METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONDUCTING A TRANSACTION BASED ON BRAND INDIFFERENCE
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- receiving an agreement from a customer to purchase a product from a product category, wherein the product category is selected by the customer such that the selection is not indicative of a customer preference among a plurality of products of the product category;
selecting, for the customer, one of the plurality of products from the product category;
determining a value of a benefit to provide;
providing, to the customer, an indication of the selected product and the benefit;
receiving an indication of a purchase of the selected product by the customer; and
providing the benefit based on the purchase.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus allows a customer to indicate his or her brand indifference within a product category, and then receive a benefit for purchasing a product chosen by a third party from within this product category. This method and apparatus is particularly useful in differentiating between brand-loyal or brand-sensitive customers and brand-indifferent customers, and allows manufacturers to price-discriminate between these two types of customers. The method includes a step during which an indication of at least one product or service category of interest is received from a customer or other potential purchaser, a step during which a selection of at least one product or service is made that matches the indicated product or service category, a step during which an indication of the selected product or service is provided to the customer or other potential purchaser or to a device used or accessible by the customer or other potential purchaser, a step during which an indication is received that the customer or other potential purchaser has actually purchased, rented, leased, obtained, etc. the selected product or service, and a step during which a benefit is provided to the customer or purchaser who actually purchased, rented, leased, obtained, etc. the selected product or service, or to some other person or entity designated by the customer or some other person or entity.
29 Citations
98 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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receiving an agreement from a customer to purchase a product from a product category, wherein the product category is selected by the customer such that the selection is not indicative of a customer preference among a plurality of products of the product category;
selecting, for the customer, one of the plurality of products from the product category;
determining a value of a benefit to provide;
providing, to the customer, an indication of the selected product and the benefit;
receiving an indication of a purchase of the selected product by the customer; and
providing the benefit based on the purchase. - 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, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A computer readable medium storing instructions configured to direct a processor to:
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receive an agreement from a customer to purchase a product from a product category, wherein the product category is selected by the customer such that the selection is not indicative of a customer preference among a plurality of products of the product category;
select, for the customer, one of the plurality of products from the product category;
determine a value of a benefit to provide;
provide, to the customer, an indication of the selected product and the benefit;
receive an indication of a purchase of the selected product by the customer; and
provide the benefit based on the purchase. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. An apparatus, comprising:
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a memory;
a communication port; and
a processor connected to the memory and the communication port, the processor being operative to;
receive an agreement from a customer to purchase a product from a product category, wherein the product category is selected by the customer such that the selection is not indicative of a customer preference among a plurality of products of the product category;
select, for the customer, one of the plurality of products from the product category;
determine a value of a benefit to provide;
provide, to the customer, an indication of the selected product and the benefit;
receive an indication of a purchase of the selected product by the customer; and
provide the benefit based on the purchase. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57)
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58. A method, comprising:
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receiving, from a customer, a selection of at least two products to form a product category, wherein the products are acceptable alternatives of each other;
receiving an agreement from the customer to purchase at least one product from the product category, wherein the agreement does not include a preference among the products of the product category;
selecting, for the customer, one of products from the product category;
providing an indication of the selected product;
receiving an indication that the customer purchased the selected product; and
providing a benefit. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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78. A computer readable medium storing instructions configured to direct a processor to:
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receive, from a customer, a selection of at least two products to form a product category, wherein the products are acceptable alternatives of each other;
receive an agreement from the customer to purchase at least one product from the product category, wherein the agreement does not include a preference among the products of the product category;
select, for the customer, one of products from the product category;
provide an indication of the selected product;
receive an indication that the customer purchased the selected product; and
provide a benefit. - View Dependent Claims (79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95)
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96. An apparatus, comprising:
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a memory;
a communication port; and
a processor connected to the memory and the communication port, the processor being operative to;
receive, from a customer, a selection of at least two products to form a product category, wherein the products are acceptable alternatives of each other;
receive an agreement from the customer to purchase at least one product from the product category, wherein the agreement does not include a preference among the products of the product category;
select, for the customer, one of products from the product category;
provide an indication of the selected product;
receive an indication that the customer purchased the selected product; and
provide a benefit. - View Dependent Claims (97, 98)
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Specification