Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
W~ 01/08025 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/US00/18474
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR EVALUATING
INFORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH A TRANSACTION TO
DETERMINE A SUBSIDY OFFER
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application: claims the benefit of provisional U.S. Patent
Application Serial No. 60/143,396 filed July 12, 1999; and is continuation-in-
part of
U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/219,267 entitled "Method and Apparatus
for
Facilitating Electronic Commerce Through Providing Cross-Benefits During a
Transaction" and filed December 23, 1998. The entire contents of these
applications
are incorporated herein by reference.
The present application is related to: U.S. Patent Application Serial No.
09/282,747 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Providing Cross-Benefits Based
on a
Customer Activity" and filed March 31, 1999; U.S. Patent Application Serial
No.
09/274,281 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Providing Cross-Benefits via a
Central
Authority" and filed March 22, 1999; U.S. Patent Application Serial No.
09/322,351
entitled "Method and Apparatus for Providing Cross Benefits and Penalties" and
f led
May 28, 1999; U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/100,684 entitled "Billing
Statement Customer Acquisition System" and filed May 19, 1999, which is a
continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08/982,149 entitled
"Method
and Apparatus for Printing a Billing Statement to Provide Supplementary
Product
Sales" and filed on December 1, 1997; U.S. Patent Application Serial No.
08/943,483
entitled "System and Method for Facilitating Acceptance of Conditional
Purchase
Offers (CPOs)" and filed on October 3, 1997, which is a continuation-in-part
of U.S.
Patent Application Serial No. 08/923,683 entitled "Conditional Purchase Offer
(CPO)
Management System For Packages" and filed September 4, 1997, which is a
continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08/889,319 entitled
"Conditional Purchase Offer Management System" and filed July 8, 1997, which
is a
continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08/707,660 entitled
"Method
and Apparatus for a Cryptographically Assisted Commercial Network System
Designed to Facilitate Buyer-Driven Conditional Purchase Offers" filed on
September
CA 02373367 2002-O1-10
WO 01/08025 PCT/US00/18474
4, 1996 and issued as U.S. Patent No. 5,794,207 on August 11, 1998; U.S.
Patent
Application Serial No. 08/994,426 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Providing
Supplementary Product Sales to a Customer at a Customer Terminal" filed on
December 19, 1997, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application
Serial
S No. 08/920,116 entitled "Method and System for Processing Supplementary
Product
Sales at a Point-of Sale Terminal" and filed on August 26, 1997; and U.S.
Patent
Application Serial No. 09/221,099 entitled "Pre-Sale Data Broadcast System and
Method" and filed December 28, 1998. The entire contents of these application
are
incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD
The present invention relates to transactions in which a customer purchases an
item. In particular, the present invention relates to systems and methods for
evaluating
information associated with a transaction to determine a subsidy offer.
BACKGROUND
Electronic commerce is becoming more accepted as a growing number of
customers shop online (e.g., via the World Wide Web). However, electronic
commerce
suffers from many of the same problems that are associated with conventional
commerce. For example, there is significant competition among merchants to
attract
and retain customers, and, as a result, merchants are not able to increase
profits by
increasing prices. Price competition is even stronger on the Internet, where
customers
can more readily "shop around" to determine prices offered by different
merchants.
Even when a customer has decided to visit a particular merchant, he or she
will
not make a purchase if an item price is greater than the customer wants (or is
able) to
pay. One way to encourage the customer to purchase an item, via the World Wide
Web
or otherwise, is to reduce the item price. Unfortunately, reducing the item
price also
reduces the merchant's profit, and the reduced profit may not be offset by an
increase in
sales.
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W~ ~1/~8~25 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/US00/18474
Instead of directly reducing the item price, it is known that a merchant can
offer
a promotion to encourage the customer to purchase the item. For example, a
merchant
may advertise a "buy one get one free" promotion. Similarly, a merchant may
advertise
that customers can receive a 10% discount when they establish a credit card
account
S associated with the merchant.
It is also known that a number of merchants can work together to offer a
promotion. For example, a first merchant may advertise that if a customer
purchases a
first item from the first merchant, a second item can be purchased at a
reduced price
from, or be given away by, a second merchant.
It is also known for a promotion to be generally provided at a point of sale.
For
example, a merchant's Web site may display a "banner advertisement" that
allows a
customer to access another Web site to make a second purchase.
All of the above techniques, however, have serious disadvantages. For
example, merchant promotions are offered to potential customers before the
customer
indicates that he or she is interested in a particular item (e.g., by
advertising the
promotion on a radio station). In this case, the merchant must pay to have
information
about the promotion distributed to many people who will not be interested in
the
promotion, increasing the merchant's customer acquisition cost. Moreover, the
merchant will not be able to use information about a particular transaction
(e.g.,
demographic information about the customer purchasing the item or information
about
the item) to select or modify the promotion as appropriate.
U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 09/219,267, discloses a system wherein a
merchant server of a first merchant receives an indication of items that a
customer is to
purchase via a Web site. The indication may be, for example, a signal
indicating that
the customer is ready to "check out" his or her virtual shopping cart of items
on the
Web site. In response, the merchant server provides an offer for a benefit
from a
second merchant, which may be referred to as one type of cross-benefit or
subsidy
offer. If the customer indicates acceptance of the offer, the benefit is
applied to the
item or items being purchased. For example, the total price paid for the items
may be
reduced, or the items may be provided to the customer for free. In exchange,
the
customer agrees to participate in a transaction with the second merchant. For
example,
the customer may agree to switch service providers (e.g., to switch long
distance
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W~ ~i/~8~25 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/US00/18474
telephone service providers) or to initiate a new service agreement (e.g., to
apply for a
new credit card with the second merchant).
A need exists, however, for further systems and methods to facilitate
electronic
commerce, such as for systems and methods that determine the subsidy offer to
be
provided to the customer.
SLTNIMARY OF THE INVENTION
To alleviate problems inherent in the prior art, the present invention
introduces
systems and methods for processing a transaction in which a customer purchases
an
item.
In one embodiment of the present invention, an indication that the customer is
interested in purchasing the item is received. Information associated with the
transaction is evaluated to determine a subsidy offer, the subsidy offer being
associated
with a benefit from a subsidy provider to be applied to the transaction.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides (i) means for receiving
an indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item and (ii)
means for
evaluating information associated with the transaction to determine a subsidy
offer.
With these and other advantages and features of the invention that will become
hereinafter apparent, the nature of the invention may be more clearly
understood by
reference to the following detailed description of the invention, the appended
claims
and the several drawings attached herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1A is a block diagram overview of a transaction system according to an
embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1B is a block diagram overview of a transaction system according to
another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a merchant device according to an embodiment of
the present invention.
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FIG. 3 is a tabular representation of a portion of a subsidy database
according to
an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a tabular representation of a portion of a customer database
according
to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. S is a tabular representation of a portion of an item database according
to
an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a tabular representation of a portion of a subsidy provider database
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a tabular representation of a portion of a prior transaction
database
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a flow chart depicting a method for processing a transaction
according
to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a flow chart depicting a method for determining a subsidy offer
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a flow chart depicting a method for determining a subsidy offer
according to another embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present invention is directed to systems and methods for evaluating
information associated with a transaction to determine a subsidy offer.
Turning now in
detail to the drawings, FIG. 1A is a block diagram overview of a transaction
system
100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The transaction
system 100
includes a merchant device 20 in communication with a customer device 10 and a
subsidy provider device 30. As used herein, devices (such as the customer
device 10,
the merchant device 20 and/or the subsidy provider device 30) may communicate,
for
example, through a communication network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN),
a
Wide Area Network (WAN), a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), or an
Internet Protocol (IP) network such as the Internet, an intranet or an
extranet.
Moreover, as used herein, communications include those enabled by wired or
wireless
technology. Note that although a single customer device 10 is shown in FIG.
1A, any
number of customer devices 10 may be included in the transaction system 100.
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WO 01/08025 PCT/US00/18474
Similarly, any number of the other devices described herein may be included
according
to embodiments of the present invention.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the customer device 10
communicates with a remote, Web-based merchant device 20 (e.g., a server)
through
the Internet. Although embodiments of the present invention are described with
respect
to information exchanged using a Web site, according to other embodiments of
the
present invention information can instead be exchanged using, for example: a
telephone, an Interactive Voice Response Unit (IVRU), a facsimile machine,
postal
mail, electronic mail, a WEBTV~ interface, a cable network interface, or a
wireless
communication system.
The customer device 10 may be, for example: a Personal Computer (PC), a
portable computing device such as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a wired
or
wireless telephone, a one-way or two-way pager, a kiosk, an Automated Teller
Machine (ATM), or any other appropriate communication device. According to one
embodiment of the present invention, the customer device is a Point Of Sale
(POS)
terminal or a device located at, or communication with, a POS terminal.
In general, the customer device 10 can be any device capable of performing
methods in accordance with the present invention. Note that the customer
device 10,
the merchant device 20 and/or the subsidy provider device 30 may be
incorporated in a
single device (e.g., a kiosk located in the merchant's store).
As will be explained, the transaction system 100 may be used to process a
transaction in which a customer purchases an item. As used herein, an "item"
refers to
anything that can be purchased by a customer (e.g., a good or a service).
Airline
tickets, consumer electronics, electronically delivered information, technical
support
service, and grocery items are some examples of items that can be purchased by
a
customer.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the merchant device 20
receives from the customer device 10 an indication that a customer is
interested in
purchasing an item. For example, a customer may access a Web page associated
with a
merchant. When the customer sees an item that he or she wishes to purchase,
the
customer may place the item in a "virtual shopping cart" to indicate an
interest in
purchasing an item.
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WO 01/08025 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/US00/18474
According to an embodiment of the present invention, information associated
with the transaction is evaluated to determine a subsidy offer. As used
herein, a
"subsidy offer" refers to any offer associated with a benefit from a subsidy
provider to
be applied to the transaction. For example, a subsidy provider (e.g., a party
other than
the customer and the merchant) may offer to apply $50 towards the purchase of
the
item. In general, the benefit can be anything of value to the customer (e.g.,
an
additional item, a higher quality item, an extended warranty and/or a lower
interest
rate). Note that, according to one embodiment, a number of different subsidy
offers are
determined.
The information about the transaction used to determine the subsidy offer may
include, for example, information associated with the customer, information
associated
with the item, information associated with the subsidy provider and/or
information
associated with prior transactions. The evaluation may be performed by, for
example,
the merchant device 20 or the subsidy provider device 30. For example, when a
customer indicates that he or she is interested in purchasing a television,
the merchant
device 20 may provide information about the transaction to the subsidy
provider device
30. The subsidy provider device 30 can then evaluate the information and
provide one
or more appropriate subsidy offers (e.g., "subscribe to a satellite television
service and
receive the television you are interested in purchasing for free") to the
merchant device
20.
The subsidy offer may be transmitted from the merchant device 20 to the
customer device 10. For example, the subsidy offer may be transmitted via a
Web page
or an electronic mail message. The customer device 10 then transmits a
response to the
subsidy offer to the merchant device 20. If the response indicates that the
customer
accepts the subsidy offer, the benefit is applied to the transaction. For
example, $50
may be applied by the subsidy provider towards the customer's purchase of the
item.
The subsidy offer may be conditioned on the performance of a task by the
customer. For example, the subsidy provider may offer to apply $5O towards the
purchase of an airline ticket only if the customer agrees to apply for a
particular credit
card account. In this case, a penalty may be applied if a customer who accepts
the
subsidy offer does not perform the task. For example, a customer may provide a
payment identifier (e.g., a credit card number) when accepting a subsidy offer
to have
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WO 01/08025 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10
PCT/iJS00/18474
$50 applied towards the purchase of a television in exchange for subscribing
to a cable
television service for three months. If the customer then stops using the
service after
two months, an appropriate penalty may be applied (e.g., a $33, $50 or $60
charge may
be applied using his or her credit card number).
Note that the customer device 10 may communicate directly with the subsidy
provider device 30 (as shown by a dashed line in FIG. 1A). For example, the
subsidy
provider may offer to pay for the customer's purchase of a book if the
customer applies
for a new credit card. In this case, the credit card application information
(e.g., the
customer's name, address and Social Security number) may be transmitted
directly
from the customer device 10 to the subsidy provider device 30.
FIG. 1B is a block diagram overview of a transaction system 150 according to
another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1B, a central
controller 40 communicates with the customer device 10, the merchant device
20, the
subsidy provider device 30 and a credit reporting device 50. According to this
embodiment, the central controller 40 may evaluate information about a
transaction to
determine an appropriate subsidy offer.
For example, the central controller 40 may receive an indication that a
customer
is interested in purchasing an item (e.g., by receiving the indication from
the customer
device 10 or the merchant device 20). The central controller 40 may then
evaluate
information associated with the customer and information associated with one
or more
subsidy providers to determine a subsidy offer. For example, the central
controller 40
may receive a credit report from the credit reporting device 50 based on a
credit card
number associated with the customer (e.g., after receiving permission from the
customer to do so). Information in the credit report, such as a credit rating
associated
with the customer, may then be used by the central controller 40 to determine
an
appropriate subsidy offer.
Moreover, the central controller 40 may receive from the subsidy provider
device 30 information about the rate at which customers are being acquired by
a
subsidy provider. Based on this information, the central controller 40 may
determine a
subsidy offer and transmit the subsidy offer to the customer device 10.
According to
another embodiment, the central controller 40 may transmit information
associated with
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W~ ~1/~g~25 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 pCT/US00/18474
the subsidy offer to the merchant device 20, which in turn transmits the
subsidy offer to
the customer device 10.
Note that a subsidy offer may be determined based on, for example, information
stored at the customer device 10 (e.g., information stored in a cookie file at
the
customer's PC or information stored on a customer PDA or smart card),
information
stored at the central controller 40, information stored at the merchant device
20 and/or
information stored at the subsidy provider device 30.
Merchant Device
FIG. 2 illustrates a merchant device 20 that is descriptive of the device
shown in
FIG. 1A according to an embodiment of the present invention. Note that the
central
controller 40 of FIG. 1B may contain similar elements and perform similar
functions to
those described herein with respect to the merchant device 20.
The merchant device 20 comprises a processor 210, such as one or more INTEL
Pentium~ processors, coupled to a communication port 220 configured to
communicate through a communication network (not shown in FIG. 2). The
communication port 220 may be used to communicate, for example, with a number
of
customer devices 10, subsidy provider devices 30, central controllers 40
and/or credit
reporting devices 50.
The processor 210 is also in communication with a storage device 230. The
storage device 230 may comprise any appropriate information storage device,
including
combinations of magnetic storage devices (e.g., magnetic tape and hard disk
drives),
optical storage devices and semiconductor memory devices, such as Random
Access
Memory (RAM) devices and Read Only Memory (ROM) devices.
The storage device 230 stores a program 215 for controlling the processor 210.
The processor 210 performs instructions of the program 215, and thereby
operates in
accordance with the present invention. For example, the processor 210 may
receive an
indication that a customer is interested in purchasing an item and evaluate
information
associated with a transaction to determine a subsidy offer.
The program 215 may be stored in a compressed, uncompiled and/or encrypted
format. The program 215 furthermore includes program elements that may be
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WO ~1/~8~25 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/US00/18474
necessary, such as an operating system, a database management system and
"device
drivers" used by the processor 210 to interface with peripheral devices.
Appropriate
device drivers and other necessary program elements are known to those skilled
in the
art and are not described in detail herein.
Note that the processor 210 and the storage device 230 may be, for example:
(i)
located entirely within a single computer or other computing device; or (ii)
located in
separate devices coupled through a communication channel. In one embodiment,
the
merchant device 20 comprises one or more computers that are connected to a
remote
database server.
As used herein, information may be "received" by, for example: (1) the
merchant device 20 from a customer device 10 or a subsidy provider device 30;
or (2) a
software application or module within the merchant device 20 from another
software
application, module or any other source.
As shown in FIG. 2, the storage device 230 also stores: a subsidy database 300
(described with respect to FIG. 3); a customer database 400 (described with
respect to
FIG. 4); an item database 500 (described with respect to FIG. 5); a subsidy
provider
database 600 (described with respect to FIG. 6); and a prior transaction
database 700
(described with respect to FIG. 7). The schematic illustrations and
accompanying
descriptions of the databases presented herein are exemplary, and any number
of other
database arrangements could be employed besides those suggested by the
figures.
Examples of databases that may be used in connection with the transaction
systems 100, 150 will now be described in detail with respect to FIGS. 3
through 7.
Subsidy Database
Refernng to FIG. 3, a table represents one embodiment of the subsidy database
300 that may be stored at the merchant device 20 according to an embodiment of
the
present invention. The table includes entries identifying subsidy offers that
may be
provided to a customer who is interested in purchasing an item. The table also
defines
fields 302, 304, 306, 308, 310, 312 for each of the entries. The fields
specify: a subsidy
identifier 302; a subsidy description 304; subsidy evaluation criteria 306; a
subsidy task
308; a subsidy benefit 310; and a subsidy provider identifier 312. The
information in
W~ 01/08025 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/iJS00/18474
the subsidy database 300 may be created and updated, for example, based on
information received from one or more subsidy providers.
The subsidy identifier 302 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code
associated with a particular subsidy offer that may be provided to a customer
who is
interested in purchasing an item. The subsidy identifier 302 may be associated
with
identifiers stored in an accepted subsidies 408 field and a rejected subsidies
410 field of
the customer database 400 and/or identifiers stored in an offered subsidies
708 field and
an accepted subsidies 710 field of the transaction database 700. For each
subsidy offer,
the subsidy database 300 also stores a subsidy description 304 that describes
the offer.
The subsidy description 304 may comprise, for example, any textual, image
and/or
audio information provided to a customer to describe the subsidy offer.
Each subsidy offer is also associated with subsidy evaluation criteria 306 and
a
subsidy task 308. According to the present invention, the subsidy evaluation
criteria
306 indicates one or more conditions that must be met in order for the subsidy
offer to
be provided to a customer. The subsidy task 308 indicates the task (or tasks)
that must
be performed by the customer in accordance with the subsidy offer.
Each subsidy offer is also associated with a subsidy benefit 310, indicating
the
benefit that will be provided to a customer who accepts the subsidy offer, and
a subsidy
provider identifier 312. The subsidy provider identifier 312 may be, for
example, an
alphanumeric code associated with the party that will provide the benefit to
the
customer, and may be associated with a subsidy party identifier 602 stored in
the
subsidy provider database 600.
For example, the subsidy offer having a subsidy identifier 302 of "S1001" is
described to the customer as "Earn $50 credit towards your purchase if you
apply for a
CAPITAL ONE~ credit card right now!" This subsidy offer will only be provided
to a
customer who is not currently a CAPITAL ONE~ cardholder, as indicated by the
subsidy evaluation criteria 306. In order for the customer to receive the
subsidy benefit
310 (i.e., $50 credit), the customer must fill out a CAPITAL ONE~ credit card
application, as indicated by the subsidy task 308.
As another example, the subsidy offer having a subsidy identifier 302 of
"S1005" is described to the customer as "Visit www.subsidypro.com/854321 to
learn
how to receive this purchase for free!" Such an indication of a subsidy offer
may be
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provided, for example, as part of the customer's credit card billing statement
(e.g., next
to an indication of the customer's purchase of an item included in the
statement). In
this case, the customer has indicated an interest in purchasing the item by
paying for the
item using his or her credit card. According to other embodiments, the
indication of a
subsidy offer may instead be provided, for example, via a telephone bill
(e.g., in
association with a charge for a "900" number telephone call) or a bank
statement (e.g.,
in association with a debit card purchase). Note that the subsidy evaluation
criteria 306
may include information related to the customer's credit card account, such as
a
merchant identifier (e.g., associated with the merchant from which the
customer
purchased the item) and/or a customer credit rating. Also note that the URL
included in
the indication of the subsidy offer may include an identifier (i.e., "854321")
associated
with the customer and/or a particular subsidy offer. Also note that the
indication of the
subsidy offer may not disclose the actual subsidy offer, thereby enabling a
subsidy
provider to adjust a task or benefit associated with the subsidy offer after
the customer
receives the indication of the subsidy offer.
Customer Database
Referring to FIG. 4, a table represents one embodiment of the customer
database 400 that may be stored at the merchant device 20 according to an
embodiment
of the present invention. The table includes entries identifying customers who
may be
interested in purchasing an item. The table also defines fields 402, 404, 406,
408, 410,
412 for each of the entries. The fields specify: a customer identifier 402; a
customer
address 404; a customer status 406; accepted subsidies 408; rejected subsidies
410; and
customer demographic information 412. The information in the customer database
400
may be created and updated, for example, based on information received from
one or
more customers (e.g., when a customer registers with a merchant, completes a
transaction, and/or responds to a subsidy offer).
The customer identifier 402 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code
associated with a customer who is interested in purchasing an item and may be
associated with a customer identifier 704 stored in the transaction database
700.
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PCT/US00/18474
For each customer, the customer database 400 stores the customer address 404
(e.g., a home or work address, an e-mail address, an Internet Protocol
address, or a
telephone number). The customer address 404 may be used to provide subsidy
offers
to customers who live in certain geographic areas (e.g., to customers who live
in ZIP
code 06897). The customer status 406 indicates how often the customer
purchases
items from the merchant. For example, a customer may be a "frequent" customer,
a
"new" customer, a "recently inactive" customer, or a customer who has not
purchased
an item from the merchant for an extended period of time ("extended
inactive"). In this
way, a subsidy offer may be provided to a certain type of customer. For
example, a
valuable subsidy offer may only be provided to customers associated with a
customer
status 406 of "new" to reward them for registering or transacting with the
merchant and
to encourage them to complete transactions. According to another embodiment, a
frequent customer may be rewarded for his or her loyalty.
The customer database 400 also stores identifiers corresponding to one or more
accepted subsidies 408 and rejected subsidies 410 associated with the
customer. The
information in these fields may be based on the subsidy identifier 302 stored
in the
subsidy database 300 and may be used to indicate which subsidy offers (if any)
have
previously been accepted or rejected by the customer. For example, the
customer
having a customer identifier 402 of "C101" has accepted subsidy offer "S1001"
and
rejected subsidy offer "51004." This information may be used, for example, so
that a
customer will only be provided with subsidy offers that he or she has not
previously
accepted or rejected.
Similarly, the information may be used to determine a type of subsidy offer
that
will be provided to the customer. For example, consider a customer who
typically
accepts subsidy offers associated with tasks that can be performed from his or
her home
(e.g., listening to a telemarketing presentation or participating in an on-
line focus
group) and typically rejects subsidy offers associated with tasks that cannot
be
performed at home (e.g., test driving an automobile or visiting a consumer
electronics
store). In this case, the,accepted subsidies 408 and the rejected subsidies
410 may be
used to determine that the customer should be provided with a subsidy offer
associated
with a task that can be performed at home.
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W~ ~1/~g~25 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/US00/18474
The customer database 400 also stores customer demographic information 412
associated with the customer. For example, the customer demographic
information 412
may indicate the sex, age and interests (e.g., a "1" indicating an interest in
sports) of the
customer. This information may be used, for example, so that a customer will
receive
subsidy offers that he or she will be more likely to accept. Similarly, other
types of
demographic information, as well as other types of information associated with
the
customer, may also be stored in the customer database 400 and used for this
purpose.
For example, psychographic information (e.g., information about attitudes,
values,
lifestyles and opinions) associated with customers could be used to determine
subsidy
offers.
Item Database
Referring to FIG. S, a table represents one embodiment of the item database
500
that may be stored at the merchant device 20 according to an embodiment of the
present invention. The table includes entries identifying items that a
customer may be
interested in purchasing. The table also defines fields 502, 504, 506, 508 for
each of
the entries. The fields specify: an item identifier 502; an item description
504; an item
category 506; and an item price 508. The information in the item database S00
may be
created and updated, for example, based on inventory information associated
with a
merchant.
The item identifier 502 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code associated
with an item that a customer may be interested in purchasing and may be
associated
with an item identifier 706 stored in the transaction database 700. The item
description
504 describes the item, and the item category 506 may indicate, for example,
the type
of product associated with the item (e.g., "television" or "computer").
According to an
embodiment of the present invention, this information may be used, for
example, to
provide an appropriate subsidy offer to a customer (e.g., to provide a subsidy
offer
associated with an Internet service if a customer is interested in purchasing
a
computer). The item price 508 indicates an original price (e.g., a retail
price before any
subsidy benefit is applied) associated with an item. This information can also
be used
to provide an appropriate subsidy offer to a customer (e.g., customers who are
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PCT/US00/18474
interested in purchasing less expensive items may receive a first subsidy
offer while
customers who are interested in purchasing more expensive items may receive a
second
subsidy offer).
Subsidy Provider Database
Referring to FIG. 6, a table represents one embodiment of the subsidy provider
database 600 that may be stored at the merchant device 20 according to an
embodiment
of the present invention. The table includes entries identifying parties that
may provide
a subsidy in association with a transaction. The table also defines fields
602, 604, 606
for each of the entries. The fields specify: a subsidy provider identifier
602; a subsidy
provider description 604; and a customer acquisition rate 606. The information
in the
subsidy provider database 600 may be created and updated, for example, based
on
information received from one or more subsidy providers.
1 S The subsidy provider identifier 602 may be, for example, an alphanumeric
code
associated with the party that may provide a subsidy benefit to a customer,
and may be
associated with the subsidy provider identifier 312 stored in the subsidy
database 600.
The information in the subsidy provider description field 604 may be
information that
describes the subsidy provider.
The customer acquisition rate 606 may indicate, for example, a rate at which
the
subsidy provider is acquiring new customers (e.g., "low," "average" or "high"
rate of
acquisition). This information may be used to determine which subsidy offers
should
be provided to customers. For example, a first subsidy offer may be provided
to
customers when a particular subsidy provider has a customer acquisition rate
606 of
"low," while a second subsidy offer (e.g., a subsidy offer with a less
valuable benefit)
may be provided to customers when the customer acquisition rate 606 is "high."
Note
that the customer acquisition rate 606 may be associated with a rate at which
the
subsidy provider is acquiring new customers via subsidy offers (e.g., a rate
at which
customers are accepting the subsidy offers) or an overall rate at which the
subsidy
provider is acquiring new customers (e.g., including customers who are not
acquired
via subsidy offers). According to another embodiment, a customer acquisition
strategy
(e.g., "less aggressive" or "more aggressive") may be used instead of, or in
addition to,
w0 01/0802$ CA 02373367 2002-O1-10
PCT/US00/18474
the customer acquisition rate 606. According to another embodiment, the
customer
acquisition rate 606 indicates a specific rate at which customers are actually
being
acquired (e.g., "17 customers per hour")
Prior Transaction Database
Referring to FIG. 7, a table represents one embodiment of the prior
transaction
database 700 that may be stored at the merchant device 20 according to an
embodiment
of the present invention. The table includes entries identifying transactions
associated
with the transaction system 100. The table also defines fields 702, 704, 706,
708, 710
for each of the entries. The fields specify: a transaction identifier 702; a
customer
identifier 704; an item identifier 706; offered subsidies 708; accepted
subsidies 710;
and a time and date 712. The information in the prior transaction database 700
may be
created and updated, for example, when a customer completes a transaction
(e.g., when
a customer purchases an item).
The transaction identifier 702 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code
associated with a particular transaction. The customer identifier 704 may be,
for
example, an alphanumeric code associated with a particular customer and may be
associated with the customer identifier 402 stored in the customer database
400. The
item identifier 706 may be, for example, an alphanumeric code associated with
a
particular item and may be associated with the item identifier 502 stored in
the item
database 500. For example, as shown in the first entry of FIG. 7, a
transaction with the
transaction identifier 702 of "T101" involves a customer with the customer
identifier
704 of "C102" purchasing an item with the item identifier 706 of "I-101"
(i.e., a 25
inch screen SONY~ television as shown by the item description 504 in FIG. S).
The offered subsidies 708 may be used to store, for example, subsidy
identifiers
302 of the subsidies that were offered during the transaction. Similarly, the
accepted
subsidies 710 may be used to store the subsidy identifiers 302 of the
subsidies that were
accepted by the customer during the transaction. For example, in the
transaction with
the transaction identifier 702 of "T101," the customer was offered subsidies
"S1001"
and "S 1004" and he or she accepted subsidy "S 1001." Note that a customer may
not
accept any of the offered subsidies 708 (as illustrated in the third entry of
FIG. 7).
16
W~ ~1/~g~25 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/US00/18474
Moreover, according to some embodiments, a customer may be offered and may
accept
more than one subsidy. The time and date 712 may indicate when a transaction
has
been initiated or completed.
Methods that may be used in connection with the transaction systems 100, 150
according to various embodiments of the present invention will now be
described in
detail with respect to FIGS. 8 through 10.
Transaction System Methods
FIG. 8 is a flow chart depicting a method 800 for processing a transaction in
which a customer purchases an item according to an embodiment of the present
invention. The flow chart in FIG. 8, as well as the other flow charts
discussed herein, is
not meant to imply a fixed order to the steps, and embodiments of the present
invention
can be practiced in any order that is practicable.
At 802, an indication that the customer is interested in purchasing the item
is
received. For example, an order for the item may be received from the customer
through a communication network such as the Internet. Similarly, the
indication may
reflect that the customer is arranging to provide payment for the item (e.g.,
he or she is
providing a credit card number). One system for receiving such an indication
is
disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,960,411 entitled "Method and System for Placing
a
Purchase Order via a Communications Network." According to one embodiment, the
indication is received via a Web page when the customer "places" the item in
his or her
"virtual shopping cart." According to another embodiment, the indication
reflects that
the customer has made an offer, including a customer defined price, for the
item.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the indication that
the customer is interested in purchasing the item may simply comprise an
indication
that the customer is accessing information about the item. For example, the
indication
may be that the customer has viewed a Web page associated with the item for a
predetermined period of time (e.g., thirty seconds). The indication may also
comprise,
for example, an attempt by the customer to win the item (e.g., by entering a
lottery or
participating in a game of skill).
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WO 01/08025 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/US00/18474
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the indication that
the customer is interested in purchasing the item may comprise an indication
from an
input device associated with the customer. For example, the customer may move
a
mouse pointer onto an image of the item, or the customer may use an input
device to
S scan a Universal Product Category (UPC) bar code associated with the item.
As
another example, a customer may use a keyboard to enter a search term (e.g.,
"televisions") which acts as such an indication.
According to another embodiment, the indication that the customer is
interested
in purchasing the item may comprise information stored at a customer device,
such as
information stored at a customer's PDA.
According to another embodiment, an indication that the customer is no longer
interested in purchasing the item may be used. For example, a customer may
have
arranged to purchase the item and then cancel the order. Similarly, the
indication may
reflect that the customer is not going to purchase the item at an original
price. Note,
therefore, that an indication that the customer is interested in purchasing
the item may
in fact comprise an indication that the customer is not interested in
purchasing the item
at a particular time (e.g., because the current price is too high).
According to other embodiments, the indication may reflect that the customer
is
interested in purchasing another item or is purchasing the item from another
merchant.
For example, arranging to purchase a camera made by a first manufacturer may
be
viewed as an indication that a customer may also be interested in purchasing a
similar
camera made by a second manufacturer.
In the case of an auction, the indication that the customer is interested in
purchasing the item may comprise a bid for the item. According to another
embodiment, the indication may comprise an indication that a second customer
is
interested in purchasing the item. For example, consider a first customer who
bids $50
to purchase a portable music player. The fact that a second customer bids $60
for that
item may result in a subsidy offer (e.g., "perform this task and have $20
added to your
bid") being provided to the first customer.
The indication received at 802 may be received via, for example: a Web page, a
telephone, an IVRU, a POS terminal, an ATM, a PDA, a portable customer device,
an
electronic mail message, and/or a kiosk.
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At 804, information associated with the transaction is evaluated to determine
a
subsidy offer, the subsidy offer being associated with a benefit from a
subsidy provider
to be applied to the transaction. The subsidy provider may be, for example, a
second
merchant where the customer has indicated an interest in purchasing an item
from a
S first merchant. Note that, as explained below with respect to FIG. 10, more
than one
subsidy offer may be determined.
The benefit may comprise, for example, a subsidy amount to be applied to an
original price associated with the item (e.g., "receive $50 off of the retail
price" or
"receive 20% off of the lowest price offered in your area"). The benefit may
also
comprise another item to be provided to the customer in place of the original
item (e.g.,
a higher quality item) or in addition to the original item (e.g., a free
peripheral).
According to another embodiment, the benefit may comprise any improved
transaction
term. For example, an extended warranty or a lower interest rate may be used
as a
benefit. Note that a benefit may be applied immediately to the transaction or
may be
applied in any other way (e.g., by providing multiple future payments or
reducing
future fees owed by the customer).
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the benefit is associated
with the performance of a task by the customer. For example, the subsidy offer
may
require that the customer apply for, or subscribe to, a service, such as: a
telephone
service, an Internet service, a banking service, a credit card account
service, an
insurance service, a securities trading service, a satellite television
service, and/or a
cable television service. The task may also comprise, for example: purchasing
another
item, accessing a Web page, visiting a merchant, dialing a telephone number,
and/or
providing an answer to a question (e.g., completing a survey).
A more detailed description of the evaluation performed at 804 is provided
with
respect to FIGS. 9 and 10.
At 806, the subsidy offer is provided to the customer, such as by transmitting
the offer to the customer through a communication network. The subsidy offer
may be
provided, for example, by transmitting the offer via: a Web page, a telephone,
an
IVRU, a POS terminal, an ATM, a PDA, a portable customer device, an electronic
mail
message, and/or a kiosk. According to one embodiment, a POS terminal may be
used
to communicate information describing the offer to an employee who, in turn,
verbally
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W~ 01/08025 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/US00/1g474
communicates the offer to a customer. Note that when the indication that the
customer
is interested in purchasing the item was received through a communication
network, the
subsidy offer may be transmitted through the same communication network or
through
a different communication network. At 808, a response to the subsidy offer is
received
from the customer (e.8., the customer may accept or decline the offer). If the
received
response indicates an acceptance of the subsidy offer at 810, the benefit is
applied to
the transaction at 812. If the received response does not indicate an
acceptance of the
subsidy offer at 810, the benefit is not applied to the transaction. At 814,
the
transaction is completed.
FIG. 9 is a flow chart depicting a method 900 for determining a subsidy offer
according to an embodiment of the present invention. Note that only some of
the
evaluations described herein may be performed to determine the subsidy offer.
At 902, information associated with the customer is evaluated to determine a
subsidy offer. The information associated with the customer may be, for
example: an
address associated with the customer, demographic information associated with
the
customer, psychographic information associated with the customer, and a credit
rating
associated with the customer. By way of example, a particular subsidy offer
may only
be provided to customers over 35 years old who live in a certain geographic
region.
Such a determination may be based on, for example, information stored in the
customer
database 400. According to another embodiment, the information associated with
the
customer may comprise the way in which the customer indicates that he or she
is
interested in purchasing the item. For example, a particular subsidy offer may
be
provided to customers who attempt to win an item in a lottery or raffle but
not to
customers who offer to purchase the item.
The information associated with the customer may also include an association
of the customer with the subsidy provider or any other party. For example, an
offer to
have $50 applied to a purchase if the customer agrees to open an Internet
service
account with a first provider may not be transmitted to those customers who
already
have an account with the first provider. Similarly, the offer may only be
provided to
those customer who currently use a second provider (e.8., a particular
competitor of the
first provider). By way of example, a central controller 40 may detect that a
customer
device 10 is communicating through the second provider (e.8., based on an IP
address
W~ ~l/~8~2$ CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/IJS00/18474
associated with the customer). In the case of a subsidy offered by a telephone
service
provider, information based on the customer's telephone number or connection
may
likewise be used (e.g., to determine whether or not the customer uses a
particular
cellular service or subscribes to a particular long distance plan).
The information associated with the customer may also include information
associated with at least one previous transaction, such as: a previous offer
provided to
the customer, a previous offer accepted by the customer, and/or a previous
offer
rejected by the customer. For example, a customer who has previously rejected
a
subsidy offer with a $10 benefit (e.g., as indicated in the prior transaction
database 700)
may now receive a subsidy offer with a $20 benefit.
At 904, information associated with the item is evaluated to determine a
subsidy
offer. The information associated with the item may include, for example: an
original
price of the item, an item category (e.g., a television), an item class (e.g.,
a high quality
television), an item manufacturer, and/or an item feature (e.g., a television
remote
control). For example, an item with an original price of $5 may result in a
first subsidy
offer while an item with an original price of $2,000 may result in a different
subsidy
offer.
At 906, information associated with one or more appropriate subsidy providers
is evaluated to determine a subsidy offer. For example, additional subsidy
offers may
become available when a customer acquisition rate associated with a subsidy
provider
falls below a predetermined level.
At 908, other transaction information is evaluated to determine a subsidy
offer.
For example, an amount the customer is willing to provide in exchange for the
item
(e.g., a customer defined price) may be evaluated. Consider a customer who
bids $5O
for an item associated with an auction reserve price (i.e., a price below
which the item
will not be sold) of $60. In this case, a subsidy offer having a benefit of
$15 may be
determined to be appropriate for the transaction. Note that the actual amount
of the
subsidy offer does not need to be disclosed to the customer (e.g., "your bid
is below the
reserve price for this item, but will be adjusted to an amount above the
reserve price if
you switch Internet service providers").
The time and/or the date associated with the transaction, such as the time and
date 712 stored in the prior transaction database 700, may also be evaluated
to
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WO 01/08025 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 pCT/US00/18474
determine a subsidy offer. For example, certain subsidy offers may only be
provided
during off peak hours (e.g., late at night) or may not be provided during busy
shopping
periods (e.g., during a holiday shopping period).
The evaluations performed herein may use information stored by, for example:
S a device associated with the customer, a device associated with a merchant
selling the
item to the customer, a device associated with the subsidy provider, and/or a
central
controller. For example, information stored in a cookie file at a customer's
PC may be
used to determine a subsidy offer. Moreover, the information may be stored in
the
subsidy database 300, the customer database 400, the item database 500, the
subsidy
provider database 600 and/or the prior transaction database 700 previously
described.
The evaluations performed herein may use information received from the
customer, such as survey information received from the customer. The
information
may also be received from the subsidy provider or any other party. For
example, credit
report information from a credit reporting device 50 (e.g., whether or not the
customer's credit is in good standing) may be used to determine a subsidy
offer.
At 910, it is determined if a subsidy offer will be provided to the customer
based on the evaluations described herein. If no subsidy offer will be
provided at 910,
the process ends at 914.
In addition to determining whether or not a subsidy offer will be provided to
the
customer, the type of or amount of the benefit associated with the subsidy
offer is
determined at 912. This determination may be based on, for example, the same
information used to determine whether or not the subsidy offer will be
provided. For
example, a merchant device 20 may determine that a benefit should be increased
because the customer has recently stopped purchasing items (e.g., the customer
may
now be purchasing items from another merchant). The transaction may then
continue
as described with respect to element 806 in FIG. 8.
FIG. 10 is a flow chart depicting a method 1000 for determining a subsidy
offer
according to another embodiment of the present invention. Note that the method
described with respect to FIG. 10 may be performed, for example, in addition
to the
methods described with respect to FIGS. 8 and 9. According to this embodiment,
a
transaction may qualify for more than one subsidy offer at 1002. If desired,
all of the
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WO 01/08025 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/US00/18474
subsidy offers may be displayed to the customer. In this case, the customer
may chose
to accept none, one, or more than one of the subsidy offers.
However, the merchant device 20 or the central controller 40 may instead
select
which of the applicable subsidy offers should be provided to the customer. In
this case,
the profitability of each subsidy offer may be evaluated with respect to the
merchant at
1004, with respect to the customer at 1006, and with respect to the subsidy
provider at
1008. For example, consider a transaction in which either a first or a second
subsidy
offer can be provided to a customer. The merchant device may receive $10 if
the
customer accepts the first subsidy offer, and $15 if the customer accepts the
second
subsidy offer. In this case, the merchant device 20 may determine that the
second
subsidy offer will be provided to the customer (e.g., because the second
subsidy offer is
considered more beneficial to the customer or the merchant).
The selection may also be based on the previous acceptance of each of the
potential subsidy offers at 1010. For example, a first subsidy offer (e.g., to
apply $5
towards an original price in exchange for the customer answering a short
survey) may
have been accepted by 90% of past customers while a second subsidy offer
(e.g., to
apply $20 towards an original price in exchange for the customer test driving
a car at a
dealership) was accepted by 20% of past customers. In this case, the first
offer may be
provided to the customer.
At 1012, one or more subsidy offers are selected and provided to the customer.
The transaction may then continue as described with respect to element 806 in
FIG. 8.
Additional Embodiments
The following are several examples which illustrate various embodiments of the
present invention. These examples do not constitute a definition of all
possible
embodiments, and those skilled in the art will understand that the present
invention is
applicable to many other embodiments. Further, although the following examples
are
briefly described for clarity, those skilled in the art will understand how to
make any
changes, if necessary, to the above-described apparatus and methods to
accommodate
these and other embodiments and applications.
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W~ 01/08025 CA 02373367 2002-O1-10 PCT/US00/18474
By way of example, consider a customer who registers with an online book
merchant. During registration, the customer provides the merchant with
demographic
information and credit card information (e.g., a credit card number). This
information
may be stored, for example, at a merchant device 20 or a customer device 10
(e.g., by
using a cookie file). The customer then indicates that he wishes to purchase a
$45 book
from the merchant (e.g., by clicking on a "buy this book now" icon).
In response to the indication, the merchant evaluates the customer's
demographic information, the original price of the book (i.e., $45) and the
customer's
credit card information. Based on the evaluation, the merchant tells the
customer that
he can receive the book for free if he applies for a new credit card. The
customer
agrees. Note that the customer might be required to complete an online credit
card
application at this point. The retailer then sends the book to the customer
without
charging the customer's credit card. In exchange for receiving the credit card
application, a party associated with the new credit card provides $50 to the
online book
retailer.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the merchant may
instead charge the customer $45 in exchange for the book. In this case, the
party
associated with the new credit card may provide $45 directly to the customer
and $5
directly to the merchant. Note that the party may instead provide multiple
payments to
the customer. For example, if the customer was to receive the book in exchange
for
using a particular Internet service for three months, the Internet service
(i.e., the
subsidy provider) may provide $15 to the customer each month (for a total of
$45).
According to another embodiment, the benefit offered to the customer may
actually exceed the original price of the item being purchased. In the above
example,
the party associated with the new credit card may offer to apply $100 towards
the
customer's purchase of the $45 book. In this case, the customer may receive
payment
of the extra $55 or may select additional books (as part of this transaction
or in a future
transaction with the merchant). The customer may also be allowed to select
items from
other merchants. According to another embodiment, the merchant may keep the
difference between the benefit and the original price of the item.
According to one embodiment, the subsidy offer is provided to the customer at
a
POS terminal. For example, a customer at a grocery store may be informed that
he is
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CA 02373367 2002-O1-10
WO 01/08025 PCT/US00/184'74
eligible for $100 subsidy if he agrees to transfer a credit card balance to a
particular
credit card within two weeks. If the customer is not purchasing $100 worth of
groceries during this transaction, the balance may be automatically applied to
his next
transaction. Similarly, a kiosk may be located in the grocery store and the
customer
can visit the kiosk to receive information about available subsidy offers.
According to another embodiment, a subsidy offer may be associated with a
number of different subsidy providers and may require that the customer
perform a
number of tasks. For example, a customer may receive the following offer:
"Receive
this television for free if you: (i) subscribe to a particular cable
television service for
one year, (ii) apply for a new credit card and (iii) have your monthly cable
television
fee directly billed to your new credit card." In this case, both a cable
television service
provider and a credit card issuer may contribute towards the benefit being
received by
the customer (i.e., the free television).
According to another embodiment, a customer may be a member of a "subsidy
group." The information associated with the group can then be used to
determine the
subsidy offers and benefits for the members. For example, a customer may
indicate
that he has been referred to a merchant by a third party (e.g., by providing
an identifier
associated with the third party). This information may be used to determine
the
benefits that will be offered to the customer and/or to the third party.
The present invention has been described in terms of several embodiments
solely for the purpose of illustration. Persons skilled in the art will
recognize from this
description that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described,
but may be
practiced with modifications and alterations limited only by the spirit and
scope of the
appended claims.
