System and method for issuing and redeeming incentives on electronic data cards

• US 20060206376A1
• Filed: 09/02/2005
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Gibbs, Simon, Dorn, Jeffrey, Rafey, Rick, Cai, Linghan, Shiotani, Keiji
• Granted Patent: US 8,473,334 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.130
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0211 Determining the effectiveness of discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• 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 30/0237 at kiosk
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives

Abstract

A system for issuing, redeeming and monitoring incentive offers generated in response to qualifying on-line and off-line non-purchase activities. For example, an electronic data card is used to store electronic coupons issued by web sites (i.e., on-line) and/or off-line locations. In one embodiment activity registration is performed by programming integrated with, or coupled to, a web browser. Off-line activity is registered by a kiosk at a merchant location that generates an incentive offer, or a token which is later converted to an incentive offer, in response to conditions determined at the kiosk (e.g., entered by the user, clerk, and so forth). A loyalty server operates to aggregate information about the offers for reporting purposes, and can be optionally required for determining qualification for an incentive offer, providing security codes for participating incentive issuers, providing qualification of offers prior to issuance, and validating stored offers prior to redemption.

Claims

1. An apparatus for executing an incentive program based on electronic data card devices for providing incentives for non-purchase activity, comprising:

an electronic data card application executable on a first computer and configured for accessing an electronic data card in response to establishing connectivity between said electronic data card and said first computer;

card identification means for identifying an electronic data card being accessed by said first computer which has been registered for use within a non-purchase incentive program;

activity registration means for detecting on-line or off-line non-purchase activities in association with an electronic data card being accessed;

incentive generation means for generating incentives for storage on the electronic data card being accessed in response to selected activity being registered by said activity registration means with regard to an issuing web site or location; and

usage data generation means for reporting usage data in response to registering information about incentive issuance and/or redemption.

2. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said card identification means comprises card application programming executable by a first computer interfaced to a card reader-writer device to which an electronic data card can establish a communication connection.

3. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said electronic data card is selected from the group of portable memory bearing devices configured for establishing interconnectivity with a reader-writer device consisting essentially of smart cards, digital wallets, cellular phones, personal digital assistants, and FLASH drives.

4. An apparatus as recited in claim 1:

wherein said card activity registration means comprises non-purchase activity registration programming for execution on-line, off-line, or a combination of both types of activity;

wherein said card activity registration means comprises off-line non-purchase activity registration programming configured for capturing activity information from a kiosk in response to an off-line activity which can be identified by the kiosk; and

wherein said card activity registration means comprises on-line non-purchase activity registration programming configured for execution on said first computer during user browsing to capture non-purchase on-line activities of the user in combination with browsing within a computer application configured for user browsing of web sites.

5. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said incentive generation means comprises programming operable on said first computer, or a computer in communication with said first computer, for generating an incentive offer for storage on an electronic data card in response to matching the on-line or off-line activity of the user with the activities proscribed by a particular organization for receiving a given incentive offer.

6. An apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein said usage data generation means comprises programming operable on a second computer, or loyalty server, coupled to said first computer for registering activities communicated to said second computer to maintain said usage data.

7. An apparatus for executing a program of electronic non-purchase activity generated incentives for storage on an electronic data card within a plurality of said data cards associated with participating users of said incentive program, comprising:

(a) a first computer configured for communicating over an electronic network and adapted for reading and writing data from an electronic data card having memory configured for aggregating information about incentive offers;

(b) incentive offer issuance programming operable on said first computer for, detecting the presence of an electronic data card having connectivity with said first computer,

reporting activity arising from non-purchase actions performed within either a web site context of a browser executing on said first computer, or within a physical location context of said first computer from which incentives are offered,

generating an incentive offer from said first computer in response to select non-purchase activities comprising either generating an incentive in response to matching on-line activity with the criterion for issuance of said on-line offer by a given web site, or generating an incentive offer in response to said first computer, kiosk, being configured by an incentive offer issuer for determining qualification for the off-line offer and issuing the incentive, and

storing said incentive offer received in response to non-purchase activity within said electronic data card;

(c) incentive offer redemption programming operable on said first computer for,

detecting the presence of an electronic data card having connectivity with said first computer,

displaying available incentives stored on said electronic data card,

detecting if any available incentives stored on said electronic data card are redeemable at a web site being accessed or within said first computer associated with a physical location,

displaying redemption options and collecting user input on offers to be redeemed, and

executing redemption of one or more incentives stored on said electronic data card and erasing or inactivating redeemed incentives;

(d) a second computer configured for communicating over the electronic network with said first computer; and

(e) programming operable on said second computer for aggregating information received from a plurality of said first computers about off-line and on-line activity.

8. An apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said second computer further comprises programming for determining or validating the incentive offers generated by said first computer.

9. An apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said programming is configured for generating the incentive in response to non-purchase activity based on on-line activity arising across one or more web sites that need not be integrated to one another, and/or off-line activity arising across physical locations which are configured for qualifying the user for receiving the incentive offer.

10. An apparatus as recited in claim 9:

wherein said programming for qualifying the user for receiving the incentive offer comprises detecting non-purchase activity at physical locations; and

wherein said programming for qualifying the user for receiving the incentive offer is responsive to and selected from the group of activities consisting essentially of;

attendance at a location or event, participation in a physical program, a demonstration, a presentation, and/or user requesting of an incentive.

11. An apparatus as recited in claim 7:

wherein storing of said incentive offer is performed at a later time in response to communication between said first computer and said second computer; and

wherein said second computer validates the incentive offer for storage on said electronic data card.

12. An apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein storage of said incentive offer comprises storing a token of the activity for which an incentive offer is available, in either the electronic data card or the first computer, and conversion of the token to a redeemable incentive by said second computer in response to communication between said first computer and said second computer.

13. An apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said electronic data card is a portable memory bearing device configured for establishing interconnectivity with a reader-writer device and selected from the group of electronic devices consisting essentially of smart cards, digital wallets, cellular phones, personal digital assistants, and FLASH drives.

14. An apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein said detecting if any available incentives stored on said electronic data card are redeemable is performed in a matching process in which stored incentive offers are compared against incentive offers which are accepted at either a given web site, or at a physical location at which said electronic data card has established connectivity.

15. An apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein the programming of said first computer further comprises collecting additional information in at least one field of a data form from a user associated with said electronic data card in response to said detection of available incentives.

16. An apparatus as recited in claim 15, further comprising programming on said first computer or said second computer for automatically populating at least a portion of the fields within said data form from information available to said first computer or said second computer.

17. A method of issuing, redeeming, and monitoring incentive offers which are generated for on-line and off-line non-purchase activity, said incentive offers are stored on an electronic data card, comprising:

accessing an electronic data card having memory configured for aggregating incentive offers retained in an electronic form;

issuing incentive offers for storage on said electronic data card in response to either matching on-line actions performed within a web site context of a browser with issuance criterion, or determining qualification for an off-line offer within a kiosk in response to accessing said electronic data card;

redeeming incentive offers stored on said electronic data card in response to detecting if any available incentives stored on said electronic data card are acceptable for redemption upon submission to a web site or at a kiosk; and

generating usage data based on aggregating incentive offer issuance and redemption information.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, further comprising determining whether or not to store an incentive offer on said electronic data card in response to user selected incentive offer acceptance criterion.

19. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein said issuing of incentive offers based on off-line activity within a kiosk is performed by storing an activity token in response to said off-line activity, and then conversion of the activity token by a loyalty server in response to communication being established between said kiosk and said loyalty server.

20. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein said electronic data card is a portable memory bearing device configured for establishing interconnectivity with a reader-writer device which is selected from the group of electronic devices consisting essentially of smart cards, digital wallets, cellular phones, personal digital assistants, and FLASH drives.