Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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METHOD OF AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRONIC
COUPONS OVER A NETWORK PRIOR TO THE CONSUMMATION OF A
PURCHASE TRANSACTION
This application claims priority of Provisional Application, U.S.S.N.
filed May 9, 2000.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method of and system for distributing electronic
coupons over a network and more specifically to a method of and system for
determining whether an item selected by a client from an e-tail server is
associated with
a promotion and, if it is, providing an electronic coupon to the client either
for the
selected item or for an item other than the selected item.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In order to increase the number of new customers who buy a particular product,
many retail stores, and grocery stores in particular, set up a database of
certain items
that it sells and links each of these primary items to a secondary item that
is different
from the item to which it is linked for the purpose of promoting the secondary
item.
As a customer is checking out and each item is scanned at the checkout, the
items are
monitored and simultaneously compared to the items in the database to
determine
whether any of the items are associated with a secondary item. If an item is
associated
with a secondary item, a coupon for the secondary item is printed out for the
customer
to use at a later date.
This system enables the store to provide to a customer, who may not normally
purchase the secondary item, an incentive for purchasing the secondary item,
simply
because the customer purchased the particular item that was linked to the
secondary
item. The system thus potentially creates a new customer for the secondary
item.
While this system is in use in the so-called "brick and mortar" outlets, there
is
no such system which enables an online retail store to provide coupons to
customers for
items in this manner. Furthermore, in the above-described system, the customer
does
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not obtain the coupons until after the purchase transaction is completed, thus
preventing
the customer from redeeming the coupon in the present purchase transaction.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a method of and
system
for distributing electronic coupons over a network, in which the electronic
coupons
may be redeemed during the purchase transaction in which they were received or
at a
later date.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to a method of and system fox distributing
electronic
coupons over a network in which the electronic coupons may be redeemed during
the
purchase transaction in which they were received or at a later date. An e-tail
server
includes a plurality of items for sale and has access to a promotional server
that
includes an inventory of certain of the plurality of items and promotional
linking code
for linking the certain items to promotional terms that define an electronic
coupon. A
client system is coupled to the e-tail server system over the network to
initiate a
purchase transaction by selecting one or more items from the plurality of
items for sale.
The system determines whether the items selected by the client system are
linked to
promotional data defining an electronic coupon and, if so, an electronic
coupon is
generated from the promotional data and provided to the client system. The
electronic
coupon is generated prior to the consummation of the purchase transaction,
thereby
enabling the client system to redeem the electronic coupon during the purchase
transaction. The electronic coupon can represent a promotion either for the
selected
item or for an item other than the selected item.
According to the invention, the system for distributing electronic coupons
over
a network such as the Internet includes an e-tail server system having a
computer
processor and associated memory, the e-tail server system including items for
sale, a
promotional server including a database having an inventory of certain of the
plurality
of items for sale and promotional linking code for linking the certain items
for sale to
promotional terms that define an electronic coupon, a client system including
a
computer processor and associated memory, the client system being selectively
coupleable to the e-tail server system over the network to initiate a purchase
transaction
by selecting an item from the plurality of items for sale, a searching device
for
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searching the database to determine whether the selected item is a promotional
item
linked to the promotional terms by the promotional linking code prior to the
purchase
transaction being consummated and electronic coupon generating means for
providing
the electronic coupons to the client system for items selected by the client
which are
promotional items linked to the promotional data: The electronic coupon may
represent
a promotion for the selected item or for an item other than the selected item.
The
promotional server may be included in the e-tail server system. The items for
sale may
be one or both of products and services. The client system may be any wired or
wireless device which is capable of being connected to a communications
network,
such as a personal computer, an interactive television system, a personal
digital
assistant and a cellular telephone. The electronic coupon generating means may
provide the electronic coupons to the client in the form of screen display
data.
In another embodiment, the system for distributing electronic coupons over a
network includes an e-tail server system including a computer processor and
associated
memory, the e-tail server system offering at least one item for sale, a
database including
an inventory of at least one promotional item offered for sale by the e-tail
server
system, the at least one promotional item being linked to electronic coupon
data that
defines an electronic coupon, a client system including a computer processor
and
associated memory, the client system being selectively coupleable to the e-
tail server
system over the network for the purpose of initiating a purchase transaction,
the client
system initiating the purchase transaction by selecting one of the at least
one item for
sale, a search device for searching the database prior to the consummation of
the
purchase transaction to determine if the selected item is a promotional item
in the
inventory and, if the selected item is a promotional item in the inventory,
retrieving the
electronic coupon data for the secondary item that is linked to the
promotional item and
coupon generating means for providing the electronic coupon defined by the
electronic
coupon data linked to the promotional item to the client system.
The method of distributing electronic coupons over a network such as the
Internet according to the invention includes the steps of establishing a
connection over
the network between an e-tail server system including items for sale and a
client
system, the client system initiating a purchase transaction by selecting one
of the items
for sale, the e-tail server system accessing a promotional server including an
inventory
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of promotional items for sale and links to promotional terms for the
promotional items,
the promotional terms defining an electronic coupon, the promotional server
determining whether the selected item is a promotional item in the inventory,
providing
screen display data to the client system for promotional items linked to the
promotional
terms, the screen display data being representative of the electronic coupon,
and
consummating the purchase transaction. The screen display data may be provided
to
the client system directly from the promotional server over the network or the
screen
display data may be provided by the promotional server to the e-tail server
system
client system over the network, and the e-tail server system provides the
screen display
data to the client system over the network.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The foregoing and other objects of this invention, the various features
thereof,
as well as the invention itself may be more fully understood from the
following
description when read together with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a system for distributing electronic coupons
in
accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a method of distributing electronic coupons in
accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a more detailed diagrammatic view of the system of FIG. 1 carrying
out the method of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an alternative method of distributing electronic
coupons in accordance with the present invention;
and
1.
FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view of another embodiment of the system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view of yet another embodiment of the system of FIG.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention is directed to a method of and system for distributing
electronic coupons over a network. An electronic coupon is essentially a
token, issued
by or under the authority of the issuer for the benefit of the recipient.
Typically, the
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recipient receives the electronic coupon and subsequently redeems it for the
prescribed
benefit at some later point in time. Preferably, the electronic coupon enables
or
modifies a transaction such as by providing a discount in the price of goods
or services
provided by the issuer or the issuer's agent. According to the invention, the
distribution of electronic coupons is determined based on the products or
services
purchased by the recipient. If a particular product or service selected by the
recipient
for purchase is a promotional item, an electronic coupon for a secondary item
is
distributed to the recipient. The secondary item need not be the same as or
related to
the promotional item.
FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a system 100 for distributing electronic coupons in
accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The system
100
includes client system 110, server system 120 and server system 130 all
connected to a
common communications channel 160. Preferably, the client system 110, server
system 120 and server system 130 can each be a personal computer such as an
IBM PC
or IBM PC compatible system or an APPLE~ MacINTQSH~ system or a more
advanced computer system such as an Alpha-based computer system available from
Compaq Computer Corporation or SPARC~ Station computer system available from
SUN Microsystems Corporation, although a main frame computer system can also
be
used. Preferably, the communications channel 160 is a TCP/IP-based network
such as
the Internet or an intranet, although almost any well known LAN, WAN or VPN
technology can be used.
In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the client system 110 is an IBM
PC compatible system operating a Microsoft Windows~ operating system and
server
system 120 and server system 130 are configured as web servers providing
access to
information such as web pages in HTML format via the HyperText Transport
Protocol
(http). The client system 110 includes software to allow viewing of web pages,
commonly referred to as a web browser, thus being capable of accessing web
pages
located on server system 120 and server system 130. Alternatively, client
system 110
can be any wired or wireless device that can be connected to a communications
network, such as an interactive television system, such as WEBTV, a personal
digital
assistant (PDA) or a cellular telephone. In this preferred embodiment, server
system
120 is an e-tail server offering a plurality of items for sale over the
Internet and server
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130 is a promotional server that includes an inventory of promotional items
offered for
sale by the e-tail server 120, promotional terms that define electronic
coupons and
promotional linking code for linking the promotional items in the inventory to
the
promotional terms that define the electronic coupons. The items offered,for
sale by the
e-tail server 120 can be products and/or services.
In one preferred embodiment, server system 120 includes web server software
that is adapted to produce an electronic coupon or a book of electronic
coupons that is
transferred to the client system 110 in the form of a cookie that is stored in
memory at
the client system. Preferably, the electronic coupon is a data structure which
can
include any or all of the following information elements: data representative
of an
electronic coupon serial number or identification number data representative
of a
unique key that can be used to validate or authenticate the coupon data
representative of
the vendor that authorized the coupon and will redeem the coupon data
representative
of the nature of the discount or access provided by the coupon data
representative of the
server or entity that issued the coupon. In one preferred embodiment, the
electronic
coupon can be issued as part of an electronic coupon book. The coupon book can
include data representative of a version number for the electronic coupon book
and data
representative of a serial number or identification number for the electronic
coupon
book.
In one preferred embodiment, the electronic coupon contains all the
information
necessary to redeem the coupon. Specifically, the electronic coupon identifies
the
grantor (i.e., the party or vendor that will redeem the electronic coupon),
the nature of
the discount or benefit provided and a unique serial number or other data
structure that
permits the electronic coupon to be authenticated or validated. Thus, a server
redeeming this type of electronic coupon can obtain all the information
necessary to
redeem from the electronic coupon. The server can even include the software
necessary to authenticate or validate the electronic coupon.
In an alternative embodiment, the electronic coupon book includes a unique
serial number or identification number and data structure useful for
authenticating or
validating the electronic coupon book. The actual content of the electronic
coupon
book can be determined for example, by visiting a website which reads the
coupon
book serial number and provides the user with listings of the coupons
available. A
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benefit to this configuration is the organization that issues the electronic
coupon book
can add vendors even after the electronic coupon book has been issued. Thus,
if a
vendor signs up with the organization that issues electronic coupon books
after a
particular coupon book has been issued to a client, the vendor can be added to
the
electronic coupon book at a later date. In order to redeem this type of
electronic
coupon the server that intends to redeem the electronic coupon must connect to
an
authentication server which will authenticate or validate the coupon book and
indicate
the nature of the benefit of the electronic coupon to the .server requesting
authentication/validation. Another benefit of this configuration is that the
coupons are
relatively tamper proof due to the authentication and validation facilities.
In many prior
art systems, coupons could be copied and/or altered by the user with relative
ease; in
the absence of validationlauthentication schemes, few reliable methods for
detection of
such counterfeits exist.
The promotional linking code can be programmed into the promotional server
through the e-tail server, thereby enabling the e-tail website to program its
own, in-
house, promotions such as "in store" coupons. Additionally, the promotional
linking
code can be programmed into the promotional server by one or more of the
producers
of the goods or providers of the services that are available for sale on the e-
tail website
associated with the e-tail server 130, thereby enabling the producers of the
goods or
providers of the services to promote particular goods or services.
FIG. 2 shows a flow chart 200 of a method of distributing electronic coupons
in
accordance with one preferred embodiment of the invention. In a preliminary
step 210,
the client system 110, FIG. 1, after establishing a connection with the e-tail
server 130
over the communications channel 160, initiates a purchase transaction with the
e-tail
server. The client then selects an item from the e-tail server, step 212. This
selection is
typically carried out by the client "placing" the selected item into an online
"shopping
cart" for purchase. When the client selects the item it wants to purchase, the
e-tail
server 130 provides information identifying the selected item to the
promotional server
130 over the communications channel 160, step 214. Such identifying
information can
be the Universal Product Code (UPC) for each item, or any other identification
indicia
supplied by the e-tail website or by the manufacturers or providers of the
items. In
step 216, the promotional server 130 determines whether the selected item is a
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promotional item by searching its inventory of the items offered for sale by
the e-tail
server 120 to determine if the selected item is a promotional item in the
inventory that
is linked to promotional data by the promotional linking code. If it is not,
and the client
has completed its selection of items, step 220, payment is rendered and the
purchase
transaction is consummated, step 222. If the client has not completed its
selection of
items, step 220, the client selects another item from the e-tail server, step
212. Again,
the e-tail server provides information identifying the selected item to the
promotional
server 130 over the communications channel 160, step 214. If the selected item
is a
promotional item, step 216, the electronic coupon linked to the promotional
item is
provided to the client over the network, step 218. Since the purchase
transaction has
not yet been consummated, the client is able to redeem the electronic coupon
in the
present transaction. This process continues until the client has completed its
selection
of items, step 220, in which case the purchase transaction is consummated,
step 222. .
During the consummation of the transaction, any electronic coupons received by
the
client that pertain to items purchased by the client are redeemed to modify
the purchase
transaction.
The preceding embodiment is shown in greater detail in Fig. 3. First, the e-
tail
server 110 provides instructions 220 to the promotional server 130 for
generating
promotional links between a promotional item and a promotion. These
instructions
include identification information for the promotional item and the
promotional data
which defines the electronic coupon. The promotional data can either define an
electronic coupon that is redeemable for a discount on a secondary item, which
may or
may not be related to the promotional item, or for a discount for the
promotional item
itself. The promotional server 130 then constructs the promotional linking
code that
links the promotional item to the promotional data. Additionally, a producer
or
provider of items 250 can provide instructions 252 to the promotional server
130, for
the purpose of linking promotional items with promotional data for certain of
its items,
as described above.
A user operating a client system 110 initiates a connection 254 to the e-tail
server 120 over the communication channel 160 for the purpose of initiating a
purchase
transaction. The user then selects one of the items offered for sale by the e-
tail server
120, typically by placing the item into a "shopping cart" on the e-tail server
website.
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The e-tail server 120 establishes a connection 258 to the promotional server
130 and
provides the identifying information of the item selected by the client 110 to
the
promotional server 130. Promotional server 130 then searches its database 230
to
determine whether the selected item is present in the database and therefore
is a
promotional item that is linked to promotional data. If the selected item is a
promotional item, promotional server 130 generates an electronic coupon based
on the
promotional data supplied by the e-tail server 120 or the producerlprovider
250. The
electronic coupon for the promotional item is then provided to the client 110
in the
form of screen display data. As shown in Fig. 3, the electronic coupon can be
provided
from the promotional server 130 to the e-tail server 120 via connection 260
and then to
the client I I O by the e-tail server I20 via connection 262. Alternatively,
the electronic
coupon can be transmitted directly to the client 110 by the promotional server
130 via
connection 264. This process is followed for each of the items selected by the
client.
When the client has completed its section of items, payment information 256 is
provided to the e-tail server 120 by the client 110 and the purchase
transaction is
consummated. Any electronic coupons received by the client are redeemed during
the
consummation of the purchase transaction. Alternatively, the electronic
coupons may
be save in the memory of the client system for redemption in a future purchase
transaction.
As described above, the electronic coupon may be redeemable for a discount on
the purchased product in order to encourage repeat business, or for a discount
on a
secondary item in order to create new customers for an item. In the latter
case, the
secondary item may or may not be related to the promotional item. For example,
for a
grocery e-tail server, an electronic coupon for pasta sauce could be linked to
the
purchase of a pasta product, thus promoting a particular brand of pasta sauce
to a client
who is most likely intending to buy pasta sauce. Alternatively, the electronic
coupon
could be unrelated to the purchased item, such that the promotion is for an
item that the
client may not have considered purchasing.
An alternative embodiment of the method is shown in flowchart 400 in FIG. 4.
In the flowchart 400, the steps that are the same as the steps in the
flowchart 200 of
FIG. 2 are referred to using the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 2.
In this
method, the e-tail server does not provide the information about the selected
item to
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the promotional server, step 214 in FIG. 2. Rather, the e-tail server 120
includes client
selection code that permits the client to gain access to the promotional
server 130 for
the purpose of determining whether the selected item is a promotional item
and, if it is,
to retrieve the electronic coupon. Accordingly, after the client selects an
item, step 212,
the e-tail server, in response to the selection, enables the client to access
the
promotional server. The promotional server then determines whether the
selected item
is a promotional item and if so, provides the linked electronic coupon to the
client for
use in the purchase transaction. The remaining steps of the method are the
same as the
method shown in FIG. 2.
While the invention has been described as including one e-tail server that
accesses a promotional server, a plurality of e-tail server may be coupled to
the
promotional server in order to distribute electronic coupons to clients of the
e-tail
servers. Such a configuration is illustrated in Fig. 5. In this system 300, in
addition to
the e-tail server 120, a second e-tail server 140 is coupleable to the
promotional server
130 over communications network 160 for the purpose of defining promotional
items in
the manner described above. Accordingly, the client 110 can access either e-
tail server
120 or e-tail server 140 for the purpose of carrying out a purchase
transaction over the
communication channel 160 and either or both of the e-tail servers can access
the
promotional server 130.
In another embodiment, the inventory of items for sale and the associated
promotional data and promotional linking code are stored in a database server
system
on the e-tail server. Such a configuration is shown at 450 in FIG. 6. In this
embodiment, e-tail server 150 is coupleable to client 110 over communications
network
160. E-tail server 150 includes a database server system 152 which, as
described
above, includes an inventory of promotional items, promotional data defining
electronic
coupons and promotional linking code for linking the promotional items to the
promotional data.
In this embodiment, the e-tail server 150 defines promotions locally within
database server system 152. The client system 110 establishes a connection
with e-tail
server 150 over the communications network 160 for the purpose of initiating a
purchase transaction. After the client system 110 selects items to purchase
and
consummates the purchase transaction, the e-tail server searches database
server system
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152 to determine if any of the items purchased by the client system are listed
in the
inventory as promotional items. If one or more of the items is in the
inventory of
database server system 152, an electronic coupon for each of the items, as
defined by
the promotional data linked to the promotional item by the promotional linking
code, is
transmitted to the client system 110 by the e-tail server 150 over the
communications
network 160.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a system for distributing
electronic
coupons over a networlc prior to the consummation of a purchase transaction.
After the
client system selects an item from an e-tail server system, the promotional
server
searches its database of promotional items to determine whether the item is a
promotional item. If the selected item is a promotional item, the promotional
server
provides an electronic coupon to the client, the electronic coupon being
defined by the
promotional data linked to the promotional item in the promotional server
database.
The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from
the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are
therefore to
be considered in respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of
the invention
being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing
description, and all
changes which come within the meaning and range of the equivalency of the
claims are
therefore intended to be embraced therein.
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