DIGITAL COUPON CLEARINGHOUSE
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving, from one or more coupon providers, data describing coupon offers;
a server computer causing one or more approved sources to generate coupons for the coupon offers;
receiving, by the server computer, over a network, from a retailer that is different from the coupon provider, coupon redemption data indicating that the retailer accepted a particular coupon;
in response to receiving the coupon redemption data, the server computer determining whether the particular coupon was generated by one of the one or more approved sources, and further determining whether the server computer has previously caused any of one or more retailers to be compensated for accepting the particular coupon;
at least in response to determining that the particular coupon was generated by one of the one or more approved sources, and further in response to determining that the server computer has not previously caused any of the one or more retailers to be compensated for accepting the particular coupon, the server computer marking the particular coupon as redeemed, and causing the retailer to be credited for accepting the particular coupon;
wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A coupon distributor receives, from coupon provider(s), data describing coupon offer(s). The coupon distributor operates a server that causes approved source(s) to generate coupons for the offer(s). The server receives, over a network, from a retailer, coupon redemption data indicating that the retailer accepted a particular coupon. In response, the server determines whether the particular coupon was generated by an approved source and that the particular coupon was accepted in a manner consistent with the offer amount and terms. The server further determines whether the server has previously caused any retailer to be compensated for accepting the particular coupon. In response to positive determinations, the server marks the particular coupon as redeemed and further causes the retailer to be credited for the particular coupon. In an embodiment, a retail server causes a digital coupon to be generated for an offer during the same transaction in which the coupon is used.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving, from one or more coupon providers, data describing coupon offers; a server computer causing one or more approved sources to generate coupons for the coupon offers; receiving, by the server computer, over a network, from a retailer that is different from the coupon provider, coupon redemption data indicating that the retailer accepted a particular coupon; in response to receiving the coupon redemption data, the server computer determining whether the particular coupon was generated by one of the one or more approved sources, and further determining whether the server computer has previously caused any of one or more retailers to be compensated for accepting the particular coupon; at least in response to determining that the particular coupon was generated by one of the one or more approved sources, and further in response to determining that the server computer has not previously caused any of the one or more retailers to be compensated for accepting the particular coupon, the server computer marking the particular coupon as redeemed, and causing the retailer to be credited for accepting the particular coupon; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 30, 31, 32)
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10. A method comprising:
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a retail server computer receiving, from a coupon server that is different than the retail server, coupon data describing a coupon offer; the retail server computer receiving input from a user selecting at least a particular item; the retail server computer determining that the coupon offer is eligible for use by the user to purchase the particular item; in response to the user selecting to purchase at least the particular item in a transaction, the retail server computer causing a digital coupon to be generated for the coupon offer by performing one of;
generating the digital coupon based on the coupon data received from the coupon server, or sending a request configured to cause the coupon server to generate the digital coupon for the coupon offer;the retail server computer applying the digital coupon to the transaction; the retail server computer sending a request for compensation for the digital coupon to a clearinghouse, wherein the clearinghouse is different than the coupon server; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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25. A method comprising:
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receiving, at a client executing on a user device, from a retail server computer, an instruction to send to a coupon server a request to generate a digital coupon for a coupon offer; wherein the coupon server is different than the retail server computer; responsive to the instruction, the client sending to the coupon server the request to generate the digital coupon for the coupon offer; wherein the request to generate the digital coupon includes a unique client identifier; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 37)
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29. A computer data processing system comprising:
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a retail server executing on a first set of one or more computing devices, the retail server configured to conduct transactions with a client over a network; and a coupon distribution server executing on a second set of one or more computing devices, the coupon distribution server configured to generate coupons for coupon offers that are applied to the transactions; wherein the retail server is further configured to;
identify a particular coupon offer to apply to a particular transaction with a particular client, instruct the particular client to request that the coupon distribution server generate a digital coupon for the particular offer, apply the digital coupon to the transaction, and send a unique identifier for the digital coupon to the coupon distribution server to request compensation for applying the digital coupon;wherein the coupon distribution server is further configured to;
generate a digital coupon, including the unique identifier, for the particular coupon offer in response to the request from the particular client, and provide compensation for the digital coupon upon determining that the unique identifier received from the retail server was generated by the coupon distribution server.
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Specification