Endorsing a product purchased offline

• US 10,325,326 B1
• Filed: 05/20/2014
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Jayaram, Ranjith
• Primary Examiner(s): Ouellette, Jonathan P
• Application Number:
  US14/282,661
• Time in Patent Office: 1,855 Days
• Field of Search: 705 11-912
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0268 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

An endorsement application can allow a user to endorse a product on a social network website when the product is purchased at a physical merchant point of sale terminal. Users of social network websites have been given the opportunity to endorse products that they have located or purchased online, but purchasers of products in person have not had that opportunity. The endorsement application can operate on a user'"'"'s mobile device and can recognize a product purchased through near field or other communication using the mobile device. The application can isolate the product identification and product marketing data supplied by the point of sale terminal or other source and offer the user the opportunity to endorse the product on a social network website. If the user endorses the product, the application sends the endorsement to the user'"'"'s account on the social network website for display to the user'"'"'s community.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to create online endorsements for offline product purchases based on metadata received from merchants, comprising:

recognizing, by a computer, a purchase transaction for a product conducted at a point of sale system at a physical location of a merchant;

receiving, by the computer, product identification and product metadata in a communication from the point of sale system for the product purchased in the purchase transaction at the point of sale system;

based on recognizing the purchase transaction, communicating, by the computer, a request to endorse the purchased product on an electronic social network;

receiving, by the computer, an indication to endorse the purchased product via a user interface of the computer; and

communicating, by the computer, the product identification and product metadata to the electronic social network with instructions to display the endorsement of the product on a user'"'"'s profile on the electronic social network in response to receiving the indication to endorse the purchased product.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communicating step occurs during the purchase transaction.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communicating step occurs after the purchase transaction.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing, by the computer, the product identification and product metadata,

wherein the first communicating step comprises presenting on a user interface a list of products purchased previously, including the purchased product, for selection for endorsement.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying, by the computer, a product marketing system corresponding to the purchased product that the product has been endorsed upon receiving the indication to endorse the purchased product.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the computer, additional product marketing information for the purchased product from the product marketing system upon receiving the indication to endorse the purchased product.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer conducts the purchase transaction via near field communication with the point of sale system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer conducts the purchase transaction via a Bluetooth communication with the point of sale system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer is a mobile phone.

10. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable program code embodied thereon that when executed by a computer cause the computer to create online endorsements for offline product purchases, the computer-executable program code comprising;

computer-executable program code to receive a product identification for a product purchased in a purchase transaction conducted at a point of sale system at a physical location of a merchant;

computer-executable program code to receive a request to endorse the purchased product;

computer-executable program code to receive an indication to endorse the purchased product via a user interface of the computer; and

computer-executable program code to communicate the product identification to an electronic social network with instructions to display the endorsement of the purchased product on a user'"'"'s profile on the electronic social network in response to receiving the request to endorse the purchased product.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the product identification is received in a communication from the point of sale system.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the request to endorse the purchased product is received during the purchase transaction.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the request to endorse the purchased product is received after the purchase transaction.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising computer-executable program code to present a user interface providing a control to request endorsement of the purchased product on the electronic social network.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

computer-executable program code to store the product identification; and

computer-executable program code to present, on a user interface, a list of products purchased previously, including the purchased product, for selection for endorsement.

16. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising computer-executable program code to notify a product marketing system corresponding to the purchased product that the product has been endorsed.

17. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising computer-executable program code to receive product metadata for the purchased product from the product marketing system.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising computer-executable program code to receive product metadata for the purchased product from the product marketing system.

19. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the purchase transaction comprises a near field communication with the point of sale system.

20. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the purchase transaction comprises a Bluetooth communication with the point of sale system.

21. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising computer-executable program code to receive product metadata for the product purchased in the purchase transaction conducted at the point of sale system at the physical location of a merchant.

22. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the product metadata is received from the point of sale system.

23. A system to create online endorsements for offline product purchases, comprising:

an application configured to execute on a computer to;

receive a product identification and product metadata in a communication from a point of sale system for a product purchased in a transaction conducted at the point of sale system at a physical location of a merchant;

receive a selection of a control to endorse the purchased product on an electronic social network;

receive an indication to endorse the purchased product via a user interface;

receive product marketing data for the product; and

communicate the product marketing data to the electronic social network with instructions to display the endorsement on a user'"'"'s profile on the electronic social network in response to receiving the selection of the control to endorse the purchased product.

24. A computer-implemented method to create online endorsements for offline product purchases, comprising:

recognizing, by a mobile computer, a wireless purchase transaction conducted between the mobile computer and a point of sale system;

receiving, by the mobile computer, a product identification in a communication from the point of sale system for a product purchased in the purchase transaction;

receiving, by the mobile computer, a selection of a control to endorse the purchased product on an electronic social network;

receiving, by the mobile computer, an indication to endorse the purchased product via a user interface of the computer; and

communicating, by the mobile computer, the product identification to the electronic social network with instructions to display the endorsement of the product on a user'"'"'s profile on the electronic social network in response to receiving the selection of the control to endorse the purchased product.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising requesting, by the mobile computer, information about the purchased product.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the information about the purchased product is requested from the point of sale system, and

wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the mobile computer, product metadata in a communication from the point of sale system; and

communicating, by the mobile computer, the product metadata to the electronic social network with instructions to display the endorsement of the product on the electronic social network in response to receiving the selection of the control to endorse the purchased product.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the product information is requested from a source other than the point of sale system, and

wherein the request for the product information includes instructions for the source other than the point of sale system to communicate the information about the product to the electronic social network for the endorsement with the electronic social network.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the information about the purchased product is requested from a source other than the point of sale system, and

wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the mobile computer, the product information from the source other than the point of sale system.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the information about the product is requested from the point of sale system, and wherein the method further comprises receiving, by the mobile computer, product information from the point of sale system.