Electronic gift certificate system
First Claim
1. A method for facilitating the redemption of electronic gift certificates, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a downloadable gift certificate order form on a network site, the order form including fields for specifying at least a monetary amount of a gift certificate and a gift certificate recipient; and
responding to an electronic submission of the gift certificate order form by a user by generating an e-mail document and transmitting the document to the recipient, the e-mail document including a hyperlink which is selectable by the recipient to automatically redeem the gift certificate, the hyperlink configured such that selection by the recipient causes information sufficient to identify at least the recipient and the monetary amount to be transmitted to the network site.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic gift certificate system is disclosed which distributes electronic gift certificates in the form of e-mail documents that include hyperlinks for automating the redemption process. When a gift certificate recipient selects such a hyperlink, the recipient'"'"'s computer automatically transmits a claim code to the merchant'"'"'s Web site, and the site responds by automatically crediting the recipient'"'"'s personal account with the gift certificate amount. When the recipient subsequently makes a purchase from the merchant'"'"'s Web site, the recipient'"'"'s account balance is automatically applied to the purchase price.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method for facilitating the redemption of electronic gift certificates, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a downloadable gift certificate order form on a network site, the order form including fields for specifying at least a monetary amount of a gift certificate and a gift certificate recipient; and
responding to an electronic submission of the gift certificate order form by a user by generating an e-mail document and transmitting the document to the recipient, the e-mail document including a hyperlink which is selectable by the recipient to automatically redeem the gift certificate, the hyperlink configured such that selection by the recipient causes information sufficient to identify at least the recipient and the monetary amount to be transmitted to the network site. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
incorporating a claim code into a URL portion of the hyperlink; and
storing the claim code and identifiers of the recipient and the monetary amount in a table for subsequent look-up.
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10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the e-mail document comprises encoding the monetary amount and a user ID of the recipient within a URL portion of the hyperlink.
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11. The method of claim 1, further comprising responding to selection of the hyperlink by crediting an account of the recipient with the monetary amount without requiring any further user action.
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12. The method of claim 1, further comprising responding to selection of the hyperlink by prompting the recipient to confirm that an account should be credited.
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13. A method for facilitating the redemption of electronic gift certificates, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a downloadable gift certificate order form on a Web site, the order form including fields for specifying at least a gift certificate recipient and a monetary amount of a gift certificate;
responding to an electronic submission of the gift certificate order form by a user by generating an e-mail document and transmitting the document to the recipient, the e-mail document including a hyperlink which is selectable by the recipient to automatically redeem the gift certificate, the hyperlink configured such that selection by the recipient causes information sufficient to identify at least the recipient and the monetary amount to be transmitted to the Web site;
responding to selection of the hyperlink by crediting the monetary amount of the gift certificate to a personal account of the recipient; and
automatically applying a balance in the personal account to a subsequent purchase made by the recipient. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
incorporating a claim code into a URL portion of the hyperlink; and
storing the claim code and identifiers of at least the recipient and the monetary amount in a table for subsequent look-up.
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16. The method of claim 13, wherein generating the e-mail document comprises encoding the monetary amount and a user ID of the recipient within a URL portion of the hyperlink.
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17. A network site which provides functionality for purchasing and redeeming electronic gift certificates over a computer network, the site comprising:
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an accounts database that includes accounts of users of the network site, the accounts database storing account balances for at least some of the users, the account balances applicable to items that are available for purchase from the network site;
a downloadable gift certificate order form, the order form including fields for specifying at least a monetary amount of a gift certificate and a gift certificate recipient;
an executable order processing module which is responsive to an electronic submission of the gift certificate order form by a user by generating an e-mail document and transmitting the document to the recipient, the e-mail document including a hyperlink which is selectable by the recipient to automatically redeem the gift certificate, the hyperlink configured such that selection by the recipient causes information sufficient to identify at least the recipient and the monetary amount to be transmitted to the network site; and
an executable redemption module which is responsive to selection of the hyperlink by crediting the monetary amount of the gift certificate to a personal account of the recipient. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of redeeming an electronic gift certificate issued by an online merchant, the electronic gift certificate comprising an e-mail document which includes a hyperlink therein, the hyperlink adapted to be used to automatically redeem the gift certificate without the need to enter a claim code, the method comprising the steps of:
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viewing the e-mail document with an e-mail application that supports the use of hyperlinks, the e-mail application running on a computer that is connected to a network; and
during said step of viewing, selecting the hyperlink to initiate a transfer of information over the network to a network site of the online merchant, the information being sufficient for the online merchant to identify at least a monetary amount of the gift certificate and an identity of a gift certificate recipient. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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25. A method of redeeming an electronic gift certificate, comprising:
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receiving, from a computer associated with a gift certificate recipient, a message generated in response to user selection of a hyperlink within a gift certificate email, wherein a URL portion of the message includes a code portion;
in response to the message, using the code portion to identify the gift certificate recipient and a gift certificate amount; and
crediting an account of the gift certificate recipient with the gift certificate amount;
whereby the electronic gift certificate is redeemed without requiring the gift certificate recipient to enter a gift certificate code. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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Specification