Method and apparatus for printing a billing statement to provide supplementary product sales

• US 6,196,458 B1
• Filed: 12/01/1997
• Issued: 03/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walker Digital LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Inventors: Alderucci, Dean, Van Luchene, Andrew S., Tedesco, Daniel E., Walker, Jay S.
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, THIEN MINH
• Application Number:
  US08/982,149
• Time in Patent Office: 1,191 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379, 235/380, 235/375, 340/825.31, 705/34, 705/36
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 15/00 Printed matter of special format or style not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A central controller such as one operating for a credit card account issuer receives one or more billing items which are to be printed on an account holder'"'"'s billing statement. The central controller determines if the billing items, which typically specify purchases, satisfy any merchant-specified upsell offer conditions. Some upsell offer conditions include the purchase of a predetermined product, or a purchase which exceeds a predefined price. Such upsell offer conditions, when satisfied, direct the central controller to offer an upsell on the billing statement. If any of the upsell offer conditions are satisfied, the central controller determines one or more upsells that correspond to the upsell offer condition. The upsells may be, for example, products complementary to previously-purchased products. The upsells are offered to the account holder by printing onto the billing statement indicia that specifies the upsells. Upon receiving an indication that an upsell was accepted, the upsell is provided to the account holder. The account holder may accept the upsell by appropriately modifying the billing statement and returning the statement with payment. The upsell is then provided, typically in the form of a reduced price at a point-of-sale terminal or a discount on a subsequent billing statement.

Claims

1. A method for generating a billing statement, comprising:

receiving data identifying at least a first billing item;

determining if the at least first billing item satisfies an upsell offer condition;

determining an upsell offer corresponding to the satisfied upsell offer condition; and

generating the billing statement, the billing statement including information specifying the upsell offer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least first billing item includes data identifying at least one transaction applied against a customer account.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least first billing item includes at least one of:

(i) information identifying a product;

(ii) information identifying a merchant; and

(iii) information identifying a purchase price.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the at least one billing item satisfies an upsell offer condition further comprises:

determining a product type associated with the at least one billing item; and

determining if the upsell offer condition applies to the product type.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the at least one billing item satisfies an upsell offer condition further comprises:

determining a purchase price associated with the at least one billing item; and

determining if the purchase price satisfies the upsell offer condition.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the at least one billing item satisfies an upsell offer condition further comprises:

determining a product type and a purchase price associated with the at least one billing item;

determining if the upsell offer applies to the product type; and

determining if the purchase price satisfies the upsell offer condition.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the upsell offer condition is at least one of:

(i) a purchase for more than a predetermined price;

(ii) a purchase for a price within a predefined price range;

(iii) a predefined number of purchases made; and

(iv) a plurality of purchases, each made at a merchant other than a predetermined merchant.

8. The method of claim 1, in which the upsell offer condition is a purchase of a predefined product, and in which the step of determining if the at least one billing item satisfies an upsell offer condition comprises:

determining if the at least one billing item indicates a purchase of the predefined product.

9. The method of claim 1, in which the upsell offer condition is a purchase for more than a predefined price, and in which the step of determining if the at least one billing item satisfies an upsell offer condition comprises:

determining if the at least one billing item indicates a purchase for more than the predefined price.

10. The method of claim 1, in which the upsell offer condition is a purchase for a price within a predefined price range, and in which the step of determining if the at least one billing item satisfies an upsell offer condition comprises:

determining if the at least one billing item indicates a purchase for a price within the predefined price range.

11. The method of claim 1, in which the upsell offer condition is a predefined number of purchases made, and in which the step of determining if the at least one billing item satisfies an upsell offer condition comprises:

determining if the at least one billing item indicates that at least the predefined number of purchases have been made.

12. The method of claim 1, in which the upsell offer condition is a plurality of purchases, each made at a merchant other than a predetermined merchant, and in which the step of determining if the at least one billing item satisfies an upsell offer condition comprises:

determining if each of the at least one billing item indicate that each of a plurality of purchases was made at a merchant other than a predetermined merchant.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an upsell further comprises:

determining a price of the upsell.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an upsell further comprises:

generating a redemption code associated with the upsell.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an upsell further comprises:

determining contact information to receive a redemption code associated with the upsell.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the billing statement further comprises:

printing indicia on the billing statement.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the indicia include at least one of:

(i) an upsell offer price;

(ii) an upsell offer product; and

(iii) an upsell offer redemption code.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the billing statement is a customer account billing statement, the method further comprising:

determining an amount of available credit of the customer account; and

wherein generating the billing statement is only performed if the amount of available credit exceeds a predetermined amount.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the billing statement is a customer account billing statement, the method further comprising:

determining an amount of available credit of the customer account;

determining an upsell price corresponding to the upsell offer; and

if the amount of available credit exceeds the upsell price, generating the billing statement.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a storage device;

a processor connected to the storage device; and

a printer connected to the processor;

the storage device storing

a program for controlling the processor; and

the processor operative with the program to

receive data identifying at least one billing item;

determine if the at least first billing item satisfies an upsell offer condition;

determine an upsell offer corresponding to the satisfied upsell offer condition; and

generate the billing statement, the billing statement including information specifying the upsell offer.

21. An apparatus for providing an upsell offer, comprising:

means for receiving data identifying at least a first billing item;

means for determining if the at least first billing item satisfies an upsell offer condition;

means for determining an upsell offer corresponding to the satisfied upsell offer condition; and

means for generating the billing statement, the billing statement including information specifying the upsell offer.

22. A method for providing an upsell to an entity, comprising:

generating a billing statement including information specifying a first billing item and an upsell offer associated with the first billing item;

forwarding the billing statement to the entity;

receiving an indication of whether the entity accepted the upsell offer; and

if the upsell offer was accepted, providing the upsell to the entity.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein providing the upsell is performed only if payment of at least a predetermined upsell price is received.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

initiating use of a financial identifier to collect an upsell price from the entity.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

initiating payment to a third party account if the upsell was accepted.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving the indication of whether the upsell was accepted comprises:

selecting the upsell from a plurality of upsells.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving the indication of whether the upsell was accepted comprises:

scanning the billing statement for indicia of acceptance; and

generating a signal indicative of whether the upsell was accepted.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein scanning comprises:

optically scanning predetermined locations of the billing statement.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving the indication of whether the upsell was accepted comprises:

receiving from a data entry terminal a signal indicative of whether the upsell was accepted.

30. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving the indication of whether the upsell was accepted comprises:

receiving signals from a voice response unit.

31. The method of claim 22, wherein providing the upsell comprises:

reducing a price charged.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein reducing a price charged comprises:

reducing a price charged for a predetermined product.

33. The method of claim 32, in which the price is reduced by a predetermined amount.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein reducing comprises:

determining a price; and

subtracting a predetermined amount from the price to obtain a reduced price.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein reducing is performed at a POS terminal.

36. The method of claim 31, wherein reducing is performed upon generating a subsequent billing statement.

37. The method of claim 22, wherein providing the upsell comprises:

printing a certificate.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein printing a certificate comprises:

printing a predetermined identifier onto a certificate.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

generating a code which identifies a predetermined product; and

generating the predetermined identifier based on the code.

40. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

generating a code which identifies a predetermined price; and

generating the predetermined identifier based on the code.

41. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

generating a code which identifies a predetermined discount; and

generating the predetermined identifier based on the code.

42. An apparatus, comprising:

means for generating a billing statement including information specifying a first billing item and an upsell offer associated with the first billing item;

means for forwarding the billing statement to the entity;

means for receiving an indication of whether the entity accepted the upsell offer; and

if the upsell offer was accepted, means for providing the upsell to the entity.

43. An apparatus, comprising:

a storage device;

a processor connected to the storage device; and

a printer connected to the processor;

the storage device storing

a program for controlling the processor; and

the processor operative with the program to

generate a billing statement including information specifying a first billing item and an upsell offer associated with the first billing item;

forward the billing statement to the entity;

receive an indication of whether the entity accepted the upsell offer; and

if the upsell offer was accepted, provide the upsell to the entity.