Television distribution of product/service coupon codes

• US 8,392,940 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2008
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Beyabani, Syed Zafar
• Primary Examiner(s): Chokshi, Pinkal R
• Application Number:
  US12/166,925
• Publication Number:
  US 20100004984A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,707 Days
• Field of Search: 725/23, 725/34, 725/42, 725/43, 725/51, 725/60, 725/109, 725/112, 725/118, 725/131, 725/133, 725/141, 725/153, 705/14.1, 705/14.11, 705/14.26
• US Class Current: 725/23
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42684 Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4784 receiving rewards
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

A device receives an advertisement, a code, an encryption key, and information associated with a product and/or service, and provides the advertisement to a set-top box (STB) for display on a television. The device receives, from the STB, a request for a promotion associated with the advertisement and an identification associated with the STB, and provides the code associated with the product and/or service to the STB for display on the television. The device receives, from a user device, a claim for the code and the identification associated with the STB, and validates the claim for the code and the identification associated with the STB based on an identification associated with the user device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a server device, an advertisement, a code, and information associated with one of a product or a service;

providing, by the server device, the advertisement to a set-top box (STB) for display, with a broadcast program, in a first screenshot;

receiving, by the server device and from the STB, a request for a promotion associated with the advertisement and an identification associated with the STB;

determining, by the server device, if the requested promotion has been previously claimed by the STB;

providing, by the server device and based on determining that the requested promotion has not been previously claimed by the STB, the code associated with the one of the product or the service to the STB and an instruction, associated with the one of the product or the service, to log into a web account associated with the STB, for display, in a second screenshot;

providing, by the server device and for display, information regarding an interface for receiving a claim for the code, the interface being rendered in a third screenshot;

receiving, by the server device and based on an input from a computing device, the claim for the code and the identification associated with the STB, the claim for the code and identification associated with the STB being received by the server device based on the input from the computing device;

validating, by the server device, the claim for the code and the identification associated with the STB based on an identification associated with the computing device; and

providing, by the server device, the information associated with the one of the product or the service when the claim for the code and the identification associated with the STB are validated.

2. The method of claim 1, where providing the code associated with the one of the product or the service comprises:

confirming whether the promotion associated with the advertisement is valid,

encrypting the code with an encryption key and the identification associated with the STB when the promotion is valid, and

providing the encrypted code associated with the one of the product or the service to the STB for display.

3. The method of claim 2, where validating the claim for the code and the identification associated with the STB comprises:

decrypting the code with the encryption key,

comparing the identification associated with the STB with a STB identification associated with a user of the computing device, and

validating the decrypted code when the identification associated with the STB matches the STB identification associated with the user.

4. The method of claim 1, where the code comprises at least one of:

an Internet coupon,

a promotional code,

a discount code,

a key code,

a shopping code,

a voucher code,

a source code, or

a validation code.

5. The method of claim 2, where the encryption key comprises a string of at least one of letters, digits, or symbols, the string being used to encode and decode information.

6. The method of claim 5, where the encryption key is used to transform information into unreadable information, and transform unreadable information into readable information.

7. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device and from a server device, an advertisement associated with one of a product or a service;

causing, by the computing device, the advertisement to be displayed, with a broadcast program, in a first screenshot;

generating, by the computing device, a request for a promotion associated with the advertisement and an identification associated with the computing device;

receiving, by the computing device and from the server device, an indication if the requested promotion has been previously claimed by the computing device;

receiving, by the computing device and from the server device, a code and an instruction, associated with the one of the product or the service, to log into a web account associated with the computing device, the code being received if the requested promotion has not been previously claimed by the computing device;

causing, by the computing device, the code and the instruction to be displayed, in a second screenshot;

providing, by the computing device and for display, an interface for receiving a claim for the code, the interface being rendered in a third screenshot;

receiving, by the computing device, the claim for the code, the claim for the code being received by the computing device based on an input from a user computing device;

receiving, by the computing device and from the server device, validation information associated with the claim for the code and based on the code and the identification associated with the computing device; and

providing, by the computing device and based on the validation information, the information associated with the one of the product or the service when the claim for the code and the identification associated with the computing device are validated.

8. The method of claim 7, where the computing device comprises a set-top box (STB).

9. The method of claim 7, where the user computing device comprises one or more of:

a radiotelephone;

a personal communications system (PCS) terminal;

a personal digital assistant (PDA);

a laptop computer;

or

a personal computer.

10. The method of claim 7, where the validation information is further based on identification information with a television viewer associated with the computing device.

23. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing, for display and in the second screenshot, the broadcast program with the code and the instruction.

24. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing, for display and in the third screenshot, the information regarding an interface for receiving a claim for the code without providing, for display in the third screenshot, the broadcast program.

11. A device, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions; and

a processor to execute instructions in the memory to;

receive, from a server, an advertisement, a code, an instruction, and information associated with one of a product or a service,

provide the advertisement for display, with a broadcast program, in a first screenshot,

receive a request for a promotion associated with the advertisement and an identification associated with a device,

determine if the requested promotion has been previously claimed by the device;

provide the code and the instruction, associated with the one of the product or the service, to log into a web account associated with the device, for display, in a second screenshot, when the requested promotion has not been previously claimed by the device,

provide, for display, an interface for receiving a claim for the code, the interface being rendered in a third screenshot;

receive, from a computing device, a claim for the code and the identification associated with the device, the claim for the code and the identification associated with the device being received based on an input from the computing device,

validate the claim for the code and the identification associated with the computing device based on an identification associated with the computing device; and

provide the information associated with the one of the product or the service when the claim for the code and the identification associated with the device are validated.

12. The device of claim 11, where the device includes a set-top box (STB).

13. The device of claim 11, where the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to:

provide, to the computing device, the information associated with the one of the product or the service when the claim for the code and the identification associated with the device are validated.

14. The device of claim 11, where the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to:

receive the code and the identification associated with the device when the promotion is valid, the code being encrypted with an encryption key, and

provide the encrypted code and the instruction, associated with the one of the product or the service, for display.

15. The device of claim 14, where the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to:

decrypt the code with the encryption key,

compare the identification associated with the device with an identification associated with a user of the computing device, and

validate the decrypted code when the identification associated with the device matches the identification associated with the computing device.

16. The device of claim 11, where the code comprises at least one of:

an Internet coupon,

a promotional code,

a discount code,

a key code,

a shopping code,

a voucher code,

a source code, or

a validation code.

17. The device of claim 14, where the encryption key comprises a string of at least one of letters, digits, or symbols, the string being used to encode and decode information.

18. The device of claim 17, where the encryption key is used to perform symmetric encryption.

25. The device of claim 11, where the processor is further to:

provide, for display and in the second screenshot, the broadcast program with the code and the instruction.

19. A server, comprising:

one or more processors to;

provide an advertisement associated with one of a product or a service to a device for display, with a broadcast program, in a first screenshot,

receive, from the device, a request for a promotion associated with the advertisement and an identification associated with the device,

determine if the requested promotion has been previously claimed by the device;

provide a code and an instruction to log into a web account associated with the device and associated with the one of the product or the service to the device, for display in a second screenshot and based on determining that the requested promotion has not been previously claimed by the device,

provide information to generate an interface for receiving a claim for the code, the interface to be rendered in a third screenshot,

receive, based on an input from a computing device, a claim for the code and the identification associated with the device, the claim for the code and identification being received based on transmission of the code that is displayed in the second screenshot,

validate the claim for the code and the identification associated with the device; and

provide the information associated with the one of the product or the service when the claim for the code and the identification associated with the device are validated.

20. The server of claim 19, where the device comprises a set-top box (STB).

21. The server of claim 19, where the one or more processors are further to:

confirm whether the promotion associated with the advertisement is valid,

encrypt the code with an encryption key associated with the one of the product or the service and the identification associated with the device when the promotion is valid, and

provide the encrypted code and the instruction associated with the one of the product or the service to the device for display.

22. The server of claim 21, where the one or more processors are further to:

decrypt the code with the encryption key, the encryption key comprising a string of at least one of letters, digits, or symbols, the string being used to encode and decode information.