Customer pre-selected electronic coupons
First Claim
1. A method for managing electronic coupons with a mobile device, the method comprising:
- receiving at the mobile device a communication from a near field sensor/transmitter, the communication associated with a product display that displays a product available for purchase, wherein the mobile device receives the communication after proceeding through a merchant facility until the product display is identified and approached such that the mobile device is in close proximity to the near field sensor/transmitter of the display having the product available for purchase;
translating the communication from the near field sensor transmitter to a format readable by the mobile device;
with a processor of the mobile device, determining an identifier associated with the translated communication, wherein the identifier identifies the product available for purchase;
running an application on the mobile device in an attempt to locate a coupon in a database of the mobile device, the coupon associated with the identifier such that the coupon may be subsequently be redeemed when purchasing the product that is being displayed at the same product display in which the mobile device was placed in close proximity, the coupon being selected upon a determination that the coupon has a highest redeemable value of any of a plurality of coupons associated with the identifier and the product stored in the database;
alerting a user of the mobile device that the database contains the coupon for the product displayed by the product display, wherein the alerting comprises one or both of causing a vibration element of the mobile device to actuate to cause the mobile device to vibrate or emitting a sound from a speaker of the mobile device;
displaying the coupon on a user interface of the mobile device; and
discarding the communication after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since displaying the coupon without receiving a command related to the coupon, wherein the predetermined period of time is set by the application running on the mobile device.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments presented herein generally relate to novel systems and methods for managing electronic coupons. In embodiments, the user uploads one or more coupons into a mobile device. While shopping, the mobile device receives communications from one or more NFC sensors/transmitters associated with one or more products in one or more product displays. The mobile device can determine from information in the communication to which product the communication applies. The mobile device can then search for one or more uploaded coupons that apply to the one or more products. In embodiments, the mobile device alerts the user when one or more of the coupons apply.
72 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for managing electronic coupons with a mobile device, the method comprising:
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receiving at the mobile device a communication from a near field sensor/transmitter, the communication associated with a product display that displays a product available for purchase, wherein the mobile device receives the communication after proceeding through a merchant facility until the product display is identified and approached such that the mobile device is in close proximity to the near field sensor/transmitter of the display having the product available for purchase; translating the communication from the near field sensor transmitter to a format readable by the mobile device; with a processor of the mobile device, determining an identifier associated with the translated communication, wherein the identifier identifies the product available for purchase; running an application on the mobile device in an attempt to locate a coupon in a database of the mobile device, the coupon associated with the identifier such that the coupon may be subsequently be redeemed when purchasing the product that is being displayed at the same product display in which the mobile device was placed in close proximity, the coupon being selected upon a determination that the coupon has a highest redeemable value of any of a plurality of coupons associated with the identifier and the product stored in the database; alerting a user of the mobile device that the database contains the coupon for the product displayed by the product display, wherein the alerting comprises one or both of causing a vibration element of the mobile device to actuate to cause the mobile device to vibrate or emitting a sound from a speaker of the mobile device; displaying the coupon on a user interface of the mobile device; and discarding the communication after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since displaying the coupon without receiving a command related to the coupon, wherein the predetermined period of time is set by the application running on the mobile device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 21, 22, 24)
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8. A mobile device comprising:
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a housing; an NFC component, the NFC component operable to communicate with an NFC transmitter that is located on a product display in a merchant facility, the NFC component operable to receive a communication from the NFC transmitter that identifies a product that is being displayed on the product display, wherein the communication includes a product identifier that identifies the product; a database within the housing, the database comprising at least one coupon; a processor within the housing and in communication with the NFC component, the processor operable to translate the communication from the NFC transmitter to a format readable by the mobile device and to determine whether the database includes a coupon associated with the product using the product identifier such that movement of the NFC component near the product display reads the product identifier that in turn permits the processor to identify the coupon that may be redeemed when purchasing the product displayed at the product display, the coupon being selected upon a determination that the coupon has a highest redeemable value of any of a plurality of coupons associated with the identifier and the product stored in the database, the processor operable to send a signal to alert a user that the coupon is available for the product when purchasing the product, wherein the signal causes one or both of a vibration element of the mobile device to actuate to cause the mobile device to vibrate or a sound to be emitted from a speaker of the mobile device; and a user interface in communication with the processor, the user interface operable to receive the signal from the processor, the user interface operable to display an alert associated with the coupon for the user, wherein the processor discards the communication after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since displaying the coupon without receiving a command related to the coupon, wherein the predetermined period of time is set by a mobile wallet application running on the mobile device. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon one or more instructions, all of the following instructions executable by a single computer, the instructions causing the single computer to execute a method for managing electronic coupons, the instructions that are all executable on the single computer comprising:
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instructions for receiving a communication from a near field sensor, the communication associated with a product display; instructions for translating the communication from the near field sensor to a readable format; instructions for parsing the translated communication to extract a product identifier from the translated communication; instructions for determining a product associated with the product identifier; instructions for retrieving one or more preference rules associated with one or more products; instructions for determining if one or more of the preference rules applies to the product associated with the product identifier; if one or more preferences rules do apply, instructions for receiving a coupon associated with the product associated with the product identifier, the coupon being selected upon a determination that the coupon has a highest redeemable value of any of a plurality of coupons associated with the identifier and the product stored in the database; instructions for alerting a user of a mobile device that a coupon is available for the product associated with the product identifier, wherein the alerting comprises one or both of causing a vibration element of the mobile device to actuate to cause the mobile device to vibrate or emitting a sound from a speaker of the mobile device; and instructions for discarding the communication after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since displaying the coupon without receiving a command related to the coupon, wherein the predetermined period of time is set by a mobile wallet application running on the mobile device. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25)
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Specification