METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING PREPAID USER INITIATED ADVERTISER CONTENT PRINTING OPERATION AT A CUSTOMER SITE

• US 20110191183A1
• Filed: 01/29/2010
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Jones, Brent Rodney
• Application Number:
  US12/696,092
• Publication Number:
  US 20110191183A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.55
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested

Abstract

Document processing device account management systems and methods are disclosed for managing prepaid usage document processing devices to allow user initiated advertiser content printing operation at a customer site with no cost to the user, and to facilitate making reservations and payment in advance for reserved services.

Claims

1. A method for managing prepaid usage of at least one document processing device configured to allow user initiated advertiser content printing operation at a customer site based on available print units applied to the device, the method comprising:

using a computer processor, storing account information in a data store for at least one customer account associated with a customer, the account information comprising;

at least one advertiser available credits value indicating an amount of account credits currently available for user initiated advertiser content printing using at least one document processing device registered to the account for which a corresponding advertiser has arranged credit with the customer,

advertiser specific pricing information including at least one conversion factor for converting account credits available to a particular advertiser to print units for at least one document processing device registered to the account, and

advertiser-content association data associating particular advertiser content identifiers with particular advertiser identifiers;

upon a request from the customer via a portal, using the computer processor, adding credits to the at least one advertiser available credits value indicating an amount of account credits for which a corresponding advertiser has arranged credit with the customer;

in response to a selection by a user via a user interface of a selected advertiser content and a selected customer document processing device, using the computer processor;

correlating the selected advertiser content with a particular advertiser using the advertiser-content association data, and

updating the account information by decrementing the selected advertiser'"'"'s available credits value based at least partially on the advertiser specific pricing information and a determined job cost for printing the selected advertiser content using the selected customer document processing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to a selection by the user via the user interface of at least one of a reservation associated with the selected content and a pay-ahead fee payment associated with the selected content, using the computer processor, facilitating at least one of a selected reservation and a selected pay-ahead fee payment.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

in response to the selection of the selected advertiser content and the selected customer document processing device, using the computer processor;

receiving the determined job cost from the selected document processing device as a job cost print units value;

determining a job cost account credits value based at least partially on the job cost print units value and the advertiser specific pricing information current at the time of the user selection; and

decrementing the selected advertiser'"'"'s available credits value by the job cost account credits value.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising, upon a request from the customer via the portal, using the computer processor, allowing the customer to set the advertiser specific pricing information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein facilitating at least one of a selected reservation and a selected pay-ahead fee payment comprises providing a reservation or ticket number for a selected reservation to the selected document processing device for printing with the selected content.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein facilitating at least one of a selected reservation and a selected pay-ahead fee payment comprises providing a confirmed pay-ahead fee amount to the selected document processing device for printing a payment receipt with the selected content.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein facilitating at least one of a selected reservation and a selected pay-ahead fee payment comprises providing a reservation or ticket number for a selected reservation to the selected document processing device for printing with the selected content.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein facilitating at least one of a selected reservation and a selected pay-ahead fee payment comprises providing a confirmed pay-ahead fee amount to the selected document processing device for printing a payment receipt with the selected content.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising, upon a request from the customer via the portal, using the computer processor, allowing the customer to set the advertiser specific pricing information.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein facilitating at least one of a selected reservation and a selected pay-ahead fee payment comprises providing a reservation or ticket number for a selected reservation to the selected document processing device for printing with the selected content.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein facilitating at least one of a selected reservation and a selected pay-ahead fee payment comprises providing a confirmed pay-ahead fee amount to the selected document processing device for printing a payment receipt with the selected content.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the selection of the selected advertiser content and the selected customer document processing device, using the computer processor;

receiving the determined job cost from the selected document processing device as a job cost print units value;

determining a job cost account credits value based at least partially on the job cost print units value and the advertiser specific pricing information current at the time of the user selection; and

decrementing the selected advertiser'"'"'s available credits value by the job cost account credits value.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising, upon a request from the customer via the portal, using the computer processor, allowing the customer to set the advertiser specific pricing information.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions for managing prepaid usage of at least one document processing device configured to allow user initiated advertiser content printing operation at a customer site based on available print units applied to the device, the computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for:

using a computer processor, storing account information in a data store for at least one customer account associated with a customer, the account information comprising;

at least one advertiser available credits value indicating an amount of account credits currently available for user initiated advertiser content printing using at least one document processing device registered to the account for which a corresponding advertiser has arranged credit with the customer,

advertiser specific pricing information including at least one conversion factor for converting account credits available to a particular advertiser to print units for at least one document processing device registered to the account, and

advertiser-content association data associating particular advertiser content identifiers with particular advertiser identifiers;

upon a request from the customer via a portal, using the computer processor, adding credits to the at least one advertiser available credits value indicating an amount of account credits for which a corresponding advertiser has arranged credit with the customer;

in response to a selection by a user via a user interface of a selected advertiser content and a selected customer document processing device, using the computer processor;

correlating the selected advertiser content with a particular advertiser using the advertiser-content association data, and

updating the account information by decrementing the selected advertiser'"'"'s available credits value based at least partially on the advertiser specific pricing information and a determined job cost for printing the selected advertiser content using the selected customer document processing device.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, further comprising computer executable instructions for, in response to a selection by the user via the user interface of at least one of a reservation associated with the selected content and a pay-ahead fee payment associated with the selected content, using the computer processor, facilitating at least one of a selected reservation and a selected pay-ahead fee payment.

16. An account manager system for managing prepaid usage of at least one document processing device configured to allow user initiated advertiser content printing operation at a customer site based on available print units applied to the device, the system comprising:

a server operatively coupled with a network to communicate and exchange data with one or more customer networks;

a data store operatively coupled with the server to store account information for at least one customer account associated with a customer, the account information comprising;

at least one advertiser available credits value indicating an amount of account credits currently available for user initiated advertiser content printing using at least one document processing device registered to the account for which a corresponding advertiser has arranged credit with the customer,

advertiser specific pricing information including at least one conversion factor for converting account credits available to a particular advertiser to print units for at least one document processing device registered to the account, and

advertiser-content association data associating particular advertiser content identifiers with particular advertiser identifiers; and

an account management component operatively coupled with the data store and the server, and operative upon a request from the customer via a portal, to add credits to the at least one advertiser available credits value indicating an amount of account credits for which a corresponding advertiser has arranged credit with the customer;

the account management component being further operative in response to a selection by a user via a user interface of a selected advertiser content and a selected customer document processing device to;

correlate the selected advertiser content with a particular advertiser using the advertiser-content association data, and

update the account information by decrementing the selected advertiser'"'"'s available credits value based at least partially on the advertiser specific pricing information and a determined job cost for printing the selected advertiser content using the selected customer document processing device.

17. The account manager system of claim 16, the account management component being further operative in response to a selection by the user via the user interface of at least one of a reservation associated with the selected content and a pay-ahead fee payment associated with the selected content to facilitate at least one of a selected reservation and a selected pay-ahead fee payment.

18. The account manager system of claim 17, the account management component being further operative in response to the selection of the selected advertiser content and the selected customer document processing device to:

receive the determined job cost from the selected document processing device as a job cost print units value;

determine a job cost account credits value based at least partially on the job cost print units value and the advertiser specific pricing information current at the time of the user selection; and

decrement the selected advertiser'"'"'s available credits value by the job cost account credits value.

19. The account manager system of claim 18, the account management component being further operative upon a request from the customer via the portal, to allow the customer to set the advertiser specific pricing information.

20. The account manager system of claim 18, the account management component being further operative to provide a reservation or ticket number for a selected reservation to the selected document processing device for printing with the selected content.

21. The account manager system of claim 18, the account management component being further operative to provide a confirmed pay-ahead fee amount to the selected document processing device for printing a payment receipt with the selected content.

22. The account manager system of claim 17, the account management component being further operative to provide a reservation or ticket number for a selected reservation to the selected document processing device for printing with the selected content.

23. The account manager system of claim 17, the account management component being further operative to provide a confirmed pay-ahead fee amount to the selected document processing device for printing a payment receipt with the selected content.

24. The account manager system of claim 16, the account management component being further operative upon a request from the customer via the portal, to allow the customer to set the advertiser specific pricing information.