Merchant deal creation and redemption system

• US 10,657,569 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2012
• Issued: 05/19/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LivingSocial Incorporated (Groupon Incorporated), LivingSocial US LLC (Groupon Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: LivingSocial Incorporated (Groupon Incorporated)
• Inventors: Batalion, Aaron, Battjer, Brett H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brandenburg, William A
• Application Number:
  US13/405,664
• Publication Number:
  US 20120226540A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,004 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1435
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A merchant application is installed on a mobile device and can be used by a merchant to create a real-time deal for one or more products or services provided by the merchant. The deal is provided by the merchant application to a deal server for offering the deal to consumers based at least in part on geographic proximity of the consumers to the location at which the deal can be used. The merchant application can receive real-time information regarding purchased deals from the deal server in response to transactions made between the deal server and consumers to purchase the deal. The merchant application can display a listing of purchased deals, which can be updated in response to receiving input indicating that a particular purchased deal has been redeemed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

executing a merchant application installed on a mobile device of a merchant, the merchant application configured to communicate with a deal server over a network;

performing a real-time deal process comprising;

receiving, at the mobile device of the merchant from the deal server, a push notification, the push notification comprising information acquired at the deal server, and indicating that a consumer is within a proximity to a merchant location,

wherein the push notification further comprises converted customer-specific information representative of a customer type and prior buying patterns in form of an icon or image; and

receiving, via input at the mobile device, a bid to offer a deal to the consumer;

performing a deal creation process comprising;

receiving, at the mobile device, parameters for the deal;

generating, by the mobile device and in response to receiving the parameters, a deal for one or more products or services to be provided to the consumer, the parameters including one or more of a price for the deal, a discount associated with the deal, a value of the deal, the location associated with the merchant, and an open period for the deal; and

providing the deal, in real-time, via a touch-sensitive user interface of the consumer application displaying a map, as an icon corresponding to the location at which the deal can be used, to the consumer through the deal server over the network allowing real-time purchasing of the deal; and

performing a post-processing process comprising;

upon a consumer purchase of the deal, receiving, at the mobile device, an instantaneous update from the deal server, the instantaneous update comprising information regarding the deal that has been purchased and the consumer;

enabling immediate redemption of the deal;

displaying a listing of the purchased deals by the merchant application on the mobile device of the merchant, the listing including an identifier of each purchased deal and a redemption status of each purchased deal; and

updating the listing of purchased deals by the merchant application on the mobile device of the merchant, the merchant application updating the redemption status of a particular deal in response to receiving input indicating that the particular deal has been redeemed, wherein the receiving of the input indicating that the particular deal has been redeemed comprises receiving a unique identifier optically identified by a scanner, a bar code reader or a camera for the particular deal as input.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the open period is associated with a time period within a day.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the day is on the same day on which the deal is generated.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the deal is based on a prior deal which was generated on the mobile device of the merchant and was purchased at least a determined minimum number of times.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the deal is provided to a particular consumer through the deal server in response to a request for the deal sent to the deal server by an application installed on a computing device of the particular consumer.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the merchant application is configured to update the redemption status of the particular deal in response to receiving a touch input corresponding to an entry for the particular deal in the listing of purchased deals.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the merchant application is configured to update the redemption status of the particular deal in response to receiving the identifier for the particular deal as input.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the identifier for the particular deal is received as input when manually entered into a user interface of the merchant application.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the identifier for the particular deal is received as input when optically identified by a scanner.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising executable computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a mobile device of a merchant to:

(1) run a merchant application installed on the mobile device of the merchant, the merchant application configured to communicate with a deal server over a network;

(2) run a real-time deal process causing the mobile device to;

receive, at the mobile device of the merchant from the deal server, a push notification, the push notification comprising information acquired at the deal server, and indicating that a consumer is within a proximity to a merchant location,

wherein the push notification further comprises converted customer-specific information representative of a customer type and prior buying patterns in form of an icon or image; and

receive, via input at the mobile device, a bid to offer a deal to the consumer;

(3) perform a deal creation process causing the mobile device to;

receive, at the mobile device, parameters for the deal;

generate, in response to receiving parameters, a deal for one or more products or services to be provided to the consumer, the parameters including one or more of a price for the deal, a discount associated with the deal, a value of the deal, the location associated with the merchant, and an open period for the deal; and

provide the deal, in real-time, via a touch-sensitive user interface of the consumer application displaying a map, as an icon corresponding to the location at which the deal can be used, to the consumer through the deal server over the network allowing real-time purchasing of the deal; and

(4) perform a post-processing process causing the mobile device to;

upon a consumer purchase of the deal, receive, at the mobile device, an instantaneous update from the deal server, the instantaneous update comprising information regarding the deal that has been purchased and the consumer;

enable immediate redemption of the deal;

display a listing of purchased deals by the merchant application on the mobile device of the merchant, the listing including an identifier of each purchased deal and a redemption status of each purchased deal; and

update the listing of purchased deals by the merchant application on the mobile device of the merchant, the merchant application updating the redemption status of a particular deal in response to receiving input indicating that the particular deal has been redeemed, wherein the receiving of the input indicating that the particular deal has been redeemed comprises receiving a unique identifier optically identified by a scanner, a bar code reader or a camera for the particular deal as input.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the merchant application is configured to update the redemption status of the particular deal in response to one or more of:

receiving touch input corresponding to an entry for the particular deal in the listing of purchased deals;

receiving the identifier for the particular deal as input when manually entered into a user interface of the merchant application; and

receiving the identifier for the particular deal as input when optically identified by a scanner.

12. A mobile device comprising:

a processor to execute computer program instructions; and

a memory storing the computer program instructions, the computer program instructions, when executed, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, at the mobile device of a merchant from a deal server, a push notification, the push notification comprising information acquired at the deal server, and indicating that a consumer is within a proximity to a merchant location,

wherein the push notification further comprises converted customer-specific information representative of a customer type and prior buying patterns in form of an icon or image;

receiving, via input at the mobile device, a bid to offer a deal to the consumer;

receiving, at the mobile device, parameters for the deal;

generating, in response to receiving parameters, a deal for one or more products or services provided by the merchant for a consumer, the parameters including one or more of a price for the deal, a discount associated with the deal, a value of the deal, a location at which the deal can be used, and an open period for the deal;

providing the deal, in real-time, via a touch-sensitive user interface of the consumer application displaying a map, as an icon corresponding to the location at which the deal can be used, to the consumer through the deal server over the network allowing real-time purchasing of the deal;

upon a consumer purchase of the deal, receiving, at the mobile device, an instantaneous update from the deal server, the instantaneous update comprising information regarding the deal that has been purchased and the consumer;

enabling immediate redemption of the deal;

displaying a listing of the purchased deals by the merchant application on the mobile device of the merchant, the listing including an identifier of each purchased deal and a redemption status of each purchased deal; and

updating the listing of purchased deals by the merchant application on the mobile device of the merchant, the merchant application updating the redemption status of a particular deal in response to receiving input indicating that the particular deal has been redeemed, wherein the receiving of the input indicating that the particular deal has been redeemed comprises receiving a unique identifier optically identified by a scanner, a bar code reader or a camera for the particular deal as input.

13. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the merchant application is configured to update the redemption status of the particular deal in response to one or more of:

receiving touch input corresponding to an entry for the particular deal in the listing of purchased deals;

receiving the identifier for the particular deal as input when manually entered into a user interface of the merchant application; and

receiving the identifier for the particular deal as input when optically identified by a scanner.