Method and system for administering a customer loyalty reward program using a browser extension

• US 20020046109A1
• Filed: 07/19/2001
• Published: 04/18/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Farmaner Gary, Huw Leonard
• Original Assignee: Farmaner Gary, Huw Leonard
• Inventors: Leonard, Huw, Farmaner, Gary
• Application Number:
  US09/908,615
• Publication Number:
  US 20020046109A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A system and method are provided for administering an on-line customer loyalty reward program through the use of a browser extension installed on a client computer system. The browser extension is capable of detecting special text (e.g., Extensible Markup Language (“XML”)) embedded in a comment block or data island of a HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”) document, which embedded text may be dynamically generated by a server computer system to describe an on-line purchase, or statically created to identify and describe electronic coupons (“e-Coupons”) or other promotions. The browser extension processes the special text (e.g., XML) to register e-Coupons and/or on-line purchases in the customer loyalty reward program. One or more registered e-Coupons may be automatically applied to any applicable on-line purchase.

Claims

1. A method for administering an on-line customer loyalty reward program, comprising:

receiving a HyperText Markup Language (“

HTML”

) document with purchase-descriptive text embedded within a comment block;

detecting the purchase-descriptive text; and

processing the purchase-descriptive text to register an on-line purchase in the customer loyalty reward program.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the purchase-descriptive text is written in Extensible Markup Language (“

XML”

).

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein a browser extension installed on a client computer system detects and processes the purchase-descriptive text.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the browser extension detects the purchase-descriptive text using a parser.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the HTML document with embedded purchase-descriptive text is an order confirmation page generated by a server computer system for an item to be purchased by the user of a client computer system.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the embedded purchase-descriptive text includes a unique identification number assigned to a merchant participating in the customer loyalty reward program.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the embedded purchase-descriptive text identifies the item purchased by the user and a purchase price for the item.

8. The method according to claim 5, comprising:

communicating with the server computer system to receive and display an item to be purchased by the user on a client computer system;

selecting the item to be purchased by the user and transmitting a request to the server computer system to purchase the item; and

transmitting user-specific order information to the server computer system.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the user-specific order information is stored by the browser extension for subsequent transmission to the server computer system upon detection of the purchase-descriptive text embedded within a comment block of a HTML check-out document.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the user-specific order information is input by the user of the client computer system.

11. The method according to claim 8, comprising processing and validating the user-specific order information.

12. The method according to claim 5, comprising receiving and displaying the HTML document on the user'"'"'s client computer system.

13. The method according to claim 5, wherein the browser extension processes the embedded purchase-descriptive text to generate a purchase receipt on the client computer system for display to the user.

14. The method according to claim 5, wherein the browser extension transmits information contained within the embedded purchase-descriptive text to a business server computer system to register the user for a reward under the customer loyalty reward program based on the purchase information contained within the embedded purchase-descriptive text.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising storing the transmitted information for subsequent use in connection with the customer loyalty reward program.

16. The method according to claim 5, wherein the browser extension transmits an identifier to the server computer system to identify the user of the client computer system as a participant in the customer loyalty reward program, and wherein the purchase-descriptive text is embedded in the HTML document upon detection of the identifier indicative that the user is a participant in the customer loyalty reward program.

17. The method according to claim 3, wherein personalized content is displayed within the browser extension on the user'"'"'s client computer system.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the personalized content includes information concerning a participating merchant'"'"'s web site.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the personalized content includes information concerning the nature of the customer loyalty rewards available under the customer loyalty reward program.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein the personalized content includes user-defined content.

21. A system for administering an on-line customer loyalty reward program, comprising:

a network;

a server computer system connected to the network and adapted to embed purchase-descriptive text within a comment block of a HyperText Markup Language (“

HTML”

) document to be displayed on a client computer system connected to the network; and

a browser extension installed on the client computer system to detect and process the purchase-descriptive text to register an on-line purchase in the customer loyalty reward program.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein the purchase-descriptive text is written in Extensible Markup Language (“

XML”

).

23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the browser extension detects the purchase-descriptive text using a parser.

24. The system according to claim 23, wherein the HTML document with embedded purchase-descriptive text is an order confirmation page generated by the server computer system for an item to be purchased by the user of the client computer system.

25. The system according to claim 24, wherein the embedded purchase-descriptive text includes a unique identification number assigned to a merchant participating in the customer loyalty reward program.

26. The system according to claim 24, wherein the embedded purchase-descriptive text identifies the item purchased by the user and a purchase price for the item.

27. The system according to claim 24, wherein the client computer system communicates with the server computer system to display an item to be purchased by the user on the client computer system, and transmits a request and user-specific order information to the server computer system to purchase the item.

28. The system according to claim 27, further comprising a database operably connected to the browser extension for storing the user-specific order information for subsequent transmission to the server computer system upon detection of the purchase-descriptive text embedded within a comment block of a HTML check-out document.

29. The system according to claim 27, wherein the user-specific order information is input by the user of the client computer system.

30. The system according to claim 27, wherein the server computer system is adapted to process and validate the user-specific order information.

31. The system according to claim 24, wherein the HTML document is displayed on the user'"'"'s client computer system.

32. The system according to claim 24, wherein the browser extension processes the embedded purchase-descriptive text to generate a purchase receipt on the client computer system for display to the user.

33. The system according to claim 24, further comprising a business server computer system connected to the network, wherein the browser extension transmits information contained within the embedded purchase-descriptive text to the business server computer system to register the user for a reward under the customer loyalty reward program based on the purchase information contained within the embedded purchase-descriptive text.

34. The system according to claim 33, further comprising a database operably connected to the business server computer system for storing the transmitted information for subsequent use in connection with the customer loyalty reward program.

35. The system according to claim 24, wherein the browser extension transmits an identifier to the server computer system to identify the user of the client computer system as a participant in the customer loyalty reward program, and wherein the server computer system embeds the purchase-descriptive text in the HTML document upon detection of the identifier indicative that the user is a participant in the customer loyalty reward program.

36. The system according to claim 21, wherein personalized content is displayed within the browser extension on the client computer system.

37. The system according to claim 36, wherein the personalized content includes information concerning a participating merchant'"'"'s web site.

38. The system according to claim 36, wherein the personalized content includes information concerning the nature of the customer loyalty rewards available under the customer loyalty reward program.

39. The system according to claim 36, wherein the personalized content includes user-defined content.

40. A system for administering an on-line customer loyalty reward program, comprising:

a network;

a server computer system connected to the network for embedding purchase-descriptive text within a comment block of a HyperText Markup Language (“

HTML”

) document to be displayed on a client computer system connected to the network; and

means for detecting and processing the purchase-descriptive text to register an on-line purchase in the customer loyalty reward program.

41. The system according to claim 40, wherein the purchase-descriptive text is written in Extensible Markup Language (“

XML”

).

42. The system according to claim 40, wherein the means for detecting and processing the purchase-descriptive text comprises a browser extension installed on the client computer system.

43. The system according to claim 42, wherein the browser extension detects the purchase-descriptive text using a parser.

44. The system according to claim 42, further comprising a business server computer system connected to the network, wherein the browser extension transmits information contained within the embedded purchase-descriptive text to the business server computer system to register the user for a reward under the customer loyalty reward program based on the purchase information contained within the embedded purchase-descriptive text.

45. The system according to claim 44, further comprising a database operably connected to the business server computer system for storing the transmitted information for subsequent use in connection with the customer loyalty reward program.

46. The system according to claim 42, further comprising a database operably connected to the browser extension for storing user-specific order information for subsequent transmission to the server computer system upon detection of the purchase-descriptive text embedded within a comment block of a HTML document.

47. The system according to claim 41, wherein the embedded purchase-descriptive text includes a unique identification number assigned to a merchant participating in the customer loyalty reward program.

48. The system according to claim 41, wherein the embedded purchase-descriptive text identifies an item purchased by the user and a purchase price for the item.

50. The method according to claim 49, wherein the embedded text is written in Extensible Markup Language (“

XML”

).

51. The method according to claim 49, wherein a browser extension installed on the user'"'"'s computer system detects and processes the embedded text.

52. The method according to claim 49, further comprising determining whether the user qualifies for the e-Coupon and offering the e-Coupon to the user before registering the e-Coupon in the user'"'"'s account.

53. The method according to claim 52, further comprising accepting the e-Coupon by the user before registering the e-Coupon in the user'"'"'s account.

54. The method according to claim 49, further comprising:

detecting an on-line purchase by the user;

determining whether the user has registered an applicable e-Coupon; and

applying the registered e-Coupon to the on-line purchase by the user.

55. The method according to claim 54, wherein the step of detecting an on-line purchase by the user comprises:

embedding purchase-descriptive text within a comment block of a HTML order confirmation document;

detecting the purchase-descriptive text; and

processing the purchase-descriptive text to register an on-line purchase in the customer loyalty reward program.

56. The method according to claim 55, wherein the purchase-descriptive text is written in XML.

57. The method according to claim 55, wherein a browser extension installed on the user'"'"'s computer system detects and processes the purchase-descriptive text.

59. The system according to claim 58, wherein the embedded text is written in Extensible Markup Language (“

XML”

).

60. The system according to claim 59, wherein the browser extension determines whether the user qualifies for the e-Coupon and offers the e-Coupon to the user before registering the e-Coupon in the user'"'"'s account.

61. The system according to claim 58, wherein the browser extension detects an on-line purchase by the user, determines whether the user has registered an applicable e-Coupon, and applies the registered e-Coupon to the on-line purchase by the user.

62. The system according to claim 61, wherein the server computer system embeds purchase-descriptive text within a comment block of a HTML order confirmation document, and the browser extension detects the purchase-descriptive text.

63. The system according to claim 62, wherein the browser extension detects the purchase-descriptive text using a parser.

64. The system according to claim 62, wherein the browser extension processes the purchase-descriptive text to register an on-line purchase in a customer loyalty reward program.

65. The method according to claim 62, wherein the purchase-descriptive text is written in XML.

66. The system according to claim 64, further comprising a business server computer system connected to the network, wherein the browser extension transmits information contained within the embedded purchase-descriptive text to the business server computer system to register the user for a reward under the customer loyalty reward program based on the purchase information contained within the embedded purchase-descriptive text.

67. The system according to claim 66, further comprising a database operably connected to the business server computer system for storing the transmitted information for subsequent use in connection with the customer loyalty reward program.

68. The system according to claim 65, wherein the embedded purchase-descriptive text includes a unique identification number assigned to a merchant participating in the customer loyalty reward program.

69. The system according to claim 65, wherein the embedded purchase-descriptive text identifies an item purchased by the user and a purchase price for the item.

49. A method for distributing, registering and redeeming an electronic coupon (“

e-Coupon”

), comprising;

embedding text within a comment block of a HyperText Markup Language (“

HTML”

) document, the embedded text identifying and describing the e-Coupon;

receiving data representing the HTML document and embedded text at a user'"'"'s computer system;

detecting the embedded text; and

processing the embedded text to register the e-Coupon for the user in a database.

58. A system for detecting, registering and redeeming an electronic coupon (“

e-Coupon”

), comprising;

a server computer system connected to a network and adapted to embed text within a comment block of a HyperText Markup Language (“

HTML”

) document to be displayed on a user'"'"'s client computer system connected to the network, the embedded text identifying and describing the e-Coupon; and

a browser extension installed on the user'"'"'s client computer system adapted to detect and process the embedded text to register the e-Coupon for the user in a database.