Discounts in a mobile device

• US 8,590,785 B1
• Filed: 02/28/2007
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Valentine Communications LLC
• Original Assignee: Ewinwin Incorporated
• Inventors: Mesaros, Gregory J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thien M
• Assistant Examiner(s): TAYLOR, APRIL ALICIA
• Application Number:
  US11/680,415
• Time in Patent Office: 2,463 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/378, 235/380, 235/381, 235/383, 235/492, 705/14, 705/14.1, 705/14.13, 705/26, 705/27, 705/14.25, 705/14.31, 705/14.49, 705/14.53, 705/14.58
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• 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 30/0222 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 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A buying group discount system includes a universal discount card to provide discounts, rewards and/or offers to consumers participating in a buying group. Consumer purchases are aggregated with transactions of the entire buying group. Rewards and discounts are released to the buying group when the aggregated purchases satisfied criteria specified in a reward policy established by sellers. Furthermore, mechanisms are provided to enable the universal discount card to be positioned to provide contextual flash offers or advertisements.

Claims

1. A mobile device, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by a processor to;

prompt a user to accept terms and conditions on the mobile device as a requirement to activate a service with at least one service provider, wherein the terms and conditions provide notice to the user regarding;

how information collected by way of the mobile device will be used,

how the information collected by way of the mobile device will be protected, and

the fact that collection of at least some of the information by way of the mobile device cannot be blocked by the user,

generate purchasing data associated with the user that includes information about products or services purchased by way of a credit or debit card;

a location-based service module executable to generate location-based data, wherein the location-based data corresponds to activities associated with the user of the mobile device; and

a wireless transmitter that;

transmits the location-based data to a third party,

automatically transmits at least a subset of the purchasing data, and

receives an offer for the product or service in response to the transmission of the subset of purchasing data and in accordance with a search function that allows the user to input location and delivery time criteria associated with the product or service.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the instructions executable by the processor allow for purchase of the product or service in conjunction with a sponsored credit or debit card selected as a default payment method.

3. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein the accumulated purchasing data includes purchases on the sponsored credit or debit card.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the offer for the product or service of a particular seller includes a discount that is calculated according to a purchase amount achieved during a particular time period by a single buyer from the particular seller.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the offer for the product or service is redeemed at a point-of-sale (POS) of one or more sellers.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the location-based service module operates in conjunction with a global positioning system and determines a current position of a buyer relative to one or more sellers.

7. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the received offer is based upon the current position of the mobile device as determined by the global positioning system and location-based service module.

8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the subset of purchasing data is transmitted to a central server.

9. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the subset of purchasing data is transmitted to one or more sellers.

10. The mobile device of claim 1, further comprising a display that presents a representation of the offer.

11. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the representation of the offer includes a machine readable code that identifies the offer.

12. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the representation of the offer includes a machine readable code that identifies the product or service.

13. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the representation of the offer includes a human readable product description associated with the product or service.

14. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the representation of the offer includes a human readable product description associated with the offer.

15. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the user has selected a default shipping method or preference for delivery of products.

16. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein tracking location-based activities includes determining that the location of the mobile device is within proximity of a visual communication device.

17. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the offer is presented to the mobile device by way of the visual communication device, the visual communication device including a visual advertisement.

18. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the visual communication device is a television screen.

19. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the information collected by way of the mobile device includes whether a search was performed by the user.

20. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the collected information includes an indication that a purchase was made by the user.