Method and apparatus for distributing advertisements using social networks and financial transaction card networks

• US 9,715,693 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2011
• Issued: 07/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hosp, Adam Kenneth, Kaulbach, Peter D., Sabet, Mostafa, Hendrix, Stephen, Stocke, Matthew Richard, Kessler, Joshua, Toner, Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): Boswell, Beth V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Folashade
• Application Number:
  US13/293,870
• Publication Number:
  US 20130124283A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,084 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1464
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

An exemplary method for distributing an offer to a mobile device includes identifying a location of a first mobile device, identifying offer preferences for a user of the first mobile device, and distributing the offer to the first mobile device. The offer is an offer for the purchase of goods or services, the offer meets the offer preferences of the user of the first mobile device, and the offer is encoded with a first offer identifier corresponding to the user of the first mobile device.

Claims

1. A method for distributing an offer to a computer, comprising:

storing, by a server, offer preferences of a user of a first computer;

identifying, by the server, a location of the first computer;

identifying, by the server, the offer preferences of the user of the first computer; and

transmitting, by the server, a message including at least the offer to the first computer,

wherein the offer, within the transmission message, (i) is for the purchase of goods or services, (ii) meets the offer preferences of the user of the first computer, and (iii) is encoded with a first offer identifier corresponding to the user of the first computer, and

wherein the method further includes;

forwarding the offer from the first computer to a second computer, wherein the offer is further encoded with a second offer identifier corresponding to a user of the second computer;

upon redemption of the offer by a user of the second computer, decoding the encoded first and second offer identifiers; and

identifying, by the server, the user of the first computer and the user of the second computer upon redemption of the offer by the user of the second computer and as a result of the decoding of the encoded first and second offer identifiers.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, in an account corresponding to the first computer, the redemption of the offer, wherein the identification is based on the encoded first offer identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, in an account of the user of the first computer, the redemption of the offer, wherein the identification is based on the encoded first offer identifier; and

identifying, in an account of the user of the second computer, the redemption of the offer, wherein the identification is based on the encoded second offer identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer is associated with a merchant, and wherein the first computer is proximate to the merchant.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer preferences of the user of the first computer include designation based on the purchasing history of the user of the first computer, received from the transaction server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer preferences of the user of the first computer include demographic information of the user of the first computer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification of the location of the first computer includes using the Global Positioning System.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the server, from a transaction server, a purchasing history of the user of the first computer, said purchasing history including transactions made with and without offers.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rewarding the user of the first computer, who forwarded the offer to the second computer, upon redemption of said offer by the user of the second computer via decoding the encoded first and second offer identifiers.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having a program stored thereon that causes a processor to execute the method of claim 1.

10. A system for distributing an offer to a computer, comprising:

a server configured to (i) store offer preferences of a user of a first computer, (ii) identify a location of the first computer, and (iii) transmit a message including at least the offer to the computer,

wherein the offer, included in the transmission message, (i) is for the purchase of goods or services, (ii) meets the stored offer preferences of the user of the first computer, (iii) is encoded with an offer identifier corresponding to the user of the first computer, and (iv) is encoded with a second offer identifier corresponding to a user of a second computer when the offer is forwarded from the first computer to the second computer,

wherein upon redemption of the offer by a user of the second computer, the encoded first and second offer identifiers are decoded, and

wherein the server is further configured to identify the user of the first computer and the user of the second computer upon redemption of the offer by the user of the second computer and as a result of the decoding of the encoded first and second offer identifiers.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the server is further configured to identify, in an account corresponding to the user of the first computer, redemption of the offer, wherein the identification is based on the encoded offer identifier.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the server is further configured to identify, in an account corresponding to the user of the second computer, redemption of the offer, wherein the identification is based on the encoded second offer identifier.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the server is further configured to identify a location of the first computer, wherein the offer is associated with a merchant, and wherein the first computer is proximate to the merchant.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the identification of the location of the first computer includes using the Global Positioning System.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the offer preferences of the user of the first computer include designation based on the purchasing history of the user of the first computer received from the transaction server.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the offer preferences of the user of the first computer include demographic information of the user of the first computer.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a transaction server configured to store a purchasing history of the user of the first computer, said purchasing history including transactions made with and without offers.

18. A system for receiving an offer, comprising:

a first computer of a user configured (i) to receive a transmission message from a server, the transmission message including at least an offer for the purchase of goods or services that meets offer preferences of a user of the computer and (ii) to encode the offer with a first offer identifier corresponding to the user of the computer,

wherein the offer is further encoded with a second offer identifier corresponding to a user of a second computer when the offer is forwarded from the first computer to the second computer,

wherein upon redemption of the offer by a user of the second computer, the encoded first and second offer identifiers are decoded, and

wherein the user of the first computer and the user of the second computer are identified upon redemption of the offer by the user of the second computer and as a result of the decoding of the encoded first and second offer identifiers.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the offer is associated with a merchant and wherein the first computer is proximate to the merchant.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the offer preferences of the user of the first computer include designation based on the purchasing history of the user of the first computer.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the offer preferences of the user of the first computer include demographic information of the user of the first computer.