Mobile phone based rebate and gift card aggregation

• US 20080255942A1
• Filed: 01/03/2008
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Engineered IP LLC, KDS Real Estate Investors, LLC
• Original Assignee: William H. Bollman
• Inventors: Craft, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,700,457 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/045 using payment protocols involving tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/208 Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3274 using a pictured code, e.g. barcode or QR-code, being displayed on the M-device
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives

Abstract

Virtual mobile rewards, gift cards, and/or physical world retailers'"'"' loyalty and reward programs are aggregated into a common account accessible and transactional from an Internet capable mobile radio device. Subscribers gain access to discounted codes, coupons, rebates, gift cards, and/or limited time offers, on their mobile device for food, travel, lifestyle, electronics, and entertainment products that fit their lifestyle spending habits, enabling users to edit participating retailers, manage separate account balances, and present preferred discounted offers at retailers and apply discount towards purchase of goods.

Claims

1. A method for implementing a mobile radio based rebate processing reward system, comprising:

receiving a rebate transaction identifier assigned to the radio device, the rebate transaction identifier assigned to the rebate request by the POS rebate processing system;

outputting the rebate transaction identifier to the remote rebate processing center;

retrieving status information for the rebate request from the rebate processing center; and

synchronizing status information with remote Application Server for display on mobile radio device.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

rebate transaction identifiers are discount codes including but not limited to a plurality of PIN Codes, SKUs, coupon codes, rebate codes, and 2D/3D barcodes, specifically created for redemption for mobile device customers.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

discount codes are created and assigned at account registration, based on MDN/MIN/IMSI/EMI/MSISDN and algorithm provided by retailer, allowing retailer to process code, and close reporting loop on mobile transactions.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

discounted offers, and discount codes are reloaded, and apply credits to customer'"'"'s account profile for reaching spending limits set forth by participating retailers.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

discount codes, coupon codes, PINs, and barcodes are consistent with physical world programs, recognized by participating POS terminals, stored on a secure server, and accessible from a single BREW/FLASH/J2MENVAP application.

6. An interactive radio device-based interface for facilitating rebate processing, the interface operable to:

display a plurality of rebates for interaction by a user to redeem for a product at physical point of sale terminal;

receive promotion information from centralized processing network, the promotion information comprising a product identifier and a plurality of rebate options for receiving an authorized rebate, at least one of the rebate options having a cash value different than another one of the alternative rebates;

communicate promotion information to a commercial radio device; and

receive a status of the promotion based on purchases of the product, the status indicating a number of rebate requests for the promotion and a number of authorized rebates fulfilled for each of the rebate option for the promotion

7. The interactive radio device-based interface for facilitating rebate processing according to claim 6, wherein said interface comprises:

a downloadable network aware application;

said downloadable network aware application offering secure registration, creation of a virtual account designed to synchronization and cache latest account profile data to application residing on the mobile device, and synchronize automatically based on posts from Application Server to which application sync.

8. The interactive radio device-based interface for facilitating rebate processing according to claim 7, wherein:

said application can exist in multiple runtimes included but not limited to J2ME, BREW, WAP, enabling a customer to retain account profile data upon a case of exchanging, or upgrading device.

9. The interactive radio device-based interface for facilitating rebate processing according to claim 7, wherein:

said application enables a user to utilize a menu interface to delete, add, or suggest retailer programs or choose from pre-bundled personas, where mobile industry analysts have defined consumer categories including but not limited to road warrior, soccer mom, gadget geeks, and graduates.

10. The interactive radio device-based interface for facilitating rebate processing according to claim 6, wherein:

said application enables a user to choose to manually sync application with an online database.