Fully integrated, on-line interactive frequency and award redemption program

• US 5,774,870 A
• Filed: 12/14/1995
• Issued: 06/30/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Affinion Net Patents Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Netcentives Inc.
• Inventors: Storey, Thomas W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Voeltz, Emanuel T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): GROUTT, PHILLIP J
• Application Number:
  US08/572,017
• Time in Patent Office: 929 Days
• Field of Search: 395/226, 395/227, 395/607, 395/615, 707/7, 707/104
• US Class Current: 705/14.27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0219 based on funds or budget
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0233 Method of redeeming a frequent usage reward
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

An fully integrated on-line frequency award program is disclosed. A user may access the program on-line and may brows a product catalog for shopping. The user may electronically place an order, upon which the program automatically checks the user'"'"'s credit and electronically issues a purchase order to the supplying company. The program also calculates award points, updates the award account of enrolled users, and communicates that number of awarded points to the user. Enrolled users may browse through an award catalog and electronically redeem an amount of awarded points towards an award. The program then electronically places an award redeeming order with the fulfillment house and updates the user'"'"'s award account.

Claims

1. A system for an incentive award program, including a computer system accessible for on-line interactive communication with users, said computer system comprising;

a first memory area for storing product catalog, said product catalog including product descriptions and product prices for each product available for purchase;

a second memory area for storing an awards catalog, said awards catalog including an award description and award points value for each award; and

,

a frequency database storing account information for each enrolled user of said incentive award program.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said computer system is programmed to perform the steps comprising:

providing a user with an on-line access to a product homepage and an award program homepage, said product homepage linking to said first memory area, and said award program homepage linking to said second memory area;

providing said user with an on-line order form for ordering a product for purchase, said order form being susceptible to electronic entries; and

,

providing said user with an on-line redeeming form for redeeming award points towards an award chosen from said awards catalog, said redeeming form being susceptible to electronic entries.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said computer is further programmed to receive said electronic entries and to perform the steps comprising:

establishing an on-line link to an order computer determined from said entries in said order form, and electronically sending via said on-line link selected ones of said entries of said order form to said order computer.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said computer is further programmed to receive said electronic entries and perform the steps comprising:

establishing an on-line link to an award computer and electronically sending via said on-line link selected ones of said entries of said redeeming form to said award computer.

5. The system for an incentive award program of claim 1, wherein said account information for each enrolled user comprises a plurality of registers each for indicating an enrollment level of one of said enrolled users.

6. The system for an incentive award program of claim 5, wherein said product catalog includes enrollment level required for each of said products available for purchase, and wherein access for purchasing a product is restricted to users qualified for said enrollment level of said product.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein said computer is further programmed to perform the steps comprising:

receiving said electronic entries and striping electronic entries corresponding to predetermined queries of said order form; and

,

establishing an on-line link to a predesignated computer and sending said electronic entries to said predesignated computer via said on-line link to verify available credit.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein said computer is further programmed to receive said electronic entries and to perform the steps comprising:

reading a price entry from said order form and calculating award points according to a predefined formula using said price as a parameter in said predetermined formula;

saving said award points in an award account of said user; and

,

subtracting from said award account a redeemed points amount corresponding to a redeemable value of an award designated in said redeeming form.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein said computer is further programmed to perform the steps comprising:

receiving an electronic request to view said awards catalog;

defining an award ceiling depending on qualified award points in an awards account of a user sending said request; and

,

displaying awards having award point value equal to said award ceiling and awards having award value lower than said award ceiling.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein said computer is further programmed to perform the steps comprising:

receiving said electronic entries from a user and determining whether an electronic link for receiving said electronic entries has been established by an on-line provider;

When said electronic link has been established by an on-line provider, electronically interrogating provider database for a credit account number of said user; and

,

establishing an on-line link to a predesignated computer and sending said credit account number to said predesignated computer via said on-line link to verify available credit.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein said computer is further programmed to perform the steps comprising:

providing said user with an on-line subscription form for enabling said user to join said incentive award program, said subscription form being susceptible to electronic entries; and

,

receiving entries corresponding to said subscription form and establishing an award account in said frequency database for said user.

12. The system of claim 2, wherein said computer is further programmed to receive said electronic entries and to perform the steps comprising:

reading a price entry from said order form and calculating award points according to a predefined formula using said price as a parameter in said predetermined formula;

saving said award points in an award account of said user; and

,

subtracting from said award account a redeemed points amount corresponding to a redeemable value of an award designated in said redeeming form.

13. The system of claim 2, wherein said computer is further programmed to receive said electronic entries and to perform the steps comprising:

reading a price entry from said order form and calculating award points according to a predefined formula using quantity of products purchased as a parameter in said predetermined formula;

saving said award points in an award account of said user; and

,

subtracting from said award account a redeemed points amount corresponding to a redeemable value of an award designated in said redeeming form.

14. The system of claim 2, wherein said computer system further comprises an access code and wherein data of said computer system can be changed by said user when said user enters said access code.

15. The system of claim 2, wherein said computer is further programmed to perform the steps comprising:

fetching pre-designated information from said product catalog and defining said information as entry data for said order form.

16. The system of claim 2, wherein said computer is further programmed to perform the steps comprising:

fetching a number of required points required to redeem an award from said award catalog;

fetching a number of redeemable points available account information of one of said enrolled users'"'"'stored in said frequency database;

subtracting the number of available points from the number of required points and transmitting the results to a computer of said user.

17. A method for providing an on-line shopping and frequency award program comprising the steps of:

maintaining a frequency database for storing award points in award accounts corresponding to subscribed users;

providing an on-line access to a product catalog;

providing an on-line purchase order form, said on-line purchase order form including at least a register for a credit account number of a credit card and a register for a product identifier;

allowing a user to electronically send entries for said purchase order form;

establishing an on-line link to a credit computer and verifying availability of funds for said user;

establishing an on-line link to a computer of a seller of a product identified in said product identifier and electronically communicating said purchase order form together with said entries to said seller;

calculating award points by a predetermined formula taking into account a price of said product, and updating an award account of said user in said frequency database;

providing an on-line access to an award catalog having a plurality of files corresponding to various award articles;

providing an on-line award redeem form;

receiving electronic entries corresponding to queries in said award redeem form to allow said user to electronically redeem award points towards a chosen award from said award catalog; and

,

subtracting from said award account of said user a number of points corresponding to the award points of said chosen award.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the steps of defining a first and a second enrollment levels and storing in said award accounts of said users an enrolled level each of said subscribed users qualifies.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the steps of determining to which of said first and second award levels each of said awards corresponds and disqualifying users of said first award level from redeeming award points towards awards corresponding to said second award level.

20. The method for providing an on-line shopping and frequency award program as claimed in claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

Receiving a request from said user to review said award catalog;

defining a ceiling point corresponding to the amount of redeemable award points stored in said award account of said user; and

,

displaying award files having an award value equal to or less than said award ceiling.

21. The method for providing an on-line shopping and frequency award program as claimed in claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

Receiving a request from said user to review said award catalog;

defining a ceiling point as the amount of points entered by said user in a response to an inquiry; and

,

displaying award files having an award value equal to or less than said award ceiling.

22. The method for providing an on-line shopping and frequency award program as claimed in claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

assigning a value for each award article of said award catalog;

defining a plurality of escalating levels;

assigning each of said award articles to only one of said plurality of escalating levels, depending on the value assigned to each of said articles;

receiving a request to review said award articles, and determining a level to which said request corresponds depending on the award points stored in said award account of said user; and

,

making available for review only those articles corresponding to the level to which said request corresponds and any lower level.

23. The method for providing an on-line shopping and award program as claimed in claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether said on-line access has been established via an on-line provider; and

,

electronically extracting a credit account information of said user from a computer file of said on-line provider.

24. A computer readable substrate having a computer program saved thereupon, said computer program comprising the steps of:

providing a user with an on-line access to a product homepage and an award program homepage, said product homepage linking to a searchable product database of products available for purchase, and said award program homepage linking to a searchable awards catalog of awards available for redemption;

providing said user with an on-line order form for ordering a product for purchase, said order form being susceptible to electronic entries;

receiving said electronic entries and striping predetermined entries corresponding to predetermined queries of said order form; and

,

establishing an on-line link to a predesignated computer and sending said predetermined entries to said predesignated computer via said on-line link to verify available credit.

25. The computer readable substrate of claim 24, wherein said program further comprises the steps of:

establishing an on-line link to an order computer of a seller of a product designated by said entries in said order form, and electronically sending via said on-line link selected ones of said entries of said order form to said order computer.

26. The computer readable substrate of claim 25, wherein said program further comprises the steps of:

reading a price entry from said order form and calculating award points according to a predefined formula; and

,

saving said award points in an award account of said user.

27. The computer readable substrate of claim 26, wherein said program further comprises the steps of:

providing said user with an on-line redeeming form for redeeming award points towards an award chosen from said awards catalog, said redeeming form being susceptible to electronic entries; and

,

subtracting from said award account a redeemed points amount corresponding to a redeemable value of said award chosen.

28. The computer readable substrate of claim 26, wherein said program further comprises the steps of:

determining an award level to which said user qualifies based on predetermined parameters; and

,

storing said award level in said award account of said user.

29. A method of storing and displaying a database of articles comprising:

assigning a value for each article of said database;

defining a plurality of escalating levels;

assigning each of said articles to only one of said plurality of escalating levels, depending on the value assigned to each of said articles;

receiving a request to review said articles, and determining a level to which said request correspond; and

,

making available for review only those articles corresponding to the level to which said request corresponds and any lower level.

30. A method of storing and displaying a database of articles comprising:

assigning a value for each article of said database;

defining a plurality of escalating levels;

flagging each of said articles to designate only one of said plurality of escalating levels, depending on the value assigned to each of said articles;

receiving a request to review said articles, and determining a level to which said request qualifies;

making available for review only those articles having flagged as one of corresponding to the level to which said request qualifies and any level lower than the level corresponding to the level to which said request qualifies.