Coupons are used by consumers to save money on a variety of items, such as restaurants, groceries, clothing, and electronics. Coupons are delivered in many forms, such as newspaper inserts, direct mail, email, internet sites, mobile devices, and in-store circulars.
Non-limiting examples of the present disclosure are described in the following description, read with reference to the figures attached hereto and do not limit the scope of the claims. In the figures, identical and similar structures, elements or parts thereof that appear in more than one figure are generally labeled with the same or similar references in the figures in which they appear. Dimensions of components and features illustrated in the figures are chosen primarily for convenience and clarity of presentation and are not necessarily to scale. Referring to the attached figures:
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is illustrated by way of specific examples in which the present disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that other examples may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.
Coupons are physically delivered to consumers in mailings as, paper inserts, and via the internet through coupon websites and/or an electronic circular. The coupon process can be overwhelming to consumers due to the amount of time and content that is included with most coupon delivery methods. Moreover, use of the internet to search for coupons is time consuming and provides consumers with a large amount of content that may be difficult to filter. Oftentimes, consumers get frustrated with the coupon process since most coupons that are delivered via printed sources and the internet are not personalized to the individual consumer's shopping habits and interests.
In examples, a method, apparatus, and system to deliver a coupon are provided. In the method, a list of coupon options is provided via a coupon application. A coupon selection is determined from the list of coupon options based on the list of coupon options with at least one coupon option selected. The coupon is obtained based on the coupon selection.
As used herein, the terms “coupon” and “coupons” refer to an offer and/or discount for a good or service. For example, the coupon may be a discount for the grocery store, a department store, or a restaurant, such as a dollar amount off items or a price reduction by a specific percentage. The coupon may also be offers for a free item, such as a buy one get one free offer.
As used herein, the phrases “coupon option” and “coupon options” refer to a specific offer, a category of offers, and/or a questionnaire relating to consumer habits and/or interests.
As used herein, the phrase “coupon selection” refers to identification of the coupon option a user is interested in, such as the specific offer, the category of offers, and/or answers to the questionnaire.
As used herein, the terms “print,” “prints,” and “printing” include printing to a media, such as a sheet of paper, with a printing device and/or displaying on an electronic device, such as a mobile device and/or a computing device, e.g., as an email.
As used herein, the terms “scan,” “scans,” and “scanning” include electronically scanning a media, such as a sheet of paper, and scanning data from an electronic device, such as an electronic copy of a document from a computing device and/or mobile device or a message, i.e., email message.
The set of instructions to generate and/or provide a list of coupon options, determine a coupon selection from the list of coupon options with at least one coupon option selected, and obtain and/or generate the coupon based on the coupon selection. For example, the coupon device 12 may include a server, such as a cloud server. The coupon device 12 may further contain accounts for users. The user accounts may include user information in addition to coupon preferences. For example, a user may add preferences to the account by selecting the types of coupons to be included in the list of coupon options. The preferences may be manually entered initially and updated by the user manually over time and/or automatically updated and customized based on the coupon options selected by the user over time. The user may also schedule a time to deliver the coupons, for example, set-up a reoccurring delivery every Sunday at eight o'clock in the morning. The user may further set a delivery device, such as a printing device, a mobile phone and/or an email address to send the list of coupon options to.
The peripheral device 14 represents generally a peripheral device 14 and/or a combination of peripheral devices that is/are not part of the coupon device 12 and is more or less dependent on the coupon device 12. For example, the peripheral device 14 may expand the coupon device's 12 capabilities, while not forming part of the core architecture of the coupon device 12. As illustrated in
For example, the peripheral device 14 may be a multi-function printing and scanning device that prints the coupon selection based on the at least one coupon option selected. The peripheral device then scans the list of coupon options with at least one coupon option selected and transmits data relating to the at least one coupon option selected to the coupon device 12. The peripheral device 14 may provide the list of coupon options to a user by printing the list of coupon options onto a media, such as a sheet of paper. Alternatively, the peripheral device 14 may be a computing device and/or a mobile device that delivers the list of coupon options to at least one of an email address, a computing device, and a mobile device. The peripheral device 14 then electronically scans with a scanning device a physical copy of the coupon selection from the list of coupon options with the at least one coupon option selected and/or electronically scans a reply with the coupon selection from the at least one of the email address, the computing device, and the mobile device. The coupon is then delivered to a printing device, the email address, the computing device, and/or the mobile device based on the user preferences and/or application configuration.
A set of instructions may be stored in the data store 18. The data store 18 represents generally any memory configured to store data that can be accessed via the link 10, such as by the coupon device 12, the peripheral device 14 in the performance of its function. The coupon device 12 functionalities may be accomplished via the link 10 that connects the coupon device 12 to the data store 18 that stores, for example, the set of instructions that generate and/or provide a list of coupon options, determine a coupon selection from the list of coupon options with at least one coupon option selected, and obtain and/or generate the coupon based on the coupon selection. The data store 18 is physically located on the coupon device 12 and/or on a separate device connected to the coupon device 12 via the link 10, such as a database on a server, or a disc insertable into the coupon device 12.
Link 10 represents generally one or more of a cable, wireless, fiber optic, local, or remote connections via a telecommunication link, an infrared link, a radio frequency link, or any other connectors or systems that provide electronic communication. Link 10 may include, at least in part, an intranet, the Internet, or a combination of both. Link 10 may also include intermediate proxies, routers, switches, load balancers, and the like.
The coupon application 22 is coupled to a user interface that displays content from the coupon application 22 to a user and receives input from the user. The user interface may be a display on a peripheral device 14, a mobile device, and/or connected to the peripheral device 14 over a network, such as the link 10 of
Referring to
The memory 24 stores a set of instructions that are executed by the processor 26. The memory 24 may also store data resulting from the execution of the set of instructions, such as a list of coupon options, coupons, and coupon selections as discussed below. The processor 26 is coupled to the coupon application 22 and the memory 24, such that the execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor 26 to generate and/or provide a list of coupon options, determine a coupon selection from the list of coupon options with at least one coupon option selected, and obtain and/or generate the coupon based on the coupon selection. The obtained and/or generated coupon is then presented to a user via, for example, a printer, a mobile device, and/or an email message.
Referring to
The list engine 31 represents generally any combination of hardware and/or programming to generate and/or provide a list of coupon options that may be transmitted to the peripheral device 14, such as a printing device, to be printed. The decision engine 32 represents generally any combination of hardware and/or programming to determine a coupon selection from the list of coupon options with at least one coupon option selected. The coupon selection is received from a peripheral device 14, such as a mobile device and/or a scanning device that scans the list of coupon options with the at least one coupon option selected. The coupon engine 33 represents generally any combination of hardware and/or programming to obtain and/or generate the coupon based on the coupon selection. For example, the list engine 31, the decision engine 32, and coupon engine 33 may include the memory 24 and the processor 26, as illustrated and described in
As discussed with reference to
The printing device 34 represents generally a peripheral device 14 and/or a combination of peripheral devices 14. The printing device 34 represents a device that is not part of the coupon device 12 and is more or less dependent on the coupon device 12. For example, the printing device 34 may expand the coupon device's 12 capabilities, while not forming part of the core architecture of the coupon device 12. As illustrated in
The scanning device 35 represents generally a peripheral device 14 and/or a combination of peripheral devices. The scanning device 35 represents a device that is not part of the coupon device 12 and is more or less dependent on the coupon device 12. For example, the scanning device 35 may expand the coupon device's 12 capabilities, while not forming part of the core architecture of the coupon device 12. As illustrated in
The mobile device 36 represents generally a peripheral device 14 and/or a combination of peripheral devices 14. The mobile device 36 represents a device that is not part of the coupon device 12 and is more or less dependent on the coupon device 12. For example, the mobile device 36 may expand the coupon device's 12 capabilities, while not forming part of the core architecture of the coupon device 12. As illustrated in
The system 100 is illustrated to further include a user interface 37. The user interface 37 is connected to peripheral device, such as the printing device 34, the scanning device 35, and the mobile device 36. The user interface 37 displays content from the coupon device 12 to a user and receives input from the user.
The coupons 38 may be stored on a database, such as the data store 18 and/or separate databases. The coupons 38 may include a copy of the coupon and/or a link to the coupon that the coupon device 12 may access via the link 10. The data store 18 may also store a set of instructions 39 to deliver the coupon to the peripheral device 14, such as the printing device 34 and/or the mobile device 36, via the coupon device 12. The set of instructions 34 may be stored in a data store 18, such as a database external to the coupon device 12, a disc, and/or a data storage device on the coupon device 12, such as the memory 24.
Referring to
An interface 42 provides interactive functions to a user via the peripheral device 14. The interface 42 represents generally any interface connected to the peripheral device 14 and the cloud server 40.
The memory 24 is illustrated to include an operating system 44 and applications 45. The operating system 44 represents a collection of programs that when executed by the processor 26 serve as a platform on which applications 45 may run. Examples of operating systems 44 include various versions of Linux's Red Hat®, Microsoft's Windows®, Apple's Mac OS®, Apple's iOS® (trademark licensed from Cisco), and Google's Android™.
Applications 45 represent program instructions that when executed by the processor 26 functions as an application, such as coupon software that delivers a coupon to a peripheral device 14. The executable program instructions stored in memory 24 are illustrated as including a list module 46, a decision module 47, and a coupon module 48.
The list module 46 represents program instructions that when executed by a processor 26 cause the generation of a list of coupon options that may be transmitted to the peripheral device 14, such as a printing device 34 to be printed. The executable instructions stored in the list module 46 may include the set of instructions 39 from the database 18 (
The decision module 47 represents program instructions that when executed by a processor 26 cause the determination of a coupon selection from the list of coupon options with at least one coupon option selected. The coupon selection is received from a peripheral device 14, such as a mobile device 36 and/or a scanning device 35 that scans the list of coupon options with the at least one coupon option selected. The executable instructions stored in the decision module 47 may include the set of instructions 39 from the database 18 (
The coupon module 48 represents program instructions that when executed by a processor 26 cause the coupon device 12 to obtain the coupon based on the coupon selection and present the coupon to the user via, for example the printing device 34, a mobile device 36 and/or an email message enabled computing device. The executable instructions stored in the coupon module 48 may include the set of instructions 39 from the database 18 (
Referring to
In some examples, the program instructions may be part of software that can be executed by the processor 26 to perform a method using the system 100. The memory 24 may be a portable medium such as a CD, DVD, or flash drive or a memory maintained by a server from which the software can be downloaded and installed. In other examples, the program instructions may be part of an application or applications already installed, for example printer and scanner drivers installed on the coupon device 12. In further examples, the memory 24 may include integrated memory such as a hard drive.
An example of delivery of the coupon to a user via a cloud server system is illustrated with reference to
Block 52 of
The delivery of the list of coupon options 61 may be customized. For example, the list of coupon options 61 may be displayed, categorized and/or prioritized, using the preferences. As illustrated in
The printing of the list of coupon options may occur through various methods. For example, the user may select print 62 on a user interface 63 and/or an equivalent “button” of the printing device 34 and/or another peripheral device 14, such as a mobile device. Alternatively, the printing device 34 may automatically receive communications from the cloud server 40 providing the coupon service, such as a coupon device 12 connected to the peripheral device 14 via a link 10 in a cloud based computing system, as illustrated in
The user makes coupon selection(s) in block 53 of
The coupon selection is determined based on the scanning of the list of coupon options with at least one coupon option selected 64 or marked by the user. Referring to
Referring back to
The accounts 68 include a plurality of accounts and each account 68 should have at least one preference 69 set. The accounts 68 may also schedule automatic printing of the list of coupon options. The automatic printing may be scheduled by the user via the accounts 68 and/or preferences 69 settings. For example, the list of coupon options 61 may be printed each Sunday at eight o'clock in the morning.
Furthermore, the cloud server system provide the ability and experience for a user to not only upload/download and access content from a cloud server 40, but also allow the user to request information that is targeted to the user and does not have a one-to-one correlation with the request. The coupon service provided via the cloud server 40 evaluates the list of coupon options with at least one coupon option selected and the preferences to refine the list of coupon options provided to the user and categorize and prioritize the coupons presented on the media. This provides users with a simple list or menu of coupons to review that are targeted to the users preferences and shopping habits. This is an interactive experience that over time adapts and learns the types of coupons the user is looking for and provides options to learn and obtain coupons valuable to the user.
The method provides a list of coupon options via a coupon application in block 72. For example, the list of coupon options is provided via a printing device that prints a list of coupons on a sheet of media and/or displays the list of coupons on an electronic screen. The list of coupon options is generated using, for example, a coupon device that maintains and/or is connected to a database of coupons. The coupon device is connected to a printing device, accessible via a coupon application on a printing device user preferences, and enables creation of accounts that include account preferences. The account preferences may include scheduling a time to automatically print the list of coupon options.
A coupon selection is determined from the list of coupon options in block 74. The coupon selection is determined based on the list of coupon options with at least one coupon option selected. For example, the list of coupon options with the user marking thereon is electronically scanned using a scanning device. The scanning device communicates with the coupon application to transmit the coupon selection to the coupon device. In block 76, the coupon is presented based on the coupon selection. For example, the coupon device generates and/or obtains the coupon and presents the coupon to a user via a printing device and/or a mobile device.
Although the flow diagram of
Examples can be realized in any computer-readable media for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system such as a computer/processor based system or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or other system that can fetch or obtain the logic from computer-readable media and execute the instructions contained therein. “Computer-readable media” can be any media that can contain, store, or maintain programs and data for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system. Computer readable media can comprise any one of many physical media such as, for example, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, or semiconductor media. More specific examples of suitable computer-readable media include, but are not limited to, a portable magnetic computer diskette such as floppy diskettes or hard drives, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory, or a portable compact disc.
The present disclosure has been described using non-limiting detailed descriptions of examples thereof and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. It should be understood that features and/or operations described with respect to one example may be used with other examples and that not all examples of the present disclosure have all of the features and/or operations illustrated in a particular figure or described with respect to one of the examples. Variations of examples described will occur to persons of the art. Furthermore, the terms “comprise,” “include,” “have” and their conjugates, shall mean, when used in the present disclosure and/or claims, “including but not necessarily limited to.”
It is noted that some of the above described examples may include structure, acts or details of structures and acts that may not be essential to the present disclosure and are intended to be exemplary. Structure and acts described herein are replaceable by equivalents, which perform the same function, even if the structure or acts are different, as known in the art. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the elements and limitations as used in the claims.