REWARD EXCHANGE SYSTEM WITH AUTOMATIC LOGIN AND REGISTRATION

1 . A method of operating a computer-operated transaction system comprising:

receiving, from a user computing device, customer identification data that identifies a customer;

using the customer identification data to access a customer database and retrieve from said customer database a customer record set, said customer record set comprising a plurality of account information records, each of said account information records suitable for logging into an associated database;

using each of the account information records to communicate with the database associated with the account information record and retrieve customer information;

collating said retrieved customer information into an account web page, and

sending the account web page to the user computing device for display by the user computing device.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein

at least one of the databases is a reward account database, each of said reward account databases operated by an associated reward issuing entity and comprising a plurality of customer reward accounts, wherein

at least one of the plurality of customer reward accounts is associated with the customer identified by the customer identification data, and wherein

said retrieved customer information comprises reward account information for the customer comprising reward points previously accumulated by the customer, and wherein

the account web page comprises a listing of a plurality of customer reward accounts accessed by the exchange computer for the customer and the number of reward points stored in the associated reward account for the customer.

3 . The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving link source indication data from the user computing device, the link source indication data indicating a link source web page from which the user computing device has linked, the link source web page being associated with a member of a predefined cluster of reward issuing entities;

and wherein the account web page indicates which of the plurality of customer reward accounts accessed by the exchange computer for the customer are associated with a reward issuing entity that is a member of the cluster.

4 . The method of claim 3 wherein the account web page further comprises a listing of reward issuing entities with which the customer does not have an associated reward account and that are members of the cluster.

5 . The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of providing on the account web page an offer for the customer to register with at least one of the reward issuing entities with which the customer does not have an associated reward account and that are members of the cluster.

6 . The method of claim 5 further comprising the step of receiving from the user computing device an instruction to register the customer with a designated at least one of the reward issuing entities with which the customer does not have an associated reward account and that are members of the cluster.

7 . The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of the exchange computer sending a registration request on behalf of the customer to the reward account database associated with the designated reward issuing entity.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the customer identification data comprises data from the group comprising a customer name, a customer address, and a customer telephone number.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the customer record sets are assembled by the steps of

collecting a plurality of customer account information from a plurality of sources;

analyzing the collected customer account information to ascertain which of said customer account information is associated with a particular unique customer;

for each of a plurality of unique customers, generating a unique customer record set associated with said unique customer;

storing each of the plurality of unique customer record sets in the customer database.

10 . A computer-operated transaction system comprising:

an exchange computer programmed to

receive, from a user computing device, customer identification data that identifies a customer;

use the customer identification data to access a customer database and retrieve from the customer database a customer record set, the customer record set comprising a plurality of account information records, each of the account information records suitable for logging into an associated database;

use each of the account information records to communicate with the database associated with the account information record and retrieve customer information;

collate the retrieved customer information into an account web page, and

send the account web page to the user computing device for display by the user computing device.

11 . The system of claim 10 further comprising a plurality of reward server computers interconnected to the exchange computer via a computer network;

wherein at least one of the databases is a reward account database associated with one of the plurality of reward server computers, each of said reward account databases operated by an associated reward issuing entity and comprising a plurality of customer reward accounts,

wherein at least one of the plurality of customer reward accounts is associated with the customer identified by the customer identification data, and

wherein said retrieved customer information comprises reward account information for the customer comprising reward points previously accumulated by the customer, and

wherein the account web page comprises a listing of a plurality of customer reward accounts accessed by the exchange computer for the customer and the number of reward points stored in the associated reward account for the customer.

12 . The system of claim 11 wherein the exchange computer is further programmed to:

receive link source indication data from the user computing device, the link source indication data indicating a link source web page from which the user computing device has linked, the link source web page being associated with a member of a predefined cluster of reward issuing entities; and

wherein the account web page indicates which of the plurality of customer reward accounts accessed by the exchange computer for the customer are associated with a reward issuing entity that is a member of the cluster.

13 . The system of claim 12 wherein the account web page further comprises a listing of reward issuing entities with which the customer does not have an associated reward account and that are members of the cluster.

14 . The system of claim 13 wherein the account web page further comprises an offer for the customer to register with at least one of the reward issuing entities with which the customer does not have an associated reward account and that are members of the cluster.

15 . The system of claim 14 wherein the exchange computer is further programmed to:

receive from the user computing device an instruction to register the customer with a designated at least one of the reward issuing entities with which the customer does not have an associated reward account and that are members of the cluster.

16 . The system of claim 15 wherein the exchange computer is further programmed to:

send a registration request on behalf of the customer to the reward account database associated with the designated reward issuing entity.

17 . The system of claim 10 wherein the customer identification data comprises data from the group comprising a customer name, a customer address, and a customer telephone number.

18 . The system of claim 10 further comprising a customer linking computer interconnected with the exchange computer via the computer network, wherein the customer database is associated with the customer linking computer, and wherein the customer linking computer is programmed to assemble the customer record sets by

collecting a plurality of customer account information from a plurality of sources;

analyzing the collected customer account information to ascertain which of said customer account information is associated with a particular unique customer;

for each of a plurality of unique customers, generating a unique customer record set associated with said unique customer; and

storing each of the plurality of unique customer record sets in the customer database.