Patent Application
20080228568
Today, a typical purchase, which involves coupons, would include a customer clipping coupons at home, taking the coupons to the store, and selection of products for check out at a cashier station or point of sale (POS) terminal. Coupons are then redeemed by merchants via settlement thereof through clearing houses and submittal to coupon issuers.
In general, consumers receive coupons through a variety of channels such as: mailings, newspapers, showings on the product itself, or printed at a retail outlet. Moreover, newspapers and leaflets of coupons mailed or delivered to residences of customers still remains the most common channel for delivering coupons to customers. Such printed coupons are presented at the checkout station to obtain a discount on a product. The paper coupons are collected at the POS by the retailer and then sent to a clearinghouse, which in turn separates the coupons and bills respective coupon issuer for reimbursement of the retailer.
Such system has proven itself to cause problems for both customers and retailers. For example, customers have to manually clip desired coupons and sort them by product categories (e.g., detergents, canned foods, cereals, frozen foods, toiletries, and the like) to efficiently find products when shopping at the store. Furthermore, customers have to periodically examine their collection of coupons and discard expired ones. Moreover, retailers also have to expend considerable hours and resources to sort through coupons by manufacturer for redemption, and monitor expired coupons at the checkout station.
Typically, coupons that are collected by a retailer are passed through a clearinghouse for assortment. Such clearinghouse can subsequently pay retailers cash for estimated value of the coupons, wherein a difference between the estimated and actual amount can later be credited or debited. Nevertheless, retailers are still required to monitor for expired coupons and handle coupon collection and submittal to the clearinghouse for payment.
Another problem of such paper coupon system is misredemption. For example, misredemption can occur when a consumer employs a coupon without purchasing an item associated therewith. Likewise, checkout clerks can inappropriately exploit such paper coupon system by interchanging coupons and cash. Misredemption of coupons is estimated to be as high as 20%-30%.
At a high level, conventional advertising techniques typically employ mass media (e.g., television and radio) and heavily traveled areas such as major highways as principal means for reaching large numbers of viewers and listeners with the hope that he or she will see the advertisement (e.g., in the form of billboards or television commercials) and make a purchase. However, such techniques are limited, since the advertisement has to be created to reach a broad spectrum of potential customers.
The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the claimed subject matter. This summary is not an extensive overview. It is not intended to identify key/critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claimed subject matter. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The subject innovation supplies associations between advertisements—and—relevance of coupons for customers; via an advertisement system that dispenses coupons upon customer request. The advertisement system includes a presentation component (which presents advertisement to customers); a contextualization component (which analyzes context of purchase related to user activities such as location, profile, and basket of the customer), and a dispenser component (which dispenses coupons, e.g., printing paper coupons or electronic transmittal, based on customer initiation such as pressing a button, for example). Based on contextual information, one or more advertisements can then be selected for display to the customer or group of customers. Moreover, third party advertisers can dynamically update and convey advertisements in real time within traditional retail brick-and-mortar establishments, wherein each ad packet can be customized per potential customer to increase likelihood purchase.
Accordingly, the customer is empowered to interact with the advertising system, and the coupons obtained are considered desirable by the customer (e.g., non-spam). Moreover, since such coupon dispensing is voluntary (e.g., initiated by the customer), data related to “non-usage” of the obtained coupon becomes a valuable marketing criteria.
In a related methodology, contextual relevance of coupons for customers can be increased by tying coupon delivery to advertisement. Initially, an advertisement can be presented to a user. Such presentation can be based on a context analysis for such customer (e.g., presence of a user in predetermined locations, basket, demographics, and the like). Subsequently, the user can be empowered to obtain a coupon related to the displayed advertisement. Upon the user requesting the coupon (e.g., paper, electronic coupon), the system can supply the coupon thereto (e.g., print paper coupon, transmit electronic data to a portable computing unit that is carried by the customer, deposit coupon to customer's coupon wallet/account such as an online account or a customer's account with the merchant).
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the claimed subject matter are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative of various ways in which the subject matter may be practiced, all of which are intended to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Other advantages and novel features may become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings.
The various aspects of the subject innovation are now described with reference to the annexed drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like or corresponding elements throughout. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description relating thereto are not intended to limit the claimed subject matter to the particular form disclosed. Rather, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter.
Accordingly, the customer is empowered to interact with the advertising system 100, and voluntarily obtain coupons that are considered desirable by such customer (e.g., not a spam). Since obtaining such coupon is intentional and favored by the customer (e.g., initiated by the customer), data related to “non-usage” (and after obtaining the coupon) becomes a valuable marketing criteria. For example, success (or failure) of advertising can be measured by comparing a “coupon-request”, rate to the actual “non usage” rate for such requested coupon.
The presentation component 110 can include various devices and software that facilitate the input and output (I/O) of information (e.g., speakers, microphones, displays, keyboards, input devices, and wireless interfaces for wireless devices used by the customers). Moreover, the presentation component 110 can further incorporate: a display unit 112 (e.g., LCD-liquid crystal display and/or plasma displays) for presenting one or more advertisements; an audio I/O system such as speakers and microphones for receiving customer speech or other speech or audio signals, and speakers for outputting audio signals associated with the advertisements or other information desired to be presented, or a combination thereof.
For example, the retail establishment can have multiple displays positioned at predetermined locations of stores, wherein customers are likely be able to see and/or hear presented advertisement tied to the coupons. The predetermined locations can include spaces that optimize a visibility likelihood for advertisements, such as ends of aisles, product shelves, entrances and exits, checkout counters, and the like. The presentation component 110 can further employ multiple presentation systems that are mounted throughout the establishment, and include wired and/or wireless systems to facilitate relocation. It is to be appreciated that the subject innovation is not so limited and the presentation system can also encompass advertising scenarios, such as displaying advertisements on display screen of a smart mobile devices carried by customers; displaying advertisement on a display mountable to a shopping cart employed by customers, and the like. Upon viewing a desired advertisement on the display screen, the user can request a coupon related to the advertised product or service.
The customers 127 can view advertisement over the presentation component 110. Such advertisement can be displayed to the customers 127 based on a context analysis for the customer (e.g., activities of customers such as presence of a user in a predetermined locations, items selected in electronic basket, other demographics, and the like). Accordingly, the customers 127 can be empowered to interact with the advertising system 100, and obtain a coupon related the displayed advertisement. Upon the user requesting the coupon (e.g., paper, electronic coupon), the system 100 can supply the coupon thereto (e.g., print paper coupon, transmit electronic data to a portable computing device 131.
For example, location data can be obtained automatically via geographic location technologies, such as global positioning system, tracking information for shopping carts and mobile units carried by the customer, for example. Likewise, profile input 220 can be collected from prior user interaction with the web, e.g.,—prior user's search, the topic(s) of the search, the websites visited, pages visited on each website, and if a purchase was made, what was purchased, how the transaction was conducted, modes and delivery times, and the like.
Similarly, the basket data component 230 can employ current shopping behavior and/or interaction information that is accumulated based on user activity while in the retail establishment. Additionally, combination of web-based user activity and shopping activity while in the establishment can be analyzed and processed to select the desired advertisements and to present the ads to the user via the display component and/or other types of multimedia presentation systems when the user is detected in close proximity thereto. The model can also include information related to the user's preferences to brand, brand loyalty, pricing, and regularities in product purchases, for example.
Accordingly, based in part on analysis of the contextualization component 200 the advertisement data store 208 can be accessed to retrieve advertisements for presentation to the customer. In addition, remote or third-party advertisers can dynamically update and download advertisements for presentation to customers. Moreover, each advertisement packet can be tied to a coupon associated therewith, wherein the customer is empowered to interact with the advertising system, and obtain coupons that are considered desirable by the customer (e.g., non-spam).
For example, showing an advertisement for “bread” in a display located in an airport terminal is less likely to draw attention, then showing the same advertisement in a grocery store. Next, and at 320, relevant advertisement for display can be selected based on location of the display. Subsequently and at 330, the advertisement and a coupon for purchase thereof are displayed to the customer. At 340, a customer request for obtaining the coupon is received, and at 350, the coupon is delivered to the customer. Accordingly, the customer is empowered to interact with the advertising system, and the coupons obtained are considered desirable by the customer (e.g., non-spam). Moreover, since such coupon dispensing is voluntary (e.g., initiated by the customer), data related to “non-usage” of the obtained coupon becomes a valuable marketing criteria.
The advertising component 504 can select an advertisements stored in the advertisements data store 506. The selected advertisement can have a format that includes audio content, a still image content, video content, textual content, or any combination thereof. Selection of the format of the content can be based on the analysis of the contextualization component 515, and the learning and reasoning component 510. A coupon dispenser component (not shown) can then dispense the coupons based on customer initiation (e.g., pressing a button), and hence the dispensed coupons are considered desirable by such customer (e.g., not a spam).
Hence, the advertising system 500 can display ads with a high probability of successful redemption of associated coupons related thereto. For example, a process for determining which advertisement to select based on the user profile can be facilitated via an automatic classifier system and process. Moreover, where the data store 506 of advertisements can be distributed over several locations, wherein the classifier is employed to determine which data store location will be selected for advertisements.
A classifier is a function that maps an input attribute vector, x=(x1, x2, x3, x4, xn), to a class label class(x). The classifier can also output a confidence that the input belongs to a class, that is, f(x)=confidence(class(x)). Such classification can employ a probabilistic and/or other statistical analysis (e.g., one factoring into the analysis utilities and costs to maximize the expected value to one or more people) to prognose or infer an action that a user desires to be automatically performed.
As used herein, terms “to infer” and “inference” refer generally to the process of reasoning about or inferring states of the system, environment, and/or user from a set of observations as captured via events and/or data. Inference can be employed to identify a specific context or action, or can generate a probability distribution over states, for example. The inference can be probabilistic that is, the computation of a probability distribution over states of interest based on a consideration of data and events. Inference can also refer to techniques employed for composing higher-level events from a set of events and/or data. Such inference results in the construction of new events or actions from a set of observed events and/or stored event data, whether or not the events are correlated in close temporal proximity, and whether the events and data come from one or several event and data sources.
A support vector machine (SVM) is an example of a classifier that can be employed. The SVM operates by finding a hypersurface in the space of possible inputs that splits the triggering input events from the non-triggering events in an optimal way. Intuitively, this makes the classification correct for testing data that is near, but not identical to training data. Other directed and undirected model classification approaches include, for example, naive Bayes, Bayesian networks, decision trees, neural networks, fuzzy logic models, and probabilistic classification models providing different patterns of independence can be employed. Classification as used herein also is inclusive of statistical regression that is utilized to develop models of ranking or priority.
As will be readily appreciated from the subject specification, the subject innovation can employ classifiers that are explicitly trained (e.g., via a generic training data) as well as implicitly trained (e.g., via observing user behavior, receiving extrinsic information). For example, SVM's are configured via a learning or training phase within a classifier constructor and feature selection module. Thus, the classifier(s) can be employed to automatically learn and perform a number of functions according to predetermined criteria.
Moreover, the online storage component 610 can function as an online service, wherein users (e.g., consumers) can register therewith to store their coupons therein. Accordingly, the online storage component 610 can aggregate coupons collected from the advertising system (e.g., paper coupons, electronic coupons) therein—via submission thru the internet 630. Such service can organize collected coupons, facilitate a search thereof, and mange redemption and access to the collected coupons. During a purchase transaction, users redeem coupons that are related to the purchase via an identification process, wherein the terminal 625 receives such coupons and can apply them to the user's shopping basket at checkout. Items in basket of the consumer can be matched with coupons stored for each respective client storage 611, 613, 615 and rules relating thereto (e.g., discourage using the coupons for the same identical transaction.)
As used in herein, the terms “component,” “system” and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software or software in execution. For example, a component can be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an instance, an executable, a thread of execution, a program and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computer and the computer can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers.
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Similarly, examples are provided herein solely for purposes of clarity and understanding and are not meant to limit the subject innovation or portion thereof in any manner. It is to be appreciated that a myriad of additional or alternate examples could have been presented, but have been omitted for purposes of brevity.
Furthermore, all or portions of the subject innovation can be implemented as a system, method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosed innovation. For example, computer readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips . . . ), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD) . . . ), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive . . . ). Additionally it should be appreciated that a carrier wave can be employed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as those used in transmitting and receiving electronic mail or in accessing a network such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN). Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the claimed subject matter.
In order to provide a context for the various aspects of the disclosed subject matter,
With reference to
The system bus 918 can be any of several types of bus structure(s) including the memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus or external bus, and/or a local bus using any variety of available bus architectures including, but not limited to, 11-bit bus, Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA), Micro-Channel Architecture (MSA), Extended ISA (EISA), Intelligent Drive Electronics (IDE), VESA Local Bus (VLB), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Universal Serial Bus (USB), Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), Personal Computer Memory Card International Association bus (PCMCIA), and Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI).
The system memory 916 includes volatile memory 920 and nonvolatile memory 922. The basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines to transfer information between elements within the computer 912, such as during start-up, is stored in nonvolatile memory 922. By way of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory 922 can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory 920 includes random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms such as synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM).
Computer 912 also includes removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer storage media.
It is to be appreciated that
A user enters commands or information into the computer 912 through input device(s) 936. Input devices 936 include, but are not limited to, a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, touch pad, keyboard, microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, TV tuner card, digital camera, digital video camera, web camera, and the like. These and other input devices connect to the processing unit 914 through the system bus 918 via interface port(s) 938. Interface port(s) 938 include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a game port, and a universal serial bus (USB). Output device(s) 940 use some of the same type of ports as input device(s) 936. Thus, for example, a USB port may be used to provide input to computer 912, and to output information from computer 912 to an output device 940. Output adapter 942 is provided to illustrate that there are some output devices 940 like monitors, speakers, and printers, among other output devices 940 that require special adapters. The output adapters 942 include, by way of illustration and not limitation, video and sound cards that provide a means of connection between the output device 940 and the system bus 918. It should be noted that other devices and/or systems of devices provide both input and output capabilities such as remote computer(s) 944.
Computer 912 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer(s) 944. The remote computer(s) 944 can be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a workstation, a microprocessor based appliance, a peer device or other common network node and the like, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to computer 912. For purposes of brevity, only a memory storage device 946 is illustrated with remote computer(s) 944. Remote computer(s) 944 is logically connected to computer 912 through a network interface 948 and then physically connected via communication connection 950. Network interface 948 encompasses communication networks such as local-area networks (LAN) and wide-area networks (WAN). LAN technologies include Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI), Ethernet/IEEE 802.3, Token Ring/IEEE 802.5 and the like. WAN technologies include, but are not limited to, point-to-point links, circuit switching networks like Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN) and variations thereon, packet switching networks, and Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL).
Communication connection(s) 950 refers to the hardware/software employed to connect the network interface 948 to the bus 918. While communication connection 950 is shown for illustrative clarity inside computer 912, it can also be external to computer 912. The hardware/software necessary for connection to the network interface 948 includes, for exemplary purposes only, internal and external technologies such as, modems including regular telephone grade modems, cable modems and DSL modems, ISDN adapters, and Ethernet cards.
What has been described above includes various exemplary aspects. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing these aspects, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations are possible. Accordingly, the aspects described herein are intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.
