Providing benefits by the internet to minimally identified users
First Claim
1. An incentive benefit program to encourage selected activities by users of a data network where a user is provided an opportunity to engage in the selected activity, and a benefit provider presents to the user an offer of compensation in return for the user electing to engage in the selected activity, wherein:
- at least upon an initial opportunity to engage in the selected activity, the user instructs the benefit provider to assign the compensation to a pre-existing third party benefits program to which the user has previously joined;
the user being identified to the benefit provider by the identity of the benefit account, the user remaining substantially anonymous with respect to the benefit provider;
the compensation comprising additions of value to the benefits account.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An incentive benefit program compensates users for viewing advertising, participating in surveys and similar activities. A user releases no inherently valuable information, such as an email or home address or credit card number, to any additional entities to receive benefits. The user remains substantially anonymous to the benefit provider, providing an identity for an account that is not directly usable by a third party for contacting the user or for gaining monetarily from the user. Such less valuable account identities may include numbers for programs for frequent flyers, video rental clubs, and grocery discount cards. Third parties that operate these programs may hold inherently valuable information about the user, however since the user already belongs to the program, no additional operators need gain this information. The user need disclose only a relatively non-valuable third party benefits account number to the benefit provider.
99 Citations
14 Claims
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1. An incentive benefit program to encourage selected activities by users of a data network where a user is provided an opportunity to engage in the selected activity, and a benefit provider presents to the user an offer of compensation in return for the user electing to engage in the selected activity, wherein:
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at least upon an initial opportunity to engage in the selected activity, the user instructs the benefit provider to assign the compensation to a pre-existing third party benefits program to which the user has previously joined;
the user being identified to the benefit provider by the identity of the benefit account, the user remaining substantially anonymous with respect to the benefit provider;
the compensation comprising additions of value to the benefits account. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification