Apparatus and method for utilizing immediate gratification promotions

• US 10,521,815 B1
• Filed: 06/06/2016
• Issued: 12/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Inventors: Joseph, Anthony, Conklin, Gregory J, Hegde, Vinayak, Fite, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Luis A
• Application Number:
  US15/174,164
• Time in Patent Office: 1,303 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1449, 705 1464, 705 1458
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices

Abstract

An apparatus, computer program product, and method are disclosed for generating immediate gratification promotions. An example apparatus includes communications circuitry configured to receive contextual data regarding a set of consumer devices, wherein the contextual data identifies locations of each consumer device of the set of consumer devices, receive resource management data regarding a set of merchant locations, transmit, to a consumer device of the set of consumer devices, a message indicating terms of an immediate gratification promotion redeemable at a merchant location of the set of merchant locations, wherein the immediate gratification promotion comprises a promotion for which purchase automatically initiates redemption, and receive, from the consumer device, a message requesting purchase of the immediate gratification promotion. The example apparatus further includes design circuitry configured to generate the terms of the immediate gratification promotion based on the received contextual data and the received resource management data.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

communications circuitry configured to

receive contextual data regarding a set of consumer devices, wherein the contextual data regarding the set of consumer devices at least identifies locations of each consumer device of the set of consumer devices,

receive resource management data regarding a set of merchant locations, the resource management data comprising at least one or more discount thresholds regarding one or more products or services offered for sale at the merchant location,

transmit, to a consumer device of the set of consumer devices, a message indicating terms of an immediate gratification promotion redeemable at a merchant location of the set of merchant locations, wherein the immediate gratification promotion comprises a promotion for which purchase automatically initiates redemption, and

receive, from the consumer device, a message requesting purchase of the immediate gratification promotion; and

design circuitry configured to

identify the consumer device and the merchant location,

wherein, to identify the consumer device and the merchant location, the design circuitry is configured to;

determine a physical region associated with the merchant location of the set of merchant locations or the consumer device of the set of consumer devices, wherein the physical region is determined based on purchase data or redemption data retrieved from a historical database, and wherein to determine the physical region the apparatus is configured to;

determine a merchant-associated physical region for each particular merchant location of the set of merchant locations, wherein to determine the merchant-associated physical region for each particular merchant location of the set of merchant locations the apparatus is configured to identify, using the historical database, purchase locations from which consumer devices have previously purchased immediate gratification promotions redeemable at the merchant location, and define the merchant-associated physical region around the merchant location as an area enclosing all of the identified purchase locations; and

determine a counterparty location associated with a counterparty is within the physical region, the counterparty comprising the other of the merchant location or the consumer device; and

generate the terms of the immediate gratification promotion based on the received contextual data and the received resource management data.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the contextual data regarding the set of consumer devices further comprises at least one of velocity, acceleration, angular velocity, direction-of-travel, mode of travel, temperature, humidity, brightness, gravity, orientation, proximity, recorded audio, time of day, day of the week, seasons, country identification, behavioral history, or one or more predefined consumer preferences.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the resource management data regarding the set of merchant locations further comprises at least one of:

product inventory at the merchant location;

or an identification or quantification of fixed, perishable resources at the merchant location.

4. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein to determine the physical region associated with the merchant location of the set of merchant locations or the consumer device of the set of consumer devices, the design circuitry is further configured to:

establish a geo-fence associated with each merchant location of the set of merchant locations, wherein each geo-fence comprises a virtual perimeter enclosing the determined merchant-associated physical region for a corresponding merchant location; and

wherein, to determine the counterparty location associated with the counterparty is within the physical region, the design circuitry is configured to;

identify, from the received contextual data, a subset of consumer devices that are located within the geo-fence associated with the merchant location; and

select the consumer device from the subset of consumer devices that are located within the geo-fence.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein, to determine the merchant-associated physical region for each merchant location, the design circuitry is further configured to:

define the merchant-associated physical region around the merchant location based on one or more merchant-associated physical regions established for similarly situated merchant locations, wherein the one or more merchant-associated physical regions established for the similarly situated merchant locations established based on the purchase data or the redemption data retrieved from the historical database.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein, to select the consumer device from the subset of consumer devices that are located within the geo-fence includes:

extract contextual data regarding the consumer device from the received contextual data; and

determine, based on the contextual data regarding the consumer device, that the consumer would likely want a product or service offered by the merchant location.

7. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein, to determine the physical region associated with the merchant location of the set of merchant locations or the consumer device of the set of consumer devices, the design circuitry is configured to

determine a consumer-device-associated physical region for each particular consumer device of the set of consumer devices based on the purchase data or the redemption data retrieved from the historical database;

and

wherein, to determine the counterparty location associated with the counterparty is within the physical region, the design circuitry is configured to

identify a subset of merchant locations that are within the determined consumer-device-associated physical region for the consumer device; and

select the merchant location from the subset of merchant locations based on the context contextual data regarding the consumer device and the resource management data regarding the subset of the identified merchant locations.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, to generate the terms of the immediate gratification promotion based on the received contextual data and the received resource management data, the design circuitry is configured to:

extract contextual data regarding the consumer device from the received contextual data;

extract resource management data regarding the merchant location from the received resource management data;

determine, based on the contextual data regarding the consumer device and the resource management data regarding the merchant location, a product or service to include in the immediate gratification promotion;

retrieve a set of promotions offered by the merchant location; and

select, based on the product or service to include in the immediate gratification promotion and the set of promotions offered by the merchant location, a cost to purchase the immediate gratification promotion, wherein the cost to purchase the immediate gratification promotion includes a value to be retained by a merchant associated with the merchant location and a value to be retained by a promotion and marketing service.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising processing circuitry configured to process payment for the immediate gratification promotion in response to receiving the message requesting purchase of the immediate gratification promotion.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein, to process payment for the immediate gratification promotion, the processing circuitry is configured to:

debit an account associated with the consumer device; and

cause the communications circuitry to transmit a message to the consumer device indicating that payment has been debited from an account associated with the consumer.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communications circuitry is further configured to:

receive a message indicating that a product or service identified in the immediate gratification promotion is ready for redemption; and

transmit the message indicating that the product or service is ready for redemption to the consumer device.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the design circuitry is further configured to:

calculate a relevance score for the immediate gratification promotion based on the contextual data and the resource management data;

identify a relevance threshold associated with the immediate gratification promotion;

determine the relevance score exceeds the relevance threshold,

wherein the communications circuitry is configured to transmit the message indicating terms of the immediate gratification promotion in response to the determination, by the design circuitry, that the relevance score exceeds the relevance threshold.

13. A method comprising:

receiving contextual data regarding a set of consumer devices, wherein the contextual data regarding the set of consumer devices at least identifies locations of each consumer device of the set of consumer devices;

receiving resource management data regarding a set of merchant locations, the resource management data comprising at least one or more discount thresholds regarding one or more products or services offered for sale at the merchant location;

transmitting, by communications circuitry and to a consumer device of the set of consumer devices, a message indicating terms of an immediate gratification promotion redeemable at a merchant location of the set of merchant locations, wherein the immediate gratification promotion comprises a promotion for which purchase automatically initiates redemption;

receiving, from the consumer device, a message requesting purchase of the immediate gratification promotion;

identifying, by design circuitry, the consumer device and the merchant location by;

determining a physical region associated with the merchant location of the set of merchant locations or the consumer device of the set of consumer devices, wherein the physical region is determined based on purchase data or redemption data retrieved from a historical database, by at least;

determining a merchant-associated physical region for each particular merchant location of the set of merchant locations by identifying, using the historical database, purchase locations from which consumer devices have previously purchased immediate gratification promotions redeemable at the merchant location, and defining the merchant-associated physical location around the merchant location as an area enclosing all of the identified purchase locations; and

determining a counterparty location associated with a counterparty is within the physical region, the counterparty comprising the other of the merchant location or the consumer device; and

generating, by design circuitry, the terms of the immediate gratification promotion based on the received contextual data and the received resource management data.

14. The method of claim 13,

wherein determining the physical region associated with the merchant location of the set of merchant locations or the consumer device of the set of consumer devices further comprises:

establishing a geo-fence associated with each merchant location of the set of merchant locations, wherein each geo-fence comprises a virtual perimeter enclosing the determined merchant-associated physical region for a corresponding merchant location; and

wherein determining the counterparty location associated with the counterparty is within the physical region comprises;

identifying, from the received contextual data, a subset of consumer devices that are located within the geo-fence associated with the merchant location; and

selecting the consumer device from the subset of consumer devices that are located within the geo-fence.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the merchant-associated physical region for each merchant location further includes:

defining the physical region around the merchant location based on physical regions established for similarly situated merchant locations, wherein the one or more merchant-associated physical regions established for the similarly situated merchant locations are established based on the purchase data or the redemption data retrieved from the historical database.

16. The method of claim 13,

wherein determining the physical region associated with the merchant location of the set of merchant locations or the consumer device of the set of consumer devices comprises:

determining a consumer-device-associated physical region associated which each particular consumer device of the set of consumer devices, each consumer-device-associated physical region based on the purchase data or the redemption data retrieved from the historical database, and

wherein determining the counterparty location associated with the counterparty is within the physical region comprises;

for the consumer device

identifying a subset of merchant locations that are within the determined consumer-device-associated physical region for the consumer device; and

selecting the merchant location from the subset of merchant locations based on the contextual data regarding the consumer device and the resource management data regarding the subset of the identified merchant locations.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein generating the terms of the immediate gratification promotion based on the received contextual data and the received resource management data includes:

extracting contextual data regarding the consumer device from the received contextual data;

extracting resource management data regarding the merchant location from the received resource management data;

determining, based on the context contextual data regarding the consumer device and the resource management data regarding the merchant location, a product or service to include in the immediate gratification promotion;

retrieving a set of promotions offered by the merchant location; and

selecting, based on the product or service to include in the immediate gratification promotion and the set of promotions offered by the merchant location, a cost to purchase the immediate gratification promotion, wherein the cost to purchase the immediate gratification promotion includes a value to be retained by a merchant associated with the merchant location and a value to be retained by a promotion and marketing service.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

processing payment, by the processing circuitry, for the immediate gratification promotion in response to receiving the message requesting purchase of the immediate gratification promotion.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

calculating, by the design circuitry, a relevance score for the immediate gratification promotion based on the contextual data and the resource management data;

identifying, by the design circuitry, a relevance threshold associated with the immediate gratification promotion;

determining, by the design circuitry, the relevance score exceeds the relevance threshold,

wherein transmitting the message indicating terms of the immediate gratification promotion is in response to determining, by the design circuitry, that the relevance score exceeds the relevance threshold.

20. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving contextual data regarding a set of consumer devices, wherein the contextual data regarding the set of consumer devices at least identifies locations of each consumer device of the set of consumer devices;

means for receiving resource management data regarding a set of merchant locations, the resource management data comprising at least one or more discount thresholds regarding one or more products or services offered for sale at the merchant location;

means for transmitting, to a consumer device of the set of consumer devices, a message indicating terms of an immediate gratification promotion redeemable at a merchant location of the set of merchant locations, wherein the immediate gratification promotion comprises a promotion for which purchase automatically initiates redemption;

means for receiving, from the consumer device, a message requesting purchase of the immediate gratification promotion;

means for identifying, by design circuitry, the consumer device and the merchant location by;

determining a physical region associated with the merchant location of the set of merchant locations or the consumer device of the set of consumer devices, wherein the physical region is determined based on purchase data or redemption data retrieved from a historical database by at least;

determining a merchant-associated physical region for each particular merchant location of the set of merchant locations, wherein to determine the merchant-associated physical region for each particular merchant location of the set of merchant locations the apparatus is configured to identify, using the historical database, purchase locations from which consumer devices have previously purchased immediate gratification promotions redeemable at the merchant location, and define the merchant-associated physical region around the merchant location as an area enclosing all of the identified purchase locations; and

determining a counterparty location associated with a counterparty is within the physical region, the counterparty comprising the other of the merchant location or the consumer device,

wherein the physical region indicates a consumer associated with the consumer device is likely to purchase immediate gratification promotions associated with the merchant location; and

means for generating the terms of the immediate gratification promotion based on the received contextual data and the received resource management data.