METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ADMINISTERING A REWARD PROGRAM

摘要

In accordance with the present invention, a central controller (12) stores a series of registrations (26), each of which corresponds to a purchaser of a product. The central controller calculates a measurement of product success (27), such as the number of products sold or the market share of the product. The central controller (12) determines if the measurement is within a predetermined range. For example, the central controller (12) may determine if the number of products sold exceeds a predetermined threshold. A selected set of registrations which are "early-adopter" registrations (30) are selected. The set of registrations thereby defines a set of early-adopter purchasers. For example, the central controller (12) may select a set of registrations having ordinal positions within a predetermined range of positions, such as the first hundred registrations. Thus, one hundred early-adopter purchasers are defined. If the measurement of product success is within the predetermined range, a reward (28), such as a refund or a free product, is provided to each early-adopter purchaser. For example, if sales of the product exceed 1,000,000 units, a reward is provided to each early-adopter purchaser.