Patent Application
20060074753
Conventional advertising has long targeted consumers via such media as radio, television, print media, billboards, home mailings, etc. With the advent of an increasingly digital era, a greater focus on consumer advertising via computer-accessible media has emerged. Targeted advertising to consumers who access various web-based sites via a home computer or other access station has developed into a viable and important form of promoting an advertiser's product(s) and/or service(s).
One example of known technology that relates to the advancing utilization of network-distributed advertising corresponds to “Superstitials” offered by Unicast Communications Corporation, which play ads over web pages within windows in a manner transparent to a user situated at a given browser. This is one of several forms of “interstitial” advertising, in which dead time on a modem is used to download advertisements that can be displayed during use of a browser. Additional exemplary details of such technology are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication U.S. 2003/0028565 (Landsman et al.).
Yet another notable feature employed by product/service providers to target consumers in a computer-networked environment concerns providing coupons to consumers for use in various retail environments. Several avenues currently exist by which a consumer can access and print secure, customized coupons from a networked database environment (e.g., via the Internet). Known exemplary online coupon providers include those developed by such entities as Coolsavings, Coupons Inc., and E-Centives.
When consumers print customized coupons in an online environment, they typically have to wait for the coupon to print before the printing process is completed (at which point they are often presented with a “thank you” message or screenshot informing the consumer that their coupons have printed.) During the coupon print time, known online coupon providers sometimes show the consumer standard displays such as a text-based image instructing the consumer to “Please Wait” or a graphical image of a computer and printer communicating.
Various features associated with some known coupon printing technologies can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,208 (Barnett et al.), which discloses a system for electronic distribution of product redemption coupons to remote personal computers in users' homes. A centrally located repository, such as an online service provider or Web site on the Internet, stores packages of coupon data for downloading on demand to the user's computer. The user may view, select, sort and print desired coupons from the downloaded package. The user's demographic as well as coupon selection data are provided back to the online service and coupon distributor and issuers for subsequent marketing analysis. The online service can perform subsequent coupon processing on previously downloaded coupon packages such as variation of discount amounts. The online service provider can also determine how many times a particular coupon was viewed. When the printed coupons are presented at a retail store, the discount is provided to the user. Barnett et al. also generally refers to advertisements that are associated with coupon information.
In an alternative coupon printing application such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,041 (Lemon et al.), a system with remotely located coupon printing stations is capable of limiting the number of coupons printed in a given time period. Each coupon station has a display for indicating the number of coupons printed in a given time period. Each coupon station has a display for indicating the available coupons, selections means to allow the consumer to choose the desired coupon, and a coupon printer. The system disables display of a particular coupon when a preselected coupon limit has been reached.
Yet another system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,224 concerns a closed-loop system which consists of a kiosk-type printer station located at a retail store. The kiosk is linked to manufacturer(s) in order to obtain specific coupon information. The consumer selects the desired coupon at the kiosk, and the coupon is printed and dispensed. The consumer presents the coupon at the register, where the discount is applied and the discount transaction data is transmitted back to the manufacturer.
Additional methods of providing customized coupons to customers are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. U.S. 2002/0087405 (Barnett et al.) and U.S. 2002/0198957 (Amjadi). PCT International Application Publication WO 99/35551 (Lyons et al.) discusses an incentive network equipped with methods for distributing incentives on a network-wide basis and for permitting user access to individual incentives from any network server.
All of the aforementioned patents and published patent application publications are hereby incorporated into this application for all purposes.
The aforementioned coupon and incentive provision technologies do not currently take advantage of the down time during which customized coupons are printed. More particularly, none of the aforementioned coupon providers apparently provide features for implementing interactive advertisement with the consumer during such time. As such, a need currently exists for a web-based system and method for providing and printing of secure customized coupons for a consumer while taking advantage of coupon print time to provide static or interactive advertisement options for the consumer.
Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
In general, aspects of the present invention are directed to a system and method for coupon provision that incorporates interstitial advertising specifically occurring during at least a portion of the coupon printing process. It is desired to take advantage of the coupon printing period of a coupon provision system and method when a consumer would otherwise be waiting to present them with advertisements that might provide additional benefits for both the consumer and advertiser.
It is a particular advantage in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention to present interstitial advertisements in the down time associated with a coupon printing process because of the potential for positive consumer reaction. Many consumers access coupon provision technologies looking for information or incentives for a particular product type or brand name. In such instances, interstitial advertisements offering additional information, rebates or incentives for the particular product or brand may be highly desired by the user. In some cases, a user would be much less prone to ignore such an advertisement in this type of environment than in other online or computer-based environments. This reaction is due to the fact that the consumers will have to wait anyways for their coupons to print, and they know that the advertisers they will see in such an interstitial advertisement are likely paying for the coupon provision service they are using.
Another advantage in accordance with certain embodiments of the invention is that a relatively large amount of versatility is afforded to the type of interstitial advertisements that may be implemented during coupon print time. Further, many of the advertising options are interactive displays or communications that require input from the user. This type of advertisement may offer the benefit of achieving increased user interest levels since it gets them involved on more than just a viewing level.
One embodiment of the present invention corresponds to a method for providing interstitial advertising during computer-enabled print time for a network-based coupon provider. A first exemplary step in such a method is to provide a coupon provision application via a network-accessible website interface. The coupon provision application provides features whereby a user can select various coupons for viewing, sorting, and ultimate printing. Input from a user then generates a trigger signal representative of the desired coupons for printing (e.g., a selection of total coupons or a command to print the selected coupons). Upon receipt of this trigger signal, the desired coupons are printed while an interstitial advertisement or interactive display is also implemented in a substantially simultaneous fashion. The interstitial advertisement may be terminated either automatically upon completion of the advertisement or upon user selection of a termination feature, at which point the printed coupons can be retrieved.
Yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention concerns a computer-based application for providing customized coupons selectable via a secure network interface and for displaying interstitial advertisements during coupon print time. The computer-based application includes a web-based interface, a signal generator and an application program. The web-based interface is accessible by a user via a secure network environment (e.g., the Internet) and provides a plurality of coupons from which the user selects a customized group for printing. The group can comprise one or more coupons. The signal generator then sends a trigger signal to an application program upon user instruction to print the selected group of coupons upon which the application program provides an interactive display to the user via the web-based interface. Implementation of the trigger signal by the signal generator may occur upon user actuation of a predetermined input sequence at a peripheral device coupled to the user's computer.
A still further exemplary embodiment of the present invention concerns an article of manufacture including a program storage medium (e.g., some combination of distributed or non-distributed volatile and/or non-volatile memory elements) readable by a computer having a memory. The program storage medium tangibly embodies one or more programs of instruction executable by the computer to perform method steps for providing interstitial advertising during printing of selected consumer coupons. The program implementation steps more particularly correspond to providing a coupon provision application via a network-accessible website interface, receiving input from a user representative of desired coupons for printing, and printing the desired coupons while in a substantially simultaneous time frame generating an interactive display for the user.
The interstitial advertisement or interactive communication displayed in the above exemplary embodiments may correspond to a variety of particular features, including but not limited to an interface for newsletter signup, an interactive survey or opinion poll, an interactive game with incentive prizes, a local information display, a static or rich media brand message or initiated web page, a music download offer with audio excerpt, and/or a screen saver with integrated sales or brand message.
Other features and aspects of the present invention are discussed in greater detail below.
The invention will now be described in detail with reference to particular embodiments thereof. The embodiments are provided by way of explanation of the invention, and are not meant as a limitation of the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. For example, features described or illustrated as part of one embodiment may be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention include these and other modifications and variations as come within the scope and spirit of the invention, including the appended claims and their equivalents.
As mentioned in the Background of the Invention section above, many known systems exist for providing coupons or incentives to a consumer either through the consumer's home computer or through designated kiosk or similar machines. Via these conventional coupon technologies, users are able to selectively choose desired coupons for viewing, sorting and ultimate printing for later discount use in a retail environment. After coupon selection by a user, some period of time often passes during which the selected coupons are being printed. During this coupon printing period, the system providing the coupons often shows a simple text or graphic to a user via a system display, examples of which are illustrated in
In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, it is desired to take advantage of the coupon printing period of a coupon provision system and method when a consumer would otherwise be waiting to present them with some sort of interstitial advertisement. An interstitial advertisement generally refers to an advertisement, often implemented in a computer-based environment, that is presented “in between” start and destination actions or viewing locations. It is a particular advantage to present such interstitial advertisements in the down time associated with a coupon printing process because of the potential for positive consumer reaction. Many consumers access coupon provision technologies looking for information or incentives for a particular product type or brand name. In such instances, interstitial advertisements offering additional information, rebates or incentives for the particular product or brand may be highly desired by the user. In some cases, a user would be much less prone to ignoring such an advertisement in this type of environment than in other online or computer-based environments. This reaction is due to the fact that the consumers will have to wait anyway for their coupons to print, and they know that the advertisers they will see in such an interstitial advertisement are likely paying for the coupon provision service they are using.
As such, aspects of the present invention are directed to a system and method for coupon provision that incorporates interstitial advertising specifically occurring during at least a portion of the coupon printing process. Referring now to
The coupon printing process can trigger substantially simultaneous implementation of many different types of interstitial advertisements. Exemplary types of advertisements are represented in the screen shot 40 of
Many of the above options are interactive displays or communications that require input from the user. This type of advertisement may offer the benefit of achieving increased user interest since it gets them involved on more than just a viewing level. It should be appreciated that in embodiments of the present invention where many options exist for the type of interstitial advertisement implemented during the coupon printing process, a user may select which type of communication they prefer so that subsequent visits to the given coupon provision application provide not only customized coupons but customized advertisements during printing of the selected coupons. For example, based on user selection, the user will always be offered an interactive game to play or local weather information during coupon print time.
Referring now to other aspects of the present invention,
Consumers 20 are in communication with a network 30, which may correspond to a dial-in network, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), public switched telephone network (PSTN), Internet, Intranet, Ethernet type networks and others. An interface to the coupon provision application 22 may be provided to consumers as a secure web page, other browser interface or visual display. Input peripheral devices 24 provided in association with consumer computers 20 linked to network 30 can be employed to enter a URL to access a secure web site. The URL request goes through the network to a router (not shown) where an advertiser server 32 determines the IP address to be used for the requested URL. A signal for creating a web page display is then routed back to the requester's computer. In some exemplary embodiments, advertiser server 32 and other hardware or software components coupled directly thereto may be associated with equipment operated by or per the instruction of product manufacturers seeking to provide advertising for their products and/or services. In other exemplary embodiments, such physical components may be utilized by third-party advertisers. In still further embodiments, components of a product manufacturer may be linked to those of a third-party advertiser to jointly implement desired advertising arrangements in accordance with the presently disclosed technology.
Advertiser server 32 is further configured to execute specific code or software included in coupon provision application 22. In one example, the code or software included as an integral part of coupon provision application 22 can be viewed as information stored in a program storage medium, such as but not limited to any combination of volatile memory (e.g., random access memory (RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, etc.) and nonvolatile memory (e.g., ROM, flash, hard drives, magnetic tapes, CDROM, DVDROM, etc.). The program storage medium is configured for reading and execution by a computer (e.g, advertiser server 32). The program storage medium embodying one or more programs of instruction executable by such computer may be located on an application database 34. Application database 34 may be provided on advertiser server 32 or on a separate dedicated server, and in addition to storing programs of instruction can store data associated with the demographics or user preferences of consumers accessing the subject coupon provision application. This type of information can be used to choose what type of interstitial advertisements to display to the user or to assist with subsequent analysis of user-provided input and information gathered during the coupon printing and simultaneous advertising process.
It should be appreciated that although exemplary features are described above with respect to
While the specification has been described in detail with respect to specific embodiments of the invention, it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art, upon attaining an understanding of the foregoing, may readily conceive of alterations to, variations of, and equivalents to these embodiments. These and other modifications and variations to the present invention may be practiced by those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, which is more particularly set forth in the appended claims. Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way of example only, and is not intended to limit the invention.
