Patent Application
20180330396
Today's mobile computing devices, such as smartphones, are frequently equipped with a number of different sensing technologies in addition to communication capabilities. For example, most smartphones are equipped with cameras and the ability to scan bar codes. The data acquired by the mobile devices may be sent to remote locations for further processing.
The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In the drawings, each identical or nearly identical component that is illustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing. In the drawings:
Methods and systems are provided herein for processing machine-readable coupons utilizing a mobile application integrated into a distributed image-based acquisition system that can access a user's account according to the user's profiles. The image-based acquisition system, in accordance with various embodiments, is configured to upload coupons scanned by a user with the mobile application, determine whether the coupons are valid and link the valid coupons to the user's account. In one embodiment, if a user wants to redeem a coupon retroactively, the image-based acquisition system is further configured to upload an image of a receipt of a previous transaction via the mobile application, and apply all the applicable, valid, and unused coupons associated with the user's account to the items represented in the previous transaction. A discount value associated with the coupon can be awarded as a reimbursement, for example, in the form of a gift card associated to the user's account. In another embodiment, the uploading of a validated coupon may automatically trigger the addition of a corresponding item referred to by the coupon to an online order associated with the user. The order may be a new order or an existing order. In another embodiment, the image-based acquisition system compiles all the scanned and valid coupons in the user's account into a single machine-readable barcode which can be forwarded to the user's device to be scanned at a checkout location so that all the applicable coupons can be applied to the purchase immediately with a single scan.
The systems and methods provided herein are able to advantageously reduce the need for separate network requests from a user by automatically triggering the addition of an item to a new or existing online order as a result of the act of uploading a valid coupon via the mobile application. Further, the system saves network processing time associated with a checkout in a facility by consolidating multiple coupons into a single machine-readable barcode such that all the applicable coupons can be redeemed at checkout in a single scan. This reduces the time spent on validating and scanning coupons at the register. Further, the coupon data is associated with the users' account in the system which allows the system to apply coupons to a purchase retroactively for past receipts uploaded via the mobile application to the user's account. The coupon value is added to the user account balance and is redeemable, for example, as an E-Gift card or some other manner indicated in a user's stored profile. The automatic application of the discount to items in the past receipt by the image-based acquisition system further limits the amount of network communication required by the system with the user's mobile device.
Accordingly, systems and methods provided herein allow the users to upload coupons to their account at their convenience and apply coupons to a past purchase; systematically validate and digitally authenticate coupons according to the coupon policy; remove the physical need for coupons and compile all digitally stored coupons to a single scannable barcode rendered on a mobile device that enables applying multiple coupons with a single scan. The coupons can be linked to an individual's account via their account email address and can be redeemable either in-person at a POS system or remotely through the distributed image-based acquisition system.
Referring now to
Communication interface 107, in accordance with various embodiments can include, but is not limited to, a radio frequency (RF) receiver, RF transceiver, NFC device, a built-in network adapter, network interface card, PCMCIA network card, card bus network adapter, wireless network adapter, USB network adapter, modem or any other device suitable for interfacing with any type of network capable of communication and performing the operations described herein. Processor 105, in accordance with various embodiments can include, for example, but not limited to, a microchip, a processor, a microprocessor, a special purpose processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a microcontroller, a field programmable gate array, any other suitable processor, or combinations thereof. Server 103 may also include, memory (not shown) such a but not limited to, hardware memory, non-transitory tangible media, magnetic storage disks, optical disks, flash drives, computational device memory, random access memory, such as but not limited to DRAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, any other type of memory, or combinations thereof.
User device 119 includes communication interface 121 for communicating with the server 103 and executes a mobile application 123. User device 119 may be smartphone, tablet or other mobile device equipped with a processor, mobile application 123 and communication interface 121. The mobile application 123 can generate a user interface for accepting user input and is configured to control an integrated data acquisition device such as, but not limited to, a camera on user device to capture images of coupons and, in one embodiment, images of purchase transaction information on a purchase receipt. Mobile application transmits the captured images via communication interface 121 to processing module 109 on server 103. Processing module analyzes the received images to extract bar codes and the bar codes associated data from images of coupons. The extracted data is used to query coupon database 115 to determine coupon validity. Valid coupons may be associated with the user in user account database 111. Processing module 109 may also analyze received images to extract item data from uploaded receipts of past transactions. The item information may be stored in user account database 111 or another database. The extracted item information may also be compared to contemporaneously uploaded or previously stored coupon information in user account database 111 and credits applied to the user account in the event of a match.
The user device 119 can then be used to automatically associate the coupon data and the purchase transaction information with the user account or permit the user to manually associate the coupon data and the purchase transaction information with the user account via the user interface 121 of the user device 119. The data capture device 123, in accordance with various embodiments, can capture the purchase transaction information from any relevant portion of the receipt, including for example, the header information, trailer information, line level details, unique transaction codes (e.g., one or more of printed characters, a bar code, or a QR code), or combinations thereof.
In accordance with various embodiments, the data capture device 123 can capture the images of coupons and receipts of previous purchases, and then the captured images are transmitted from the user device 119 to the server 103. Upon receiving the coupon data and receipt data at the communications interface 107, the server 103 verifies whether the coupon is valid for the purchase associated with the receipt and can automatically apply the valid coupons to the previous purchase. Further, the system can automatically add the item associated with the valid coupon to an existing order associated with the user account, or to a new order initiated by the system.
In one embodiment, processing module may transmit a coupon with a cumulative barcode representing all of the coupons associated with the user account to user device 119. User device may display the barcode via a display screen to a data capture device 131 in a facility 130 such as a retail location when shopping. In accordance with various embodiments, when the user makes a purchase at a retail location, data capture device 131 can be but is not limited to, a point of sale terminal (POS) having a barcode scanner and an optional credit card reader. The user or cashier can use the barcode reader to scan the cumulative barcode being displayed by mobile application 123. Data capture device 131 may transmit the data from the cumulative bar code over a network to processing module 109 which may provide coupon data for the individual coupons associated with the cumulative bar code back to data capture device 131 which may then match applicable coupons to purchased items as if the coupons had been individually scanned at the data capture device.
Data capture device 131 can be any device suitable for acquiring and/or transmitting machine-readable coupon data, including for example, a barcode scanners, an RFID reader, a NFC reader, a barcode reader, a digital camera, a mobile device, a magnetic strip reader, a point of sale terminal, any other suitable device, or combinations thereof. In accordance with various embodiments, data capture device 131 can include an integral transmitter or transceiver for transmitting the acquired coupon data to processing module 109.
At step 205, the processing module determines whether each of the received coupons is valid based on the electronic coupon data and the coupon policies of the retail establishment. For example, the processing module may query a coupon database using a coupon identifier extracted from the image of the coupon. The system can further determine whether the coupon is expired based on the expiration date and a current date for the coupon listed in the coupon database. If none of the coupons are valid, the process ends. If some of the coupons are determined as valid at step 205, the processing module further determines whether there is any item qualified for the valid coupons and available for sale by the retail entity at step 207. For example, the processing module may query an item database containing information regarding available items using the identity of the item associated with the extracted coupon code. If no items are available, the process ends. Otherwise, if there are items determined to be qualified for the coupons and available for sale at step 207, the system automatically adds the identified available qualified items to an existing online order associated with the user account, or the system initiates a new order for the user and add the available qualified items to the new order at step 209. In this manner, the mere scanning of coupons by the mobile application automatically triggers the creation of a new online order or the automatic addition to a pending online order. In one embodiment, the distributed image-based acquisition system can notify the user of the online order additions and a redemption value of the coupons as applied to the order through the mobile application.
At step 307, the system determines whether each of the received coupons is valid based on the electronic coupon data and the coupon policies of the retail establishment. For example, the processing module may query a coupon database using a coupon identifier extracted from the image of the coupon. If there is no valid coupon, the process ends. If at least some of the coupons are determined as valid at step 307, the system further determines whether there are any items listed in the receipts that match the valid coupons at step 309. For example, the processing module can extract electronic item data representing an item code associated with each item listed on the receipt, and determine whether the item is a qualified item based on the item data and the qualified item code included in the coupon code of each valid coupon. If there is no qualified item listed in the receipt, the process.
If it is determined that there are qualified items in the receipts, the processing module automatically applies a credit to the user account for the identified items according to the coupon redemption value of the valid coupon associated with the identified items at step 311, such that a receipt total of the receipt is reduced by the coupon redemption value, and then the process ends. The user associated with this user account can be notified when the credit is applied. For example, the credit can be applied in the form of a gift card dispensed to the user associated with the user account. It will be appreciated that other forms of credit are also within the scope of the present invention.
At step 413, the processing module determines whether there are any items, which are included in the previous purchase receipts associated with the user's account, whether previously uploaded or uploaded in parallel with the coupons that match the item information of the valid coupon. If not, at step 415 the system can send “no match” notifications to the mobile application on the user mobile device and the process ends.
If at step 413 the system determines that some items in the receipts match the item information of the coupons, at step 417 the value of the valid coupon can be credited to the user's account, and the system may send notifications to the mobile application indicating there are qualified items to which the credit has been applied. The credit may be in the form of a gift card sent to the user, an automatic cash transfer to a previously registered band account, a credit to a previously registered credit card, or in some other manner.
Referring back to step 507, if the user does not want to compile all the coupons, the user can select the desired coupons at step 511, and then at step 513 a unique barcode is generated to represent the selected coupons, and the generated barcode can be sent to the mobile application on a user device associated with the user account. At step 515, the generated barcode can be presented on the user device via a display. As a non-limiting example the barcode may be displayed on the display screen of the user's smartphone. Then at step 517, at the register of the retail establishment, a data capture device, for example, but not limited to, a point of sale terminal (POS) having a barcode scanner and an optional credit card reader, can scan the code to determine all the applicable coupons with a single scan. The data capture device sends the code to the processing module on the remote server. The processing module queries the coupon database using the code and returns a list of items associated with the code to the data capture device.
At step 519, the data capture device in the retail facility determines whether there are any items which are included in the current purchase that match the item information of the valid coupon. If not, the process ends.
If at step 521 the data capture device determines that some items in the current purchase match the item information of the coupons, at step 521 the value of the applicable coupons is applied to the current transaction.
Virtualization can be employed in the computing device 610 so that infrastructure and resources in the computing device can be shared dynamically. A virtual machine 624 can be provided to handle a process running on multiple processors so that the process appears to be using only one computing resource rather than multiple computing resources. Multiple virtual machines can also be used with one processor.
Memory 104 can include a computational device memory or random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, and the like. Memory 104 can include other types of memory as well, or combinations thereof.
A user can interact with the computing device 610 through a visual display device 628, such as any suitable device capable of rendering texts, graphics, and/or images including an LCD display, a plasma display, projected image (e.g. from a Pico projector), Google Glass, Oculus Rift, HoloLens, and the like, and which can display one or more user interfaces 630 that can be provided in accordance with exemplary embodiments. The computing device 610 can include other I/O devices for receiving input from a user, for example, a keyboard or any suitable multi-point touch (or gesture) interface 618, a pointing device 620 (e.g., a mouse). The keyboard 618 and the pointing device 620 can be coupled to the visual display device 628. The computing device 610 can include other suitable conventional I/O peripherals.
The computing device 610 can also include one or more storage devices 634, such as a hard-drive, CD-ROM, flash drive, or other computer readable media, for storing data and computer-readable instructions and/or software that perform operations disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the one or more storage devices 634 can be detachably coupled to the computing device 610. Exemplary storage device 634 can also store one or more software applications 640 for implementing processes of the coupon processing system described herein and can include databases 642 for storing any suitable information required to implement exemplary embodiments. The databases can be updated manually or automatically at any suitable time to add, delete, and/or update one or more items in the databases. In some embodiments, at least one of the storage device 634 can be remote from the computing device (e.g., accessible through a communication network) and can be, for example, part of a cloud-based storage solution.
The computing device 610 can include a network interface 622 configured to interface via one or more network devices 632 with one or more networks, for example, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN) or the Internet through a variety of connections including, but not limited to, standard telephone lines, LAN or WAN links (for example, 802.11, T1, T3, 56kb, X.25), broadband connections (for example, ISDN, Frame Relay, ATM), wireless connections, controller area network (CAN), or some combination of any or all of the above. The network interface 622 can include a built-in network adapter, network interface card, PCMCIA network card, card bus network adapter, wireless network adapter, USB network adapter, modem or any other device suitable for interfacing the computing device 610 to any type of network capable of communication and performing the operations described herein. Moreover, the computing device 610 can be any computational device, such as a workstation, desktop computer, server, laptop, handheld computer, tablet computer, or other form of computing or telecommunications device that is capable of communication and that has sufficient processor power and memory capacity to perform the operations described herein.
The computing device 610 can run operating systems 626, such as versions of the Microsoft® Windows® operating systems, different releases of the Unix and Linux operating systems, versions of the MacOS® for Macintosh computers, embedded operating systems, real-time operating systems, open source operating systems, proprietary operating systems, or other operating systems capable of running on the computing device and performing the operations described herein. In exemplary embodiments, the operating system 626 can be run in native mode or emulated mode. In an exemplary embodiment, the operating system 626 can be run on one or more cloud machine instances.
In describing exemplary embodiments, specific terminology is used for the sake of clarity. For purposes of description, each specific term is intended to at least include all technical and functional equivalents that operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose. Additionally, in some instances where a particular exemplary embodiment includes a plurality of system elements, device components or method steps, those elements, components or steps may be replaced with a single element, component or step. Likewise, a single element, component or step may be replaced with a plurality of elements, components or steps that serve the same purpose. Moreover, while exemplary embodiments have been shown and described with references to particular embodiments thereof, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that various substitutions and alterations in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention. Further still, other aspects, functions and advantages are also within the scope of the invention.
Exemplary flowcharts are provided herein for illustrative purposes and are non-limiting examples of methods. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that exemplary methods may include more or fewer steps than those illustrated in the exemplary flowcharts, and that the steps in the exemplary flowcharts may be performed in a different order than the order shown in the illustrative flowcharts.
This application claims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/503,694, filed May 9, 2017, entitled “Distributed Image-Based Acquisition System”, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62503694 | May 2017 | US |
