Honoring of electronic coupons
First Claim
1. A method for honoring electronic coupons utilizing computing equipment, said method comprising:
- an issuing party issuing an electronic coupon to a customer;
said customer presenting said coupon for redemption to a redemption party, said redemption party being non-competitive from said issuing party;
said redemption party transmitting said coupon to an authentication party for authentication, said authentication party being different than said issuing party;
said authentication party using said computing equipment to determine whether said coupon is authentic;
said authentication party charging said redemption party a fee upon determination that said coupon is authentic;
said authentication party passing said fee to said issuing party;
said redemption party honoring said coupon from said customer;
upon said honoring, said redemption party seeking reimbursement of said fee from said issuing party; and
said issuing party reimbursing said fee to said redemption party.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic coupon, an electronic commerce system, and a method for the honoring of electronic coupons utilizing computing equipment are disclosed. In the method, an issuing party issues an electronic coupon to a customer. The customer presents the coupon for redemption to a redemption party. The redemption party transmits the coupon to an authentication party for authentication. If authentic, the authentication party charges the redemption party a fee and passes that fee to the issuing party. The redemption party honors the coupon for the customer and seeking reimbursement of the fee from the issuing party. The electronic coupon has a plurality of data fields, including: a coupon identifier, x, a first one-way hash function field, f(x), and a secure signature field.
106 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for honoring electronic coupons utilizing computing equipment, said method comprising:
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an issuing party issuing an electronic coupon to a customer;
said customer presenting said coupon for redemption to a redemption party, said redemption party being non-competitive from said issuing party;
said redemption party transmitting said coupon to an authentication party for authentication, said authentication party being different than said issuing party;
said authentication party using said computing equipment to determine whether said coupon is authentic;
said authentication party charging said redemption party a fee upon determination that said coupon is authentic;
said authentication party passing said fee to said issuing party;
said redemption party honoring said coupon from said customer;
upon said honoring, said redemption party seeking reimbursement of said fee from said issuing party; and
said issuing party reimbursing said fee to said redemption party. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An electronic commerce system facilitating electronic coupon issuance and redemption, said electronic commerce system comprising:
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at least one issuing party computing device adapted to issue an electronic coupon to a customer;
at least one redemption party computing device adapted to electronically receive said electronic coupon for redemption, said redemption party computing device being non-competitive from said issuing party computing device; and
an authentication party computing device in communication with said issuing party computing device and said redemption party computing device, said authentication party computing device being different than said issuing party computing device;
wherein said redemption party computing device is adapted to transmit a received electronic coupon to said authentication party computing device for authentication, wherein said authentication party computing device is adapted to charge said redemption party computing device a fee and to pass said fee to said issuing party computing device, wherein said redemption party computing device being further adapted to honor said electronic coupon and seek reimbursement from said issuing party computing device, and wherein said issuing party computing device being further adapted to reimburse said fee to said redemption party computing device. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification