SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VALIDATION AND RELIABLE EXPIRATION OF VALUABLE ELECTRONIC PROMOTIONS
First Claim
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1. An electronic promotion system comprising:
- one or more merchant tags located at a merchant'"'"'s business location;
a distribution server configured to store and distribute a plurality of electronic promotional items;
one or more portable customer devices comprising;
a scanning device configured to read the one or more merchant tags;
a communication device configured to receive one or more of the plurality of electronic promotional items from the distribution server;
a storage device storing the one or more electronic promotional items received via the communication device;
a processor configured to determine the validity of the one or more electronic promotional items stored on the one or more storage devices, and if validated to subsequently expire the one or more electronic promotional items on the one or more customer devices without communication with the distribution server to prevent further use of the one or more electronic promotional items; and
a display screen configured to present a validity indicator if the one or more electronic promotional items are validated by the processor;
wherein the validity of the one or more electronic promotional items is determined using information read from the one or more merchant tags;
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Abstract
A validation, redemption and reliable expiration system for valuable electronic promotional items provides an electronic promotion system without the need for merchant hardware. The electronic promotion system utilizes customer devices to scan one or more merchant tags to validate and redeem electronic promotional items. Once redeemed, the electronic promotional items are expired or invalidated locally on the customer device to prevent subsequent use. In this way, a full-featured promotion, loyalty card, and check-in system can be quickly and easily deployed at low or no hardware cost to the merchant, while preventing unauthorized use of valuable electronic promotional items.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An electronic promotion system comprising:
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one or more merchant tags located at a merchant'"'"'s business location; a distribution server configured to store and distribute a plurality of electronic promotional items; one or more portable customer devices comprising; a scanning device configured to read the one or more merchant tags; a communication device configured to receive one or more of the plurality of electronic promotional items from the distribution server; a storage device storing the one or more electronic promotional items received via the communication device; a processor configured to determine the validity of the one or more electronic promotional items stored on the one or more storage devices, and if validated to subsequently expire the one or more electronic promotional items on the one or more customer devices without communication with the distribution server to prevent further use of the one or more electronic promotional items; and a display screen configured to present a validity indicator if the one or more electronic promotional items are validated by the processor; wherein the validity of the one or more electronic promotional items is determined using information read from the one or more merchant tags; - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A mobile device for an electronic promotion system comprising:
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a communications device configured to retrieve one or more electronic promotional items from a remote distribution server; validation information associated with the one or more electronic promotional items; a scanning device for reading one or more merchant tags; a processor configured to determine the validity of the one or more electronic promotional items based on the validation information and information read from the one or more merchant tags; a display screen configured to present a validity notification if the one or more electronic promotional items is valid; and a storage device configured to store the one or more electronic promotional items locally on the mobile device, and to expire the one or more electronic promotional items to prevent subsequent use of the one or more electronic promotional items; wherein the one or more electronic promotional items are expired locally on the mobile device without communication with the remote distribution server. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for distributing and expiring a plurality of electronic promotional items comprising:
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receiving the plurality of electronic promotional items at a distribution server from one or more merchants; receiving a selection of one or more of the plurality of electronic promotional items from a customer using a portable customer device; storing the selection of the one or more electronic promotional items on the portable customer device; generating one or more merchant tags for distribution and display at one or more business locations of the one or more merchants; reading the one or more merchant tags with a scanning device of the portable customer device; determining the validity of the one or more electronic promotional items using the portable customer device and information read from the one or more merchant tags; presenting a validity notification to the one or more merchants via a display screen of the customer device to allow redemption of the one or more electronic promotional items if the one or more electronic promotional items are determined to be valid; and expiring the one or more electronic promotional items locally at the portable customer device without communication with the distribution server to prevent subsequent use of the one or more electronic promotional items. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification