically charging the account using at least one charge transaction in a series of charges to substantially exhausting an unknown remaining balance amount of the debit account; and   initiating a payment transaction for an amount computed using a total including one or more of successfully completed charges performed as part of the automatically charging the account, according to payment instructions received from the authorized user.   
     
     
         9 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further configured for calculating the series of charges to comprise a series of diminishing amounts. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further configured for calculating an initial one of the series of charges based on an initial balance of the debit account reported by the user in conjunction with registering an identifier of the debit account. 
     
     
         11 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further configured for calculating one or more charges in the series of charges based at least in past on whether or not any preceding one of the series of charges is accepted by the third-party issuer. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further configured for calculating one or more charges in the series of charges based at least in part on an amount of any preceding one of the series of charges. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further configured for continuing the automatically charging using generally diminishing charge amounts until a charge amount not greater than a smallest applicable monetary unit is refused by the third-party issuer. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further configured for initiating the payment transaction for a non-monetary coupon amount restricted for use in a specified online environment 
     
     
         15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . (canceled) 
     
     
         18 . (canceled) 
     
     
         19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . An apparatus comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory holding instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform the operations of:
 automatically monitoring a current date to determine when the current date is not earlier than a future date correlated to a debit account having an authorized user, the debit account controlled by a third-party issuer;   in response to determining that the current date is not earlier than the future date, automatically charging the account using at least one charge transaction in a series of charges substantially exhausting an unknown remaining balance amount of the debit account, using at least one computer; and   initiating a payment transaction for an amount computed using a total including one or more of successfully completed charges performed as part of the automatically charging the account, according to payment instructions received from the authorized user.   
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the apparatus to perform automatically charging the account at least in part by calculating the series of charges to comprise a series of diminishing amounts. 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the apparatus to perform automatically charging the account at least in part by calculating an initial one of the series of charges based on an initial balance of the debit account reported by the user in conjunction with registering an identifier of the debit account. 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the apparatus to perform automatically charging the account at least in part by calculating one or more charges in the series of charges based at least in past on whether or not any preceding one of the series of charges is accepted by the third-party issuer. 
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the apparatus to perform automatically charging the account at least in part by calculating one or more charges in the series of charges based at least in part on an amount of any preceding one of the series of charges. 
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the apparatus to perform automatically charging the account at least in part by continuing the automatically charging using generally diminishing charge amounts until a charge amount not greater than a smallest applicable monetary unit is refused by the third-party issuer. 
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the apparatus to further perform initiating the payment transaction for a non-monetary coupon amount restricted for use in a specified online environment.