Patent Application
20080228567
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 the 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%.
Furthermore, conventional payment shopping systems cannot efficiently process coupons associated with electronic purchase transactions. For example, coupons in such systems are not centrally stored, and are typically tied to particular services.
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 invention provides for shopping network systems and methods that electronically redeem coupons, via an online storage location that stores coupon data for a consumer and regardless of which issuer has issued the coupon. Accordingly, such online storage medium can store coupons online (e.g., in a single location) without being tied to a particular service, and can readily provide redemption (e.g., an automatic redemption). The consumer and other retail entities (e.g., coupon issuers, merchants, and the like) can populate the online storage medium periodically, or in response to predetermined events (e.g., physical location of consumer, associated demographics, and the like.)
In a related aspect, the online storage medium functions as an online service wherein users (e.g., consumers) can aggregate coupons collected from a plurality of channels (e.g., paper coupons, electronic coupons) therein—via submission thru the web. 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 point of sale (POS) terminal receives such coupons, (e.g., via direct access to the online storage location, and/or via user submittal), and can apply them to the user's shopping basket at checkout. Items in basket of the consumer can be matched with coupons and rules relating thereto (e.g., discourage using the coupons for the same identical transaction).
According to a related methodology, users can sign up for such service and receive an account coupled to their identity (e.g., a user name, account number, password, and the like), and can subsequently login to the service with credentials from a web browser, desktop or mobile (cell phone) applications. Subsequently, and upon a successful login, a user can view all coupons stored on the account organized by products, stores, expiration, and the like. Moreover, additional coupons can be stored by uploading an electronic coupon, image of a coupon (collected via smart phone's built-in camera), reading an RFID tag, and related methods of updating data. The service can keep track of submitted coupons, their expiration dates, automatically delete expired once and remind about those expiring soon.
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.
Moreover, the online storage component 110 can function as an online service, wherein users (e.g., consumers) can register therewith to store their coupons therein. Accordingly, the online storage component 110 can aggregate coupons collected from a plurality of channels (e.g., paper coupons, electronic coupons) therein—via submission thru the internet 130. 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 125 (point of sale—POS) 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 111, 113, 115 and rules relating thereto (e.g., discourage using the coupons for the same identical transaction.)
The client device 206 can represent intelligent devices (e.g., smart portable devices that can be carried by customers) with computing and processing capabilities, such as portable computers, personal digital assistants, mobile phones, digital music players and the like, which can further supply identifications and communicate with the online storage component 202. Moreover, the client device 206 can also represent other devices such: as kiosks; a point of sale (POS) unit associated with a merchant unit that can communicate therewith over a cell network, public wireless network, merchant's wired or wireless network or over a Bluetooth or NFC connection and the like, for example.
The merchant units and/or customers can subscribe to the online storage component 202 via an interface component 208. According to a particular example, disparate subscription levels can be offered in connection with memory resources 201, 203, and 205. For instance, a higher level subscription can provide increased processing power, bandwidth, storage capacity, services, and so forth as compared to a lower level subscription. Pursuant to a further example, each subscription level can provide a corresponding minimum level of resource assignment by the dynamic allocation component 210; however, if fewer requests by subscribers with high level subscriptions are obtained at a particular time, the dynamic allocation component 210 can alter the resource assignment above the minimum level. Further, subscriptions can be obtained for individual users and/or groups of users via the subscription component 211. Accordingly, the online storage component 202 can store coupons online (e.g., in a single location) without being tied to a particular service, and can readily provide redemption (e.g., an automatic redemption). The consumer and other retail entities (e.g., coupon issuers, merchants, and the like) can populate the online storage medium periodically, or in response to predetermined events (e.g., physical location of consumer, associated demographics, and the like.)
In general, payment processing component 513 can settle charges with payment networks (e.g., Visa® and MasterCard®), as part of the payment processing entity 550 that integrates coupon processing with payment processing in accordance with an aspect of the subject innovation. Such payment processing entity 550 can typically serve as front end to the merchant unit 520.
For example, the merchant unit 520 can receive coupon data (e.g., from the online storage component 510) with payment information, and send such information as a single request to payment processing entity 550. The merchant unit 520 can further include: a central host computer operatively connected to a plurality of in-store customer sale terminals that can represent point of sale (POS); a wireless local area network that includes a plurality of access points; and a wired backbone for communicating data between the central host and the customer sale terminals (not shown). The customer sale terminals 525 can also receive each user's identification via a scan read, to access a respective online coupon account such as, for example, online coupon account number. The network can further include a plurality of manufacturer's servers, each corresponding to the manufacturer of a product available at the merchant's store. Each manufacturer's server can be communicatively coupled to the merchant's host via the internet, for example.
The merchant unit 520 can further accept coupon data via an intelligent device(s) that have downloaded coupons form the online storage component 510. Such intelligent device can include units such as mobile computer, personal digital assistant, cell phone and the like, which are carried by the customer, for example. The intelligent device can supply identifying information, coupon data and payment information to the online storage component 510 and/or merchant unit 520, via an exchange of information therewith. The coupon data can be processed by the coupon processing component 531, wherein coupon data can be cleared the respective manufacturer for reimbursement of the merchant (e.g., retailer.) Hence, an operation of the processing component 550 integrates both operations relating to payment processing and coupon clearance. It is to be appreciated that users can also access their online coupon accounts to print paper coupons therefrom. Such enables employing the subject innovation in conjunction with merchants that lack computer implemented processes. Moreover, the smart portable units carried by the users can further display coupons, for a machine scan by merchants (e.g., instead of scanning paper coupons.) In addition, coupons can be directly exchanged between the online storage and the POS terminal. The POS terminal can employ user credentials (e.g., account number) provided by users for accessing coupon accounts. Such credentials can be provided by a user's smart device or as data on a payment instrument such as magnetic stripe card or contact less card.
As such, the subject innovation can leverage the existing security protocols and payment processing infrastructure, to facilitate coupon processing. Moreover, existing trust relations that have been established can be employed (e.g., established relationships between banks, merchants, and payment processing entities.).
For example, a workflow instance can be instantiated for processing coupons downloaded from an online storage medium, and further integrate processes for coupon settlement and reimbursement with third parties (e.g., banks, coupon issuers and the like). The workflow engine component 710 can execute a series of tasks provided to it via a workflow instance associated with electronic coupon processing and payment processing. Tasks associated with the workflow can include creating a file, sending a file, retrieving a file, validating a file, reconciling a file, providing notification to a user or operator, retrieving information from a user or operator, and the like. The workflow engine component 710 can further employ a queue (not shown) to execute tasks with higher priority before tasks with lower priority, wherein tasks related to processing a coupon can be performed separate, or in conjunction with tasks for processing the payment.
Furthermore, when a workflow act or task requires operator input, workflow engine component 710 interacts with the notification component 720 to notify an operator that a related input is required. Such notification can employ a context analyzer (not shown) and statistical models to infer a best communication medium upon which to provide a notification (e.g., pop-up window, email, mobile phone, office phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), pager . . . ) to customers and/or operator of the POS terminal. Upon notification, an operator can communicate with the workflow execution engine via the user interface component 730. For example, the interface component 730 can be a graphical user interface (GUI) that facilitates interaction and transfer of information.
Payment processing system 700 also includes a monitor component 740, which monitors system resources to determine whether to increase the rate of executing tasks (e.g., from a queue), decrease the rate of tasks executing, or hold the rate of task execution at the same rate. This information can then be provided to the workflow engine component to effect the execution of payment processing tasks and coupon clearing tasks.
The workflow engine component 811 employs the workflow queue component 810 to facilitate execution of tasks in order of priority (e.g., highest priority to lowest priority). It is to be appreciated that the workflow engine component 811 can spread tasks over multiple computers having multiple processes with multiple threads and communicate via a network connection. Accordingly, increased efficiency in the execution of workflows can be accomplished by distributing workflows or workflow tasks amongst a plurality of workflow engine components 811 and/or computer systems for execution.
As illustrated, the workflow engine component 811 can further include an error detection/correction component 820 for detecting existence of error during execution of workflow tasks and facilitates easy recovery from an error resulting from among other things a system failure or a network failure. Upon the occurrence of, and detection of an error, the error detection/correction component 820 can compensate for such an error via check pointing, rollback schemes, and the like. For example, in a check pointing scheme a log file is maintained containing safe states. When problems occur, the workflow engine component 811 can restart task execution at the most recently available safe state. In a rollback scheme, effects of actions performed after the error and even before the error can be undone by applying corresponding reverse actions. It is to be appreciated that error avoidance schemes in form of error prediction and avoidance schemes can be employed by the error detection/correction component 820. For example, system stability can be analyzed by the error detection/correction component 820 using statistical methods, neural networks, experts systems and various other adaptive systems and components to predict within a particular threshold the failure of a workflow execution component or the computer system on which it is running. Subsequently, the tasks that were to be executed on the workflow engine component 811 are predicted to fail or otherwise encounter problems can be shifted to another workflow engine component 811 to mitigate problems.
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.
