Patent Application
20130325582
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to campaign reward systems, and more particularly to campaign reward systems that provide offers to users via their mobile devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the most common concerns for many businesses is the need to develop fresh ways to acquire new customers and to retain current customers. There are currently a number of campaign offers and reward programs in place across many different merchants and products that attempt to build customer loyalty and attract new consumers. These types of programs tend to reward consumers for shopping frequently for products at the sponsoring merchant and are usually tied to the overall basket spend, rather than purchasing specific products, and certainly not for buying specific products over multiple shopping trips.
Incentive campaign reward programs, in which incentive companies contract with sponsoring companies for programs to promote sales of the sponsoring companies' products or services, are well-known. Incentive campaign reward programs include discount coupon programs; customer loyalty programs, such as frequent flyer programs, and promotional games, such as sweepstakes prizes, scratch-and-win games, and the like, in which a sponsoring company's products or services are won by successful participation in the incentive campaign reward program.
Incentive campaign reward programs offer rewards and incentives to modify behavior of individual consumers and to direct the consumers to some pre-determined action, such as the purchase of products or services upon visiting a retailer site, viewing advertising, testing a product, or the like. Companies use rewards and incentives to increase awareness of product offerings, to launch new products, to attract the attention of a newly identified audience, to differentiate products to encourage certain behavior, to obtain information, and for other purposes.
Traditional incentive campaign offers and rewards systems suffer drawbacks in terms of campaign creation, budgeting, convenience of tracking data, changing promotions, return on investment, and the like. For example, for a consumer who participates in multiple incentive programs it may take time and effort to track his or her participation in each program. For example, time is required to keep track of loyalty points earned in each separate incentive program. Therefore, when a consumer receives an offer to participate in an incentive program, the consumer may decide against participating in it, not because the incentive program is not attractive, but because the cost to the consumer, in terms of the time and effort to tracking another incentive program, exceeds the expected benefit of the incentive program. Accordingly, a consumer need has arisen for a streamlined system and method for tracking consumer participation in a variety of incentive programs from different campaign sponsors.
A similar problem exists for sponsoring companies who wish to offer campaign promotions. The collective costs of creating incentive campaign rewards programs, administering the programs, tracking the participation of consumers in the incentive campaign reward programs and fulfilling the rewards or prizes won in such incentive programs may exceed the benefits of offering the incentive campaign rewards program. These costs may be particularly high in instances where the activities associated with an incentive program must be carried out by different companies, or by different organizations within the same company. In just one small example, a clerk at a participating merchant may violate the terms of a particular campaign and allow a consumer to receive rewards on more than the campaign designated. Furthermore, the sponsor of a campaign may find itself rewarding its least economically attractive customers who are deal-driven and not likely to be brand advocates or loyalists in the future. Accordingly, a need has arisen for a unified campaign offers and rewards system that provides for program generation and administration, data tracking and rewards fulfillment.
Existing incentive campaign offers and rewards programs do not meet the entire needs of both consumers and sponsors associated with incentive programs. One form of incentive campaign rewards program that is used extensively is that of promotional mailings. The processing of promotions, i.e., providing the appropriate check or discount coupon to the customer as a reward for the initial purchase, involves high volume and labor intensive activity, including collection, verification and organization of initial proofs of purchase and related information, preparation of the checks, coupons or other items using preprinted stock provided by the sponsor in connection with the particular promotion, and finally the sorting of individual items based on their mailing destinations.
At any given time, a typical provider of promotion services is involved with many different promotions of various sponsoring manufacturers. Preprinted forms, when provided by different sponsors, can vary in size and shape, thus creating the need to handle individual promotions separately. This increases handling expense, not only in added labor, but also in the mailing cost, as it is difficult with a single promotion to accumulate a volume of items sufficient to qualify for certain reduced postage rates, e.g. the reduced rate available for mail presorted by zip code of the destination. Manual recombination and sorting of items for multiple promotions would be prohibitively expensive.
Another form of a promotional program is coupon distribution and redemption. Many problems exist with the traditional coupon distribution and redemption system. For example, few consumers go through all the steps necessary to redeem coupons, and the consumers who do go to the trouble of redeeming coupons are disproportionately extremely price-sensitive and adept at extracting maximum value from incentive programs, often combining multiple coupons and store coupons to receive products at little to no out of pocket cost, making their redemptions a money-losing proposition for the product's manufacturer and limiting the effectiveness of the overall campaign. Additionally, many more attractive consumers forget to bring coupons that they have clipped and saved to the store, while even more disregard the coupons completely. Thus, reluctance by a “typical” consumer or a “desirable” consumer to take all necessary steps partially defeats the manufacturer's purpose for offering the purchase incentive in the first place. A manufacturer distributes coupons with the expectation that the coupons will induce sales of its product by offering a discount. However, when the coupon is forgotten or disregarded, the consumer is usually not aware of the incentive when he is selecting a product among different brands at the retailer store.
A further problem with traditional coupon redemption systems is verification. Because the verification of redemption conditions is performed by a check-out clerk using point of sale (POS) systems, sometimes the programming of the POS systems do not properly enforce a campaign's rules. As a result, campaigns are oftentimes overcharged for offers without the benefit of the required purchase.
The introduction of the digital computer and the computer network eliminates some of the inconveniences of conventional incentive campaign rewards programs, particularly those that relate to data tracking and manipulation. The digital computer is a powerful data processing tool that allows a user to organize, store and analyze data at volumes and rates that would be impossible by any prior known techniques.
Computers have been used in connection with incentive campaign rewards programs and other programs that have characteristics in common with incentive programs, but known computer incentive programs address some, but not all of the drawbacks of traditional promotions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,955 to Peach et al. discloses an improved process of printing and assembling coupons. Peach et al. discloses a computer-based system for merging certain information for various promotions, so that a single stream of data can be used as a source for printing and mailing coupons for multiple promotions. Thus, the system of Peach et al. reduces some of the paperwork associated with single-promotion systems, but it merely mitigates, rather than solves, the problems inherent in paper-based promotions.
Computer-based promotional games are also known. Such games include scratch-and-win games, treasure hunts, video pinball and the like. Such incentive programs have advantages over paper promotions, in that data regarding participation is easily stored and manipulated. However, existing incentive campaign reward programs do not solve all consumer and sponsor needs. In particular, such promotional games do not assist consumers in tracking participation in multiple promotions and do not assist sponsors in generating incentive programs, tracking participation in incentive programs and fulfilling rewards and prizes.
Computer-based systems exist for tracking some aspects of consumer participation in incentive programs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,019 to Schultz et al. discloses an automated purchase reward accounting system and method. In particular, Schultz et al. discloses a marketing method for providing manufacturer purchase reward offers by automatically tracking the purchases of member consumers through the use of bar-coded membership cards and using the purchase records in a data processing system to determine if the required purchases have been made to earn a reward. Each member consumer receives a reward booklet disclosing the available reward offers, a periodic status report indicating the member consumer's progress toward earning rewards, and a reward certificate for those rewards earned. The card-based system of Schultz takes advantage of certain data processing capabilities of computer systems and certain data storage capabilities of electronic card technologies; however, among other drawbacks, the system of Schultz does not address the need for a system that assists sponsor companies in generating incentive programs, in tracking participation of consumers in multiple incentive programs, or in fulfilling rewards.
The computer network offers the possibility of improved systems for offering incentive programs and for tracking participation in an incentive program. By linking together several computers and by providing shared resources and cross-platform communications, the computer network provides improved access to sophisticated applications by users at remote locations.
One of the most widely accepted and heavily used networks is the Internet. The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks formed into a single world-wide network. A user, through the Internet, can interactively transmit messages with users in different countries. Similarly, a user in the U.S. connected to files and libraries and other jurisdictions such as Europe and Asia can download files for personal use. Accordingly, the Internet computer network provides strong communications functions similar to the communications functions provided by ham radio operators. Moreover, the Internet computer network acts like a universal library, providing electronic access to resources and information available from Internet sites throughout the world.
Various systems and methods are known which permit a sponsor to track data of multiple parties in databases and to update information in the databases based on transactions entered into by the parties to the transactions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,625 to Fraser discloses an interactive computer system to match buyers and sellers of real estate using the Internet. Similarly, banks, credit card companies, and other financial institutions have developed computer-based systems that track client account information and update the information upon entry of various transactions. Some such systems involve use of electronic cards and operate over computer networks. Such systems have requirements peculiar to their respective industries, and none of the existing systems address all of the problems inherent in known incentive programs, particularly the problem of the need for an incentive program system that conveniently tracks participation while offering automated generation of incentive campaign reward programs and automated fulfillment of rewards won in incentive programs.
Computer incentive campaign reward programs are offered on the Internet; however, such systems are generally offered by a single sponsor and are generally limited to offering consumers the ability to participate in incentive programs. Known campaign offers and rewards systems do not offer sponsors the ability to conveniently generate incentive programs, to track participation of consumers in multiple incentive programs, or to provide for automated fulfillment of rewards.
Another important drawback of known computer incentive campaign rewards program systems is that the obligation to fulfill the rewards promised in a promotional campaign is often a logistically difficult and expensive task. The coordination of delivering or arranging for the retrieval of the rewards for the specified winner, in volumes that permit successful incentive programs, requires coordination of prize inventory, systems and information.
There are numerous problems with current incentive campaign offers and rewards programs. The consumers who receive and redeem offers, such as coupons, may not have the purchasing characteristics to make the incentive, provided by the offer, efficient for the campaign sponsor. When an offer, i.e., coupon, is distributed to a large population, and not tied to a specific individual, the number of coupon redemptions is not known at the time of creation and distribution. There is a great deal of uncertainty in determining the redemption rate of that offer (i.e., coupon), and the associated costs to merchants or product producers, e.g. the campaigner. Current campaign rewards programs do not provide the campaigner with certainty about how much of a campaign will be redeemed. Another problem with campaign reward programs and systems is that they do not look at the state of a campaign budget and make a decision as to whether it makes sense to give a proposed recipient the offer. Yet another problem is that campaign reward programs of today do not have a cross-retailer shopper's purchaser history and the campaign sponsor offer requirements, e.g. the budget of the campaign. Still a further problem of campaign reward programs is that there is a lack of control of the offer redemption mechanism. Yet another problem with campaign offers and rewards systems is that there is no convenient way to run multiple offers concurrently and target offers and specific consumer segments.
Conventional systems and methods are inefficient, and are prone to consumer fraud, miss-redemptions, and mishandling of coupons by retailer and clearinghouse employees. The settlement usually results in account receivable record that is not cleared until weeks after the expiration date of the paper coupon.
A system implementing digital distribution, validation, redemption and clearing of promotional offers has a significant potential to reduce costs, improve manufacturers' and retailers' operational efficiencies, and provide them with instant insight into the promotional campaigns. However, despite great potential, digital promotional offers require changes to multiple IT systems of retailers and manufacturers. Many of these are a result of requirement that a process implementing promotional offers must implement measures that ensure offer validity, and uniqueness.
There is a need for an improved campaign offer system. There is a further need for a campaign offer system that provides offers to users via their mobile devices. There is a further need for a campaign offer system with a retailer gateway in communication with one or more retailer checkout systems. There is a further need for a campaign offer system with a retailer gateway that communicates with one or more retailer checkout systems via existing retailer checkout system peripheral device communication protocols, without a need to modify the communications protocols or modify a retailer checkout system software code.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a campaign offer system that provides for distribution, redemption and clearing of the offer.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a campaign offer system with a retailer gateway that emulates retailer checkout system peripheral devices.
According, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved campaign offer system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a campaign offer system that provides offers to users via their mobile devices.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a campaign offer system with a retailer gateway in communication with one or more retailer checkout systems.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a campaign offer system with a retailer gateway that communicates with one or more retailer checkout systems via existing retailer checkout system peripheral device communication protocols without a need to modify the communications protocols or modify a retailer checkout system software code.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a campaign offer system that provides for distribution, redemption and clearing of the offer.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a campaign offer system with a retailer gateway that emulates retailer checkout system peripheral devices.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved in, a campaign offer system for providing an offer to a user with a mobile device. A service provider includes one or more servers with engines and attached storage. The service provider is configured to be in communication with a mobile application of the mobile device. A retailer gateway is in communication with a retailer checkout system. The retailer gateway is in communication with the service provider. The retailer gateway communicates with a retailer checkout system via existing retailer checkout system peripheral device communication protocols without a need to modify the communications protocols or modify a retailer checkout system software code. The mobile application and retailer gateway communicate with the server-based engine to provide for distribution, redemption and clearing of the offer.
As used herein, the term “engine” refers to software, firmware, hardware, or other component that is used to effectuate a purpose. The engine will typically include software instructions that are stored in non-volatile memory (also referred to as secondary memory). When the software instructions are executed, at least a subset of the software instructions is loaded into memory (also referred to as primary memory) by a processor. The processor then executes the software instructions in memory. The processor may be a shared processor, a dedicated processor, or a combination of shared or dedicated processors. A typical program will include calls to hardware components (such as I/O devices), which typically requires the execution of drivers. The drivers may or may not be considered part of the engine, but the distinction is not critical.
As used herein, the term “computer” is a general purpose device that can be programmed to carry out a finite set of arithmetic or logical operations. Since a sequence of operations can be readily changed, the computer can solve more than one kind of problem. A computer can include of at least one processing element, typically a central processing unit (CPU) and some form of memory. The processing element carries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a sequencing and control unit that can change the order of operations based on stored information. Peripheral devices allow information to be retrieved from an external source, and the result of operations saved and retrieved.
As used herein, the term “computer program” or just a program, is a sequence of instructions, written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute the instructions. The same program in its human-readable source code form, from which executable programs are derived (e.g., compiled), enables a programmer to study and develop its algorithms. A collection of computer programs and related data is referred to as the software. Source code is written in a programming language that usually follows one of two main paradigms: imperative or declarative programming. Source code may be converted into an executable file (sometimes called an executable program or a binary) by a compiler and later executed by a central processing unit. Alternatively, computer programs may be executed with the aid of an interpreter, or may be embedded directly into hardware. Computer programs can be categorized along functional lines: system software and application software. Two or more computer programs may run simultaneously on one computer from the perspective of the user, a process known as multitasking.
As used herein, the term “Internet” is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email. The communications infrastructure of the Internet consists of its hardware components and a system of software layers that control various aspects of the architecture.
As used herein, the term “extranet” is a computer network that allows controlled access from the outside. An extranet can be an extension of an organization's intranet that is extended to users outside the organization that can be partners, vendors, and suppliers, in isolation from all other Internet users. An extranet can be an intranet mapped onto the public Internet or some other transmission system not accessible to the general public, but managed by more than one company's administrator(s). Examples of extranet-style networks include but are not limited to:
As used herein, the term “Intranet” is a network that is owned by a single organization that controls its security policies and network management. Examples of intranets include but are not limited to:
For purposes of the present invention, the Internet, extranets and intranets collectively are referred to as (“Network Systems”).
As used herein, the term “network protocol” defines rules and conventions for communication between network devices. Protocols for computer networking all generally use packet switching techniques to send and receive messages in the form of packets. Network protocols include mechanisms for devices to identify and make connections with each other, as well as formatting rules that specify how data is packaged into messages sent and received. Some protocols also support message acknowledgement and data compression designed for reliable and/or high-performance network communication. Hundreds of different computer network protocols have been developed each designed for specific purposes and environments.
As used herein the term “wireless communication” means all procedures and forms of connecting and communicating between two or more devices using a wireless signal through wireless communication technologies and devices. Wireless communication generally works through electromagnetic signals that are broadcast by an enabled device within the air, physical environment or atmosphere. The sending device can be a sender or an intermediate device with the ability to propagate wireless signals. The communication between two devices occurs when the destination or receiving intermediate device captures these signals, creating a wireless communication bridge between the sender and receiver device. Wireless communication has various forms, technology and delivery methods including: satellite, mobile wireless network, infrared, Bluetooth® and the like.
As used herein, the term “database” is used broadly to include any known or convenient means for storing data, whether centralized or distributed, relational or otherwise.
As used herein, the term “mobile device” includes but is not limited to, a cell phone, such as Apple's® iPhone®, other portable electronic devices, such as Apple's ®iPod®Touches, Apple's® iPods®, and mobile devices based on the Google ®Android® operating system, and any other portable electronic device that includes software, firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof that is capable of at least receiving the signal, decoding if needed, exchanging information with a transaction server to verify the buyer and/or seller's account information, conducting the transaction, and generating a receipt. Typical components of a mobile device may include but are not limited to persistent memories like flash ROM, random access memory like SRAM, a camera, a battery, LCD driver, a display, a cellular antenna, a speaker, a Bluetooth® circuit, and WIFI circuitry, where the persistent memory may contain programs, applications, and/or an operating system for the mobile device.
As used herein, “Offer” is defined as containing a product(s) name, product(s) image, product(s) copy, reward value, reward limit, time period, and terms.
As used herein, “Redeem” or “Redemption” is a campaign reward that is compensation for the successful completion of the offer, either financial or non-financial remuneration.
As used herein, “Advertiser” is defined as an entity, or an agent for the entity, paying for the redemption authorizing the offers.
As used herein, “User” is defined as a consumer who purchases products or services, submits receipts, views offers, and/or receives rewards.
Referring to
Referring now to
The communication device 24 can be used to communicate instructions, service requests and the like from an advertiser 68. The offer manager 20 uses these instructions, and the like, to create and modify offers by modifying records in the database 16. The records can include a product identifier. In one embodiment, the product identifier includes at least one of, a UPC code, an EAN codes and a PLU.
Acting on the service requests by a user 30 using the mobile application 32 running on the user's mobile device 18, and the offer information stored in the database 16, the offer distributor 28 sends available offers to the user 30 via the mobile application 32.
In one embodiment, the user 30, using the mobile application 32, provides offer distributor 28 details selected from at least one of, a user 30 identifier, user 30 preferences, location information, and in response the offer distributor 28 responds with the list of offers for which the user 30 is eligible, as illustrated in the offer distribution flowchart of
In one embodiment, the user 30 instructs the mobile application 32 to save a specific offer, which causes the mobile application 32 to communicate with the offer distributor 28. The communication with the offer distributor generates a unique offer instance and makes a record linking the offer instance with a user 30 identifier, as illustrated in the offer issue flowchart of
In one embodiment, the user 30 instructs the mobile application 32 to redeem one or more previously saved offers by acquiring a retailer checkout system location identifier (token). The mobile application 32 then communicates the token to the offer redeemer 34. The offer redeemer 34 communicates with the retailer gateway 38 that is identified by the token.
Referring back to
In one embodiment, the user 30 instructs the mobile application 32 to redeem one or more previously saved offers by acquiring a retailer checkout system location identifier (token). The mobile application 32 then sends the redemption service request including the token to the offer redeemer 34. The offer redeemer 34 communicates with the retailer gateway 38 that is identified by the token.
In one embodiment, the offer redeemer 34 receives service requests including current transaction information from the retailer gateway 38.
The offer redeemer 34, (i) receives current transaction information from the retailer gateway 38, (ii) receives offer redemption requests containing information identifying the user 30 and a retailer checkout system identifying information from the mobile application 32, (iii) matches offer redemption requests against current transaction data by querying the database 16, (iv) sends offer redemption data requests for matched offer instances, including but not limited to a discount amount corresponding to an offer, to the retailer gateway 38, (v) receives a complete transaction record from retailer gateway 38, and (vi) performs clearing of offer redemptions by making the record containing the information identifying redeemed offer instances and completed transaction information in the database 16, as illustrated in the offer redemption flowchart of
Referring back to
Referring to
Retailer gateway 38 includes a processing unit 42 equipped with peripheral communication ports 44 emulating line item capturing protocol, including but not limited to, UPOS Fiscal Printer protocol, LAN Capture protocol, UPOS Line Item Display protocol, and the like. Processing unit 42 includes communication ports 46 emulating item scanning protocol, which as a non-limiting example, can be UPOS Barcode Scanner Protocol and the like. Retailer gateway 38 communicates via Network Systems 60 to the service provider 12.
Retailer gateway 38 is in communication with a retailer checkout system 48, which as a non-limiting example can be a POS system 48 containing a store controller server 50 and a plurality of POS lane registers 52, each equipped with peripheral communication ports, 54 that implement line item capturing protocol, including but not limited to, UPOS Fiscal Printer protocol, LAN Capture protocol, UPOS Line Item Display protocol, and the like. Peripheral communications ports 56 implement item scanning protocol, such as UPOS Barcode Scanner Protocol and the like.
It will be appreciated that the ports 42, 4454 and 56 can be separate entities, different USB ports and can use the same cable, or logical ports.
In one embodiment, processing unit 42 can be a driver.
In another embodiment, processing unit 42 can be an OPOS service object, an OPOS control object, or a combination thereof.
The retailer gateway 38 emulates a plurality of retailer checkout system peripheral devices to retrieve and inject in real time line items associated with an open retailer transaction.
In one embodiment, the retailer checkout system 48 emulates a peripheral barcode scanner device to inject offer line items. In another embodiment, the retailer checkout system 48 emulates a peripheral payment terminal device to inject payment line item. In one embodiment, the retailer gateway 38 is two or more processing units 42 in communication with each other. The processing units 42 can be physical microprocessor-based devices with physical communication ports.
In another embodiment, the processing units 42 are logical devices that share processing hardware with one of the components of the retailer checkout system 48.
In one embodiment, in response to the communication of details by the retailer gateway 38, the offer redeemer 34 matches offer instances in database 16 that are associated with a user ID against transaction details. The transaction details can be basket line items, and the offer redeemer 34 passes offer instances to the retailer gateway 38. The retailer gateway 38 communicates to the retailer checkout system 48, and in response the retailer checkout system 48 reduces an amount due by an amount equal to a save value of the offers.
The retailer gateway 38 then communicates to the service provider 12 results of a closing of a transaction. In one embodiment, the system 10 performs real time clearing of offer redemption.
The foregoing description of various embodiments of the claimed subject matter has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the claimed subject matter to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to the practitioner skilled in the art. Particularly, while the concept “component” is used in the embodiments of the systems and methods described above, it will be evident that such concept can be interchangeably used with equivalent concepts such as, class, method, type, interface, module, object model, and other suitable concepts. Embodiments were chosen and described in order to best describe the principles of the invention and its practical application, thereby enabling others skilled in the relevant art to understand the claimed subject matter, the various embodiments and with various modifications that are suited to the particular use contemplated.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 13/041,374 filed Jun. 6, 2012 and Ser. No. 13/015,547 filed Jul. 28, 2011, which is a non-provisional of U.S. 61/298,695 filed Jan. 27, 2010, and U.S. 61/697,275 filed Sep. 5, 2012, all of which applications are fully incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61298695 | Jan 2010 | US | |
| 61697275 | Sep 2012 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13041374 | Mar 2011 | US |
| Child | 13953468 | US | |
| Parent | 13015547 | Jan 2011 | US |
| Child | 13041374 | US |
