Method and apparatus for selective distribution of discount coupons

• US 6,321,210 B1
• Filed: 09/12/2000
• Issued: 11/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Catalina Marketing Corporation
• Original Assignee: Catalina Marketing International Incorporated (Catalina Marketing Corporation)
• Inventors: Off, George W., OʼBrien, Michael R., Cherney, Timothy L.
• Primary Examiner(s): GRAVINI, STEPHEN MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US09/659,333
• Time in Patent Office: 434 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/16, 382/194, 382/135, 382/318, 700/234, 700/237, 235/70.R, 235/387, 235/487
• US Class Current: 705/14.25
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• 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 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/02 Devices for alarm or indication, e.g. when empty; Advertising arrangements in coin-freed apparatus alarms or warning devices indicating the interruption of flow to be metered G07F15/10
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0036 Checkout procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/14 Systems including one or more distant stations co-operating with a central processing unit data transmission in general H04L; telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 5/00 Receipt-giving machines cash registers giving receipts G07G1/00

Abstract

A system for automatically distributing discount coupons or certificates in a retail store, conditioned on a preselected combination of present and past shopping behavior of a customer whose order is being processed at a checkout stand. Generation of a printable discount coupon can be based on any desired combination of customer-supplied data, obtained from a customer identification data base, past shopping activity, derived from data gathered during previous customer visits to the store, and present shopping activity, as evidenced by items identified in the current customer order. If all of the preselected conditions for generation of a coupon are satisfied, the coupon is generated and printed at the checkout stand.

Claims

1. For use in a retail store point-of-sale system having one or more terminals at customer checkout locations, each of said one or more terminals comprising means for reading product codes on purchased items in a customer order, a method for generating a printable discount coupon, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) storing conditions of at least one discount coupon deal in a condition storing means;

(b) uniquely identifying the customer whose order is being processed by scanning a scannable identification card;

(c) identifying triggering products in the customer order while the customer is at one of the customer checkout locations, said triggering products being products upon which at least one of said conditions depends;

(d) determining whether the customer order of the customer has satisfied all of the conditions of a discount coupon deal while the customer is at the customer checkout, said conditions including whether a triggering product that was previously purchased by the customer was purchased in a time period that spans a specified time prior to the present time of purchase by the customer;

(e) storing data pertaining to the purchase of triggering products in the customer order in a customer purchase data file, for use in determining whether the customer satisfies conditions of present and future coupon deals;

(f) generating data defining a discount coupon while the customer is at the customer checkout if the conditions are satisfied by the customer order of the customer; and

(g) printing the discount coupon from the generated coupon data;

wherein;

(h) one of said conditions pertains to the present customer order of the customer,

(i) the step of determining whether the customer has satisfied all of the conditions comprises determining whether the customer has met the coupon deal conditions pertaining to the present customer order; and

(j) the step of identifying the purchase of triggering products in the customer order includes,

(1) creating a list in which each entry corresponds to a different triggering product identified in the customer order,

(2) adding to the list when a triggering product is identified that does not already have an entry in the list, and

(3) incrementing an item count in the list when a triggering product is identified that already has an entry in the list.

2. A system for generating a discount coupon in a retail store, said system comprising:

(a) one or more terminals at checkout locations, each one of said one or more terminals including means for reading product codes on product items, means for uniquely identifying a customer placing an order, and means for generating an end of order signal, wherein said product codes read by one of said one or more terminals between successive end of order signals and an identification of a customer identified by said means for uniquely identifying a customer between the successive end of order signals constitutes a customer order;

(b) a store controller for providing to said one or more terminals prices of product items of products and flag values designating selected ones of said products as triggering products;

(c) condition storing means for storing conditions of discount deals;

(d) a coupon computer coupled to said one or more terminals and to said condition storing means, said coupon computer comprising time of purchase determining means for determining a time of purchase of product items of any of said products by said customer; and

(e) purchase data storing means coupled to said time of purchase determining means for storing customer purchase data, said customer purchase data including a product code of a product that is designated as a triggering product and that is contained in said customer order, a time of purchase of said triggering product having said product code contained in said customer order, and an identification of the customer who purchased said triggering product having said product code contained in said customer order, wherein;

(f) said product code of said triggering product in said customer order, said time of purchase of said triggering product having said product code in said customer order, and said identification of the customer in said customer order are stored in said purchase data storing means in association with one another;

(g) said customer purchase data stored in said purchase data storing means is updated if said customer order contains a product code for a triggering product;

(h) said coupon computer further comprises condition determining means coupled to said purchase data storing means and to said condition storing means for determining if conditions of a discount deal have been satisfied based upon said customer purchase data stored in said purchase data storing means when an end of order signal is generated;

(i) said conditions of said discount deal include whether a time of purchase of a product item of said triggering product by the customer is in a time period spanning a specified time prior to a time of purchase of a product item of any of said products by the customer;

(j) said system further comprises generating means coupled to said condition determining means for generating data defining a discount coupon associated with said discount deal when said condition determining means determines that said conditions of said discount deal have been satisfied;

(k) said system further comprises printing means coupled to said generating means for printing discount coupons based upon said data defining a discount coupon when said generating means generates said data defining said discount coupon; and

(l) said one or more terminals and said store controller are connected together in a terminal processing loop ring bus configuration.

3. A system for generating a discount coupon in a retail store, said system comprising:

(a) one or more terminals at checkout locations, each one of said one or more terminals including means for reading product codes on product items, means for uniquely identifying a customer placing an order, and means for generating an end of order signal, wherein said product codes read by one of said one or more terminals between successive end of order signals and an identification of a customer identified by said means for uniquely identifying a customer between the successive end of order signals constitutes a customer order;

(b) a store controller for providing to said one or more terminals prices of product items of products and flag values designating selected ones of said products as triggering products;

(c) condition storing means for storing conditions of discount deals;

(d) a coupon computer coupled to said one or more terminals and to said condition storing means, said coupon computer comprising time of purchase determining means for determining a time of purchase of product items of any of said products by said customer; and

(e) purchase data storing means coupled to said time of purchase determining means for storing customer purchase data, said customer purchase data including a product code of a product that is designated as a triggering product and that is contained in said customer order, a time of purchase of said triggering product having said product code contained in said customer order, and an identification of the customer who purchased said triggering product having said product code contained in said customer order, wherein;

(f) said product code of said triggering product in said customer order, said time of purchase of said triggering product having said product code in said customer order, and said identification of the customer in said customer order are stored in said purchase data storing means in association with one another;

(g) said customer purchase data stored in said purchase data storing means is updated if said customer order contains a product code for a triggering product;

(h) said coupon computer further comprises condition determining means coupled to said purchase data storing means and to said condition storing means for determining if conditions of a discount deal have been satisfied based upon said customer purchase data stored in said purchase data storing means when an end of order signal is generated;

(i) said conditions of said discount deal include whether a time of purchase of a product item of said triggering product by the customer is in a time period spanning a specified time prior to a time of purchase of a product item of any of said products by the customer;

(j) said system further comprises generating means coupled to said condition determining means for generating data defining a discount coupon associated with said discount deal when said condition determining means determines that said conditions of said discount deal have been satisfied;

(k) said system further comprises printing means coupled to said generating means for printing discount coupons based upon said data defining a discount coupon when said generating means generates said data defining said discount coupon;

(l) said one or more terminals and said store controller are connected together in a terminal processing loop ring bus configuration; and

(m) said coupon computer;

(1) is connected in said terminal processing loop and

(2) appears to said store controller to be one of said one or more terminals.

4. A system for generating a discount coupon in a retail store, said system comprising:

(a) one or more terminals at checkout locations, each one of said one or more terminals including means for reading product codes on product items, means for uniquely identifying a customer placing an order, and means for generating an end of order signal, wherein said product codes read by one of said one or more terminals between successive end of order signals and an identification of a customer identified by said means for uniquely identifying a customer between the successive end of order signals constitutes a customer order;

(b) a store controller for providing to said one or more terminals prices of product items of products and flag values designating selected ones of said products as triggering products;

(c) condition storing means for storing conditions of discount deals;

(d) a coupon computer coupled to said one or more terminals and to said condition storing means, said coupon computer comprising time of purchase determining means for determining a time of purchase of product items of any of said products by said customer; and

(e) purchase data storing means coupled to said time of purchase determining means for storing customer purchase data, said customer purchase data including a product code of a product that is designated as a triggering product and that is contained in said customer order, a time of purchase of said triggering product having said product code contained in said customer order, and an identification of the customer who purchased said triggering product having said product code contained in said customer order, wherein;

(f) said product code of said triggering product in said customer order, said time of purchase of said triggering product having said product code in said customer order, and said identification of the customer in said customer order are stored in said purchase data storing means in association with one another;

(g) said customer purchase data stored in said purchase data storing means is updated if said customer order contains a product code for a triggering product;

(h) said coupon computer further comprises condition determining means coupled to said purchase data storing means and to said condition storing means for determining if conditions of a discount deal have been satisfied based upon said customer purchase data stored in said purchase data storing means when an end of order signal is generated;

(i) said conditions of said discount deal include whether a time of purchase of a product item of said triggering product by the customer is in a time period spanning a specified time prior to a time of purchase of a product item of any of said products by the customer;

(j) said system further comprises generating means coupled to said condition determining means for generating data defining a discount coupon associated with said discount deal when said condition determining means determines that said conditions of said discount deal have been satisfied;

(k) said system further comprises printing means coupled to said generating means for printing discount coupons based upon said data defining a discount coupon when said generating means generates said data defining said discount coupon;

(l) said printing means comprises means for printing customer receipts; and

(m) said coupon computer comprises means for sending a time out signal to said printing means following transmission to said printing means of data defining a discount coupon to allow said printing means to print customer receipts prior to resuming printing of coupons.

5. A system for generating a discount coupon in a retail store, said system comprising:

(a) one or more terminals at checkout locations, each one of said one or more terminals including means for reading product codes on product items, means for uniquely identifying a customer placing an order, and means for generating an end of order signal, wherein said product codes read by one of said one or more terminals between successive end of order signals and an identification of a customer identified by said means for uniquely identifying a customer between the successive end of order signals constitutes a customer order;

(b) a store controller for providing to said one or more terminals prices of product items of products and flag values designating selected ones of said products as triggering products;

(c) condition storing means for storing conditions of discount deals;

(d) a coupon computer coupled to said one or more terminals and to said condition storing means, said coupon computer comprising time of purchase determining means for determining a time of purchase of product items of any of said products by said customer; and

(e) purchase data storing means coupled to said time of purchase determining means for storing customer purchase data, said customer purchase data including a product code of a product that is designated as a triggering product and that is contained in said customer order, a time of purchase of said triggering product having said product code contained in said customer order, and an identification of the customer who purchased said triggering product having said product code contained in said customer order, wherein;

(f) said product code of said triggering product in said customer order, said time of purchase of said triggering product having said product code in said customer order, and said identification of the customer in said customer order are stored in said purchase data storing means in association with one another;

(g) said customer purchase data stored in said purchase data storing means is updated if said customer order contains a product code for a triggering product;

(h) said coupon computer further comprises condition determining means coupled to said purchase data storing means and to said condition storing means for determining if conditions of a discount deal have been satisfied based upon said customer purchase data stored in said purchase data storing means when an end of order signal is generated;

(i) said conditions of said discount deal include whether a time of purchase of a product item of said triggering product by the customer is in a time period spanning a specified time prior to a time of purchase of a product item of any of said products by the customer;

(j) said system further comprises generating means coupled to said condition determining means for generating data defining a discount coupon associated with said discount deal when said condition determining means determines that said conditions of said discount deal have been satisfied;

(k) said system further comprises printing means coupled to said generating means for printing discount coupons based upon said data defining a discount coupon when said generating means generates said data defining said discount coupon;

(l) one of said conditions is that;

(1) the customer last purchased a specified product more than a month earlier and

(2) said customer order does not contain said specified product; and

(m) said specified product is a toothpaste product.