Consumer-provided promotional code actuatable point-of-sale discounting system
DCFirst Claim
1. A computer-implemented discounting system for use in conjunction with a point-of-sale transaction device, comprising:
- a device which accepts promotional codes entered as a series of characters;
a memory subsystem, said memory subsystem storing information related to at least one promotion, said information comprised of a promotional code, a product code and a discount amount for each one of said at least one promotion;
a software module, coupled to said device and said memory subsystem;
said software module receiving said promotional codes entered by consumers using said device, using said information held in said memory subsystem to determine if said entered promotional codes relates to one or more of said at least one promotion and transmitting discount information for said promotions related to said entered promotional codes to said point-of-sale transaction device, and wherein said software module compares said received promotional codes with said promotional codes stored in said memory subsystem and, if said received promotional codes match one of said promotional codes stored in said memory subsystem, said software module transfers said product code and said discount amount corresponding to said matched promotional code to said point-of-sale transactional device.
5 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer-implemented discounting system suitable for use in conjunction with a point-of-sale transaction device. The discounting system includes a memory subsystem for storing information related to at least one promotion and a software module coupled to the memory subsystem. The software module receives promotional codes entered by consumers and determines if the promotional codes relate to the promotions for which information is stored in the memory subsystem. If so, the software module transmits discount information for the promotions related to the entered promotional codes to the point-of-sale transaction device. For each promotion, a promotional code, a promotion period, a product code, a discount amount, a promotional code count and a maximum number of promotional codes are stored in the memory subsystem. The software module compares the received promotional codes with the promotional codes stored in the memory subsystem and, if the received promotional codes matches one of the stored promotional codes, was received during the promotion period and if the promotion code count, which is incremented each time a matching promotional code was received during the promotion period, does not exceed the maximum number of promotional codes, the product code and the discount amount are transmitted to the point-of-sale transactional device. There, the cost of the point-of-sale transaction is reduced by the discount amount if a product matching the transmitted product code has been purchased.
157 Citations
38 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented discounting system for use in conjunction with a point-of-sale transaction device, comprising:
-
a device which accepts promotional codes entered as a series of characters; a memory subsystem, said memory subsystem storing information related to at least one promotion, said information comprised of a promotional code, a product code and a discount amount for each one of said at least one promotion; a software module, coupled to said device and said memory subsystem; said software module receiving said promotional codes entered by consumers using said device, using said information held in said memory subsystem to determine if said entered promotional codes relates to one or more of said at least one promotion and transmitting discount information for said promotions related to said entered promotional codes to said point-of-sale transaction device, and wherein said software module compares said received promotional codes with said promotional codes stored in said memory subsystem and, if said received promotional codes match one of said promotional codes stored in said memory subsystem, said software module transfers said product code and said discount amount corresponding to said matched promotional code to said point-of-sale transactional device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A computer-implemented discounting system for use in conjunction with a point-of-sale transaction device, comprising:
-
a keypad for accepting promotional codes entered by consumers; a memory subsystem, said memory subsystem storing information related to at least one promotion; a software module, coupled to said keypad and said memory subsystem; said software module receiving said promotional codes entered by consumers using said keypad, using said information held in said memory subsystem to determine if said entered promotional codes relates to one or more of said at least one promotion and transmitting discount information for said promotions related to said entered promotional codes to said point-of-sale transaction device. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A computer-implemented discounting system for use in conjunction with a point-of-sale transaction device, comprising:
-
a microphone for accepting promotional codes audiblilized by consumers; means for converting said audibilized promotional codes into corresponding digital messages; a memory subsystem, said memory subsystem storing information related to at least one promotion; a software module, coupled to said converting means and said memory subsystem; said software module receiving said digital messages corresponding to said promotional codes audibilized by consumers using said microphone, using said information held in said memory subsystem to determine if said received digital messages relate to one or more of said at least one promotion and transmitting discount information for said promotions related to said received digital messages to said point-of-sale transaction device. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. A point-of-sale transactional system, comprising:
-
a transactional device for performing point-of-sale transactions; a consumer interface for accepting codes entered by consumers; a discounting device, coupled to said consumer interface and said transactional device, said discounting device including a first software module which receives codes from said consumer interface, determines if said received codes are promotional codes and transmits discount information, for each determined promotional code, to said transactional device; said transactional device including a second software module which performs said point-of-sale transaction using said discount information received from said discounting device. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. A computer-implemented method of discounting an on-going point-of-sale transaction performed by a point-of-sale transactional device, comprising the steps of:
-
storing, in a memory subsystem of a computer system, a series of promotional codes and a corresponding series of promotional information entries; receiving a promotional code entered on a keypad, coupled to said computer system, by a consumer; comparing said received promotional code to said series of promotional codes stored in said memory subsystem; if said received promotional code matches one of said series of stored promotional codes, transmitting said promotional information entry corresponding to said matched promotional code to said point-of-sale discounting device; and discounting the cost of said point-of-sale transaction using said transmitted promotional information. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
Specification