System and methods for merging or injecting targeted marketing offers with a transaction display of an online portal

• US 8,438,061 B2
• Filed: 06/17/2009
• Issued: 05/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cardlytics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cardlytics Incorporated
• Inventors: Grimes, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Bekerman, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): IOSIF, MARIO CINCINAT
• Application Number:
  US12/486,204
• Publication Number:
  US 20100106598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,420 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/14.4, 705/14.49, 705/14.51, 705/14.53
• US Class Current: 705/14.53
• 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 30/0213 Consumer transaction fees
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute

Abstract

A system and methods for displaying a selected advertisement on a web page merged (injected) into a list of transactions provided by an online (Internet) banking portal of a financial institution, independently of a computer system that provides the list. A consumer'"'"'s browser receives an account history page comprising a list of transactions from the portal. The list is processed locally at the consumer'"'"'s machine to generate a list of currently-displayed transactions, which are then transmitted to an offer placement system. The offer placement system accesses a database of potential advertisements to identify a selected advertisement corresponding to an advertisement selection criterion. The selected advertisement is then transmitted to the consumer'"'"'s machine. The consumer'"'"'s machine merges (injects) the selected advertisement in the web browser with the transactions list in accordance with predetermined advertisement placement information. The injection is effected by a script such as Javascript loaded from an associated script server.

Claims

1. A targeted marketing offer injection computer system operative in conjunction with a financial institution computer system and a client machine operated by a consumer for enabling injection of a predetermined targeted marketing offer into an electronic display comprising a consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions while the electronic display is being presented by the financial institution computer system to the client machine operated by the consumer, the system comprising:

a processor coupled for secure data communications with the computer system of a financial institution, wherein the processor is connected to a non-transient electronic storage;

the non-transient electronic storage comprising a database for storing data and program modules that execute on the processor;

the database storing a plurality of predetermined marketing offers that are associated with consumers'"'"' qualifying transactions;

the processor operative for receiving an asynchronous call redirected by the financial institution computer system that is generated upon execution of a first pre-embedded computer-executable script at the client machine operated by a particular consumer, the asynchronous call indicating that the particular consumer is reviewing an electronic display comprising the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions;

the processor operative in response to receipt of the asynchronous call for transmitting a second computer-executable DOM injection script to the financial institution for execution upon the electronic display of the client machine;

the processor operative for receiving information relating to the particular consumer and the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions that is generated upon execution of the second computer-executable DOM injection script upon the electronic display of the client machine operated by the particular consumer;

the processor operative for processing the received information relating to the particular consumer and the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions to identify a predetermined targeted marketing offer applicable to the particular consumer;

upon identifying an offer qualifying transaction conducted by the particular consumer in the received information relating to the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed transactions, the processor operative for retrieving the predetermined targeted marketing offer for the particular consumer from the database; and

the processor operative for transmitting an advertisement return package comprising the predetermined targeted marketing offer for use by the client machine in connection with injection of the predetermined targeted marketing offer into the electronic display of the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions, thereby allowing the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions to be dynamically adjusted to include the predetermined targeted marketing offer.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein display of the predetermined targeted marketing offer comprises display of one or more of the following data items:

offer text information, offer image information, reward amount, reward type, date(s) of offer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is operative for transmitting the advertisement return package to the client machine.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is operative for transmitting the advertisement return package to the financial institution computer system.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the received information relating to the particular consumer and the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions comprises a customer identifier, and wherein the processor utilizes the customer identifier as additional information to identify a predetermined targeted marketing offer applicable to the particular consumer.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the customer identifier includes a network return pathname (URL) for returning information from the targeted marketing offer injection computer system to the client machine.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is operative for receiving information relating to the particular consumer and the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions from the financial institution computer system.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first pre-embedded computer-executable script is a DOM injection script.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions are displayed via a Javascript-enabled web browser running on the client machine operated by the particular consumer.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the first pre-embedded computer-executable script is embedded in code representing the electronic display of the consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the advertisement return package includes predetermined placement information that comprises instructions to display the predetermined targeted marketing offer in association with the identified offer qualifying transaction in the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed transactions.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the predetermined targeted marketing offer is displayed adjacent to the offer qualifying transaction in the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the predetermined targeted marketing offer is displayed immediately below the offer qualifying transaction in the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the predetermined targeted marketing offer is displayed a predetermined distance from the offer qualifying transaction in the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the targeted marketing offer injection computer system is included within an offer placement system.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed transactions are included inside an HTML webpage.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the injection of the predetermined targeted marketing offer into the electronic display of the particular consumer'"'"'s currently displayed financial transactions is effected by continued execution of the second computer-executable DOM injection script.

18. In a targeted marketing offer injection computer system comprising a processor and a database operatively coupled to a processor, a computer-implemented method operative in conjunction with a financial institution computer system and a client machine operated by a consumer for enabling injection of a predetermined targeted marketing offer into an electronic display comprising a consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions while the electronic display is being presented by the financial institution computer system to the client machine operated by the consumer, comprising the steps of:

at the processor, receiving an asynchronous call redirected by the financial institution computer system that is generated upon execution of a first pre-embedded computer-executable script at the client machine operated by a particular consumer, the asynchronous call indicating that the particular consumer is reviewing an electronic display comprising the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions;

at the processor, in response to receipt of the asynchronous call, transmitting a second computer-executable DOM injection script to the financial institution for execution upon the electronic display of the client machine;

at the processor, receiving information relating to the particular consumer and the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions that is generated upon execution of the second computer-executable DOM injection script upon the electronic display of the client machine operated by the particular consumer;

upon identifying an offer qualifying transaction conducted by the particular consumer in the received information relating to the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed transactions, at the processor, retrieving the predetermined targeted marketing offer for the particular consumer from the database; and

at the processor, transmitting an advertisement return package comprising the predetermined targeted marketing offer for use by the client machine in connection with injection of the predetermined targeted marketing offer into the electronic display of the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions, thereby allowing the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions to be dynamically adjusted to include the predetermined targeted marketing offer.

19. The method of claim 18, display of the predetermined targeted marketing offer comprises display of one or more of the following data items:

offer text information, offer image information, reward amount, reward type, date(s) of offer.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of, at the processor, transmitting the advertisement return package to the client machine.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of, at the processor, transmitting the advertisement return package to the financial institution computer system.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the received information relating to the particular consumer and the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions comprises a customer identifier, and wherein the processor utilizes the customer identifier as additional information to identify a predetermined targeted marketing offer applicable to the particular consumer.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the customer identifier includes a network return pathname (URL) for returning information from the targeted marketing offer injection computer system to the client machine.

24. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of, at the processor, receiving information relating to the particular consumer and the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions from the financial institution computer system.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the first pre-embedded computer-executable script is a DOM injection script.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions are displayed via a Javascript-enabled web browser running on the client machine operated by the particular consumer.

27. The method of claim 18, wherein the first pre-embedded computer-executable script is embedded in code representing the electronic display of the consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions.

28. The method of claim 18, wherein the advertisement return package includes predetermined placement information that comprises instructions to display the predetermined targeted marketing offer in association with the identified offer qualifying transaction in the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed transactions.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the predetermined targeted marketing offer is displayed adjacent to the offer qualifying transaction in the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the predetermined targeted marketing offer is displayed immediately below the offer qualifying transaction in the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the predetermined targeted marketing offer is displayed a predetermined distance from the offer qualifying transaction in the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed financial transactions.

32. The method of claim 18, wherein the targeted marketing offer injection computer system is included within an offer placement system.

33. The method of claim 18, wherein the particular consumer'"'"'s currently-displayed transactions are included in an HTML webpage.

34. The method of claim 18, wherein the injection of the predetermined targeted marketing offer into the electronic display of the particular consumer'"'"'s currently displayed financial transactions is effected by continued execution of the second computer-executable DOM injection script.