Digital Incentives Issuance, Redemption, and Reimbursement

• US 20100299266A1
• Filed: 05/20/2010
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Inmar Clearing Incorporated
• Original Assignee: M-DOT, Inc. (Imaginetics LLC)
• Inventors: Kavis, Michael J., Rapp, Gregory H., Catania, William M.
• Granted Patent: US 10,402,849 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/71
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3829 involving key management
• 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 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]

Abstract

A system and method for issuance, redemption, and reimbursement of digital incentives. A central database connected to the internet: enables customers to register unique customer registration information; is able to store this information and assign unique identifiers to it; and is accessible to incentives providers to make available digital incentives. Existing point-of-sale terminals: are authenticated to have access to the central database; have payment devices; are connected to the internet; and are provided with a message broker that facilitates communication with the central database. The customer redeems digital incentives at one of the existing point-of-sale terminals at the time of purchase by first presenting their unique identifier. The message broker routes the unique identifier to the central database which authenticates and validates the existing point-of-sale terminal, the customer'"'"'s unique identifier, and the payment device. The central database then returns validated applicable digital incentives to the message broker which forwards the validated digital incentives for redemption.

Claims

1. A system for issuance, redemption, and reimbursement of digital incentives using existing retail infrastructure comprising:

a central database connected to the internet to enable customers to register unique customer registration information;

said central database able to store said unique customer registration information;

said central database for assigning unique identifiers to said unique customer registration information;

said central database accessible to incentives providers through the internet to allow incentives providers to make available digital incentives;

a plurality of authenticated existing point-of-sale terminals that have payment devices and are connected to the internet;

each said plurality of authenticated existing point-of-sale terminals provided with a message broker for facilitating communication with said central database through the internet; and

redemption of digital incentives by the customer at one of said authenticated existing point-of-sale terminals at the time of purchase occurs by;

the customer presents said unique identifier;

said message broker routes said unique identifier to said central database;

said central database authenticates and validates said authenticated existing point-of-sale terminal, said unique identifier, and said payment device;

said central database returns validated applicable digital incentives to said message broker; and

said message broker forwards the validated digital incentives to said authenticated existing point-of-sale terminal for redemption.

2. The system of claim 1 in which said message broker routes a list of items that the customer is purchasing along with said unique identifier to said central database.

3. The system of claim 1 in which the customer selects digital incentives from said central database.

4. The system of claim 1 in which the customer selects digital incentives from the incentives providers and the digital incentives are associated with the customer'"'"'s said unique identifier in said central database.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

said central database records each transaction and redemption of digital incentives; and

said central database reports each successful redemption of a digital incentive to the incentives provider and processes the value of the digital incentive plus any applicable transaction fees for reimbursement;

6. The system of claim 1 in which said central database provides third party auditing of the digital incentives transaction;

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

said central database records each transaction and redemption of digital incentives; and

said central database forwards records of each transaction and redemption of digital incentives to the incentives provider for reimbursement.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

the digital incentives include business rules that must be met for redemption; and

said central database processes said business rules to validate the digital incentives.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

the digital incentives include business rules that must be met for redemption;

said central database processes said business rules to validate the digital incentives;

and said business rules are not constrained to attributes provided by a bar code.

10. The system of claim 1 in which the customer is informed of a successful redemption of digital incentives by any from the group consisting of SMS text message, e-mail, mail, telephone call, and printed receipt from said authenticated existing point-of-sale terminals.

11. The system of claim 1 in which the customer presents said unique identifier from any of the group consisting of a virtual smart card, a cellular phone, a magnetic strip on a swipe card, a bar code, biometrics information, a telephone number, an e-mail address, a pin number, an RFID tag, and an account number.

12. The system of claim 1 in which said digital incentives are selectable by customers by accessing said central database through any from the group consisting of a personal computer, a personal digital assistant, a mobile telephone, a television, e-mail, and mail.

13. The system of claim 1 in which said payment devices are any from the list consisting of a touch screen interface, a magnetic card reader, an infra-red scanner, and an interact payment web page.

14. The system of claim 1 further comprising said plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals are uniquely identified at said central server by initially registering an identifiable attribute of each of said plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminal with said central server.

15. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

said plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals are uniquely identified at said central server by initially registering an identifiable attribute of each of said plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminal with said central server; and

said central server assigns a matching encrypted public/private key pair to each of said plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals.

16. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

said plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals are uniquely identified at said central server by initially registering an identifiable attribute of each of said plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminal with said central server;

said central server assigns a matching encrypted public/private key pair to each of said plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals;

when a customer makes a purchase at one of said plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals and the customer provides their said unique identifier, said identifiable attribute and said public/private key pair are transmitted to said central database through the internet along with said unique identifier, said central database verifying said identifiable attribute, said public/private key pair, and said unique identifier, and returning applicable digital incentives for redemption by the customer.

17. The system of claim 1 in which said central database communicates with a financial institution to process payment for reimbursement of redeemed digital incentives.

18. The system of claim 1 in which all communications over the internet are conducted over secure connections.

19. The system of claim 1 in which said authenticated existing point-of-sale terminals are any from the list consisting of retail cash registers, internet check-out web pages, broadcast television signals, cable television signals, and cellular telephones.

22. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

recording each transaction and redemption of digital incentives at the central database; and

reporting each successful redemption of a digital incentive to the incentives provider and processing the value of the digital incentive plus any applicable transaction fees for reimbursement;

23. The method of claim 19 in which the customer selects digital incentives from the central database.

24. The method of claim 19 in which the customer selects digital incentives from the incentives providers and the digital incentives are associated with the customer'"'"'s unique identifier in the central database.

25. The method of claim 19 in which the central database provides third party auditing of the digital incentives transaction;

26. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

forwarding records of each transaction and redemption of digital incentives to the incentives provider for reimbursement.

27. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

the digital incentives include business rules that must be met for redemption; and

processing the business rules to validate the digital incentives at the central database.

28. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

the digital incentives include business rules that must be met for redemption;

processing the business rules to validate the digital incentives at the central database; and

the business rules are not constrained to attributes provided by a bar code.

29. The method of claim 19 in which the authenticated existing point-of-sale terminals are any from the list consisting of retail cash registers, interne check-out web pages, broadcast television signals, cable television signals, and cellular telephones.

30. The method of claim 19 in which the customer is informed of a successful redemption of digital incentives by any from the group consisting of SMS text message, e-mail, mail, telephone call, and printed receipt from said authenticated existing point-of-sale terminals.

31. The method of claim 19 in which the customer presents the unique identifier from any of the group consisting of a virtual smart card, a cellular phone, a magnetic strip on a swipe card, a bar code, biometrics information, a telephone number, an e-mail address, a pin number, an RFID tag, and an account number.

32. The method of claim 19 in which the digital incentives are selectable by customers by accessing said central database through any from the group consisting of a personal computer, a personal digital assistant, a mobile telephone, a television, e-mail, and mail.

33. The method of claim 19 in which the unique customer registration information includes encrypted access codes.

34. The method of claim 19 further comprising the plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals are uniquely identified at said central server by initially registering an identifiable attribute of each of the plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminal with the central server.

35. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

the plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals are uniquely identified at said central server by initially registering an identifiable attribute of each of the plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminal with the central server; and

assigning a matching encrypted public/private key pair to each of the plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals.

36. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

the plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals are uniquely identified at said central server by initially registering an identifiable attribute of each of the plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminal with the central server;

assigning a matching encrypted public/private key pair to each of the plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals; and

when a customer makes a purchase at one of the plurality of authenticated point-of-sale terminals and the customer provides their unique identifier, the identifiable attribute and the public/private key pair is transmitted to the central database through the internet along with the unique identifier, the central database verifies the identifiable attribute, the public/private key pair, and the unique identifier, and returns applicable digital incentives for redemption by the customer.

37. The method of claim 19 in which the central database communicates with a financial institution to process payment for reimbursement of redeemed digital incentives.

38. The method of claim 19 in which all communications over the internet are conducted over secure connections.

39. The method of claim 19 in which the payment devices are any from the list consisting of a touch screen interface, a magnetic card reader, an infra-red scanner, and an interne payment web page.

20. A method for issuance, redemption, and reimbursement of digital incentives using existing retail infrastructure comprising:

providing a central database connected to the internet to enable customers to register unique customer registration information, the central database able to store the unique customer registration information and assign unique identifiers to the unique customer registration information;

enabling incentives providers to access the central database through the internet to allow incentives providers to make available digital incentives;

authenticating a plurality of existing point-of-sale terminals that have payment devices and are connected to the internet;

providing a message broker with each existing point-of-sale terminal for facilitating communication with the central database through the internet; and

redeeming digital incentives by the customer at one of the authenticated existing point-of-sale terminals at the time of purchase by;

the customer presenting the unique identifier;

the message broker routing the unique identifier to the central database;

the central database authenticating and validating the authenticated existing point-of-sale terminal, the unique identifier, and the payment device;

the central database returning validated applicable digital incentives to the message broker; and

the message broker forwarding the validated digital incentives to the authenticated existing point-of-sale terminal for redemption.

21. The method of claim 20 in which the message broker routes a list of items that the customer is purchasing along with the unique identifier to the central database.