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 AFTER THE CONSUMMATION OF A
PURCHASE TRANSACTION
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.
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 are
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for items which are linked to primary items purchased by the client, the
electronic
coupons being redeemable at a later date.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to a method of and system for distributing
electronic
coupons over a network in which the electronic coupons may be redeemable 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 items and
promotional
linking code for linking 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 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 after the completion of the purchase transaction, for
redemption in
a future 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 offering a plurality
of items
for sale, a promotional server including a database having an inventory of
certain of the
plurality of items for sale, the certain items being promotional items, and
promotional
linking code for linking the promotional items to promotional data that define
an
electronic coupon. A client system includes 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 searches the database to determine whether
the
selected item is a promotional item linked to promotional terms by the
promotional
linking code, and electronic coupon generating means provides screen display
data to
the client system for items linked to the promotional terms, the screen
display data
being representative of the electronic coupon defined by the promotional
terms. The
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link determining means may determine whether the selected item is linked to
promotional terms by the promotional linleing code after the purchase
transaction is
consummated. 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 plurality of items for sale may be products
and/or
services.
In another embodiment, the system for distributing electronic coupons over a
network such as the Internet 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 the 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 for a secondary item
and a
client system including a computer processor and associated memory. The client
system is 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 searches
the database after the purchase transaction is consummated to determine if the
selected
item is a promotional item in the inventory and, if the selected item is a
promotional
item, retrieves the electronic coupon data for the secondary item that is
linked to the
selected item. Coupon generating means provides screen display data from the
electronic coupon data to the client system, the screen display data being
representative
of an electronic coupon for the secondary item. The database may be located on
the e-
tail server. The client system may be a personal computer, an interactive
television
system, a personal digital assistant or a cellular telephone.
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, and consummating the purchase transaction. The e-tail server system
accesses
a promotional server including an inventory of certain of the items for sale
and links to
promotional terms for the items, the promotional terms defining an electronic
coupon,
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the promotional server determines whether the selected item is linked to the
promotional terms. Screen display data is provided to the client system for
items
linked to the promotional terms, the screen display data being representative
of the
electronic coupon. The electronic coupon may represent a promotion for the
selected
item or a promotion for an item other than the selected item. The screen
display data
may be provided to the client system directly from the promotional server over
the
network and 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 may
provide 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. l;
FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view of another embodiment of the system of FIG. 1;
and
FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view of yet another embodiment of the system of FIG.
1.
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
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 an anticipated transaction such as by providing a discount in the
price of
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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 is
distributed to the
recipient. The electronic coupon need not be for an item which is 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~ MacINTOSH~ 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
130 is a promotional server that includes an inventory of the promotional
items offered
for sale by the e-tail server 120, promotional terms that define electronic
coupons and
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promotional linking code for linleing 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
benefit to this configuration is the organization that issues the electronic
coupon book
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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 andlor altered by the user with relative
ease; in
the absence of validation/authentication 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 diagram 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 by
selecting
one or more items offered for sale by the e-tail server. This selection is
typically
carried out by the client "placing" the selected item into an online "shopping
cart" for
purchase, or in any other manner known in the art. Once the client has
selected the
items it wants to purchase, payment is rendered and the purchase transaction
is
consummated in the typical fashion, step 212. Upon consummation of the
purchase
transaction, the e-tail server 130 provides information identifying each of
the purchased
items to the promotional server 130 over the communications channel 160, step
214.
Such identifying information can be the Universal Product Code (LTPC) for each
item,
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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
any of the purchased items are promotional items by searching its inventory of
the
promotional items offered for sale by the e-tail server 120 to determine if
any of the
purchased items are in the promotional item inventory and are therefore linked
to
promotional data by the promotional linking code. If none of the items
purchased are
promotional items, no electronic coupons are generated and the transaction is
completed. If the promotional server 130 determines that one or more of the
purchased
items are promotional items linked to the promotional data by the promotional
linking
code, electronic coupons are provided to the client system 110 for each of the
promotional items, step 218. The electronic coupons are then stored in memory
on the
client system 110 for use in a future 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 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 establishes a connection 254 to the e-
tail
server 120 over the communication channel 160 for the purpose of initiating a
purchase
transaction. The user selects one or more of the items offered for sale by the
e-tail
server 120, typically by placing the items into a °°shopping
cart'° on the e-tail server
website. The client system 110 then consummates the purchase transaction by
sending
payment information 256 to the e-tail server 120. Upon consummation of the
purchase
transaction, e-tail server 120 establishes a connection 258 to the promotional
server 130
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and provides the identifying information of the items purchased by the client
110 to the
promotional server 130. Promotional server 130 then searches its database 230
to
determine whether any of the purchased items are promotional items in the
inventory
that are linked to promotional data. If one or more of the purchased items are
promotional items, promotional server 130 generates an electronic coupon for
each
promotional item based on the promotional data supplied by the e-tail server
120 or the
producerlprovider 250. The electronic coupon for each of the promotional items
is then
provided to the client 110 in the form of screen display data. As shown in
Fig. 3, the
electronic coupons can be provided from the promotional server 130 to the e-
tail server
120 via connection 260 and then to the client 110 by the e-tail server 120 via
connection 262. Alternatively, the electronc coupon can be transmitted
directly to the
client 110 by the promotional server 130 via connection 264. The electronic
coupon is
then stored in the memory of the client 110 for use in a subsequent purchase
transaction.
In the subsequent purchase transaction, when the client system 110 establishes
a
connection to the e-tail server 120, the e-tail server 120 detects the
electronic coupon
stored in the memory of the client system 110. The e-tail system then
authenticates the
electronic coupon and modifies the purchase transaction accordingly. As
discussed
above, if the electronic coupon contains the information necessary to
authenticate the
electronic coupon, the electronic coupon can be authenticated and redeemed by
the e-
tail server. Alternatively, the e-tail server can access the promotional
server that issued
the coupon to obtain the information necessary for authenticating the coupon.
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
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client may not have considered purchasing, thus potentially creating a new
customer for
the item.
While the invention has been described as including one e-tail server that
accesses a promotional server, a plurality of e-tail servers 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. 4. 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. It will be understood that the promotional server can
be
accessed through any number of e-tail servers.
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 400 in FIG. 5. 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
I 52 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
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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 network after the consummation of a purchase transaction. After
the
client system selects and purchases items from an e-tail server system, the
promotional
server searches its database of promotional items to determine whether any of
the
purchased items are promotional items. If any of the purchased items are
promotional
items, the promotional server provides electronic coupons to the client, the
electronic
coupons 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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