Integrated system and method for managing electronic coupons

摘要

A networked electronic coupon management system is disclosed for managing electronic coupons. The system includes tightly integrated database, application server, and client components facilitating performing electronic coupon definition, issuance, and redemption operations. The operations include creating electronic coupons, wherein each electronic coupon includes a unique coupon ID, creating customer accounts, wherein each customer account comprises a unique customer ID; creating manufacturer accounts, wherein each manufacturer account comprises a Unique ID; and creating retailer accounts, wherein each retailer account comprises a unique retailer ID; and assigning a unique electronic coupon ID to a unique customer ID. Thereafter the system validates the electronic coupon with a product purchase transaction by a customer associated with the unique customer ID. Furthermore, funds transfers associated with the product purchase transaction are tracked, and historical transactional level data is maintained for all customer, manufacturer and retailer accounts.

主权项

1. A subscriber-based system, carried out by a set of programmed computers, for enabling electronic promotional transactions over a variety of networks in real time, the subscriber-based system comprising:
a database system for maintaining and providing access to information related to the subscriber-based system; an application server system comprising a set of processing modules, including computer-executable instructions stored on a physical computer-readable medium and executed on one or more computers, supporting electronic promotional transactions, the set of processing modules including:
an electronic manufacturer account module for creating a manufacturer account and for enabling a manufacturer to create, access and manage information in the manufacturer account, and including an electronic record template for specifying a set of parameter values for defining and managing an electronic promotion,an electronic consumer account module for creating a consumer account and for enabling a consumer to thereafter access and manage information in the consumer account,an electronic retailer account module for creating a retailer account and for enabling a retailer to thereafter access and manage information in the retailer account,an electronic coupon generation module for generating an electronic coupon according to parameter values specified for the electronic promotion, anda point of sale module supporting consumer access to the subscriber-based system via a retailer point of sale device; whereby: the consumer, associated with a consumer account, initiates a transaction with the subscriber-based system related to the electronic promotion, the electronic coupon generation module identifies the consumer account associated with the consumer using identification criteria stored in the database system; and, the coupon generation module creates the electronic coupon having a unique electronic coupon identifier and further assigns the unique electronic coupon ID to the consumer account creating a data link between the consumer account and electronic coupon generated in association with the electronic promotion, the consumer initiates a retail transaction via the point of sale device, and the point of sale module transmits information from the point of sale device enabling the subscriber-based system to identify the consumer account, thus enabling the point of sale module to receive data stored in the database system corresponding to the consumer account and the electronic coupon generated in association with the electronic promotion to facilitate validation and redemption of the electronic coupon at the point of sale device.