Electronic vouchers and a system and method for issuing the same

• US 20030014363A1
• Filed: 06/25/2002
• Published: 01/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Inventors: Sethi, Vincent
• Granted Patent: US 8,266,437 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A system and method for issuing electronic vouchers representing value. An issuing server generates an eVoucher that a recipient may use to purchase goods and services from a merchant'"'"'s e-commerce Web site. The eVoucher includes an image, such as a corporate logo, that identifies the issuing merchant. Nonimage data, such as a unique identifier for the eVoucher and encrypted arbitrary text, is embedded in the eVoucher image and is used to track the use of the eVoucher and to verify its authenticity.

Claims

1. An electronic voucher comprising:

image data defining an image;

nonimage data embedded in the image that uniquely identifies the electronic voucher.

2. The electronic voucher of claim 1, further comprising nonimage data embedded in the image that uniquely identifies a recipient.

3. The electronic voucher of claim 1, further comprising embedded nonimage data identifying a value of the electronic voucher.

4. The electronic voucher of claim 1 further comprising embedded nonimage data defining a hyperlink to a Web server.

5. The electronic voucher of claim 1, further comprising image data defining an image that identifies an entity issuing the electronic voucher.

6. The electronic voucher of claim 1, further comprising image data defining an image that identifies a value of the electronic voucher.

7. A distributed computer system for issuing electronic vouchers representing value, the system comprising:

an issuing server that;

generates an image file including image data;

embeds nonimage data in the image file; and

transmits the image file including the embedded nonimage data; and

a database in which a copy of said nonimage data is stored.

8. The computer system of claim 7, further comprising a client computer that receives the image file transmitted by the issuing server.

9. The computer system of claim 8, the client computer further displaying to a recipient an image defined by the image data included in the image file.

10. The computer system of claim 7 wherein the issuing server encrypts the image file before transmitting the image file.

11. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the issuing server generates an executable computer program that:

encrypts arbitrary text entered by the recipient and transmits the arbitrary text to the issuing server; and

decrypts the encrypted image file transmitted by the issuing server.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising encrypting the embedded nonimage data.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising encrypting the image file.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating an executable computer program that;

encrypts arbitrary text entered by the recipient and transmits the arbitrary text to the issuing server; and

decrypts the encrypted image file transmitted by the issuing server; and

transmitting the executable computer program to the recipient.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising displaying to the recipient an image defined by the image data included in the image file.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising connecting the recipient to a Web server upon selection of the displayed image.

12. A method for issuing electronic vouchers representing value, comprising:

generating an image file including image data defining an image;

embedding nonimage data in said image file;

storing a copy of the nonimage data; and

transmitting the image file including the image data and the embedded nonimage data to a recipient.