Method and apparatus for facilitating the sale of subscriptions to periodicals
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- receiving a signal indicative of at least one item being purchased by a customer at a point of sale terminal;
determining, by a computer processor, that the at least one item is associated with an offer for an amount in exchange for establishing a subscription to a periodical, wherein the subscription to the periodical is different from the item; and
providing the offer to the customer.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A POS terminal receives a signal that indicates an item, for example, via a bar code scanner. The POS terminal ascertains whether the item is associated with an offer for a rebate. If so, a code is generated and output to the customer, such as on a printed receipt. The code is associated with an offer for a rebate in exchange for establishing a subscription to a periodical. If the customer subscribes to a required periodical, he will be credited the amount he paid for the item. Subsequently, the customer requests a subscription to a periodical from a subscription fulfillment house, and provides his code in conjunction with the request. If the code is valid, the customer is provided with a rebate. The rebate may be provided directly by the subscription fulfillment house (e.g. a credit to a credit card account) or may be provided by a merchant (e.g. a discount on a future purchase).
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Citations
58 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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receiving a signal indicative of at least one item being purchased by a customer at a point of sale terminal; determining, by a computer processor, that the at least one item is associated with an offer for an amount in exchange for establishing a subscription to a periodical, wherein the subscription to the periodical is different from the item; and providing the offer to the customer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A computer readable medium storing instructions for directing a computer to:
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receive a signal indicative of at least one item being purchased by a customer at a point of sale terminal; determine that the at least one item is associated with an offer for an amount in exchange for establishing a subscription to a periodical, wherein the subscription to the periodical is different from the item; and provide the offer to the customer. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. An apparatus, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory connected to the processor, the memory for storing a program operative with the processor to; receive a signal indicative of at least one item being purchased by a customer at a point of sale terminal; determine that the at least one item is associated with an offer for an amount in exchange for establishing a subscription to a periodical, wherein the subscription to the periodical is different from the item; and provide the offer to the customer.
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45. A method, comprising:
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receiving a signal indicating at least one item being purchased by a customer; determining, by a computer processor, that the at least one item is associated with at least one offer for an amount in exchange for establishing a subscription to a periodical, wherein the subscription to the periodical is different from the at least one item; providing the offer to the customer; providing the amount to the customer if the customer accepts the offer to subscribe to the periodical; and determining an amount owed by a subscription fulfillment house to a merchant. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. A computer readable medium storing instructions for implementing a method, the instructions directing a computer to:
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receive a signal indicating at least one item being purchased by a customer; determine that the at least one item is associated with at least one offer for an amount in exchange for establishing a subscription to a periodical, wherein the subscription to the periodical is different from the at least one item; provide the offer to the customer; provide the amount to the customer if the customer accepts the offer to subscribe to the periodical; and determine an amount owed by a subscription fulfillment house to a merchant. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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58. An apparatus, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory connected to the processor, the memory for storing a program operative with the processor to; receive a signal indicating at least one item being purchased by a customer; determine that the at least one item is associated with at least one offer for an amount in exchange for establishing a subscription to a periodical, wherein the subscription to the periodical is different from the at least one item; provide the offer to the customer; provide the amount to the customer if the customer accepts the offer to subscribe to the periodical; and determine an amount owed by a subscription fulfillment house to a merchant.
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Specification