Delivery, organization, and redemption of virtual offers from the internet, interactive-TV, wireless devices and other electronic means
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of distributing promotional offers to consumers comprising:
- a) creating a promotional offer;
b) establishing a list of electronic contact addresses for a plurality of consumers;
c) distributing the promotional offer to the electronic contact addresses for the plurality of consumers, wherein the promotional offer can be electronically accepted by at least one of the plurality of consumers;
d) upon the electronic acceptance of the promotional offer by the at least one consumer, placing the promotional offer in a coupon database associated with the at least one consumer; and
e) establishing or maintaining an association of the at least one consumer'"'"'s coupon database with the at least one consumer'"'"'s payment system.
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Abstract
Disclosed are methods and systems for redeeming virtual coupons by associating the coupons with consumers'"'"' credit cards for redemption. In disclosed methods, coupon databases are associated with consumers and associated with the consumers'"'"' credit cards. Coupon offers are stored in the coupon databases and are redeemed by consumers by the use of the credit cards that are associated with the consumers'"'"' coupon databases.
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Citations
62 Claims
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1. A method of distributing promotional offers to consumers comprising:
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a) creating a promotional offer;
b) establishing a list of electronic contact addresses for a plurality of consumers;
c) distributing the promotional offer to the electronic contact addresses for the plurality of consumers, wherein the promotional offer can be electronically accepted by at least one of the plurality of consumers;
d) upon the electronic acceptance of the promotional offer by the at least one consumer, placing the promotional offer in a coupon database associated with the at least one consumer; and
e) establishing or maintaining an association of the at least one consumer'"'"'s coupon database with the at least one consumer'"'"'s payment system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of redeeming promotional offers comprising:
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a) presenting a promotional offer to a plurality of consumers identified in a list according to their electronic contact addresses, wherein the promotional offer is presented to the consumers with a method of electronically accepting the promotional offer;
b) storing accepted promotional offer data in coupon databases that are associated with payment systems of the consumers who accepted those offers; and
c) redeeming the accepted promotional offer by crediting the consumers'"'"' payment system accounts when the consumers'"'"' payment systems are used for the transaction specified in the promotional offer. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A method for delivery and acceptance of promotional offers:
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a) establishing a consumer database list, wherein the database list comprises consumer records and wherein each record comprises fields for an electronic message address and an electronic payment system for individual consumers;
b) associating consumers with records in the database list; and
c) making promotional offers to a plurality of the consumers, wherein one of the offers can only be accepted by a consumer through electronic registration of an electronic delivery means for that consumer in the database list.
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45. A method of distributing promotional offers to subscribers to interactive television, the method comprising:
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a) creating a promotional offer;
b) distributing the promotional offer to the subscribers according to their established electronic contact addresses associated with the interactive television service, wherein the promotional offer can be electronically accepted by at least one of the subscribers;
c) upon electronic acceptance of the promotional offer, placing the accepted promotional offer in a coupon database associated with the accepting subscriber; and
d) establishing or maintaining an association of the coupon database with the accepting subscriber'"'"'s payment system. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A method of redeeming promotional offers by associating the promotional offers with a consumer'"'"'s payment system for redemption, the method comprising:
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a) establishing a coupon database associated with the consumer;
b) associating the coupon database with the consumer'"'"'s payment system account data at a credit card server;
c) storing promotional offers to be redeemed in the coupon database, the promotional offers specifying conditions under which they can be redeemed;
d) redeeming at least one of the promotional offers to the consumer'"'"'s payment system account when the consumer purchases an item specified in the at least one promotional offer. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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Specification