Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20090234745 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MOBILE COUPON TRACKING - In embodiments, the present invention provides a method and system for presenting a sponsored mobile coupon to a mobile communication facility based at least in part on a relevancy, wherein the relevancy is based at least in part on a mobile subscriber characteristic, redeeming the coupon at an offline sponsor location using the mobile communication facility, recording conversion of the coupon in a conversion data repository, transmitting the conversion data repository to a wireless carrier, and analyzing the conversion data repository to determine an action. | 09-17-2009 |
20090265240 | COMMODITY PURCHASING SYSTEM - A group commodity purchasing system for performing a purchasing operation by causing a commodity list to be downloaded and displayed onto a user terminal, the system includes a database of the server contains a commodity master in which at least a commodity code and a price are associated with each other, and a group commodity table for registering a group of commodities selected arbitrarily by a specific user as a group commodity. The server reads a group commodity code from the group commodity table and registering the group commodity code as one of the commodity codes on the commodity master. The group commodity code registered on the commodity master is indicated within the commodity list. | 10-22-2009 |
20090271264 | PROMOTIONAL TECHNIQUES, SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Tools for improving interactions between promoters and consumers of products. These tools can enable promoters of products to employ more effective promotional programs, and consumers to receive promotional information about products of interest, while avoiding the excessive overload of information about promotions that are not of interest. Some such tools can enhance consumer satisfaction with—and, correspondingly, consumer participation in—promotional programs by allowing consumers to tailor the discount programs to their preferences, by analyzing consumer behavior and tailoring promotions accordingly, and/or by providing cross promotions of complementary products. Some of the tools can provide substantial savings, in both costs and natural resources, as well as provide a more satisfying experience for consumers, by substantially reducing, or even eliminating, excessive use of paper for promotional programs and transaction receipts. | 10-29-2009 |
20090276308 | ONLINE INCENTIVE MANAGEMENT - Various methods and systems are provided to facilitate the centralized storage and access of online incentives such as coupons redeemable at associated online marketplaces. In one example, merchants may provide incentive information to payment service providers that in turn may associate such information with user accounts maintained by the payment service providers. Payment service providers may permit users to view incentives associated with their user accounts, thereby providing users with a comprehensive way to manage incentives from a plurality of online merchants. In another example, merchants may advise users of previously registered incentives in response to user activities in relation to online marketplaces. | 11-05-2009 |
20090281887 | Systems for Providing an Interactive Networked Product Container - Networked product containers such as vending machines identify the presence of a potential customer via sensors, and present customized interactive marketing content to consumers. Consumers interact with a touch screen to win prizes, make purchases, or have a fun and interactive experience. The prizes and purchases offered by the product container may be determined by the product container or by one or more content servers in communication with the container. The content server may also provide digital content for display on the product container and remotely update the product container's content. The networked product container also includes a wireless access point to provide nearby wireless-enabled devices network connectivity via the product container. | 11-12-2009 |
20090287559 | TabTab - Electronic advertisements and other types of electronic information are distributed based on user profiles and in particular, collections of widgets. User profiles may be generated based on a combination of user searches for specific items or points of interest. Alternatively user interests may be determined by the customized tabs setup by said user for his own personal web portal. User entered information and information inferred or derived from user behavior and interaction patterns may be used to determine the type of directed advertisement to be targeted to a specific user. The use and collection of various widgets may also be recorded by a user profile to determine a user's preferences and interests. An advertisement may be distributed by segmenting a user population according to user profile information and one or more attributes of the advertisement. Users may further interact with the widgets in a variety of ways including specifying product request details such as make, model, price and color, requesting additional information about the advertised product or service and/or requesting communications with an advertiser without compromising their privacy. Thus, unnecessary surfing of the internet may be eliminated for updated information and internet commerce. | 11-19-2009 |
20090287560 | Items Ratio Based Price/Discount Adjustment in a Combinatorial Auction - In a combinatorial exchange, rules can be input for processing bids and a desired exchange objective can be defined. A subset of the rules can be used to determine if an allocation of the bids exists that is optimal for the type of exchange being conducted. If the desired exchange objective is not satisfied, new allocations can be determined using different subsets of rules each time until the desired exchange objective is satisfied. At least one of the bids can include a reference ratio; a discount; a price associated with a quantity Q | 11-19-2009 |
20090292604 | Data processing system and data processing method - The present invention generates coupon distribution key data in a key generation section ( | 11-26-2009 |
20090299842 | Nobel auction house coins - An improved advertising method which provides discounts for purchasers and sellers. One future embodiment of this coin is as a round shape with King's Head. | 12-03-2009 |
20090319354 | BIDDING SYSTEM FOR RECYCLABLE GOODS AND METHOD THEREOF - A bidding system for recyclable goods and method thereof is disclosed. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is a method for providing incentive to engage in environmentally responsible behavior, comprises monitoring an auction event occurring on a network, the auction event comprising: receiving data at a host server regarding a recyclable good for sale associated with a seller, the seller having an account maintained on a database stored on the host server, receiving data at the host server regarding a bid for the recyclable good, the bid associated with a bidder, and determining at the host server a winning bid for the recyclable good based on a predetermined criterion; determining a credit value associated with the auction event; and allocating the credit value to the seller's account. | 12-24-2009 |
20090327063 | Online Services Offer Management - Online services offer modeling is provided. A system for managing online offers for products and services includes a components module, an offer module, a subscription module, a billing module and a change management module. The component module defines the properties of components that may be included in an offer. The offer module defines the features of the offer, including one or more components. The components may be a base component or an add-on component. The subscription module processes the provisioning of an offer. The market module specifies countries or regions in which offers are made available. The billing module processes billing and payment actions for an offer. The change management module processes alterations to a provisioned offer, inserting the properties of an add-on component into the properties of a base component. | 12-31-2009 |
20090327064 | METHOD FOR SELLING BUNDLE DISCOUNT PRODUCTS IN THE ELECTRONIC COMMERCE AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORD MEDIUM WHICH IS RECORDING A PROGRAM OF EXECUTING THE METHOD - A method for selling bundle discount products in the electronic commerce and computer-readable record medium which is recording a program of executing the method are provided. For a plurality of bundle discount products registered by a seller or a shopping mall operator, a certain discount rate or discount price is applied and it is reflected on the final product selling price, so that a purchaser can buy a plurality of cheaper goods and a seller induces a buyer to buy large products. | 12-31-2009 |
20100017282 | METHODS, SYSTEMS AND DEVICES FOR MERGED IMAGES AND FEE GENERATION IN ONLINE RETAIL - An e-commerce method involves on-line viewing of a first article through a linking node for virtual merging on another structure. A particular application of the invention is directed to on-line apparel shopping involving a color matching scheme using color codes provided with images to be merged. For example, on-line viewing of one article, such as clothing, on another structure, includes creating an item from image-data corresponding to a colored article selected by an on-line viewer from an on-line viewer site with an image of a colored structure selected by the on-line viewer, and indicating whether the colored article and the colored structure satisfy a color-matching criterion. | 01-21-2010 |
20100057549 | Electronic Coupon Distribution System - A method of secure electronic couponing is disclosed which includes a main server system, and a client system interconnected by a distributed computer network, such as the Internet. Coupon data and advertising data are encrypted to thereby reduce the likelihood that such data may be misused, such as by unauthorized duplication. In addition, the client system is identified by a user identification that is allocated and associated with user information collected from the user of the client system. The user information is indicative of one or more demographic characteristics of the user without being sufficiently personal to specifically identify the user, thus preserving privacy. An icon is provided which, when flashing, alerts the user to the fact that new coupons are available. | 03-04-2010 |
20100070361 | Network-Based Credit System - An online credit system is disclosed. The online credit system allows purchasers (requesters) to request and receive credit (e.g., store credit) for prior purchases of qualifying products. The credit can made available to purchasers as an electronic credit voucher. Through online interaction with the online credit system, a purchaser is able to be informed in near real-time whether a particular prior purchase qualifies for an offered credit. The online credit system can also enforce credit eligibility rules so that only certain prior purchases of certain products are able to receive a credit. The online credit system can also incorporate techniques to mitigate or prevent fraudulent attempts to access such credit. In one embodiment, the products qualifying for credit are wireless electronic devices, such as mobile telephones. | 03-18-2010 |
20100088171 | System and method for providing magazine subscriptions to consumers - A method and apparatus fulfill a periodical subscription to a consumer, where the periodical subscription includes a predetermined number of issues and associated delivery dates. The method and apparatus receive a subscription order for a periodical having a plurality of issues deliverable to the consumer at a consumer premise; and generate a subscription order voucher for redeeming an interim periodical issue prior to the consumer receiving delivery of a first issue of the subscription at the consumer premises from a fulfillment house. The voucher includes authorization for a retail location to provide the interim issue of the periodical subscription to the consumer upon presentation. The subscription agent communicates subscription information associated with the consumer to the fulfillment house following one of redemption of the voucher by the consumer for the interim issue or a predetermined time having elapsed. | 04-08-2010 |
20100088172 | VALUE ADDED AUCTIONS FOR STORED VALUE ACCOUNTS - Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for value added auctions. In an embodiment of the invention, a value added auction method for stored value accounts can be provided. The method can include establishing an online auction and accepting bids from bidders in the online auction. A winning bid and corresponding winning bidder can be determined. Further, a reward can be computed for the winning bidder based upon a nature of participation in the online auction by the winner. Finally, a stored value account can be loaded with a stored value based upon the winning bid and additional stored value can be loaded on a stored value account based upon the computed reward. | 04-08-2010 |
20100106587 | Multi-tier pricing of individual products based on volume discounts - A point of sale system or other computer system stores a product pricing database in which a full price and discount prices corresponding to one or more discount pricing tiers are stored for each product available for sale. Each of the discount prices for a given product has an associated threshold purchase total that has to be satisfied before the discount price is applied to a transaction. When a transaction occurs, the purchase total for the transaction is first calculated on the basis of full retail prices for the products and the purchase total for the transaction is compared with one or more threshold purchase totals which correspond to the discount pricing tiers. If a discount pricing tier is applicable (e.g. the calculated purchase total for the transaction is at least equal to a threshold purchase total), the appropriate discount prices for each product in the transaction are retrieved and used to calculate a reduced purchase total for the transaction. Qualification for discount pricing can also be based on, for example, a customer's purchasing history, or the number of a certain type of product included in the transaction instead of the purchase total of a transaction. | 04-29-2010 |
20100114687 | SYSTEM FOR USE IN DEFINING PRODUCTS AND BILLING FOR THE SAME - A system for defining products and billing for the same includes a server and an associated database. The server has programming to provide an interactive wizard which is used define and modify: a first data set including data indicative of a plurality of products to be offered to a customer; a second data set including data indicative of product bundles including selected ones of the plurality of products to be offered to a customer; a third data set including data indicative of prices associated with the plurality of products and product bundles; a fourth data set including data indicative of how the plurality of products and product bundles are to be billed to a customer; and a fifth data set including data indicative of how the plurality of products and product bundles are offered to a customer for purchase. The database stores the data sets and a mapping therebetween. | 05-06-2010 |
20100125495 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF PROVIDING A MOBILE WALLET AT A MOBILE TELEPHONE - A method of providing a mobile wallet is disclosed and may include displaying a mobile wallet login screen and displaying a mobile wallet. The mobile wallet includes at least one of the following: an accounts option, a buy now option, an offers option, a receipts option, and a more option. The method further includes displaying one or more accounts when the accounts option is selected. The one or more accounts may include at least one of the following: a bank account, a credit account, a gift card account, and a rewards account. | 05-20-2010 |
20100131343 | System and Method for Segmenting Items in a Shopping Cart by Carbon Footprint - A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium being operable to provide a shopping cart for a shopper, and segment items in the shopping cart based on the carbon footprint associated with each item. Additionally, the method may include displaying substitute or complementary items in the shopping cart for selection by the user to reduce total carbon values, and awarding carbon certificates. | 05-27-2010 |
20100131344 | ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION METHODS OF A RETAIL MERCHANT WITH A RETAIL CONSUMER - An electronic transaction method is provided of a retail merchant in a transaction conducted between the retail merchant and a retail consumer. The electronic transaction method comprises receiving a request from the retail consumer to purchase a good or service, prompting the retail consumer to provide details associated with a loyalty program account to redeem points and thereby to reduce purchase price of the good or service desired to be purchased, receiving from the retail consumer the details associated with the loyalty program, and reducing purchase price of the good or service based upon the details received from the retail consumer. The loyalty program account may be associated with the retail merchant. The loyalty program account may be associated with a manufacturer who is other than the retail merchant. | 05-27-2010 |
20100131345 | MERCHANT INTERACTION AND TRIAL PERIODS - Disclosure includes selecting a merchant from a plurality of merchants, enabling a trial mode for the merchant, during the trial mode, receiving an indication of a first order for the merchant, forwarding the indication of the first order to the merchant, allocating a first payment for the first order to the merchant, requesting an acceptance of a membership status from the merchant, and receiving an indication of the payment for the first order. | 05-27-2010 |
20100161401 | INCENTIVE PROVIDING SYSTEM FOR INCREASE OF VISITORS ON INTERNET SITE AND METHOD THEREOF - A system and method for providing an incentive to increase visitors to an Internet site provides a new type of coin search engine service named gold click to a plurality of unspecified users through the search engine of a coin search portal site. The system includes a coin search portal server including an automatic information processor, a cybercoin generator and a program transmitter, a Web publisher server connected to the coin search portal server through an online contract and providing an incentive to visitors, and a user server connected to the coin search portal server and receiving a gold click search service from the coin search portion server. Further, the method is accomplished by sequentially performing a site linking step, a cybercoin arranging step, a coin information providing step, a membership joining step, a coin accumulating step, and an associated marketing step through a series of system constituents. | 06-24-2010 |
20100174595 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING CREDITS VIA A MOBILE DEVICE - System and method for delivering upon request credits having monetary value to a mobile device using a communications network. An account of available credit for the user of the mobile device is maintained and authorization to issue credit is generated when a request for credit for the mobile device is received and there is available credit in the account associated with the mobile device equal to or greater than the requested credit. Credit may be sponsored by one or more sponsors and issued to the user, upon authorization, to enable the user to use the mobile device to purchase items, e.g., at a point of sale terminal. | 07-08-2010 |
20100174596 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOBILE OFFER FULFILLMENT - Rewards systems, methods, means and computer program code are provided which include a transaction processing system, receiving a transaction authorization request message generated from a point of interaction, the transaction authorization request message including a purchase amount, and a customer account identifier, the transaction processing system generating an authorization response message for transmission to the point of interaction. The rewards systems further include a messaging system, in communication with the transaction processing system, generating a rewards message for transmission to a mobile device associated with the customer account identifier, the rewards message including details of a status associated with a reward transaction. | 07-08-2010 |
20100179869 | Method and Systems For Generating Dynamic Rewards Currency Values - Systems and methods are disclosed for generating payment values of goods and services (rewards). The disclosed systems and methods may include receiving an input. Furthermore, the disclosed systems and methods may include dynamic calculating, based upon the received input, a plurality of payment pairs, each of the plurality of payment pairs comprising any (including a plurality of) non-monetary currency value and/or any monetary currency value (between 0% and 100% respectively 100% and 0%). | 07-15-2010 |
20100191590 | METHOD FOR ESTABLISHING A CONTROLLED DATA TRANSFER CONNECTION BETWEEN TWO SYSTEMS - Method for creating a controlled data transfer connection between a remote device and a subscriber terminal by a transmission system. The first party of the interconnection, (remote device), creates a connection to the transmission system, which verifies information used for the authentication informed by the remote device and allocates an unique identifier ID for the remote device, by which the remote device can be addressed in the transmission system. The other part of the interconnection, (subscriber terminal), requests the transmission system to transmit the request to the remote device, identified by the identifier. The transmission system transmits this request to the remote device, which processes the request and sends the response via the transmission system to the subscriber terminal. This response can be converted in the transmission system to a form suitable for the subscriber terminal, and subscriber-targeted advertisements, or other data, may be added in the response. | 07-29-2010 |
20100191591 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONDUCTING A PARTICIPATION AWARD BASED AUCTION - A method and system of conducting a participation award auction is provided. In a participation award based auction, a portion of a winning bid is distributed among one or more of the bidders engaged in the auction. A seller utilizing a participation award based auction may define the portion of the winning bid distributed among the bidders as well as the rules used to determine which bidders receive a portion of the winning bid. Providing bidders the opportunity to share in a portion of a winning bid may stimulate interest in a given auction and as a result increase the winning bid received by the seller. | 07-29-2010 |
20100191592 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DATA RECIPIENT STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL OF DATA USING A NETWORK COMMUNICATION DEVICE - A system and method for data recipient invoked electronic commerce allowing data subjects to provide information over a network and data recipients to receive such information relating to the needs of s data subject such as purchases, distribution of application information and the like. The system includes a server having software which gathers the information from a data subject to complete a transaction over a network. The system has a data subject data structure that stores information for registered data subjects. The software is able to access the data subject data structure and enter the data subject's information during subsequent transactions. Having the software obtain and enter the data subject's purchasing information, the data subject does not have to enter the same information every time the data subject desires to effect a transaction over the network. In alternate embodiments, the same technology can be applied to other arenas where a user may have to enter the same repetitive information. | 07-29-2010 |
20100198673 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROCESSING REBATES - The invention provides efficient and convenient rebate systems and methods which facilitate application of the value of a rebate redeemed by a purchaser to additional purchases by the purchaser prior to termination of a rebate redemption session. | 08-05-2010 |
20100211448 | SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR REWARDS INTEGRATION FOR AN ONLINE TOOL - An online toolbar is provided to a user to add to a browser that allows the user to select a merchant website. When the user selects a merchant website, specific information about the user and the website to be accessed are used to build a personalized URL. The personalized URL, in turn, is used to connect to the website and initiate rewards program processing. After the user is taken to the requested website using the personalized URL, the user shops and is able to make purchases. In turn, a rewards program provider is notified of the purchase and information contained in the personalized URL. The rewards program provider then issues rewards based on predetermined business rules (e.g., 1× point, 2× points, everyday spend, non-everyday spend, etc.), and the rewards are awarded to the user according to a transaction. | 08-19-2010 |
20100223117 | Payment options for virtual credit - A method and system provides for the use of credit arrangements in simulated environments. A user can participate in credit transactions involving purchases of virtual products, virtual services, and virtual items of value. Feedback is provided to the user regarding results of the credit transactions. In some embodiments multiple users can make simulated purchases or incur simulated credit obligations that are posted to virtual accounts, and the multiple users can also make simulated compensation against balances due or obligations owed for said virtual accounts. The user is also provided with an opportunity of engaging in real-world financial transactions related to the virtual credit arrangement. In some implementations of the system and method, multiple players at different locations can use virtual charge accounts and/or real world financial accounts in connection with arranging or resolving a virtual credit transaction. One aspect makes a virtual charge account service available for use in a fictional world environment, wherein a billing statement charges various fees that may be valuated in fictional world money, real-world money, or non-monetary fictional world value tokens. | 09-02-2010 |
20100228615 | SYSTEM FOR SALES, PRICING, AND SOURCING SPONSORED MATERIALS TO TARGET MARKET - A system and method for providing customized or personalized memorabilia to end users, wherein the system allows the price for the customized or personalized memorabilia to be established by obtaining the lowest production costs from approved vendors, and further allowing such costs to be offset by any sponsorship underwriting of the memorabilia. The system further allows establishment of advertising to target demographic audiences by underwriting customized or personalized memorabilia orders and placing advertising indicia for the sponsor on or with the ordered customized or personalized memorabilia. | 09-09-2010 |
20100235230 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EFFICIENT ELECTRONIC COMMERCE THROUGH ESTIMATE REQUESTS AND RESPONSES - Methods and systems for electronic commerce are provided in which a buyer requests a merchandise estimate by selecting estimate items registered by a seller, selects one of various estimates suggested by the seller in response to the request, and performs payment for the merchandise. One method for providing electronic commerce includes receiving, from a buyer terminal, an estimate request selecting at least one of a plurality of items from estimate request information registered by a seller terminal, providing at least one estimate to a buyer according to an estimate response from the seller terminal, and receiving an estimate rejection or a purchase request in response to the at least one estimate from the buyer terminal and performing a corresponding process. | 09-16-2010 |
20100250357 | ON-LINE ADVERTISING SYSTEM AND METHOD OF THE SAME - Provided are an online advertising system and method, which accumulate, in real time, personal reserves earned upon a multiplicity of customers viewing an advertisement by integrated processing, and award the accumulated reserve, i.e., a member integrated reserve earned jointly by a multiplicity of members, as a discount rate of a purchase price when a purchase signal is issued from a certain customer, to thereby revitalize advertisement viewing and shopping. In accordance with the online advertising system and method of the present invention, a multiplicity of customers earn reserves for advertisement information and product information viewing, the earned reserves are accumulated jointly for members to form member integrated reserve points in real time, and the member integrated reserve points accumulated jointly by the members are paid as a discount rate of a product purchase price of a certain customer in response to a purchase signal from the corresponding customer, thereby revitalizing advertising viewing, and the member integrated reserve points displayed on a website are modified in real time, thereby facilitating the revitalization of consumption. | 09-30-2010 |
20100250358 | System and method for selling perishable products - An exemplary system and method are provided to sell a plurality of limited perishable products. The method may include offering to sell the first perishable product at first defined conditions that include an initial price and a minimum refund schedule; or an initial price, an incentive relative to another offer to sell the product, and a purchaser agreement to receive a directed offer. The method may include receiving an acceptance from a first purchaser; and making the first perishable product again available for sale if a first refund opportunity is exercised by purchaser. The method may include determining and offering a directed offer related to the first perishable product that may include a hold incentive or a release incentive option. The method may continue for additional products of the limited perishable products that are of the same (or similar) type and each having the same (or similar) expiration date. | 09-30-2010 |
20100262481 | METHOD, SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR RECAPTURE OF AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE - A method, a system, and a computer program for recapturing electronic devices no longer of use to their owners. The method, which is implemented by the computer program, broadly comprises the steps of identifying at least one electronic device no longer of use to the device's owner by managing one or more identification parameters; matching the device with a recapture offer so as to incentivize the owner to donate or sell the device; notifying the device owner of the recapture offer; and acquiring the device from the owner to complete recapture of the device. | 10-14-2010 |
20100280894 | INVOICING SYSTEM - In one embodiment, a computerized method facilitates invoicing for transactions in a network-based transaction system. The method includes identifying a plurality of transactions to which a first entity is a party, identifying first and second transactions from the plurality of transactions that satisfy combinable criteria relating to combining transactions into a single invoice, and providing to the first entity an indication of the combinability of transactions of the first and second transactions into the single invoice. The method can also be implemented on a machine readable medium. | 11-04-2010 |
20100318416 | ONLINE AUCTION AND METHOD - An online auction and method of conducting an online auction accessible over a communications network includes the step of providing a computer programmed to host the auction, the computer being accessible to a user through the communications network and adapted to provide a user interface to allow the user to bid on or sell an item on the auction. The method also including the steps of providing instructions to the computer through the user interface, the instructions providing parameters for the auction being conducted; and displaying the item for sale on the user interface with an initial sale price and prompting a bidder to bid on the item. The method further including the steps of allowing the bidder to bid on the item through the communications network, wherein in response to a bid by the bidder, the computer reduces the initial sale price by the bid value and displays a new sale price on the user interface; and using the computer to determine a winning bidder and shipping the item to the winning bidder. | 12-16-2010 |
20100324982 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO OFFER BEST PRICE DEAL AND SHARP TARGETED POINT OF PURCHASE ADVERTISEMENT IN E-RETAIL WEBSITE - A Unique E-Retail System for Customers of Branded Products and Services that Serves as a Point of Purchase Advertising Medium that identifies ‘interested’ Customers based on an uniquely tracked Brand Choice Behavioral Targeting software program and further inducing them to take buying decisions in a brand's favor by offering Brand wise Sales Incentives calculated based on a forward Action Algorithm in proportion to the Ad Spends by each brand on the site, which in effect leads to better Price Deals to Customers on these Branded Products and Services. | 12-23-2010 |
20100324983 | System and Method for Media Distribution - A method for media distribution executable on a computer readable medium that, if executed by a device, causes the device to perform steps for determining whether a usage license for a media is present on the device using a distribution application stored on the computer readable medium, soliciting for the purchase of the usage license based on the usage license determination, collecting financial information from a user of the device, generating a unique device identifier using one or more parameters of the device, sending the financial information, a media identifier, and a device identifier to a server, and receiving a license key that enables the media to be fully operational on the device. | 12-23-2010 |
20100332306 | Acquisition Option in Auction Configuration - A configuration is configured to allow purchase of an item available in an auction. The configuration transmits to a bidder a plurality of bids for use in an auction. Each bid is given a predetermined bid value. The configuration provides for display a selectable interface to place a bid on the item and a selectable interface to purchase the item at the retail price. The configuration receives from the bidder at least one bid on the item. In response to each bid received from the bidder for the item, the configuration reduces the retail price for the item by a value corresponding to the bid value. The configuration then provides for display the reduced retail price in response to each bid received from the bidder for on the item. The bidder can continue with the auction in an attempt to receive the auctioned item at a low cost or may purchase the auction item at a retail price minus the total of the value of bids placed by that bidder. | 12-30-2010 |
20110004515 | DYNAMIC DISCOUNT CARD TIED TO PRICE CURVES & GROUP DISCOUNTS - Systems and/or methods are disclosed for interacting with a multiple criteria buying and/or selling system to conduct business electronically. A dynamic discount card is disclosed according to an aspect of the present invention. The dynamic discount card comprises an information access component for receiving information and a presentation component for displaying information to a user via the dynamic discount card. | 01-06-2011 |
20110010234 | MOBILE DEVICE INCLUDING AUTO INITIATION - Systems and methods for redeeming coupons are provided. The method includes receiving a coupon at a mobile payment device, determining whether a mobile payment application is active. If the mobile payment application is not active, the mobile payment device may automatically initiate the mobile payment application and conduct the transaction using the received coupon. The method further includes enrolling the mobile payment device in a coupon redemption program prior to using the coupon. The method also includes tracking a consumer's transaction information and sending one or more coupons based on the transaction information. The mobile payment device used for conducting the transaction includes a contactless element that can use the near field communications technology to conduct payment transactions. | 01-13-2011 |
20110010235 | Method and System for Setting an Online Coupon Cookie - A clickable object may obscure a coupon code on an affiliate's website to prevent a user from memorizing or otherwise copying the coupon code and using the code in an online sale transaction without setting a web browser cookie. Upon visiting the affiliate's website, the user may select or click the obscuring clickable object to reveal the coupon code. The user's action of selecting the obscuring clickable object may set the cookie in the user's web browser and ensure that the affiliate receives credit for referring the user to the retailer. | 01-13-2011 |
20110010236 | PORTABLE, ORGANIZED, SUSTAINABLE, TRANSPARENT AND TECHNOLOGICAL ALTERNATIVE PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND BUSINESS METHOD - The present invention relates to a method of combining an incentive or promotion program with an electronic commerce system as a new and useful improvement to the Art and System of Modern Business Data Processing using different types of Content Management Systems such as a commercial digital directory, reservation system, remote sales personnel system, customer relationship management system, reputation system and digital knowledgebase system over the World Wide Web, for the purpose of providing a compilation of publicly recorded economic activities of individuals and enterprises useful for determining who their customers are, the products and services they need and want; informing customers of their existence; showing customers their products and services and getting them to purchase; tracking resources, and billing and payments; and creating a whole new method of using an incentive program to generate an unlimited number of jobs, sources of income, and fund raising sources for non-profits. | 01-13-2011 |
20110015980 | System and Method For Managing Promotions Within An Online Stationery Design System - A system and method are described for managing promotions within an online stationery service. For example, a system implemented in accordance with one embodiment of the invention comprises a promotions engine for creating and managing promotions related to online stationery, the promotions engine comprising: a plurality of promotion rules associated with a plurality of stationery promotions, each of the promotion rules comprising one or more condition objects and one or more clause objects, each of the condition objects comprising at least a specified condition level variable, the condition level variable having a plurality of selectable options including an order level and an item level, wherein order level indicates that the condition is applicable to an entire online stationery order and item level indicates that the condition is applicable to a particular stationery item or group of related items, wherein each condition level has a value associated therewith to indicate a minimum dollar amount or quantity of stationery to meet the condition; each of the clause objects comprising at least a specified clause level variable, the clause level variable having a plurality of selectable options including an order level and an item level, wherein order level indicates that the clause is applicable to an entire stationery order and item level indicates that the clause is applicable to a particular stationery item or group of related items, wherein each clause level has a value associated therewith to indicate a dollar amount, quantity of stationery, or percentage discount to be provided to the end user upon meeting the condition. | 01-20-2011 |
20110015981 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO INCENTIVIZE TRANSACTIONS TO ENHANCE SOCIAL GOODNESS - Systems and methods to incentivize transactions to enhance social goodness are described. The system receives a request for a badge representing social goodness of a user of a first network entity. The request includes a user identifier that identifies the user. The system generates the badge based on a social goodness index for the user. The social goodness index may be based on at least one social goodness criteria that is selected from social goodness criterion by the user and transaction information for transactions of items that are transacted by the user on the first network entity. The social goodness index provides a measurement of the social goodness of the user in relation to other users of the first network entity. The system communicates the badge to the second network entity to enable the second network entity to communicate the badge to a third network entity. | 01-20-2011 |
20110029365 | Targeting Multimedia Content Based On Authenticity Of Marketing Data - A computer implemented method and system for targeting multimedia content based on authenticity of a user's marketing data, are provided. A multimedia distribution platform acquires marketing data from the user via an interactive interface. The multimedia distribution platform determines authenticity of the user's acquired marketing data by presenting multiple marketing specific challenges to the user based on the user's acquired marketing data, obtaining responses to the marketing specific challenges from the user, and analyzing the obtained responses using one or more marketing databases. The multimedia distribution platform rates the user's acquired marketing data based on the determined authenticity. The multimedia distribution platform targets the multimedia content to the user based on the determined authenticity and/or the rating of the user's acquired marketing data. The multimedia distribution platform confirms viewing of the targeted multimedia content and compensates the user based on the view confirmation and/or rating of the acquired marketing data. | 02-03-2011 |
20110054991 | Profile Based Content Creation - Systems and methods of combining digital promotions with independent incentives are presented. In some embodiments, a social network site can allow users to have multiple profiles, where each profile could be active or inactive. The profiles can also include one or more user attributes. As the user interacts with the social networking site, the site server can create advertisements comprising a promotion and independent incentives. When the user engages with the promotion the incentive can then be provided to the user. The site server can form the advertisements by comparing profiles or attributes of the user with those of the promotions or incentives. | 03-03-2011 |
20110066484 | ON-LINE ADVERTISEMENT OUTPUT CONTROLLING SYSTEM AND METHOD OF THE SAME - An online advertisement output control system and method are provided, which can increase attention on advertisement information outputted on the screen of the user browser. According to the online advertisement output control system and method of the invention, it is possible to increase attention on advertisements from users by increasing accumulated integrated rewards through cross-marketing, activate the sale of a corresponding product by offering an additional discount benefit to individual users through brand icons, allow users to use online accumulated integrated points in offline as well, increase attention on advertisements by embedding star information, and get more attention on advertisements by allowing users to take part in determination and modification regarding the matching of an article and an embedded advertisement. | 03-17-2011 |
20110071893 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERACTIVELY CONNECTING USERS AND THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS TO INDIVIDUAL OR AGGREGATED TO-DO LIST TASK ITEMS OF USERS WITHIN THE TASK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A system and method for delivering advertising, solicitation for offers, or offers of assistance to a user based on a user created to-do list task items wherein the user has requested such advertising, solicitation or assistance to be telephonically, wirelessly or electronically delivered and associated with said to-do list task items thereby aiding the user in the performance of his or her to-do list task items. The user to-do list task items may consist of calendared events, appointments, tasks, solicitations for offers, or other requests for assistance or information as the user may desire from other users of the task management system or third party providers. The present invention allows third party providers to connect to user authorized portions of said user's to-do list task items for the purposes of linking advertising, solicitation or assistance through, in part, a unique identifier (a contact information depository of record “CIDOR”). | 03-24-2011 |
20110078005 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING VENDOR-SPONSORED ACCESS TO MEDIA CONTENT - Systems and methods for providing consumers with vendor-sponsored access to media content are described. In these systems and methods, a consumer's access to media content is sponsored by vendors with whom the consumer has engaged in a transaction. This sponsorship may take the form of payments provided to a media provider for a media content item or service provided to the consumer. Consumers may access goods and services provided by vendors when they are interested in engaging in a transaction, and may be presented with transaction opportunities according to their preferences. Vendors may selectively target transaction opportunities to consumers and may only sponsor media access for consumers with whom they have completed a transaction. | 03-31-2011 |
20110078006 | MODULAR COUPONS IN TRAIL-OF-BREADCRUMBS ADVERTISING - A system facilitates provision of a first advertisement, including a first modular coupon, via a first network to a user, where the first advertisement provides a link to a second advertisement. The system further facilitates provision of the second advertisement, including a second modular coupon, via a second network to the user, where the second network is different than the first network. The system also receives the first and second modular coupons from the user and permits a discount associated with the user's purchase of a product or service based on receipt of the first and second modular coupons. | 03-31-2011 |
20110078007 | REAL-TIME AND LOCALIZED MATCHING METHOD, PLATFORM AND SYSTEM FOR GROUP PURCHASE - A real-time and localized matching method for group purchase includes the following steps: a group purchase database, which stores information of several present group purchase activities, is provided. A present position of a client is received. Nearby group purchase activities held near the client are sifted from the present group purchase activities and provided to the client. A selection message, which includes information of a group purchase activity selected from the nearby group purchase, is received from the client. The client's shopping list for the selected group purchase activity is obtained from the client to register the client's shopping list to the shopping list of the selected group purchase activity in the group purchase database. The contact information of the selected group purchase activity is transmitted to the client if the registered shopping list of the selected group purchase activity satisfies the discount condition of the selected group purchase activity. | 03-31-2011 |
20110078008 | SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONIC BARTER, TRADING AND REDEEMING POINTS ACCUMULATED IN FREQUENT USE REWARD PROGRAMS - A system and method for operating a reward points accumulation and redemption program wherein a user earns rewards from a plurality of independent reward issuing entities, with each tracking the user's earned rewards. A trading server accumulates some or all of the user's earned rewards from the reward servers and credits the accumulated rewards into a single reward exchange account associated with the user. The user may then select an item for purchase with the accumulated rewards. The item is provided to the user in exchange for a subset or all of the rewards. Reward points may also be redeemed in exchange for services, such as the playing of a video game or Internet access. | 03-31-2011 |
20110082734 | LOCATING BUNDLED ITEMS - In an example embodiment, a method is provided of locating a bundle of items. In this method, a query for a first item is received, and a search for the first item is conducted based on the query to locate an attribute of the first item. An identification is then made from the attribute that the first item is associated with the bundle of items. Another search for a second item that is associated with the bundle is conducted based on the attribute. A listing is then generated of the first item with the second item grouped as a bundle. | 04-07-2011 |
20110082735 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MERCHANDISING TRANSACTIONS VIA IMAGE MATCHING IN A CONTENT DELIVERY SYSTEM - Methods and devices enable users of still or video image content to indicate objects within images in order to obtain more information regarding products of interest. Selected portions of an image or coordinates within the image may be included in a product query message transmitted to a server. The server receiving image information may process the information to recognize objects or particular products within the image selection. Recognized objects or products may be compared to a database of available merchandise to determine availability. Information regarding commercially available products may be included in a product information message transmitted to the user's computing device. Users may initiate a purchase transaction for recommended products based on the product information. The image may be broadcast by a variety of content delivery services including a mobile broadcast TV network. | 04-07-2011 |
20110082736 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR LINKING MOBILE PHONE SERVICES WITH A BANKING PROVIDER - A method and system is provided that establishes an inventive program across services offered by two vendors. In a preferred embodiment, a bank account is established that is linked with a customer's mobile phone account in a manner that facilitates paperless billing and paperless payment of the mobile phone service bills via services offered by a bank service provider while providing the customer a reward in the form of discounted mobile phone services thereby promoting the goods and services of both vendors simultaneously. | 04-07-2011 |
20110087533 | CONNECTING INTERNET USERS - In one embodiment, the invention is a method. The method includes providing an offer to a connector. The method also includes receiving responses from users to the offer, the users having received the offer from the connector. The method further includes completing the transaction with the users. | 04-14-2011 |
20110093322 | System and method for substituting one email address for another to redirect a reward payment - A system and method to allow a buyer to substitute one email address for another to redirect a reward payment tied to the substituted email. A buyer's email address is captured in an online transaction record. A system reward email message announcing a pending reward based on the transaction is then sent to the buyer's original transaction email address. The reward email message contains a link to allow the email recipient to open a web page form and self-substitute another email address associated with a financial account to subsequently receive the pending reward payment to that financial account. Upon entering the substitute email address, the system marks the buyer's account so any reward is paid to the substitute email address associated with the a financial account. | 04-21-2011 |
20110106604 | Method and System for Providing Digital Incentives - Systems and methods for providing digital incentives or financial offsets including the steps of: providing a financial platform operable on a server computer and at least one database in electronic, digital communication over a network, the financial platform operable for financial services transactions; providing a database of profile data for the at least one user; developing a digital incentive program for stimulating financial transactions by at least one user, the digital incentive program including profile factors from the profile data of the at least one user; automatically providing at least one digital incentive to corresponding of the at least one user, the at least one digital incentive available for a redemption by each of the users, wherein the digital incentive has an electronic financial transaction value available for the redemption on any electronic financial transaction media, and wherein the redemption of the electronic financial transaction value of the digital incentive does not occur at a merchant level of the financial transactions. | 05-05-2011 |
20110106605 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DYNAMIC COUPON ISSUANCE - Methods and systems for issuing targeted coupons with a network-based system is disclosed. For example, a system can include a targeting module, a coupon rules engine, a coupon generation engine, a coupon widget, and a checkout module. The targeting module can create a model for controlling coupon generation. The coupon rules engine can determine whether a user accessing the network-based system qualifies to receive a coupon based at least in part on application of the model created by the targeting module. The coupon generation engine can generate a coupon based on the coupon rules engine determining that the user qualifies to receive a coupon. The coupon widget can present the coupon to the user while the user is accessing the network-based system. Finally, the checkout module can apply the coupon to a purchase by the user. | 05-05-2011 |
20110106606 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR COORDINATED COUPON DELIVERY - Methods and systems for coordinating delivery of coupons issued by a network-based system are disclosed. For example, a system can include a coupon generation engine, a coupon widget, and a communications module. The coupon generation engine can issue a unique coupon redeemable exclusively by a registered user of the network-based system. The coupon widget can present the unique coupon via a first communication channel internal to the network-based system. The communications module can deliver the unique coupon to the registered user via a second communication channel external to the network-based system. | 05-05-2011 |
20110119121 | SEARCHER CALL BACK REQUEST SYSTEM AND METHOD - A search based call back request system enables a user to request a follow up contact from a seller. The system provides search functionality and stores seller information such that when search results appear for sellers that have requested to offer call back service to a buyer, the system formats the search results screen to include a call back request indicator for the seller. The system includes functionality for the user to enter custom call back data. | 05-19-2011 |
20110125566 | Systems and Methods to Implement Point of Sale (POS) Terminals, Process Orders and Manage Order Fulfillment - Systems and methods to integrate point of sale processing, online order processing, and supply chain and store management over the Internet. In one aspect, a central server provides point of sale, online order processing, and supply chain and store management functions via browser based interfaces. The system enables users to enter orders from remote locations for order fulfillment at brick and mortar retail locations, where the POS terminals configured based on the browser based interfaces can be changed into a self service mode to allow customers to place orders for themselves at the retail locations. | 05-26-2011 |
20110145049 | DISPENSING DIGITAL OBJECTS TO AN ELECTRONIC WALLET - A configuration system and method is disclosed that includes a unified and integrated configuration that is composed of a payment system, an advertising system, and an identity management system such that the unified system has all of the benefits of the individual systems as well as several additional synergistic benefits. Also described are specific configurations including the system's access point architecture, visual wallet simulator user interface, security architecture, coupon handling as well as the system's structure and means for delivering them as targeted advertising, business card handling, membership card handling for the purposes of login management, receipt handling, and the editors and grammars provided for customizing the different types of objects in the system as well as the creation of new custom objects with custom behaviors. The configurations are operable on-line as well as through physical presence transactions. | 06-16-2011 |
20110153399 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING QUANTITY TIERS USING ATTRIBUTES IN AN ONLINE STATIONERY DESIGN SYSTEM - A computer-implemented system and method are described in which an appropriate pricing structure for a new stationery design is identified by automatically comparing attributes of the stationery design with attributes of existing stationery designs which have assigned pricing structures. In one embodiment, the attributes are prioritized such that certain attributes are weighted more than other attributes when determining an appropriate price structure. For example, in this embodiment, a search is initially performed for a price structure of an existing stationery product which shares all of the same attributes as the new stationery product. If a match is not found, then the least significant attribute is removed from the set of search criteria and another search is performed. This process continues until an existing pricing structure of a stationery product which shares the most significant attributes of the new stationery product is identified. Once the pricing structure is identified, the designer has the option to modify the pricing structure and create a new pricing category, which is then stored in a database with other pricing categories. | 06-23-2011 |
20110166921 | METHOD FOR ENABLING THE USE OF A MOBILE LOYALTY CARD - The invention relates to a method for creating a Mobile Loyalty Card (MLC) on a mobile device comprising the steps of:—Subscribing to the MLC service via a mobile device, an internet terminal or any other communication means, the MSISDN number, at least, being provided to the MLC service provider—Downloading on the mobile device software means for enabling the use of MLC service on the mobile device—Creating on the mobile device a MLC by entering at least the Point of Sale (POS) identifier (ID) to the software means while running, the created MLC comprising information related to the type of technology used by the POS reader for transferring data related to the MLC user—Activating on the mobile device, by selecting a MLC, the different technologies used by the reader of the POS linked to the selected MLC. | 07-07-2011 |
20110178858 | ELECTRONIC SHOPPING SYSTEM - An electronic shopping system includes a mobile terminal comprising a non-volatile display unit, a volatile display unit, a microprocessor and a receiving unit configured to receive sales information from a server. The sales information comprise coupons, merchandise sort icons, and merchandise name icons, and each of the merchandise sort icons is associated with a part of the merchandise name icons, and each of the merchandise name icons is associated with one of the coupons, each of the coupon comprises a code. The microprocessor displays the merchandise sort icons and the merchandise name icons on the volatile display unit, and further displays one coupon on the non-volatile display unit. | 07-21-2011 |
20110196727 | Online Time Interval Based Sale Management Platform - A computer implemented method and system is provided for facilitating a time interval based sale of sale items in an online environment. A sale management platform acquires sale items and sale information from merchandisers and consumers. The sale management platform determines an optimal time interval based on predetermined time criteria and determines optimal discount prices for the sale items based on the sale discount prices offered by the merchandisers, the acquired sale information, and predetermined price criteria. The sale management platform manages a fixed price sale or a bargain sale of selected sale items at one or more of the sale discount prices offered by the merchandisers and the optimal discount prices during the merchandiser-selected time interval, the consumer-selected time interval, or the optimal time interval. The sale management platform manages bargaining sessions between the merchandisers and the consumers until expiration of the time interval or acceptance of an offer. | 08-11-2011 |
20110208574 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DELIVERING AND TRANSMITTING MEDIA CONTENT TO AND FROM AN ELECTRONIC KIOSK - A method and system for delivering and transmitting media content with respect to an electronic kiosk. The electronic kiosk can be directly accessed via a portable handheld device in order to select and retrieve the digital media content that is stored electronically in a database associated with the electronic kiosk. The payment with respect to the downloaded media content can be made via a pre-existing online account and/or an electronically readable card associated with an RFID tag. Upon payment the media kiosk releases the media content to the portable handheld device. The media content that has not yet been released for sale can be pre-ordered so that the media content can be purchased and delivered to the customer once the media content becomes available. | 08-25-2011 |
20110213649 | MULTIPLE PRICE CURVES AND ATTRIBUTES - The subject invention relates to electronic buying and selling systems and methods. In particular, the invention concerns relations among distinct price curves, price curve attributes (i.e., factors of the offer that can affect the price curves) and buyers or potential buyers. For instance, a price offered to a system user can vary based on total volume of all people aggregating in private environments, cumulative total order by user, ship date, optimal time, as well as terms and conditions associated with the offer (e.g., no cancellation of order, cancellation possible, payment method . . . ). | 09-01-2011 |
20110213650 | e-COMMERCE VOLUME PRICING - A system and method that facilitates e-commerce volume pricing is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system includes an offers and orders component that receives and aggregates orders for a product from a plurality of buyers. The system also includes a logistics component that determines a shipping price for the product for a subset of the plurality of buyers. The shipping price is determined at least in part upon the subset of buyers sharing a shipping method. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which buyers within an aggregated purchasing group may be subject to different pricing structures for the same product. | 09-01-2011 |
20110218848 | AUTOMATED SYSTEM FOR MANAGING BABY CARE PRODUCTS - A computer-based online system for managing a plurality of registries of baby care product selections, where each of the plurality of registries is uniquely associated with a respective one of a plurality of users, and where each baby care product selection corresponds to a baby care product selected at the online system or one of a plurality of retailers, includes a database to electronically store data records corresponding to the plurality of registries, and an application server communicatively coupled to the database. The application server includes a baby care product selector to automatically process a request to add a baby care product selection to a specified one of the plurality of registries, and update at least one data record in the database in accordance with the request, wherein the request is automatically generated by an application running on a smart device; and a purchase manager to automatically process a purchase selection, where the purchase indication is associated with a selection of a certain baby care product included in the specified one of the plurality of registries for purchase by a participant. | 09-08-2011 |
20110238471 | Generic Universal Rewards Loyalty Card - A method and system for enabling a customer to participate in a plurality of rewards programs, operated by a plurality of retailers, using the same generic loyalty card. The customer submits registration information, and is issued a card which may be used to participate in rewards programs with any of a plurality of retailers. The generic loyalty card may be used for rewards programs in either an in-store visit or an online transaction with the retailer. Additional registration information may be submitted using a customer mobile device. | 09-29-2011 |
20110238472 | STRATEGIC MARKETING SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Exemplary strategic marketing systems and methods are disclosed herein. An exemplary method includes a strategic marketing subsystem receiving, from an advertiser subsystem, data representative of an offer for sale of a product, the offer specifying a price discount conditioned on a participation requirement, delivering the offer to a plurality of users, receiving one or more orders for the product by one or more of the users, grouping the one or more users into a group based on the one or more orders and on at least one of the price discount and the participation requirement, determining whether the group satisfies the participation requirement, and sending data representative of the group to the advertiser subsystem for use in fulfillment of the one or more orders in response to a determination that the group satisfies the participation requirement. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed. | 09-29-2011 |
20110238473 | ALTERNATE MOBILE PAYMENT SERVICE - A system and method are described for an alternate mobile payment service. The system includes a server computer for enrolling and storing user account information. The server computer is also capable of generating a unique one-time-use identifier for use during a transaction. The one-time-use identifier is returned to user as an electronic coupon which may be in the form of a two-dimensional barcode. The coupon may be used at a merchant location to complete a transaction. When the barcode is scanned, it may processed similar to a credit/debit/prepaid card payment. | 09-29-2011 |
20110238474 | Converged Web-identity and Mobile Device Based Shopping - Techniques for providing information to a user of a mobile device based on an online or web-identity of the user and a geolocation of the mobile device are described herein. The user may be notified when a nearby merchant has a good or service for sale that matches a good or service in a list, such as a wish list, associated with the web-identity of the user. The users may also be provided access to a coupon within an electronic document when a mobile device storing the electronic document is located at a particular merchant. This convergence of geographical location of the user, as determined by the geolocation of his or her mobile device, with his or her web-identity can bring the online and off-line worlds closer together to provide relevant information for the user and improved marketing opportunities for merchants. | 09-29-2011 |
20110238475 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING MOBILE COMMERCE - A system and method for facilitating the purchase of goods and/or services between the holder of a wireless communications device and a commerce system is disclosed. The system enables consumers who wish to participate in promotional sales offers to register with a mobile commerce system. Consumers may further define the types of items that they are interested in purchasing. Prior to the start of a promotion, the system sends a text message alert to registered consumers, giving them an opportunity to opt-in via text message from a wireless communications device. When the promotion is activated, the opted-in consumers are alerted via text message and are given an opportunity to send a text message back to the system indicative of a desire to purchase the promotional item. If defined conditions are met, the consumer's financial account is debited in the amount of the purchase and the consumer is instructed as to how to acquire their purchase. | 09-29-2011 |
20110246275 | DIGITAL WORK PROMOTION SERVER - A computer server for promotion of digital works is provided in one exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The computer server is configured to receive a digital work from a publisher over a first network connection. The computer server is configured to sell, over a second network connection to a premium buyer, a copy of the digital work to the premium buyer at a premium price. The computer server is configured to sell, over a third network connection to a subsequent buyer, a copy of the digital work to the subsequent buyer at the premium price or at a regular price. The computer server is configured to, in response to the sale to the subsequent buyer, provide a reward to the premium buyer. | 10-06-2011 |
20110258027 | POINT-OF-SALE PROMOTIONS - A method and a system to publish a promotion at a point-of-sale are provided. For example, a preliminary selection associated with a purchase from a user may be received. A promotion may be published to the user at a point-of-sale associated with the purchase after the user makes the preliminary selection and before the user finalizes the purchase. The promotion may be based on at least one attribute of past transactions and the preliminary selection. | 10-20-2011 |
20110264499 | Method and System with Multi-Tier Club Memberships for Discounted Buying on the Internet and at Store Locations - This invention relates to a method and system as a branded club product (goods and services) discounting membership, universal discount card technology, hardware infrastructure, operational and software corporate team amalgamation, seller and buyer critical mass, essential implementation and real-time operational approach to integrate interne e-commerce with in-store commerce in physical store locations, at the point of sale (POS) checkout at store registers, of initially hundreds and eventually thousands of sellers, electronically and operationally, launching and igniting a whole new generation of advertising, buying and selling. | 10-27-2011 |
20110264500 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTHENTICATED TRANSACTION HISTORY - An apparatus for registering deeds for media that includes an electronic database that may be accessed by account holders and merchants, retailers and others, and with whom account holders may interact. The electronic database contains information to authenticate the account holder and record the transaction. Means are provided for of ensuring secure access to the electronic database, as well as means for identifying one or more enrolled member accounts in the electronic database. | 10-27-2011 |
20110270658 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTING PRINTED ADVERTISING INFORMATION MESSAGES DURING MONEY TRANSFER AND PAYMENTS - System and method of distribution of printed advertising informational messages when money transfers and payments is related to the sphere of electronic distribution of advertising informational materials and can be used by the systems of international and local money transfer and/or systems of payments collecting and/or technical provider which functions include save, rout, sort and distribute information among the systems of transfers and payments rendering services to the companies and individuals. And the delivery of the advertising informational messages is administrated by the advertising module of informational system uniting via technological solution the work of financial and advertising modules and provide the selective delivery of the advertising modules to the accordingly identified group of the clients to the terminals of applications for the printing on the hardcopy of the electronic form of services rendering and the selective criteria for the certain audience of the concrete advertising module can be the given by the advertiser the amount of transfer and/or entering in an account of the client. | 11-03-2011 |
20110276380 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROGRAMMABLE PAYMENT CARDS AND DEVICES WITH LOYALTY-BASED PAYMENT APPLICATIONS - A payment card (e.g., credit and/or debit card) or other device (e.g., mobile telephone) is provided with a magnetic emulator operable to communicate data to a magnetic stripe read-head. Data may include the type of reward that a user would like to earn as a result of making a purchase or the type of reward that a user would like to utilize to at least partially pay for a purchase. | 11-10-2011 |
20110276381 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROGRAMMABLE PAYMENT CARDS AND DEVICES WITH LOYALTY-BASED PAYMENT APPLICATIONS - A payment card (e.g., credit and/or debit card) or other device (e.g., mobile telephone) is provided with a magnetic emulator operable to communicate data to a magnetic stripe read-head. Data may include the type of reward that a user would like to earn as a result of making a purchase or the type of reward that a user would like to utilize to at least partially pay for a purchase. | 11-10-2011 |
20110288920 | WEB SYSTEM AND METHOD OF PROVIDING PERSONAL GIFTS - A web system | 11-24-2011 |
20110288921 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING AVERAGE VALUES FOR DISPLAYED INFORMATION ITEMS - A method of displaying information items, the method comprising determining an average value for each of a plurality of information items based on at least one stored input value received for each of the information items; determining, responsive to a first serve request and based on at least one display criterion, at least one of the information items to be displayed at a client device; and transmitting to the client device code executable by a browser application to display the at least one information item and the average value determined for each at least one information item. | 11-24-2011 |
20110288922 | ADAPTABLE RETAIL PRICING ENVIRONMENT AND ELECTRONIC EXCHANGE, DELIVERING CUSTOMIZED MOBILE SHOPPER REWARDS AND DISCOUNTS - A mobile device including one or more linked memories to store a mobile application and customer data, the mobile application downloaded from a rewards server associated with a retailer, the customer data associated with a loyalty program of the retailer. The mobile device further includes a processor to display the mobile application via the user interface. The processor displays a log-in page permitting a customer to access at least one retailer account associated with the customer and displays a purchase price, via the mobile application, for at least one product associated with the retailer. The processor updates, upon reception of the customer input indicating selection of a payment option, the at least one retailer account to indicate a deduction of the displayed purchase price from at least one payment account. | 11-24-2011 |
20110302014 | EXCHANGING IDENTIFIERS BETWEEN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION TO DETERMINE FURTHER INFORMATION TO BE EXCHANGED OR FURTHER SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED - A server exchanges information between one or more wireless devices to complete a transaction. The server receives second device identifier information from a first wireless device using a wide area network. The second device identifier information was previously provided to the first wireless device using short range wireless communication. The server then uses the second device identifier information to determine additional information concerning an entity or object located in proximity to the second device, and then the server delivers information to the first wireless device based at least in part upon both (a) the second device identifier and (b) a current step in a multiple step process for an ongoing electronic commerce transaction. | 12-08-2011 |
20110307315 | Mobile communication terminal, data processing method for mobile communication terminal and settlement terminal - The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, a data processing method for mobile communication terminal and a settlement terminal, wherein the mobile communication terminal includes: a first receiving unit configured to receive an electronic coupon under digital copyright protection from an external device and store it into a memory unit of the mobile communication terminal; a second receiving unit same as or different from the first receiving unit, and configured to receive a digital copyright file corresponding to the electronic coupon from a digital copyright issuing server, and store it into the memory unit; a display unit configured to display preferential information of the electronic coupon and/or a digital copyright permission corresponding to the digital copyright file; and a Digital Rights Management (DRM) agent configured to provide preferential identification information of the electronic coupon to a settlement terminal based on the digital copyright permission, for recognition by the settlement terminal. | 12-15-2011 |
20110320252 | Apparatus and Method for Redeeming an Incentive on a Wireless Device - A non-transitory computer readable storage medium includes executable instructions to collect a first wireless internet protocol address associated with a wireless client device that initiates an invoked offer. The first wireless internet protocol address is associated with incentive identification information corresponding to the invoked offer. An application invocation page is delivered to the wireless client device. Log in information is received from the wireless client device. A second wireless internet protocol address accompanying the log in information is collected. The incentive identification information is retrieved if the first wireless internet protocol address matches the second internet protocol address. An incentive specified by the incentive identification information is then downloaded to the wireless client device. | 12-29-2011 |
20110320253 | DELIVERY, ORGANIZATION, AND REDEMPTION OF VIRTUAL OFFERS FROM THE INTERNET, INTERACTIVE-TV, WIRELESS DEVICES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC MEANS - Disclosed are methods and systems for redeeming virtual coupons by associating the coupons with a consumer and a payment system associated with the consumer. In some embodiments, the method includes offering promotional offers to one or more of consumers, such that the promotional offers are associated with one or more source sites and can be electronically accepted by at least some of the particular consumers without redeeming the accepted offers. Upon electronic acceptance of at least one of the promotional offers by one or more consumer, establishing or maintaining an association of the accepted promotional offer with at least one payment system associated with the consumer. Upon purchase of the subject matter of the accepted promotional offer with the at least one payment system, electronically receiving a redemption of the accepted promotional offer. | 12-29-2011 |
20120010935 | WHOLESALE PRODUCT DISPLAY AND ORDERING SYSTEM - A wholesale product ordering system is disclosed. The system comprises a remote server having an associated database of products of the at least one manufacturer and at least one portable access unit. The portable access unit has a video display and an associated keypad. The database of products includes images of the products and alphanumeric data (product identification numbers, prices, sizes, etc.) about the products. The portable access unit is used by a sales representative when visiting a potential customer (retail business) to access selected products of the database to display them and to enable direct ordering. | 01-12-2012 |
20120016728 | PROCESSING NON-TRADITIONAL TRANSACTIONS ON A TRADITIONAL PAYMENT NETWORK - A system for and methods of processing non-traditional payment transactions on a traditional payment network is disclosed. More specifically, a payments system includes one or more payment program managers (PPMs), which are the providers of alternative payment products, in combination with one or more payment program processors (PPPs), which serve as processors for the PPMs. The PPMs and PPPs operate on a payment network, such as a traditional payment network. The payments system includes the utilization of traditional bank identification numbers (BINS) in order to process non-traditional transactions on a traditional payment network. Surrogate numbers are issued on BIN ranges to the non-traditional transactions in order to process them on the traditional payment network. Additionally, the payments system includes pricing structures that are associated with alternative payment products. These pricing structures are implemented and processed on the payment network, alongside the pricing structures of traditional payment products. | 01-19-2012 |
20120022931 | On-Line Bulk Acquisition of Digital Products - Techniques and systems for acquisition of digital assets in a bulk fashion are disclosed. In one embodiment, upon accessing an online store, a digital asset and a quantity to be acquired (e.g., purchased) can be identified. In some cases, a discounted cost for acquisition of the quantity of the digital asset can be permitted, provided the quantity is sufficient. After payment of the discounted cost, a set of redeemable codes can be electronically provided. Each of the redeemable codes can be thereafter redeemed for acquisition of the digital asset. | 01-26-2012 |
20120022932 | DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ELECTRONIC COMMERCE - Disclosed herein are methods and apparatus for electronic commerce. By way of example, in one embodiment such methods and apparatus enable a buyer's digital data processor to make requests to an on-line store to view purchase options for a selected product/service as well as to view benefits for consummating those transactions. Further, a store's electronic display/register or a handheld computing device may enable a shopper in a physical store to view such information and earn benefits. Those benefits may differ by item and seller and may include money and/or points. With such money and/or points having been accumulated through on-line and brick and mortar store purchases, e.g. in buyer's account, a buyer's digital data processor can facilitate redemption of the money and/or points at the same or other stores, for example to purchase additional items or for other purposes. | 01-26-2012 |
20120022933 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING A SALE OFFER OVER AN ELECTRONIC NETWORK SYSTEM - A method and apparatus are provided for generating a sale offer over an electronic network (such as the Internet). The method and apparatus may be used with a commercial sale system designed to increase the revenue income of Web site by offering, at a substantially discounted or virtually free basis, one more goods and/or services to visitors of the Web site. According to the features of the invention, the seller (who may be the owner or co-owner of the Web site) transmits a sale offer on the Web site for a high quality good or service, wherein the good or service can be purchased for free or a cost near to zero. The seller may make the offer visible and available to a number of perspective buyers, who are connected at that very moment to the Web site. According to an additional aspect of the invention, the sale offer may be available for only a very limited amount of time (e.g., one or more minutes) and may be offered at random or unpredictable times on the Web site in order to increase Web traffic to the site. | 01-26-2012 |
20120022934 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING A SALE OFFER OVER AN ELECTRONIC NETWORK SYSTEM - A method and apparatus are provided for generating a sale offer over an electronic network (such as the Internet). The method and apparatus may be used with a commercial sale system designed to increase the revenue income of Web site by offering, at a substantially discounted or virtually free basis, one more goods and/or services to visitors of the Web site. According to the features of the invention, the seller (who may be the owner or co-owner of the Web site) transmits a sale offer on the Web site for a high quality good or service, wherein the good or service can be purchased for free or a cost near to zero. The seller may make the offer visible and available to a number of perspective buyers, who are connected at that very moment to the Web site. According to an additional aspect of the invention, the sale offer may be available for only a very limited amount of time (e.g., one or more minutes) and may be offered at random or unpredictable times on the Web site in order to increase Web traffic to the site. | 01-26-2012 |
20120022935 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING A SALE OFFER OVER AN ELECTRONIC NETWORK SYSTEM - A method and apparatus are provided for generating a sale offer over an electronic network (such as the Internet). The method and apparatus may be used with a commercial sale system designed to increase the revenue income of Web site by offering, at a substantially discounted or virtually free basis, one more goods and/or services to visitors of the Web site. According to the features of the invention, the seller (who may be the owner or co-owner of the Web site) transmits a sale offer on the Web site for a high quality good or service, wherein the good or service can be purchased for free or a cost near to zero. The seller may make the offer visible and available to a number of perspective buyers, who are connected at that very moment to the Web site. According to an additional aspect of the invention, the sale offer may be available for only a very limited amount of time (e.g., one or more minutes) and may be offered at random or unpredictable times on the Web site in order to increase Web traffic to the site. | 01-26-2012 |
20120029992 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MAXIMIZING VALUE THROUGH COLLABORATION AND POOLING OF BUYERS, SELLERS AND PARTIES WITH COMMON INTERESTS - A system and method for enabling buyers and sellers to collaborate within their communities of interest and other social networks to determine similar buying interests, negotiate best pricing and terms in order to realize optimum deal terms, and close their collective best deal (for those buyers that are willing to commit once deal pricing and terms have been presented) in a real-time, dynamic manner analogous to how deals are negotiated in the real world. Further augmenting the current state-of-the-art, buyers are given the opportunity to pool their collective buying requirements from specific sellers for discounts based on volume pricing thereby enabling the purchase of potentially many goods from the sellers instead of being limited to a specific item, or group of items. Sellers are also given the opportunity to advertise and offer their goods for sale through a website, and the system can match-up buyers and sellers with common interests and enable both parties to discuss, negotiate and close their best deal, thereby resulting in a true win-win transaction since both buyer-specific and user interests are explored and satisfied. The invention also enables a portion of deal revenues to be donated to a common cause or charity thereby further motivating users with common interests to pool together, maximize deal volume and value, and drive traffic to the internet-enabled system, with the potential for significantly improving the human condition on a global scale. | 02-02-2012 |
20120029993 | e-COMMERCE VOLUME PRICING - A system and method that facilitates e-commerce volume pricing is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system includes an offers and orders component that receives and aggregates orders for a product from a plurality of buyers. The system also includes a logistics component that determines a shipping price for the product for a subset of the plurality of buyers. The shipping price is determined at least in part upon the subset of buyers sharing a shipping method. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which buyers within an aggregated purchasing group may be subject to different pricing structures for the same product. | 02-02-2012 |
20120035999 | e-COMMERCE VOLUME PRICING - A system and method that facilitates e-commerce volume pricing is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system includes an offers and orders component that receives and aggregates orders for a product from a plurality of buyers. The system also includes a logistics component that determines a shipping price for the product for a subset of the plurality of buyers. The shipping price is determined at least in part upon the subset of buyers sharing a shipping method. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which buyers within an aggregated purchasing group may be subject to different pricing structures for the same product. | 02-09-2012 |
20120041810 | Universal System and Method for Loyalty Currency Redemption - Systems and methods are disclosed for generating payment values of goods and services (rewards). The disclosed systems and methods can include dynamically calculating, based upon a received input, a plurality of payment pairs, each of the plurality of payment pairs comprising a non-monetary currency value and/or a monetary currency value. The monetary currency value is paid to a universal currency server provider. The non-monetary currency value is redeemed from a reward program and a credit based on the redeemed non-monetary currency value is paid to the provider of the universal currency server. The provider of the universal currency server can deduct a fee for its services from the combination of the monetary currency value and the non-monetary currency value and send a credit for the remaining value to the merchant providing the goods or services. | 02-16-2012 |
20120041811 | e-COMMERCE VOLUME PRICING - A system and method that facilitates e-commerce volume pricing is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system includes an offers and orders component that receives and aggregates orders for a product from a plurality of buyers. The system also includes a logistics component that determines a shipping price for the product for a subset of the plurality of buyers. The shipping price is determined at least in part upon the subset of buyers sharing a shipping method. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which buyers within an aggregated purchasing group may be subject to different pricing structures for the same product. | 02-16-2012 |
20120059703 | ORDERING PERSONALIZED ITEMS WITH GIFT DELIVERY - A system provides for a centralized service adding an electronic media player to a floral delivery order. A prerecorded song, still or moving image can be customizably loaded on to the player. As well, audio, still, and moving images can be uploaded by the person placing the order with a centralized service. The order is relayed to a local florist for delivery. Local merchants can register offers with the centralized service to be presented as options for the orderer. Some offers such as discount offers, can defray the expense of the media player to the orderer. Other offers, gift certificates, for example, could be chosen that would add to the cost of the overall delivered package. | 03-08-2012 |
20120066043 | Mobile Gift Card - A gift card that automatically updates its balance and allows storing purchased items. | 03-15-2012 |
20120066044 | STORED VALUE ELECTRONIC CERTIFICATE PROCESSING - An electronic stored value certificate processing system is provided in which a certificate processor ( | 03-15-2012 |
20120078697 | Systems and Methods to Program Operations for Interaction with Users - In one aspect, a computing apparatus is configured to represent offer rules based on requirements for the detection of predefined types of events and actions scheduled to be performed in response to the detection of each occurrence of the events. The events are independent from each other in processing and are linked via prerequisite conditions to formulate the requirements of an offer campaign. | 03-29-2012 |
20120078698 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RESERVING FUTURE PURCHASES OF GOODS AND SERVICES - A method and system for reserving future purchases of goods or services or events including plural electronic options with associated option fees for the goods or services or events. The plural electronic options include electronic option terms established by one or more suppliers who can supply the goods or services or events. The purchase of the electronic option is accepted according to electronic option terms established by the desired supplier. The option terms may vary greatly among the individual suppliers and no two suppliers may use the same option terms. Demographic information is collected from purchasers of electronic options and used to allow other suppliers of goods or services or events to target such purchasers. Various fees are generated for display, purchase, exercise or non-exercise of electronic options. | 03-29-2012 |
20120078699 | Systems and Methods to Program Operations for Interaction with Users - In one aspect, a computing apparatus is configured to represent offer rules based on requirements for the detection of predefined types of events and actions scheduled to be performed in response to the detection of each occurrence of the events. The events are independent from each other in processing and are linked via prerequisite conditions to formulate the requirements of an offer campaign. | 03-29-2012 |
20120084129 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SUBSCRIPTION-BASED DELIVERY SERVICE - A subscription-based discounted delivery service that allows consumers to make purchases from multiple merchants through multiple sales channels. User preference information is stored by the service provider and provided to any of the multiple merchants from whom the user seeks to make a purchase, from the product detail page of such merchant, to be delivered using the discounted delivery service. | 04-05-2012 |
20120089449 | System and Method for Providing a Promotion - A system and method for providing a promotion over a computer network includes determining a potential promotion for an item, determining a threshold number of uncommitted endorsements required to unlock the potential promotion, and displaying the potential promotion and the threshold number of uncommitted endorsements to at least one potential buyer over the computer network before the threshold number is reached. The method further includes receiving endorsement data including an actual number of uncommitted endorsements made over the computer network, tracking the actual number of uncommitted endorsements, and unlocking the potential promotion for the item when the actual number of uncommitted endorsements reaches the threshold number, thereby converting the potential promotion to an actual promotion. | 04-12-2012 |
20120089450 | LOYALTY OFFER - Loyalty offer techniques are described. In one or more implementations, data is received from a plurality of merchants via a network, the data describing transactions for goods or services initiated at physical locations of respective said merchants and including identifiers that uniquely identify mobile communication devices that were used to initiate the transactions. Information is updated that describes participation in one or more loyalty offers associated with the plurality of merchants using the identifiers that uniquely identify the mobile communication devices and the data that describes the transactions. | 04-12-2012 |
20120089451 | Fixed Location Kiosk Device and Method for Updating a Social Networking Profile - Embodiments of the disclosed technology comprise a method and system for remotely uploading to a data feed of a user's social networking profile information about the user's physical location and goods or services associated with that location, and providing incentives to users to utilize such a system. The method and system uses personal identification cards which are recognizable by a wireless communication reader of a kiosk upon presentation of the card by a user. The user is identified based on a unique identifier on the card, and the user's social networking profile is updated with data specific to that particular kiosk. Upon identification of the user, credits may be transferred to the user's account via the kiosk. | 04-12-2012 |
20120095819 | Apparatuses, methods, and computer program products enabling association of related product data and execution of transaction - Upon receiving a request for an object of interest, a client device can automatically: (a) display the combination of a retailer, a payment account, any qualifying offers, and any qualifying rewards which can yield the lowest net price; and (b) execute a purchase of the object of interest using the selected payment account and redeeming the qualifying offers and/or rewards. | 04-19-2012 |
20120095820 | Rewards Based Currency Processing System - To execute an ecommerce purchase transaction between a customer and merchant using rewards points made available to the customer through a rewards program provider, a system executes a transaction with the merchant and the rewards program provider. The system receives a customer request to execute the purchase using rewards points. Additionally, the system retrieves customer reward points information responsive to a customer authorization and determines a redemption rate for redeeming the rewards points to transaction currency. The system executes a redemption transaction with the rewards program provider, thereby receiving transaction currency in exchange for released points. The system also executes a transaction with the merchant, purchasing one or more customer selected item on behalf of the customer using transaction currency. Finally, the system provides the user with updated reward points account information. | 04-19-2012 |
20120095821 | PURCHASING SYSTEM AND METHOD WITH COMPLIMENTARY USE OF COMPUTER-CONTROLLED ANIMATION OR VIDEO - A system and method for collective purchasing of a product/service is disclosed. The method includes storing a current price, current number of orders, target price and a target number of orders associated with the product/service. When and order is received to purchase the product/service, the current number of orders is incremented. When the current number of orders equals or exceeds the target number of orders, the current price is updated with the target price. When the current number of orders equals or exceeds the target number of orders, the target price is updated with a new reduced target price. The user may be provided with an animation configured to indicate a relationship between the current number of orders and the target number of orders. A timer can optionally be used to establish a time period during which the product/service is available for sale. | 04-19-2012 |
20120101885 | INTEGRATED PAYMENT METHOD USING NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION AND MOBILE TERMINAL USING THE SAME - Disclosed herein is a method for performing an integrated payment using Near Field Communication (NFC). The method is performed using a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal receives Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag information from a payment system in an NFC scheme. The mobile terminal analyzes the received RFID tag information, and then extracts an integrated payment application which corresponds to the RFID tag information. The mobile terminal drives the integrated payment application and transmits discount benefit information to the payment system. | 04-26-2012 |
20120101886 | DYNAMICALLY GENERATED TARGETED SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGE - Techniques are provided for dynamically generating a customized subscription package to a user of one or more virtual environments. A computer apparatus analyzes one or more user attributes of a user of one or more virtual environments. The computer apparatus determines a customized subscription package for the user. The customized subscription package comprises one or more virtual assets associated with the one or more virtual environments. The customized subscription package is offered to the user. | 04-26-2012 |
20120101887 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING MERCHANT-CONSUMER INTERACTIONS - A system for combining a payment mechanism with an offer to a consumer is described. The system includes a virtual payment account number generation engine to generate virtual payment account numbers that can be used by a consumer in a payment transaction at a merchant, the virtual payment account number generation service also operable to take a portion of the virtual payment account number and send it as a checkout code to a consumer using the consumer's mobile device, and an offer generation engine used to set rules for an offer to be sent to consumers, create a fund for the offer, and determine individual consumer's eligibility for the offer. The offer is associated with the checkout code such that the offer is processed as part of the payment during the payment transaction using the virtual payment account number. | 04-26-2012 |
20120101888 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OBTAINING CONTENT RELATED TO AN ARTICLE OF COMMERCE - Systems and methods are provided for delivering content to a mobile device over a network. One method for delivering content comprises the steps of obtaining location information from a location tracking module of a mobile device and identifying, by the mobile device, an article of commerce. The method also includes transmitting the location information and identification of the article of commerce from the mobile device to a server. Steps by the server include identifying a retailer based on the location information and retrieving content related to the identified article of commerce, wherein the content is available from the identified retailer. The method then includes transmitting the content from the server to the mobile device. | 04-26-2012 |
20120109730 | Systems and Methods to Provide Messages in Real-Time with Transaction Processing - In one aspect, a computing apparatus is configured to generate trigger records for a transaction handler to identify authorization requests that satisfy the conditions specified in the trigger records, identify communication preferences of the users associated with the identified authorization requests, and use the communication preferences to target real-time messages at the users in parallel with the transaction handler providing responses to the respective authorization requests. | 05-03-2012 |
20120116859 | Method and System for Point of Sale Online Coupon Management - An online coupon system may provide retailers with the ability to process and track online coupons displayed on personal computing devices at the point of sale without using sophisticated electronic input, image recognition devices, or other input devices. A customer may present a coupon displayed on a computing device with an active network connection. Using the computing device, the retailer may validate or activate the coupon. Activating the coupon may then send a message to a back end server that processes and tracks the discount for the retailer. | 05-10-2012 |
20120123840 | Low cost and effective means for generating sales and raising finance - A method for enabling low cost and effective sale transactions between buyers and sellers is provided, wherein the method is enabled by a system comprising one or more client interfaces and at least one server. Sellers list one or more Price Credits (PCs), and one or more goods on a server for buyers to buy. The discount on a good or a service is equal to the face value of the corresponding PC being offered to buy the good. Buyers can buy PCs using Price Exception Guarantees (PEGs). Buyers may further buy merchant tokens using PCs. Buyers may also resell PCs and merchant tokens before expiration of validity. Sellers may use merchant tokens to raise low cost and effective financing. | 05-17-2012 |
20120123841 | SMART WALLET - A service provider provides one or more “best” total value suggestions for one or more items specified by a user. The suggestions are based on one or more of user preferences, user location, available funding options, available local merchant incentives, available manufacturer incentives, and local merchants offering the item. In one embodiment, the “best” total value is the lowest price available to the user. The user may make a purchase using a suggestion or a revised suggestion. | 05-17-2012 |
20120130788 | Promotional processing system - A system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption provides customers making online purchases the advantage of automatically retrieving and redeeming all applicable rebates and coupons during an online purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. In one embodiment, the system makes purchases from merchants or manufacturers using all applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. In another embodiment, the system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. It also makes it possible to retrieve manufacturer's and merchant's coupons prior to an online purchasing activity for subsequent submission to an online merchant during a subsequent purchasing activity. In addition, the system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity. | 05-24-2012 |
20120130789 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING AN ONLINE PURCHASE TRANSACTION WITH REWARDS - A system and method for implementation of product searches via a search engine over a networked computer system such as the Internet. In particular, a user may execute a search for product offers that are accompanied with reward components (e.g. reward points, rebates, coupons, etc.) and/or those that allow payment in whole or in part with payment components (e.g. reward points, rebates, coupons, etc.). | 05-24-2012 |
20120136707 | Digital Coupon System - Disclosed are various embodiments for a digital coupon system. Digital coupons can be defined by a coupon specification received from a coupon issuer. Digital coupons can be issued to users and redeemed with third party retailer sites and/or point of sale systems. A coupon clearing house application can manage distribution, redemption, reimbursement of retailers and invoicing of coupon issuers. | 05-31-2012 |
20120136708 | Digital Coupon System - Disclosed are various embodiments for a digital coupon system. Digital coupons can be defined by a coupon specification received from a coupon issuer. Digital coupons can be issued to users and redeemed with third party retailer sites and/or point of sale systems. A coupon clearing house application can manage distribution, redemption, reimbursement of retailers and invoicing of coupon issuers. | 05-31-2012 |
20120136709 | COUPON GENERATION AND REDEMPTION SYSTEM - A coupon generation and redemption method that includes displaying on a video display associated with a computing device at least one product on which at least one promotion is available. An input device that is associated with the computing device is used to select at least one of the at least one product for which the consumer desires to receive at least one coupon. The at least one coupon is printed using the computing device. The at least one product referenced in the at least one coupon is purchased. The at least one coupon is redeemed. | 05-31-2012 |
20120143667 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DESIGNATING ACCOUNTS FROM WHICH TO TRADE REWARDS - A system and method for operating a reward points accumulation and redemption program wherein a user earns reward points from a plurality of reward points issuing entities, each of the reward points issuing entities tracking the user's earned reward points in a user reward point account stored on a rewards server. A trading server accumulates the user's earned reward points from each of the reward servers interconnected over a network in association with consideration provided by the reward servers to the trading server and credits the accumulated points into a reward exchange account associated with the user. The user may then select an item for purchase from a merchant computer interconnected to the network. The merchant computer provides the item to the user in exchange for consideration received from said trading server, and the trading server reduces the number of points in the user's reward exchange account in accordance with the consideration provided to the merchant computer. | 06-07-2012 |
20120143668 | METHOD OF MANAGING FRANCHISES USING CREDIT-CARD PAYMENT SYSTEM - A franchises managing credit-card payment system method includes inputting franchise customer goods selection or service use statement to a franchise client to calculate estimated payment amount, inputting customer member information to franchise client, and transmitting member information to a head office customer information server to request member authentication; receiving a customer member authentication request signal, authentication processing the information, and transmitting the authentication result to the franchise client; inputting estimated payment amount credit-card payment information to the franchise client, requesting a card company for payment approval, and receiving approval information; outputting satisfaction survey selection items for franchise service provided through a sign pad connected to the franchise client; analyzing customer satisfaction evaluation information for the franchise according to the selection items, and storing the resultant satisfaction evaluation information in a customer information server database; and switching the sign pad to a digital signature screen. | 06-07-2012 |
20120150600 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONFIRMING APPLICATION OF A GIFT TO A TRANSACTION - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for confirming redemption of a gift according to a detected qualifying transaction. A system practicing the method determines, according to a policy, that a recipient has made a qualifying transaction via a recipient account, wherein the policy indicates that the qualifying transaction triggers a transfer of a gift amount to the recipient account. The system sends to the recipient a confirmation request associated with the qualifying transaction, and, upon receiving an affirmative response to the confirmation request, applies at least a portion of the gift amount to the recipient account. In this way, a recipient or other party has some control over which qualifying transactions trigger application of the gift. | 06-14-2012 |
20120150601 | SINGLE TAP TRANSACTIONS USING AN NFC ENABLED MOBILE DEVICE - The invention describes how a consumer can hold their NFC enabled device in proximity to an NFC enabled point-of-sale terminal and with a single “wave” or “tap” to automatically redeem coupons, pay for a purchase using a default payment card or a selected card, view receipts view reward point balances, and receive relevant coupons and other digital artifacts both before and after the purchase. The NFC enabled device includes a secure element with a payment application, payment credentials, and other digital artifacts such as coupons. The secure element can be internal to the mobile device, externally affixed to the mobile device, or inserted into a slot within the body of the mobile device. | 06-14-2012 |
20120150602 | CENTRALIZED, ONLINE MULTI-SELLER INTERFACE SYSTEM - A sales portal system supports a plurality of buyer computers used by a corresponding plurality of buyers. The sales portal system supports a first seller's computer to support sales of a first plurality of products a second seller's computer to support sales of a second plurality of products. The sales portal accesses first product data from the first seller's computer and second product data from the second seller's computer and responds to a query received from one of the plurality of buyer computers by delivering selections from the associated first product data and the associated second product data. The sales portal manages a single sales transaction for a first product of a first seller and a second product of a second seller. The sales portal rates sellers. The sales portal apportions payment, fulfillment, delivery instructions, and other sales components to the first and second sellers. | 06-14-2012 |
20120150603 | System for Online Sales With Automatic Rebate and Coupon Redemption - An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity. | 06-14-2012 |
20120150604 | System for Online Sales With Automatic Rebate and Coupon Redemption - An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity. | 06-14-2012 |
20120158480 | DYNAMIC VARIABLE DISCOUNT SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT - According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a system, method and technique for dynamic variable discounts is disclosed. The system includes: a shopping module executable by a processing unit to accumulate data corresponding to a shopping event of a consumer; and a discount module executable by a processing unit to evaluate data corresponding to the shopping event and dynamically determine a discount to be applied to at least one item selected by the consumer during the shopping event. | 06-21-2012 |
20120158481 | CENTRALIZED, ONLINE MULTI-SELLER INTERFACE SYSTEM - A sales portal system supports a plurality of buyer computers used by a corresponding plurality of buyers. The sales portal system supports a first seller's computer to support sales of a first plurality of products a second seller's computer to support sales of a second plurality of products. The sales portal accesses first product data from the first seller's computer and second product data from the second seller's computer and responds to a query received from one of the plurality of buyer computers by delivering selections from the associated first product data and the associated second product data. The sales portal manages a single sales transaction for a first product of a first seller and a second product of a second seller. The sales portal rates sellers. The sales portal apportions payment, fulfillment, delivery instructions, and other sales components to the first and second sellers. | 06-21-2012 |
20120166268 | TIME TO BUY - An electronic method is provided to convert an online consumer into a purchaser, therefore decreasing shopping cart and website abandonment, by making a time sensitive offer based on that consumer's behavior to incentivize the consumer to complete their offer. | 06-28-2012 |
20120179528 | THIRD-PARTY PROVIDER METHOD AND SYSTEM - Methods and systems for processing negotiable economic credits through, or at the request of, a hand held device in association with a third-party provider communicative with the hand held device and/or a point of sale. At least one negotiable economic credit can be transferred from a third-party provider communicative with the hand held device to the hand held device and/or point of sale. The negotiable economic credit can be stored within a memory of the hand held device and/or point of sale for retrieval and processing at a point of sale associated with a retail establishment and/or by a hand held device. The negotiable economic credit can be associated with a security module for protecting the privacy of the negotiable economic credit. A user profile can be compiled for utilization during the retrieval of the negotiable economic credit. | 07-12-2012 |
20120185314 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MAKING DONATIONS TO CHARITABLE ENTITIES - A method and system for making a donation to a third party, wherein a user executes a purchase transaction using a card linked to a reward point account. If a user donation is desired, then the user's reward point account is decreased and corresponding value is transferred to a designated third party as a donation. In another aspect referred to as “topping off”, the donation amount is the difference between the ender amount and the purchase amount, and is transferred to a designated third party as a donation to the third party in lieu of providing change for the transaction back to the user. | 07-19-2012 |
20120185315 | Successive Offer Communications with an Offer Recipient - Successive offer communications are sent to an offer recipient. A first offer communication includes an offer of a merchant and the second offer communication includes an announcement about the offer. The first and second offer communications are each formatted to be rendered by respective communication device, such as a mobile phone of the offer recipient or a Point of Interaction (POI) terminal. The content of the offer communications may be tailored to the offer recipient based on the offer recipient's past transactions within a transaction processing system or a real time geographical location of the offer recipient. | 07-19-2012 |
20120185316 | Method and System for Processing Internet Payments using the Electronic Funds Transfer Network - Embodiments of the invention include a method and system for effectuating an electronic payment between a payor and a payee using an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) network. The method is implemented by a system having multiple processors. The payor may hold a payor account at a payor institution and the payee may have a payee account at a payee institution. The method includes generating a payment authorization identifying the payee institution, the payee account, and an amount of the payment and transmitting the payment authorization to the payor institution. The method further includes debiting the payor account by the amount of the payment; transmitting from the payor institution to the payee institution through the EFT network an EFT credit message representing a credit in the amount of the payment; and crediting the payee account in the amount of the payment in response to the receipt of the EFT credit message. | 07-19-2012 |
20120185317 | MOBILE BARCODE GENERATION AND PAYMENT - An application on user's mobile device (having a display screen) generates a transaction-specific barcode on the display, where the barcode contains a plurality of funding sources for the transaction and/or merchant loyalty, reward, or membership numbers. The barcode can be scanned to make purchases at a point of sale (POS). | 07-19-2012 |
20120191521 | INTELLIGENT ELECTRONIC SHOPPING SYSTEM - A method for preventing unintended discounts and frauds in an intelligent electronic shopping system includes providing a user with a first discount, a second discount, and a third discount from a service provider and storing rules in a promotion rule module, wherein the rules define that the first discount is combinable with the second discount or the third discount and that the second discount and the third discount are not combinable with each other. A first price for the order is computed based on the combination of the first discount and the second discount. A second price for the order is computed based on the combination of the first discount and the third discount. The user selects the first price or the second price to pay for the order. | 07-26-2012 |
20120191522 | Systems and Methods to Implement Point of Sale (POS) Terminals, Process Orders and Manage Order Fulfillment - Systems and methods to integrate point of sale processing, online order processing, coupon management, WiFi access management, and supply chain and store management, etc. In one aspect, a central server provides point of sale, coupon management and other functions via browser based interfaces. The system provides a coupon to a customer to offer discounts to friends of the customer and/or rewards to the customer if the friends of the customer use the coupon. The system validates the coupon when the coupon is used at POS terminals of the system and tracks the usage of the coupons to select customers for targeting future coupons. In another aspect, the central server is configured to provide the customer with WiFi access at the retail location where the order of the customer is fulfilled and further configured to automatically log the customer into an account of the customer hosted on a third party server. | 07-26-2012 |
20120191523 | System for Online Sales With Automatic Rebate and Coupon Redemption - An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity. | 07-26-2012 |
20120191524 | Electric Vehicle Charging Transaction Interface for Managing Electric Vehicle Charging Transactions - According to one embodiment of the present invention, a computer manages an electric vehicle charging transaction. A set of principals is identified associated with the charging transaction for an electric vehicle. A principal is an entity having an interest in the charging transaction. Electric vehicle charging information is retrieved from a set of sources. An energy transaction plan is generated during a pre-charge phase using the electric vehicle charging information and based on preferences of one or more principals to govern the charging transaction. The computer initiates a charging phase of the charging transaction for an electric vehicle connected to a charging station according to the energy transaction plan. The charging phase comprises charging the electric vehicle with electricity, storing electricity in the electric vehicle, and removing electricity to de-charge the electric vehicle. The computer settles financial obligations among principals according to the energy transaction plan. | 07-26-2012 |
20120197700 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SHOPPING IN AN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE ENVIRONMENT - A method of shopping within an electronic commerce environment includes enabling a first user of a plurality of users to add one or more items to a virtual shopping cart of the first user that is maintained by a server computer system, generating, by the server computer system, statistical data related to the one or more items, and providing the statistical data to the first user in a web page that is generated by the server computer system. The statistical data includes a total quantity of at least one of the one or more items that are contained in the virtual shopping carts of all of the plurality of users. | 08-02-2012 |
20120197701 | AFFILIATE-DRIVEN BENEFITS MATCHING SYSTEM AND METHODS - In a method of matching a consumer to available benefits, benefit information is received for at least one benefit that an affiliate knows is offered by an enabling organization. From a consumer, enabling organization information is received pertaining to an enabling organization with which the consumer is affiliated. Consumer information is received from the consumer, including consumer identification information for identifying the consumer and consumer interest data for identifying an interest of the consumer. The consumer information, enabling organization information, and benefit information are stored in a computer memory. The consumer interest data, enabling organization information, and benefit information are analyzed automatically to determine whether any enabling organization to which the consumer is affiliated is offering a benefit for the consumer that is applicable to the consumer interest data. A message is displayed to inform the consumer of an available benefit applicable to the consumer interest data. | 08-02-2012 |
20120197702 | AFFILIATE-DRIVEN BENEFITS MATCHING SYSTEM AND METHODS - In a method for matching a consumer to available benefits, enabling organization information pertaining to an enabling organization to which the consumer is affiliated is received. Consumer information is also received, including consumer identification information for identifying the consumer and consumer interest data for identifying an interest of the consumer. Benefit information is provided pertaining to an offered benefit. In a memory, the consumer information, enabling organization information, and benefit information are stored. The consumer interest data, enabling organization information and benefit information are analyzed automatically to determine whether any enabling organization to which the consumer is affiliated is offering an applicable benefit. A message is displayed to inform the consumer of first and second available benefits. The first and second available benefits are offered by first and second enabling organizations, respectively. The consumer is affiliated with the first enabling organization and is not affiliated with the second enabling organization. | 08-02-2012 |
20120197703 | Method and System for Conducting an Auction Over a Network - A method and system for enabling a user or bidder to purchase an option on auction merchandise or services in an online auction are provided, thus allowing the option winner to purchase the merchandise in the event the original auction bidder (i.e., the highest bidder for the merchandise) defaults on his purchase. The method and system also provides an incentive to the users purchasing the option(s), e.g., bid optionees, by partially distributing the option pool of monies collected to the user who purchases the option at the price closest to the final auction price. | 08-02-2012 |
20120197704 | Method and system to market and distribute a product or service - A method of tiered promotion and distribution of a product comprises hosting a transactional applet accessible via the Internet; accessing the host to execute the applet for a first fan; enabling the first fan to process a voucher for the product; and enabling the first fan to propagate the applet to a terminal of a second fan wherein the propagated applet (i) renders content associated with the first fan and the product, (ii) accepts an input from the second fan to process a subsequent transaction relative to the product; (iii) credits the first fan with a credit, and (iv) generates a transactional record for delivery to the first fan. The generated record may include a notation of account credit, evidence of an entry ticket, or other information. The applet may be propagated to third or subsequent fans to provide further credits for the first, second, or subsequent fans. | 08-02-2012 |
20120197705 | SOCIAL PRICING - Mechanisms are provided to facilitate buying and selling products utilizing social pricing. Sellers initiate sale of a product with volume discounts for a limited time. In other words, the more people that buy a product, the lower the price for the group. Buyers have a real incentive to become prosumers that not only purchase a product but also promote purchase by others. A social pricing system brokers interaction between sellers and buyer groups, and provisions mechanisms to aid promotion of products by consumers utilizing social networks and other online activities. | 08-02-2012 |
20120203610 | PAYMENT USING AN EMULATED ELECTRONIC COUPON IN A CONTACTLESS PAYMENT ENVIRONMENT - Embodiments of the invention are directed to apparatus, methods, and computer program products for making a payment at a contactless payment terminal using an electronic coupon emulated as an electronic gift card. In one embodiment, a mobile device emulates electronic coupon data associated with an electronic coupon as electronic gift card data, and transmits this emulated coupon data to a contactless payment terminal that has the ability to read and processes electronic gift card data. Therefore, the invention may permit a user to make a payment using an electronic coupon at a contactless payment terminal that is not configured to read the native data format of the electronic coupon. | 08-09-2012 |
20120203611 | Discounted Pricing - A system and method that facilitates e-commerce volume pricing is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system includes an offers and orders component that receives and aggregates orders for a product from a plurality of buyers. The system also includes a logistics component that determines a shipping price for the product for a subset of the plurality of buyers. The shipping price is determined at least in part upon the subset of buyers sharing a shipping method. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which buyers within an aggregated purchasing group may be subject to different pricing structures for the same product. | 08-09-2012 |
20120203612 | Computerized Auction Software Method for Providing a Discount Off a High Bid Before a Bid is Placed - A method and system for conducting an auction. The auction system provides a criteria for a seller to offer an item for sale with a discount off the bid that is displayed before a bid is made by the bidder, and/or a discount that is advertised from a minimum discount up to a maximum discount off the bid amount that is declared and displayed after the auction is closed. The discount(s) apply to the bidders initial bid and each raised bid and are not contingent on or to another condition. The auction system provides a mechanism to conduct an auction that allow persons to pay a bid fee to register as a bidder, register an opening bid with a discount that is stated before a bid is made by the bidder and a means for when the auction opens at a later date, to accept the registered opening bids. | 08-09-2012 |
20120209680 | METHOD, PROGRAM AND SYSTEM FOR PROMOTING CHAIN TRANSACTIONS - Disclosed are a method, a computer executable program and a system for promoting chain transactions. The method, program and system serve to distribute sales margin to related consumers and to automatically generate and disseminate the consumers' personalized comments upon completion of the transactions. The integrated purchase, comment and dissemination as a whole conveniently promotes chain transactions and encourage more consumers' induced consumption, thereby significantly saving marketing costs. | 08-16-2012 |
20120209681 | Integrated Marketing Software System - The present invention is an integrated marketing RESPA-compliant software system that enables sellers and lenders quickly sell homes that otherwise languish on the market and integrates credits for the purchase of automobiles with home financing. This system integrates resources of participating lenders, real estate professionals and sellers to maximize the price buyers are willing to pay in a stagnant market because a buyer's immediate needs are met. The system is a selling tool that helps sellers ultimately net higher prices by allowing buyers to achieve more favorable auto financing rates. | 08-16-2012 |
20120209682 | PROMOTION INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTING PROMOTION RELATED ACCOUNTING - An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity. | 08-16-2012 |
20120209683 | Discounted Deal Pricing - A system and method that facilitates e-commerce volume pricing is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system includes an offers and orders component that receives and aggregates orders for a product from a plurality of buyers. The system also includes a logistics component that determines a shipping price for the product for a subset of the plurality of buyers. The shipping price is determined at least in part upon the subset of buyers sharing a shipping method. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which buyers within an aggregated purchasing group may be subject to different pricing structures for the same product. | 08-16-2012 |
20120209684 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING REWARD POINTS TO PURCHASE PRODUCTS - A system and method for implementation of product searches via a search engine over a networked computer system such as the Internet. In particular, a user may execute a search for product offers that are accompanied with reward components (e.g. reward points, rebates, coupons, etc.) and/or those that allow payment in whole or in part with payment components (e.g. reward points, rebates, coupons, etc.). | 08-16-2012 |
20120215607 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ALLOCATING A COMMON RESOURCE BASED ON INDIVIDUAL USER PREFERENCES - A system and method for allocating a common resource based on individual user preferences. Voting points are awarded to at least one user member of an online community for at least one participation activity. A plurality of recipient members is accepted to the online community. At least one user member selection is received including at least one selected recipient member. A revenue pool is aggregated from at least one revenue-generating activity and any advertising revenue. A donatable pool is determined, where the donatable pool includes at least a portion of the revenue pool for allocating to the plurality of recipient members. The donatable pool is allocated to the plurality of recipient members based on the at least one user member selection. | 08-23-2012 |
20120215608 | WEB-BASED REWARD POINT SYSTEM - A web-based reward point system that awards points in the form of web credits to users as a reward for participating in certain online activities. The web credits are stored in a database that contains information about user accounts, web credit award activity and web credit redemption activity. The user is able to redeem web credits by receiving a voucher from the website that contains a unique voucher ID and presenting the voucher to a vendor at a business location of the vendor. The vendor is able to verify the authenticity of the voucher by checking the voucher ID at the website. In exchange for the voucher, the user receives a reward from the vendor. Alternatively, the user can load web credits onto an existing vendor loyalty card or debit/credit card which can be used as currency with the vendor. | 08-23-2012 |
20120215609 | VOUCHER REDEMPTION - The invention provides a computer system and method for managing electronic transactions. A plurality of consumer and merchant accounts stored in the data store. Each consumer account has a first consumer account identifier. A communication and routing module receives a charge request, including an amount and a second consumer account identifier and identifies a selected one of the consumer accounts by associating one of the first consumer account identifiers with the second consumer account identifier. A merchant offer is received from the merchant computer system and stored in the data store. A voucher redemption system identifies a selected one of the voucher entries based on the charge request. A transaction processing adjusts the first amount to a second amount that is less than the first amount based on the discount of the selected voucher entry and processes the second amount based on the account detail of the selected consumer account. | 08-23-2012 |
20120215610 | Systems and Methods to Facilitate Offer Sharing - A computing apparatus is configured to use the transaction data of a user and the transaction data of the friends of the user to generate a profile to identify, select, and/or customize an offer that is initially communicated to the user. The offer is shareable by the user with the friends of the user. The computing apparatus is configured to monitor the transactions of the user and/or the friends of the user to detect a transaction that satisfies the redemption requirement of the offer and thus provide the benefit of the offer to the purchaser involved in the transaction, which may be the user or one of the friends of the user. | 08-23-2012 |
20120215611 | MY COUPON GENIE - A coupon delivery and redemption method provides downloading of coupons by manufacturers and vendors to a central coupon website. A registered consumer can access the website via a computing device to select coupons for later redemption. The selected coupons are stored on a consumer mobile communication device and presented to a vendor/retailer at product checkout for redemption of the coupons. | 08-23-2012 |
20120215612 | System for Targeting Advertising to Mobile Communication Facilities Using Third Party Data - A system for targeting advertising content includes the steps of: (a) receiving first and second requests for advertising associated with first and second users, wherein the users are identified; (b) retrieving data pertaining to the users from a data provider; (c) selecting respective advertising content from the first and second sponsors based at least on a determination of relevancy of each advertising content to the data provider's data, wherein the relevancy determination generates respective relevancy scores; (d) determining the advertising content of the first sponsor is more relevant to the first user and the advertising content of the second sponsor is more relevant to the second user based on the respective relevancy scores; and (e) transmitting the advertising content of the first sponsor to the first mobile communication facility for display and transmitting the advertising content of the second sponsor to the second mobile communication facility for display. | 08-23-2012 |
20120221393 | Commerce System and Method of Controlling Commerce System Using Share Grabber to Leverage Shopping List - A commerce system has a plurality of retailers offering products for sale. Product information associated with the products is collected and stored in a central database. A consumer uses a website to create a shopping list with weighted preferences for product attributes. An individualized discount is generated by a consumer service provider for products on the shopping list directed to the consumer. The shopping list with all products aggregated for one retailer is optimized based on the product information in the database, the weighted preferences for the product attributes, and the individualized discounts. The consumer uses the optimized shopping list to assist with purchasing decisions. An incremental profit can be determined based on an aggregation of the products on the optimized shopping list. Purchasing decisions within the commerce system are controlled by enabling the consumer to select the products for purchase from the retailer. | 08-30-2012 |
20120221394 | PROMOTION INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTING DISPLAY OF SHOPPING CART RELATED PROMOTIONS - An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity. | 08-30-2012 |
20120221395 | PROMOTION INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTING AUTOMATIC SHOPPING CART PRICE REDUCTION - An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity. | 08-30-2012 |
20120226535 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PAYING WITH LOYALTY CURRENCY DURING ONLINE PAYMENT - Methods and systems for paying with loyalty currency at a merchant website by a user using a browser app are provided. The user is presented with the loyalty currency balance information based on the loyalty currency units available in the loyalty currency account. Thereafter, the user is presented with an option to pay for the purchase transaction using the loyalty currency. The user may select the option of paying for the purchase transaction using the loyalty currency, thereby redeeming the loyalty points. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226536 | Encryption-Free Content Purchase Platform Apparatuses, Methods And Systems - The ENCRYPTION-FREE CONTENT PURCHASE PLATFORM APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS (“ECPP”) transform content seed selections and recommendations via ECPP components such as discovery and social influence into events and discovery of other contents for users and revenue for right-holders. The ECPP may obtain from a user of a universally resolvable media content (“URMC”) service a request to purchase an unlocked URMC item. The ECPP may obtain the user's social influence metric in the service and a purchase price associated with the URMC content item. The ECPP may further determine, based on the user's social influence metric, a discount. The ECPP may receive from the user an indication and an authorization to purchase the URMC item, and in response, may charge an account associated with the user the purchase price reduced by the discount. The ECPP may provide the user a mechanism for unlocking the URMC item. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226537 | Methods and Systems for Paying With Loyalty Currency during In-Store Shopping - Methods and systems for paying with loyalty currency at a store merchant by a user using a mobile app are provided. The user is presented with the loyalty currency balance information and one or more store merchants located in proximity of the user. The user may select a store merchant from the one or more store merchants. Thereafter, user is presented with one or more transaction rules associated with the selected store and an activation button for activating pay with points. The user may opt for activating pay with points for upcoming purchase transaction at the selected store based on the one or more transaction rules, thereby redeeming the loyalty currency. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226538 | ADVERTISING PRICING SYSTEM USING STRIPED AGGRESSIVE DISCOUNTING AND SHARED AUDIENCE AUCTIONS - Embodiments are directed towards an advertising pricing system that uses striped aggressive discounting and shared audience auctions. A plurality of stripes is determined for an audience, where at least one stripe is assigned a different discount. Each user in the audience is associated with one of the stripes. All audience data can then be distributed to and shared between data buyers; thus, each data buyer can use the audience independent of other data buyers. In one embodiment, data buyers can provide content to individual users regardless of the stripe that is associated with the user. Data buyers can then be billed based on the stripe discount associated with each user that the data buyer provided content. In one embodiment, the number, size, and discount associated with each stripe may be modified to dynamically produce an optimum yield based on shared audience auction bidding volume using striped aggressive discounting. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226539 | REBATE AND DISCOUNT SYSTEM PARTICULARLY SUITABLE FOR DRIVING PATRONAGE BY MEMBERS OF ORGANIZATION - Systems and methods are provided for offering promotional discounts, rebates, and other promotions to improve the utilization of unused inventory and to drive consumer patronage and loyalty. An electronic platform enables businesses and other entities to create and manage customer loyalty and promotional programs. The electronic platform enables businesses and other entities to track levels of patronage by customers in order to offer instant or retroactive rebates on an individual or group basis. The electronic platform further enables an entity to adjust the benefits, discounts, rebates, and promotions based on predetermined behavior, including tracking consumer activity and processing rebates or refunds based on the discounts. The electronic platform provides information systems and networks to track, monitor, and reserve resources. The electronic platform further provides database structures to track purchasing activity and apply varied pricing structures based on volume of usage during set time frames. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226540 | MERCHANT DEAL CREATION AND REDEMPTION SYSTEM - A merchant application is installed on a mobile device and can be used by a merchant to create a real-time deal for one or more products or services provided by the merchant. The deal is provided by the merchant application to a deal server for offering the deal to consumers based at least in part on geographic proximity of the consumers to the location at which the deal can be used. The merchant application can receive real-time information regarding purchased deals from the deal server in response to transactions made between the deal server and consumers to purchase the deal. The merchant application can display a listing of purchased deals, which can be updated in response to receiving input indicating that a particular purchased deal has been redeemed. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226541 | Discounted Deal Pricing with Merchant Rankings - A system and method that facilitates e-commerce volume pricing is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system includes an offers and orders component that receives and aggregates orders for a product from a plurality of buyers. The system also includes a logistics component that determines a shipping price for the product for a subset of the plurality of buyers. The shipping price is determined at least in part upon the subset of buyers sharing a shipping method. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which buyers within an aggregated purchasing group may be subject to different pricing structures for the same product. | 09-06-2012 |
20120232975 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING MOVING-IMAGE ADVERTISEMENTS AND COUPONS USING VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL - The present invention relates to a method of providing moving-image advertisements and coupons using VoIP. The present invention provides a method of providing moving-image advertisements and coupons using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). According to the above-described present invention, advertisements for products are provided in the form of moving images in a video call reception standby state, so that users can ascertain the content of the advertisements and the drawing of the attention of users towards the moving-image advertisements is increased, thereby maximizing the effects of the advertisements and also promoting the purchasing of products. A user and his or her counter party can be provided with coupons while on a video call, so that a minimum number of persons for cooperative buying can be easily achieved. | 09-13-2012 |
20120239477 | Statement Portal With Receipt Tagging And Associated Enhanced Benefit Messaging - Systems and methods are presented for providing a statement portal with receipt tagging and associated enhanced benefit messaging. In one potential embodiment, a method involves receiving transaction information from the payment processing network, where the transaction information is associated with a purchase transaction, and receiving a photograph of a receipt. The photograph is associated, using a processor of the statement portal computer, with the purchase transaction. The system may then receive benefit information, associate the benefit information with the purchase transaction; and communicate the benefit information to a communication device to inform the consumer associated with the transaction about the benefit information. In various embodiments the benefit information communicated to the consumer may be a warranty expiration date. or an extended warranty offer. | 09-20-2012 |
20120239478 | Systems and Methods for Employee Rewards - Vendor information relating to a plurality of vendors is transmitted to an employer. The vendor information of each vendor includes a respective offering of the vendor, including a description and cost of the offering. A selection of a respective offering of a vendor is received from the employer, including a co-payment amount the employer is willing to contribute. A benefits package is created including the selected offering and the co-payment amount. An invitation to participate in the benefits package is transmitted to an employee of the employer. An acceptance of the invitation to participate in the benefits package is received from the employee. The employer is charged the co-payment amount and the employee is charged an amount equal to the cost of the offering net of the co-payment amount and an order for the offering is created on behalf of the employee. | 09-20-2012 |
20120239479 | Systems and Methods to Combine Transaction Terminal Location Data and Social Networking Check-In - A system and method configured to provide enhanced services based on check-in information obtained in a social network system and transaction location information observed in a payment processing system. In one aspect, the transaction location may be used to validate, verify or authenticate the check-in location declared in the social network system. In another aspect, the transaction location can be used as a basis to automate a check-in in the social network system in accordance with a preference of a user. In a further aspect, the transaction location and the check-in location can be correlated to detect inaccurate data, correct the inaccurate data, and/or augment the data in a data warehouse about the locations of transaction terminals. | 09-20-2012 |
20120245985 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING SYSTEM AND MOBILE DEVICE FOR PROCESSING PAYMENT AND DATA - A method of processing data for paying for at least one of item in a system having a Payment Gateway server and a mobile device is disclosed. The method includes steps of downloading an application by using address information in a memory of the mobile device, transmitting user information stored in the USIM of the mobile device to the PG server if the first phone number is identical with the second phone number, generating ID information for the user in the PG server, transmitting first barcode from the PG server to the mobile device if the mobile device requests a barcode to the PG server, transmitting request signal for second barcode from the mobile device to the PG server if a specific item is selected by the user of the mobile device, and transmitting the second barcode from the PG server to the mobile device. | 09-27-2012 |
20120245986 | MOBILE PAYMENT AND POINT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system and method allows a consumer to purchase goods and services from merchants and redeem offers made by a merchant with a digital transaction on a smart phone. The merchant receives and enters the consumer's telephone number into an application. The consumer's telephone number is sent to a server, which checks for electronic coupons and loyalty points. Accounting for the value of any coupon/accumulated loyalty points, the merchant enters the payment amount into the application. which. in turn sends it back to the server. The server then sends the payment amount, any coupon details and the merchant's name to the consumer's phone. The consumer can choose to accept or decline the sale with or without using the coupon/loyalty points. A PIN number confirms the sale, which transmits to the server and then to the merchant. A digital sales receipt is sent to the merchant and consumer. | 09-27-2012 |
20120245987 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING GIFT CARDS VIA SOCIAL NETWORKS - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for processing transactions using policies established via social networks. The system receives, via a communication in a social network, an identification of a merchant at a first time from a recipient associated with a recipient payment account comprising one of a credit payment account and a debit payment account existing prior to the first time. The system associates a policy with an offer. The system monitors, according to the policy, purchases using the recipient payment account at a second time, which is later than the first time, to yield purchasing information. Then, based on the purchasing information, the system can determine whether a qualifying purchase has been initiated at the merchant using the recipient payment account. If the qualifying purchase has been initiated, the system can apply an amount of money associated with the offer. | 09-27-2012 |
20120253906 | AUTOMATED PAYMENT SYSTEM PROVIDING DISCOUNTED PRICING FOR VARIABLY PRICED GOODS OR SERVICES - An automated payment system provides discounts or benefits for the purchase of variably priced goods and services offered by participating merchants. The system may be accessible via a variety of mobile or other client devices. At the time of payment, a user may select a promotion and enter a purchase price. The system may calculate a discounted price based on one or more rules associated with the promotion and charge the user the discounted price by transferring funds from the user. These funds may then be transferred to the merchant to complete payment of the goods or services at a discount to the user. The system may collect one or more fees as to revenue. For example, a subscription fee may be charged or a portion of the user's funds may be collected before the funds are transferred to the merchant. | 10-04-2012 |
20120253907 | Commerce System and Method of Controlling the Commerce System by Generating Individualized Discounted Discounted Offers to Consumers - A commerce system has a plurality of retailers offering products for sale. Product information associated with the products is collected and stored in a central database. A consumer uses a website to create a shopping list with weighted preferences for product attributes. An individualized discount is generated by a consumer service provider for products on the shopping list directed to the consumer. The shopping list is optimized based on the product information in the database, the weighted preferences for the product attributes, and the individualized discount. An incremental profit for the product is determined based on the individualized discount. The incremental profit is shared between the retailer and consumer service provider. The consumer uses the optimized shopping list to assist with purchasing decisions. Purchasing decisions within the commerce system are controlled by enabling the consumer to select the products for purchase based on the optimized shopping list. | 10-04-2012 |
20120253908 | Commerce System and Method of Controlling the Commerce System Using Personalized Shopping List and Trip Planner - A commerce system has retailers offering products for sale. Product information associated with the products is collected and stored in a central database. A consumer uses a website to select preferred retailers on a map. A plurality of product categories is presented on the website. A plurality of product attributes for the product categories is presented on the website. A weighting factor is provided for the product attributes. A shopping list is generated for the consumer based on the product information, product attributes, and weighting factors. The shopping list has an individualized discount directed to the consumer for a product on the shopping list. The shopping list is provided to the consumer to assist with purchasing decisions. A trip plan is generated for the consumer. The purchasing decisions within the commerce system are controlled by enabling the consumer to select the products for purchase from the retailer. | 10-04-2012 |
20120253909 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING REWARD POINTS TO LIQUIDATE PRODUCTS - A user selects a product to be liquidated from a product provider and then designates to the transacting entity that reward points are to be used towards the purchase of the liquidated product. The transacting entity acts to decrease the number of reward points in the user's reward account by the required number of points. The reward account holder conveys consideration to the transacting entity equivalent to the par value of the reward points consumer obtains the product in exchange for reward points having a retail value equivalent to what he would have otherwise paid for the product, while the reward account holder is required to convey only the par value of the points. The product provider is able to liquidate the product and obtain payment equivalent to what it would otherwise have obtained in a prior art liquidation process, auction or trading environment. | 10-04-2012 |
20120253910 | GROUP BUYING INCENTIVIZED BY RISK AND IMPACT ADJUSTED REWARDS - Disclosed is a system and method for incentivizing online consumers to engage in an online purchase transaction by maximizing the rewards, such as advantageous pricing, coupons, etc., that an online consumer may enjoy if they accept a higher level of risk, such as by making an offer to purchase a product or service early in its online promotional offering, and/or if they undertake certain promotional efforts that are designated by the seller of such product or service to promote the retailer's offering to their social media community. | 10-04-2012 |
20120253911 | SERVER APPARATUS THAT PROVIDES E-COMMERCE SITE, PRODUCT INFORMATION DISPLAY PROGRAM, PRODUCT INFORMATION DISPLAY METHOD, E-COMMERCE SYSTEM, TERMINAL DEVICE, AND RECORDING MEDIUM ON WHICH PRODUCT INFORMATION DISPLAY PROGRAM IS RECORDED - The present invention provides, for example, a terminal device which allows users to easily check whether or not predetermined conditions such as free shipping conditions are met in, for example, a net supermarket site, and prevents display of a shopping cart from preventing product information from being enlarged and displayed or a great number of pieces of product information from being displayed. Display control is performed such that, while a shopping cart is displayed in the first display area until predetermined conditions are met, the shopping cart is displayed in the second display area below the first display area after the predetermined conditions are met. | 10-04-2012 |
20120259687 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MERCHANDISING PRODUCTS IN BUNDLES IN AN ONLINE MARKETPLACE - A method and a system for providing product bundles are described. In some instances, the method begins by receiving a request for a view product interface. The view product interface includes a description of a primary product offered for sale by a seller and indicates that a first item is for sale by the seller where the first item is an instance of the primary product. Next, a product bundle definition for the primary product by the seller is identified. The bundle includes a plurality of secondary products selectable by a buyer. An inventory of the seller is accessed to identify a second item for sale that is an instance of a secondary product. The view product interface is provided and includes the description of the primary product and a description of the bundle that includes a description of the second item. | 10-11-2012 |
20120259688 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELLING AND OPERATING HOTEL ROOMS - A hotel room marketing and operating system includes a room-selling server for providing the room vendee with room-selling information related to the plurality of rooms of the hotel or the residence; an operation server for receiving the room-selling information on the rooms from the room-selling server, calculating a sales amount of a room of each room vendee based on operation information for marketing and operating the hotel rooms and providing a result of calculating the sales amount of each room; requesting and receiving sales and operation information and a result of calculating a sales amount of a room purchased by the vendee. | 10-11-2012 |
20120259689 | ADVERTISING SYSTEM SUPPORTING MULTI-ADVERTISER SYSTEM INTERFACE STRUCTURES - A system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption provides customers making online purchases to automatically retrieve and redeem all applicable rebates and coupons during an online purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system makes purchases from merchants or manufacturers using all applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system automatically retrieves coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site and to retrieve manufacturer's and merchant's coupons prior to an online purchasing activity for subsequent submission to an online merchant during a subsequent purchasing activity. | 10-11-2012 |
20120259690 | PROMOTION SYSTEM INCLUDING MERCHANT INFRASTRUCTURE - A system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption provides customers making online purchases to automatically retrieve and redeem all applicable rebates and coupons during an online purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system makes purchases from merchants or manufacturers using all applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system automatically retrieves coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site and to retrieve manufacturer's and merchant's coupons prior to an online purchasing activity for subsequent submission to an online merchant during a subsequent purchasing activity. | 10-11-2012 |
20120259691 | MULTI-SELLER SALES SYSTEM SUPPORTING MULTIPLE SALES PORTALS AND PROMOTION SYSTEMS - A system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption provides customers making online purchases to automatically retrieve and redeem all applicable rebates and coupons during an online purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system makes purchases from merchants or manufacturers using all applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system automatically retrieves coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site and to retrieve manufacturer's and merchant's coupons prior to an online purchasing activity for subsequent submission to an online merchant during a subsequent purchasing activity. | 10-11-2012 |
20120265594 | SETTLEMENT PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHOD AND SYSTEM - A settlement processing apparatus comprises: an information input unit configured to input commodity-related information; a total amount calculation unit configured to calculate the total amount of the costs of the information-input commodities; a discount indication unit configured to indicate the execution of a discount of a predetermined class; a discount amount calculation unit configured to calculate a discount amount by multiplying the calculated total amount by a given discount rate if the discount indication unit indicates the execution of a discount; and a history storage unit configured to store the calculated discount amount for being able to identify the class of the discount, if the settlement of the commodity or service which is input the information by the information input unit is completed. | 10-18-2012 |
20120265595 | MOBILE DIGITAL MEDIA DOWNLOAD INCENTIVE MANAGEMENT THROUGH MULTIPLE USER ACTION TRACKING - A method for tracking downloads to a computer system is disclosed. Digital media content, such as music, games and applications (“apps”) are widely available with the popularity of mobile computing. Suppliers of such digital media content would appreciate it if their works were more widely disseminated and used. Users or customers may receive an incentive to purchase or to download an application. The incentive may be, for example, a free application, rewards points or a virtual currency. In one method, the user downloads digital media content in two stages. In the first stage, the user activates a first web-based link to download the digital media content. In the second stage, after downloading, the user activates a second web-based link to activate the application or other digital media content. The web-based links include user identifiers that are matched for the user to subsequently receive the incentive. | 10-18-2012 |
20120265596 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTELLIGENT SOCIAL COMMERCE - The invention synthesizes social networking, electronic commerce (including performance based advertisement and electronic payment) and mobile internet device. The synthesized social commerce further dynamically integrates stored information, real time information, information/data/image(s) from an object/array of objects and a unified algorithm. The unified algorithm includes a software agent, a fuzzy logic algorithm, a predictive algorithm, an intelligence rendering algorithm and a self-learning (including relearning) algorithm. | 10-18-2012 |
20120271692 | Method and System for Smart Phone Based Virtual Card - The present invention discloses Virtual Card Mobile App (VCMA) as a medium for replacing real world commercial wallet cards. VCMA furnishes a consumer with a UVC service, which enables a consumer to easily obtain, manage and use Vendor Virtual Cards (VVC) that are offered by vendors. VCMA allows users to carry unlimited number of virtual cards from unlimited number of vendors. VCMA makes it much easier and more secure for a user to sign up, carry, manage and use a card. It also enables user to perform many functions, such as checking balances, checking rewards, searching specials, checking product info, ordering products, and making payments. User can not perform these functions using traditional physical cards. In the present invention, VCMA and virtual card services are managed by a central card management system (CCMS). CCMS also provides virtual card operation services to vendors, so that vendors can issue virtual cards, provide card services, and administer card services. Moreover, CCMS serves as a broker between a user and a vendor. Credential and private information, such as address, phone, age, password, pin and payment account number, are stored in CCMS, not with the vendor. When a transaction is performed, the credential information never goes through a vendor's equipment. Therefore, the system provides better security and privacy. | 10-25-2012 |
20120271693 | System and Method for Marketing and Promoting Products and Services Over the Internet - The present invention provides a marketing system and method that incentivizes marketing of goods and services to buyers through networks, such as social networks. In the present invention, agents are given incentives to locate merchants and to market products and services from those merchants over the Internet, while an operator manages the transactions. | 10-25-2012 |
20120271694 | REWARD POINTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A reward points management system and a method for reward points management provide a user with rewards points for transactions between the user and an advertiser. The reward points management system includes a maximum reward points determination unit to determine a maximum amount of reward points based on advertising expense for a specified period of an advertiser allowed to provide reward points; and a reward points determination unit to determine reward points for each user based on a payment remunerated by the user on a product or service of the advertiser and the maximum amount of reward points allotted. | 10-25-2012 |
20120271695 | Management Device for Point Circulation Between Constituent Members, System and Method for Point Circulation Between Constituent Members - To grant a point according to an action contributed to a community to make it possible to receive discount by the point when trading a product between members of the community. | 10-25-2012 |
20120271696 | Personalized Coupon Delivery System, Web Interface and Method of Use - Disclosed is an electronic coupon delivery and redemption system that utilizes an online interface to bring customers targeted coupons related to the user's demographics, location and interests, and allow the customer to choose a set of coupons for which to load onto their profile. The profile is accessed at the merchant location utilizing a user-specific, magnetic strip card that contains the user's information and pings the online database storing the customer coupons. The coupons are then redeemed and the transaction is adjusted based on the savings from the utilized coupons. Vendors upload coupons and incentives to the online database, which enables targeted messages and incentives to be sent to users. The user chooses a set of coupons to load onto the card for use at a specific merchant location. Consumer trends and targeted sales for venders are facilitated through a completely online and paperless process. | 10-25-2012 |
20120271697 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR OFFER AND DYNAMIC GIFT VERIFICATION AND REDEMPTION - Methods and systems are disclosed for using a financial transaction card number system of a payment processing network as part of offer and gift distribution, verification and redemption systems. In an embodiment, a method receives indication of acceptance of an offer from a consumer and initiates processing of consumer payment using a financial transaction card number associated with the consumer. The method sends an intelligent transaction card (ITC) number to be used with a redemption code to purchase products or services contained in the offer. In another embodiment, a system generates and redeems a dynamic gift by requesting a gift code based on controls for the gift. Upon receiving indication that the gift has been redeemed, the system receives the gift code and authorization from a merchant and checks validity of the gift based on the controls. The system approves the gift redemption if the redemption is within the controls. | 10-25-2012 |
20120271698 | Single Order Method For Independent Sales Representative As Used In The Party Plan Direct Marketing Method Of Selling Products - A business method and system for executing the method that involves gathering merchandise orders at a show in the home of a hostess. The method compiles the merchandise orders while maintaining a relationship between each individual order and information pertaining to the guest making the order. The guest information maintains an association with the order throughout the method such that each order made at the show may be individually packaged and labeled, obviating the need for the hostess to sort the ordered items upon receiving them from a warehouse. | 10-25-2012 |
20120278151 | INTELLIGENT DISCOUNT CARD SYSTEM - The present invention provides an intelligent discount card system for integrating with an existing bank payment network to provide for ubiquitous acceptance offered by a bank payment network while offering a real-time point of sale transaction experience, real-time discounting and financial settlement benefits typically only available through proprietary connections to retailers. | 11-01-2012 |
20120278152 | CUSTOMER TO SUPPLIER FUNDS TRANSFER - Apparatuses and methods to facilitate customer to supplier funds transfer via premium messages. In one aspect, an apparatus to electronically transfer funds from a customer to a supplier includes: a server component connected to a network; and a database coupled to the server component. The server component is configured to: transmit a plurality of premium rate mobile terminating text messages to the mobile cellular telephone to effect a payment from the customer to the supplier after the customer has placed an order with a supplier; populate the database with an identification of the telephone number of the customer; populate the database with at least one transaction record related to the premium rate text messages; and facilitate access to the transaction record by the customer via the telephone number of the customer. | 11-01-2012 |
20120278153 | ELECTRONIC COMMERCE TRANSACTIONS WITHIN A MARKETING SYSTEM THAT MAY CONTAIN A MEMBERSHIP BUYING OPPORTUNITY - The present invention is directed to a system and method for providing complete electronic commerce (“E-Commerce”) transactions and solutions for a marketing company's products via the World Wide Web, including facilities for signing up new customers and recruiting, training and supporting new Independent Business Owners through an interactive online process. In another aspect, the present invention relates to the combination of a marketing business with a membership buying opportunity using both electronic commerce and face-to-face transactions. The present invention is also directed to a system and method for combining a marketing business with a membership buying opportunity, so that Independent Business Owners participating in the marketing plan can introduce customers to a membership buying opportunity and earn bonuses or commissions based on the purchases by those members, while Members in the buying opportunity can consume products or, at their option, qualify to become Independent Business Owners. | 11-01-2012 |
20120284101 | MOBILE TRANSACTION SERVICES - A method may include receiving identification information associated with a user, where the identification information is used to store electronic receipts for the user. The method also includes receiving, from a point-of-sale device, transaction information for a transaction involving the user and generating an electronic receipt for the transaction. The method further includes storing the electronic receipt. | 11-08-2012 |
20120284102 | COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING DISCOUNT OFFERS - A method for providing discount offers to a remotely located electronic device of a user includes, at a server computer system, receiving user parameters for a good or service discount from the remotely located electronic device. The method further includes, at the server computer system, receiving an indication from the remotely located electronic device of which of the received user parameters are locked. The method yet further includes, at the server computer system, preparing a list of good or service discounts matching the locked parameters and randomly or pseudo randomly relating to user parameters that were not indicated as locked. The method also includes, at the computer system, completing a purchase of one of the list of good or service discounts in response to user purchase feedback received from the remotely located electronic device. | 11-08-2012 |
20120284103 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR NETWORK TRANSACTION - A network transaction method is for consumers and users to trade a product via the internet. The network transaction method provides a must-buy or first-to-buy transaction mode and comprises the steps of exhibiting product information to allow one of the consumers to select the product; generating a transaction page and a sign-in page according to the selected product to trade, and the sign-in page being provided for the users to sign in directly or push a post to recommend other users to sign in; using the sign-in action to change a transaction price of the product, such that the consumer can end the sign-in action according to the current transaction price or product information provided by the system automatically, and finally allow the consumer to close the transaction and make a payment for the product to be traded. In addition, a network transaction system is also introduced. | 11-08-2012 |
20120284104 | USER CUSTOMIZABLE REAL-TIME ONLINE MERCHANT EVENT PLATFORM UTILIZING PRICE VARIATIONS AND ASSOCIATED METHOD FOR INCREASING WEB SITE VISIBILITY - A user customizable, real-time, online merchant event platform utilizes price variations through at least one sales event for increasing website visibility. The platform includes a user interface configured to input: sale item identification, sale event duration for each sale item, a sale item price range, and a frequency distribution identifying the relationship of the price range and the associated sale items and the duration of the associated sales event. The merchant event platform generates a frequency distribution database utilizing the frequency distribution to identify the price of each sale item during the sales event. The merchant event platform includes at least one online web page displaying select sale item indicia, a price range for the sales items, a current price for an associated sale item, purchasing indicia for a sale item configured to facilitate consumer purchase of the associated sale item, and user related advertising indicia. | 11-08-2012 |
20120284105 | APPARATUSES, METHODS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS ENABLING ASSOCIATION OF RELATED PRODUCT DATA AND EXECUTION OF TRANSACTION - Upon receiving a request for an object of interest, a client device can automatically: (a) display the combination of a retailer, the selection of a payment account, any qualifying offers, and any qualifying rewards which can yield the lowest net price; and/or (b) execute a purchase of the object of interest using the selected payment account and redeeming the qualifying offers and/or rewards. | 11-08-2012 |
20120284106 | Systems and Methods for Enhanced Information Visualization - In accordance with the present invention, an information management application that provides users with the ability to create and customize matrix displays of information relating to a particular product or service for navigation by other users is provided. | 11-08-2012 |
20120290376 | PROCESSING ELECTRONIC PAYMENT INVOLVING MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICE - Mobile payments and processing data related to electronic transactions. A near field communication connection is established between a mobile communication device of a consumer that serves as a mobile wallet and an electronic payment device of a merchant. Authorization data is shared between the mobile communication device and the electronic payment device without providing electronic payment instrument (e.g. credit card) data to the merchant. Authorization data is transmitted from the mobile communication device to a cloud computer or resource that serves as a cloud wallet and hosts respective data of respective electronic payment instruments of respective consumers, and from the electronic payment device a payment processor computer. The payment processor computer presents the authorization data to the cloud wallet, and in response, the cloud wallet transmits the credit card data to the payment processor computer, which processes the transaction. | 11-15-2012 |
20120290377 | PROVIDING SUBSET OF PRODUCTS - A product adaptor of a server receives a request from an interface application associated with the product adaptor. The request includes a request for a subset of all available products that are offered by a communication service provider. The subset of the products includes particular products that a user is permitted to purchase. The product adaptor determining whether a cache of the product adaptor stores a response that satisfies the request based on information in the request. The response includes information about the subset of the products. The product adaptor retrieves the response from the cache of the product adaptor when the cache of the product adaptor stores the response. The product adaptor further transmits the information about the subset of the products to the interface application. The interface application utilizes the information about the subset of the products to offer one or more of the particular products to the user. | 11-15-2012 |
20120290378 | PROMOTION PROCESSOR AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A data processing system employs a unique coded promotional vehicle to attract customers into retail establishments for the purchase of discounted goods. The promotional vehicle includes coupon styled graphics integrated with a code to allow data tracking by the store pursuant to purchases by that customer. The promotional vehicle is easier and less costly to distribute compared to the prior art, avoids cutting of coupons, and post purchase redemptions. The system further allows more targeted discounting at a lower cost, and substantially reducing fraud by eliminating post purchase coupon processing and redemption. Additionally, the system provides for selective deactivation of the code for each discount used by redemption of the vehicle without deactivating the code for the discounts not used so that the code may remain selectively active for future use. | 11-15-2012 |
20120296721 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AWARDING CUSTOMER LOYALTY AWARDS - This invention discloses a novel system and method for implementing an electronic customer loyalty rewarding service that awards credits for continued patronage of a vendor, where the credits can be spent at the vendor or with other vendors that participate in the service. | 11-22-2012 |
20120296722 | METHODS AND SYSTEM TO PERFORM WIRELESS FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS - A method, system and computer program product for performing a financial transaction at a transaction host are disclosed. The method includes the step of receiving, at the transaction host, a first set of information from an electronic portable device. The method further includes the step of identifying an associated account of a user using an identifier from the first set of information, determining loyalty points accrued in the identified associated account; a value proportional to the loyalty points is then subtracted from a first transaction amount to give a second transaction amount. The financial transaction worth the second transaction amount is completed using the payment instrument details derived from the first set of information. The method also includes automatically creating an account for the user using the identifier when the user doesn't have any past transaction associated with the transaction host. | 11-22-2012 |
20120296723 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING ELECTRONIC COMMERCE THROUGH PROVIDING CROSS-BENEFITS DURING A TRANSACTION - Accordingly some embodiments, a merchant server receives an indication of acceptance by a customer of an offer for a subsidy from a second merchant of a purchase of at least one item from a first merchant. The customer agrees to participate in an additional transaction with the second merchant in exchange for having the subsidy applied against the purchase from the first merchant. In one embodiment, after selling the at least one item to the customer, the merchant server determines that the customer did not participate in an additional transaction with the second merchant as the customer agreed to, and assesses a penalty against the customer. | 11-22-2012 |
20120303432 | SYSTEM FOR MANAGING DIGITAL VOUCHERS - The invention concerns a method of updating, by a mobile device ( | 11-29-2012 |
20120303433 | ONLINE REWARD POINT EXCHANGE METHOD AND SYSTEM WITH REWARD TRANSACTIONS BASED ON USER PROFILES - An online reward exchange system and method of operation, which includes an exchange computer that interoperates via a computer network with user computers, reward point issuer computers, and merchant computers. The merchants' products may be purchased by a user by requesting an issuer(s) to redeem reward points in exchange for payment to the merchant for the product. The exchange computer is the gateway to the system and manages various transactions such as providing online product catalogs to users that list the merchants products, as well as displaying to the user the reward points he has available in his reward programs with the issuers. Once a user selects a desired product the exchange computer can mediate or manage the purchase transaction in which reward points are redeemed by the selected issuer and consideration is conveyed to the merchant in exchange for the merchant providing the product to the user. | 11-29-2012 |
20120303434 | ONLINE REWARD POINT EXCHANGE METHOD AND SYSTEM WITH PRICE, REDEMPTION AND TRANSACTED VALUE DISCOUNT SCHEDULING - An online reward exchange system and method of operation, which includes an exchange computer that interoperates via a computer network with user computers, reward point issuer computers, and merchant computers. The merchants' products may be purchased by a user by requesting an issuer(s) to redeem reward points in exchange for payment to the merchant for the product. The exchange computer is the gateway to the system and manages various transactions such as providing online product catalogs to users that list the merchants products, as well as displaying to the user the reward points he has available in his reward programs with the issuers. Once a user selects a desired product the exchange computer can mediate or manage the purchase transaction in which reward points are redeemed by the selected issuer and consideration is conveyed to the merchant in exchange for the merchant providing the product to the user. | 11-29-2012 |
20120310718 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RANDOMLY PROVIDING FREE GOODS AND SERVICES - A system and method is disclosed for merchants or vendors to contract with a company to accept a particular credit card, software application or gift card. The card or software application is linked to a proprietary software system that incorporates payment terminals. Consumer use the credit card or a software application on a computer device to purchase goods or services and the proprietary software randomly selects a predetermined percentage of the transactions at that merchant to be free of charge. Neither the consumer nor the merchant know when making the purchase which transaction will be free of charge. | 12-06-2012 |
20120316947 | Token Management System and Method - A method for managing tokens is provided that is useful for offering and redeeming rebates on product purchases. A purchaser receives an unactivated token having a unique token identifier. The purchaser undertakes a first purchase transaction using a transaction system. The token identifier is recorded by the transaction system along with the transaction details, including any products for which a rebate is offered. The purchaser receives a receipt for the transaction including a transaction identifier. The purchaser accesses, for example, a home computer, to provide the transaction identifier and the token identifier to a token qualifying system. The token qualifying system analyzes the purchaser information, rebate criteria and transaction information received from the transaction system to qualify a purchase for a rebate. When qualified, the token qualifying system sends an indication to a token accounting system to activate the token by funding a token account. The purchaser may then use the token for a second purchase transaction. | 12-13-2012 |
20120316948 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SHARING AND VERIFICATION OF PROMOTIONAL OFFERS - Systems and methods are provided for displaying promotions within an electronic social networking environment. Coupons or vouchers can be claimed by users of the social network. Upon redemption of the coupon or voucher, the systems and methods described herein can validate the coupon or voucher. | 12-13-2012 |
20120323658 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING DISCOUNT OFFERS VIA AN INTERNET DIRECTORY INTERFACE - Embodiments of computer implemented systems and methods for providing discount offers via an internet directory interface are described. One example method includes receiving, from a user, via a user interface, a request to search for one or more discount offers associated with a product, the request being associated with search criteria, facilitating the search for the one or more discount offers through an integrated search engine based on the search criteria, providing search results, the search results including one or more discount offers for the one or more products, receiving, from the user, a selection of a product from the search results, the selection of the product including a product quantity, and providing the user with a specific discount offer for the product based on the selection. The method may further include providing a payment functionality to process a transaction associated with a purchase of the product with the specific discount from a merchant associated with the product, the payment functionality including one or more means of payment. The method may further include sending voucher codes to the user and the merchant. | 12-20-2012 |
20120323659 | METHODS AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATING ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK ENGAGEMENTS FOR E-COMMERCE APPLICATIONS - The present invention relates generally to internet based e-commerce and more particularly to connecting an electronic commerce application and an online social network. The methods and system described herein enables members of one or more online social network to get offers from an e-commerce application. The databases of online social network(s) can be accessible in conjunction with the e-commerce application. The members of one or more online social network get rewarded with incentives upon successful interaction with an interactive content provided by the e-commerce application. | 12-20-2012 |
20120323660 | PORTABLE HAND-HELD MULTI-FUNCTION DEVICE WITH MULTIPLE TRANSACTION AND REWARD ACCOUNTS - A system and method for operating a reward points accumulation and redemption program wherein a user earns reward points from a plurality of independent reward points issuing entities, with each tracking the user's earned reward points in a user reward point account stored on a multi-function card (such as a frequent flyer account or a credit card loyalty account). The multi-function card is adapted to aggregate some or all of the user's earned reward points from the reward accounts and credit the aggregated points into a single reward exchange account on the multi-function card. The user may then select an item for purchase with the accumulated reward points from the multi-function card. The item is provided to the user in exchange for a subset or all of the reward points from the multi-function card. | 12-20-2012 |
20120330738 | System and Methods for Purchasing Services - A service provider system enables a subscriber to purchase services over a network from a service provider for the benefit of third parties located in different locations. The service provider system provides service flexibility by allowing parameters to be set, such as place and time of service delivery. Further, conditions allowing third-party recipients to change service parameters include delivery time and place, exchange of purchased service for another service, return of the purchased service, etc. Reporting options to both the subscriber and the third party can additionally be provided. Reporting messages or notifications may be sent to the purchasing subscriber to indicate which of the third parties had taken advantage of the purchased service, when and where the service was consumed, and/or what the actual cost of delivering the service was. The service provider system can also provide incentives for third parties to take advantage of the purchased service. | 12-27-2012 |
20130006739 | ONLINE MARKETPLACE WITH SHIPPING INCENTIVES - A marketplace server and method for facilitating purchase transactions are provided. A marketplace server may include a routing engine configured to receive an order for goods from a first computing device associated with a first customer, with the order including a first delivery address of the customer. The routing engine also calculates a delivery route to the first delivery address. An offer engine is configured to create an offer for other goods. The offer includes a shipping incentive associated with a second delivery address of a second customer. The offer may be targeted to the second customer based on a proximity of the second delivery address to the delivery route. The offer engine sends the offer to a second computing device associated with the second customer. Upon receiving an acceptance of the offer from the computing device, the offer engine processes a purchase transaction for the offer. | 01-03-2013 |
20130006740 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING REWARDS TO A PORTABLE COMPUTING DEVICE AT THE POINT OF SALE - A method of providing rewards to a user by storing, in a portable computing device, user profile data which may be accessed by a merchant terminal only if allowed by the user. A merchant terminal interacts with the portable computing device by accessing the user profile data from the portable computing device if allowed by the user, and providing the user with a reward in accordance with the user profile data allowed by the user to be accessed by the merchant terminal, wherein the merchant terminal provides a relatively greater reward to the user when the user allows relatively more user profile data to be accessed by the merchant terminal and a relatively lesser reward to the user when the user allows relatively less data to be accessed by the merchant terminal. | 01-03-2013 |
20130006741 | Discounted Deals with Supplier Ranking Information - A system and method that facilitates e-commerce volume pricing is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system includes an offers and orders component that receives and aggregates orders for a product from a plurality of buyers. The system also includes a logistics component that determines a shipping price for the product for a subset of the plurality of buyers. The shipping price is determined at least in part upon the subset of buyers sharing a shipping method. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which buyers within an aggregated purchasing group may be subject to different pricing structures for the same product. | 01-03-2013 |
20130013384 | Method and System For Reserving Future Purchases of Goods and Services - A method and system for reserving future purchases of goods or services or events including plural electronic options with associated option fees for the goods or services or events. The plural electronic options include electronic option terms established by one or more suppliers who can supply the goods or services or events. The purchase of the electronic option is accepted according to electronic option terms established by the desired supplier. The option terms may vary greatly among the individual suppliers and no two suppliers may use the same option terms. The electronic option includes a personalized electronic coupon dynamically created by a server network device. | 01-10-2013 |
20130018715 | FACILITATING MOBILE DEVICE PAYMENTS USING PRODUCT CODE SCANNING TO ENABLE SELF CHECKOUT - Provided are computer implemented methods and systems for facilitating mobile device payments using product scanning and wireless communication functionality of mobile devices. Using a mobile device, a customer may read product codes and receive product information, which may include a product price, a manufacture date, a manufacturing country, a quantity of products. When reading the product codes, the customer may be also provided with promotional offers and advertising material from a merchant, a mobile payment service provider, or a third party. Upon reading the product codes, the reading may be stored in a list on the mobile device. The user may further send a request to calculate a total price of the products read by the mobile device. The total price may be encoded in a code scannable by a merchant scanning device. | 01-17-2013 |
20130024258 | Systems And Methods Relating To Credit - The present invention includes an electronic platform where business credit can be created, affiliated, transmitted, redeemed and processed, etc. in connection with multiple redeemers. The present invention includes an electronic platform where business credit can be purchased, sold and/or gifted in connection with multiple redeemers. The present invention also includes an electronic platform where business credit can be accounted for, monitored, and organized, etc. Furthermore, the present invention provides the ability to redeem business credit (including store credit) in connection with multiple redemptions through multiple redeemers, via a single redemption apparatus (e.g., a smart card). | 01-24-2013 |
20130024259 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COUPON-LESS PRODUCT LEVEL DISCOUNTS - A product level discount is managed during a transaction by receiving a transaction identifier associated with a transaction, where the transaction identifier comprises a transaction value, a customer account identifier, a merchant identifier, and a product identifier. A product identifier is assessed to determine whether the transaction qualifies for a rebate credit in accordance with a predetermined offer. A rebate credit value is based on the transaction information and the predetermined offer, and qualification may be determined based on at least one of the customer account identifier and the merchant identifier. The product identifier could be a SKU code, which may be the basis for qualifying for the rebate credit. A merchant associated with the merchant identifier, which is part of the transaction, does not need to be informed of the application of the rebate credit to the customer account, which occurs after completion of the transaction. | 01-24-2013 |
20130024260 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR INCENTIVIZING ONLINE RETAIL PURCHASERS TO ELICIT ADDITIONAL ONLINE SALES - Various methods and systems are provided for conducting transactions, such as electronic transactions over the internet. In one embodiment, an offer for a specified product or service is made by an online provider or retailer. The offer may be made in connection with certain preliminary or qualifying conditions being met. A customer may accept the offer by purchasing the good or service identified and then be provided with an incentive to publicize their purchase in an effort to get others to consider purchasing the item and also, possibly, participate in the incentive program. Certain parameters are monitored after an individual has purchased the product, and, eventually, a determination is made as to what type of reward the purchaser(s) will receive, if any. Any reward earned in accordance with the incentive program is then provided to the purchaser(s). | 01-24-2013 |
20130024261 | METHOD OF GENERATING AND REDEEMING COUPONS - A method of generating and redeeming a plurality of coupons includes generating a first coupon, generating a second coupon, distributing the first coupon to the first consumer, and distributing the second coupon to the second consumer. Generating a first coupon includes selecting a first group of offers from a plurality of offers such that the first group of offers is individually customized to the first consumer, and printing a first bar code identifying a first account and indicating that the first coupon relates to the first group of offers. Generating a second coupon includes selecting a second group of offers, and printing a second bar. Each of the plurality of offers is redeemable for a discount on a corresponding one of a plurality of products offered for sale, and the first group of offers differs from the second group of offers. | 01-24-2013 |
20130030896 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING AND DISTRIBUTING DIGITAL CONTENT - A method for providing an enriched version of a creation, the method comprising: receiving a creation from an author, and storing the creation in a creation database; receiving through a computerized communication channel a suggested addition to the creation from one or more contributors and providing the suggested addition to the author; receiving approval for the suggested addition from the author, and storing the suggested addition in the creation database; displaying to a reader indications to the suggested addition; receiving a selection from a reader, the selection indicating a selected addition from the suggested additions; retrieving the creation and the selected addition from the creation database, and compiling an enriched version of the creation, the enriched version comprising the creation and the at selected addition, the enriched version adapted to be viewed on a reading digital platform; and providing the enriched version to the reader. | 01-31-2013 |
20130030897 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GENERATING AND USING A DIGITAL PASS - A system, method, and article of manufacture for generating a digital pass is disclosed. The method may comprise retrieving a plurality of identity attributes, and grouping a subset of identity attributes in the plurality of identity attributes to generate at least one digital pass. The method may further comprise grouping a subset of static identity attributes and a subset of dynamic identity attributes to generate a digital pass. | 01-31-2013 |
20130030898 | COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING PRODUCT DATA - A computer system is located at a retail premises for executing a point of sale transaction comprising: a point of sale terminal having an interface for receiving product data from at least one product purchased by a customer, the product data including a first price for the product; a processor arranged to execute a computer program which receives from the point of sale terminal first price data including at least said first price and second price data pertaining to the product, the second price data being from a remote source, compares the first price data with the second price data and issues a voucher request based on the comparison of the first and second price data; and a voucher issuing unit arranged to receive the voucher request and to automatically provide a voucher to the customer responsive to the voucher request. | 01-31-2013 |
20130030899 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PREVENTING TERMINATION OF ONLINE TRANSACTION - Programming a hidden area of a web page in the path of exit from the web page or browser, and activating a hyperlink to provide a user incentive to complete an online transaction when the user pointing device enters the hidden area and before a termination event. The hidden area can move with scrolling of the web page. | 01-31-2013 |
20130030900 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INFLUENCING CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR - A computer-implemented system and method of influencing customer behavior. The customer is offered a price-per-unit (PPU) discount for fuel as a reward for performing a predefined action. A point-of-sale (POS) system at a merchant determines that the customer performed the predefined action, and stores the PPU discount and a customer identifier in a Discounts-Earned database. When the customer initiates a subsequent purchase of fuel, at the merchant or a different retail fueling merchant, a fuel dispenser controller retrieves the PPU discount from the database, discounts the posted price of the fuel by the PPU discount, and causes the dispenser to dispense fuel to the customer at the reduced price. A redeemed discounts calculator multiplies the PPU discount by the number of units purchased in the fueling transaction, and a clearing mechanism allocates the redeemed discount between the merchant and the retail fueling merchant | 01-31-2013 |
20130035999 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING QUANTITY TIERS USING ATTRIBUTES IN AN ONLINE STATIONERY DESIGN SYSTEM - A computer-implemented system and method are described in which an appropriate pricing structure for a new design of a print product is identified by automatically comparing attributes of the print product design with attributes of existing print product designs which have assigned pricing structures. In one embodiment, the attributes are prioritized such that certain attributes are weighted more than other attributes when determining an appropriate price structure. If a match is not found, then the least significant attribute is removed from the set of search criteria and another search is performed. This process continues until an existing pricing structure of a print product which shares the most significant attributes of the new print product is identified. Once the pricing structure is identified, the designer has the option to modify the pricing structure and create a new pricing category, which is then stored in a database with other pricing categories. | 02-07-2013 |
20130041734 | Method of Passing and Redeeming Coupons Via Webpage Accessed from Mobile Phone - A method of passing and redeeming coupons via webpage accessed from mobile phone for facilitating the process of passing and redeeming coupons via a web page accessed from a mobile device. The method of passing and redeeming coupons via webpage acessed from mobile phone generally includes a method by which a Uniform Recourse Locator (URL) is electronically transferred to a mobile phone device for the purpose of allowing conditional access to coupons, premiums or discount offers. | 02-14-2013 |
20130041735 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF ONLINE MARKETING TO FACILITATE LIVE SOCIAL NETWORKING - Systems and methods for online marketing are disclosed that facilitate live social networking. Event hosts create offers to purchase participation in an event occurring on a predetermined date, at a predetermined time, in a predetermined location. The offers may be conditional upon a minimum number of purchases being made. Event offers are presented to a user based on user profile matching event target information, such as a demographic criteria. A user indicates a commitment to purchase, if the terms of the event are met The user's social network may be notified of the user's intent to participate in the event and offers extended for the individuals in the social network matching the event target information A breakdown of buyers may be provided to potential buyers. | 02-14-2013 |
20130041736 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ADDING A MERCHANT TO A LOYALTY CAMPAIGN - A loyalty gateway ( | 02-14-2013 |
20130046597 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING PURCHASE REWARDS - A system and method for providing purchase rewards to customers is disclosed. The system provides an online shopping interface through which users may purchase products from a plurality of online merchants. The user is awarded points based on the amount of money spent using the online shopping interface. The user is then able to redeem the points for use toward additional product purchases at a physical retailer location. | 02-21-2013 |
20130046598 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PLACING AND COLLECTIVELY DISCOUNTING PURCHASE ORDERS VIA A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK - Disclosed are a method and system for placing and collectively discounting purchase orders via a communications network. A collective discount platform, comprising engines and components, receives postponable purchase requests from client systems for an identified good with an undetermined transaction date. Once the postponable purchase requests meet an established criterion time constraints for receiving additional purchase requests are determined. When a time constraint is determined additional purchase requests may aggregate and discount the unit sale price for both postponable and additional purchase requests. When time constraints prohibit the aggregation of additional purchase requests individual payments are claimed from participating client systems. | 02-21-2013 |
20130046599 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OBTAINING CUSTOMER SELECTION OF A TRANSACTION INSTRUMENT IN A LOYALTY CAMPAIGN - A loyalty gateway ( | 02-21-2013 |
20130046600 | RULE BASED SELECTION OF A TRANSACTION INSTRUMENT IN A LOYALTY CAMPAIGN - A loyalty gateway ( | 02-21-2013 |
20130054328 | TECHNIQUES FOR COLLABORATIVE SHOPPING - Techniques for collaborative shopping are presented. During a shopping transaction, a customer collaborates in real time with one or more additional participants. Real-time and dynamic feedback is provided to the customer from the participants throughout the shopping transaction. Furthermore, real-time and dynamic feedback is provided from the customer to the participants throughout the shopping transaction. | 02-28-2013 |
20130054329 | NET OFFER VALUES IN COUPON BASKET APPLICATIONS AND USAGE - The present invention provides techniques including providing coupon basket and mobile coupon basket applications that include providing a graphical user interface including a set of informational items, such as in response to a shopping-related search query, relating to offers or deals relating to a purchase or acquisition. Each of the items may include an indication of a total, or net, cost of the purchase or acquisition, including such things as tax, shipping and any applicable advertisements or coupons, which may provide the user with a quick summary of purchase or acquisition options, along with the net cost associated with each. | 02-28-2013 |
20130054330 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR COLLECTIVE PURCHASING VIA AN ONLINE STORE - Computer-implemented methods and systems for collective purchasing via an online store are disclosed. The disclosed methods and systems allow a group of people to make a collective online purchase of a single product or a service. A user may select a product in the online store and send a request to purchase a share of the product. To purchase the share of the product, the user may make monetary or non-monetary contributions to purchase the share of the product. Additionally, the user may invite other users to purchase other shares of the product, and each time a new share is purchased, it may be added to collective purchased share. If the amount of the collective purchased share is equal to or exceeds the total cost of the product, the product may be purchased and delivered to an intended recipient in the form of a gift or donation. | 02-28-2013 |
20130054331 | SYSTEM OF DISTRIBUTING COMMISSIONS WITHIN A RELATIONSHIP NETWORK - A system for distributing commissions within a relationship network comprising a network manager, at least one network affiliate that has an affiliate relationship with the network manager, and at least one network member that has a member relationship with the network manager, wherein a transaction between a network affiliate and a network member generates a commission by the network affiliate, a first portion of the commission being retained by the network manager, a second portion of the commission being distributed to the transacting network member, and a third portion of the commission being distributed as a donation to at least one donation beneficiary that promotes environmental or social concerns that is external to the relationship network. | 02-28-2013 |
20130060618 | Method and System for Electronic Wallet Access - A mobile payment system is described that facilitates efficient and secured payment transactions from an electronic wallet on a user portable electronic device with a merchant point of sale terminal over a communication link. In one aspect, a mobile device is configured for transaction operations from a plurality of mobile transaction accounts in an electronic wallet. The mobile device includes a plurality of transaction modules operable to process transaction operations with a respective mobile transaction account, each transaction module configured for transaction operations to be completed after an authentication process using a central authentication module coupled to the plurality of transaction modules, operable to verify a user input passcode and to respond to authentication requests from the plurality of transaction module after the user input passcode is verified. Preferably, at least one of the transaction modules is configured for contactless transaction operations over a contactless communication link. | 03-07-2013 |
20130060619 | Computational systems and methods for regulating information flow during interactions - Methods, apparatuses, computer program products, devices and systems are described that carry out accepting at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction; evaluating the transaction; and negotiating presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. | 03-07-2013 |
20130060620 | Computational systems and methods for regulating information flow during interactions - Methods, apparatuses, computer program products, devices and systems are described that carry out accepting at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction; evaluating the transaction; and negotiating presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. | 03-07-2013 |
20130060621 | MULTI-TIER PRICING OF INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTS BASED ON VOLUME DISCOUNTS - A point of sale system or other computer system stores a product pricing database in which a full price and discount prices corresponding to one or more discount pricing tiers are stored for each product available for sale. Each of the discount prices for a given product has an associated threshold purchase total that has to be satisfied before the discount price is applied to a transaction. When a transaction occurs, the purchase total for the transaction is first calculated on the basis of full retail prices for the products and the purchase total for the transaction is compared with one or more threshold purchase totals which correspond to the discount pricing tiers. If a discount pricing tier is applicable (e.g. the calculated purchase total for the transaction is at least equal to a threshold purchase total), the appropriate discount prices for each product in the transaction are retrieved and used to calculate a reduced purchase total for the transaction. Qualification for discount pricing can also be based on, for example, a customer's purchasing history, or the number of a certain type of product included in the transaction instead of the purchase total of a transaction. | 03-07-2013 |
20130066700 | GROUP TRANSACTION PROCESSING USING A SOCIAL STREAM - A user provides an input to a public stream system indicating that the user desires to conduct a transaction (such as a sale, renting a piece of equipment, etc.). The system identifies a group of other users that may wish to participate in the transaction, and at some point, informs those users of the opportunity to participate in a group transaction. Offers for the group transaction are identified and made available to the users and user acceptance of, and commitment to, the offer is tracked. Incentives can optionally be provided to one or more members of the group. | 03-14-2013 |
20130066701 | System and Method for Targeted Marketing and Consumer Resource Management - Systems and methods are provided for providing targeted marketing to goods and services provides and consumer resource management services to consumers. An example system and method for targeted marketing comprises collecting transaction data from point-of-sale (POS) terminals and using a consumer identifier in the transaction data to access stored information about the consumer. This information may be used to target offers and advertisement to the consumer. In an example system for consumer resource management, a consumer may configure a consumer account on the enterprise infrastructure via a web-site. The consumer may use the consumer account to purchase and configure gift cards that may be used for purchasing goods and services. A universal transaction identifier may be associated with the consumer account and used to purchase goods and services from more than one selected goods and services providers. | 03-14-2013 |
20130073363 | CHECKOUT-BASED DISTRIBUTION OF DIGITAL PROMOTIONS - Coupon information is provided electronically in association with receipts for transactions at physical stores and/or online stores. Input is received specifying one or more items for purchase by a customer. Based on the input, a transaction is completed in which the one or more items are purchased. An interface configured to accept input indicating a customer identifier associated with the transaction is provided. When input has been received via the interface, it is determined whether the customer identifier is associated with an electronic address of the customer, such as an email. If the customer identifier is associated with an electronic address, coupon information is provided via the electronic address, the coupon information identifying or linking to one or more coupon offers for which the customer is eligible. The coupon information may be provided in an electronic receipt for the transaction. | 03-21-2013 |
20130073364 | Method of Downloading Contents - Disclosed is a method of downloading contents corresponding to a plurality of icons displayed on a display of a terminal from a content server in the form of a package, and allowing a user to create a content-related chart to upload the created chart to the content server. The method includes: displaying, by a terminal, a plurality of first display icons downloaded from a content server storing icons corresponding to contents; displaying, by the terminal, second display icons, which remain after discarding one or more icons selected from the first display icons or replacing one or more icons selected from the first display icons with other icons; and collectively downloading, by the terminal, a plurality of contents corresponding to the second display icons, which remain after the discarding or the replacing, in the form of a package according to a download command. | 03-21-2013 |
20130073365 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MAKING A PAYMENT USING A WIRELESS DEVICE - Embodiments of the invention provide methods and systems for performing a payment transaction. A method for performing a payment transaction may include receiving purchase information from a merchant and associating the purchase information with an identifier. The method may also include transmitting the identifier to the merchant and receiving the identifier from a wireless device of a customer. The wireless device may obtain the identifier by receiving a code from a merchant device and by interpreting the code. The method may additionally include associating the identifier with the purchasing information, determining a payment account associated with the customer, transmitting a request to a payment service provider system to provide funds for the payment transaction, and receiving an authorization from the payment service provider system to provide the funds. The method may additionally include transmitting a confirmation of the authorization to the merchant. | 03-21-2013 |
20130080226 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING REWARDS AND ONLINE ADVERTISING IN AN ONLINE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT - Embodiments of the invention are directed to creating an online social environment that allows users to obtain, own, and use one or more tokens whose value is derived from their presence within an online social environment. A user is given a single deal reward token based on the mapping of that token to a deal reward provided to a user. A user must own at least one deal reward tokens linked to a primary prize in order to obtain that prize. A user owning at least one deal reward token linked to a primary prize is given that prize. A user is proved a system for conducting transactions with other users related to their owned deal reward tokens. A single advertising source is associated with each of a user's deal reward tokens. An advertising source is provided the online technical means of sending continuous targeted advertisement material to the user associated with each deal reward token linked to that advertising source. A user is provided a system for displaying the continuous targeted advertisement material provided by the advertising source associated with that user's deal reward token. | 03-28-2013 |
20130080227 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PREDICTIVE ACCRUAL OF CREDITS IN A VARIABLE VALUE TRANSACTION - A system and method of predicatively accruing a credit in a variable value transaction are provided. The variable value transaction may involve a piece of media content and include an initial balance and a remaining balance. The initial balance and the remaining balance may be dependent on the piece of media content and when the variable value transaction is completed. Credits may be accrued for a predicted redemption of the credit for the remaining balance, depending on the availability and applicability of the credits. A payment card may also be processed for some or all of the remaining balance. The remaining balance may not be known until the variable value transaction is completed. A pending revenue amount may be determined based on the accrual of the credits. | 03-28-2013 |
20130080228 | SINGLE TAP USING A USER SELECTED CARD - The invention describes how a consumer can hold their NFC enabled device in proximity to an NFC enabled point-of-sale terminal and with a single “wave” or “tap” to automatically redeem coupons, pay for a purchase using a default payment card or a selected card, view receipts view reward point balances, and receive relevant coupons and other digital artifacts both before and after the purchase. The NFC enabled device includes a secure element with a payment application, payment credentials, and other digital artifacts such as coupons. The secure element can be internal to the mobile device, externally affixed to the mobile device, or inserted into a slot within the body of the mobile device. | 03-28-2013 |
20130080229 | SINGLE TAP USING USER SELECTED COUPONS - The invention describes how a consumer can hold their NFC enabled device in proximity to an NFC enabled point-of-sale terminal and with a single “wave” or “tap” to automatically redeem coupons, pay for a purchase using a default payment card or a selected card, view receipts view reward point balances, and receive relevant coupons and other digital artifacts both before and after the purchase. The NFC enabled device includes a secure element with a payment application, payment credentials, and other digital artifacts such as coupons. The secure element can be internal to the mobile device, externally affixed to the mobile device, or inserted into a slot within the body of the mobile device. | 03-28-2013 |
20130080230 | SINGLE TAP USING BOTH USER SELECTED PAYMENT METHOD AND USER SELECTED COUPONS - The invention describes how a consumer can hold their NFC enabled device in proximity to an NFC enabled point-of-sale terminal and with a single “wave” or “tap” to automatically redeem coupons, pay for a purchase using a default payment card or a selected card, view receipts view reward point balances, and receive relevant coupons and other digital artifacts both before and after the purchase. The NFC enabled device includes a secure element with a payment application, payment credentials, and other digital artifacts such as coupons. The secure element can be internal to the mobile device, externally affixed to the mobile device, or inserted into a slot within the body of the mobile device. | 03-28-2013 |
20130080231 | SINGLE TAP TRANSACTIONS USING A MOBILE APPLICATION - The invention describes how a consumer can hold their NFC enabled device in proximity to an NFC enabled point-of-sale terminal and with a single “wave” or “tap” to automatically redeem coupons, pay for a purchase using a default payment card or a selected card, view receipts view reward point balances, and receive relevant coupons and other digital artifacts both before and after the purchase. The NFC enabled device includes a secure element with a payment application, payment credentials, and other digital artifacts such as coupons. The secure element can be internal to the mobile device, externally affixed to the mobile device, or inserted into a slot within the body of the mobile device. | 03-28-2013 |
20130080232 | SINGLE TAP TRANSACTIONS USING A MOBILE DEVICE - The invention describes how a consumer can hold their NFC enabled device in proximity to an NFC enabled point-of-sale terminal and with a single “wave” or “tap” to automatically redeem coupons, pay for a purchase using a default payment card or a selected card, view receipts view reward point balances, and receive relevant coupons and other digital artifacts both before and after the purchase. The NFC enabled device includes a secure element with a payment application, payment credentials, and other digital artifacts such as coupons. The secure element can be internal to the mobile device, externally affixed to the mobile device, or inserted into a slot within the body of the mobile device. | 03-28-2013 |
20130080233 | SINGLE TAP TRANSACTIONS USING A SECURE ELEMENT - The invention describes how a consumer can hold their NFC enabled device in proximity to an NFC enabled point-of-sale terminal and with a single “wave” or “tap” to automatically redeem coupons, pay for a purchase using a default payment card or a selected card, view receipts view reward point balances, and receive relevant coupons and other digital artifacts both before and after the purchase. The NFC enabled device includes a secure element with a payment application, payment credentials, and other digital artifacts such as coupons. The secure element can be internal to the mobile device, externally affixed to the mobile device, or inserted into a slot within the body of the mobile device. | 03-28-2013 |
20130090997 | CONDITIONAL PURCHASING AND VENDING SYSTEMS - A device may receive a request from a purchaser device indicating that a participant will purchase a product associated with a first conditional sales offer, at a first discount price, on a condition that a total number of participants requesting to purchase the product at the first discount price reaches a first threshold number. The device may also determine whether the first conditional sales offer is still open; determine whether the condition that the total number of participants requesting to purchase the product at the first discount price reaches the first threshold number has been satisfied when the first conditional sales offer is determined to be closed; and complete a sale of the product to the participant at the first discount price when the condition is satisfied. | 04-11-2013 |
20130090998 | Social Platform Ecommerce System and Method of Operation - A social platform ecommerce system, method and computer-readable medium to engage in real-time communication through real time announcements or blogging are provided. The social platform ecommerce system, method and computer-readable medium may include a selling module for implementing social selling and determining a preferred selling method for an item, and a shipping module for determining the preferred method of shipping and the cost of shipping an item to a location designated by a buyer. Such methods and systems are socially conscious and may further include a giving application for providing a charitable contribution. A fraud checking module may also be included to check for, determine and prevent fraud by interrupting the sale and shipping process to ensure both the buyer and seller are protected during the ecommerce transaction. | 04-11-2013 |
20130090999 | COUPON-DRIVEN ETAILING - Systems, methods and program products for facilitating etailing, one method, comprising: accessing coupon data for one or more coupons; serving, a consumer registration page to obtain a consumer fulfillment address and payment account information for the consumer, and to issue a passcode; receiving data requesting purchase of a product and/or service with an associated coupon; serving data listing one or more etailers for the product and/or service, with a price for the product and/or service for the one or more etailers; receiving data indicating that an ecommerce transaction has occurred or is occurring to purchase the product and/or service from one of the one or more etailers; and initiating and/or authorizing provision of a credit for the coupon. | 04-11-2013 |
20130091000 | Systems and Methods to Provide Discount at Point of Sales Terminals - A system and method includes a transaction handler configured to modify the transaction amount, in the authorization request or the authorization response of a transaction, in accordance with an offer that is applicable to the transaction to apply the benefit of the offer to the transaction. | 04-11-2013 |
20130097000 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SELLING A PRODUCT ONLINE - A method of selling a product online over the Internet includes the steps of: providing a maze screen image having a plurality of user-configurable routes connecting first end points to second end points; receiving customer-identification information and route-configuration information, a portion of the user-configurable routes being configured according to the route-configuration information; associating one of a plurality of indicators with the customer-identification information, each of the indicators corresponding to one of the second end points; selecting one of the first end points when a predetermined termination condition is satisfied, and plotting on the maze screen image the user-configurable route from the selected one of the first end points to the corresponding one of the second end points; and conducting a transaction for the product with the customer having the customer-identification information that is associated with the indicator to which the user-configurable route plotted on the maze screen image corresponds. | 04-18-2013 |
20130103477 | Transaction Management System and Method - A method of managing some or all financial aspects of a commercial transaction entered into by a vendor and a consumer, and automatically and using a portable, internet enabled telecommunications device by the consumer, effecting payment by the consumer, extending to processing of payments by third parties such as banks, the Federal Reserve system, and the like. The method may include supporting elements such as establishing or accessing credit, issuing payment reminders, applying discounts, maintaining and transmitting transaction and account information, issuing coupons and gift cards, managing installment purchases, and transmitting postings pertaining to commercial transactions to social networking sites. All necessary inputs from the consumer may be of the type entered into the portable telecommunications device. | 04-25-2013 |
20130103478 | ONLINE SHOPPING USING NFC AND A MOBILE DEVICE - A method and system for conducting an online payment transaction through a point of sale device. The method includes receiving input from a user selecting an item for purchase through the point of sale device; calculating a total purchase amount for the item in response to a request from the user to purchase the item; and sending payment authorization for the total purchase amount from the point of sale device to a payment entity, in which the payment authorization is sent to the payment entity via a mobile communication device of the user. The method further includes receiving a result of the payment authorization from the payment entity through the mobile communication device; and completing the payment transaction based on the result of the payment authorization. | 04-25-2013 |
20130110602 | MOBILE TERMINAL AND METHOD OF PROVIDING SOCIAL COMMERCE SERVICE THEREIN USING SNS | 05-02-2013 |
20130110603 | MOBILE TERMINAL | 05-02-2013 |
20130110604 | OFFER MANAGEMENT AND SETTLEMENT IN A PAYMENT NETWORK | 05-02-2013 |
20130124285 | System and Method for Trusted Embedded User Interface for Secure Payments - A security component may be associated with a network-enabled application. The security component may initiate the display of an embedded region of a window drawn according to display information received from a relying party. The security component may define at least a portion of the appearance of the embedded region; the relying party may not define this portion. The embedded region may include customization information configured by a user, and “Card” information received from an assertion provider, indicating how to authenticate user credentials in order to gain access to relying party restricted content. The security component may request authentication of user credentials from the assertion provider, which may be trusted by the relying party. The security component may receive an assertion token from the assertion provider indicating the credentials are authentic. The security component may forward the assertion token to the relying party to gain access to the restricted content. | 05-16-2013 |
20130124286 | ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION AND LOGISTICS SYSTEM - The present invention is related to an electronic transaction and logistics system that comprises a server, a plurality of shop units and a plurality of characteristic code carriers. The server is provided with a management platform and a member database for storing account information of each member, a corresponding characteristic code, a plurality of points and the attribute of each point. Each shop unit is connected to the server through the network, and provided with a shop platform, a shop database, a counter device, a characteristic code reader and a keyboard. The member can use the shop unit to shop and pay by electronic cash, bonus, and gift coupon, and also to pick-up merchandise, top up value, inquire consumption details, create an account, and change or stop a characteristic code carrier. | 05-16-2013 |
20130124287 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO PROVIDE DISCOUNT AT POINT OF SALES TERMINALS - A system and method configured to use a transaction handler to modify the transaction amount of a transaction between an acquirer processor and an issuer processor, during the processing of the authorization of the transaction, in accordance with an offer that is applicable to the transaction to apply the benefit of the offer to the transaction and to provide information of the offer as applied to the transaction in the authorization response transmitted to the acquirer processor. | 05-16-2013 |
20130124288 | Personal digital cashier with the coupon locator - An integrated purchasing system for mobile devices with coupon and discount locating functionality that enables a shopper to obtain discounts, coupons, and to purchase the goods and services of their choice from a retail store without having to stand in a checkout line. The Personal Digital Cashier with the Coupon Locator also provides the shopper with the ability to determine which store(s) in the shoppers selected proximity have the best deals or discounts on the items desired for purchase, as well as to shop online using their Personal Digital Cashier with the Coupon Locator account. | 05-16-2013 |
20130124289 | REMOTE TRANSACTION PROCESSING USING AUTHENTICATION INFORMATION - A method and system for conducting an online payment transaction through a point of sale device. The method includes receiving input from a user selecting an item for purchase through the point of sale device; calculating a total purchase amount for the item in response to a request from the user to purchase the item; and sending payment authorization for the total purchase amount from the point of sale device to a payment entity, in which the payment authorization is sent to the payment entity via a mobile communication device of the user. The method further includes receiving a result of the payment authorization from the payment entity through the mobile communication device; and completing the payment transaction based on the result of the payment authorization. | 05-16-2013 |
20130124290 | REMOTE TRANSACTION PROCESSING USING A DEFAULT PAYMENT METHOD - A method and system for conducting an online payment transaction through a point of sale device. The method includes receiving input from a user selecting an item for purchase through the point of sale device; calculating a total purchase amount for the item in response to a request from the user to purchase the item; and sending payment authorization for the total purchase amount from the point of sale device to a payment entity, in which the payment authorization is sent to the payment entity via a mobile communication device of the user. The method further includes receiving a result of the payment authorization from the payment entity through the mobile communication device; and completing the payment transaction based on the result of the payment authorization. | 05-16-2013 |
20130124291 | REMOTE TRANSACTION PROCESSING WITH MULTIPLE PAYMENT MECHANISMS - A method and system for conducting an online payment transaction through a point of sale device. The method includes receiving input from a user selecting an item for purchase through the point of sale device; calculating a total purchase amount for the item in response to a request from the user to purchase the item; and sending payment authorization for the total purchase amount from the point of sale device to a payment entity, in which the payment authorization is sent to the payment entity via a mobile communication device of the user. The method further includes receiving a result of the payment authorization from the payment entity through the mobile communication device; and completing the payment transaction based on the result of the payment authorization. | 05-16-2013 |
20130132179 | System and Method for Combining Group Buying with Regular Selling - A system and method of combining group buying with regular selling is provided. A group-buying company advertises a first product for sale from a group-buying website. The first product is a group-buying deal with deep discount offered for a short period of time. The group-buying websites also provides recommendation information on one or more products based on the first product. The one or more recommended products are supplied by another non-group-buying company. Consumers are able to purchase the one or more recommended products from the group-buying website. | 05-23-2013 |
20130132180 | PROVIDING PRIZE IN PAYMENT PROCESS IN MOBILE SHOPPING - A shopping-payment management system and method applies pre-registered prize data of a manufacturer or retail store to payment information on condition that a specific item is contained in shopping information before completing payment, and may notify a mobile device of the result. The system encourages a customer to actively use the system. | 05-23-2013 |
20130132181 | REMOTE TRANSACTION PROCESSING WITH MULTIPLE PAYMENT METHODS USING AUTHENTICATION - A method and system for conducting an online payment transaction through a point of sale device. The method includes receiving input from a user selecting an item for purchase through the point of sale device; calculating a total purchase amount for the item in response to a request from the user to purchase the item; and sending payment authorization for the total purchase amount from the point of sale device to a payment entity, in which the payment authorization is sent to the payment entity via a mobile communication device of the user. The method further includes receiving a result of the payment authorization from the payment entity through the mobile communication device; and completing the payment transaction based on the result of the payment authorization. | 05-23-2013 |
20130132182 | TRANSACTION REWARD SYSTEM - The present disclosure provides a transaction reward system comprising a reward and transaction processor system. The transaction reward system further comprises a reward interface for receiving reward redemption information from a purchaser and communicating the reward redemption information to the reward and transaction processor system. In addition, the transaction reward system comprises a transaction interface for receiving information concerning a purchase from a retail processor associated with a retailer. The transaction reward system is arranged such that the purchaser can select at least a portion of an available reward for a purchase and the reward and transaction processor system is arranged to offset the selected reward against a cost of the purchase in accordance with the reward redemption information. | 05-23-2013 |
20130138491 | QUICKLY VERIFIABLE PERSONALIZED INCENTIVES AND AUTO FULFILLMENT - A networked business and consumer space is created in which consumers can interact with businesses. A verifiable identifier for each commercial item is used to create an actionable link between a consumer and a business, which can be a manufacturer, a marketer, or a retailer of the commercial item. The actionable link provides the basis for a complete loop of information during a transaction in which an incentive may be quickly and electronically verifiable. The method and the system reduce paperwork, increase transparency and efficiency, and further reduce error and fraud. | 05-30-2013 |
20130144699 | Method for Simplifying Use of Commercial Website Interfaces for Secure Customer Purchases - In one embodiment, a system comprises a server and a mobile device including a user agent. The mobile device is coupled to the server via a network. The user agent is included in the mobile device to perform common steps in an online purchase process for a user of the mobile device without requiring input from the user during the online purchase process. The common steps includes for instance: enabling a browser on the mobile device to capture a URL associated with a location based service (LBS) facility, inputting a sign-in information in a sign-in webpage using information stored on the mobile device, checking a product or service selected for purchase for an available discount code and inputting the available discount code, and inputting shipping and payment information in a shipping and payment webpage using information stored on the mobile device. Other embodiments are also described. | 06-06-2013 |
20130144700 | Promotion Processing - Methods, systems, computer executable instructions, and devices for processing promotions and prepaid accounts are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a method includes providing a unique identifier associated with a promotion to a customer and associating the unique identifier with a promotion code in a database. The method also includes the step of receiving the unique identifier from a merchant, where the customer provided the unique identifier to the merchant in order to redeem the promotion in a transaction. Finally, the method includes retrieving the promotion code from the database based on the received unique identifier, and transmitting the promotion code for delivery to the merchant. | 06-06-2013 |
20130151322 | Incentive Manager During Online Checkout - Described is a technology by which an incentive manager uses a portion of an interactive window associated with online commerce to provide incentives related to user of payment instruments. Upon detecting interaction with a set of displayed incentives corresponding to user-indicated payment options, an information input mechanism for collecting information related to the user-indicated option is expanded on the interactive window. Detection of interaction with an interactive mechanism may be used to expand the displayed incentive set. | 06-13-2013 |
20130151323 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING ISSUANCE AND REDEMPTION OF A REWARD - A computing apparatus is configured to receive, from a transaction handler of a payment network, an authorization request for a payment transaction. The authorization request identifies a full transaction amount, as well as information identifying the merchant and the cardholder involved in the transaction. The computing apparatus is configured to determine the cardholder's eligibility to receive a reward based on information provided in the authorization request, as well as offer information stored in association with the account information of the cardholder. When the cardholder is eligible for a reward, the computing apparatus deducts a reward amount from the transaction amount to authorize a partial amount for the transaction and provides a partial authorization response for the payment transaction. The partial authorization response may optionally include a description of the offer, the reward and/or an identifier of the offer. | 06-13-2013 |
20130159080 | System and Method for Mobile Device-Based Smart Wallet - A method for conducting a payment transaction using a smart wallet is proposed. The smart wallet accepts financial account information input by a consumer. The smart wallet stores the financial account information and transmits the financial account information to a smart wallet management server. When the consumer shops at a store, the smart wallet displays a list of merchandise purchased at the store and a total payment amount of the purchased merchandise. The smart wallet also provides a recommendation for making the payment amount. Finally, the smart wallet transmits a payment request to the smart wallet management server such that the payment is authorized and the payment transaction is completed. In one embodiment, the smart wallet can be used as a key to access shared mailboxes, resulting in significant improvement on package delivery operations for both couriers and consumers. | 06-20-2013 |
20130159081 | BIDIRECTIONAL BANDWIDTH REDUCING NOTIFICATIONS AND TARGETED INCENTIVE PLATFORM APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS - The BIDIRECTIONAL BANDWIDTH REDUCING NOTIFICATIONS AND TARGETED INCENTIVE PLATFORM APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS (“Ad-Track”) transform consumer activity data via Ad-Track components into ad revenue sharing payment transactions. In one implementation, a method of improving network data transmission efficiency and reducing network bandwidth usage is disclosed, comprising: instantiating a remote tracking component on a user device; receiving a consumer trigger event with regard to a product via the remote tracking component; determining a related merchant based on the trigger event, the merchant providing the product; and providing an advertisement component advertising the merchant via the remote tracking component to the consumer. | 06-20-2013 |
20130166365 | Systems and Methods to Provide Messages in Real-Time with Transaction Processing - In one aspect, a computing apparatus is configured to generate trigger records for a transaction handler to identify authorization requests that satisfy the conditions specified in the trigger records, identify communication preferences of the users associated with the identified authorization requests, and use the communication preferences to target real-time messages at the users in parallel with the transaction handler providing responses to the respective authorization requests. | 06-27-2013 |
20130173371 | ENHANCING SERVICES FOR AWARD AIRLINE TICKETS - Some embodiments include a computer implemented method for providing enhanced services to an award ticket customer of an airline. The method can include selling, to the award ticket customer, an airline ticket in exchange for loyalty currency, wherein the selling occurs via an electronic website; and transmitting an electronic request for a business offer from a business partner of the airline, wherein the business offer is redeemable by the award ticket customer, and wherein the electronic request identifies contact information for the award ticket customer. | 07-04-2013 |
20130173372 | Electronic Coupon Management - Methods and systems are provided for electronically managing coupons. The user no longer has to clip and organize coupons. The need for hand processing of coupons is substantially reduced. Rebates or payments for coupons can be substantially hastened and can be deposited directly into a user's bank, credit card, or payment provider account. Merchants and manufactures no longer have to be concerned with receiving bad (e.g., invalid, expired, or counterfeit) coupons. Thus, the electronic coupon management system benefits the users, merchants, and manufactures. | 07-04-2013 |
20130179243 | Tools For Communicating, And Tools For Configuring And Managing Communicated Data - Apparatus are provided that include a provider interface configured to communicate with at least one provider access device, and a consumer interface configured to communicate with at least one consumer access device. A rewards program engine is configured to communicate with the provider interface to allow a provider to create and manage a rewards program for offering rewards points to consumers as part of a transaction. The rewards program engine presents a template to the provider for creating the rewards program, and the rewards points are available for use in subsequent transactions with the provider. A consumer rewards engine is configured to communicate with the consumer interface to allow a consumer to manage rewards points from one or more providers. | 07-11-2013 |
20130179244 | Core Gateway System And Method - A computer implemented method for a core gateway for an identity management system can comprise: on a computer device having one or more processors and a memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for: utilizing a content management system comprising a Framework and a Module; adding a Dimension at the Framework level of the content management system, wherein the Dimension is pervasive across all Modules of the content management system; and displaying content based on the Dimension of each Module. Also, a computer system and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for the same. | 07-11-2013 |
20130179245 | System and Method for Providing Incentives to Users for Using Payment Instruments to Complete Financial Transactions - A system, computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program, and a computer-implemented method for providing incentives to users for using payment instruments to complete financial transactions is presented. Information identifying a user and a merchant is received from a device. A set of payment instruments that are available to the user and that are associated with incentives to be provided by the merchant are identified, where a respective payment instrument in the set of the payment instruments being associated with at least one incentive to be provided by the merchant when the user uses the respective payment instrument to fulfill a financial transaction with the merchant. Information identifying at least a subset of the set of payment instruments and the corresponding incentives is transmitted to the device. | 07-11-2013 |
20130191198 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO REDEEM OFFERS BASED ON A PREDETERMINED GEOGRAPHIC REGION - A computing apparatus is configured to store an offer provided to a plurality of users. The offer has a set of requirements to be met for a benefit, such as one or more purchase requirements, and a presence requirement formulated based on a time period, a geographic region, and a user limit. A user is determined to meet the presence requirement when the user is identified to be within the geographic region at a time during the time period before the current number of users who meet the presence requirement exceeds the user limit. The computing apparatus is configured to identify users who meet the presence requirement and monitor transactions in the financial payment accounts of such users to identify accounts that satisfy the purchase requirements, and configured to provide the benefit of the offer to the respective accounts that satisfy the set of requirements of the offer. | 07-25-2013 |
20130211898 | EXPENSE TRACKER - The invention provides a computer-based method of managing electronic transactions. A plurality of consumer accounts is stored in a data store, each consumer account having a first consumer account identifier. A rule is stored in association the consumer account. A charge request is received over a network interface device, the charge request including a charge amount and a second consumer account identifier. A selected one of the consumer accounts is identified by associating one of the first consumer account identifiers with the second consumer account identifier. The rule of the selected consumer account is retrieved in response to receiving the charge request and an action is executed based on the rule. | 08-15-2013 |
20130226682 | PERSON-TO-PERSON TRANSACTION IDENTIFICATION OF COUPONS AND LOYALTY CARDS - Embodiments of the invention are directed to a system, method, or computer program product for loyalty identification matching during a person-to-person transaction. Embodiments of the invention reduce the friction of enrolling in and providing loyalty accounts and coupons during a person-to-person transaction with a person, merchant, and/or other entity. Once the user enrolls in the program, all loyalty accounts the user may have are determined. Furthermore, coupons that are available to the user are determined and stored in association with the user's loyalty accounts. In this way, the user may provide his/her person-to-person alias ID to initiate a person-to-person transaction. This same alias ID may also allow the user to utilize his/her loyalty accounts and/or coupons for the transaction. The system, after receiving the alias ID may provide the other party of the person-to-person transaction with all loyalty accounts and coupons associated with the transaction. | 08-29-2013 |
20130226683 | ONLINE VEHICLE BUYING SYSTEMS AND METHODS - A method for online vehicle buying includes: transmitting vehicle inventory data for displaying an inventory of vehicles that are available for purchase from a dealership; in response to input indicating a desire to purchase one of the vehicles from the dealership, transmitting reward redemption data for displaying a first webpage for inputting information regarding an accrued monetary reward; determining an available award amount based on the information input to the first webpage; transmitting affiliation data for displaying a second webpage for inputting information regarding an affiliation with at least one of a manufacturer of the vehicles and a business affiliate of the manufacturer; determining an available discount based on the information input to the second webpage; determining a price for the one of the vehicles based on the available award amount and the available discount; and transmitting sale summary data for displaying the price of the one of the vehicles. | 08-29-2013 |
20130226684 | MERCHANT CONFIGURATION THROUGH PAYMENT NETWORK - Embodiments of the invention are related to systems and methods for applying a discount to an electronic transaction based on control data stored in a portable merchant device. An access device interacts with a portable merchant device associated with a merchant, the portable merchant device storing control data. A processor in the access device generates a message including the control data, and electronically transmits the message to a server computer. The control data causes the server computer to reconfigure for a transaction conducted by the merchant. | 08-29-2013 |
20130231990 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING PERSONAL SHOPPING SERVICES - A method and system for providing personal shopping assistance via a computing device includes hosting a database of information regarding a customer, hosting a database of information regarding a personal shopper, and associating the customer with the personal shopper. The personal shopper is provided the ability to recommend at least one of a product or a service relevant to the customer and receiving an indication of the purchase of the recommended product or service by the customer. An incentive system may provide a reward to the personal shopper based upon the purchased product or service, including a commission or other reward. The system may be implemented on a desktop and/or mobile device as desired to provide flexibility in implementation. | 09-05-2013 |
20130231991 | APPARATUS, METHOD, AND SYSTEM FOR CONDUCTING A TRANSACTION - A computing device is configured to receive an order from a customer to purchase one or more devices. The computing device is configured to determine a discount. The computing device is further configured to generate a transaction for the purchase including the discount. The computing device is further configured to provide the transaction to the customer. | 09-05-2013 |
20130238412 | Image Capture and Identification System and Process - A digital image of the object is captured and the object is recognized from plurality of objects in a database. An information address corresponding to the object is then used to access information and initiate communication pertinent to the object. | 09-12-2013 |
20130246143 | COMPETITIVE ON-LINE MARKETPLACE - A method and data processing system provide a competitive marketplace via a network. The method includes identifying a plurality of items corresponding to a request for information about an item in responsive to receiving a request for information about the item. The method includes ranking the plurality of items according to price to form a ranking of the plurality of items. The method includes sending information about the plurality of items including the ranking for display on a display. According to the ranking, items with a lower price are displayed more prominently on the display than items with a higher price. Additionally, the method includes providing information regarding the ranking of at least one item in the plurality items to a seller of the at least one item. | 09-19-2013 |
20130246144 | TRANSACTION ADVISORY BASED MERCHANT VOUCHER REDEMPTION - A plurality of merchant accounts are stored in a data store. A voucher entry is received over from a merchant computer system and stored in the data store. A charge advisory is received and used to identify a selected one of the voucher entries. A notification is received from a server computer system bank account of settlement from a merchant account payment infrastructure of a discount amount of the voucher entry. A central account is updated based on the notification. A settlement instruction is transmitted for settlement based on the discount amount. The last one central account is updated based on the settlement instruction. | 09-19-2013 |
20130246145 | CARD LINKING - A computer-based system for managing electronic transactions is described. A plurality of first card numbers is received over a network interface device. Each respective first card number is stored in a data store in association with a respective consumer account. A charge advisory is received over the network interface device, the charge advisory including a charge advisory card number. A selected one of the consumer accounts is identified by associating one of the first card numbers with the second card number. The charge advisory is processed based on an account detail of the selected consumer account. | 09-19-2013 |
20130246146 | Systems and Methods for Tailoring Marketing - The systems and methods described herein may be used to recommend an item to a consumer. The methods may comprise determining, based on a collaborative filtering algorithm, a consumer relevance value associated with an item, and transmitting, based on the consumer relevance value, information associated with the item to a consumer. A collaborative filtering algorithm may receive as an input at least one of: a transaction history associated with the consumer, a demographic of the consumer, a consumer profile, a type of transaction account, a transaction account associated with the consumer, a period of time that the consumer has held a transaction account, a size of wallet, a share of wallet, and/or the like. The method may further comprise generating a ranked list of items based upon a plurality of consumer relevance values, transmitting a ranked list of items to a consumer, and/or re-ranking a ranked list of items based upon a merchant goal. | 09-19-2013 |
20130254001 | CONVERTING A DIGITAL MEDIA ITEM FROM A RENTAL TO A PURCHASE - Consumer satisfaction and revenue both have the potential to increase through the conversion of a digital media item from a rental to a purchase. After the rental of a digital media item, the occurrence of a predefined event can trigger the display of a conversion opportunity on a client device. The predefined event can include identifying that the digital media item has previously been rented, detecting that the digital media item has been paused or playback has reached a predefined point, or detecting the expiration of the rental period. In some cases, the digital media item can be offered for purchase at a discounted rate based on the rental history or in a different level of quality. | 09-26-2013 |
20130254002 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OFFERING AND FULFILLING OFFERS ASSOCIATED WITH A RECIPIENT PAYMENT AND DELIVERY ACCOUNT - A system, method and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium are disclosed for one-click purchasing via a mobile device based on situation information of a user. A system associates a product with the user and a registration profile that includes a user payment and delivery account (registration profile) at an on-line shopping environment. The system transmits an offering to a device of the user that includes a presentation of the product and an indication that the user can purchase the product via interaction with the offering. The system receives an indication of the purchase via interaction with the offering and the purchase is completed using the payment account and delivery is accomplished either physically or to an electronic device destination based on data in the registration profile. In one embodiment, one-click gift purchasing for a contact via a mobile device is disclosed. | 09-26-2013 |
20130254003 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RESERVING FUTURE PURCHASES OF GOODS AND SERVICES - A method and system for reserving future purchases of goods or services or events including plural electronic options with associated option fees for the goods or services or events. The plural electronic options include electronic option terms established by one or more suppliers who can supply the goods or services or events. The purchase of the electronic option is accepted according to electronic option terms established by the desired supplier. The option terms may vary greatly among the individual suppliers and no two suppliers may use the same option terms. The electronic options are displayed, viewed, purchased, and exercised from a client network device. | 09-26-2013 |
20130254004 | COUPON BEARING SPONSOR ACCOUNT TRANSACTION AUTHORIZATION - A transaction handler receives, for forwarding to a sponsor account's issuer, a coupon authorization request message from a merchant's acquirer that identifies the sponsor account and a coupon for an item being purchased by a consumer in a transaction with the merchant. The issuer determines eligibility of the coupon for use by the consumer, and sends an authorization response message to the merchant via its acquirer and the transaction handler for the application of a corresponding discount for the item when the coupon is eligible. One or more coupon eligibilities for the purchase of the item by the consumer from the merchant can be derived from comparisons of the transaction to predetermined times, geographies, jurisdictions, sets of merchants, and/or the number of times that coupons have been used in other transactions. The transaction handler can further process the transaction for authorization the consumer's account to pay of the transaction. | 09-26-2013 |
20130254005 | ONLINE AUCTION AND METHOD - An online auction and method of conducting an online auction accessible over a communications network includes the step of providing a computer programmed to host the auction, the computer being accessible to a user through the communications network and adapted to provide a user interface to allow the user to bid on or sell an item on the auction. The method also including the steps of providing instructions to the computer through the user interface, the instructions providing parameters for the auction being conducted; and displaying the item for sale on the user interface with an initial sale price and prompting a bidder to bid on the item. The method further including the steps of allowing the bidder to bid on the item through the communications network, wherein in response to a bid by the bidder, the computer reduces the initial sale price by the bid value and displays a new sale price on the user interface; and using the computer to determine a winning bidder and shipping the item to the winning bidder. | 09-26-2013 |
20130268336 | MERCHANT OFFER APPROVAL - Consumer and merchant accounts are stored in the data store of a server computer system. Voucher entries are received from merchant computer systems and stored in association with the merchant accounts. Consumer account identifiers are pushed from the server computer system to a network computer system. A list of consumer account identifiers is maintained at the network computer system is checked to determine whether a consumer account identifier in a charge request matches any one of the consumer account identifiers in the list. Reserve checking is provided in when in discount checking mode. A voucher redemption system matches a merchant account identifier in a discount checking call received from the network computer system to one of the merchant account identifiers to identify one of the voucher entries. The transaction clearing system transmits a response with a discount amount of the voucher entry to the network computer system. | 10-10-2013 |
20130268337 | Method and/or system for extending payment system architectures and/or order processing systems to assign merchant funded incentive options to customers performing a mobile remote check deposit capture (MRDC) routine from a smart mobile device to facilitate online commerce, online-to-offline (O2O) commerce and mobile commerce. - Method and/or system for extending payment system architectures and/or order processing systems to assign merchant funded incentive options to customers performing a mobile remote check deposit capture (MRDC) routine from a smart mobile device to facilitate online commerce, online-to-offline (O2O) commerce and mobile commerce includes:
| 10-10-2013 |
20130268338 | Electronic Commerce Using Streaming Media - The disclosure provides for electronic commerce using streaming media. (1) E-commerce opportunities are combined with incentives (e.g., random, pseudo-random, skill-based, or responsive to aggregate buying) for participation by recipients, enhancing the likelihood of responses from recipients and the value of distribution of the promotional information. (2) Techniques are applied to a server associated with e-commerce opportunities, to avoid unduly burdening that server. An applet may conduct the interactive process with the recipient and present results to the server, implement the incentives, conduct e-commerce transactions with the recipient, and select one or more recipients for an incentive reward. (3) The promotional material is associated with elements of the streaming media being presented, such as an actor or object. Presentation of promotional material at a device can be responsive to information about the recipient, gleaned from, for example: demographic information, preferences, fuzzy searching, or collaborative filtering. | 10-10-2013 |
20130268339 | System and Method for Varying Electronic Settlements Between Buyers and Suppliers with Dynamic Discount Terms - A method of making payment. A request is received to effect payment between a buyer and a seller for a transaction having established terms. The terms include a payment amount and a settlement date. Messages are exchanged between the buyer and the seller that include an offer and acceptance of new terms for payment at other than the established terms. The new terms include an adjusted amount of payment to be made at a particular time after an event associated with the transaction. An electronic notification that the event has occurred is received, and the after the notification, payment between the buyer and seller is effected under the new terms. | 10-10-2013 |
20130275194 | ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION METHOD AND SYSTEM - Consumer with a token incorporating a transaction code on their Smartphone brings their Smartphone to a retailer equipped with a transaction module. When purchasing an article, connection is established between the Smartphone and the transaction module and the transaction module transmits its identity code to the Smartphone. The Smartphone subsequently runs the transaction code and identity code through an authentication algorithm. If authenticated, the Smartphone sends authentication signal to the transaction module and a transaction report to a transaction server. Upon receipt of the authentication signal, the transaction module outputs a corresponding validity indication. This enables any retailer possessing a transaction module to process an electronic transaction without directly altering the retailers system. This therefore provides a simpler and potentially cheaper way of implementing electronic transactions at a wide variety of unrelated retail outlets. | 10-17-2013 |
20130282459 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR STANDARD APPROACH TO COUPON SELECTION - Presented are apparatus and methods for utilizing coupons and the like in the context of a contactless payment process. A processor of a payment-enabled mobile device stores a Proximity Coupon System Environment (PCSE). The PCSE includes coupon applications that provide for an alternative form of payment and/or that influence a final transaction amount for a payment transaction. The method includes storing in a File Control Information (FCI) file of the PCSE a list of the coupon applications, and storing in a FCI file of a Proximity Payment System Environment (PPSE) an indication of the existence of the PCSE. When a payment transaction request is received from a proximity reader, the payment-enabled mobile device transmits the indication of the existence of the PCSE and the list of coupon applications that are to be considered before determining the final transaction amount. | 10-24-2013 |
20130282460 | MANAGEMENT OF MULTIPLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES IN A TRANSACTION SESSION - In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention, methods and systems disclosed herein provide for management of multiple electronic devices in a transaction session. An example method includes associating a user identifier of a first shopper with a transaction session. The method may also include receiving, from a second shopper, a request to join the transaction session. Further, the method may include processing the transaction session based on the request. | 10-24-2013 |
20130282461 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO USE TRANSACTION AUTHORIZATION COMMUNICATIONS TO PROCESS OFFERS - A system includes a transaction handler, a data warehouse storing data associating offers and consumer accounts, a transaction handler coupled with the data warehouse, and a transaction terminal configured to submit authorization requests to the transaction handler via an acquirer processor. After receiving account information identifying a consumer account for a payment transaction, the transaction terminal generates a first authorization request identifying the consumer account. The transaction handler identifies offer information relevant to the payment transaction and provides an authorization response containing the offer information, prior to communication with an issuer processor for the payment transaction. In response to the offer information provided in the authorization response, the transaction terminal modifies the first authorization request to generate a second authorization request, in response to which the transaction handler communicates with the issuer processor for the payment transaction. | 10-24-2013 |
20130297390 | System, Method, and Computer-Readable Storage Medium for Payment of Online Purchases via a Portable Computing Device - A system, method, and computer-readable storage medium for enabling an individual to use a purchase-proxy mechanism to conduct a financial transaction from a computing device with an online merchant, whereby the individual is enabled to use stored personal data, such as financial account information and fulfillment information, without having to store the personal data with the online merchant. The system, method, and computer-readable storage medium furthermore enable an individual to change a payment and/or fulfillment option at the time of purchase with minimal inconvenience. | 11-07-2013 |
20130304553 | POINT OF SALE OFFER REDEMPTIONS - Processing of point of sale (“POS”) redemptions via a “tap” of a contactless device comprises a POS data collector that facilitates a connection with a contactless device. A merchant scans items for purchase using a POS scanner, which captures product identification information. The POS scanner forwards the product identification information to a POS terminal. The POS data collector intercepts the product identification information between the POS scanner and the POS terminal. A user taps the contactless device in the POS data collector's radio frequency field, and a communication channel is established between the contactless device and the POS data collector. The POS data collector identifies the user via the contactless device and identifies coupons, merchant offers, and other value-added services to redeem with the transaction. The POS data collector forwards this information to the POS terminal, the redemptions are applied to the transaction, and the communication is terminated. | 11-14-2013 |
20130304554 | TRANSACTION DATA RETRIEVAL AND TARGETING - Offer entries are received from merchant computer systems and stored in association with respective merchant account. Transaction data of consumers is received from a network computer system and profile are built utilizing the transaction data. A consumer is then targeted by transmitting a selected one of the offer entries to a consumer device based at on the profile. | 11-14-2013 |
20130304555 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR APPLYING COUPON RULES TO A FINANCIAL TRANSACTION - A method for applying coupon rules to a financial transaction includes storing a plurality of coupon rules, each coupon rule associated with a consumer and a merchant and including an amount modifier and funding account number; receiving an authorization request for a financial transaction, the authorization request including a consumer identifier, a merchant identifier, and a transaction amount; identifying, at least one coupon rule of the plurality of coupon rules where the associated consumer corresponds to the consumer identifier and the associated merchant corresponds to the merchant identifier; modifying the financial transaction based on the at least one coupon rule by modifying the transaction amount based on the amount modifier; and transmitting a reply to the authorization request, the reply to the authorization request including at least the modified transaction amount. | 11-14-2013 |
20130311262 | OFFER REDEMPTION RATE BASED SELECTION AND DISPLAY OF OFFERS - This invention relates generally to a transactions network and to a method and system for managing electronic transactions, in particular merchant offers such as voucher entries having discounts associated with them. A voucher application module stores a record of each time that a respective voucher entry of a plurality of voucher entries stored in the data store is redeemed. A score calculator calculates a redemption rate at which the voucher entry is redeemed. A ranking module ranks the voucher entries based one the scores of the voucher entries of a plurality of the merchant accounts. A notification module preferentially transmits voucher entries that are displayed in accordance with their ranking. | 11-21-2013 |
20130317896 | INTERNET PRICE MATCHING USING A MOBILE WALLET - Embodiments are directed to receiving reimbursement from a product vendor for a price-matched item and to providing a retailer with the lowest online price for price matching. In one scenario, a user may use a mobile wallet to pay for an item at a retail goods store. The retailer may be one that offers price matching. The user may perform an online search to determine that the item is priced lower at various online vendors. The user can then purchase the item at the retailer for the lower, price-matched price (i.e. the price offered by the online vendor). If the retailer has an agreement in place with the product's manufacturer that the retailer will provide the lowest price, the retailer may be able to receive reimbursement from the online vendor for the difference in price between the retailer's price and the online vendor's price. | 11-28-2013 |
20130317897 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INFLUENCING CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR - A computer-implemented system and method of influencing customer behavior. The customer is offered a price-per-unit (PPU) discount for fuel as a reward for performing a predefined action. A point-of-sale (POS) system at a merchant determines that the customer performed the predefined action, and stores the PPU discount and a customer identifier in a Discounts-Earned database. When the customer initiates a subsequent purchase of fuel, at the merchant or a different retail fueling merchant, a fuel dispenser controller retrieves the PPU discount from the database, discounts the posted price of the fuel by the PPU discount, and causes the dispenser to dispense fuel to the customer at the reduced price. A redeemed discounts calculator multiplies the PPU discount by the number of units purchased in the fueling transaction, and a clearing mechanism allocates the redeemed discount between the merchant and the retail fueling merchant | 11-28-2013 |
20130325575 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING VARIABLE REDEMPTION VALUE ELECTRONIC COUPONS - Methods and apparatuses for carrying out processing a financial transaction includes: receiving, by a receiving device, an authorization request for a financial transaction wherein the authorization request includes at least a transaction amount and a coupon identifier; identifying, in a database, coupon information based on the coupon identifier, wherein the coupon information includes at least a discount amount; modifying the transaction amount based on the discount amount; processing, by the processing device, the authorization request for the financial transaction based on the modified transaction amount; and transmitting, by a transmitting device, a response to the authorization request, wherein the response includes at least the modified transaction amount and discount amount. The coupons can be coupled to geographic location and or an immediate purchasing period. | 12-05-2013 |
20130325576 | CAMPAIGN REWARD SYSTEM THAT PROVIDES OFFER CLEARING - A campaign offer system provides offers using mobile devices. A service provider is configured to be in communication with a mobile application running on a user mobile device. The mobile application in operation enables a redemption of offers for products provided by an advertiser. A retailer gateway is in communication with a retailer checkout system. The retailer checkout system performs at least one of, (i) a manual entering of an item identifier, and (ii) a scanning of item identifiers for items purchased by the user during a checkout. The retailer gateway communicates with a retailer checkout system via existing retailer checkout system peripheral device communication protocols without a need to modify the communications protocols or modify a retailer checkout system software code. The retailer checkout system enters item identifiers of products after the user enters a retailer's location identifier using the user's mobile device. | 12-05-2013 |
20130332250 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING CONDITIONAL GROUP PURCHASE OFFERS FOR MEDIA CONTENT - Systems and methods for providing conditional group purchase offers are provided. A conditional offer for an on-demand media asset, such as a movie, television episode, or streaming video is transmitted to a plurality of users. The conditional offer is conditioned on a minimum quantity of purchases being performed within a specified time period. The purchase requests are received at a processing device, which determines whether the amount of purchase requests exceeds the minimum quantity of purchases within the specified time period, and performs a corresponding action based on the amount of purchase requests. | 12-12-2013 |
20130332251 | SYSTEM, COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT AND COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHOD FOR PURCHASING ITEMS FROM A MERCHANT - Embodiments of the invention include systems, computer program products and computer implemented methods for allowing users to purchase one or more products from a merchant. Such embodiments may comprise a mobile device associated with a user, where the mobile device includes a memory having computer instructions that execute the steps of prompting the user to scan the code using the mobile device; translating the code to determine at least a product price and merchant identifier; creating a product purchase prompt on a display associated with the mobile device, and transmitting the product, product price and merchant identifier to a processing server to thereby facilitate an approval of a transaction between the user and the merchant. | 12-12-2013 |
20130339115 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INTERACTIVE SHOPPING USING A MOBILE COMPUTING DEVICE - A computer-implemented method for interactive shopping by a customer includes providing a downloadable user interface readable on a mobile electronic device that receives shopping list data representing items in a shopping list associated with the customer and receives coupon data representing coupons held by the customer for one or more of the items in an inventory of items for sale at a retail store. The shopping list includes items selected by the customer from the inventory of items. The method may further include receiving a request to checkout from the customer and, in response thereto, consummating a sale of the items in an electronic shopping cart by discounting a price of each item in the electronic shopping cart for which the customer holds coupons by an amount corresponding to the respective coupons. | 12-19-2013 |
20130339116 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A TRANSACTION SYSTEM - Systems and methods for determining transaction information for a purchase are provided. A system for determining transaction information for a purchase includes a processor having a user account module configured to receive order information associated with a user account. The order information is associated with a purchase and is received via the user account. The system also includes a payment module configured to receive payment information. The payment information does not identify the purchase, and does not identify the user account. The system also includes a token management module configured to determine that the payment information is associated with the purchase, and to determine transaction information associated with the purchase based on the order information and based on the payment information. The user account module is further configured to transmit at least a portion of the transaction information to the user account. | 12-19-2013 |
20130339117 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF INCENTIVIZING GIFTING - A system and method allows a consumer to gift an incentive and/or offer to a recipient, which can be applied to a transaction conducted by the recipient. The incentives are given and redeemed without requiring issuance or utilization of a gift card that is distinct from payment instruments (such as a debit or credit card) utilized by the recipient prior to receiving the incentive. Instead, the monetary value of the incentive given by the purchaser is transferred from an account owned by the purchaser to an intermediate account owned by a third party. When the recipient redeems the incentive, the monetary value of the incentive is automatically transferred from the intermediate account to an account owned by the recipient. In this manner, the purchaser does not have to give either a physical or virtual incentive card and hence, the incentive is not subject to gift card regulations. | 12-19-2013 |
20130346174 | COUPON STACKING FOR SCENARIOS INCLUDING SOCIAL NETWORKING - A transaction server may enable users to purchase goods and services from vendors, and may receive and fulfill coupons applied to the transactions. In some scenarios, the transaction server may only accept one coupon per transaction, or may accept multiple coupons for a transaction that are separately and independently applied to the transaction. However, in other scenarios, a coupon may alter the effect of another coupon on the transaction (e.g., doubling a discount presented by another coupon). Accordingly, the transaction server may be configured to apply a base coupon to the transaction, and alter the effect of the base coupon on the transaction according to an auxiliary coupon. In many such scenarios, the transaction may involve individuals in a social network (e.g., a user presenting the base coupon, and an individual in the user's social network presenting the auxiliary coupon in order to participate in the same transaction). | 12-26-2013 |
20130346175 | PROMOTION (E.G., COUPON, GIFT CARD) REDEMPTION AFTER PURCHASE COMPLETION - Methods and systems are provided for a user to redeem, even after a purchase (online or offline), any sort of promotional payment that may applied to a purchase, such as a coupon, gift card, reward, loyalty card, or other promotional payment or savings discount. The user may make payment to a merchant using a payment service. Many consumers forget to take a promotion—such as a coupon, gift card, loyalty card, or reward—to redeem at the time of purchase. Using the service, the consumer user may be able to redeem a promotion, e.g., coupon, for a purchase even after the purchase has been made, thus separating the purchase decision from the payment decision, and increasing user satisfaction. During the payment process using the service, the service provider may let the user decide which promotional payment (e.g., coupons, gift cards, rewards) to use, possibly subject to various limitations. | 12-26-2013 |
20130346176 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PAYMENT INCENTIVIZING - The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for incentivizing payment means. Specifically, this invention relates to a system and method for incentivizing the use of cash payments for completion of in person transactions. | 12-26-2013 |
20140006128 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PRESENTING OFFERS DURING A SHOPPING EXPERIENCE | 01-02-2014 |
20140006129 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MOBILE AND ONLINE PAYMENT SYSTEMS FOR PURCHASES RELATED TO MOBILE AND ONLINE PROMOTIONS OR OFFERS PROVIDED USING IMPRESSIONS TRACKING AND ANALYSIS, LOCATION INFORMATION, 2D AND 3D MAPPING, MOBILE MAPPING, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND USER BEHAVIOR AND INFORMATION FOR GENERATING MOBILE AND INTERNET POSTED PROMOTIONS OR OFFERS FOR, AND/OR SALES OF, PRODUCTS AND/OR SERVICES IN A SOCIAL NETWORK, ONLINE OR VIA A MOBILE DEVICE | 01-02-2014 |
20140006130 | Methods and Systems for Generating Dynamic Reward Currency Values | 01-02-2014 |
20140012647 | APPARATUS, METHODS, AND ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE FOR VIRTUAL CURRENCY TRANSACTIONS - In selected embodiments, a computer system implements a virtual currency that can be purchased using a variety of ways, including cash and foreign exchange; wire and similar transfers; trade in of various rewards, airline miles, and unused gift cards; as well as in other ways. Vendors can provide effective discounts and incentives through real time setting of exchange rates between the virtual currency and an existing currency such as legal tender (e.g., dollars), for using the virtual currencies in their stores. The incentive, the fee of the operator of the system, and additional available discounts/coupons may be provided at the point-of-sale. | 01-09-2014 |
20140012648 | System and Methods for Delivering Targeted Marketing Offers to Consumers Via an Online Portal - A system and methods for delivering targeted marketing offers to consumers during a session with an online (web-based) Internet portal, particularly suitable for online banking portals of financial institutions. An offer management system receives information corresponding to an advertising campaign of an advertiser corresponding to terms of a targeted marketing offer to be provided to a consumer accessing the online portal, and provides advertising campaign data corresponding to the targeted marketing offer and to an offer-triggering event to an offer placement system. An offer placement system receives the advertising campaign data, determines the occurrence of the offer-triggering event by a consumer during an online session with the online portal, and delivers information corresponding to the targeted marketing offer to the consumer. In response to the offer-triggering event, such as display of a list of transactions, the predetermined targeted marketing offer is delivered to the consumer during the online session. | 01-09-2014 |
20140019222 | COMBINING CREDIT CARD INFORMATION WITH PREFERRED PURCHASE INFORMATION - The present disclosure provides systems and methods for processing purchases, including obtaining a payment account identifier for a purchase; transmitting the payment account identifier to a financial institution; receiving a rewards account identifier associated with the payment account identifier; and transacting the purchase using the payment account identifier. The systems and methods may include associating the purchase with the rewards account identifier and applying a benefit associated with the rewards account identifier to the purchase. | 01-16-2014 |
20140025457 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DEAL REDEMPTION BY ELECTRONIC WALLET - A method for initiating a financial transaction on a mobile device includes: transmitting, by a transmitter, a wallet identifier associated with the mobile device; receiving, by a receiver, transaction information for a financial transaction to be initiated, wherein the transaction information includes at least a transaction amount; storing, in a database, at least one deal and a payment card, wherein each deal of the at least one deal includes at least a discount amount; receiving, via an input, an indication of a deal of the at least one deal to be applied to the financial transaction to be initiated; and initiating, by a processor, a financial transaction by transmitting an authorization request for the financial transaction, wherein the authorization request includes the payment card and is for a remaining amount, the remaining amount based on the transaction amount and the discount amount corresponding to the indicated deal. | 01-23-2014 |
20140025458 | OFFER SUBSTITUTION AT SETTLEMENT - Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for substituting an offer at the time of settlement of the offer. An exemplary method comprises determining a transaction associated with a financial institution account, wherein the transaction is associated with a first offer activated by a user of the financial institution account or automatically activated based on one or more pre-configured user preferences; determining, when processing the transaction, whether to substitute the first offer with a second offer, wherein the second offer is based on at least one of user information or account information associated with the user at the time of processing the transaction; and substituting the first offer with the second offer, wherein a rebate associated with the second offer is applied to the transaction. | 01-23-2014 |
20140025459 | APPLYING OFFERS TO PURCHASE TRANSACTIONS AT SETTLEMENT - Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for applying offer to purchase transactions at settlement. An exemplary apparatus is configured to determine at least one transaction associated with a user's financial institution account; and determine, when processing the at least one transaction, whether to apply at least one offer to the at least one transaction. The at least one offer enables the user's financial institution account to receive a discount or a rebate on the at least one transaction. The at least one offer was activated by the user or automatically activated based on one or more pre-configured user preferences. In some embodiments, the at least one offer is applied to the at least one transaction based on the least one transaction occurring during a predetermined period. | 01-23-2014 |
20140025460 | ENHANCED TRANSACTION PROCESSING - Methods, systems, and computer-executable instructions for automatically processing promotion redemptions are provided. An exemplary method includes receiving a request to authorize payment for a transaction using a customer account. The request identifies the customer account and the transaction is associated with at least one purchased product. The method includes selecting a promotion for the transaction based on the customer account and one or more rules. The amount of the transaction is adjusted based on the selected promotion. The method also includes transmitting an authorization for the adjusted transaction to the merchant. The method may also include selecting a promotion that has been pre-purchased by the customer. | 01-23-2014 |
20140025461 | ENHANCED TRANSACTION PROCESSING - Methods, systems, and computer-executable instructions for processing financial transactions are provided. An exemplary method includes receiving a request from a merchant to authorize payment for a transaction using a financial account of a customer. The request includes information about the transaction. The method further includes analyzing the transaction information based on a profile of the customer that is linked to the financial account and based on data pertaining to at least one other related transaction. Finally, the method includes generating a message about the transaction based on the analysis and transmitting the message to a recipient. | 01-23-2014 |
20140025462 | Promotion System And Method - A method of providing a buying incentive to a customer for the purchasing of at least one item of value, the method comprising the steps of: (a) advertising to a customer the option of buying at least one item in a series of the items of value, with predetermined special members of the series being able to be purchased for a special price, the special members being unknown to the user; (b) providing a user with the option to precommit to buying at least one of the items of value; (c) utilizing the series, including any predetermined special members having a special price, to determine the total cost to the customer of the purchase; and (d) fulfilling the purchasing requirements of the purchase. | 01-23-2014 |
20140025463 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING ELECTRONIC COMMERCE THROUGH PROVIDING CROSS-BENEFITS DURING A TRANSACTION - Accordingly some embodiments, a merchant server receives an indication of acceptance by a customer of an offer for a subsidy from a second merchant of a purchase of at least one item from a first merchant. The customer agrees to participate in an additional transaction with the second merchant in exchange for having the subsidy applied against the purchase from the first merchant. | 01-23-2014 |
20140025464 | SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND COMPUTER-PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR DETERMINING SHIPPING INCENTIVES - Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems, methods, and computer-program products for determining shipping incentives. In general, various embodiments of the invention involve applying a shipping incentive for a customer receiving inbound shipments from a plurality of parties based on increased inbound shipments received from such parties. Additional embodiments of the invention involve applying a shipping incentive to at least one customer based on increased shipments shipped to and/or received in a locale for a particular time period using a common carrier. In particular embodiments, the incentive may be a discount on a cost of shipping for the customer. In other embodiments, the incentive may be something else such as a preferred shipping service for the customer. | 01-23-2014 |
20140032295 | METHOD FOR FACILITATING THE ELECTRONIC PURCHASE OF GOODS OR SERVICES - Disclosed is a method for facilitating the electronic purchase of any product or a service. Specifically, the method provides a geolocated store for the electronic purchase of products and services that uses a merchant specified geofence to define the electronic offers that are promoted, performed, or otherwise presented to a viewer during an event, and in one embodiment at or near the moment the product or service is promoted, performed, or otherwise presented to the viewer. | 01-30-2014 |
20140039998 | ON DEMAND KIOSK COMMERCE SYSTEM AND METHOD - Described herein are an on demand kiosk commerce system and method. The on demand kiosk commerce system and method may include a Package Delivery Kiosk (PDK), associated front end and back end package delivery management systems, portals for the consumer and the retailer, portals for the common carrier, sender, and recipient, a package inventory management system, integrated retailer access, a real and automated retailer bidding system and a kiosk for distribution. | 02-06-2014 |
20140039999 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MERCHANTS TO CHARGE FEES TO BUYERS FOR CREDIT CARD AND DEBIT CARD TRANSACTIONS - System and method for calculating and applying surcharges or payment type fees to payment transactions. A calculation device receives pricing and payment information for a transaction, such as a credit or debit card transaction, and calculates a surcharge or payment type fee based upon the transaction costs that will apply if the transaction is completed. The transaction costs may be estimated by the calculation device or received from a payment network. | 02-06-2014 |
20140046744 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO APPLY VALUES FROM STORED VALUE ACCOUNTS TO PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS - A system includes a transaction handler configured to communicate with a first issuer processor to maintain a balance of a stored value account, store an offer in association with the stored value account and a consumer account that is under control of a second issuer processor, detect in the consumer account a transaction satisfying requirements of the offer, apply at least a portion of the balance of the stored value account to the transaction, determine a reduced transaction amount for the transaction after applying at least the portion of the balance of the stored value account to the transaction, and communicate with the second issuer processor for an authorization response for the transaction of the reduced transaction amount in the consumer account. | 02-13-2014 |
20140046745 | CONTINGENT PAYMENT SYSTEM - A method for providing contingent payments includes receiving, from a first user through a user device over a network, a contingent payment request. The contingent payment request is stored in a database. A contingent payment intent is provided on a user profile that is associated with the first user. The user profile is monitored. When it is determined that at least one contingent payment factor in the contingent payment request has been satisfied by a second user, funds are transferred from a user account associated with the first user to a merchant account in order to purchase a first product that is associated with the contingent payment request. In an embodiment, the second user may provide a coupon on the user profile that satisfies the at least one contingent payment factor and results in the purchase of the first product using the user account. | 02-13-2014 |
20140052520 | System and Method for Coordinating Purchases of Goods and Services - A method for coordinating purchases of goods or services comprises the steps of establishing a consumer group ( | 02-20-2014 |
20140052521 | CAMPAIGN REWARD SYSTEM IN COMMUNICATION WITH FINANCIAL INSTITUTION - A campaign offer system provides an offer using a mobile device. A service provider includes one or more servers with engines and attached storage. The service provider is configured to be in communication with a mobile application running on a user mobile device of a use. The service provider is in communication with an advertiser, a retailer and a financial institution. A retailer gateway is in communication with a retailer checkout system that has a unique identifier for each retailer checkout location captured by the mobile device. The unique identifier is transmitted to the service provider which effects transactions between the user and the retailer checkout system via the retailer gateway. The service provider invoices the advertiser for the offer with redemption information. | 02-20-2014 |
20140067502 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVISIONING A PRICE-DIFFERENTIATED PRODUCT WHILE DETERRING PIRACY - A method and apparatus for provisioning price-differentiated products while deterring piracy comprising creating a plurality of triples, wherein each triple comprises a first component, a second component, and a third component, wherein each triple uniquely identifies a price-differentiated product; providing to a vendor of the product a plurality of pairs, wherein each pair in the plurality of pairs comprises the first component and the second component of the triple for each price-differentiated product provided to the vendor; receiving the pair from the vendor when the product is sold; providing to a purchaser identification verifier the pair for the product that was sold; receiving from the purchaser identification verifier the second component of the triple upon verification of an identity of a purchaser; and providing product activation information to the identity verified purchaser in response to receiving the second component, wherein the activation information enables use of the product. | 03-06-2014 |
20140067503 | Systems and Methods to Identify Account Information and Customize Offers - A system and method is provided to allow a user to specify different merchant categories of transactions for offers that allow the user to receive different benefits for transactions in the respective merchant categories. | 03-06-2014 |
20140067504 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING WHETHER TO OFFER A REWARD AT A POINT OF RETURN - Computerized decision-making systems and methods are described for determining whether to provide one or more rewards, such as a coupon or instant discount, to a customer requesting to make a merchandise return at a store, and, if so, to determine the terms of the reward, such as value, expiration date/time and other terms that may be associated with a coupon. The reward determinations may be implemented in conjunction with a system for authorizing the requested merchandise return transaction. Information about the requested return may be used together with data about the customer's past purchase, return transactions, and other customer-related data. In some embodiments, the determinations are based, at least in part, on store-related information and policies. The reward may be printed with a receipt issued to the customer at the point of return and/or may be provided to the customer using a wide variety of other communications technologies. | 03-06-2014 |
20140074576 | PUBLIC ONLINE ENVIRONMENT FOR DEVELOPING DATA-RICH APPLICATIONS - Techniques are described herein that are capable of facilitating development of data-rich applications. A data-rich application is an application (e.g., a software application) that is configured to perform an analysis of data (e.g., structured data, unstructured data, or a combination thereof) and to provide information based on the analysis. In accordance with the aforementioned techniques, a public online environment may be provided in which application developers are allowed to access representative samples of data owned by data owners at a substantially reduced cost (e.g., free) to facilitate development of the data-rich applications. | 03-13-2014 |
20140081729 | Systems and Methods for Providing Consumer Discounts - A method of managing a system for providing a discount is disclosed. The system includes obtaining payment instruments at a discount to their face value from a number of merchants and providing the user with a product to utilize these payment instruments. At the time the user purchases goods and/or services and in response to the user actions, the user account is associated with payment instruments to cover at least a portion of the total amount of purchase. The user is charged for the provided payment instruments and then can redeem them for at least a portion of the total amount of purchase. If a balance remains, the user is informed about it. A communication is sent to the user about the details of transaction. | 03-20-2014 |
20140081730 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A BENEFIT DURING A TRANSACTION FOR USE DURING A LATER TRANSACTION - A method and apparatus for allowing a customer to purchase or otherwise receive a benefit during a first transaction that will be redeemed by the customer or provided to the customer at a later time or during a future transaction for the purchase, rental, lease, etc. of one or more products and/or services. The price to the customer for the benefit may be a monetary amount, a non-monetary amount, a commitment by the customer to complete or perform some obligation or qualifying action. The value of the benefit to the customer may be based on one or more aspects or characteristics of the first transaction. | 03-20-2014 |
20140081731 | NON INTRUSIVE SYSTEM & METHOD FOR REAL TIME TRANSACTIONAL DATA CAPTURE - The invention described here relates to an automated system and method to extract selective information from a store receipt and/or to insert selective information into a store receipt in real time without altering the existing store level transaction processing system and process. Since data capture and insertion can be accomplished without replacing or interfering with the existing systems in the store, this technology serves as the foundation to deliver all of the above capabilities within a single solution. Further, it allows retailers to gain revenue by offering space on their receipts to print customized advertisements for other businesses. | 03-20-2014 |
20140095284 | USING UPGRADE OPTIONS TO PROVIDE PRICE DIFFERENTIATION FOR TRAVEL PRODUCTS - The disclosed embodiments provide a system that facilitates a purchase of a travel product. Upon receiving a commitment to purchase the travel product from a first supplier by a buyer, the system presents the buyer with a first upgrade option of a first premium travel product from a second supplier. If the buyer accepts the first upgrade option, the system processes the purchase with the first premium travel product. If the buyer declines the first upgrade option, the system processes the purchase with the travel product. | 04-03-2014 |
20140100930 | REDEMPTION RECORDATION AND VERIFICATION - The collection of voucher redemption information may reduce instances of redemption error or redemption fraud, which benefits both consumers and merchants. The collection of voucher redemption information may involve a service receiving a selection of a voucher for redemption from an application on an electronic device, in which the voucher was previously acquired by a consumer through a deal offered by a merchant. The service may subsequently direct the application to acquire a credential to complete the redemption of the voucher. In various instances, the credential may be a merchant confirmation credential of the merchant or a consumer redemption credential of the consumer. The service may receive the credential from the application on the electronic device, and store a record of the voucher redemption for the voucher in a voucher redemption database, in which the record includes the credential. | 04-10-2014 |
20140100931 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING BILL PAYMENT FUNCTIONALITY IN MOBILE COMMERCE - The disclosure relates to systems and methods for facilitating bill payment functionality in mobile commerce. In one embodiment, a method can include receiving a transaction code at the mobile device; transmitting the transaction code to a merchant device for association with a transaction; receiving transaction information associated with a transaction based on the transaction code at the mobile device; displaying the transaction information at the mobile device; displaying at least one payment option at the mobile device; receiving a selection of one of the at least one payment option; transmitting the selected payment option and transaction information from the mobile device for approval of the payment of the transaction; receiving notification of approval of the payment at the mobile device; and receiving a payment completion code associated with the notification of approval, wherein the payment completion code is provided to the consumer on a bill associated with the transaction. | 04-10-2014 |
20140114735 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING A FINANCIAL CONDITION ALGORITHM TO PROCESS PURCHASES AND ADVERTISEMENTS - The system provides a probability of loan default to a purchaser to aid in purchase decision making and financial planning. A user creates an account with a purchasing system prior to purchasing a product and/or service. The user receives an indication of a purchasing transaction of a product by the user. Prior to completion of the purchasing transaction, the system performs an analysis of a loan default probability or financial condition of the user presented as an analysis. The system presents an interactive notice to the user indicating that the loan default probability or financial condition is above a threshold and receives from the user via the interactive notice one of an indication to complete or discontinue the purchasing transaction. | 04-24-2014 |
20140122202 | MANAGING VENDOR OFFERS - A system, method, and computer-readable media are described for facilitating management of vendor offers. In one embodiment, at least a portion of an electronic fundraising card is presented, for example, via a display screen of a mobile device. The electronic fundraising card includes a plurality of offers associated with a vendor that are accessible by a mobile device. Subsequently, an indication to utilize an offer provided on the electronic fundraising card is received. Upon redeeming the offer, an indication that the offer is unavailable is provided. | 05-01-2014 |
20140122203 | SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR PROVIDING A MULTI-MERCHANT ELECTRONIC SHOPPING CART FOR A SHOPPING SERVICE - A system, method, and computer program are provided for providing a multi-merchant electronic shopping cart within a web browser. The shopping cart can be used at a plurality of unrelated merchant shopping sites and remains within the browser regardless of the displayed website. When a user selects the shopping cart, a user interface is displayed with information about a product on the website without navigating to a new webpage. If the product has options, the user is able to select for the options via the user interface. The user is also able to save products from a plurality of shopping sites to the shopping cart or purchase products from the shopping cart at one time. For each product to be purchased, a purchase transaction is conducted, on behalf of the user, with the merchant associated with the website from which the user added the product to the shopping cart. | 05-01-2014 |
20140122204 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING DIGITAL BUNDLING SERVICES TO MULTIPLE USERS AT DISCOUNTED PRICES - Systems and methods are disclosed for aggregating digital services in a bundle for a user. In accordance with one implementation, a method includes displaying, on a device of the user, a plurality of available digital services, the plurality of available digital services being implemented by more than one service provider. The method also includes receiving, from the user, a selection of a set of services from the plurality of available digital services. In addition, the method includes providing, by at least one processor, a bundle to enable the user to access and use the set of selected services. | 05-01-2014 |
20140122205 | MANAGEMENT OF COUPONS USED FOR PURCHASING ITEMS OF GOODS - A coupon issuing system and a method for managing coupons used for purchasing items of goods. A coupon issuing device receives a request from a user for a coupon pertaining to purchasing an item of goods. The coupon issuing device issues to the user ticket information corresponding to the item. The ticket information includes a coupon identifier (ID) that identifies a coupon for purchasing the item, information pertaining to the user, and a current discount for discounting the item's purchase price. A coupon issuance control server receives notification that the user has exercised the coupon for purchasing the item. The coupon issuance control server transmits a calculated number of remaining exercisable coupons to an advertising contents management server to facilitate display of the number of remaining exercisable coupons to users requesting coupons for purchase of the item. | 05-01-2014 |
20140122206 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING TRANSACTIONS WITH A PORTABLE COMPUTING DEVICE - A method and system include verifying credentials for gaining access to a transactional controller with the portable computing device. The transactional controller may receive a merchant identifier corresponding to a merchant and then it may compare the merchant identifier against loyalty account data stored in a database. The transactional controller may also receive product scan data and compare the product scan data against one of offer data and coupon data in a database. After these comparisons, any matches of product scan data to offer data or coupon data may be sent to the PCD and the POS controller. Similarly, any matches of the merchant identifier to loyalty account data may be transmitted to the POS controller. During or after the purchase transaction, a message may be generated by the transaction controller which lists one or more preferred payment options that may be selected using the PCD to complete a purchase. | 05-01-2014 |
20140122207 | VIRTUAL COUPONING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE WITH CONSUMER KIOSK - A method and apparatus for distributing, generating, and redeeming discount Virtual Coupons™, rebate or gift certificates or the like which may be used on conjunction with a frequency card program or the like. Virtual Coupons™ may be distributed electronically, for example, in the form of a diskette or CD-ROM software. Software on the diskette or CD-ROM may prompt a consumer to call a 1-800 number for a validation number or code. During the phone call, telemarketing personnel may request consumer demographic and or identification information which may be entered into a centralized database. Once the software is validated, a consumer may print out a list selected Virtual Coupons™ displayed on a Graphical User Interface (GUI). When a product is purchased, the UPC code of the product may be compared electronically with a list of Virtual Coupons™ authorized for a particular consumer. An appropriate coupon discount may then be applied and the Virtual Coupon™ may be considered “redeemed”. Once redeemed, consumer ID information and Virtual Coupon™ information may be retrieved electronically and used to update a central database. Accurate data may then be produced illustrating which consumers or groups of consumers are redeeming which Virtual Coupons™. Such data may be used for marketing purposes or to generated further diskettes for distribution targeting specific consumers or groups of consumers with specific classes of Virtual Coupon™ offerings. The use of Virtual Coupons™ eliminates or reduces fraud, and allows a frequency card discount to be applied only a limited number of times. | 05-01-2014 |
20140129311 | SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING - An incentive option is presented in an e-commerce shopping cart that includes transaction information corresponding to a transaction. A user selection of the incentive option is received and a social media action option is presented. An indication of an available incentive associated with the social media action option. Upon receiving a user selection of the social media action option, a social media incentive service facilitates the social media action and application of the available incentive. | 05-08-2014 |
20140129312 | PROMOTING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES VIA AN ACTIVITY STREAM - Techniques for promoting products and services in an activity stream are presented. A message publishing module provides a means for specifying different member-interest buttons to be presented in connection with messages published to the activity or content streams of members of a social network service, where such messages relate to specific products and/or services of a company. The social network service detects which members interact or select the various member-interest buttons, and in connection with which specific products and services. This information is then provided to authorized administrators or representatives of the company, and made available as member-targeting criteria for targeting members with subsequent messages that may include promotional content (e.g., offers, coupons, etc.) for specific products and services. | 05-08-2014 |
20140156370 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROCESSING COUPONS OVER A PAYMENT PROCESSING NETWORK - A system of electronically requesting, generating and processing a coupon over a payment processing network is provided. During a sales transaction, a purchaser at a point of sale (POS) terminal provides a customer identifier using a card with a magnetic stripe which is read by a magnetic card reader and then transmitted across the payment processing network along with product identifiers on the products being purchased. The customer identifier includes a banking identification number (BIN) which is read by a first server in the payment processing network and then forwarded to a coupon server. The coupon server uses the customer identifier and product identifier to select any coupons that are available for use by the purchaser and transmits the coupons back to the POS terminal, where the coupons are applied to the sales transaction. | 06-05-2014 |
20140172530 | Real time on-demand coupon delivery during shopping - The present invention provides a method, system and program product for real time on-demand coupon delivery during shopping. Consumers use built-in cameras or NFC-reader functionalities of their mobile devices to act on the tags of products they are interested in. The coupon client applications in their mobile devices capture, save and process data in the tags of products, create requests for coupons, send requests with data in the tags of products to coupon servers, fetch responses from coupon servers, save coupons in their mobile devices, and present coupons for products during checkout. | 06-19-2014 |
20140172531 | PERFORMING TRANSACTIONS USING QR CODES - Embodiments are directed to performing transactions using a quick response (QR) code, and to directly purchasing items from a seller using a QR code. In one scenario, a computer system receives, from a purchaser, an indication of items that are to be purchased using a mobile wallet application, and determines a total price for those items. The computer system then receives a tokenized QR code that includes embedded account information for the purchaser. The computer system generates a second tokenized QR code that includes encrypted account information for the seller, along with encrypted account information for the purchaser and the determined total price for the items that are to be purchased, and sends the second tokenized QR code to a transaction processing node where the money is transferred. The computer system then receives an electronic receipt indicating that the money was transferred from the purchaser's account to the seller's account. | 06-19-2014 |
20140188586 | TOKENIZATION AND THIRD-PARTY INTERACTION - Processing of a transaction involving one or more third-parties and offers is described. Certain embodiments allow for suspending a received authorization request message which includes a transaction amount and a token mapped to a primary account number. One or more third-parties may be queried for an offer or discount eligible towards the transaction. The authorization request message may be adjusted to reflect one or more eligible offers from the one or more third-parties. The authorization request message may also be adjusted to replace the token with the mapped PAN. The authorization request message may then be sent to an issuer for further processing. | 07-03-2014 |
20140195319 | ONLINE MARKETPLACE WITH SHIPPING INCENTIVES - A marketplace server and method for facilitating purchase transactions are provided. A marketplace server may include a routing engine configured to receive an order for goods from a first computing device associated with a first customer, with the order including a first delivery address of the customer. The routing engine also calculates a delivery route to the first delivery address. An offer engine is configured to create an offer for other goods. The offer includes a shipping incentive associated with a second delivery address of a second customer. The offer may be targeted to the second customer based on a proximity of the second delivery address to the delivery route. The offer engine sends the offer to a second computing device associated with the second customer. Upon receiving an acceptance of the offer from the computing device, the offer engine processes a purchase transaction for the offer. | 07-10-2014 |
20140200976 | Transferable Indicia and Display - Aspects of the invention may include methods and systems for conducting a transaction utilizing an indicia associated with goods or services, the indicia initially provided to an originating party by an originating merchant, but wherein the indicia may be used in a transaction at a providing merchant by an obtaining party, the transaction conducted amongst a central processor, one or more merchants that may include the originating merchant and the providing merchant, and one or more parties that may include the originating party and the obtaining party. The method may include steps such as: receiving the indicia from the providing merchant; determining whether the indicia is valid, the goods or services associated with the indicia, whether the providing merchant is the originating merchant, whether the obtaining party is the originating party, and determining a transaction price for the indicia. | 07-17-2014 |
20140200977 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING CODES THAT MAY BE REDEEMED FOR VALUE - Some embodiments of the invention enable users to manage codes which may be redeemed for value. For example, some embodiments provide systems and methods for automatically identifying a code communicated to a user which is redeemable for value, and adding the code to an inventory maintained for the user. When the user later shops at a site which allows a code to be redeemed for value, some embodiments of the invention may automatically detect when the user has navigated to a page on the site which allows redemption of the code, and may make the user aware that the code may be redeemed on the page. If the user opts to redeem the code, the field on the page into which the code is to be input may be automatically identified, and the code may be automatically input into that field. | 07-17-2014 |
20140200978 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USE IN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE - Some embodiments of the invention enable users to manage codes which may be redeemed for value. For example, some embodiments provide systems and methods for automatically identifying a code communicated to a user which is redeemable for value, and adding the code to an inventory maintained for the user. When the user later shops at a site which allows a code to be redeemed for value, some embodiments of the invention may automatically detect when the user has navigated to a page on the site which allows redemption of the code, and may make the user aware that the code may be redeemed on the page. If the user opts to redeem the code, the field on the page into which the code is to be input may be automatically identified, and the code may be automatically input into that field. | 07-17-2014 |
20140200979 | INFORMATION PROVIDING DEVICE, INFORMATION PROVIDING METHOD, INFORMATION PROVIDING PROGRAM, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - A price which is applied when a user who receives information of a product is assumed to order this product is provided. An information providing device acquires a quantity which the user is expected to order as to a product specified in response to a request from the user, acquires a price of the product for which sale is determined according to an order quantity corresponding to a sum of the acquired quantity and a quantity of the specified product ordered so far, from a combination of the price of the product and the order quantity, and outputs the acquired price. | 07-17-2014 |
20140200980 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MEDIATING TRANSACTIONS AMONG A PLURALITY OF SOCIAL COMMERCE BUSINESSES - A system and method for mediating transactions among a plurality of social commerce businesses, which enable social commerce businesses to provide one large social commerce community and mediate transactions among the businesses to thereby provide a sound social commerce market in which the businesses compensate for weak points and achieve win-win results and enable transactions with overseas as well as domestic social commerce businesses. An embodiment of the transaction mediation computer converts specifications related to transactions to the format required by or suitable for a relevant social commerce businesses and provides the format such that transactions may be performed regardless of the nationality of the social commerce businesses, and accesses an electronic customs procedure computer and computers of domestic and overseas delivery companies so as to control the customs procedure and domestic and overseas delivery process. | 07-17-2014 |
20140207550 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS OF PROVIDING TRANSACTION TERMS OFFERS IN REAL TIME - A method of providing a consumer with different transaction terms offers for performing a potential financial transaction. The method comprises identifying a potential financial transaction between a retailer and a consumer, identifying a plurality of payment methods which are available to the consumer for performing the potential financial transaction, acquiring a plurality of transaction terms offers for performing the potential financial transaction each using another of the plurality of payment methods, and outputting respective the plurality of transaction terms offers for presentation to the consumer. | 07-24-2014 |
20140207551 | COOKIELESS ECOMMERCE PLATFORM - The present disclosure is directed to an improved cookieless ecommerce platform. The proposed approach involves receiving a confirmation of an order for the purchase of an item initiated by a platform member to a platform partner. The order includes at least one of an assigned e-mail address and a social community user id. The platform scans communications to/from the platform member to the partner to determine when a communication involves a request for an order, and based on the scanning, determines when a member is entitled to a cashback or similar reward. | 07-24-2014 |
20140214512 | INCENTIVIZING MEDIA STATION USERS - Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for incentivizing users to create custom media stations. To incentivize users to create custom media stations, user can be granted rewards for meeting specified rewards conditions. Rewards conditions can be based on the user creating a custom media station as well as the performance of the user's custom media stations. Rewards granted to users as well as the size of the rewards can vary depending on various factors. Rewards can include any variety of possible rewards such as monetary rewards, credits to purchase items, uninterrupted media station play, etc. A countdown timer indicating the remaining amount of uninterrupted media station play can be presented during the uninterrupted media station play. The countdown timer can be replaced with a message indicating that the uninterrupted media play has been exhausted upon the remaining amount of uninterrupted media station play time expiring. | 07-31-2014 |
20140214513 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CARD LINKED REWARD ACCOUNT - A system and method for a user to have a credit card, debit card, or stored value card that is linked to their reward points account in such a way as to permit them to pay for purchases with a merchant by using the card, wherein the merchant uses the existing credit card payment infrastructure as if payment were being made/authorized by a bank linked to the credit card or debit card account, but in fact the card is linked to the user's reward points account. In this manner, the user and merchant can use the reward points account to pay for purchases in a seamless manner whereby reward points are used for consideration rather than or as a supplement to cash and traditional credit. | 07-31-2014 |
20140222533 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO USE TRANSACTION AUTHORIZATION COMMUNICATIONS TO PROCESS INDIVIDUALIZED OFFERS - An individualized price offer is associated with the account information of a user in a data warehouse coupled with a transaction handler of a payment processing network. If the individualized price offer is applicable for a pre-authorization of a purchase, information about the price offer is communicated to a transaction terminal via an authorization response for the pre-authorization. The transaction terminal is configured to adjust the published price in accordance with the information about the price offer such that the user is presented with an individualized price at the transaction terminal before the user starts receiving the product or service. After the purchase, the transaction terminal computes the transaction amount according to the individualized price and request clearing and settlement of the transaction according to the transaction amount computed according to the individualized price. | 08-07-2014 |
20140222534 | MOBILE CONTENT CREATION, SHARING, AND COMMERCE IN A GEO-SPATIAL ENVIRONMENT - A method, apparatus, and system of a mobile content creation, sharing, and commerce in a geo-spatial environment are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes communicating a positioning data of the mobile device to a server at a periodic interval, automatically generating in the mobile device, in response to the server, a present location profile associated with a present geographic location of the mobile device, simultaneously generating, in the mobile device, a set of adjacent profiles provided by the server as being a direction away from the present geographic location of the mobile device and refreshing, in the mobile device, the present location profile and the set of adjacent profiles at the periodic interval. The method may include automatically attaching a present sense data in the present location profile when a user selects a capture function in the present location profile. | 08-07-2014 |
20140222535 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CARD MARKETING USING EXPENDITURE DETAILS OF AN INDIVIDUAL - The present invention relates to a method and a system for card marketing which collect benefit information about member stores of various financial cards, such as credit and debit cards, used for payment from all of the affiliated card companies and manage the collected benefit information, calculate the quantity of benefits for each card with respect to expenditure details of a financial card, cash, and banking of an individual in each member store without discriminating a company's own card from cards from other companies and recommend an optimum card having the largest benefits, and connect the card benefit information to an advertisement or induce the individual to be issued a new card, thereby effectively accomplishing card marketing. | 08-07-2014 |
20140236693 | SERVER-BASED PRODUCT SUBSTANTIATION WITH LOCAL FILTERING SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system and method is presented for product substantiation and promotion redemption. A purchased product list is transmitted from a retail store system to a promotion analysis server along with a user identifier. The promotion analysis server identifies promotions available to the user, and then considers whether the benefits under the promotions are still available to the user. Discounts for available promotions related to the purchased product list are calculated and transmitted to the retail store system for deduction from the transactions. An approved product list can be provided that filters the purchased product list before transmittal. The approved product list can include promotions from a plurality of programs. | 08-21-2014 |
20140236694 | SYSTEM AND A METHOD FOR PURCHASING ELECTRONIC VOUCHERS - A system for purchasing electronic vouchers is disclosed. The system comprises a plurality of kiosk terminals ( | 08-21-2014 |
20140244369 | WISH LIST PRODUCT AVAILABILITY NOTIFICATION FOR A SOCIAL NETWORK-BASED WISH LIST - Systems, methods, and computer program products provide for generating a social network-based wish list of products desired by members of the social network and which are authorized to be purchased by other members of the social network on behalf of the member requesting the product. The present invention provides for automatically notifying a member of the social network that they are currently located at physical location, such as a retail store or the like, that currently has available one or more of the products on the wish list. The notifications may take the form of alerts communicated on the member's mobile communication device. Automatic notification occurs via a mobile communication device that is capable of identifying current location, determining that the current location has products available, and determine that one or more of the products currently available at the location are currently listed on the wish list. | 08-28-2014 |
20140244370 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCT REDEMPTION COUPONS - Provided is a method and system for the electronic distribution of product redemption coupons to remote personal computers located at users' homes. A centrally located repository, such as an online service provider or web site on the Internet, stores packages of coupon data for downloading on demand to the user's computer. The user may view, select, sort and print desired coupons from the downloaded package. The user's demographic as well as coupon selection data is provided back to the online service and coupon distributor and issuers for subsequent marketing analysis. The online service can perform subsequent coupon processing on previously downloaded coupon packages such as variation of discount amounts. The online service provider can also determine how many times a particular coupon was viewed. When the printed coupons are presented at a retail store, the discount is provided to the user. Upon redemption by the store via a coupon redeeming center, transaction data is also supplied to the coupon issuers and distributor for integration into marketing analysis. The electronic coupon system is secure due to the inclusion of user-specific identification indicia printed thereon. | 08-28-2014 |
20140244371 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ISSUING, AGGREGATING AND REDEEMING MERCHANT REWARDS - A loyalty reward point system that utilizes the pre-existing infrastructure of a network such as a credit card network. A user makes a purchase at a merchant using a token such as a credit card. The user is awarded loyalty points from the merchant based on the amount of the purchase. The reward points, which are specific to the merchant and the user, are stored in a database at the issuing bank, the acquiring bank, or a central reward server. The user may redeem the reward points earned from the transaction with the merchant at a later time, or may redeem the points with another merchant in the same marketing cluster, or may aggregate those reward points with those of other merchants into a reward point exchange account, and then redeem the aggregated reward points for goods or services from any approved merchant on the network. | 08-28-2014 |
20140249904 | Systems and Methods for Managing a Virtual Card Based on Geographical and Balance Information - The invention is directed to systems and methods for using a virtual gift card having an associated value, operable on a mobile device having a processor and memory, the mobile device linked to a virtual gift card manager, the method including: identifying a geographic identifier for the mobile device; matching the geographic identifier with at least one virtual gift card stored on the mobile device; determining an amount of value associated with the at least one virtual gift card; identifying any offers or promotions redeemable with the amount of value; displaying the at least one virtual gift card, the amount of value, and any offers or promotions on the mobile device; and selectively enabling a transaction utilizing the virtual gift card, the transaction based at least in part on the any offers or promotions, the transaction including a manipulation of value associated with the at least one virtual gift card. | 09-04-2014 |
20140249905 | METHOD FOR HANDLING ELECTRONIC VOUCHERS - The invention refers to a method for handling electronic coupons, particularly in the retail and/or service industry, whereby a mobile terminal device, particularly a mobile phone or smartphone is used to pay cashless for one or several products and/or services—products—at a pay terminal, whereby the data to execute the payment process/the payment are preferably transmitted wirelessly between the mobile terminal device and the payment terminal via near field communication (NFC), whereby a receipt with regard to the paid products is transmitted to the mobile terminal device, whereby using the receipt information on the receipt the mobile terminal device preferably sends a request to the central database, whereby the database processes the request, whereby the database provides an electronic coupon for a coupon product depending on the receipt information transmitted in the request and whereby the electronic coupon is automatically redeemed when paying for the coupon product. | 09-04-2014 |
20140257955 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR APPLYING PROMOTIONS TO PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS - A method for applying promotion codes to a payment transaction using a computing device is provided. The computing device includes a promotion application in communication with a server. The payment transaction includes a purchase made by a cardholder using a payment card over a payment card network. The method includes providing, by the promotion application, promotion data to the computing device, wherein the promotion data includes a merchant participating in the payment card network, a promotion program offered by the merchant, and promotion codes associated with the promotion program. The method further includes displaying the at least one promotion program on the computing device, receiving a selection of the at least one promotion program from the cardholder using the computing device, and sending the promotion codes associated with the selected promotion program to the server for a payment transaction that corresponds to the selected promotion program. | 09-11-2014 |
20140257956 | COUPON CODE REDEMPTION - Coupon code redemption and/or administration is contemplated. The coupon code administration may be performed by temporarily using specific codes in place of coupon codes. The specific code may be beneficial in restricting access to the coupon codes and/or swaying consumers to redeem coupon codes through certain service provider infrastructures. The specific code may be provided to a website when purchasing a product and replaced prior to purchase confirmation with the actual coupon code required for redemption. | 09-11-2014 |
20140278875 | GROUP BUYING SYSTEMS AND RELATED METHODS - Various embodiments of group buying systems are described. The system enables users to form groups and designate a common delivery/pickup location (e.g., a single home or office), where group members may have their packages delivered. The system also may be configured to suggest that group members make group purchases (e.g., some or all group members by the same or similar items) and may facilitate of aggregation of packages for delivery to the designated common delivery/pickup location. | 09-18-2014 |
20140297381 | COMPLEX PAYMENT SYSTEM USING A PORTABLE TERMINAL, AND COMPLEX PAYMENT METHOD - Disclosed are a complex payment system using a portable terminal, and a complex payment method. According to the present invention, a portable terminal such as a smartphone or a vendor server may analyze and display an optimum payment condition containing a minimum payment amount using bonus information such as card information, discount information, membership point information, or coupon information when a user pays, thus preventing personal information leakage and enabling the user to pay a minimum amount by means of his/her credit card using the bonus information. | 10-02-2014 |
20140304049 | CONSOLIDATED ELECTRONIC VOUCHER REDEMPTION AND PAYMENT METHOD AND APPARATUS - A system, method, and computer-readable storage medium configured to consolidate redemption of electronic vouchers with electronic payments into a single transaction. | 10-09-2014 |
20140304050 | PARTNER LINKAGE METHOD AND APPARATUS - A system, method, and computer-readable storage medium configured to link electronic voucher offers with complementary voucher offers and consolidate redemption of electronic vouchers with electronic payments into a single transaction. | 10-09-2014 |
20140304051 | INTEGRATION OF WIC ITEMS AND TRANSACTIONS INTO PERSONAL SHOPPING DEVICES - A method, computer program product, and point of sale system provide access to discounts and other benefits during shopping. The method includes receiving an input of a user identifier (ID) or a Women, Infants and Children (WIC) ID and identifying that the associated user is a recipient of specific benefits. The method also includes displaying a graphical interface that provides a subsidized list and an out-of-pocket list to visually communicate benefits available under a subsidy program to the user. The method further includes displaying an option to claim or refuse a benefit with respect to each individual product in the subsidized list. In response to receiving a user input to refuse to claim the benefit for a selected individual product, the method provides for moving the selected individual product from the subsidized list to the out-of-pocket list and displaying the selected individual product within the out-of-pocket list. | 10-09-2014 |
20140304052 | COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION MANAGEMENT DEVICE, COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION MANAGEMENT METHOD, COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM FOR RECORDING SAME PROGRAM - A commercial transaction management device includes a coupon creation control unit that receives a coupon issuance request containing sales terms when purchasing a plurality of items together from one user, a determination unit that determines whether to accept the sales terms based on information from a shop related to the items, and an issuance unit that issues an electronic coupon when it is determined to accept the sales terms. This enables an offer of a coupon that matches a desire of one user. In addition, the commercial transaction management device further includes a purchase receiving unit that receives a purchase order of a plurality of items with the sales terms from another user having received an offer of the coupon from one user, and therefore other users can also purchase a plurality of items with the sales terms contained in the coupon. | 10-09-2014 |
20140310081 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM - An information processing apparatus includes a first information processing unit, a presenting unit, an accepting unit, and a second information processing unit. The first information processing unit performs first information processing for providing a user with a service. The presenting unit presents a question to the user. The accepting unit accepts an answer to the question from the user. The second information processing unit performs second information processing regarding a charge for the service. The second information processing unit performs, as the second information processing, processing for collecting a determined charge for the service from the user in a case where the accepting unit does not accept an answer from the user. The second information processing unit performs, as the second information processing, processing for discounting the determined charge or processing for not collecting the determined charge in a case where the accepting unit accepts an answer from the user. | 10-16-2014 |
20140316874 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING RELATIVE PRICE POINT INCENTIVES BASED UPON PRIOR CUSTOMER PURCHASE BEHAVIOR - The invention provides a system, computer program, and method for generating price point based incentives comprising determining a category specific price point ( | 10-23-2014 |
20140324560 | REMOTE TRANSACTION PROCESSING OF A TICKET - A method and system for conducting an online payment transaction through a point of sale device. The method includes receiving input from a user selecting an item for purchase through the point of sale device; calculating a total purchase amount for the item in response to a request from the user to purchase the item; and sending payment authorization for the total purchase amount from the point of sale device to a payment entity, in which the payment authorization is sent to the payment entity via a mobile communication device of the user. The method further includes receiving a result of the payment authorization from the payment entity through the mobile communication device; and completing the payment transaction based on the result of the payment authorization. | 10-30-2014 |
20140324561 | METHOD FOR OPERATING A TRADING PLATFORM, TRADING PLATFORM, COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT, AND COMPUTER SYSTEM - The invention relates to a method for operating a trading platform for selling goods using a computer system, the computer system including a communication interface configured for the exchange of information between users and the computer system via at least one communication network, a memory unit for storing information associated with a good to be sold, and a price variation unit, connected to the memory unit and the communication interface, for varying a price associated with the good as a function of time, based on a parameterized price function. The invention further relates to a trading platform, a computer program product, and a computer system. | 10-30-2014 |
20140330626 | SINGLE TAP TRANSACTIONS USING A MOBILE APPLICATION WITH AUTHENTICATION - The invention describes how a consumer can hold their NFC enabled device in proximity to an NFC enabled point-of-sale terminal and with a single “wave” or “tap” to automatically redeem coupons, pay for a purchase using a default payment card or a selected card, view receipts view reward point balances, and receive relevant coupons and other digital artifacts both before and after the purchase. The NFC enabled device includes a secure element with a payment application, payment credentials, and other digital artifacts such as coupons. The secure element can be internal to the mobile device, externally affixed to the mobile device, or inserted into a slot within the body of the mobile device. | 11-06-2014 |
20140330627 | Payables Bidding System - A buyer-centric payables bidding method, system, and computer-implemented program instructions are disclosed. The payables bidding system facilitates the discounting of vouchered payables through an online bid process. In the online auction process, suppliers of goods and/or services bid on the right to collect vouchered payments from buyer before the previously agreed “due date” of those payments. The online bid is defined as the discounted amount a supplier is willing to accept in exchange for obtaining prompt payment on a vouchered payment. | 11-06-2014 |
20140337112 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CREATING AND SHARING PRODUCT ENSEMBLES WITH AN ELECTRONIC PIN BOARD WALL - A method and system for creating and sharing product ensembles between a portable computing device (“PCD”) and a pin board wall includes receiving product scan data for a product and displaying a visual representation of the product on a display of a PCD as part of a product ensemble. A product ensemble includes two or more products grouped together. Next, a command to transfer the product ensemble from a PCD to a pin board wall may be received. A pin board wall may comprise a display that is generally larger than the display of the PCD. Data for the product ensemble may then be transferred over a communications network from the PCD to the pin board wall. The transferred product ensemble is then displayed on the pin board wall. A command may also be received to transfer the product ensemble from the pin board wall to another PCD. | 11-13-2014 |
20140337113 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SELLING INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL TICKETS IN COMBINATION WITH DUTY FREE GOODS - A method and apparatus for selling a combination of travel tickets and consumer items to customers and, in particular, for selling international travel tickets and duty free items to international travelers. By acquiring surplus international travel tickets in bulk at discounted prices and by selling the duty free items in a way which avoids the overhead typically associated with such sales, the selling merchant is able to offer the combination of an international travel ticket and a duty free item to a consumer at a price below what the consumer would pay if the consumer separately acquired the ticket and duty free item from third parties. In one implementation, the selling merchant offers the consumer a free duty free item upon purchase of an international travel ticket, or vice versa. In a preferred embodiment, both the consumer and the selling merchant employ computers communicating over a computer network to carry out the inventive method. | 11-13-2014 |
20140344040 | TRANSACTION LINKED MERCHANT DATA COLLECTION - A system, method, and software product as provided for obtaining details on merchant data from customers purchasing goods or services at a merchant with a payment instrument. After customers make purchases at merchants, a server associated with a payment instrument network or payment issuing bank sends a message in the form of a signal to open an application, an SMS, an e-mail, an electronic bank statement, or other electronic means to the customer offering the customer the opportunity to provide details on merchant data on the merchant where the purchase was just made, including the name and address of the merchant where the purchase was just made. The customer may be offered various rewards for providing of details on merchant data, with more valuable prizes rewarded for hard-to-obtain details on merchant data. The payment instrument network and payment issuing bank are thus presented with the opportunity to mine data in a crowdsourced manner from a number of consumers who have just purchased goods from a merchant. | 11-20-2014 |
20140344041 | TRIGGERED MOBILE CHECKOUT APPLICATION - A device may determine that a user device has detected an event that triggers the user device to execute a mobile checkout application associated with a retail store. The device may provide, to the user device, information that identifies a promotion associated with an item at the retail store. The device may receive, from the user device, item information that identifies the item. The device may provide, to the user device, checkout information associated with purchasing the item. The checkout information may be based on the item information and the promotion. The device may store the checkout information associated with the retail store. The device may store an association between the checkout information and other checkout information associated with the user device and another retail store. | 11-20-2014 |
20140351034 | DIRECT ETAILING - System, method and program product, the method comprising: receiving an entity agreement to fulfill a product or a service; providing scan indicator image information; receiving and storing image information relating to a product or service image; providing a software application to a plurality of consumers to initiate picture function and to transmit image information; receiving on the server the transmitted image information; comparing the transmitted image information to portions of the stored image information; when a match, then: retrieving the data for entity agreeing to fulfill the product or service; serving price data for the product or service corresponding to the image match, wherein the price data is net of the advertised discount; receiving a purchase selection; requesting fulfillment of the selected product or service; initiating a payment process. | 11-27-2014 |
20140351035 | AUTO-REDEEMABLE BASKET LEVEL OFFERS IN A PREPAID ARCHITECTURE - A method for maintaining a prepaid payment system comprises a user account that can be utilized to complete a purchase transaction with a merchant. A delayed processing window is introduced between a time when the merchant receives a payment approval notification from the payment system and a time when the payment system transmits a payment request to an issuer of a funding account associated with the user's payment system account. The payment system utilizes a user's stored value account maintained by the payment system to satisfy the requirements of a prepaid program, and therefore processes the payment request received from the merchant and transmits the payment approval notification without obtaining prior authorization from the issuer of the funding account. The payment system submits one or more payment requests for the funding transaction at a time after the completion of the purchase transaction between the user and the merchant. | 11-27-2014 |
20140351036 | METHODS FOR DYNAMIC DISCOUNTING - The subject invention relates to electronic buying and selling systems and methods. In particular, the invention concerns relations among distinct price curves, price curve attributes (i.e., factors of the offer that can affect the price curves) and buyers or potential buyers. For instance, a price offered to a system user can vary based on total volume of all people aggregating in private environments, cumulative total order by user, ship date, optimal time, as well as terms and conditions associated with the offer (e.g., no cancellation of order, cancellation possible, payment method . . . ). | 11-27-2014 |
20140351037 | TRAVEL PLANNING - Among other things, information is received from a user interacting with a user interface about a trip that is being planned from an origin to a destination, the information including a user indication of travel modes to be considered in planning the trip and the possible travel modes including at least three of bus, train, car, water, and air. Two or more alternative travel options are determined each including two or more of the modes based on the received information; and the options are presented to the user through the user interface. | 11-27-2014 |
20140358658 | METHOD, SYSTEM AND SOFTWARE PRODUCT FOR PROVIDING DISCOUNTED PRICING - A computer implemented method and a computer program product allow a retailer to provide a discounted price for a product by electronically offering a product for sale to a buyer; using a computer to display the product to the buyer on a user interface, the display comprising a product detail page; displaying on the product detail page the original full price of the product, the discounted outlet price of the product and the percentage off amount for that product; displaying a screen indicia to the buyer; inviting the buyer to use the screen indicia to open a virtual negotiation panel on the display; inviting the buyer to enter a quantity of products that the buyer wants to buy and the per product price that the buyer is willing to pay; and using the computer to calculate the lowest price per product that the retailer will accept for the product. | 12-04-2014 |
20140358659 | ELECTRONIC COMMERCE APPARATUS, PRIVILEGE CONTROL METHOD, PRIVILEGE CONTROL PROGRAM, AND COMPUTER READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM FOR STORING PROGRAM - An electronic commerce apparatus has: a determination unit that determines a product page on which an object is displayed based on an access state; a control unit that controls the display or non-display of the object on the product page; and a transmission unit that transmits a privilege presentation page to a user terminal according to operation information on the object. With this configuration, the access state is reflected on the determination of a product page to be a target of granting privilege, hence the granting of privilege can function as an incentive to purchase a product. Further, the display or non-display of an object is controlled according to the access state, so a user who desires privilege can search for a product page on which the object is displayed. | 12-04-2014 |
20140365285 | MECHANISM FOR DONATING TO CHARITY WHILE BUYING GOODS AND SERVICES ONLINE - In one embodiment, a centralized internet commerce platform allows a user to donate to charity as part of an internet purchase. The centralized internet commerce platform | 12-11-2014 |
20140365286 | Method of Reserving an Electronic Savings Advertisement - A method of reserving a savings advertisement includes: delivering an electronic savings advertisement creation interface web page from a server system to a computer system of a merchant; receiving at the server system a request from the computer system of the merchant to generate an electronic savings advertisement, the request comprising a maximum number of transactions that can be conducted with the electronic savings advertisement; storing in the server system a value representing an available numeric quantity for the savings advertisement; determining in the server system whether the numeric quantity is greater than zero; delivering an electronic savings advertisement request interface web page from the server system to a computer system of a customer, the savings advertisement request interface web page including an offer for the savings advertisement; receiving at the computer system of the customer a reservation request for the electronic savings advertisement; and decrementing the available numeric quantity by one in the server system in response to the reservation request. | 12-11-2014 |
20140372193 | CARD-LINKED ADVERTISEMENTS - Embodiments of the present invention automatically link users to card-linked offers. A card-linked offer is an incentive tied to a user's credit card or other form of electronic payment. To be eligible to receive offers, a user may choose to link one or more of their credit cards within the service. The incentive associated with the offer is automatically given to the user when a payment method linked to this service is used to make the purchase. Embodiments of the present invention automatically associate linked offers with users who are presumed to have an interest in the offer. Machine learning algorithms and classifiers may be used to identify a user's interests and match them with offers for a product or service that fits their interests. When an offer is autolinked, the user receives a notification. Various methods of providing the notification are possible including email, text, and geolocation-based notification. | 12-18-2014 |
20140372194 | EVENT SALE SYSTEM USING SOCIAL AUCTION AND METHOD THEREOF - Disclosed are an event sale system using a social auction and a method thereof capable of providing a balanced discount between sellers and purchasers by allowing the reserved purchasers to competitively select and determine a discount rate on their own until a predetermined accumulated discount rate is completely exhausted and the sellers to perform discount processing on the determined discount rate, and strengthening competitiveness using marketing tools differentiated due to various conditions further set by each seller. | 12-18-2014 |
20140379449 | Mobile Phone Based Rebate Device for Redemption at a Point of Sale Terminal - Virtual mobile rewards, gift cards, and/or physical world retailers' loyalty and reward programs are aggregated into a common account accessible and transactional from an Internet capable mobile radio device. Subscribers gain access to discounted codes, coupons, rebates, gift cards, and/or limited time offers, on their mobile device for food, travel, lifestyle, electronics, and entertainment products that fit their lifestyle spending habits, enabling users to edit participating retailers, manage separate account balances, and present preferred discounted offers at retailers and apply discount towards purchase of goods. | 12-25-2014 |
20150012346 | DIRECT CONNECTION SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Embodiments of the invention are directed to passing a plurality of communications directly from a merchant to a payment processing network. A first communication may include payment information in an authorization request, while a second transaction may include non-payment transaction data. The communications may be linked with a transaction identifier. In other embodiments, a capture file process is disclosed where capture files are generated by the payment processing network, and transactions are subsequently cleared and settled. | 01-08-2015 |
20150019313 | METHOD, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR FACILITATING PROMOTIONS WITH AN E-WALLET - A transaction qualification service, based on rules from an offers registry database, determines whether at least one promotion code is applicable to an on-line transaction. If so, the at least promotion code is provided to a merchant, prior to payment card authorization, clearing, and settlement for the on-line transaction. The at least one promotion code includes an alphanumeric character sequence that is not visible to the consumer. | 01-15-2015 |
20150019314 | REBATE AUTOMATION - A computer receives information that a request is made to authorize a transaction for a sale of a product by a merchant to an account holder in a transaction conducted on a consumer account issued to the account holder. When the computer confirms that the transaction is authorized and that the transaction occurs within a predetermined time period for which there is a rebate associated with the product and a corresponding sponsor financially responsible for the rebate, the computer communicates that the rebate is to be debited to an account of the sponsor and either: (i) given as a discount by the merchant at the point of sale to the account holder; or (ii) credited to an account issued to the account holder by the issuer. | 01-15-2015 |
20150032523 | CREDIT SOURCE RECOMMENDATION BASED ON PRODUCT LEVEL DATA ANALYSIS - Embodiments of the invention are directed to apparatus, methods, and computer program products for credit source recommendation based on product level data analysis. In some embodiments, an apparatus is configured to receive an information from a structured database associated with a customer's financial institution account, wherein the information includes a previous product purchase; categorize the customer based on the information received; and provide a recommendation to the customer based on categorization of the customer, wherein the recommendation is a type of financial institution bank card. | 01-29-2015 |
20150032524 | SINGLE TAP TRANSACTIONS USING A SERVER WITH AUTHENTICATION - The invention describes how a consumer can hold their NFC enabled device in proximity to an NFC enabled point-of-sale terminal and with a single “wave” or “tap” to automatically redeem coupons, pay for a purchase using a default payment card or a selected card, view receipts view reward point balances, and receive relevant coupons and other digital artifacts both before and after the purchase. The NFC enabled device includes a secure element with a payment application, payment credentials, and other digital artifacts such as coupons. The secure element can be internal to the mobile device, externally affixed to the mobile device, or inserted into a slot within the body of the mobile device. | 01-29-2015 |
20150039410 | Dynamic Awards and Restrictive Tender System and Method - A dynamic awards and restrictive tender method and system are provided. The method includes receiving, at a processor of a sales device, a request for a purchase of an item. A purchase rule applicable to the purchase is determined. An update to the purchase rule is received. The request for the purchase is processed based upon the updated purchase rule. At the processor, a notification of a success or a rejection of the processed request for the purchase is provided to a requester initiating the request. | 02-05-2015 |
20150046243 | PRODUCT PRICING ASSISTANT - A method, system, and stored processor executable instructions are provided that receive a product identifier, determine a vendor offering best pricing, and propose a transaction structure to consummate the product purchase transaction. | 02-12-2015 |
20150046244 | Server, Computer Readable Storage Medium, Computer Implemented Method and Mobile Computing Device for Discounting Payment Transactions, Facilitating Discounting Using Augmented Reality and Promotional Offering Using Augmented Reality - A mobile computing device for facilitating discounting using augmented reality includes a processor structured to process digital data and to execute computer program code, a memory device coupled to the processor and storing the digital data including the computer program code, a video capture interface coupled to the processor and capturing video scene data, and a display device coupled to the processor and displaying the video scene data. The processor is controlled by the computer program code to receive, via the video capture interface, the video scene data, display, using the display device, the video scene data, determine an occurrence of a discount event, and display, using the display device, a discount related overlay in accordance with the occurrence of the discount event. | 02-12-2015 |
20150051962 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING SOCIAL NETWORKS FOR COUPON DISTRIBUTION - A method and a system for distributing coupons for buying articles enabling a first user to provide a second user with an entitlement to a coupon, enabling the second user to obtain the coupon providing a price reduction for buying an article, and, upon the purchase of the article using the coupon, providing a commission to the first user. | 02-19-2015 |
20150051963 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, INFORMATION PROCESSING PROGRAM, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - Information related to a privilege is caused to be presented so as to increase the probability that a user purchases a transaction target. An information processing apparatus detects a predetermined operation of a user which is defined as an operation where purchase motivation for a transaction target is higher than that of an operation to display transaction target information related to the transaction target and which is other than an operation of a user which is necessary to purchase in a transaction site where the transaction target can be purchased. When the predetermined operation is detected, the information processing apparatus causes privilege information related to a privilege which is given to the user to be presented on condition that the user purchases the transaction target targeted by the detected operation. | 02-19-2015 |
20150058107 | Computer Implemented System and Method for Managing Vendor Offers Having a Donation Component - There is disclosed a computer-implemented system and method for managing vendor offers to interested buyers via a central hub server which develops and deploys multiple intermediary websites or mobile apps for various participating public engagement organizations. The central hub server stores a list of offers from multiple vendors, and makes that list of vendor offers available to prospective buyers or patrons via the multiple intermediary websites, web plugins, or mobile apps, configured on behalf of the public engagement organizations. In a preferred embodiment, the websites or mobile apps configured for multiple third parties comprise customized skins, and may also include unique display fields and/or entry fields which allow each participating public engagement organization to offer a filtered subset of vendor offers, which may be organized and presented in a customized way for each custom website, web plugin, or mobile app. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058108 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO AGGREGATE DEMAND - A computing apparatus includes: a data warehouse to store data associating a plurality of account identifiers with an offer having a predefined purchase requirement and an aggregated purchase requirement for a benefit; and a transaction handler configured to process a plurality of transactions. The transaction handler is further configured to determine whether each of the plurality of transactions satisfies a predefined purchase requirement, identify a set of transactions each satisfying the predefined purchase requirement, and determine whether the set of transactions satisfies an aggregated purchase requirement for the benefit. In one example, the transaction handler is configured to provide the benefit via statement credits when the set of transactions satisfies the aggregated purchase requirement. | 02-26-2015 |
20150066618 | Method and system for providing discounts to consumers - A method is disclosed for issuing rewards to consumers. An embodiment of an inventive method includes presenting product advertisements for reward products to consumers. Consumers view product advertisements and select the reward eligible products they want to purchase. Consumers find those products on store shelves and place them in their shopping cart. After checkout, consumers take a digital photo of their selected reward eligible products. The consumer then sends the digital photo, with their contact information to a remote web server. After the digital photo has been authenticated, rewards shall be issued to consumers contact information and/or credentials by an administrator. | 03-05-2015 |
20150066619 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING POTENTIAL DISCOUNTS TO CUSTOMERS - A system and method for providing a discount to a customer are disclosed. The system and method include receiving at the processor from a merchant a selection of a particular opportunity for a discount from a plurality of opportunities for a discount; determining by the processor a plurality of discount prices and a number of product for discount at each of the plurality of discount prices based on the opportunity received from the merchant, the quantity of products and the average yield price; receiving from a customer a request for a purchase of a product for processing through an electronic payment system; providing by the processor at the second terminal the opportunity for a discount to the customer; receiving by the processor through the second terminal an input from the customer based on the opportunity for a discount; crediting the customer with the discount through the electronic payment system. | 03-05-2015 |
20150066620 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SMART PAYMENT INSTRUMENT SELECTION - A method and apparatus is provided for constructing and using a smart wallet, i.e. a repository of payment instruments, such as, for example, credit cards, with automatic selection when making a purchase in an online environment. In one embodiment of the invention, the wallet service first finds the intersection of acceptable instruments between a merchant and a user. For example, the invention matches a list of user held credit cards against a list of acceptable credit cards at a merchant. The wallet service then intelligently selects, or at least ranks in order, the payment instruments based on value to the customer. The ranking can take into account: a) cash back rates; b) mileage rates for the specific potential purchase; and c) temporal discounts such as shipping or coupon discounts for the specific product type; etc. The act of automatically making a selection of a payment instrument, such as a credit card, in an online environment is analogous to what a human does when buying things at a store. The advantage is that an automatic system can integrate all the discount notices and coupons that are typically mailed to a cardholder. The system preferably presumes that a smart wallet is given information about a transaction, and has collected information about the payment instruments. | 03-05-2015 |
20150073887 | MOBILE PAYMENT AND POINT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system and method allows a consumer to purchase goods and services from merchants and redeem offers made by a merchant with a digital transaction on a smart phone. The merchant receives and enters the consumer's telephone number into an application. The consumer's telephone number is sent to a server, which checks for electronic coupons and loyalty points. Accounting for the value of any coupon/accumulated loyalty points, the merchant enters the payment amount into the application. which. in turn sends it back to the server. The server then sends the payment amount, any coupon details and the merchant's name to the consumer's phone. The consumer can choose to accept or decline the sale with or without using the coupon/loyalty points. A PIN number confirms the sale, which transmits to the server and then to the merchant. A digital sales receipt is sent to the merchant and consumer. | 03-12-2015 |
20150073888 | MOBILE PAYMENT AND POINT SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system and method allows a consumer to purchase goods and services from merchants and redeem offers made by a merchant with a digital transaction on a smart phone. The merchant receives and enters the consumer's telephone number into an application. The consumer's telephone number is sent to a server, which checks for electronic coupons and loyalty points. Accounting for the value of any coupon/accumulated loyalty points, the merchant enters the payment amount into the application. which. in turn sends it back to the server. The server then sends the payment amount, any coupon details and the merchant's name to the consumer's phone. The consumer can choose to accept or decline the sale with or without using the coupon/loyalty points. A PIN number confirms the sale, which transmits to the server and then to the merchant. A digital sales receipt is sent to the merchant and consumer. | 03-12-2015 |
20150081412 | E-BOOK PROVISION SERVER, INFORMATION PROCESSING TERMINAL, E-BOOK PROVISION SYSTEM, E-BOOK TRANSMISSION METHOD, PROGRAM, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - Provided is an electronic book providing server configured to enable, when a user desires to view an electronic book, the user to view the electronic book earlier than in the related art. A purchase probability prediction unit predicts an electronic book to be purchased with high probability, and predicts a user terminal to be used to view the electronic book when the electronic book is purchased. An electronic book transmission unit transmits a file of the electronic book which is predicted to be purchased with high probability and for which a transmission request has not been received, to the user terminal, in a state in which viewing of at least a part of contents of the electronic book is restricted before the electronic book is purchased and in which the at least a part is allowed to be viewed after the electronic book is purchased. | 03-19-2015 |
20150088629 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR GENERATING AND PROVIDING OFFERS TO A USER - Methods and systems for providing offers to a user through a user interface are disclosed. A first offer having a first price to a user through the user interface is provided. A user input indicating an acceptance to the first offer through the user interface is received. A request is transmitted to a payment processor to process a payment from a payment account of the user for the first price. A message from the payment processor in response to the request that the first request cannot be completed is received. A first message is processed to generate a second offer having a second price, wherein the second price is lower than the first price. The second offer to the user through the user interface. | 03-26-2015 |
20150088630 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VIRAL PURCHASING - A system and method are provided for encouraging online shoppers to share online purchase transactions. Included are online advertisements or offers at the point of checkout. These offers indicate an incentive for sharing information about the online purchase on one or more social network platforms of the online shopper. The system may also include a pre-made or subsequently created video component featuring the product or a statement or opinion about the product. When the online shopper indicates a willingness to share in order to receive the incentive the video component featuring the product or a link thereto is displayed on the online shopper's social network platform as a posting in a newsfeed, on a profile page, or as a status update for the social network connections of the online shopper to see. The social network connections can then purchase, share, redeem and offer incentives as well. | 03-26-2015 |
20150088631 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONSUMER STEERING BASED ON REAL-TIME TRANSACTION COST INFORMATION - A computing device for consumer steering during a commercial transaction comprises a communication element, a memory element, and a processing element. The communication element communicates with a client computing device. The memory element stores a plurality of software components. The processing element executes software components including a cost analysis component for receiving original payment type information from a consumer and computing a cost score associated with the original payment type, a reward engine for determining a reward associated with an alternative payment type, an accept payment component for receiving information indicating either the original payment type or the alternative payment type, and a checkout component for transferring a receipt to the consumer and visually presenting the lost reward to the consumer if the original payment type was received or transferring the reward to the consumer if the alternative payment type was received. | 03-26-2015 |
20150095128 | IN-STORE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS - An in-store customer engagement system is provided. The system includes a retail processing device located in a store, wherein the retail processing device is configured to process transactions of a customer. The system also includes a customer registration device configured to receive customer data from the customer and to register the customer with a customer relationship management (CRM) application of the store. The system further includes a first server communicatively coupled to the retail processing device and to the customer registration device wherein the first server is configured to transmit the customer data to the retail processing device upon registration of the customer with the customer relationship management application. | 04-02-2015 |
20150100402 | Method and System for Conducting Coupon Exchange - The coupon exchange platform involves multiple merchants, consumers, and coupon providers. Because a merchant usually interacts directly with consumers in commercial activities, a merchant is in the ideal position to distribute coupons, and not only the ones from its own but also those from other sources. As such, the merchants in the system, for appropriate compensations, serve to provide channels for coupon distribution or placements, whereas the coupon providers pay to deliver their coupon through the merchants. The coupon bidding process comprises retrieving the pre-configured coupon acceptance criteria of a merchant; and identifying the matched coupons provided by the coupon providers, wherein each of the one or more matched coupons is associated with a set of coupon offering parameters that satisfy or match the coupon acceptance criteria of the merchant user. The “winning” coupons can be delivered to a consumer upon the completion of the consumer's payment transaction. | 04-09-2015 |
20150106180 | CONTENT DOWNLOADS AND RIGHTS MANAGEMENT USING ADAPTIVE PRICING WITH COSTS OFFSET BY VIEWING ADVERTISEMENTS - The subject disclosure relates to a method for providing a downloadable content item including steps for providing a variety of offset-offers for a content item, wherein each of the offset-offers is associated with a different advertising amount and cost reduction amount and receiving a user request to download the content item, the user request specifying the user's selection of an offer from among the variety offset-offers, wherein the first offer corresponds with a first advertising amount and a first cost reduction amount. In certain aspects, the method can also include steps for preparing the first content item for download by the user. In some implementations, a content management system and computer readable media are also provided. | 04-16-2015 |
20150106181 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING A COUPON DURING AN ONLINE CHECKOUT PROCESS - During a checkout process of an online sale transaction, a web page of a retailer website may display a shopping cart application that includes selected product objects and a clickable coupon service object. A user may activate or click the coupon service object. Upon activating the coupon service object, a coupon object associated with at least one of the selected product objects of the shopping cart application may be determined and a coupon code may be retrieved from the determined coupon object. The retrieved coupon code may be displayed on the web page to allow the user to view, select and apply the retrieved coupon code associated with the selected product object of the shopping cart application during a checkout. | 04-16-2015 |
20150106182 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING A LOYALTY PROGRAM VIA AN ASSOCIATION NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE - A system and method for providing a loyalty program by utilizing a pre-existing association network. When a consumer is registered with the program, the consumer's personal information is stored in a database and associated with a token ID. The token is capable of initiating a transaction message request over an association network when used in conjunction with a merchant transaction system. A program manager is provided that includes an association network interface for receiving over the association network the transaction request message initiated by the token at a merchant, where the transaction request message includes a first set of transaction information regarding a consumer-initiated product purchase transaction. The program manager is then configured to store the first set of transaction information, transmit to the merchant a response message that includes an indication that the token cannot provide tender for a product purchase, and utilize the first set of transaction information to facilitate the identification of one or more rewards for the consumer. | 04-16-2015 |
20150112785 | INITIATING A PROMOTIONAL BENEFIT BY USER-ACTIONABLE LINK - An advertisement, including a description of a promotion and a link, are included in a shipment of a sales item to a buyer from an online shopping site. The promotion is crafted to entice the buyer to respond to the link and trigger a further shopping opportunity based on the initial purchase. Upon responding to the link, the buyer is presented with a further promotion that includes the most recent consideration of buying incentives which are based on knowledge of selling considerations such as inventory and the marketplace that a seller may use to generate enticing content in the promotion. The seller may also take advantage of knowledge about the shopping and purchasing history of the buyer at the online shopping site in tailoring the promotion. | 04-23-2015 |
20150112786 | WIRELESS ELECTRONIC COUPONING TECHNIQUE - An electronic couponing technique includes transferring coupon information, which may include a coupon ID (identification) to a first portable terminal and storing same therein. The portable terminal displays a representation of the transferred coupon information on a display thereof. The stored coupon information may be transferred from the portable terminal to another terminal for redemption. The stored coupon information may also be transferred from the portable terminal to another portable terminal. Various schemes may be used to transfer the coupon information including a Bluetooth low-range radio link or an optical bar code scanner scanning an optical bar code or an infrared link or a wireless link from the portable terminal. The Internet or wireless LAN (Local Area Network) may also be used in transferring the coupon information to and from the various terminals. | 04-23-2015 |
20150120417 | METHOD FOR PROVIDING FAVORITE STORE MANAGEMENT SERVICE IN ELECTRONIC COMMERCE USING INTERNET AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM HAVING PROGRAM RECORDED THEREON FOR EXECUTING THE METHOD IS RECORDED - Provided is a method of providing a favorite shop management service in electronic commerce using the Internet for inducing continuous and repeated purchases rather than a one-time purchase by classifying an interest shop, a purchased shop, or an impressive shop as a favorite shop based on the repeated number of purchases or a purchase amount of selling products pre-registered by a seller, and differentially managing the classified favorite shop. | 04-30-2015 |
20150120418 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO PROVIDE REWARDS BASED ON PURCHASED ITEMS - A system includes a POS terminal configured to store a list of products/items eligible for rewards and/or discounts, check items purchased by a user via a transaction against the list to identify items eligible for rewards and/or discounts, aggregate the eligible items according to reward/discount categories, and provide information about the eligible items aggregated according to the categories in an authorization request for the transaction in a payment account of the user. The system further includes a transaction handler receiving the authorization request that contains the information aggregated according to the categories, and provide rewards and/or discounts to the transaction during the authorization and/or settlement of the transaction. | 04-30-2015 |
20150127442 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR STORING USER DISCOUNT CARDS WITH A PAYMENT ACCOUNT FOR FUTURE PURCHASES - There is provided systems and method for storing discount cards with a payment account for future purchases. A user may visit a merchant location and purchase goods. During purchase of the goods, the user may utilize a user device to perform a payment using a user account. In other embodiments, the user may provide the merchant with a user account identifier, or other information for identification of the user account. In addition, the user may provide a discount card to the merchant, where the discount card offers rewards to the user on use with the merchant. Discount card information may be stored with a payment provider corresponding to the user account. Thus, when the user pays with the user account at the merchant in the future, the discount card information may be automatically populated. | 05-07-2015 |
20150127443 | CROSS-SITE ONLINE SHOPPING ASSISTANT - A shopping assistant for online shopping. The invention provides for a software system to assist consumers in automatically locating and systematically applying discount codes to electronic commerce platforms to obtain reduced prices. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, discount codes are automatically located, evaluated against a user's shopping cart, and evaluated for the best results for the consumer. In the preferred embodiment, information about the utility of discount codes is recorded to machine readable storage. | 05-07-2015 |
20150134435 | SALES REGISTRATION APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ISSUING VOUCHER BY THE SAME - A sales registration apparatus includes a storage device which previously stores a number of sheets setting data indicating whether the number of issue sheets of a voucher is set without regard to a purchase quantity of a commodity or to be equal to the purchase quantity of the commodity for each voucher of a plurality of categories, an issuing module configured to issue vouchers of the plurality of categories, a determination module configured to determine, in response to the sales registration of the commodity for which the voucher of at least one category is issued, the number of issue sheets of the voucher based on the number of sheets setting data and the purchase quantity of the commodity, and an issuing control module configured to control the issuing module to issue the voucher by the number of issue sheets determined by the determination module upon the purchase of the commodity. | 05-14-2015 |
20150142541 | REMOTE TRANSACTION PROCESSING AT A SERVER BASED ON USER CONFIRATION AND A DEFAULT PAYMENT METHOD - A method and system for conducting an online payment transaction through a point of sale device. The method includes receiving input from a user selecting an item for purchase through the point of sale device; calculating a total purchase amount for the item in response to a request from the user to purchase the item; and sending payment authorization for the total purchase amount from the point of sale device to a payment entity, in which the payment authorization is sent to the payment entity via a mobile communication device of the user. The method further includes receiving a result of the payment authorization from the payment entity through the mobile communication device; and completing the payment transaction based on the result of the payment authorization. | 05-21-2015 |
20150142542 | REMOTE TRANSACTION PROCESSING AT A SERVER BASED ON USER CONFIRATION AND MULTIPLE PAYMENT METHOD - A method and system for conducting an online payment transaction through a mobile device. The method includes receiving input from a user selecting an item for purchase through the point of sale device; processing the transaction, and sending a digital artifact to the mobile device. | 05-21-2015 |
20150142543 | SMART SOURCE DIRECT COUPON DELIVERY AND PROCESSING - A method, system and program product for communicating with a plurality of customer devices and a plurality of etailers, the method comprising receiving selection of an etailers from a customer device for an online shopping cart process; receiving a captured image of a coupon for a product; creating an electronic coupon for the product; feeding, data on products and/or services of the selected etailer; computing a monetary total for the selected etailer for the products; serving the monetary total for the selected etailer and the monetary totals computed for the other etailers; sending electronic communication to one of the etailers to deliver the products; initiating transfer of funds to the one etailer; serving upon initiation of a loyalty card association process, a list of loyalty cards of retailers to a customer device; receiving a selection; associating the electronic coupon to the loyalty card for the selected retailer. | 05-21-2015 |
20150142544 | SYSTEMS AND METHOD FOR INCENTING CONSUMERS - An open loop cashless payment system incents a consumer account holder to transact in a physical store with a merchant who agrees to make an auditable donation to a charity when the transaction is conducted on an account issued to the consumer account holder. The consumer account holder may direct the donation to a specific charity within a predetermined geographically determined community where the transaction was physically conducted. The consumer account holder can register an obligation to make a donation matching that of the merchant, where the consumer account holder's donation is initially paid by the consumer account's issuer for reimbursement by the consumer account holder to the issuer after the consumer account holder receives their account statement. The merchant's acquirer, the issuer, and a transaction handler for the issuer and acquirer may also make donations as directed by the consumer account holder. Various donor and consumer account holder directed business rules may limit the total currency amount of donations over specific calendar periods. | 05-21-2015 |
20150142545 | ENHANCED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OFFERING AND ACCEPTING DISCOUNTS ON INVOICES IN A PAYMENT SYSTEM - Embodiments of the present disclosure may be used to make and/or receive automated offers for a discount on a good or service using a rules and constraints engine. Among other things, embodiments of the present disclosure may help incentivize faster payment of invoices and allow the offeror of an offer to automatically modify offers based on various factors, such as a balance in the offeror's account. | 05-21-2015 |
20150142546 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING A DISCOUNT - A computer-implemented method for processing a discount is described. The method is implemented using a payment processor computing device associated with a payment network. The method includes receiving, at the payment processor computing device, from a discount module computing device, a notification of an adjusted authorization amount for a transaction, wherein the notification is received by the discount module computing device from an intercept node computing device at the time a cardholder makes a purchase. The method also includes receiving, at the payment processor computing device, an authorization request message including a non-adjusted authorization amount for the transaction, replacing the non-adjusted authorization amount with the adjusted authorization amount in the authorization request message, and transmitting the authorization request message to an issuer computing device. | 05-21-2015 |
20150142547 | Method, System and Apparatus for Reinforcing Desirable Consumer Behaviors with Surprise Rewards - In some embodiments, a fulfillment entity receives over an electronic interface from a merchant website associated with a third-party online user community an order from a member of the user community for an item from the merchant website. During order processing, a set of rules for rewarding members of the third-party online user community based on the past behaviors of one or more members of the user community is evaluated. Responsive to a condition fulfilling one of the rules, the member order is modified to provide an incentivizing reward to the member of the online user community. | 05-21-2015 |
20150149268 | MOBILE COUPONING SYSTEM AND METHOD - There is provided a method and a system for enabling a transaction using electronic coupons. The method comprises assigning an electronic coupon to a given customer and transmitting information related to the electronic coupon to a mobile device of the given customer. In the course of the transaction, a predetermined issuer identification number (IIN) is provided in a payment terminal of a merchant and the predetermined IIN is detected by a payment gateway of a payment processing entity operatively connected to the payment terminal. An indication of a financial benefit associated with the use of the electronic coupon is retrieved from a database and is provided to the merchant such that the given customer is provided with the financial benefit upon completion of the transaction. | 05-28-2015 |
20150294284 | Subscription Bill Service, Systems and Methods - A number of sets of methods, systems, and apparatuses applicable to transactions are disclosed. One set includes transaction systems configured to reconcile a transaction among multiple provider accounts or user accounts via derived object attributes and reconciliation matrices. Another set includes methods of reconciling payment of a coupon. Another set includes transaction apparatuses configured to derive object attributes from digital representations to identify purchasable items. Still another set includes methods of mitigating risk of transaction fraud. | 10-15-2015 |
20150294340 | DYNAMICALLY GENERATING A REDUCED ITEM PRICE - A system may receive information representing a first item and an item price of the first item from a first user device operated by a buyer. The first item may be available for sale by a merchant of a brick-and-mortar store. A plurality of sellers may be identified, the plurality of sellers may list a second item as being available for sale at the calculated reduced item price in an item listing for the second item. Moreover, the second item may be similar to the first item. A reduced item price may be calculated based on the item price of the first item received from the user device, the reduced item price representing a price lower than the item price of the first item. The item listing for the second item available for sale may be presented to the first user device operated by the buyer. | 10-15-2015 |
20150294341 | CHECKOUT AMOUNT CALCULATION METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT THEREOF - A checkout amount calculation method includes receiving a plurality of groups of commodity information, generating a first discount quantity according to a preset discount condition and the received commodity information by using a processing unit, receiving a first trigger signal according to the first discount quantity, generating a first group of discount numerical values according to the first trigger signal, calculating a checkout amount according to the first group of discount numerical values and the received commodity information, and displaying the checkout amount, where, each group of commodity information corresponds to a commodity to be purchased, and a quantity of the discount numerical values in the first group of discount numerical values is equal to the first discount quantity. | 10-15-2015 |
20150294379 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO INTRODUCE BILLING ARCHITECTURE FOR DIFFERENT UTILITY EVENTS AND TO GRANT CROSS DOMAIN PROMOTIONS - A billing arrangement continuously receives messages from a variety of service providing entities, the messages being associated with consumption of the user in a variety of service domains, compares, for at least some of the service domains, the consumption within the service domain with a corresponding consumption threshold, if the consumption threshold is crossed, gives the user at least one reward in relation to at least one further service domain, computes a bill based on the degree of consumption within all service domains using corresponding charging rates while considering rewards given to the user and bills the user using the computed bill with possible rewards. | 10-15-2015 |
20150302380 | PROCESS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR PRINTING RECEIPT BASED ON CONSUMER PURCHASES - The present invention provides a method for creating and delivering recipes, incentives, and/or other valuable enhancements in response to purchases or inquiries of products such as by printing over various printable media in various departments within a retail store through a computer and/or communication network, such as at kiosks. Other features of the invention permit the use of customer information using consumer identifiers, shopping histories, with and without printing of possible recipes, incentives or other enhancements or enticements for statistical information and/or inputs. | 10-22-2015 |
20150302449 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING CONTENT PROVIDER-DRIVEN SHOPPING - Systems and methods for providing content provider-driven shopping are disclosed. A system may include a processor and a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium may include one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to receive content from a provider via a content publishing platform, determine one or more products from the content, for each product, determine one or more merchants offering the product for sale and determine a price for the product from each merchant, determine one or more discounts or incentives offered by each merchant, and, for each product, select a merchant of the one or more merchants based on the price for the product from the merchant and the one or more discounts or incentives offered by the merchant. | 10-22-2015 |
20150310472 | MANAGEMENT OF ON-DEMAND CONTENT - Various embodiments relating to managing content sharing and consumption are disclosed. In one embodiment, a consumer may be issued a lifetime license for a content item. In response to issuing the lifetime license to the consumer one or more share credits may be issued to the consumer. A request to consume a requested content item on a temporary basis may be received from the consumer. A temporary digital authorization usable by the consumer to consume the requested content item on a temporary basis may be issued to the consumer in exchange for a share credit. | 10-29-2015 |
20150310473 | A method for collecting points related to promotions or to other activities destined to comercial and/or market research purposes - A method for participation to promotional or commercial initiatives at purchase or reception of one or more products includes: processing one or more user codes, each one being associated in a univocal manner to one user; providing a central server and one or more local servers in communication with the central server; purchasing products and sending to the local server the user code associated with the electronic list of purchased products; determining, from a reference list, whether the purchased products that are associated to the user code are part of a promotion or other commercial activity; sending to the central server the code associated with the list of purchased products after reception by the local server of a consensus input; receiving and memorizing the data by the central server; and processing the data to verify the possible reaching of a reference value for each user associated to the code. | 10-29-2015 |
20150310478 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COMBINING INCENTIVE BUSINESS RULES WITH ADVERTISING MEDIA - A system, method, and computer program for combining incentive rules with advertising media, including a mobile phone including an application for accessing a file having media combined with incentive rules. The application playing the media, and including a media decoder to extract and decode the embedded incentive rules from the file, and storing the extracted incentive rules on a storage device of the phone. The application determining a commerce transaction with a point of sale (POS) device and communicating with the POS device to obtain information regarding the commerce transaction. The application determining if based on the stored incentive rules and the obtained information regarding the commerce transaction whether or not a discount or incentive can be issued. If the discount or incentive can be issued, the application communicating with the POS device to issue a corresponding discount or incentive. | 10-29-2015 |
20150324828 | Commerce System and Method of Providing Communication Between Publishers and Intelligent Personal Agents - A commerce system is controlled by a shopping agent including an application programming interface. A publisher receives information from the shopping agent via the API. Content is published based on the information received from the shopping agent. The content includes a histogram. The content includes a recipe. The content is published on a website or in a printed newspaper or magazine. A portion of the content is optically scanned using a mobile device. The optically scanned portion of the content includes a Quick Response code. The mobile device adds a plurality of products to a shopping list maintained by the shopping agent in response to the optically scanned portion of the content. The product is selected from a consideration set. A personalized offer for the product is redeemed at a retailer using the mobile device. An affiliate fee is paid to the publisher after the personalized offer is redeemed. | 11-12-2015 |
20150324877 | ECOMMERCE SYSTEM FOR MARKETING MIXED-LOTS OF DISTRESSED INVENTORY - An ecommerce system for marketing mixed lots of distressed inventory, as embodied in various systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media, is provided. The system may generate and communicate offers for mixed lots of distressed inventory. Individual buyers may join together to form buying teams that may collectively purchase a mixed lot. The system may charge buyers and distribute portions of the purchased lot, some of which may be upgraded items, to individual buyers based on respective levels of demand indicated by each buyer. The system may also include a network-based inventory tracking function that permits buyers to store electronic representations or records of purchased items in a remote storage location. The system may then aggregate the purchased items for shipping at a later time. | 11-12-2015 |
20150332302 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO ORGANIZE AND CONSOLIDATE DATA FOR IMPROVED DATA STORAGE AND PROCESSING - Systems and methods to dynamically combine offer data records in accordance with predetermined rules such that the data records that are required to be monitored for processing are reduced and the computation efficiency in processing the transactions and relevant offers is improved in a transaction handler configured on an electronic processing network to process a huge amount of transactions in real time and a rapidly increasing number of offers. | 11-19-2015 |
20150339696 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING COMPENSATION, REBATE, CASHBACK, AND REWARD FOR USING MOBILE AND WEARABLE PAYMENT SERVICES - Provided are methods and systems for providing compensation for using a mobile payment service. The method may commence with receiving payment information associated with a user. The method may include generating a unique code encoding the payment information and providing the generated unique code to the user. The method may continue with receiving a deposit amount associated with a purchase related to the user. The purchase may be made via the mobile payment service. The method may further include receiving a notification about a further purchase of the user via the mobile payment service. The notification may include at least the unique code and a product barcode. The product barcode may be associated with the further purchase. The method may further include providing a compensation from the deposit amount to the user. The compensation may be associated with a payment amount associated with the further purchase. | 11-26-2015 |
20150348083 | SYSTEM, METHODS AND PROCESSES TO IDENTIFY CROSS-BORDER TRANSACTIONS AND REWARD RELEVANT CARDHOLDERS WITH OFFERS - A method for providing a savings opportunity includes receiving an authorization request for a user transaction by a first remote computer. By analyzing, at the first remote computer, the authorization request, it can be determined if the currency being used during the transaction is different from the preferred currency (as indicated by a user profile). If there is a difference, a savings opportunity indication for the foreign transaction is generated. The savings opportunity indication may be transmitted to a second remote computer where a savings opportunity from a database of savings opportunities is matched to the user. Then, at least one of the user and the merchant is notified by the second remote computer of the savings opportunity. Alternatively, the matched savings opportunity is returned to the first remote computer for transmittal to at least one of the user and the merchant along with an authorization of the transaction. | 12-03-2015 |
20150363872 | VIRTUAL BUNDLES - A system, Internet website interface, and computer-implemented method of presenting products to a consumer for purchase via a graphical user interface on a display of a user device are disclosed. The computer-implemented method includes receiving a request from the user device to configure a virtual bundle and displaying a product listing on the display of the user device. The product listing includes an anchor product listing and at least one accessory product listing. The method includes displaying a promotional offering associated with the virtual bundle on the display of the user device, the promotional offering based on one of the anchor product listing and the at least one accessory product listing. The method further includes receiving a product selection from the plurality of product images and adding the received product selection to the virtual bundle. The method further includes updating a floating shopping cart based on the product selection. | 12-17-2015 |
20150379581 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTEXTUAL SERVICES EXPERIENCE - A contextual services delivery system may comprise a services repository containing services instructions and a contextual services delivery module. The contextual services delivery module may deliver different contextual services to a smartphone and/or a POS terminal in response to a context environment, in order to provide a user with a customized contextual services experience. | 12-31-2015 |
20160005101 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR INTEGRATED PURCHASE MANAGEMENT SERVICE - An integrated purchase management apparatus includes a wish list collection unit for collecting a wish list including product information from at least one product selling apparatus, an integrated wish list generation unit for generating the integrated wish list of a corresponding user and storing the generated integrated wish list, an integrated wish list provision unit for obtaining additional payment means that belongs to additional payment means and transmitting integrated wish list information including the obtained additional payment means and the integrated wish list to the terminal device of the user, and a settlement processing unit for applying additional payment means corresponding to additional payment means selection information to a settlement request amount and performing settlement on the remaining amount using payment means, when a settlement request signal including the additional payment means selection information and the payment means is received. | 01-07-2016 |
20160027033 | METHOD FOR MANAGING AN ELECTRONIC COUPON - Method for processing an electronic coupon (G | 01-28-2016 |
20160048862 | NESTED MICRO-MARKETPLACES WITHIN AN ONLINE MARKETPLACE - Systems and methods are presented for nested micro-marketplaces in an online marketplace. In some embodiments, a method is presented that may include accessing a product listing for a product in the online marketplace placed by a seller. The method may also include accessing a first price in the product listing placed by the seller, the first price applicable to a first group of users associated with the online marketplace; accessing a second price in the product listing, the second price applicable to a second group of users associated with the online marketplace and being discounted from the first price for the second group due to a closeness affiliation with the seller of the product; and accessing an offer to purchase the product, the offer either originating from the first group and being offered at the first price, or originating from the second group and being offered at the second price. | 02-18-2016 |
20160055513 | ACTIVATING OFFERS WITH A DIGITAL WALLET APPLICATION - Providing offers to a point of sale (“POS”) terminal comprises a digital wallet of a user and a digital wallet system. A user approaching a POS terminal to conduct a transaction opens a digital wallet application on the user computing device and accesses an offer page of an offer on the digital wallet application. When the offer page is accessed, the offer parameters are loaded onto a secure element, or armed in the memory of the user computing device, and readied for communication to the POS terminal. When the user taps the user computing device to the POS terminal the offer is communicated. If the user navigates away from the offer page, the offer parameters are removed from the secure element and are no longer readied for communication. | 02-25-2016 |
20160055558 | RETAIL SYSTEM FOR SELLING PRODUCTS BASED ON A FLEXIBLE PRODUCT DESCRIPTION - According to one described embodiment, a method is provided in which transaction information is determined. The transaction information is associated with (i) a buyer who has arranged to purchase a product from a central controller at a first price established between the buyer and the central controller and (ii) a merchant that offers the product for sale at a second price, different from the first price, without offering the product for sale to buyers at the first price. Information is transmitted that facilitates the acquisition of the product by the buyer, in exchange for payment provided by the buyer to the central controller. An amount based on the second price is provided to the merchant. | 02-25-2016 |
20160071139 | PREAUTHORIZE BUYERS TO COMMIT TO A GROUP PURCHASE - A payment provider preauthorizes and commits consumers to a group purchase when the consumers provide an indication or intent to make a group purchase. Upon receiving the intent, the payment provider may ask the consumer whether they wish to irrevocably commit to the purchase at the advertised price. If so, the payment provider may hold or freeze the appropriate amount in the user account or otherwise commit the funds to the merchant if the minimum number of purchasers is met for the group purchase. The payment provider may release the funds to a merchant account even if the consumer decides, after the initial commitment, to not make the group purchase. Thus, others who committed to the group purchase will still be able to take advantage of the group deal. | 03-10-2016 |
20160098740 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING A SIGNAL UNIVERSAL PRODUCT CODE (UPC) TO START DISCOUNT INJECTION - A system, method, and computer program for using and detecting a signaling Universal Product Code (UPC), including a discount or marketing system; a UPC sniffer or injector; and a signal UPC configured to represent an end of a Point of Sale (POS) transaction. The UPC sniffer or injector configured to receive UPCs scanned from a POS UPC scanner and transmit the received UPCs to the discount or marketing system; the discount or marketing system configured to receive the UPCs from the UPC sniffer or injector, and to recognize the UPC as the signal UPC representing the end of the transaction, and issuing pending UPC injections; and the UPC sniffer or injector configured to receive UPC injections and to send the UPC injections to a POS system for inclusion in the transaction. | 04-07-2016 |
20160098775 | SHARING AN ENSEMBLE OF ITEMS - In a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions embodied therein that when executed cause a computer system to perform a method for sharing an ensemble of items, access to a plurality of retail items to a user is enabled, wherein an ensemble of items is created from the retail items by the user. The ensemble of items are accessed, and the ensemble of items are shared such that the ensemble of items is able to be viewed by others. | 04-07-2016 |
20160110750 | REAL-TIME PRICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A real-time price management system is provided which includes a barcode, a computer system, an input device, and a display device. The barcode includes an initial price, a terminal price, a production date, and an expiration date. The computer system forms a price-time equation of merchandise by the barcode, wherein the price-time equation is defined by the initial price, the terminal price, the production date, and the expiration date. The input device scans the barcode and transfers it with a purchase date of the merchandise to the computer system, and then the computer system inputs the purchase date into the price-time equation to obtain a real-time price corresponding to the purchase date. The computer system connects to the display device and shows the real-time price on the display device. | 04-21-2016 |
20160117712 | SHOPPING INCENTIVE APPLICATION - A shopping incentive and discount system and method for consumers including: a processing system, where the processing system includes a database, memory and a processor; software residing of the memory of the processing system, wherein the software enables functions related to the shopping incentive and discount system; and a portable computing device, where a user utilizes the portable computing device to access the shopping incentive and discount system. The functions available through the shopping incentive and discount system may include coupon retrieval, prize contests, rewards system, winning number generation and interactive features. The shopping incentive and discount system preferably includes downloadable interactive software for consumer users. | 04-28-2016 |
20160117713 | ERROR DETECTION AND CORRECTION IN COMPLEX ENTITLEMENT BENEFITS - Methods and systems for identifying and recovering from errors in the application of complex entitlement benefits within a distributed transaction processing system are disclosed. For example, a method can include identifying a processing error within a distributed transaction processing system, assessing an impact of the processing error, and determining a recovery strategy to minimize the impact of the processing error. The processing error can be associated with the application of an entitlement to a plurality of transactions. The entitlement can include a defined benefit and a benefit counter. The benefit counter can control a quantity of transactions allowed to receive the entitlement. The impact of the processing error can be assessed in regard to the plurality of transactions. | 04-28-2016 |
20160140594 | Automatic Discount System and Method - An online automatic discount system for use with a wide area network and interfaced mobile device includes a computer server connected to the internet and accessible from the mobile device. The server includes a processor and includes a memory having programming and that includes a seller database having a plurality of member seller records and a buyer database having a plurality of member buyer records. Each seller record includes product and coupon data. The method includes receiving purchase data from a respective buyer indicative of a product selected by the buyer's interfaced mobile device. The method includes determining from the seller database if a coupon is available and associated with the product selected by the respective buyer and, if so, delivering the coupon to the interfaced mobile device associated with the respective buyer. If no coupon is available, an alternative product is suggested for which a coupon is available. | 05-19-2016 |
20160150078 | COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Example communication systems and methods are described. In one implementation, a method receives a first message from a user and extracts a user identity and a transaction request. An alias identity is assigned to the user identity. A second message is transmitted to a merchant device in which the second message includes the alias identity and the transaction request. The method receives a third message from the merchant device and extracts the alias identity and a transaction completion confirmation from the third message. A fourth message, which includes the transaction completion confirmation, is communicated to the user based on the user identity. | 05-26-2016 |
20160155118 | Method for Providing Coupon Service and Electronic Device Thereof | 06-02-2016 |
20160155139 | INTERACTING WITH A DATABASE STORING DISCOUNTS | 06-02-2016 |
20160162925 | DYNAMICALLY OFFERING A COMPETING PRICE DURING PURCHASING - The present disclosure is directed to providing a competitive price to a buyer during the purchase process for a good or service obtainable via a publication platform. The publication platform maintains an index of competitors' websites that offer the same good or service. A price probe is periodically and/or dynamically performed on these stored websites to determine whether a competitor is offering a given good or service at a lower price. Where it is determined that a competitor's price is “better” for the given good or service (e.g., lower than the current purchasing price), a message is communicated to the seller of the given good or service that a competitor is offering the given good or service at the lower price. The seller may then be offered the opportunity to lower the current purchase price of the given good or service. | 06-09-2016 |
20160171432 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OBTAINING OUT-OF-STOCK INVENTORY | 06-16-2016 |
20160171472 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING MEMBER CUSTOMERS OF A RETAIL ENTERPRISE MEMBERSHIP SERVICE AT ENTERPRISE POINT-OF-SALE SYSTEMS | 06-16-2016 |
20160171519 | SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING OPTIMAL INFORMATION ABOUT PURCHASED PRODUCTS | 06-16-2016 |
20160180366 | OPTIMIZATION OF PROMOTIONAL REWARDS | 06-23-2016 |
20160180367 | MOBILE SAMPLING & PROMOTION SYSTEM AND METHOD | 06-23-2016 |
20160180436 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING AND DISPLAYING SHOPPING DEALS | 06-23-2016 |
20160189191 | COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED APPLICATION FOR BRICK AND MORTAR FLASH SALES - A method includes receiving, by a warehouse server, flash sale data file from a retail-type server. The method further includes storing, by the warehouse server, the flash sale data file in a database that functions as a virtual warehouse of flash sales. The method further includes interpreting, by the warehouse server, the information of the flash sale data file to determine flash sale parameters. The method further includes determining, by the warehouse server, whether a computing device has customer-device data that corresponds to the flash sale parameters. The method further includes, when the computing device has the customer-device data that corresponds to the flash sale parameters, generating, by the warehouse server, a customer specific coupon regarding the flash sale. The method further includes transmitting, by the warehouse server, the customer specific coupon to the computing device. | 06-30-2016 |
20160203506 | INFERRING PURCHASE INTENT USING NON-PAYMENT TRANSACTION EVENTS | 07-14-2016 |
20160203549 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE OPTIMIZATION | 07-14-2016 |
20160379184 | DYNAMIC RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATED WITH PAYMENT INSTRUMENT EXCEPTIONS PROCESSING - Embodiments of the invention include systems, methods, and computer-program products for dynamic resource management for managing payment exception processing and maximize work flow. In this way, the system may lift data from financial documents received from sources to allow for exception processing. The exceptions may include one or more irregularities such as bad micro line reads, outdated check stock, or misrepresentative checks that may result in a failure to match the check to an associated account for processing. As such, once an exception is identified during the processing the exception is directed to an appropriate resource for processing. The system monitors work flow nodes and resource experience to prevent bottlenecks or underutilization. Furthermore, the system employs awards and gamification models for exception processing. | 12-29-2016 |
20180025363 | Commerce System and Method of Controlling the Commerce System by Generating Individualized Discounted Offers to Consumers | 01-25-2018 |
20190147474 | PROMOTION CODE VALIDATION APPARATUS AND METHOD | 05-16-2019 |