AFFILIATE OFFER REDEMPTION METHOD AND SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented affiliate offer redemption method comprising:
- (a) receiving information on a consumer and on a consumer'"'"'s payment account associated with the consumer and storing it in a computer storage system;
(b) receiving activation of an offer from the consumer and storing it in the computer storage system, the offer being made through an affiliate network by an affiliate, the affiliate offer including conditions and an affiliate identifier associated with the affiliate offer;
(c) linking the activated affiliate offer including the affiliate identifier to the consumer'"'"'s payment account;
(d) monitoring transactions in the consumer'"'"'s payment account using the computer storage system in order to determine when a qualified purchase has been made by the consumer;
(e) verifying that the purchase is a qualified purchase in accordance with the affiliate offer conditions by using the computer storage system to match transaction data associated with the purchase to the affiliate offer conditions;
(f) upon verifying, notifying the affiliate network of the qualified purchase including the affiliate identifier; and
(g) making a payment for offer settlement to the consumer'"'"'s payment account using the computer storage system.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An offer processing system and method allows offers that are presented to a consumer by an affiliate to be accepted and thereafter, the offer including its conditions and an affiliate identifier are linked to a consumer payment account. Once linked, the accepted offer can be redeemed either online or offline at a physical location with payment to the affiliate being made through the offer processing system regardless of the manner of redemption, provided other conditions of the offer are fulfilled by the consumer. The offer processing system may comprise a server computer system, having a linked offer gateway, which performs all, or some selected combination of the functions for accepting and redeeming the affiliate offer.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented affiliate offer redemption method comprising:
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(a) receiving information on a consumer and on a consumer'"'"'s payment account associated with the consumer and storing it in a computer storage system; (b) receiving activation of an offer from the consumer and storing it in the computer storage system, the offer being made through an affiliate network by an affiliate, the affiliate offer including conditions and an affiliate identifier associated with the affiliate offer; (c) linking the activated affiliate offer including the affiliate identifier to the consumer'"'"'s payment account; (d) monitoring transactions in the consumer'"'"'s payment account using the computer storage system in order to determine when a qualified purchase has been made by the consumer; (e) verifying that the purchase is a qualified purchase in accordance with the affiliate offer conditions by using the computer storage system to match transaction data associated with the purchase to the affiliate offer conditions; (f) upon verifying, notifying the affiliate network of the qualified purchase including the affiliate identifier; and (g) making a payment for offer settlement to the consumer'"'"'s payment account using the computer storage system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computerized affiliate offer redemption system, comprising;
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at least one processor; memory associated with the at least one processor; and a program supported in the memory for processing affiliate offers provided to consumers, the program having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to; (a) store information on a consumer and on a consumer'"'"'s payment account associated with the consumer; (b) receive activation of an offer made by an affiliate through an affiliate network from the consumer, the affiliate offer including conditions and an affiliate identifier associated with the affiliate offer; (c) link the affiliate offer to the consumer'"'"'s payment account; (d) monitor transactions in the consumer'"'"'s payment account; (e) match transaction data associated with a purchase to the affiliate offer conditions to verify that the purchase is a qualified purchase; (f) when the transaction is verified as a qualified purchase, transmit a notification to the affiliate network including the affiliate identifier; and (g) when the transaction is verified as a qualified purchase, make a payment for offer settlement to the consumer'"'"'s payment account. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification