Gifting system and method

• US 8,751,319 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2008
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gula Consulting Limited Liability Company (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Cabinall Group LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Silverstein, Todd, Whiteman, Aaron
• Primary Examiner(s): Airapetian, Mila
• Application Number:
  US12/271,518
• Publication Number:
  US 20090070230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,034 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/26.1
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing

Abstract

A scheme for enabling the remote purchasing of products or services based on a recipient'"'"'s location. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method for enabling a purchaser to purchase a product or service for a specified recipient different from the purchaser includes: (a) receiving location-based information obtained from a device or token associated with the recipient; (b) generating a list of one or more possible venues based on the location-based information; (c) presenting to the purchaser, via a first communications device, the list of one or more possible venues; (d) receiving from the purchaser a selection of a set of one or more venues from the list of one or more possible venues; (e) receiving, via the first communications device, an instruction from the purchaser to purchase at least one selected product or service for the recipient, the at least one selected product or service to be provided to the recipient in person at any venue in the set of one or more venues; and (f) providing to the recipient, via a second communications device, a notification corresponding to the instruction.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

presenting, via a communications device, a menu listing at least one product or at least one service that does not necessitate supplying any content either appearing on the at least one product or being displayed while providing the at least one service;

enabling, via the communications device, a selection of a product or a service selected from the menu;

purchasing, via the communications device, the selection from a venue having a specific physical location in response to receiving location-based information configured to locate a recipient device in a vicinity of the venue; and

generating a notification configured to notify the recipient device of a gift of the purchased selection available for claiming at the venue subsequent to the purchasing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification comprises an identifier configured to be provided at the venue to receive the purchased selection.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the venue comprises any of a plurality of sites associated with a chain of establishments.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting, via the communications device, a plurality of selected products or services gifted to a same recipient.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient device comprises an RFID tag.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient device comprises a device operating according to an 802.11 standard or a location-enabled mobile telephone.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising instantiating a claims record for the purchased selection, wherein the claims record is provided to the venue.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, via the communications device, notification of a reciprocal gift from the recipient device purchased in response to receiving the notification of the gift of the purchased selection.

7. A system, comprising:

a server configured to communicate with a communications device via a network, wherein the server is configured to;

present, via the communications device, at least one product or at least one service that;

is available for purchase in person when presented, and

does not necessitate supplying any content either appearing on the at least one product or being displayed while providing the service;

receive, via the communications device, a selection from the at least one product or the at least one service;

receive, via the communications device, an instruction to purchase the selection from the venue having a specific physical location in response to having received location-based information from a recipient device configured to locate the venue near the recipient device; and

transmit a notification to the recipient device indicating the purchased selection is available for claiming at the venue.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the notification comprises an identifier configured to be provided at the venue to receive the selection.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the venue comprises a plurality of sites associated with a chain of establishments.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the server is further configured to track gifts to a same recipient or to track selections from a same venue.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the server is further configured to receive the location-based information from an RFID tag associated with the recipient device.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the server is further configured to receive the location-based information from a device operating according to an 802.11 standard or a location-enabled mobile telephone.

16. The system of claim 7, wherein the server is further configured to instantiate a claims record for the purchased selection, wherein the claims record is provided to the venue.

13. A memory device having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

presenting, via a communications device, a menu listing at least one product or at least one service that does not necessitate supplying any content either appearing on the at least one product or being displayed while providing the at least one service;

receiving, via the communications device, a selection of a product or a service selected from the menu;

purchasing, via the communications device, the selection from a venue having a specific physical location in response to receiving location-based information configured to locate a recipient device in a vicinity of the venue; and

generating a notification configured to notify the recipient device of a gift of the purchased selection available for claiming at the venue subsequent to the purchase.

14. The memory device of claim 13, wherein the notification comprises an identifier configured to be provided in person at the venue to receive the selection.

17. The memory device of claim 13, further storing instructions that cause the processing device to instantiate a claims record for the purchased selection, wherein the claims record is provided to the venue.