Promotion infrastructure supporting selected and emailed promotion delivery

• US 8,463,851 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2012
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Enpulz LLC
• Inventors: Winslade, Christopher C., Bennett, James D.
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US13/449,980
• Publication Number:
  US 20120209692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 419 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/223, 709/224, 235/375, 235/376, 235/383, 705/14.1, 705/14.39, 707/705, 707/732, 707/736, 707/769
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• 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 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 : Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 : Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 : Insurance

Abstract

An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity.

Claims

1. A network infrastructure supporting advertising interactions with a plurality of user devices via Internet, the network infrastructure comprising:

a promotion capture service that provides first interface data to a first software application of a first promoter system, the first interface data including first data from which the first software application produces a visual promotion capture interface on the first promoter system;

a promotion database;

the promotion capture service storing first promotion data received via the visual promotion capture interface of the first promoter system, the first promotion data having first web page link data, a first price reduction offer, and a first identifier code;

a promotion access service that provides second interface data to a second software application of a first of the plurality of user devices of a first user, the second interface data including second data from which the second software application produces a visual promotion review interface on the first of the plurality of user devices, the visual promotion review interface interacts with the database to provide a visual promotion element that includes the first identifier code;

an email service that delivers a first email addressed to the first user, the first email being constructed at least in part using the promotion database; and

a redemption support service, coupled to the promotion database, that delivers dispensing data to assist in consummating redemption.

2. The network infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the dispensing data delivered includes the first identifier code.

3. The network infrastructure of claim 1, wherein the first promotion data also includes a first limitation, and wherein the dispensing service considers the first limitation in generating the dispensing data.

4. The network infrastructure of claim 1, further comprising a consummation service that participates in consummating redemption by a user of the first of the plurality of user devices.

5. The network infrastructure of claim 4, further comprising an accounting service that collects payment for activity related to the first promotion data.

6. A network infrastructure supporting advertising interactions with a plurality of user devices via Internet, the network infrastructure comprising:

a promotion capture service that supports a first interface to a first software application;

a promotion database;

the promotion capture service storing first promotion data received via the first interface, the first promotion data having first web page link data, a first price reduction offer, and a first identifier code;

a promotion access service that selectively retrieves promotion information from the promotion database, the promotion information including at least a first portion of the first promotion data;

the promotion access service delivers via the Internet the promotion information to support a visual presentation to a first user of a first of the plurality of user devices;

an email service that delivers a first email addressed to the first user, the first email being constructed at least in part using the promotion database; and

a redemption support service that delivers to a merchant, dispensing data to assist the merchant in consummating redemption.

7. The network infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the delivery by the promotion access service comprising coordinating with a web server system to integrate at least part of the first promotion data and web page data, and the visual presentation comprising a web page constructed based on the integration.

8. The network infrastructure of claim 7, wherein the web server system is a third party web server system.

9. The network infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the first email comprises a promotion offer.

10. The network infrastructure of claim 6, further comprising an accounting system that establishes billing based on a number of times the first promotion data is accessed.

11. The network infrastructure of claim 9, wherein the first user is selected to receive the promotion offer based on a first consideration of first information relating to the first user.

12. The network infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the first interface comprises a hypertext interface.

13. The network infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the at least the portion of the first promotion data includes the first identifier code.

14. The network infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the redemption support service generates the dispensing data at least in part by accessing the promotion database.

15. The network infrastructure of claim 14, wherein the first promotion data also includes a first limitation, and wherein the redemption support service considers the first limitation in the generation of the dispensing data.

16. The network infrastructure of claim 6, wherein the redemption support service participates in consummating redemption by the first user of the first of the plurality of user devices.

17. A network infrastructure supporting advertising interactions with a plurality of user devices via Internet, the network infrastructure comprising:

a promotion database;

a promotion capture service storing in the promotion database first promotion data received from a first promoter and second promotion data received from a second promoter, the first promotion data including first price reduction data and first geographical data, the second promotion data including second price reduction data and second geographical data;

a promotion access service that gathers and stores first information relating to a first user, the first information including a first geographical element;

the promotion access service considers the first geographical data, the second geographical data and the first geographical element in a process of identifying first web page data to be delivered to a first user device of the first user;

the promotion access service responds to first user input received from the first user device by performing dispensing activity relating to the first promotion data; and

an email promotion service that delivers a first email addressed to the first user, the first email being based at least in part the second promotion data.

18. The network infrastructure of claim 17, further comprising a posting service that delivers third party web site posting data for combination with third party web page data, the third party web site posting data being based at least in part on the first promotion data.

19. The network infrastructure of claim 17, further comprising an accounting system that establishes billing based on a number of times the first promotion data is accessed.

20. The network infrastructure of claim 17, further comprising an accounting system that charges a transaction fee.

21. The network infrastructure of claim 17, wherein the promotion capture service comprises a hypertext interface.

22. The network infrastructure of claim 17, wherein the first user is selected for receiving the first email based on the stored first information.

23. The network infrastructure of claim 17, wherein the first user is selected for receiving the first email based on a geographical consideration.