TARGETED DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRONIC COUPONS

• US 20110313841A1
• Filed: 08/26/2011
• Published: 12/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Higgins, Christopher W., Davis, Marc E., Trout, Robert C.
• Application Number:
  US13/219,107
• Publication Number:
  US 20110313841A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product is described that matches commercial incentives to consumers based on targeting data associated with the commercial incentive and user data associated with consumers in a manner that advantageously allows for highly-targeted delivery of commercial incentives to the consumers that are most likely to use them. Because both the targeting data and the user data may include spatial, temporal, social and topical data, matching may be performed based on any or all of these data types, as well as based on any combination of these data types.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a user interface that is provided by at least one computer and is accessible by a consumer via a network, the user interface being configured to allow the consumer to specify whether or not the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons and to specify one or more parameters relating to an amount, frequency, origin or type of electronic coupons to be received;

one or more databases that store information obtained from the consumer via the user interface, the information including one or more parameters specified by the consumer relating to the amount, frequency, origin or type of electronic coupons to be received;

a matching engine implemented by one or more computers that utilizes the information stored in the one or more databases to identify electronic coupons to be distributed to the consumer based at least on the one or more parameters specified by the consumer relating to the amount, frequency, origin or type of electronic coupons to be received.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is implemented using a Web service.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the consumer interacts with the user interface via the Internet.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify that electronic coupons relating to a certain type of product or service should or should not be received.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify that electronic coupons originating from a particular company or companies should or should not be received.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify that electronic coupons should be received from persons within a particular social network of the consumer.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the user interface is further configured to allow the consumer to specify that electronic coupons should be received from persons within a certain social distance of the consumer within the particular social network.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify a time period during which the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify a location at which the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify areas of interest that are used by the matching engine to identify electronic coupons for distribution to the user.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify a geographic region that is used by the matching engine to identify electronic coupons for distribution to the user.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify one or more of an age, a gender, a marital status, a home ownership status, a socioeconomic status or life cycle status and wherein the matching engine is configured to identify electronic coupons for distribution to the user based on one or more of the age, the gender, the marital status, the home ownership status, the socioeconomic status or the life cycle status specified by the consumer via the user interface.

13. A method, comprising:

providing a user interface, the user interface being accessible to a consumer via a network and configured to allow the consumer to specify whether or not the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons and to specify one or more parameters relating to an amount, frequency, origin or type of electronic coupons to be received;

storing information obtained from the consumer via the user interface in one or more databases, the information including one or more parameters specified by the consumer relating to the amount, frequency, origin or type of electronic coupons to be received; and

utilizing the information stored in the one or more databases to identify electronic coupons to be distributed to the consumer based at least on the one or more parameters specified by the consumer relating to the amount, frequency, origin or type of electronic coupons to be received.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein providing the user interface comprises providing a Web service.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising interacting with the user interface by the consumer via the Internet.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify that electronic coupons relating to a certain type of product or service should or should not be received.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify that electronic coupons originating from a particular company or companies should or should not be received.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify that electronic coupons should be received from persons within a particular social network of the consumer.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the user interface is further configured to allow the consumer to specify that electronic coupons should be received from persons within a certain social distance of the consumer within the particular social network.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify a time period during which the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify a location at which the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify areas of interest that are used in the utilizing step to identify electronic coupons for distribution to the user.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify a geographic region that is used in the utilizing step to identify electronic coupons for distribution to the user.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the consumer to specify one or more of an age, a gender, a marital status, a home ownership status, a socioeconomic status or life cycle status, and

wherein the utilizing step comprises identifying electronic coupons for distribution to the user based on one or more of the age, the gender, the marital status, the home ownership status, the socioeconomic status or the life cycle status specified by the consumer via the user interface.

25. A method, comprising:

providing a consumer with access to a network-accessible user interface to an electronic coupon distribution system via a Web browser;

enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to indicate whether or not the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons and to specify one or more parameters relating to an amount, frequency, origin or type of electronic coupons to be received; and

providing information obtained from the interaction between the consumer and the user interface via the Web browser to the electronic coupon distribution system.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify that electronic coupons relating to a certain type of product or service should or should not be received.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify that electronic coupons originating from a particular company or companies should or should not be received.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify that electronic coupons should be received from persons within a particular social network of the consumer.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify that electronic coupons should be received from persons within a certain social distance of the consumer within the particular social network.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify a time period during which the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons.

31. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify a location at which the consumer wishes to receive electronic coupons.

32. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify areas of interest that are useable by the electronic coupon distribution system to identify electronic coupons for distribution to the user.

33. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify a geographic region that is useable by the electronic coupon distribution system to identify electronic coupons for distribution to the user.

34. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

enabling the consumer to interact with the user interface via the Web browser to specify one or more of an age, a gender, a marital status, a home ownership status, a socioeconomic status or life cycle status and wherein one or more of the age, the gender, the marital status, the home ownership status, the socioeconomic status or the life cycle status specified by the consumer via the user interface is useable by the electronic coupon distribution system to identify electronic coupons for distribution to the user.