Electronic offer management system and method thereof

• US 7,076,444 B1
• Filed: 09/20/2000
• Issued: 07/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Efficient Market Services, Inc. (Dun & Bradstreet Corp.), Quotient Technology Inc.
• Original Assignee: Priva Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Smith, Mark S., Halfman, Timothy, Rock, Brian, Levy, Wayne, Baron, Penny
• Primary Examiner(s): Dixon, Thomas A.
• Application Number:
  US09/665,790
• Time in Patent Office: 2,120 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/14
• US Class Current: 705/14.26
• 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 30/0237 at kiosk
• 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 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

An electronic offer management system and method thereof is disclosed. In particular, the system comprises means for receiving information related to a plurality of offers distributed by a plurality of different offer distributors to customer for redemption at plurality of stores, means for automatically routing the information related to an offer to a point-of-sale system of each store in which the offer can be redeemed, and means for automatically clearing the offers redeemed by the customer at the stores. The system further comprises means for automatically reconciling financial obligations associated with each cleared offer, as well means for dynamically profiling customers so that improved offer targeting can be achieved.

Claims

1. An electronic offer management system for electronic offer transactions, comprising:

an electronic offer intake interface adapted to electronically process a plurality of electronic offers from a plurality of competitive offer distributors, the interface comprising;

receiving means for receiving information related to the plurality of electronic offers distributed by the plurality of competitive offer distributors to customers for redemption at a plurality of stores;

routing means for automatically routing the information related to each electronic offer to a point-of-sale system of each store in which the offer can be redeemed; and

clearing means for automatically clearing the electronic offers redeemed by the customers at the stores.

2. An electronic network for managing electronic offer transactions, the network comprising:

one or more maintenance files, each maintenance file including one or more distributed electronic offers, and each distributed offer having at least one offer property, at least one condition, and at least one reward;

a router to distribute the one or more distributed offers to one or more point-of-sale systems for redemption;

a transaction log file received from one of the point-of-sale systems, the transaction log file including one or more redeemed offers; and

a server to clear one or more offers being redeemed by a customer with the one or more distributed offers.

3. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the server is operable to receive the one or more distributed offers from one or more distributors, and to create the one or more maintenance files having the one or more distributed offers.

4. A network as set forth in claim 3 wherein the server is further operable to authenticate that each distributed offer has a valid format.

5. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the network includes a database, and wherein the one or more maintenance files are stored in the database.

6. A network as set forth in claim 5 wherein one or more aspects of the database are viewable by a consumer via a browser interface.

7. A network as set forth in claim 5 wherein one or more aspects of the database are viewable by a consumer via a kiosk.

8. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the server includes the router.

9. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein each distributed offer further includes a unique reference code.

10. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein each distributed offer further includes an identity of the distributor.

11. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the distributed offer is a consumer-specific distributed offer.

12. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the server clears the one or more redeemed offers with the one or more distributed offers by being operable to prepare one or more settlement details.

13. A network as set forth in claim 12, wherein the at least one reward includes a deferred award.

14. A network as set forth in claim 13, wherein the deferred award is an award for the customer.

15. A network as set forth in claim 12 wherein the server is further operable to communicate the one or more settlement details to a settlement agent.

16. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the server is further operable to accrue data relating to the redeemed offers, and to profile the accrued data.

17. A network as set forth in claim 16 wherein the server is further operable to communicate the profile to the one or more distributors.

18. A network as set forth in claim 16 wherein the profile is selected from the group of a static profile, a persistent profile, and a dynamic profile.

19. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one offer property includes whether the offer is open to the public.

20. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one offer property includes whether the offer is being offered by a vendor or a store.

21. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one offer property includes the maximum number of times the offer may be used by a consumer per transaction.

22. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one offer property includes the maximum number of times the offer may be used by a consumer across transactions.

23. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one offer property includes the date and time when the offer becomes active.

24. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one offer property includes the date and time when the offer becomes inactive.

25. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one offer property includes a text description of the offer.

26. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one offer property includes the unique number used to identify a sponsor of each offer.

27. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one offer property includes whether a reward is to be received in the future.

28. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one condition includes one or more items that must be purchased.

29. A network as set forth in claim 28 wherein the at least one condition includes the one or more departments from which each of the one or more items must be purchased.

30. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one condition includes the amount of total purchases required.

31. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one condition includes the one or more days the offer may be redeemed.

32. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one condition is selected from the group of an item purchase condition, a department purchase condition, a total purchase condition, a time of day condition, and a day of week condition.

33. A network as set forth in claim 2 wherein the at least one reward is selected from the group of an item discount reward, a department discount award, a total discount award, a free item reward, and a replacement price reward.