PATENT APPLICATION
DEVICES, METHODS, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIA FOR REDEMPTION
HEADER FOR MERCHANT OFFERS
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a PCT patent application claiming
priority to U.S. patent
application 13/839,066, filed March 15, 2013, and which is a non-provisional
of, and thus claims
the benefit of, each of the following pending U.S. provisional patent
applications: provisional
application 61/707,527, filed September 28, 2012; provisional application
61/665,740, filed June
28, 2012; provisional application 61/658,408, filed June 12, 2012; provisional
application
61/658,404, filed June 11, 2012; and provisional application 61/658,387, filed
June 11, 2012.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
[0002] This invention relates generally to merchant offers for goods and
service and, more
particularly, to redemption of certain offers such as online coupons.
2. Description of the Related Art
[0003] Offer-discovery systems provide a service by which merchants inform
customers of
offers, for example deals (e.g., discounts, favorable shipping terms, or
rebates) or coupons (e.g.,
printable coupons for in-store use or coupon codes for use online). Typically,
the systems store
information about offers from a relatively large number of merchants and
provide an interface by
which customers can identify offers in which the customer is likely to be
interested. Merchants
have found the offer-discovery systems to be a relatively effective form of
marketing, as cost-
sensitive consumers are drawn to such systems due to their relatively
comprehensive listings of
offers. Such offers may include coupons, such as include traditional in-store
coupons, and online
coupons typically obtained via the Internet, such as from merchant websites, e-
mail distributions,
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etc. To use an online coupon, a customer typically provides an identifier,
such as a coupon code,
when purchasing goods and services from a merchant's online store. However, a
customer may
forget about the existence of the coupon and, as a result, fail to take
advantage of the offer
presented by the coupon. Additionally, it may be challenging for a customer to
remember the
identifier presented by the coupon and to use the online coupon in the manner
specified by the
online store. And, the advent of smaller computing devices having different or
limited interfaces
may increase the challenges faces by customers attempting to use online
coupons.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] Various embodiments of devices, computer-implemented methods, and
computer-
readable media for a redemption header for merchant offers are provided
herein. In some
embodiments, a method is provided that includes providing (e.g., obtaining and
rendering) in a
browser executing on a user device an offers webpage from an offers engine,
the offers webpage
having: a plurality of offers associated with a respective plurality of
merchants and a respective
plurality of offer redemption identifiers. The method also includes receiving
a selection of one
of the plurality of offers, the selected offer associated with a selected
offer redemption identifier
and a selected merchant. The method further includes redirecting the browser
to a merchant
webpage of the selected merchant. Additionally, the method includes
detelinining, with one or
more processors, whether an offer identifier associated with the selected
offer is stored in a
storage item accessible by the browser. The method further includes inserting,
if (e.g., if and
only if) the offer identifier is stored in the storage item, a redemption
header in a webpage
element of the merchant webpage, the redemption header including the offer
identifier associated
with the selected offer and the redemption header being displayed on the
merchant webpage. The
method further includes providing, if the offer identifier is not stored in
the storage item, an
empty webpage element of the merchant webpage.
[0005] Additionally, in some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable
medium
having executable computer code stored thereon is provided. The executable
computer code
includes instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to
effectuate operations
including the following: providing in a browser executing on a user device an
offers webpage
from an offers engine, the offers webpage having a plurality of offers
associated with a
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respective plurality of merchants and a respective plurality of offer
redemption identifiers and
receiving a selection of one of the plurality of offers, the selected offer
associated with a selected
offer redemption identifier and a selected merchant. Additionally, the
executable computer code
includes instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to
perfoun the
following: redirecting the browser to a merchant webpage of the selected
merchant. The
executable computer code further includes instructions that, when executed,
cause one or more
processors to perform the following: deteunining, by one or more processors,
whether an offer
identifier associated with the selected offer is stored in a storage item
accessible by the browser.
The executable computer code further includes instructions that, when
executed, cause one or
more processors to perfoun the following: inserting, if the offer identifier
is stored in the storage
item, a redemption header in a webpage element of the merchant webpage, the
redemption
header including the offer redemption identifier associated with the selected
offer and the
redemption header being displayed on the merchant webpage. The executable
computer code
further includes instructions that, when executed, cause one or more
processors to perfoun the
following: providing, if the offer identifier is not stored in the storage
item, an empty webpage
element of the merchant webpage.
100061 Further, in some embodiments, a system is provided that includes one or
more
processors and a non-transitory tangible computer-readable memory
communicatively coupled to
the processor. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable memory includes
executable
computer code stored thereon. The executable computer code includes
instructions that, when
executed, cause one or more processors to perfoun the following: providing in
a browser
executing on a user device an offers webpage from an offers engine, the offers
webpage
comprising a plurality of offers associated with a respective plurality of
merchants and a
respective plurality of offer redemption identifiers and receiving a selection
of one of the
plurality of offers, the selected offer associated with a selected offer
redemption identifier and a
selected merchant. Additionally, the executable computer code includes
instructions that, when
executed, cause one or more processors to perfoilli the following: redirecting
the browser to a
merchant webpage of the selected merchant. The executable computer code
further includes
instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perfoun the
following:
determining, by one or more processors, whether an offer identifier associated
with the selected
offer is stored in a storage item accessible by the browser. The executable
computer code further
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determining, by one or more processors, whether an offer identifier associated
with the selected
offer is stored in a storage item accessible by the browser. The executable
computer code further
includes instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to
perform the
following: inserting, if the offer identifier is stored in the storage item, a
redemption header in a
webpage element of the merchant webpage, the redemption header including the
offer
redemption identifier associated with the selected offer and the redemption
header being
displayed on the merchant webpage. The executable computer code further
includes instructions
that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform the following:
providing, if the
offer identifier is not stored in the storage item, an empty webpage element
of the merchant
webpage.
[0006a] In an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method of
coordinating consistent
content across domains via client-side communication of information about the
content by
circumventing a browser-security policy that prohibits cross-domain access to
browser memory,
the method comprising: determining, with a user computing device, by browser-
executable
software executed by a web browser of the user computing device, that a
webpage navigated to
by the web browser corresponds to a given domain, at least some of the browser-
executable
software being obtained by the web browser directly or indirectly from another
domain different
from the given domain before navigating to the given domain; after determining
that the
webpage navigated to by the web browser corresponds to the given domain, with
the user
computing device, by the browser-executable software executed by the web
browser, causing the
webpage to display, in a webpage element, third-party content applicable to
the webpage,
wherein: the webpage element is inserted in a document object model of the
webpage by the
browser-executable software executed by the web browser at the user computing
device, at least
some of the third-party content is obtained from a domain different from the
given domain
responsive to a request from the browser-executable software executed by the
web browser, the
web browser executing on the user computing device implements a security
policy prohibiting at
least some web content of the webpage from cross-domain access to browser
memory, the
webpage element is caused to display the third-party content based on a record
stored in browser
memory, the record is stored in browser memory by instructions that are
provided by a web
domain different from the given domain before navigating the web browser to
the webpage,
and at least part of the record stored in browser memory is accessed by the
browser-executable
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software while the web browser is at the webpage; determining, with the user
computing device,
by the browser-executable software executed by the web browser, a string input
associated with
the given domain, and submitting, by the browser-executable software executed
by the web
browser, a string via the string input associated with the given domain.
[0006b] In an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a tangible, non-
transitory, machine-
readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a web browser of a
user computing
device effectuate operations comprising: determining that a web domain
navigated to by the web
browser matches a merchant domain of a merchant, at least some of the
instructions being
obtained by the web browser directly or indirectly from a publisher of online
coupons from a
web domain different from the merchant domain before navigating to the
merchant domain; after
determining that the web domain navigated to by the web browser matches the
merchant domain
of the merchant, causing the merchant webpage to display, in a webpage
element, information
about an online coupon applicable to the merchant webpage, wherein: the
webpage element is
inserted in a document object model of the merchant webpage, at least some of
the information
about the coupon applicable to the merchant webpage is obtained from a web
domain different
from the merchant domain, the instructions are configured to operate with a
web browser
executing on the user computing device that implements a security policy
prohibiting web
content of the merchant webpage from cross-domain access to browser memory,
the webpage
element is caused to display the information about the online coupon based on
data stored in
browser memory, and at least part of the data stored in browser memory is
accessed by the at
least some of the instructions while the web browser is at the merchant
domain; obtaining a
coupon-code input associated with the merchant webpage and submitting a coupon
code of the
coupon via the coupon-code input associated with the merchant webpage.
[0006c] In an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method,
comprising: determining,
with a user computing device, that a web browser executing on the user
computing device
navigated to a specified merchant domain of a merchant, wherein: the
determining is performed
by software code that is: executed by the web browser, obtained from a web
domain different
from the merchant domain, and made available by a coupon publisher to
interface with a
coupons engine of the coupon publisher that publishes online coupons
applicable to a plurality of
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merchants; the software code determines that the web browser navigated to the
specified
merchant domain based on a value stored in browser memory; the value is stored
in browser
memory by instructions that are obtained by the web browser from a web domain
different from
the merchant domain; the web browser implements a security policy prohibiting
web content of
the merchant webpage from cross-domain access to browser memory; and the value
stored in
browser memory is accessed by the software code while the web browser is at
the merchant
domain; and after determining that the web browser navigated to the specified
merchant domain
of the merchant, with the user computing device, by the software code executed
by the web
browser, changing the merchant webpage to indicate existence of a coupon
relating to the
merchant webpage, wherein: changing the merchant webpage comprises injecting
content into
the merchant webpage at the user computing device by the software code, and at
least some of
the injected content is obtained by the web browser from the coupons engine at
a web domain
different from the merchant domain.
[0006d] In an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method
implemented with a
server system and a user computing device, the method comprising: sending, by
the server
system, via a network, from a first domain, at least part of a first webpage
to a web browser
executing on the user computing device; displaying, by the web browser,
information related to a
plurality of coupons in the first webpage; storing, by the web browser, in
client-side browser-
accessible storage, identifiers of one or more of the plurality of coupons,
wherein: the web
browser implements a security policy limiting cross-domain access to browser
memory by web
content, and the web browser has an added program installed in the web browser
configured to
bypass the security policy and provide cross-domain access to browser memory;
and after the at
least part of the first webpage is sent, coordinating, by the web browser,
consistent content across
domains after the web browser navigates to a second webpage from a second
domain different
from the first domain, wherein consistent content across domains is
coordinated by: accessing,
with the added program installed in the web browser, the identifiers of one or
more of the
plurality of coupons in the client-side browser-accessible storage after the
web browser has
navigated to the second webpage and while the web browser is displaying
content of the second
domain; and causing, in response to accessing the identifiers of one or more
of the plurality of
coupons after the web browser has navigated to the second webpage, the web
browser to
concurrently display the second webpage and, in a bar, information related to
one or more of the
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plurality of coupons, wherein the bar is at least partially overlaid on the
displayed second
webpage.
[0006e] In an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method
implemented with a
server system and a user computing device, the method comprising: sending, by
the server
system, via a network, from a first domain, at least part of a first webpage
to a web browser
executing on the user computing device; displaying, by the web browser,
information related to a
plurality of coupons in the first webpage; associating, by the server system,
a referral award or
rebate with a user profile of a user of the user computing device; storing, by
the web browser, in
client-side browser-accessible storage, an identifier associated with the
referral award or rebate,
wherein: the web browser implements a security policy limiting cross-domain
access to browser
memory by web content, and the web browser has an added program installed in
the web
browser configured to bypass the security policy and provide cross-domain
access to browser
memory; and after the at least part of the first webpage is sent,
coordinating, by the web browser,
consistent content across domains after the web browser navigates to a second
webpage from a
second domain different from the first domain, wherein consistent content
across domains is
coordinated by: accessing, with the added program installed in the web
browser, the identifier
associated with the referral award or rebate stored in the client-side browser-
accessible storage
after the web browser has navigated to the second webpage and while the web
browser is
displaying content of the second domain; and causing concurrent display by the
web browser of
both the second webpage and a region displaying information about the referral
award or rebate,
in response to accessing the identifier associated with the referral award or
rebate and
determining, with the added program installed in the web browser, that the
second webpage is a
checkout webpage.
1000611 In another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a tangible,
non-transitory,
machine-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by one or more
processors
effectuate operations comprising: sending, with one or more processors, via a
network, from a
first domain, at least part of a first webpage to a web browser executing on a
user computing
device, wherein sending the at least part of the first webpage comprises:
causing the web browser
to obtain and display a plurality of content items in the first webpage, each
of the content items
being associated in the web browser with a content-item identifier that
distinguishes the content
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items from one another; sending, with one or more processors, via the network,
from the first
domain, instructions that cause the web browser to store in client-side
browser-accessible storage
a given content-item identifier associated with a given content item selected
by a user in the first
webpage, the storing being executed in response to receiving the selection of
the given content
item in the first webpage by the user; and after sending the at least part of
the first webpage, and
after the selection of the given content item is received, coordinating, with
one or more
processors, consistent content across domains after the web browser navigates
to a second
webpage from a second domain different from the first domain, wherein
consistent content
across domains is coordinated by: communicating the selection of the given
content item by the
user across domains via the client-side browser-accessible storage, from
content associated with
the first domain to content associated with the second domain, by accessing
the client-side
browser-accessible storage after the web browser has navigated to the second
web page; and
causing the web browser to display the second webpage concurrently with
displaying
information related to the given content item in response to the selection of
the given content
item being communicated across domains.
[0006g] In a further aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method,
comprising:
sending, with one or more processors, via a network, from a first domain, at
least part of a first
webpage to a web browser executing on a user computing device, wherein sending
the at least
part of the first webpage comprises: causing the web browser to obtain and
display a plurality of
content items in the first webpage, each of the content items being associated
in the web browser
with a content-item identifier that distinguishes the content items from one
another; sending,
with one or more processors, via the network, from the first domain,
instructions that cause the
web browser to store in client-side browser-accessible storage a given content-
item identifier
associated with a given content item selected by a user in the first webpage,
the storing being
executed in response to receiving the selection of the given content item in
the first webpage by
the user; and after sending the at least part of the first webpage, and after
the selection of the
given content item is received, coordinating, with one or more processors,
consistent content
across domains after the web browser navigates to a second webpage from a
second domain
different from the first domain, wherein consistent content across domains is
coordinated by:
communicating the selection of the given content item by the user across
domains via the client-
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side browser-accessible storage, from content associated with the first domain
to content
associated with the second domain, by accessing the client-side browser-
accessible storage after
the web browser has navigated to the second web page; and causing the web
browser to display
the second webpage concurrently with displaying information related to the
given content item in
response to the selection of the given content item being communicated across
domains.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of an example of an offer-
discovery system in
accordance with some embodiments;
[0008] Figure 2 is a block diagram an example of a process by which an offers
engine in the
offer-discovery system of Figure 1, in some embodiments, obtains and processes
data related to
offers;
[0009] Figure 3 is a block diagram an example of a process by which a user
device in the
offer-discovery system of Figure 1, in some embodiments, obtains and presents
to users data
related to offers;
[0010] Figures 4A-4F are schematic diagrams illustrating screens of a user
device executing a
browser in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
[0011] Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating user actions and a
redemption header process
in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
[0012] Figures 6A and 6B are block diagrams are block diagrams for providing a
redemption
header in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and
[0013] Figure 7 is a block diagram of a computer in accordance with an
embodiment of the
present invention; and
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[0014]
Although the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative
forms,
specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and
will herein be
described in detail. The drawings may not be to scale. It should be
understood, however, that
the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the
invention to the
particular form disclosed, but to the contrary, the intention is to cover all
modifications,
equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the
present invention as
defined by the appended claims.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] The
above-mentioned deficiencies in existing offer-discovery systems may be
mitigated by certain embodiments of an offer-discovery system 10 illustrated
by Figure 1. The
exemplary system 10 includes an offers engine 12 that, in some embodiments, is
capable of
reducing the burden on users attempting to identify offers relevant to them
from among a
relatively large pool of offers (e.g., more than 100, more than 1,000, or more
than 10,000) and
redeem selected offers. The system 10 provides instructions to user devices
that, when executed
by the user devices, implement an offer redemption user interface described
below with
reference to Figures 4-6. This interface, in some cases, assets the user with
recall and entry of a
coupon code or other offer-related data at a merchant's website. This
interface and the
associated instructions are described in greater detail below, following a
description of other
aspects of the system 10, which provides complimentary, but independent
benefits to those of the
interfaces of Figures 4-6.
[00161 In
some embodiments, the offers engine 12 maintains device-independent user
profiles
(or portions of user profiles) by which offers interfaces may be relatively
consistently configured
across multiple user devices with which the user interacts with the offers
engine 12. Further, the
offers engine 12, in some embodiments, includes a number of features expected
to facilitate
relatively quick identification of relevant offers by a user, features that
include cached storage of
data related to likely relevant offers, faceted presentation of offers by
which users can select
among offers within various categories, and a number of other techniques
described below for
assisting with offer identification. The offers engine 12 is also expected to
facilitate relatively
low operating costs by, in some embodiments, automating parts of the process
by which offer
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related data is acquired from sources, such as affiliate networks merchants,
administrators, or
users, and automating parts of the process by which transaction data
indicative of acceptance,
settlement, or clearing of offers is obtained and processed.
100171 These and other benefits are described in greater detail below,
after introducing the
components of the system 10 and describing their operation. It should be
noted, however, that
not all embodiments necessarily provide all of the benefits outlined herein,
and some
embodiments may provide all or a subset of these benefits or different
benefits, as various
engineering and cost tradeoffs are envisioned.
100181 In the illustrated embodiment, the offers engine 12 includes a
control module 14, an
application program interface (API) server 16, a web server 18, an ingest
module 20, an
administration module 22, a data store 24, and a cache server 23. These
components, in some
embodiments, communicate with one another in order to provide the
functionality of the offers
engine 12 described herein. As described in greater detail below, in some
embodiments, the data
store 24 may store data about offers and users' interactions with those
offers; the cache server 23
may expedite access to this data by storing likely relevant data in relatively
high-speed memory,
for example, in random-access memory or a solid-state drive; the web server 20
may serve
webpages having offers interfaces by which users discover relevant offers; the
API server 16
may serve data to various applications that process data related to offers;
the ingest module 20
may facilitate the intake of data related to offers from affiliate networks,
users, administrators,
and merchants; and the administration module 22 may facilitate curation of
offers presented by
the API server 16 and the web server 18. The operation of these components 16,
18, 20, 22, 24,
and 23 may be coordinated by the control module 14, which may bidirectionally
communicate
with each of these components or direct the components to communicate with one
another.
Communication may occur by transmitting data between separate computing
devices (e.g., via
transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) communication over a
network), by
transmitting data between separate applications or processes on onc computing
device; or by
passing values to and from functions, modules, or objects within an
application or process, e.g.,
by reference or by value.
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[0019] Among
other operations, the offers engine 12 of this embodiment presents offers to
users; receives data from users about their interaction with the offers (for
example, the user's
favorite offers or offer attributes; statistics about the offers the user has
identified, accepted, or
otherwise provided data about; or the identity of other users with whom the
user communicates
about offers and the content of those communications; provided thatusers opt
to have such data
obtained); customizes the presentation of offers based on this received data;
and facilitates the
processing of compensation from merchants (either directly or through
affiliate networks) as a
result of users accepting (or taking a specific action, like clicking or
viewing, in some
embodiments or use cases) offers. This interaction with users may occur via a
website viewed on
a desktop computer, tablet, or a laptop of the user. And in some cases, such
interaction occurs
via a mobile viebsite viewed on a smart phone, tablet, or other mobile user
device, or via a
special-purpose native application executing on a smart phone, tablet, or
other mobile user
device. Presenting and facilitating interaction with offers across a variety
of devices is expected
to make it easier for users to identify and recall relevant offers at the time
the user is interested in
those offers, which is often different from the time at which the user first
discovers the offers. In
particular, some embodiments allow users to store data indicative of offers
relevant to that user
using one device, such as a desktop computer in the user's home, and then view
those offers at a
later time, such as on a native mobile application when in a retail store.
[0020] To
illustrate an example of the environment in which the offers engine 12
operates, the
illustrated embodiment of Figure 1 includes a number of components with which
the offers
engine 12 communicates: mobile user devices 28 and 30; a desk-top user device
32; a third party
server 34; an administrator device 36; merchant servers 38, 40, and 42; and
affiliate-network
servers 44 and 46. Each of these devices communicates with the offers engine
12 via a network
48, such as the Internet or the Internet in combination with various other
networks, like local area
networks, cellular networks, or personal area networks.
[0021] The
mobile user devices 28 and 30 may be smart phones, tablets, gaming devices, or
other hand-held networked computing devices having a display, a user input
device (e.g.,
buttons, keys, voice recognition, or a single or multi-touch touchscreen),
memory (such as a
tangible, machine-readable, non-transitory memory), a network interface, a
portable energy
source (e.g., a battery), and a processor (a tenni which, as used herein,
includes one or more
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processors) coupled to each of these components. The memory of the mobile user
devices 28 and
30 may store instructions that when executed by the associated processor
provide an operating
system and various applications, including a web browser 50 or a native mobile
application 52.
The native application 52, in some embodiments, is operative to provide an
offers interface that
communicates with the offers engine 12 and facilitates user interaction with
data from the offers
engine 12. Similarly, the web browser 50 may be configured to receive a
website from the offers
engine 12 having data related to deals and instructions (for example,
instructions expressed in
JavaScriptTM) that when executed by the browser (which is executed by the
processor) cause the
mobile user device to communicate with the offers engine 12 and facilitate
user interaction with
data from the offers engine 12. The native application 52 and the web browser
50, upon
rendering a webpage from the offers engine 12, may generally be referred to as
client
applications of the offers engine 12, which in some embodiments may be
referred to as a server.
Embodiments, however, are not limited to client/server architectures, and the
offers engine 12, as
illustrated, may include a variety of components other than those functioning
primarily as a
server.
[0022] The desk-top user device 32 may also include a web browser 54 that
serves the same
or similar role as the web browser 50 in the mobile user device 30. In
addition, the desk-top user
device 32 may include a monitor; a keyboard; a mouse; memory; a processor; and
a tangible,
non-transitory, machine-readable memory storing instructions that when
executed by the
processor provide an operating system and the web browser.
[0023] Third-party offer server 34 may be configured to embed data from the
offers engine 12
in websites or other services provided by the third-party offer server 34. For
example, third-party
offer server 34 may be a server of a social networking service upon which
users post comments
or statistics about offers with which the user has interacted, or the users
may use the offer server
34 to recommend offers to others or identify offers to avoid. In another
example, third-party
offer server 34 may include various services for publishing content to the
Web, such as blogs,
tweets, likes, dislikes, ratings, and the like. In another example, third-
party offer server 34
provides services by which third-parties curate offers hosted by the offers
engine 12.
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[0024] Merchant servers 38, 40, and 42 host websites or other user
accessible content
interfaces by which users can accept offers hosted by the offers engine 12. In
some
embodiments, and in some use cases, the merchant servers 38, 40, and 42 host
retail websites
that present a plurality of items for sale by the merchant, a subset of which
may include items to
which offers apply, thereby generally making the item for sale more desirable
to cost-sensitive
consumers than under the terms presented by the merchant in the absence of the
offer. For
example, the offers may include free or discounted shipping, a discounted
price, a bulk discount,
a rebate, a referral award, or a coupon, such as a coupon acceptable by
presenting a coupon code
during checkout on the merchant website, or a printable or displayable coupon
(e.g., on the
screen of a mobile device) for in-store use, the printable or otherwise
displayable coupon having,
in some cases, a machine readable code (e.g., a bar code or QR code for
display and scanning, or
a code passed via near-field communication or BluetoothTM) In some
embodiments, the
merchant website includes a checkout webpage having an interface for the user
to enter payment
information and a coupon code, and the merchant website (either with logic on
the client side or
the server-side) may validate the coupon code entered by the user and, upon
determining that the
coupon code is valid, adjust the terms presented to the user for acceptance in
accordance with the
offer.
100251 Some merchants may limit the number of uses of a given coupon, limit
the duration
over which the coupon is valid, or apply other conditions to use of the
coupon, each of which
may add to the burden faced by users seeking to find valid coupons applicable
to an item the user
wishes to purchase. As noted above, some embodiments of the offers engine 12
are expected to
mitigate this burden.
[0026] Further, in some embodiments, the merchant servers 38, 40, and 42
provide data about
offers to the offers engine 12 or (i.e., and/or, as used herein, unless
otherwise indicated) data
about transactions involving offers. In use cases in which the operator of the
offers engine 12 has
a direct affiliate-marketing relationship with one of the merchants of the
merchant servers 38, 40,
or 42, the transaction data may provide the basis for payments by the merchant
directly to the
operator of the offers engine 12. For example, payments may be based on a
percentage of
transactions to which offers were applied, a number of sales to which offers
were applied, or a
number of users who viewed or selected or otherwise interacted with an offer
by the merchant.
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[0027] Affiliate-network servers 44 and 46, in some embodiments and some
use cases, are
engaged when the entity operating the offers engine 12 does not have a direct
affiliate-marketing
relationship with the merchant making a given offer. In many affiliate
marketing programs,
merchants compensate outside entities, such as third-party publishers, for
certain activities
related to sales by that merchant and spurred by the outside entity. For
example, in some affiliate
marketing programs, merchants compensate an affiliate, such as the entity
operating the offers
engine 12, in cases in which it can be shown that the affiliate provided a
given coupon code to a
given user who then used that coupon code in a transaction with the merchant.
Demonstrating
this connection to the merchant is one of the functions of the affiliate-
networks.
[0028] Affiliate-networks are used, in some use cases, because many coupon
codes are not
affiliate specific and are shared across multiple affiliates, as the merchant
often desires the
widest distribution of a relatively easily remembered coupon code.
Accordingly, in some use
cases, the merchant, affiliate network, and affiliate cooperate to use client-
side storage to indicate
the identity of the affiliate that provided a given coupon code to a user. To
this end, in some
embodiments, when a webpage offers interface is presented by the offers engine
12 in the web
browsers 50 or 54, that webpage is configured by the offers engine 12 to
include instructions to
engage the affiliate network server 44 or 46 when a user selects an offer, for
example, by
clicking on, touching, or otherwise registering a selection of an offer. The
website provided by
the offers engine 12 responds to such a selection by, in some embodiments,
transmitting a
request to the appropriate affiliate-network server 44 or 46 (as identified
by, for example, an
associated uniform resource locator (URL) in the webpage) for a webpage or
portion of a
webpage (e.g., browser-executable content). The request to the affiliate-
network server may
include (e.g., as parameters of the IJRL) an identifier of the affiliate, the
offer, and the merchant,
and the returned content from the affiliate-network server may include
instructions for the web
browser 50 or 54 to store in memory (e.g., in a cookie, or other foiiii of
browser-accessible
memory, such as a SQLite database or in a localStoraue object via a
localStorage.setItem
command) an identifier of the affiliate that provided the offer that was
selected.
[0029] The webpage from the offers engine 12 (or the content returned by
the affiliate
network server 44 or 46) may further include browser instructions to navigate
to the website
served by the merchant server 38, 40, or 42 of the merchant associated with
the offer selected by
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the user, and in some cases to the webpage of the item or service associated
with the offer
selected by the user. When a user applies the offer, for example by purchasing
the item or service
or purchasing the item or service with the coupon code, the merchant server
38, 40, or 42 may
transmit to the user device upon which the item was purchased browser
instructions to request
content from the affiliate network server 44 or 46, and this requested content
may retrieve from
the client-side memory the identifier of the affiliate, such as the operator
of the offers engine 12,
who provided the information about the offer to the user. The affiliate
network may then report
to the merchant the identity of the affiliate who should be credited with the
transaction, and the
merchant may compensate the affiliate (or the affiliate network may bill the
merchant, and the
affiliate network may compensate the affiliate), such as the operator of the
offers engine 12.
Thus, the affiliate network in this example acts as an intermediary,
potentially avoiding the need
for cross-domain access to browser memory on the client device, a feature
which is generally not
supported by web browsers for security reasons. (Some embodiments may,
however, store in
client-side browser-accessible memory an identifier of the affiliate upon user
selection of the
offer, with this value designated as being accessible via the merchant's
domain, and provide the
value to the merchant upon a merchant request following acceptance of the
offer, without
passing the identifier through an affiliate network, using a browser plug-in
for providing cross-
domain access to browser memory or a browser otherwise configured to provide
such access.)
[0030] A similar mechanism may be used by the native application 52 for
obtaining
compensation from merchants. In some embodiments, the native application 52
includes or is
capable of instantiating a web browser, like the web browser 50, in response
to a user selecting
an offer presented by the native application 52. The web browser instantiated
by the native
application 52 may be initialized by submitting the above-mentioned request
for content to the
affiliate-network server 44 or 46, thereby storing an identifier of the
affiliate (i.e., the entity
operating the offers engine 12 in this example) in client-side storage (e.g.,
in a cookie,
localStorage object, or a database) of the mobile user device 28, and thereby
navigating that
browser to the merchant website. In other use cases, the operator of the
offers engine 12 has a
direct relationship with the merchant issuing the offer, and the selection of
an offer within the
native application 52 or the desktop or mobile website of the offers engine 12
(generally referred
to herein as examples of an offer interface) may cause the user device to
request a website from
the associated merchant with an identifier of the affiliate included in the
request, for example as
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a parameter of a URL transmitted in a GET request to the merchant server 38,
40, or 42 for the
merchant's website.
[0031] Administrator device 36 may be a special-purpose application or a
web-based
application operable to administer operation of the offers engine 12, e.g.,
during use by
employees or agents of the entity operating the offers engine 12. In some
embodiments, the
administration module 22 may communicate with the administrator device 36 to
present an
administration interface at the administrator device 36 by which an
administrator may configure
offers interfaces presented to users by the offers engine 12. In some
embodiments, the
administrator may enter offers into the offers engine 12; delete offers from
the offers engine 12;
identify offers for prominent placement within the offers interface (e.g., for
initial presentation
prior to user interaction); moderate comments on offers; view statistics on
offers, merchants, or
users; add content to enhance the presentation of offers; or categorize
offers.
[0032] Thus, the offers engine 12, in some embodiments, operates in the
illustrated
environment by communicating with a number of different devices and
transmitting instructions
to various devices to communicate with one another. The number of illustrated
merchant servers,
affiliate network servers, third-party servers, user devices, and
administrator devices is selected
for explanatory purposes only, and embodiments are not limited to the specific
number of any
such devices illustrated by Figure 1.
[0033] The offers engine 12 of some embodiments includes a number of
components
introduced above that facilitate the discovery of offers by users. For
example, the illustrated API
server 16 may be configured to communicate data about offers via an offers
protocol, such as a
representational-state-transfer (REST)-based API protocol over hypertext
transfer protocol
(HTTP). Examples of services that may be exposed by the API server 18 include
requests to
modify, add, or retrieve portions or all of user profiles, offers, or comments
about offers. API
requests may identify which data is to be modified, added, or retrieved by
specifying criteria for
identifying records, such as queries for retrieving or processing information
about particular
categories of offers, offers from particular merchants, or data about
particular users. In some
embodiments, the API server 16 communicates with the native application 52 of
the mobile user
device 28 or the third-party offer server 34.
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[0034] The illustrated web server 18 may be configured to receive requests
for offers
interfaces encoded in a webpage (e.g. a collection of resources to be rendered
by the browser and
associated plug-ins, including execution of scripts, such as JavaScriptTM,
invoked by the
webpage). In some embodiments, the offers interface may include inputs by
which the user may
request additional data, such as clickable or touchable display regions or
display regions for text
input. Such inputs may prompt the browser to request additional data from the
web server 18 or
transmit data to the web server 18, and the web server 18 may respond to such
requests by
obtaining the requested data and returning it to the user device or acting
upon the transmitted
data (e.g., storing posted data or executing posted commands). In some
embodiments, the
requests are for a new webpage or for data upon which client-side scripts will
base changes in
the webpage, such as XMLHttpRequest requests for data in a serialized format,
e.g. JavaScriptfm
object notation (JSON) or extensible markup language (XML). The web server 18
may
communicate with web browsers, such as the web browser 50 or 54 executed by
user devices 30
or 32. In some embodiments, the webpage is modified by the web server 18 based
on the type of
user device, e.g., with a mobile webpage having fewer and smaller images and a
narrower width
being presented to the mobile user device 30, and a larger, more content rich
webpage being
presented to the desk-top user device 32. An identifier of the type of user
device, either mobile or
non-mobile, for example, may be encoded in the request for the webpage by the
web browser
(e.g., as a user agent type in an HTTP header associated with a GET request),
and the web server
18 may select the appropriate offers interface based on this embedded
identifier, thereby
providing an offers interface appropriately configured for the specific user
device in use.
[0035] The illustrated ingest module 20 may be configured to receive data
about new offers
(e.g., offers that are potentially not presently stored in the data store 24),
such as data feeds from
the affiliate network servers 44 and 46, identifications of offers from user
devices 28, 30, or 32,
offers identified by third-party offer server 34, offers identified by
merchant servers 38, 40, or
42, or offers entered by an administrator via the administrator device 36. In
some embodiments,
the ingest module 20 may respond to receipt of a record identifying a
potentially new offer by
querying the data store 24 to detelmine whether the offer is presently stored.
Upon detelmining
that the offer is not presently stored by the data store 24, the ingest module
20 may transmit a
request to the data store 24 to store the record. In some cases, the data
about new offers may be
an affiliate data-feed from an affiliate network containing a plurality of
offer records (e.g., more
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than 100), each record identifying offer terms, a merchant, a URL of the
merchant associated
with the offer, a product description, and an offer identifier. The ingest
module 22 may
periodically query such data-feeds from the affiliate-network servers 44 or
46, parse the data-
feeds, and iterate through (or map each entry to one of a plurality of
processes operating in
parallel) the records in the data-feeds. Bulk, automated processing of such
data-feeds is expected
to lower operating costs of the offers engine 12.
[0036] The administration module 22 may provide an interface by which an
administrator
operating the administrator device 36 curates and contextualizes offers. For
example, the
administration module 22 may receive instructions from administrator that
identify offers to be
presented in the offer interface prior to user interaction with the offer
interface, or offers to be
presented in this initialized offers interface for certain categories of
users, such as users having
certain attributes within their user profile. Further, in some embodiments,
the administration
module 22 may receive data descriptive of offers from the administrator, such
as URLs of
images relevant to the offer, categorizations of the offer, normalized data
about the offer, and the
like.
[0037] The illustrated data store 24, in some embodiments, stores data
about offers and user
interactions with those offers. The data store 24 may include various types of
data stores,
including relational or non-relational databases, document collections,
hierarchical key-value
pairs, or memory images, for example. In this embodiment, the data store 24
includes a user data
store 56, a session data store 58, an offers data store 60, and an analytics
data store 62. These
data stores 56, 58, 60, and 62 may be stored in a single database, document,
or the like, or may
be stored in separate data structures.
[0038] In this embodiment, the illustrated user data store 56 includes a
plurality of records,
each record being a user profile and having a user identifier, a list of
offers (e.g., identifiers of
offers) identified by the user as favorites, a list of categories of offers
identified by the user as
favorites, a list of merchants identified by the user as favorites, account
information for
interfacing with other services to which the user subscribes (e.g., a
plurality of access records,
each record including an identifier of a service, a URL of the service, a user
identifier for the
service, an 0Auth access token credential issued by the service at the user's
request, and an
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expiration time of the credential), a user password for the offers engine 12,
a location of the user
device or the user (e.g., a zip code of the user), and a gender of the user.
In some embodiments,
each user profile includes a list of other users identified by the user of the
user profile as being
people in whose commentary on, or curation of, offers the user is interested,
thereby forming an
offers-interest graph. In some embodiments, users have control of their data,
including what is
stored and who can view the data, and can choose to opt-in to the collection
and storage of such
user data to improve their experience with the offers engine 12.
100391 In this embodiment, the session data store 58 stores a plurality of
session records, each
record including information about a session a given user is having or has had
with the offers
engine 12. The session records may specify a session identifier, a user
identifier, and state data
about the session, including which requests have been received from the user
and what data has
been transmitted to the user. Session records may also indicate the EP address
of the user device,
timestamps of exchanges with the user device, and a location of the user
device (e.g., retail store
or aisle in a retail store in which the user device is located).
[0040] The illustrated offers data store 60, in some embodiments, includes
a plurality of offer
records, each offer record may identify a merchant, offers by that merchant,
and attributes of the
relationship with the merchant, e.g., whether there is a direct relationship
with the merchant by
which the merchant directly compensates the operator of the offers engine 12
or whether the
merchant compensates the operator of the offers engine 12 via an affiliate
network and which
affiliate network. The offers by each merchant may be stored in a plurality of
merchant-offer
records, each merchant-offer record may specify applicable terms and
conditions of the offer,
e.g., whether the offer is a discount, includes free or discounted shipping,
requires purchase of a
certain number of items, is a rebate, or is a coupon (which is not to suggest
that these
designations are mutually exclusive). In records in which the offer is a
coupon, the record may
further indicate whether the coupon is for in-store use (e.g. whether the
coupon is associated with
a printable image for presentation at a point-of-sale terminal, a mobile
device-displayable image,
or other mediums) or whether the coupon is for online use and has a coupon
code, in which case
the coupon code is also part of the merchant-offer record. The merchant-offer
records may also
include an expiration date of the offer, comments on the offer, rankings of
the offer by users, a
time at which the offer was first issued or entered into the offers engine 12,
and values (e.g.,
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binary values) indicating whether users found the offer to be effective, with
each value or
ranking being associated with a timestamp, in some embodiments. The values and
rankings may
be used to calculate statistics indicative of the desirability of the offer
and likely success of
accepting the offer. The timestamps associated with the values, rankings, and
time of issuance or
entry into the offers engine 12 may also he used to weight rankings of the
offer, with older
values being assigned less weight than newer values and older offers being
ranked lower than
newer offers, all other things being equal, as many offers expire or have a
limited number of
uses.
10041] The illustrated analytics data store 62 may store a plurality of
records about historical
interactions with the offers engine 12, such as aggregate statistics about the
performance of
various offers. In some embodiments, the analyties data store 62 stores a
plurality of transaction
records, each transaction record identifying an offer that was accepted by a
user at a merchant,
the merchant, the time of presentation of the offer to the user, and an
indicator of whether the
merchant has compensated the entity operating the offers engine 12 for
presentation of the offer
to the user. Storing and auditing these transaction records is expected to
facilitate relatively
accurate collection of payments owed by merchants and identification of future
offers likely to
lead to a relatively high rates of compensation for prominent presentation
based on past
performance of offers having similar attributes.
[0042] The cache server 23 stores a subset of the data in the data store 24
that is among the
more likely data to be accessed in the near future. To facilitate relatively
fast access, the cache
server 23 may store cached data in relatively high speed memory, such as
random access
memory or a solid-state drive. The cached data may include offers entered into
the offers engine
12 within a threshold period of time, such as offers that are newer than one
day. In another
example, the cache data may include offers that are accessed with greater than
a threshold
frequency, such as offers that are accessed more than once a day, or offers
accessed within the
threshold, such as offers accessed within the previous day. Caching such offer
data is expected to
facilitate faster access to offer data than systems that do not cache offer
data.
[00431 The illustrated control module 14, in some embodiments, controls the
operation of the
other components of the offers engine 12, receiving requests for data or
requests to add or
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modify data from the API server 16, the web server 18, the ingest module 20,
and the
administration module 22, and instructing the data store 24 to modify,
retrieve, or add data in
accordance with the request. The control module 14 may further instruct the
cache server 23 to
modify data mirrored in the cache server 23. In some embodiments, the cache
server 23 may be
updated hourly, and inconsistent data may potentially be maintained in the
cache server 23 in
order to conserve computing resources.
[0044] The illustrated components of the offers engine 12 are depicted as
discrete functional
blocks, but embodiments are not limited to systems in which the functionality
described herein is
organized as illustrated by Figure 1. The functionality provided by each of
the components of the
offers engine 12 may be provided by software or hardware modules that are
differently organized
than is presently depicted, for example such software or hardware may be
intermingled, broken
up, distributed (e.g. within a data center or geographically), or otherwise
differently organized.
The functionality described herein may be provided by one or more processors
of one or more
computers executing code stored on a tangible, non-transitory, machine
readable medium.
[0045] Figure 2 is a flowchart of a process 64 for acquiring data related
to offers within some
embodiments of the offer engine 12 discussed above. In this embodiment, the
process 64 begins
with receiving offer data describing a plurality of offers from affiliate
networks, merchants, and
users, as illustrated by block 66. This step may be performed by the above-
mentioned ingest
module 20. As noted above, the received offer data may be received from one or
all of these
sources. The received offer data may be received via an offer interface by
which users associated
with these sources enter data about offers, or the received offer data may be
received in a
predefined folutat, such as a serialized data format, in an automatic data
feed pushed or pulled
periodically or in response to the availability of new data from affiliate
networks or merchants.
Receiving the offer data may include determining whether the offer data is
redundant to offer
data already received and normalizing the offer data.
[0046] The process 64, in some embodiments, includes normalizing and
enriching the offer
data. Normalizing may include normalizing field names of the data and
normalizing the way in
which dates are expressed, for example. Enriching may include associating
images with the
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offers for presentation with the offers and adding metadata to the offers to
assist users searching
for offers.
[0047] Next, in the present embodiment, the received offer data is stored
in an offer data
store, as indicated by block 68. Storing the offer data in the offer data
store may include
identifying a merchant to which the offer pertains and storing the offer in a
merchant-offer
record associated with that merchant. Further, some embodiments may include
inserting the offer
in order in a sorted list of offers for relatively fast retrieval of offers
using a binary search
algorithm or other techniques to facilitate relatively quick access to data
that has been
preprocessed (e.g., using a prefix trie). In some embodiments, storing the
received offer may
further include updating hash tables by which the offer may be retrieved
according to various
parameters, each hash table being associated with one parameter and including
a hash key value
calculated based on the parameter and paired with an address of the offer.
Such hash tables are
expected to facilitate relatively fast access to a given offer as the need to
iterate through
potentially all offers meeting certain criteria may be potentially avoided.
[0048] In some embodiments, the process 64 further includes receiving a
request from a user
device for offers, as indicated by block 70. The request may specify criteria
for identifying
offers, such as categories of offers, search terms for offers, or requests for
offers designated as
favorites.
10049] Next, the present embodiment includes identifying offers in the
offer data store
responsive to the user request, as indicated by block 72. Identifying offers
in the offer data store
may be perfoinied by the above-mentioned controller 14 (Figure 1) by
constructing a query to
the offer data store 60 based on a request received from the web server 18 or
the API server 16.
The query may be transmitted to the offer data store 60, or to the cache
server 23, each of which
may return responsive records.
100501 Next, the identified offers are transmitted to the user device, as
indicated by block 74.
Transmitting the identified offers may include transmitting the identified
offers in an offer
interface, such as a webpage, or an API transmission to a native mobile
application, for example
by the web server 1 8, or the API server 16 of Figure 1, respectively.
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[0051] The device receiving the identified offers may, in response, perform
a process
described below with reference to Figure 3 by which additional offers are
requested or an offer is
selected and a purchase is executed. This process of Figure 3 and steps 70
through 74 of Figure 2
may be repeated numerous times, in some use cases, before advancing to the
next steps. Further,
the steps 66 through 68 may be repeated numerous times independently of (e.g.,
concurrent with)
the performance of steps 70 through 74 of Figure 2 (which is not to suggest
that other steps
described herein may not also be executed independently). That is, the process
64 may undergo
step 60 and 68, for example, 50 times within a given time, while performing
steps 70 through 74
500 times within that given time, and performing the remaining steps of
process 64 a single time.
[0052] In some embodiments, a user device undergoing the process of Figure
3 may indicate
to an offers engine that the user has selected an offer (e.g., by clicking on
or touching a
selectable element in an offers interface associated with the offer). In
response, the offers engine
may direct the user device to an affiliate-network server or a merchant server
associated with the
offer, as illustrated by block 75.
[0053] Next, this embodiment of the process 64 includes receiving from
merchants or affiliate
networks transaction data identifying offers accepted via the user device, as
illustrated by block
76. The transaction data may be pulled from these sources, for example, by the
ingest module 20
of Figure 1, periodically, or in response to some threshold number of
transactions having
occurred.
[0054] Next, in this embodiment, the receipt transaction data may be stored
in an analytics
data store, as indicated by block 78. In some embodiments, this data may be
stored in the
analytics data store 62 of Figure 1. Storing the transaction data is expected
to facilitate the
identification of attributes of relatively profitable offers, as the
transaction data indicates which
offers historically yielded compensable transactions. Further, storing the
transaction data is
expected to facilitate relatively accurate auditing of payments from merchants
or affiliate
networks.
[0055] Figure 3 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a process 80 that
provides an example of
an offer interface at a user device. The process 80 may be perfonned by the
above-mentioned
native application 52 or web browser 50 or 54 in cooperation with the offers
engine 12.
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[0056] Some embodiments of process 80 begin with receiving, at a user
device, instructions
that cause the user device to display an offers interface, as indicated by
block 82. The received
instructions may be in the form of a downloaded native application, such as
one downloaded
from an application store hosted by a provider of mobile devices, or the
received instructions
may be in the foim of a website received from the offers engine 12 and
rendered in a browser of
the user device.
[0057] In some embodiments, the process 80 further includes receiving, at
the user device, a
plurality of offers, as indicated by block 84, and displaying, at the user
device, the offers in the
offer interface, as indicated by block 86. The offers may be received at
approximately the same
time the instructions of step 82 are received, for example along with a
webpage, or the offers
may be received at a later date, for example during a session subsequent to
downloading the
native application.
[0058] The offers interface may include inputs by which the user may
search, filter, or
otherwise browse offers having various attributes. Some of these interfaces
are described below
with reference to steps performed to determine whether the user has engaged
these inputs. In
some embodiments, determining whether the user has engaged these inputs may be
performed by
an event handler executed by the user device, the event handler causing the
user device to
perform the corresponding, below-described requests to the offers engine 12
based on the type of
event, e.g., whether the user touched, clicked, or otherwise selected a
particular button on the
offers interface.
[0059] Illustrated process 80 includes determining whether the user is
searching for offers, as
indicated by block 88. With the offers interface, the user may express their
intention to search for
offers by entering search terms in a text entry box and selecting a button to
request a search in
accordance with the entered search term. Upon selecting this button, the user
device may
transmit a request for offers satisfying the entered search criteria, as
indicated by block 90. The
transmitted request may be in the form of a GET request or an AI'l call to the
web server 18 or
the API server 16 of the offers engine 12 of Figure 1.
[0060] In some embodiments, the process 80 further includes determining
whether the user
requests offers within a collection of offers, as indicated by block 92. The
offers interface may
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include selectable inputs that identify the collections, such as clickable
collection names,
collection selection buttons, or collection selection tabs. Examples of
collections include
categories of goods or services, such as sporting goods, house-wares,
groceries, and the like;
collections of modes of coupon redemption, such as in-store coupon redemption
and online
coupon redemption; collections based on offer statistics, such as newest
offers, most popular
offers, highest ranked offers; collections of offers designated by a user or
other users; or
collections based the value conferred by the offer, such as discounts, free
shipping, rebates, and
referral fees. Upon deteimining that the user has requested offers within a
collection, the user
device may transmit a request for offers within the collection to the offers
engine 12, as indicated
by block 94, which may return data responsive to the request.
[00611 In some embodiments, the process 80 includes determining whether the
user requests
offers previously designated by the user, as indicated by block 96. In some
embodiments, the
offers interface may include an input by which a user can designate an offer,
such as designating
offers as being a user favorite, designating offers as being ranked in a
particular fashion, or
designating offers as likely being of interest to some other user, such as
users adjacent one
another in a social graph. The offers interface may include an input for a
user to make
designations, such as a user selectable input labeled "add to my favorites,"
or "add to my wallet,"
and an input for a user to request offers having a designation, such as a user
selectable input
labeled "view my favorites." or "view my wallet." Upon determining that the
user made such a
request, the process 80 includes transmitting a request for the offers
previously designated by the
user, as indicated by block 88. The transmission may be made to the offers
engine 12, to the API
server 16 or the web server 18, as described above with reference to Figure 1,
and may include
an identification of the designation and the user.
[0062] The process 80, in some embodiments, further includes determining
whether the user
requests offers previously designated by another user, as indicated by block
100. The offers
interface, in some embodiments, may include an input by which a user makes
such a request,
such as a user selectable input labeled "offers recommended by my friends."
Upon determining
that the user has made such a request, the process 80 transmits a request for
offers previously
designated by the other user (or users), as indicated by block 102. Again, the
transmission may
be to the offers engine 12 of Figure 1, which may store or otherwise have
access to offers
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designated by other users and a social graph of the user by which responsive
offers are identified.
Further, the offers interface may include an input by which the user may view
identifiers of other
users and add the other users to an offer-interest graph of the user. This
offer interest graph may
be referenced by the offers engine 12 to identify offers in response to the
request of step 102.
[0063] The process 80 further includes, in some embodiments, receiving, at
the user device,
one or more offers responsive to the request, as indicated by block 104, and
displaying the
responsive offers on the offers interface, as indicated by block 106.
[00641 In some embodiments and some use cases, a selection from the user is
received via the
offers interface, thereby identifying an offer among the displayed offers, as
indicated by block
108. In some embodiments, each of the offers may be displayed with an
associated input by
which the user selects the offer, such as a touchable or clickable button,
region, or text. The
selection, in some embodiments, may cause the offers interface to request
additional data from
the offers engine, such as instructions from the offers engine to navigate to
an affiliate-network
server associated with the offer or to navigate to a merchant server
associated with the offer. In
other embodiments, such instructions may be present within the offers
interface, e.g., in the Rum
of URLs linking to these servers.
[0065] The process 80 further includes determining whether the selected
offer is compensable
through an affiliate network, as indicated by block 110. This determination
may be made by the
offers engine 12, in some embodiments, for each of the offers being displayed
prior to
transmission of the offers to the user device. For example, each offer may be
associated with a
designation indicating whether the offer is compensable in this fashion, and
the designation may
be transmitted along with the offer, for instance, by associating the offer
with HTML or
JavaScriptTM that so designate the offer, or by including a field including
the designation in a
response to an API call for each offer. The user device, in some embodiments,
may take different
actions depending on the designation associated with the selected offer.
100661 Upon determining that the selected offer is not compensable through
an affiliate
network, the process 80 of this embodiment includes determining whether the
selected offer is
compensable directly from the merchant associated with the offer, as indicated
by block 112.
Again, the determination of block 112 may be performed, in some embodiments,
by the offers
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engine 12 for each of the offers being displayed prior to transmission of the
displayed offers, and
each displayed offer may be associated with a designation based on the results
of the
determination, such as different HTML or JavaScriptTM or a different field
value in an API
response. The user device may take different actions depending on this
designation.
[0067] Upon determining that the selected offer is not compensable directly
from the
merchant, the process 80 may proceed to block 118 described below. Upon
determining that the
selected offer is compensable, the process 80, in this embodiment, may proceed
to request the
website of the merchant issuing the selected offer with a request that
identifies the affiliate from
whom the selected offer was obtained, as indicated by block 114. The request
may be in the form
of a URL having as a parameter an identifier of the entity operating the offer
engine 12, thereby
indicating to the merchant that the affiliate should be compensated in
accordance with an
arrangement between the merchant and the affiliate. Upon performance of step
114, the process
80 of the present embodiment proceeds to step 120 described below.
[0068] As indicated by block 110, upon detein ______________________ tining
that the selected offer is compensable
through an affiliate network, the process 80 proceeds to transmit a request to
the affiliate-
network server for instructions to store data identifying an affiliate from
whom the selected offer
was obtained, as indicated by block 116. This request may be a request for
content from the
affiliate-network server that is not displayed to the user, or is not
displayed to the user for an
appreciable amount of time (e.g., less than 500 ms), and the request may
include an identifier of
the affiliate, the merchant, and the offer. The requested content may cause
the user device to
store in persistent memory of the browser of the user device (e.g., memory
that lasts between
sessions, such as a cookie or a database of the browser) an identifier of the
affiliate operating the
offers engine 12. This value may be retrieved later by the affiliate-network
at the instruction of
the merchant upon the user accepting the offer, for example by the user using
a coupon code
associated with the offer at the merchant, thereby allowing the merchant (or
the affiliate
network) to identify the appropriate party to compensate for the sale. The
coupon code may be a
relatively short text string (e.g., shorter than 25 characters or 5 words)
selected to be both distinct
and memorable to users. In some cases, an image or other visibly distinctive
user-manipulable
body of data serves the role of the coupon code
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[0069] Upon transmitting the request the affiliate network server, the
process 80 further
includes requesting the website of the merchant issuing the selected offer, as
indicated by block
118, and transmitting acceptance of the offer to the merchant via the
merchant's website, as
indicated by block 120. Accepting the offer, as noted above, may cause the
merchant to
compensate the affiliate operating the offers engine 12.
[0070] The process 80 of Figure 3 is expected to facilitate relatively fast
access to offers that
are likely to be relevant to a user, as each of the determinations of step 88,
92, 96, and 100
provide different paths by which the user can specify offers in which the user
is likely to be
interested. Further, the determinations of step 110 and 112 provide dual
mechanisms by which
the operator of the offers engine 12 can be compensated, thereby potentially
increasing revenue.
[0071] In some embodiments, as described further below, a website from the
offers engine 12
(referred to as an offers website, but which is not limited to websites) that
provides offers to
users may include functionality to enable users to redeem certain types of
offers, e.g., online
coupons. In such embodiments, the offers engine 12 may provide a redemption
header (also
referred to as a "traveling header") in a merchant website for easier and
faster redemption of
online coupons and elimination or reduction of complicated user actions needed
to redeem the
online coupons. The header may be characterized as "traveling" in the sense
that it is presented
in or with webpages from two or more domains, and as the header travels, it
may carry data from
a domain having offers data (e.g., coupon codes in the offers engine website)
to a domain in
which the offers data is used to redeem the offer (e.g., a merchant website),
thereby relieving the
user of the burden of retaining and recalling this infoimation. Accordingly,
the redemption
header may result in increased rates of coupon redemption and increased sales
for merchants
offering online coupons provided by the offers engine. Embodiments, however,
are not limited
to systems that provide these benefits, and some embodiments may provide other
benefits, as
various engineering and cost tradeoffs are envisioned.
[0072] As explained below, the redemption header may be provided in merchant
websites
provided from merchant servers 38 to enable a user to easily view offer
information after leaving
the offers website from the offers engine 12 (Figure 1). The header may be
provided by the
merchant server in the sense that the merchant server stores and sends the
instructions and
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resources by which the header is rendered or in the sense that the merchant
server sends
instructions directing a web browser to retrieve these instructions and
resources from another
server, e.g., a GET request to a network address of the offers engine of
Figure 1 or a content
delivery network.
[0073] Figures 4A-4E depict screens of a browser executing on a user device,
such as mobile
user device 28, desktop user device 32, and other devices, illustrating the
redemption of an offer,
e.g., an online coupon, and a redemption header in accordance with an
embodiment of the
present invention. Although the redemption header described below is
illustrated and referred to
as "header," it should be appreciated that other embodiments may include a
redemption bar
provided at any location of a merchant webpage (e.g., a redemption footer).
Thus, other
embodiments having a redemption bar similar to the redemption header but in a
different
location may be provided in the manner described below. The shape of the
redemption bar is not
limited to "bars," e.g., generally rectangular display elements that
horizontally span a webpage,
and may include other forms of presentation, e.g., an overlaid box.
[0074] Figure 4A depicts a screen 400 of a web browser, e.g., an
application for receiving,
rendering, interaction with, and viewing web content in accordance with an
embodiment of the
present invention. As will be appreciated, the screen 400 and other screens
described below may
be presented in a display of a user device that may receive inputs from a user
and provide outputs
on the display. In some embodiments, inputs may be received from a keyboard, a
pointing
device (e.g., a mouse) or other input device. In some embodiments, a user
interface may include
a touchscreen, software modules, or any combination thereof, and inputs may be
received as
touches on the touchscreen, such as from a digit of a user, a stylus, etc. The
screen 400 depicts an
offers webpage 402 (a tenn which includes web apps having a document object
model
dynamically constructed client-side with AJAX requests) provided by the offers
engine 12. The
webpage 402 may include various elements to display information to a user, and
in some
instances, receive user input For example, the webpage 402 may include a
search field 404, a
search control 406, navigation tabs 408, a sign-up control 410 and login
control 412.
Additionally, the webpage 402 may include other elements, such as a store
panel 414, an offers
area 416 having a title 418, and -various other elements 420.
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[0075] The search field 404 may enable a user to enter a search query and
execute a search by
selecting the search control 406 (e.g., a search button). The search may
include searches for
offers, categories of offers, merchants, or any other suitable search queries.
The navigation tabs
408 may enable a user to navigate to different sections of an offers website,
such as by selecting
(e.g., clicking) one of the navigation tabs 408. For example, as shown in
Figure 4A, the
navigation tabs 408 may include, for example, a "Coupon Codes" tab, a
"Printable Coupons" tab,
a "Grocery Coupons" tab, a "Community" tab, and so on. The sign-up control
410, e.g., the
illustrated "Sign-Up" button, may enable a user to create a user profile with
the offers engine 12
for customizing the content provided by the offers engine 12. Accordingly, the
login control 412
(e.g., the illustrated "Login" button) may enable a user having a user profile
with the offers
engine 12 to login and retrieve customizations and other profile attributes.
[0076] The merchant panel 414 may include a title 422 (e.g., "Popular
Stores") and a carousel
423 or other visual element that displays selectable merchant tiles 424 (e.g.,
"Merchant3",
"Merchant4", "Merchant5", and "Merchant6"). The merchant tiles 424 may each
display text,
images (e.g., a logo), or both associated with a merchant. A user may select
one of the merchant
tiles 424 to select a merchant and display offers associated with the selected
merchant in the
offers area 416 Additionally, a user may scroll the carousel 423 by selecting
(e.g., clicking) the
scroll controls 426 to scroll through the merchant tiles 424 and view other
merchants. The other
elements 420 may include selectable advertisements, links to social networking
integration (e.g.,
a "Like" button, a "+1" button, etc.), links to other sections of the offers
website, links to
regional versions of the offers website, input fields for submission of user
information (e.g.,
email addresses), and so on.
[0077] The offers area 416 may present offers, e.g., online coupons 430,
for viewing and
selection by a user. The offers area 416 may include any number of offers
associated with
merchants providing goods, services, or a combination thereof. The offers area
416 may present
offers based on ranking criteria, user selections (e.g., selections of a
merchant, offer categories,
etc.) or other parameters. For example, as shown in Figure 4A, the offers area
416 depicts top
ranked offers as indicated by the "Today's Top Coupons" text displayed in the
title 418. Each
coupon 430 may be presented with information associated with the coupon 430,
such as a
merchant tile 432 and a descriptive text 434. Additionally, each coupon 430
may include a
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coupon code box 436 having an offer redemption identifier, e.g., a coupon code
438, associated
with each coupon 430. The coupon code 438 may be displayed in the coupon code
box 436 or
other visual element, such as a circle, balloon, etc. As described in detail
below, upon selection
of one of the coupons 430, the coupon code of a selected coupon may be
conveyed to and
displayed in a redemption header in a merchant website. The offer redemption
identifier may
also include, for example, discount descriptions (e.g.. "50% off of all
sweatshirts"), rebate
instructions (e.g., "Receive $20 rebate when purchasing a flash drive from
Merchantl"),
identifiers of free goods or services (e.g., "Free tokens with the order of
any large pizza"), or any
other identifier associated with an offer that enables or describes the
redemption of the offer to a
user. Other offer redemption identifiers may be displayed in a box or other
visual element in the
offers area 416.
[0078] The merchant tile 432 may include a text, image (e.g., a merchant
logo), or
combination thereof identifying the merchant associated with the coupon. The
descriptive text
434 may include infoimation about the coupon, such as the goods, services, or
both associated
with the coupon, the discount or other offer provided by the coupon, the
expiration date, or any
other suitable information or combination thereof. For example, as shown in
Figure 4A, a first
online coupon 430A may be presented with a merchant graphic 432A (e.g..
"Merchantl") and
descriptive text 434A (e.g., "40% Off Save up to 40% on select diapers from
Acme Co. Exp.
06/04/2012). Additionally, the first online coupon 430A includes a coupon box
436A having a
coupon code 438A ("PMPRSYT8") associated with the coupon 430A. The other
coupon 430B
illustrated in Figure 4A may include similar information, such as merchant
tile 432B, descriptive
text 434B, coupon code box 436B, and so on.
[0079] To use a coupon, a user may select (e.g., touch, click, etc.) one of
the online coupons
430. For example, a user may select any portion of the coupon 430A, such as
the merchant tile
432A, the descriptive text 434A, the coupon code box 436A, etc. As described
below, upon
selection of a coupon, the browser executing on the user device may be
redirected to the
merchant website associated with the selected coupon. For example, the
merchant website may
be presented in an existing window of the browser, in a new window of the
browser, in a new tab
of the browser, or via other functions of the browser. Additionally, upon
selection of a coupon, a
value of the coupon code may be copied to a clipboard or other temporary
storage. For example,
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upon selection of the coupon 430A, the value of the coupon code 438A
("PMPRSYT8") may be
copied to a clipboard. The interactions described herein may be implemented
with an event
handler conveyed in instructions, such as JavaScriptTM, from the offers engine
of Figure 1 and
executed by the web browser. Such instructions may include a mapping of
events, e.g., onclick,
ontouch, and the like, to JavaScriptim functions (also provided by the offers
engine) that
implement the corresponding functionality upon occurrence of the corresponding
event. In some
cases, a browser add-on, such as Adobe Flash PlayerTM or other multimedia
player having
elevated security privileges relative to the browser, is used to access the
temporary storage. Or
(i.e., and/or) the coupon code may be stored in a subsequently created
document object model
(DOM) element of a traveling header.
[0080] Figure 4B depicts another screen 440 of a browser in accordance with an
embodiment
of the present invention. The screen 440 displays a merchant webpage 442 of a
merchant
website 444 that may be presented in response to a user selection of an online
coupon, such as a
selection of the online coupon 430A depicted in Figure /IA. To this end, at
the selection
interface element for a given offer, the web content from the offers engine
(e.g., HTML, CSS,
images, and JavaScriptTM) may include a link to the merchant's website or an
affiliate network
server that redirects to the merchant's website. Accordingly, after a user
selects an online
coupon from the offers webpage 402, the merchant website 444 may be presented
in the browser
to enable a user to redeem the selected coupon. As described in detail below,
a redemption
header 446 may be added to the merchant website 442 to display the offer
redemption identifier
associated with the selected offer and text (e.g., instructions) associated
with redemption of the
selected offer. Additionally, the redemption header 446 may be retrieved
asynchronously
relative to loading of the merchant webpage 442, as described below with
reference to Figure 6.
For example, web content for rendering the header 446 may be requested from
one server, such
as the offer's engine of Figure 1, while the rest of the webpage is being
requested from a
merchant server and rendered. Thus, when a user selects the selected coupon
430A, the
merchant webpage 442 may load in the browser without interruption by the
retrieval of the
redemption header 446.
[00811 It should be appreciated that the merchant website 444 may include any
number and
type of webpages. For example, the merchant webpage 442 may include a landing
page, a
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storefront webpage, a product webpage, and other webpages. Additionally, the
merchant website
444 may be provided via different types of domains associated with a merchant,
such as a parent
domain associated with the merchant, subdomains of the parent domain, an mdot
domain (i.e.,
"rn.") associated with the merchant, and so on.
[0082] The redemption header 446 may be provided in the merchant webpage 442,
as
described in Figures 5, 6A, and 6B below, and may remain on the other webpages
of the
merchant website 444 as a user navigates the website /1/14. Thus, the
redemption header
"travels" from the offers webpage to the merchant webpage 442 and other
webpages of the
merchant website. By retaining the redemption header 446, a user may have
access to the
coupon code 438A required to redeem the coupon 430A and instructions and other
text
associated with the selected coupon 430A. As shown in Figure 4B, the
redemption header 446
may include descriptive text 448, a coupon code box 450, instructions 452, and
a close control
454 (e.g., a close button). The descriptive text 448 may describe the
contents, function, or both
of the redemption header 446. For example, the descriptive text 448 may
include the text "Here
is your Coupon Code" describing the contents of the coupon code box 450
presented in the bar
446. Accordingly, the coupon code box 450 may include the coupon code 438A
associated with
the selected coupon 430A. Additionally, the instructions 452 may provide
instructions to the
user on how to use the coupon code 438A and redeem the selected coupon 430A.
For example,
as shown in Figure 4B, the instructions include the text "Copy & paste at
checkout to see your
savings." Displaying the coupon code adjacent or in the merchant website may
facilitate
copying and pasting even if the browser does not have access to clipboard
memory, e.g., if an
Adobe Flash browser plug-in is disabled or absent, as the user may highlight,
copy, and paste the
code manually, accessing the clipboard memory, from within the same visual
context, e.g.,
without switching to another window, tab, or website, or writing down the code
and typing it.
10083] The merchant website 444 may include a variety of web content that
enables a user to
search or browse for goods, services, or both and select and order such goods
and services. As
shown in Figure 4B, for example, web content of the merchant website 444 may
include a search
field 456, search button 458, and a merchant storefront 460. It should be
appreciated that the
web content depicted in Figure 4B is merely an example and merchant websites
may include a
wide variety of web content, designs, and functionality. Such functionality
may include, for
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example, the ability to search the merchant website 444 by entering a search
query into the
search field 456 and selecting (e.g., touching, clicking, etc.) the search
button 458. Additionally,
the merchant storefront 460 may display goods, services, or both offered by
the merchant and
available for order by a user. In some embodiments, a user may use the search
field 456 to find
the goods, services, or both associated with the selected coupon. In other
embodiments, the
goods or services may be presented to the user in the merchant storefront 460
based on the
selected coupon 430A.
[0084] As mentioned above, a user may navigate the merchant website 444 by
selecting the
search button 458, selecting links in the merchant storefront 460, and so on.
In response, various
webpages of the merchant website may be requested and displayed by the web
browser. The
redemption header 446 may remain in such webpages until the user selects the
close button 454,
which may be mapped by an event handler of the website to a JavaScriptTM
function that
removes an element of the document object model corresponding to the
redemption header.
Thus, regardless of the portion of the merchant website 444 displayed by the
web browser, in
some embodiments, the redemption header 446 (and coupon code 438A) may remain
accessible
(e.g., visible and retrievable via a copy command) to the user. For example,
Figure 4C depicts
another screen 461 of a browser illustrating a webpage 462 of the merchant
website 444 in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 4C,
the webpage
462 of the merchant website 444 may include a product listing having product
text 464 and
product images 466. For example, the webpage 462 may include product text 464A
and product
image 466A associated with a first product, product text 464B and product
image 466B
associated with a second product, and so on. A user may navigate to the
webpage 462 by
searching for a product, selecting links in the merchant storefront 460, or
other navigation
actions within the merchant website 444. Moreover, as shown in Figure 4C, the
redemption
header 446 remains (i.e., travels) in the webpage 462 through a sequence of
merchant webpages.
Thus, while a user is viewing various products on the webpage 462, the
redemption header 446
may remain to allow access to the information associated with the selected
coupon.
[0085] As described above, a user may use the merchant website to order
goods and services
associated with the selected coupon, such as by adding the goods and services
to a virtual
"shopping cart" and selecting an option to checkout. Figure 4D depicts a
screen 468 of the
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browser illustrating a checkout page 470 of the merchant website 444 in
accordance with an
embodiment of the present invention. As described above, web content such as
the checkout
page 470 may be retrieved from the Internet via a network accessible by a user
device executing
the browser, and this web content may be displayed by browser. As shown in
Figure 4D, the
redemption header 446 remains in the checkout webpage 470 and includes the
coupon code box
450 and the coupon code 438A. The redemption header 446 may remain accessible
while a user
completes a transaction, e.g., an order for goods, services, or both with the
merchant. Here
again, a user may remove the redemption header 446 by selecting the close
control 454. In some
cases, the header is only shown at the check-out page, or the header may be
displayed in the
preceding webpages, e.g., while the user shops to serve as a reminder of a
discount while the
user makes purchasing decisions.
[0086] The merchant checkout page may include various web content that enables
a user to
view and enter order information and complete an order for goods, services, or
both. For
example, the merchant checkout page 470 may include an order infolination
portion 474, a
shipping information portion 476, a code entry portion 478, and a checkout
button 480. The
order information portion 474 enables a user to enter a shipping address, a
billing address,
payment information, and the like. By selecting the checkout out button 480
("Place Your
Order"), a user may submit an order for fulfillment by the merchant. The order
information
portion 474 may include order information, such as products or services in the
order, quantities,
prices, payment information, etc., and may include a button or other control
for changing the
order. Similarly, the shipping information portion 476 may include shipping
address, a billing
address, and other shipping information and may include a button or other
control to enable a
user to change the shipping information. The code entry portion 478 may enable
a user to enter
coupon codes, promotional codes, gift card codes, or any other codes that may
be applied to an
order. The code entry portion 478 may include an input field 482 (e.g., a text
field that receives
text input) and a submission button 484 ("Apply"). By entering a coupon code
or other code into
the input field 482 and selecting the submission button 484, a user may submit
a coupon code to
apply a coupon associated with the merchant. In some embodiments, the input
field 482 may
accept images or other input.
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[0087] As shown below in Figure 4E, a user may enter the value associated with
the coupon
code into the input field 482 by pasting a value of the coupon code 438A from
the clipboard into
the input field 482. Figure 4E further depicts the screen 468 and the checkout
page 470
illustrating entry of a coupon code value 486 in the input field in accordance
with an
embodiment of the present invention. As mentioned above, a value corresponding
to the coupon
code 438A may be copied to a clipboard or other temporary storage upon
selection of the
selected coupon. Thus, a user may simply paste the contents of the clipboard
into the input field
482 to enter the coupon code value 486 into the input field 482, and a user
does not need to
memorize the coupon code or manually type the code directly into the input
field 482.
Alternatively, a user may type or otherwise enter the coupon code value 486
into the input field
482 and may easily obtain the coupon code from the redemption header 446
included in the
checkout webpage 470. In other embodiments, the input field 482 may be
automatically
populated ("auto-populated") with the coupon code value 486. For example, the
code (e.g.,
JavaScriptTM) associated with the redemption header 446 may detect the input
field 482 when the
code is executed as the redemption bar 446 is loaded, and the coupon code
value 486 may be
automatically entered into the input field 482. Or the code may be loaded by
such a script in
response to a click event on an apply-coupon button of the header or a click
even on the coupon
code. In some cases, the header is reloaded with each merchant web page, or
executes a script
with each loaded merchant web page to determine whether the web page is a
checkout webpage
in which the code may be applied, e.g., by detecting the presence of keywords,
such as "shipping
information," or "checkout," in the webpage or a portion of a URL of the
webpage know to
correspond with the merchant's checkout webpage.
[0088] In some embodiments, a <div> tag of other element including the input
field 482 may
be detected to detect the input field 482, such as an input element of type
text within an HTML
form element of a div box containing the string "coupon" or related keywords.
In some cases,
other content may be conveyed and entered via the header content. For
instance, user shipping
addresses, billing information, and the like may be retrieved from a user
profile of the offers
engine, stored in non-visible content of the header (e.g., a JavaScriptTM
variable), and entered by
a script of the header in response to a request from the user, e.g., in
response to a user clicking an
auto-populate button. In yet other embodiments, a merchant may specifically
identify the
webpage element of the input field 482 or may identify the input field 482
using a standardized
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identification. In some embodiments, a checkout-page identifier (e.g.,
keywords, a URL, or the
like) may be stored in association with the merchant by the offers engine
above and sent as an
variable in the script or other code associated with the header, such that the
value can be
referenced when a checkout-page detection function is executed in response to
a merchant
webpage loading.
[0089] A user may then select the submission button 484 to apply the coupon
code to the
order. Thus, the coupon code may be entered into the input field 482 by merely
pasting the
contents of a clipboard or other temporary storage into the input field 482 or
by auto-populating
the input field 482. After application of the coupon code 438A, a user may
submit the order to
the merchant by selecting the checkout button 478.
[0090] Although Figures 4D and 4E are described with reference to an input
field of a
checkout webpage associated with a merchant, it should be appreciated that the
same techniques
may apply to input fields located in any webpage associated with a merchant
that may receive a
coupon code and for which a user desired to enter the code. For example, a
shopping cart
webpage, a product webpage, or other merchant webpages may have an input field
that may be
processed in the manner described above.
[0091] In some embodiments, as shown in Figure 4F, the redemption header 446
may provide
different content in response to changes in the webpage or web content
displayed in the browser.
For example, after a different merchant webpage loads or web content within a
merchant
webpage changes, the redemption header 446 may change based on the different
webpage or
changed web content. An order confirmation page may be detected using
techniques like those
described above for detecting checkout pages, e.g., executing a page
classification script upon
loading of each merchant webpage and determining based on keywords or URL
attributes
associated with the merchant in the header script and offers engine whether
the webpage is a
checkout page, an order confii notion page, or a shopping page. Upon
detecting the order
conflimation page, the header of Figure 4F may be presented. Figure 4F depicts
a screen 488 of
a browser illustrating an order continuation webpage 490 in accordance with an
embodiment of
the present invention. For example, after a user submits an order, such as
from the checkout
page 470 depicted in Figure 4E, a user may be presented with the order
confimiation webpage
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490. The order confirmation webpage 490 may include order information 492 and
a "Continue
Shopping" button 494. The order information 492 may include a verification of
order
submission ("Order successful!"), order information, shipping information, or
any other
information associated with an order. The "Continue Shopping" button 494 may
enable a user to
navigate to additional webpages of the merchant website 444, such as by
returning to a merchant
storefront or a product webpage.
[0092] As shown in Figure 4E, in response to the loading of the order
confirmation webpage
490, the redemption header 446 may include different content that may be based
on the order
confirmation webpage 490. As shown in Figure4E, the redemption header 446 may
include user
feedback instructions 496 ("Was coupon successful?") and feedback buttons 498.
A user may
indicate the success of the selected coupon by selecting the "YES" feedback
button 498A and the
failure of the selected coupon by selecting the "NO" feedback button 498B.
Upon selection of
one of the buttons 498A or 498B, the selection may be transmitted to the
offers engine 12, a
transmission which includes an identifier of the offer. In this manner, user
feedback regarding
the success or failure of an online coupon or other offer may be collected and
used for offer
analysis, offer ranking, affiliate payments, merchant payments, or other
purposes. In some
embodiments, after a user selects a feedback button 498, the redemption header
446 may be
removed from the order confirmation webpage 490, e.g., by a script or code of
the header
executed in response to a click event on one of the buttons 498A or 498B. In
other
embodiments, the redemption header 446 may remain on the order confirmation
webpage and
may again present different content based on user selection of another webpage
(e.g., by
selecting the "Continue Shopping" button 480).
[0093] As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the loading of a different
webpage in a
browser may be detected. In such an embodiment, for example, the code
associated with the
redemption header 446 may detect a POST, a GET, or other HTTP request method
to detect the
loading of a different -webpage. Additionally, the data included in the
request method may be
parsed and analyzed to determine the type of webpage requested. For example,
if an order
confirmation webpage is detected, e.g., based on a requested URL in a GET
request, then in
response, the user feedback text 496 and feedback buttons 498 may be provided
in the
redemption header 446. In other embodiments, the asynchronous loading of
different web
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content in a merchant webpage may be detected. In such an embodiment, the
merchant webpage
may call a method that provides a message or other indication to the
redemption header 446 that
different web content is loading. Such a method may be provided in an
application programming
interface (API) provided by the provider of the offers engine 12.
[0094] Figure 5 depicts user actions 500 and a redemption header process
502 in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention. Some or all steps of the process
portion 502 may
be implemented as executable computer code stored on a non-transitory tangible
computer-
readable storage medium and executed by one or more processors of a special-
purpose machine,
e.g., a computing device programmed to execute the code. Initially a user may
select an offer,
e.g., an online coupon, from an offers website displayed in a browser (block
504), such as
described above and illustrated in Figure 4A, and the online coupon selection
may be received
(block 506). Next, a value corresponding to the offer redemption identifier,
e.g., a coupon code,
associated with the selected coupon may be copied to a clipboard or other
temporary storage
(block 508). Additionally, in response to the user selection, the browser may
be redirected to a
merchant webpage (block 510), such as by providing a merchant webpage in a new
tab or
window of the browser. For example, as described above, a merchant webpage may
be
requested from one or more merchant webservers and provided to the browser. As
described
above and illustrated in Figure 4B, a redemption header that includes the
offer redemption
identifier, e.g., a coupon code, may be provided in the merchant webpage
(block 512).
[0095] A user may then perfoun other user actions to interact with the
redemption header and
merchant webpages. For example, a user may select the close control of the
redemption header
(block 514), and the selection of the close control may be received (block
516). In response, the
redemption header may be removed from the merchant webpage (block 518). A user
may also
search and browse a merchant websitc to purchase goods, services, or both
associated with the
coupon. Subsequently, a user may navigate to a merchant webpage having an
input field to
complete an order for goods, services, or both, such as a checkout webpage, a
shopping cart
webpage, or other merchant webpage (block 520). A user may then paste a coupon
code value
from the clipboard or other temporary storage into the input field of the
merchant webpage
(block 522). As described above and as illustrated in Figure 4E, the input
field may then be
populated with the value of the coupon code of the selected coupon (block
524). After the
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coupon code is entered into the input field, a user may submit the coupon code
for redemption
and continue the checkout to complete the order (block 526). As described
above in Figure 3,
redemption of offers, such as a selected coupon, may occur through an
affiliate network or
directly from a merchant.
[0096] Figure 6A depicts a process 600 for providing a redemption header in
accordance with
an embodiment of the present invention. Some or all steps of the process 600
may be
implemented as executable computer code stored on a non-transitory tangible
computer-readable
storage medium and executed by one or more processors of a special-purpose
machine, e.g., a
computing device programmed to execute the code. Initially, as described
above, a selection of
an online coupon from an offers website may be received (block 602). Next, an
offer identifier
associated with the selected online coupon may be stored in a browser-
accessible storage item
(e.g., a cookie, a SQLite database, a localStorage object, etc.). In some
embodiments, for
example, the browser-accessible storage item may be a session cookie that
expires when a
session ends (e.g., when the browser is shutdown).
[0097] As described above and as illustrated in Figure 4B, the browser may
be redirected to a
merchant webpage (block 606), such as a landing webpage of a merchant website.
For example,
the redirect request may request the merchant webpage from merchant servers
and the merchant
webpage may be provided to the browser from the merchant servers. Next, code
for a
redemption header may be inserted into the merchant webpage (block 610), and
this redemption
header code may be executed by the browser during loading of the merchant
webpage. In some
embodiments, the redemption header code may include JavaScript'TM and may be
inserted as a
HTML <script> tag. In such embodiments, the redemption header code may be
inserted
asynchronously via JavaScriptTM provided by the offers engine 12, such as
JavaScriptFM
provided in the offers website having the selectable offer. As described
above, in some
embodiments the offers engine 12 may include a content delivery network (CDN),
and the
redemption header code and other static content associated with the redemption
header may be
served via the CDN. Additionally, the size of the redemption header code may
be minimized or
reduced to optimize or improve the transmission and loading time of the
redemption header
code.
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[0098] Next, a webpage element for the redemption header may be created in the
merchant
webpage (block 612), such as in a document object model (DOM) associated with
the merchant
webpage. For example, in some embodiments an inline frame may be created via
the HTML
<iframe> tag. In such embodiments, the redemption header code may load content
from the
offers engine 12 within the inline frame. Additionally, the redemption header
code may use a
relatively unique namespace to avoid conflicts with other elements. Thus, in
some embodiments,
nodes or other elements inserted into the DOM of a merchant webpage may be
associated with a
unique namespace to eliminate conflicts with existing elements. The process
600 continues in
Figure 6B, as shown by connector block A.
[0099] Figure 6B further depicts the process 600 for generating a
redemption header in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 6B,
after creating
a webpage element for the redemption header (block 612), a request for the
redemption header
may be received (block 614), such as from the redemption header code inserted
into the
merchant webpage. In some embodiments, any parameters provided in the request
may be
encoded. Next, the existence of the offer identifier in the cookie or other
browser-accessible
storage item may be determined (decision block 616). If the offer identifier
is stored (line 618),
then the offer identifier associated with the selected offer may be read
(block 620). In contrast, if
the offer identifier is not stored (line 622), then an empty webpage element
may be provided,
e.g., no content is provided for display in the webpage elements (block 624).
In other
embodiments, a message may be provided to remove the webpage element (e.g., an
inline frame)
created for the redemption header. Accordingly, the redemption header may not
be included in
the merchant webpage (and is not displayed by the browser).
[00100] After reading the offer identifier, the requester of the redemption
header may be
compared to an expected domain to determine if the requester matches the
expected domain
(block 628). For example, the domain of the merchant website requesting the
redemption header
may be compared to the expected merchant domain associated with the offer
identifier for the
offer. If there is a match between the requester and the expected domain (line
630), then the
redemption header may be provided to the browser (block 632). As described
above, the
providing may include providing images, text, and other components that form
the redemption
header to the browser. In some embodiments, the static content such as images
and text
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associated with the redemption header may be provided from a CDN (e.g., a CDN
having a
cookieless domain) and may be compressed to optimize transmission and loading
time.
Additionally, in some embodiments, the size and number of content associated
with the
redemption header may be minimized to facilitate faster transmission and
loading time.
[00101] The redemption header may be then be displayed by the browser in the
webpage
element created for the redemption header (block 634). As discussed above, the
redemption
header may be displayed in the merchant webpage, such as in a header portion
of the merchant
webpage. If there is not a match between the requester and the expected domain
(line 636), then
an empty webpage element may be provided (block 624) and no redemption header
is included
in the merchant webpage.
[00102] As described above, after the redemption header is provided, a user
may select the
close control to remove the redemption header from the merchant webpage. In
such
embodiments, a message may be asynchronously provided to remove the redemption
header (and
the associated webpage element) from the merchant webpage and to remove the
browser-
accessible storage item. The redemption header may remain removed from the
merchant
webpage until the user returns to the offers webpage and selects a new offer.
[00103] In other embodiments, the merchant website may be provided in an
inline frame of the
offers website provided by the offers engine 12. For example, when a user
selects an offer, the
offers website may load another webpage having the redemption header. A
merchant webpage
may then be asynchronously loaded in an inline frame of the webpage, such that
the redemption
header 446 is still visually displayed with the merchant webpage. In such
embodiments, the user
may interact with the merchant website and redemption header in the manner
described above.
Additionally merchant webpages may be loaded in the inline frame, and the
redemption header
may remain on the webpage as the user navigates the merchant website.
[00104] Figure 7 depicts of a computer 700 in accordance with an embodiment of
the present
invention. Various sections of systems and computer-implemented methods
described herein,
may include or be executed on one or more computers similar to computer 700.
Further,
processes and modules described herein may be executed by one or more
processing systems
similar to that of computer 700. The computer 700 may include various internal
and external
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components that contribute to the function of the device and which may allow
the computer 700
to function in accordance with the techniques discussed herein. It should
further be noted that
Figure 7 depicts merely one example of a particular implementation and is
intended to illustrate
the types of components and functionalities that may be present in computer
700.
[00105] Computer 700 may include any combination of devices or software that
may perfoim
or otherwise provide for the performance of the techniques described herein.
For example,
computer 700 may include a tablet, a mobile phone, such as a smartphone, a
video game device,
and other hand-held networked computing devices, a desktop user device, a
server, or other
computing devices. Computer 700 may also be connected to other devices that
are not
illustrated, or may operate as a stand-alone system. In addition, the
functionality provided by the
illustrated components may in some embodiments be combined in fewer components
or
distributed in additional components. Similarly, in some embodiments, the
functionality of some
of the illustrated components may not be provided or other additional
functionality may be
available.
[00106] In addition, the computer 700 may allow a user to connect to and
communicate
through a network (e.g., the Internet, a local area network, a wide area
network, etc.) and may
provide communication over a satellite-based positioning system (e.g., GPS).
For example, the
computer 700 may allow a user to communicate using e-mail, text messaging,
instant messaging,
or using other forms of electronic communication, and may allow a user to
obtain the location of
the device from the satellite-based positioning system, such as the location
on an interactive map.
[00107] As shown in Figure 7, the computer 700 may include a processor 702
(e.g., one or
more processors) coupled to a memory 704, a display 706, and a network
interface 708 via an
interface 710. It should be appreciated the computer 700 may include other
components not
shown in Figure 7, such as a power source (e.g., a battery), I/O ports,
expansion card interfaces,
hardware buttons, etc. In some embodiments, the display 706 may include a
liquid crystal
display (LCD) or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. The display
706 may display
a user interface (e.g., a graphical user interface), and may also display
various function and
system indicators to provide feedback to a user, such as power status, call
status, memory status,
etc. These indicators may be in incorporated into the user interface displayed
on the display 706.
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In accordance with some embodiments, the display 706 may include or be
provided in
conjunction with touch sensitive elements through which a user may interact
with the user
interface. Such a touch-sensitive display may be referred to as a
"touchscreen" and may also be
referred to as a touch-sensitive display. In such embodiments, the display 706
may include a
capacitive touchscreen, a resistive touchscreen, or any other suitable
touchscreen technology.
[00108] The processor 702 may provide the processing capability required to
execute the
operating system, programs, user interface, and any functions of the computer
700. The
processor 702 may include one or more processors that may include "general-
purpose"
microprocessors and special purpose microprocessors, such as one or more
reduced instruction
set (RISC) processors, such as those implementing the Advanced RISC Machine
(ARM)
instruction set. Additionally, the processor 702 may include single-core
processors and
multicore processors and may include graphics processors, video processors,
and related chip
sets. A processor may receive instructions and data from a memory (e.g.,
system memory 704).
Processes, such as those described herein may be performed by one or more
programmable
processors executing computer code to perform functions by operating on input
data and
generating corresponding output.
[00109] The memory 704 (which may include tangible non-transitory computer
readable
storage mediums) may include volatile memory and non-volatile memory
accessible by the
processor 702 and other components of the computer 700. The memory 704 may
include
volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM), and non-volatile memory,
such as
ROM, flash memory, a hard drive, any other suitable optical, magnetic, or
solid-state storage
medium, or a combination thereof. The memory 704 may store a variety of
information and may
be used for a variety of purposes. For example, the memory 704 may store
executable code,
such as the firmware for the computer 700, an operating system for the
computer 700, and any
other programs. The executable computer code may include instructions
executable by a
processor, such as processor 702, and the computer may include instructions
for implementing
one or more techniques described herein with regard to various processes. For
example, the
memory 704 may store an application 712. For example, if the computer 700
represents a user
device, the application 712 may include a web browser and may enable a user to
view offers,
such as online coupons, and select and redeem online coupons using the user
actions described
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above. In other embodiments, for example, the computer 700 may represent a
server and the
application 712 may implement some or all of the processes described above in
Figures 5, 6A
and 6B. The executable code may be written in a programming language,
including compiled or
interpreted languages, or declarative or procedural language, and may be
composed into a unit
suitable for use in a computing environment, including as a stand-alone
program, a module, a
component, a subroutine. Such code program may be stored in a section of a
file that holds other
programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markup language
document), in a single
file dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files
(e.g., files that store one
or more modules, sub programs, or sections of code). Additionally, the copies
of the executable
code may be stored in both non-volatile and volatile memories, such as in a
non-volatile memory
for long-term storage and a volatile memory during execution of the code.
[00110] The interface 710 may include multiple interfaces and may couple
various components
of the computer 700 to the processor 702 and memory 704. In some embodiments,
the interface
710, the processor 702, memory 704, and one or more other components of the
computer 700
may be implemented on a single chip, such as a system-on-a-chip (SOC). in
other embodiments,
these components, their functionalities, or both may be implemented on
separate chips. The
interface 710 may be configured to coordinate I/0 traffic between processor
702, memory 704,
network interface 706, and other internal and external components of the
computer 700. The
interface 710 may include functionality for interfacing via various types of
peripheral buses, such
as a variant of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard, the
Universal Serial
Bus (USB) standard, and the like.
[001111 The computer 700 depicted in Figure 7 also includes a network
interface 708, such as
a wired network interface, wireless (e.g., radio frequency) receivers, etc.
For example, the
network interface 708 may receive and send electromagnetic signals and
communicate with
communications networks and other communications devices via the
electromagnetic signals.
The network interface 708may include known circuitry for perfoiming these
functions, including
an antenna system, an RF transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner, one or
more oscillators, a
digital signal processor, a CODEC chipset, a subscriber identity module (SIM)
card, memory,
and so forth. The network interface 704 may communicate with networks (e.g.,
network XXX),
such as the Internet, an intranet, a cellular telephone network, a wireless
local area network
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(LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or other devices by wireless
communication. The
network interface 708 may suitable any suitable communications standard,
protocol and
technology, including Ethernet, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),
Enhanced
Data GSM Environment (EDGE), a 4G network (e.g., based upon the IMT-2000
standard), high-
speed downlink packet access (I-ISDPA), wideband code division multiple access
(W-CDMA),
code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), a
4G network
(e.g., IMT Advanced, Long-Term Evolution Advanced (LIE Advanced), etc.),
Bluetooth,
Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) (e.g., IEEE 702.11a, IEEE 702.11b, IEEE 702.11g or
IEEE 702.11n),
voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, a protocol for email (e.g.,
Internet message
access protocol (IMAP) or post office protocol (POP)), instant messaging
(e.g., extensible
messaging and presence protocol (XMPP). Session Initiation Protocol for
Instant Messaging and
Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), Instant Messaging and Presence
Service (IMPS)),
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Short Message Service (SMS), or any other
suitable
communication protocol.
[00112] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that, while various
items are illustrated as
being stored in memory or on storage while being used, these items or sections
of them may be
transferred between memory and other storage devices for purposes of memory
management and
data integrity. Alternatively, in other embodiments some or all of the
software components may
execute in memory on another device and communicate with the illustrated
computer system via
inter-computer communication. Some or all of the system components or data
structures may
also be stored (e.g., as instructions or structured data) on a computer-
readable medium or a
portable article to be read by an appropriate drive, various examples of which
are described
above. In some embodiments, instructions stored on a computer- readable medium
separate from
computer 700 may be transmitted to computer 700 via transmission media or
signals such as
electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals, conveyed via a communication
medium such as a
network or a wireless link. Various embodiments may further include receiving,
sending or
storing instructions or data implemented in accordance with the foregoing
description upon a
computer-accessible medium. Accordingly, the present invention may be
practiced with other
computer system configurations.
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[00113] Various embodiments may further include receiving, sending or storing
instructions
and/or data implemented in accordance with the foregoing description upon a
computer-
accessible medium. Generally speaking, a computer-accessible/readable storage
medium may
include a non-transitory storage media such as magnetic or optical media,
(e.g., disk or
DVD/CD-ROM), volatile or non-volatile media such as RAM (e.g. SDRAM, DDR,
RDRAIvI,
SRAM, etc.), ROM, etc., as well as transmission media or signals such as
electrical,
electromagnetic, or digital signals, conveyed via a communication medium such
as network
and/or a wireless link.
[00114] Further modifications and alternative embodiments of various aspects
of the invention
will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this description.
Accordingly, this
description is to be construed as illustrative only and is for the purpose of
teaching those skilled
in the art the general manner of carrying out the invention. It is to be
understood that the foluis
of the invention shown and described herein are to be taken as examples of
embodiments.
Elements and materials may be substituted for those illustrated and described
herein, parts and
processes may be reversed or omitted, and certain features of the invention
may be utilized
independently, all as would be apparent to one skilled in the art after having
the benefit of this
description of the invention. Changes may be made in the elements described
herein without
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the
following claims.
Headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to
be used to limit
the scope of the description.
As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a pettnissive
sense (i.e., meaning
having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning
must). The words
"include", -including", and -includes" mean including, but not limited to. As
used throughout
this application, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" include plural
referents unless the content
clearly indicates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to "an element"
includes a combination
of two or more elements. Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent
from the discussion, it
is appreciated that throughout this specification discussions utilizing teints
such as "processing",
"computing", "calculating", "determining" or the like refer to actions or
processes of a specific
apparatus, such as a special purpose computer or a similar special purpose
electronic
processing/computing device. In the context of this specification, a special
purpose computer or
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a similar special purpose electronic processing/computing device is capable of
manipulating or
transforming signals, typically represented as physical electronic or magnetic
quantities within
memories, registers, or other information storage devices, transmission
devices, or display
devices of the special purpose computer or similar special purpose electronic
processing/computing device.
[00115] The present application will be better understood with reference to
the following
enumerated examples of embodiments:
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
providing in a browser executing on a user device an offers webpage from an
offers
engine, the offers webpage comprising a plurality of offers associated with a
respective plurality
of merchants and a respective plurality of offer redemption identifiers;
receiving a selection of one of the plurality of offers, the selected offer
being associated
with a selected offer redemption identifier and a selected merchant;
redirecting the browser to a merchant webpage of the selected merchant;
determining that an offer identifier associated with the selected offer is
stored in a storage
item accessible by the browser; and
inserting, with one or more processors, a redemption header in a webpage
element of the
merchant webpage upon detennining that the offer identifier is stored in the
storage item, the
redemption header including the offer redemption identifier associated with
the selected offer,
the redemption header being displayed on the merchant webpage.
2. The computer-implemented method of embodiment 1, wherein inserting the
redemption
header into the merchant webpage comprises inserting a script executable by
the browser in the
merchant webpage, the script being configured to create the webpage element
for the redemption
header in a document object model (DOM) of the merchant webpage.
3. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-2, wherein the
webpage
element comprises an inline frame.
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4. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-3, wherein
inserting the
redemption header into the merchant webpage is performed asynchronously
relative to a loading
of the merchant webp age in the browser.
5. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-4, comprising
storing the
offer identifier associated with the selected offer in the storage item.
6. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-5, wherein the
storage item
comprises a cookie.
7. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-6, wherein the
redemption
header comprises a close control configured to enable a user to remove the
redemption header
from the merchant webpage.
The computer-implemented method of embodiment 7, comprising receiving a
selection
of the close control from the client and providing a message to remove the
redemption header
responsive to the selection of the close control.
9. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 7-8, comprising
removing
the storage item responsive to the selection of the close control.
10. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-9, wherein the
redemption
header comprises an image, text, or a combination thereof.
11. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-10, comprising
copying,
responsive to the selection, a value of the selected coupon code to a
clipboard accessible by the
browser.
12. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-11, wherein the
plurality of
offers comprise online coupons, discounts, rebates, or a combination thereof
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13. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-12, wherein the
plurality of
offer redemption identifiers comprise coupon codes, discount descriptions,
rebate instructions, or
a combination thereof.
14. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-13, wherein the
selected
offer comprises an online coupon and the selected offer redemption identifier
comprises a
coupon code.
15. The computer-implemented method of embodiment 14, comprising
automatically
populating an input field of a second merchant webpage with the coupon code.
16. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-15, comprising
receiving a
request to submit the offer redemption identifier for redemption and
transmitting the request over
a network, to a server associated with an affiliate or the merchant.
17. The computer-implemented method of any of embodiments 1-16, comprising:
classifying a merchant webpage in response to a request for another merchant
webpage.
18. The computer-implemented method of embodiment 17, comprising:
presenting an offer feedback interface in the redemption header in response to
classifying
a merchant webpage as an order confirmation page.
19. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions that,
when executed by
a data processing apparatus, cause the data processing apparatus to effectuate
operations
comprising the methods of any of embodiments 1-18.
20. A system, comprising one or more processors and memory storing
instructions that when
executed by one or more of the processors cause the processors to effectuate
the methods of any
of embodiments 1-18.
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