Systems and methods for providing time-sensitive communications of targeted advertisements to mobile devices

• US 9,721,262 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2012
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Douglas Krone
• Original Assignee: Douglas Krone
• Inventors: Krone, Douglas
• Primary Examiner(s): CHONG CRUZ, NADJA N
• Application Number:
  US13/446,640
• Publication Number:
  US 20120265598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,936 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Systems and methods of the present invention facilitate the sale of products, such as goods and/or services. Specifically, merchants of products provide incentives for consumers that may be defined by time and geography to drives sales of the products, such as during low demand periods. Moreover, the present invention allows consumers to search for and claim time-sensitive incentives from merchants; specifically, incentives requiring instant or nearly instant acceptance and/or redeemability.

Claims

1. A method of providing an incentive to a consumer from a merchant for a good or service provided by the merchant and adapted to be purchased by the consumer, comprising the steps of:

providing a merchant electronic computing device in connection with the Internet;

defining a first geographic region and a second geographic region with the merchant electronic computing device, the second geographic region being within the first geographic region,

tracking a location of at least one consumer, the at least one consumer having a mobile device that is connected to a mobile network and has geographical location tracking means, wherein the location of the at least one consumer is tracked via the geographical location tracking means of the at least one consumers mobile device, and

defining an incentive using the merchant electronic computing device, the incentive including a value and an expiry, wherein the incentive expires within approximately two hours;

activating the incentive by the merchant using the merchant electronic computing device, wherein activating the incentive causes the incentive and a visual element of an acceptance option to be displayed on the screen of the mobile device that is connected to the mobile network if, in tracking the mobile device, the mobile device is located within the first geographic region and not within the second geographic region;

wherein said incentive is configured to be accepted by the at least one consumer when the at least one consumer selects the visual element of the acceptance option displayed on the screen of the mobile device;

sending an acceptance notification from the mobile device to the merchant electronic computing device when said acceptance option is selected by the at least one consumer, further wherein notification of the at least one consumer'"'"'s acceptance of said incentive having an expiration within approximately two hours provides the merchant knowledge that the at least one consumer intends to travel to the merchant within approximately two hours;

sending an acceptance voucher from the merchant electronic computing device to the mobile device and displaying the acceptance voucher on the screen of the mobile device when the acceptance option is selected by the at least one consumer, said acceptance voucher redeemable at the merchant for the good or service of the merchant for the value of the incentive prior to the expiry of the incentive by physically presenting the acceptance voucher shown on the screen of the mobile device; and

deactivating the incentive at the server using the merchant electronic computing device wherein deactivating the incentive causes a change to the incentive on the display of the mobile device to indicate that the incentive is inactive.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the value of the incentive is a percentage discount on the merchant'"'"'s goods or services.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the value of the incentive is a set monetary amount discount on the merchant'"'"'s goods or services.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

defining a third geographic region with the merchant electronic computing device, wherein the visual representation of the incentive is not displayed on the mobile device if the mobile device is in the third geographic region.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

defining a first portion of the first geographic region with the merchant electronic computing device, wherein the visual representation of the incentive is not displayed on the mobile device if the mobile device is in the first portion of the first geographic region; and

defining a second portion of the second geographic region with the merchant electronic computing device, wherein the visual representation of the incentive is displayed on the mobile device if the mobile device is in the second portion of the second geographic region.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

defining a direction of travel with the merchant electronic computing device; and

displaying the visual representation of the incentive on the mobile device if the mobile device has the defined direction of travel.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the visual representation of the incentive is displayed on the mobile device of at least one consumer having a direction of travel matching the defined direction of travel at the time the incentive is activated.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the visual representation of the incentive is not displayed on the mobile device if the mobile device has a direction of travel that does not match the defined direction of travel after the incentive is activated.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the incentive further comprises a time of distribution defined by the merchant via the merchant electronic computing device, wherein the incentive is automatically activated at the time of distribution defined in the incentive.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the incentive is automatically deactivated when a number of consumers, predefined by the merchant at the server, accept the incentive.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the merchant manually deactivates the incentive at the server.

10. A method of receiving an incentive defined by a merchant comprising the steps of:

providing an electronic mobile device of a consumer;

providing a computing device, the computing device programmed to;

receive input from the merchant defining a first geographic region and a second geographic region, the second geographic region being within the first geographic region,

track a location of the mobile device of the consumer, the mobile device connected to a mobile network and having geographical location tracking means, wherein tracking the mobile device is done via the geographical location tracking means of the mobile device, and

send a visual representation of an incentive and an acceptance option from the computing device for display on the mobile device whose present location is within the first geographic region and not within the second geographic region;

displaying, on a screen of the mobile device, the visual representation of the incentive activated by a merchant and the acceptance option if the mobile device, tracked by the server, is in the first geographic region but not the second geographic region, wherein the visual representation of the incentive has a value discount defined therein, a time expiry expiring within a short time period defined therein, and an acceptance option;

accepting the incentive using the mobile device by selecting the acceptance option, wherein acceptance of the incentive causes a notice to be sent from the mobile device to the computing device notifying the merchant of the acceptance, wherein notification of the at least one consumer'"'"'s acceptance of said incentive having an expiry expiring within a short time period provides the merchant knowledge that the at least one consumer intends to travel to the merchant within the short time period;

receiving an acceptance voucher at the mobile device and displaying the acceptance voucher on the display of the mobile device when the acceptance option is selected by the consumer;

displaying the acceptance voucher on the screen of the mobile device at the merchant for the good or service of the merchant for the value of the incentive prior to the expiry of the incentive by physically presenting the acceptance voucher shown on the screen of the mobile device to the merchant.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the computing device further comprises vector-based direction of travel information defined therein, wherein displaying the incentive from the merchant is displayable on the electronic device when the vector-based direction of travel information matches the direction of travel of the electronic device.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the incentive comprises a percentage discount on the merchant'"'"'s goods or services.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the incentive comprises a set value discount on the merchant'"'"'s goods or services.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of:

periodically updating the visual representation of the incentive on the display of the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of:

displaying, on the mobile device, a plurality of incentives activated by one or more merchants, each of the plurality of incentives having geographic location information defined therein, wherein the plurality of incentives are displayable on the mobile device when the present location of the mobile device matches the geographic location information of each of the incentives.

16. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of:

receiving a machine readable code and displaying the machine readable code with the acceptance voucher on the display of the mobile device, wherein the machine readable code is scanned at the merchant for redeeming the incentive.

19. The method of claim 10 wherein the incentive has a quality rating designation, and further comprising the step of:

setting a filter via the mobile device to display on the mobile device only incentives that have a specific quality rating designation; and

displaying the visual representation of the incentive on the mobile device if the quality rating designation of the incentive matches the specific quality rating designation set.

20. The method of claim 10 wherein the incentive has a type designation, and further comprising the steps of:

setting a filter via the mobile device to display on the mobile device only incentives that have a specific type designation; and

displaying the visual representation of the incentive on the mobile device if the type designation of the incentive matches the specific type designation set.

21. The method of claim 10 wherein the merchant has a type designation, and further comprising the steps of:

setting a filter via the mobile device to display on the mobile device incentives from specific types of merchants; and

displaying the visual representation of the incentive on the mobile device if the type of merchant indicated on the incentive matches the specific types of merchants set.

22. The method of claim 10 wherein the merchant has a location designation, and further comprising the steps of:

setting a filter via the mobile device to display on the mobile device incentives from merchants having a specific location designation; and

displaying the visual representation of the incentive on the mobile device if the location designation of the merchant matches the specific location designation set.

23. The method of claim 10, wherein the incentive comprises a code uniquely identifying the incentive presented on the consumer'"'"'s mobile device display as the visual representation of the incentive.