Method and system for electronic distribution of product redemption coupons

• US 6,336,099 B1
• Filed: 04/24/1998
• Issued: 01/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Catalina Marketing Corporation
• Original Assignee: Brightstreet.Com, Inc.
• Inventors: Braunstein, Mark, Reisner, Karen R., Barnett, Craig W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil, Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US09/065,545
• Time in Patent Office: 1,348 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/16, 705/20, 705/1, 705/26, 340/825.34, 235/381, 707/3-4, 707/9-10, 707/100, 707/104, 707/515, 707/526
• US Class Current: 705/14.35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/108 Remote banking, e.g. home banking
• 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 30/0211 Determining the effectiveness of discounts or incentives
• 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 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• 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: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement

Abstract

Provided is a method and system for the electronic distribution of product redemption coupons to remote personal computers located at users'"'"' homes. A centrally located repository, such as an online service provider or web site on the Internet, stores packages of coupon data for downloading on demand to the user'"'"'s computer. The user may view, select, sort and print desired coupons from the downloaded package. The user'"'"'s demographic as well as coupon selection data is provided back to the online service and coupon distributor and issuers for subsequent marketing analysis. The online service can perform subsequent coupon processing on previously downloaded coupon packages such as variation of discount amounts. The online service provider can also determine how many times a particular coupon was viewed. When the printed coupons are presented at a retail store, the discount is provided to the user. Upon redemption by the store via a coupon redeeming center, transaction data is also supplied to the coupon issuers and distributor for integration into marketing analysis. The electronic coupon system is secure due to the inclusion of user-specific identification indicia printed thereon.

Claims

1. A central, computer-based system for providing remote users with access via remote terminals to user-specific incentives based at least in part on user-specific information over an online network, the central system comprising:

a central data repository having memory in which is stored incentive offer data and remote user data;

at least one server operatively associated with the central data repository for accessing and storing incentive offer and remote user data;

at least one communication device in operative association with the server, whereby the central system establishes an electrical communication with a remote terminal operated by a remote user, whereby the central system obtains remote user data, including user-specific information; and

a graphical user interface in association with the server and the remote terminal for presenting to the remote user at the remote terminal one or more retailers and one or more incentive offers associated with the retailers for user selection, the presentation being based at least in part on the user-specific information, whereby the user selects a retailer and one or more incentive offers associated with the user selected retailer, the remote terminal communicating the user selection to the central system, the central system generating a user-specific incentive associated with each selected offer for redemption by the remote user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user-specific incentive generated by the central system is transmitted to the remote terminal and includes at least one incentive data file, the incentive data file corresponding to the user selected offer, the incentive data file comprising various fields, including a redemption amount field and other fields, the redemption amount field being indicative of a discount provided by the selected offer, at least one field being variable in accordance with user-specific information associated with the requesting user.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the central system downloads to the remote terminal an incentive data management software module for managing incentive data files and including fixed incentive data and user-specific information, and transmits to the remote terminal at least one incentive data file, the incentive data management software module processing the at least one incentive data file.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the incentive data management software module processes the at least one incentive data file to enable a remote user to print a selected coupon at a remote printer in operative association with the remote terminal, the central system controlling the printing of the coupon via the incentive data management software module.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the user-specific information includes a zip code, city, state, user address, user name, or user telephone number.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a device for presenting, by remote terminal, recipes associated with the one or more incentive offers and means for selecting at least one of the presented recipes.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user registration module for determining if the user is a registered user, and if the user is not registered, transmitting a prompt to the remote terminal to electronically complete a user profile, receiving and storing the completed user profile in the central data repository, and if the user is registered, accessing the stored user profile and presenting the one or more retailers based on the stored user profile.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more incentive offers is provided to the remote user by E-mail.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more incentive offers is redeemed electronically by the remote user.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the user selected offer includes a discount on the price of a good or service.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the user selected offer represents a free item in conjunction with the user meeting a specified purchase amount or a specified quantity of goods purchased.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the central system presents to the remote user via the remote terminal one or more links to web sites associated with the offers.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the web site is associated with the retailer providing the one or more incentive offers.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the central data repository stores data concerning user-specific incentives generated by the central system.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a software module for sorting the one or more incentive offers by a predetermined classification.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a software module for generating a shopping list including items corresponding to the selected offers.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more incentive offers comprise tracking information representing user identification information.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein based on the tracking information the central system can determine one or more of the remote user identity, offer parameters, offer identification data, product information, and offer expiration date.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the remote user data stored at the central data repository comprises prior selection and redemption data associated with the remote user.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein user-specific incentive data is transmitted to the remote terminal and a coupon is generated at the remote terminal based at least in part on the user-specific incentive data and a fixed coupon data file previously stored in a memory of the remote terminal.

21. A central, computer-based system for providing remote users with access via remote terminals to user-specific incentives based at least in part on user-specific information over an online network, the central system comprising:

a central data repository having memory in which is stored incentive offer data and remote user data;

at least one server operatively associated with the central data repository for accessing and storing incentive offer and remote user data;

at least one communication device in operative association with the server, whereby the central system establishes an electrical communication with a remote terminal operated by a remote user, whereby the central system obtains remote user data, including user-specific information; and

a graphical user interface in association with the server and the remote terminal for presenting to the remote user at the remote terminal one or more categories of goods or services and one or more incentive offers associated with the goods or services for user selection, the presentation being based at least in part on the user-specific information, whereby the user selects a good or service and one or more incentive offers associated with the user selected good or service, the remote terminal communicating the user selection to the central system, the central system generating a user-specific incentive concerning each user selected offer for redemption by the remote user.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the one or more incentive offers is provided to the remote user by E-mail.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the user selected offer is redeemed electronically by the remote user.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the user selected offer includes a discount on the price of a good or service.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the user selected offer represents a free item in conjunction with the remote user meeting a specified purchase amount or a specified quantity of goods.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the central system presents to the remote user one or more links to web sites related to the incentive offers.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein at least one web site is associated with a retailer providing one or more offers.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein the user-specific incentive generated by the central system is transmitted to the remote terminal and includes at least one incentive data file, the incentive data file corresponding to a user selected offer, the incentive data file comprising various fields, including a redemption amount field and other fields, the redemption amount field being indicative of a discount provided by the user-selected offer, at least one field being variable in accordance with user-specific information associated with the requesting user.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the central system downloads to the remote terminal an incentive data management software module for managing incentive data files and including fixed incentive data and user-specific information, and transmits to the remote terminal the at least one incentive data file, the incentive data management software module processing the at least one incentive data file.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the incentive data management software module processes the at least one incentive data file to enable a remote user to print a selected coupon.

31. The system of claim 21, wherein the user-specific information includes a zip code, city, state, user address, user name, or user telephone number.

32. The system of claim 21, further comprising a device or software module for presenting, by remote terminal, recipes associated with the one or more offers and means for selecting at least one of the presented recipes.

33. The system of claim 21, further comprising a device or software module for determining if the user is a registered user, and if the user is not registered, transmitting a prompt to the remote terminal to electronically complete a user profile, if the user is registered, accessing the stored user profile and presenting one or more retailers based on the stored user profile.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the central data repository receives from the remote terminal data indicative of a coupon or coupons.

35. The system of claim 34, further comprising a device or software module for sorting coupons by a predetermined classification.

36. The system of claim 34, further comprising a device or software module for limiting a user to being able to print a particular coupon only once.

37. The system of claim 34, wherein each printed coupon is unique and comprises a bar code encoded with identification data.

38. The system of claim 34, wherein the coupon comprises an expiration date field indicative of a coupon expiration date, the expiration date field being variable based on user-specific information.

39. The system of claim 21, further comprising a device or software module for collecting user-specific information for subsequent processing and analysis.

40. The system of claim 21, further comprising a device for receiving and storing at the remote terminal fixed coupon data, wherein the coupon data includes variable coupon data and fixed coupon data, the fixed coupon data comprising fixed coupon parameters and user-specific data.