GEOGRAPHICALLY DEFINED ELECTRONIC COUPON OR VOUCHER DISSEMINATION

• US 20120010938A1
• Filed: 07/10/2010
• Published: 01/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Bazomb, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Bazomb, Inc.
• Inventors: STANDLEY, WILLIAM, Bautista, Anthony
• Application Number:
  US12/833,958
• Publication Number:
  US 20120010938A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.36
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user

Abstract

A computer-implemented process for electronically disseminated coupons or vouchers which confines E-Coupon or E-Voucher dissemination to a merchant'"'"'s designated market area (DMA) with optional customer “opt-in” in order to participate in the merchant'"'"'s discount or special promotional offers not generally available to anonymous customers. In one aspect, the computer implemented process is accomplished when a request for an electronically disseminated coupon or voucher from a remote computing device(s) associated with a customer is received by a server. The server determines a geolocation for the remote computing device(s) which is used to validate the request based at least on the customer'"'"'s geolocation. A validated request causes the server to issue a electronically disseminated coupon or voucher. The issuance of the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher is contemporaneously recorded in a database for invoicing or crediting of the merchant.

Claims

1. A computer implemented process for issuance of an electronically disseminated coupon or voucher comprising:

receiving a request for an electronically disseminated coupon or voucher from a remote computing device associated with a customer;

determining a geolocation for the remote computing device or an enrollment status of the customer associated with the remote computing device;

validating the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher in dependence upon the geolocation or the enrollment status of the customer;

issuing a billable electronically disseminated coupon or voucher when the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher is validated as a merchant billable event;

recording the merchant billable event for a participating merchant contemporaneously with the issuance of the billable electronically disseminated coupon.

2. The computer implemented process of claim 1 wherein validating the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher comprises one of:

determining whether the remote computing device is within a predetermined distance from a physical location of the participating merchant;

determining whether a valid PIN associated with the participating merchant has been entered into the remote computing device;

determining whether the remote computing device is within a designated market area of the participating merchant and the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher is not repeated within a single session;

determining whether the enrollment status of the customer includes an address within the designated market area of the participating merchant and the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher is not repeated within a single session.

3. The computer implemented process of claim 1 wherein validating the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher comprises one of:

determining whether the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher exceeds an authorized per customer issuance limit;

determining whether the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher exceeds a time limit.

4. The computer implemented process of claim 1 wherein validation of the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher for recording of the billable event does not preclude issuance of a non-billable electronically disseminated coupon or voucher redeemable by the participating merchant.

5. The computer implemented process of claim 1 wherein validation of the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher is only required for recording of the billable event.

6. The computer implemented process of claim 1 further comprising:

crediting an account of a sponsor of the customer associated with the remote computing device contemporaneously with recording the merchant billable event for the participating merchant.

7. The computer implemented process of claim 2 wherein the determining whether the remote computing device is within the predetermined distance from the participating merchant'"'"'s physical location is dependent on the customer'"'"'s remote computing device executing a dedicated application.

9. The computer implemented process of claim 1 wherein the issuance of electronically disseminated coupons is performed by a cloud server in processing communications with the remote computing device over one or more telecommunications networks.

10. The computer implemented process of claim 2 wherein the PIN is entered into the customer'"'"'s remote computing device by the participating merchant.

27. A computing system configured to execute the computer implemented process of claim 1.

28. A computer program product embodied on a tangible and non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which when executed by a physical processor causes a physical processor to perform the computer implemented process of claim 1.

8. The computer implemented process of claim 8 wherein the predetermined distance is within 20 meters of the participating merchant'"'"'s physical location.

11. A computer implemented process for issuance of an electronically disseminated coupon or voucher comprising:

receiving a request for an electronically disseminated coupon or voucher from a remote computing device associated with a customer;

determining a geolocation for the remote computing device or an enrollment status of the customer associated with the remote computing device;

validating the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher in dependence upon the geolocation or the enrollment status of the customer;

issuing a billable electronically disseminated coupon or voucher only when the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher is validated as a merchant billable event;

recording the merchant billable event for a participating merchant contemporaneously with the issuance of the billable electronically disseminated coupon;

wherein the merchant billable event is limited to either a designated market area of the participating merchant or the enrollment status of the customer.

12. The computer implemented process of claim 11 further comprising:

issuing a non-billable electronically disseminated coupon or voucher for an enrolled customer in which the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher originated outside of the participating merchant'"'"'s designated market area.

13. The computer implemented process of claim 11 wherein the designated market area is defined by the participating merchant.

14. The computer implemented process of claim 11 further comprising:

preventing issuance of the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher when;

the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher has expired;

an issuance limit for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher has been exceeded;

or,

a PIN entry is determined to be invalid.

15. The computer implemented process of claim 13 wherein the designated market area is defined by the merchant using any of;

latitude and longitude coordinates;

a radial distance from a merchant'"'"'s physical location;

postal codes;

one or more predefined geographical regions.

16. The computer implemented process of claim 11 further comprising:

validating a PIN entry when a dedicated application is executing on a customer'"'"'s mobile remote computing device when the customer'"'"'s mobile remote computing device is greater than a predetermined distance from a merchant'"'"'s physical location.

17. The computer implemented process of claim 16 wherein no PIN entry is required when the customer'"'"'s mobile remote computing device executing the dedicated application is within the predetermined distance from the merchant'"'"'s physical location.

18. A computer implemented process for issuance of an electronically disseminated coupon or voucher comprising:

receiving a request for an electronically disseminated coupon or voucher from a remote computing device associated with a customer;

determining a geolocation for the customer'"'"'s remote computing device;

validating the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher in dependence upon the geolocation of the customer;

issuing a billable electronically disseminated coupon or voucher only when the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher is validated as a merchant billable event;

recording the merchant billable event for a participating merchant contemporaneously with the issuance of the billable electronically disseminated coupon;

wherein the merchant billable event is limited to a designated market area defined by the participating merchant.

19. The computer implemented process of claim 18 wherein validating the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher is accomplished without customer enrollment.

20. The computer implemented process of claim 19 wherein customer enrollment is optional.

21. A computer implemented process for issuance of an electronically disseminated coupon or voucher comprising:

receiving a request for an electronically disseminated coupon or voucher from a remote computing device associated with a customer;

determining a geolocation for the customer'"'"'s remote computing device;

determining whether the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher is for an electronically disseminated coupon or voucher.

22. The computer implemented process of claim 21 further comprising:

when the request is determined to be for an electronically disseminated coupon, validating the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher in dependence upon the geolocation of the customer;

issuing a billable electronically disseminated coupon or voucher only when the request for the electronically disseminated coupon or voucher is validated as a merchant billable event;

recording the merchant billable event for a participating merchant contemporaneously with the issuance of the billable electronically disseminated coupon;

wherein the merchant billable event is limited to a designated market area defined by the participating merchant.

23. The computer implemented process of claim 21 further comprising:

when the request is determined to be for an electronically disseminated voucher, determining whether the customer is a premium enrolled customer;

determining whether any constraints prohibit purchasing of the electronically disseminated voucher;

charging an account of the premium enrolled customer when purchasing of the electronically disseminated voucher is permitted;

issuing the electronically disseminated voucher to the premium customer.

24. The computer implemented process of claim 22 wherein the constraints include any of;

a minimum demand for the purchase of the electronically disseminated voucher;

a maximum available quantity limit for the electronically disseminated voucher;

a time limit in which to purchase the electronically disseminated voucher.

25. The computer implemented process of claim 23 further comprising:

crediting a merchant account with at least a portion of proceeds received from the charging of the premium enrolled customer'"'"'s account.

26. The computer implemented process of claim 23 wherein the account of the premium enrolled customer includes a credit card account, an electronic funds transfer authorization, a third party financial exchange account and a third party credit account.