Generation, distribution, storage, redemption, validation and clearing of electronic coupons

• US 7,013,286 B1
• Filed: 12/30/1999
• Issued: 03/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Garg, Rahul, Mittal, Parul Alok, Aggarwal, Alok, Modani, Natwar
• Primary Examiner(s): Myhre, James W.
• Application Number:
  US09/475,217
• Time in Patent Office: 2,266 Days
• Field of Search: 705/45, 705/14
• US Class Current: 705/14.26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/045 using payment protocols involving tickets
• 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 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/42 for ticket printing or like apparatus , e.g. apparatus for dispensing of printed paper tickets or payment cards

Abstract

A method and system generates, distributes, stores, redeems, validates and clears electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons. A coupon mint generates unforgable blank digital coupons. The promoter of the offer then writes the terms and conditions and other details of the offer, on blank coupons to customize these. These customized coupons are digitally signed by the promoter and distributed to potential customers. A customer may either present these coupons electronically for redemption to an online store, or print these coupons and present them to a conventional offline store. The store may check the authenticity of a coupon by verifying the digital signature and also verifying if the coupon has not been used earlier by contacting a verification center. The store collects all redeemed coupons and sends these to manufacturer for clearing. The verification center verifies that the coupon is authentic and has not already been used before.

Claims

1. A method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons comprising the steps of:

requesting by a manufacturer or promoter of a product or service or agent thereof that a coupon mint generate a number of coupons;

generating by the coupon mint unforgable electronic blank coupons in response to said request from the manufacturer/promoter/agent, each said unforgable electronic blank coupon having the property that at a later stage it may be recognized as a valid coupon produced by the mint;

customizing the generated blank coupons by a manufacturer/promoter/agent of an offer by writing terms and conditions and other details of the offer on the generated blank coupons;

digitally signing the customized coupons by the manufacturer/promoter/agent;

distributing the signed customized coupons to potential customers;

optionally presenting by a customer the signed customized coupons electronically for redemption to an online store or printing the signed customized coupons and presenting them to a conventional offline store;

checking by a store prior to accepting a coupon for redemption the authenticity of the coupon to verify the digital signature and also verify if the coupon was produced by the mint and has not been used earlier, said checking being done by contacting a verification center, said verification center verifying that the coupon to be redeemed is authentic and also verifying that the coupon was produced by the mint and has not already been used before; and

collecting by the store all redeemed coupons and sending the redeemed coupons to the manufacturer/promoter/agent for clearing.

2. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the unforgable blank coupon includes of a unique identifier for the coupon, a class identifier if supplied by the manufacturer, a cryptographic pattern derived from the class identifier and the unique identifier for the coupon.

3. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 2, wherein an unforgable blank coupon comprises a stream of bytes and has the properties that when the coupon is presented to the mint at a later stage, the mint can recognize that the coupon was produced by the mint, and that no other entity can produce such a stream of bytes that will be recognized by the mint as a valid coupon, within a reasonable probability.

4. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 2, wherein the manufacturer upon receiving a required number of unforgable blank electronic coupons from the coupon mint, writes offer specific information on a blank coupon and digitally signs the coupon to make it an authentic certificate, the offer specific information including information describing some discounted product or service, information describing the amount of discount offered, and optional validity periods.

5. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the terms and conditions of the customized coupons include an offer requiring the customer to collect a set of coupons satisfying a specified condition.

6. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 5, wherein the offer is applicable only if the customer presents a set of coupons satisfying the specified condition.

7. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 6, wherein each coupon contains some loyalty points and the offer given when a customer presents coupons totaling a specified number.

8. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 6, wherein each coupon contains a letter of English alphabet and the offer is given when a customer presents coupons making a specified-word.

9. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 6, wherein each coupon contains a picture and the customer is required to collect a certain number of combination of pictures.

10. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the terms and conditions of the customized coupons include an offer requiring the customer to purchase “

k”

out of “

n”

listed products or services, where k≦

n.

11. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the customization information consists of information describing an intended recipient of the product or the service.

12. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 11, wherein the information describing the intended recipient is optionally recorded as a hash function on the coupon.

13. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 11, wherein the information describing the intended recipient describes a class of recipients.

14. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 11, wherein the customization information describing the intended recipient of the product or the service further limits the validity of the coupon to the described intended recipient.

15. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 11, wherein the customization information further includes a description of the offer in an electronic document format.

16. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the step of distributing is performed by a distribution agent which distributes the coupons electronically.

17. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 16, wherein the distribution agent distributes the coupons in response to some predetermined event.

18. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 16, further comprising the step of making a customized coupon for a customer and presenting it to the customer by the distribution agent, the coupon may, at the customer'"'"'s option, be used immediately or stored for future use.

19. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 18, wherein coupons stored for future use are stored in an electronic “

wallet”

in the form of digital memory.

20. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 19, wherein the electronic “

wallet”

resides on a customer'"'"'s computer.

21. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 19, wherein the electronic “

wallet”

resides in memory managed by a third party.

22. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the step of distributing is performed by a distribution agent which distributes the coupons by a mass distribution method.

23. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the step of verifying is performed on verification equipment controlled by a retailer which verifies the authenticity of the coupon.

24. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 23, wherein the verification equipment obtains a “

certificate of use”

, comprising the steps of;

verifying the digital signature on the coupon;

checking if the terms of the offer are valid;

sending at least a part of the coupon to a verification center; and

issuing by the verification center a “

certificate of use”

corresponding to a coupon sent.

25. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the step of verifying is performed by a coupon verification center which accepts a blank coupon or portions of a customized coupon and performs the steps of:

determining if the coupon was issued by the coupon mint; and

determining if the coupon has not already been redeemed.

26. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein a customer navigates the world wide web using an electronic device which has a display device and an input device, and the step of distributing is performed by a distribution agent residing on a web site and presents the customer a potential offer based on the customer'"'"'s profile and promotion policies, which offer is displayed on the display device.

27. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 26, wherein the customer obtains electronic coupons by making a printout of the coupons, using printing device attached to the electronic device, the printed coupon contains information in the form of machine readable codes, and wherein the customer then physically takes the printed coupon to a retailer where coupon verification equipment reads the information and offers the intended discount to the customer if all the conditions are satisfied.

28. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 26, wherein the customer obtains electronic coupons by downloading the electronic coupons in a portable device and takes the portable device to a retailer where coupon verification equipment reads the electronic coupon from the portable device and checks the validity of the coupon, and if the coupon is valid, the retailer gives the intended discount to the customer.

29. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of electronically storing the coupons by the customer.

30. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 29, wherein after selecting a desired item from an electronic market place, the customer electronically presents a stored coupon for redemption.

31. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of writing by the coupon mint verification instructions on the blank coupon before issuing the coupon to customization equipment.

32. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 31, wherein the verification instructions include an address, medium and protocols to carry out online verification of a coupon.

33. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 32, wherein the address is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the medium is the Internet, and the protocol is an Internet Protocol.

34. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the step of customization of coupons is performed by the steps of:

writing information by the manufacturer/promoter/agent information concerning an offer on the coupon and signs it using its private key; and

writing by a distribution agent other customized information like part of the personalized information on the coupon and digitally signs it using its private key, whereby verification equipment checks all the digital signatures in the step of verifying.

35. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 34, wherein the step of verifying includes the step of returning by the verification center a certificate of authenticity generated by verification equipment.

36. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 35, wherein the certificate of authenticity contains information as to a number of coupons of the class already redeemed.

37. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 35, wherein the certificate of authenticity contains information as to a number of times the coupon has already been redeemed.

38. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the coupons are “

early bird coupons”

, discount information in the coupon containing a number “

m”

and a discount amount, only the first “

m”

coupons of this class being redeemable.

39. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the coupons are “

multiple times redeemable coupons”

, discount information in the coupon containing a number “

m” and

discount amount, the number “

m”

indicating that this coupon can be redeemed up to “

m”

times and the discount amount being applicable only if the number of times the coupon has been redeemed is less than or equal to the number “

m”

.

40. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the coupons are “

aging coupons”

, discount information in the coupon depending on a time at which the coupon was redeemed.

41. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the coupons are “

random value coupons”

having a discount amount that depends on a random number that can come from the coupon itself or an external source, the random number being used to compute a discount amount for the coupon.

42. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of maintaining a database by the manufacturer of redeemed coupons to build customer profiles for future targeting.

43. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein a clearing house receives redeemed coupons from one or more stores for one or more manufacturers, further comprising the steps of:

vexing the authenticity and corresponding certificates of use of redeemed coupons by the clearing house; and

sorting verified redeemed coupons by the clearing house and providing notification to the manufacturers of amounts to be transferred to stores.

44. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, wherein the steps of issuing unforgable blank coupons, distributing, providing wallet management and clearing are performed by a common service provider.

45. The method for generating, distributing, storing, redeeming, validating and clearing electronic manufacturer coupons and electronic store coupons recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of encrypting messages exchanged between a customer, the manufacturer, the coupon mint, the store and the verification center.